The list of nominees for the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards was announced yesterday and we are pleased to report that our artists and publications received a total of 10 nominations in 8 categories:

Ganges #4 by Kevin Huizenga:

• Best Single Issue

Freeway by Mark Kalesniko:

• Best Graphic Album – New

Prince Valiant Vol. 3: 1941-1942 and Vol. 4: 1943-1944 by Hal Foster, edited by Kim Thompson:

• Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley & Vol. 2: Trapped on Treasure Island (also available in the Vols. 1-2 Box Set) by Floyd Gottfredson, edited by David Gerstein & Gary Groth:

• Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips

Isle of 100,000 Graves by Jason & Fabien Vehlmann:

• Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette:

• Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Wandering Son Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako:

• Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia

Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring:

• Best Writer/Artist — Jim Woodring (Jim is also nominated for Best Short Story for "Harvest of Fear" in The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #17 from Bongo)

The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, and The Comics Journal website, www.tcj.com, edited by Timothy Hodler and Dan Nadel:

• Best Comics-Related Journalism

Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising 1870s-1940s, edited by Rick Marschall and Warren Bernard:

• Best Comics-Related Book

As announced in January, Bill Blackbeard (responsible for the Krazy & Ignatz series and so much more), Mort Meskin, Trina Robbins (underground legend and, for us, editor of The Brinkley Girls), and Gilbert Shelton (underground legend and contributor to Mome) are among the nominees for induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame.

An additional shout-out to Fantagraphics contributors, alumni and friends who received nominations for work with other publishers, including Stan Sakai, Ed Brubaker, Émile Bravo, Geoffrey Hayes, Roger Langridge, Anders Nilsen, Daniel Clowes, Al Jaffee, Rick Geary, Tom Orzechowski (who lettered Oil and Water), Ivan Brunetti, Eric Skillman (designer of The Comics Journal #301), and anyone I may have overlooked. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday, July 13, 2012 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Browse and order all of our 2012 nominated titles here, and see here for links to past years' award honorees.

This month's Diamond Previews catalog came out yesterday and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread (download the PDF) with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in May 2012 (give or take — some release dates may have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions.

This month's Featured item is our next Carl Barks Library volume, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man! We've also got the long (long, long) awaited collection of Gary Panter's punk/sci-fi strip Dal Tokyo; Sexytime, the surprising and tantalizing art book of vintage porn movie posters compiled by Portable Grindhouse madman Jacques Boyreau ("Certified Cool"!); the new softcover edition of the out-of-print-for-a-while Black Images in the Comics, a fascinating survey by Fredrik Strömberg; Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture, back for another go-round (yes, we know got some 'splaining to do!); God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls, collecting Jaime Hernandez's superhero fantasia from Love and Rockets: New Stories #1-2 with 30 new pages (!), a Spotlight item; the eagerly-anticipated 3rd volume of Shimura Takako's wonderful manga series Wandering Son; and The Furry Trap, a collection of Josh Simmons's notoriously disturbing horror comics. It's a big month, man!

See them all here!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Barks's output has been reprinted often but either piecemeal in flimsy monthly comics or in high-priced collector's editions. [Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes], covering the years 1948-49, is the first in a planned 30-volume Barks library that will reprint his entire duck oeuvre in durable, affordable hardcovers.... Above all, Barks's Duckburg rings true because of his cynical world view. He rarely plastered on the sentimentality that dogs other Disney creations.... Although there are moral values in Barks's stories, he was never didactic and never wrote down to his readers. In his words, 'I always tried to write a story that I wouldn't mind buying myself.'" – Owen Heitmann, The Sydney Morning Herald

• Interview: Peter Huestis, a.k.a. Princess Sparkle Pony, writes "Diane Noomin's comics cover quite a bit of territory, from the broad (ha, ha) farce of her Didi Glitz stories to penetrating social satire and revealing autobiography. At her best... she manages to combine all of the above approaches to devastating effect," and presents his 1995 Hypno Magazine interview with Noomin (the intro to which is blurbed on the back cover of Glitz-2-Go): "I consider myself a feminist. Certainly there are people who won't, but I'm a feminist and I think it's good to do sexual material, and make fun of sex, and not think that there are certain bodily functions that we shouldn't talk about because we're feminists. I think that's... fucked up."

• Plugs: On the Westfield Comics Blog, K.C. Carlson spotlights several of our upcoming releases in the current issue of Previews, singling out the next volume of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse for this comment: "This is one of the best collections of vintage newspaper strips out there — among an amazing number of other great series! Oh, my wallet!"

• Plug: "Fantagraphics Books reprints the best, from beginning to end, of Robert Crumb's iconic Fritz the Cat comics. Collected here is a sampling from the life of the famous funny animal, the American everyguy, metropolitan college student Fritz whose wise words of 1960's rebellion win him attention from ladies of all species. It's hard not to be charmed by Fritz." – 211 Bernard (Librairie Drawn & Quarterly)

• Plug: "Reading or re-reading Sala's Mad Night seems an infinitely better use of all of our free time than reading anything on the Internet right now." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Every Day Is Like Wednesday

• (Behind the) Scene(s): Read all about Frank Santoro's visit to the hallowed halls of our HQ and workshop presentation at our swingin' storefront in his tour diary at The Comics Journal

Thanks to Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse series co-editor David Gerstein for passing along these links I missed the first time 'round:

• Review: "Fantagraphics' second volume of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse daily strip delves into the imagination of the cartoonist... Floyd Gottfredson is one of the most truly talented individuals that is finally getting his day in the sun. His contributions to the character and development of Mickey Mouse and newspaper storytelling are nothing short of revolutionary. Mickey Mouse Volume 2: Trapped on Treasure Island stands as second and essential tome in one of the most richly visionary and creative outputs in modern sequential art." – Rafael Gaitan, Comics Bulletin

• Review: "Like Volume 1, this volume does not disappoint. It's jam-packed full of lovingly restored daily strips. Some of the strips are definitely a product of their times. My only complaint is the color choice for the cover. Green? Seriously? And, not even a good shade either." – My Disney Collection Blog

• Plug: "While the stories are restored from Disney's originals and negative proofsheets, the book also includes over 50 pages of supplementary features, with rare behind-the-scenes art and vintage publicity material and has great paintings by Gottfredson from all stories." – Dave Wessels, Dave Wessels ComiX

• Review: "This week we look at one of the best things I bought last year: Fantagraphic’s first two volumes of the collected Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse strips. About the presentation of the volumes, the quality is on par with other collections published by Fantagraphics. That is to say high.... This frenzied spirit and (mostly) good natured humor is just one of the reasons to pick up one or both of these volumes. Gottfredson’s art in these volumes is crisp and consistent with the Disney look. Probably because he worked in the animation studio before taking over the strips, there’s a great sense of movement and fluidity in the panels.... As impressive as the detailed panels are, the craft of the story shows equal skill." – Matt LaVergne, LEMUR Comics Blog

• Review: "[These] are outstanding books, filled not only with great comics, but with reams of background material on the character and the development of the strip itself. These books have gotten nothing but praise from most quarters and I'm very pleased to at last add them to the stack of beautiful books on comics which is slowly but steadily consuming my home." – Rip Jagger, Rip Jagger's Dojo

• Review: "This box set is one of the best books in my collection.... These early works about Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson are very enjoyable to read.... In these early stories of Mickey Mouse, he is very brave. He is a hero." – Inge, It's a Beautiful Life

• Plug: "Do yourself a favor – next time you are in the store take a few moments and pick up a copy of Lost in the Andes or Pogo, [or] either Mickey Mouse collection... [and] flip through it. Read a few strips.  You will immediately see what I am talking about. These are rich, beautiful books and they deserve to be read by everyone." – Andy Mansell, The Heroesonline Blog

This month's Diamond Previews catalog is out and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread (download the PDF) with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in April 2012 (give or take — some release dates may have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions.

This month's Spotlight item is the eagerly anticipated The Adventures of Jodelle, the psychedelic 1960s classic from artist Guy Peellaert & writer Pierre Bartier. No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics is "Certified Cool," and our other featured titles are (surprise!) a new issue of Castle Waiting from Linda Medley (more about this soon!), New York Mon Amour by Jacques Tardi & co., the 3rd volume of our Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse strip collections "High Noon at Inferno Gulch," our oversized collection of Johnny Gruelle's amazing forgotten classic Mr. Twee Deedle, and the first salvo in our 2012 Love and Rockets 30th-Anniversary onslaught, Gilbert Hernandez's (all-ages!) The Adventures of Venus.

See them all here!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "In addition to undermining the colonialist attitudes of Hergé and classic Disney cartoons with his R. Crumb-ish verve, Swarte also presents a clutch of perfectly packaged riffs on cartoon art. Having a Chris Ware introduction makes sense, given Swarte’s excruciating eye for architectural detail, and could help introduce Swarte to a larger audience, but the book [Is That All There Is?] may not need it — the art doesn’t speak for itself, it shouts." – Publishers Weekly

• Review (Audio): On the latest episode of Boing Boing's "Gweek" podcast, co-host Ruben Bolling discusses Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks: "(Spoiler: it's superb.)"

• Plugs: Library Journal's Martha Cornog lists "25 Graphic Novels for African American History Month" including 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago...

"The Puerto Rican slugger overcame family poverty, racial prejudice, and the language barrier to be voted the National League’s Most Valuable Player for 1966. Puerto Rican-born Santiago (In My Darkest Hour) superbly captures the kinetic excitement of baseball as well as Clemente’s skill and warm humanity on and off the diamond.... Highly recommended; buy several."

...and Black Images in the Comics by Fredrik Strömberg:

"First published by Fantagraphics in 2003 and nominated for an Eisner Award, this history of racial depictions in comics has been updated in both its content and its source list. Over 100 entries, each featuring a representative illustration and an instructive short essay, cover an international range of comics, from Moon Mullins through Tintin, Will Eisner, R. Crumb, Peanuts, Boondocks, and beyond."

• Plug: "The Fantagraphics reprint of the Mickey Mouse comic strip made by Floyd Gottfredson was already a gem in its first edition in two volumes separately, but with this new edition, with two volumes in a box and a lower price, it becomes essential." – CaraB (translated from Spanish)

• Interview (Video/Audio): Get comfy for an hour-long chat with Bill Griffith about Lost and Found: Comics 1969-2003 on Bob Andelman's Mr. Media podcast, presented in video and streaming audio formats: "I’m sure somebody will be offended, which will be nice — to still offend somebody after all these years. People who only know Zippy comics through King Features will probably be surprised to see that Zippy was more adult-oriented."

• Feature: Juxtapoz spotlights the artwork of Angoulême honoree Jim Woodring

• Commentary: In an impressive feat of scannery, Mike Lynch compiles all of the "silent penultimate panels" from Peanuts strips from 1969

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "This collection of strips [The Frank Book] doesn’t have much of a thread running through it, apart from the characters and their surroundings. Like classic cartoons and newspaper strips, they are there to have situations inflicted upon them. In his afterword, Woodring suggests that each strip is intended to be a mystery but that one concept runs through each one, like a sort of moral or statement. Finding these can, at times, be challenging, but this obscurity and strangeness is a large part of what gives the book it’s charm." – Grovel

• Review: Novi Magazine's Jona gives a spoiler-filled and tipsy run-through of The Left Bank Gang by Jason: "This book is basically the original Midnight in Paris. It features Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce living in France, but as cartoonists (instead of writers) in the mid 1920’s. It’s presented in Jason’s signature 'animal people' style, with consistent 3x3 conventional grids, and an immaculate sense of pacing. In short, the whole thing reeks of Jason, and I love it. I mean, seriously. All literature has been replaced with comics in this universe. What’s not to love?"

• Plug: French-language music magazine Vibrations spotlights Listen, Whitey! The Sights & Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 by Pat Thomas

• Commentary: At Robot 6, J. Caleb Mozzocco examines the racial depictions in Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks: "Because so many of Barks’ stories dealt with the Ducks visiting exotic lands, because the stories in this collection were produced between 1948 and 1949 and because Disney doesn’t exactly have the most sterling reputation when it comes to representing diverse nationalities or ethnicities, I was sort of concerned about what the lily-white ducks would be faced with when they journeyed to South America or Africa. Or, more precisely, how Barks would present what they would be faced with."

• Commentary: At The Webcomic Overlook, Larry Cruz looks at Hal Foster's Prince Valiant for his "Know Thy History" column: " Foster was a fantastic all-around artist. His strip boasted some great looking architecture, meticulously detailed clothing, and epic clashes. He had a keen eye for adding shadows to heighten drama. Hal Foster is said to have put 50 to 60 hours working on a single strip, and it shows." (via Robot 6)

• Interview: At The Secret Sun, Christopher Knowles has a Q&A with Mome contributor Jesse Moynihan

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "And indeed, [Carl Barks's] work of c. 1948–54 ranks amongst the most consistently inspired, inventive, touching, and plain fun in the history of comics. Fantagraphics’ inaugural volume in their complete edition of Barks’s Disney comics [Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes] drops the reader in right at the onset of this creative surge, covering the years 1948–49. ...[T]his is a series that finally promises Barks done right, promising a major revival of one of our greatest cartoonists." – Matthias Wivel, The Comics Journal

• Interview: The Believer blog presents part 1 of an interview with Jim Woodring conducted in 2008 by Ross Simonini: "There’s a Robinson Jeffers poem about a guy who has made wounds on the back of his hands and keeps them fresh by cutting them over and over again with a sharp piece of clean metal. That always struck me as being akin to what I do. I wouldn’t let those childhood wounds heal. The tunnel kept trying to close behind me, and I kept forcing it open so I could remember those primordial things, the way that the world seemed to me as a child. It’s been a vocation for me to keep that view intact."

• Interview (Audio): Matt Smith-Lahrman of New Books Network talks to Kevin Avery about Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson; in Smith-Lahrman's written introduction he says "In Avery’s biography, Nelson is a man who deeply believed in the idea of the American hero as a maverick: tough, brave, in touch with the essence of what it means to be human, and, importantly, alone. Nelson died in 2006, just as Avery was beginning to write this book. He died alone.... Nelson’s writing is deeply personal, inviting readers into the relationships he had with the people he wrote about. Avery’s biography similarly invites readers into Paul Nelson’s life, lonely as it was."

• Plug: "New from Fantagraphics, a decade spanning comics anthology from icon maker Bill Griffith. Griffith is surely best known as the creator of the polka-dot robe wearing daily strip character, Zippy the Pinhead, but Griffith's productivity reaches far beyond Zippy. Lost and Found is a collection of comics, handpicked by the artist, many rare and out of print, from 1969-2003 (but with the first third of that time period, the heyday of the underground, occupying the majority of the book). Though most of the comics in Lost and Found aren't about Zippy, there are some unique and important Zippy moments included, like the icon's first appearance..." – 211 Bernard (Librairie Drawn & Quarterly)

• Plugs: Robot 6's Michael May & Graeme McMillan look ahead to a couple of our upcoming releases:

Angelman – I’ve not read much by Austrian cartoonist Nicolas Mahler, but I think I’m won over just by the idea of his new book, which satirizes not just superheroes, but the business behind them. [Graeme]

Interiorae – Lovely, lovely art by Gabriella Giandelli in this collection of his Ignatz series. (It’s also in full-color, unlike the original serialization, which is another win.) [Graeme]

I don’t know why it’s taken this long for Fantagraphics to collect the comics that got their cool Ignatz format a few years ago, but I’ll shut up and be grateful. I greatly enjoyed Giandelli’s creepy tale of an apartment building, its residents, the large rabbit who roams its halls, and the creature the rabbit seems to serve. What’s also exciting though is that this means Richard Sala’s Delphine will get a collection too. [Michael]

• Plug: "Malcolm McNeill was just finishing art school when he began his seven year collaboration with the author, William S. Burroughs. This work, which has never been published, is finally going to see the light of day. Fantagraphics has two books coming out this Spring by McNeill: one with his lost drawings and paintings, and the other a reflection on the relationship between word and image which has made an indelible mark on the artist and master draftsman." – Laura Williams, Lost at E Minor

• Analysis: Comic Book Resources' Greg Burgas examines a 1941 Fletcher Hanks "Stardust the Super Wizard" page as reprinted in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: On the Inkstuds radio programme's "Best of 2011 with the Cartoonists" episode, Aaron Costain, Dustin Harbin and John Martz discuss their favorite comics of 2011 with host Robin McConnell, including:

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette
Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim
Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson
Prison Pit Book 3 by Johnny Ryan
Mome Vol. 22

• List: Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 was the second-highest vote-getter in Forbidden Planet International's "2011 FPI Master List" survey of "various comic types" to determine the best-loved comics of the year

• Review (Audio): Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is a topic of discussion with host Mark Frauenfelder and guests Ruben Bolling and Dean Putney on this week's Boing Boing "Gweek" podcast

• Review: "You know who’s great? Lewis Trondheim, the incredibly prolific French cartoonist. Evidence comes in... Approximate Continuum Comics, an English translation of a six-part series Trondheim published in the 1990s concerning his struggles in the comics industry, desire for success and acclaim and just general angst, anxiety and feelings of self-doubt. It sounds all terribly self-involved to the point of tedium, but Trondheim is simply too skilled a storyteller to allow his own ego to override the quality of his work. Approximate is filled with wonderful visual inventions, like an early daydream about dealing with obnoxious passangers on the subway. More to the point, Trondheim’s self-effacing sense of humor is so charming and revealing that the book never becomes too solipsistic or insufferable." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review (Audio): Extra Sequential Podcast hosts Kris Bather and Mladen Luketin examine Young Romance: "Legendary creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby effectively created the romance comics genre which was surprisingly dominant during the 1940s and 50s. We look at Fantagraphics’ entertaining new collection of some of their work."

• Review: "Paul Nelson's life narrative is too good and too tragic.... The painful thing about reading this book [Everything Is an Afterthought], beautifully written and edited by Kevin Avery, is a lot of people are going to identify with Nelson's love for culture and what it means to him/us/them.... A very sad book. But the interviews with his fellow critics and friends (most love him to bits) [are] quite moving and a tribute to those who write to expose how 'their' feelings are attached to the shine or the mirror-like image of pop culture." – Book Soup Blog

• Analysis: Comic Book Resources' Greg Burgas examines a 1957 Steve Ditko page as reprinted in Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Gustavo Guimaraes of Brazilian culture & entertainment site Ambrosia names "The best comics published in the U.S. in 2011 - Alternative and classic," including Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (all quotes translated from Portuguese)...

"The world created by Woodring is unique, beautiful and scary. His stories can be incomprehensible at times, but always intriguing and charming."

...The Hidden by Richard Sala...

"Sala's characters look like something out of old horror and mystery movies, and his plots possess a rare levity for narratives of the genre. The colorful art makes the his twisted drawings even more attractive."

...The Armed Garden and Other Stories by David B....

"In The Armed Garden, David B. creates fantastical worlds inhabited by historical characters, mythical and magical. Beautiful art and storylines full of imagination."

...Pogo Vol. 1 by Walt Kelly...

"Walt Kelly was a complete artist, his drawings were graceful, his stories were simple and fun while at the same time provoking the reader with hints of metalanguage and political content. His writing was faceted with the sensibility of a great satirist."

...Popeye Vol. 5 by E.C. Segar...

"Popeye is a revolutionary character and Segar was one of the geniuses who transformed the primitive graphic narratives into the modern comic strip with his insane humor."

...Prince Valiant Vol. 4 by Hal Foster...

"A masterpiece of old adventure comics continues today thanks largely to Foster's fantastic realistic art. Landscapes and epic battles are played to perfection by the author, turning the limited space of each panel into a window to a world where historical characters live with mythological beings. Careful printing in oversize hardcover as well as meticulous reproduction of the beautiful original colors make this collection from Fantagraphics a model for classic comics publishing."

...and Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks:

"Even if you already have all of Carl Barks' comics of you will want to buy this book. It is the first time that these comics are being reissued with the original colors, digitally restored. This deluxe edition, with hard covers and high-quality paper, includes articles on all the comics collected in the volume."

• Review: "To say that it has been worth the wait is wild understatement. Pogo Through the Wild Blue Wonder is beautifully produced — no surprise to anyone familiar with the work of Fantagraphics Books in Seattle — and a joy to read. It comes as a genuine gift to anyone who loved Pogo and, it is to be hoped, as an introduction for younger readers to what many people believe was the best comic strip ever drawn in this country." – Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

• Review: "Wilson's genuine bravery, as this strip makes clear, is not that he set himself up as a rival to Charles Schulz but rather the directness with which Nuts confronts genuinely painful and baffling topics like sickness, mental illness, and death. When dealing with master artists, any ranking becomes absurd because each creator is memorable by the individual mark he or she leaves. So let’s leave Peanuts comparisons aside and say that Nuts is one of the major American comic strips and we’re lucky to have the complete run in this handsome, compact volume." – Jeet Heer, The Comics Journal

• Review: "Jacques Tardi’s interpretation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s book [Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot] is an intense and shocking thriller.... Dark, brutal and uterly compelling, classic thriller fans should lap this up. Put a few hours aside before picking it up though, because you won’t want to put it down and it’s a feast worth savouring." – Grovel

• Review: "I gave Roy Crane’s Captain Easy, Solder Of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Volume 1 1933-1935 a good thumbing many, many times before picking it up. The artwork was too simple, the stories silly. One day in my local comic shop with nothing new to read I picked it up. What I failed to comprehend as I stood in the comic shop flipping pages in this book is that Crane chose the elements of his strip carefully, especially those I dismissed it for. Simple character design, bright colours, fictional locations and action with a sense of humour. After finishing the volume I applaud his choices." – Scott VanderPloeg, Comic Book Daily

• Review (Audio): On the Manga Out Loud podcast, hosts Johanna Draper Carlson and Ed Sizemore discuss Wandering Son Vol. 2 by Shimura Takako

• Interview (Audio): The Comics Journal presents a recording of the Jack Davis interview conducted by Gary Groth and Drew Friedman at last month's Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival (posted here after a slight delay due to technical audio issues)

• Interview: Culture Brats has "Seven Questions in Heaven" with Esther Pearl Watson: "Even though now I have a huge collection of mini-comics, I try not to look at other comic artists as influences. They draw too nice, or have their thing down. Comic storytelling styles can be as individual as fingerprints. We spend years creating our own narrative language. Instead I look at naive drawing and self-taught artists to de-skill."

• Conflict of Interest: Our own Larry Reid names Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 one of his favorite comics of 2011 in a guest column at Graphic Eye: "The conclusion of Jaime’s poignant 'Love Bunglers' story alone made this book essential reading in 2011. Almost unfathomably, Love & Rockets keeps getting better with age."

• Commentary: Robot 6 finds out what Zak Sally has been reading lately