• That version of a Jesse Marsh Tarzan cover by our own Eric Reynolds that I believe we've featured here previously has finally shown up on the Covered blog
• Derek Van Gieson claims to be "toning it down" as "Tales from Abstraction House" proceeds — lies
160-page full-color 9" x 6.75" hardcover • $22.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-308-8
Joe McCulloch at Comics Comics describes it aptly: "An interesting experiment in Golden Age of Reprints presentational engineering, this new 160-page landscape-format Fantagraphics hardcover collects all of the great Basil Wolverton’s crackpot daily advice strips as seen in the pages of Fawcett’s Whiz Comics, 1945-52, presented in comparison with Wolverton’s original pencil roughs for what looks like every installment." The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon brings the basketball metaphor: "Who doesn't want to read as much Basil Wolverton as they can? He's not in the starting all-time five, but he gets a lot of playing time off the bench." At Comics Alliance Douglas Wolk declaims "Goofiness, history and process!"
128-page color/b&w 7" x 9" softcover • $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-303-3
Joe McCulloch at Comics Comics opines "The centerpiece of this Spring 2010 edition of the Fantagraphics house anthology is, without question, the return of Dave Cooper to comics" and of the other contributors says "That really is a nice lineup"; Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter agrees that it "offers a super-strong line-up of creators." We can't disagree — you can see the full table of contents and samples from each contributor as part of our PDF excerpt.
So head on down to your local comic shop, but not before checking out the bountiful information and sneak peeks at the links above, and it's always a good idea to confirm availability beforehand.
• Dan Clowes fans & Strand Bookstore tote bag collectors alike are sure to be thrilled with the Strand's latest tote release; those in the overlap area of the Venn diagram may explode from excitement. It's pretty damn cute! Peggy's got a close-up of the art.
• Marco Corona's story for a comics anthology on the theme of art theft (I think; Google Translate has a little trouble with the Italian)
Daily clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:
• Paul Hornschemeier teases his contribution to Marvel's forthcoming Strange Tales 2, and does Denzel for the WSJ; also, he'll be at C2E2 tomorrow signing at the Chicago Comics booth!
• Johnny Ryan posts this and more Prison Pit fan art by Matt Furie for The Boys Are Back in Town art show at GRSF — dear Johnny, how about a series of Cold Heat Special-style Prison Pit Specials?
• Johnny Ryan illustrates a short story by Gary Fairfull for Vice
• Bill Griffith recently posted his "Top 40 List on Comics and Their Creation" on Facebook and it's been making the rounds; you can see the whole thing at Cartoon SNAP
Thanks to all the artists, attendees, and MoCCA staff & volunteers for helping make the 2010 MoCCA Art Festival our most successful ever! We sold out of numerous titles, some within hours (and to the chagrin of our artists who ran out of books to sign — sorry!), and had mobs of fans turn out for our signings.
• Perhaps you picked up a copy of Derek Van Gieson's rough-draft version of Whiskey is the Key Says Me at MoCCA — he's still working on expanding it, as evidenced by this brand new page
The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award nominee returns for its fifth year. With this issue, the series has now featured over 2000 pages of comics in its four and half years of existence (2109, to be exact), which may be a record for an English-language alternative comics anthology. This issue's cover is by Nate Neal, who delivers "The Neurotic Nexus of Creation," a 15-page explication of the creative process. MOME 18 also includes the first new comic in several years by Dave Cooper, as well as the MOME debuts of Tim Lane, Ivan Brun, Joe Daly, and Jon Adams. Also returning are MOME stalwarts Lilli Carré, Ben Jones, Frank Santoro, Jon Vermilyea, Nicolas Mahler, Ted Stearn, Renée French, Conor O'Keefe, Derek Van Gieson, and T. Edward Bak.
Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (5.9 MB) with a page from every artist in the issue.