On his blog, Drew Friedman posts: "My illustration for an article in the latest Billboard magazine about late night talk shows competing for musical guests, re-casting the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Left to right: Paul (Jimmy Fallon), Ringo (George Lopez), George (David Letterman), John (Conan O'Brien)."

Two weeks to catch up on!

• Percy Gloom changed his Facebook profile picture to this portrait I hadn't seen before

• Andrei Molotiu posted a big batch of sketchbook drawings to his blog

• A new image from Ben Catmull's current project

• Matthias Lehmann shares a few pieces from his current art show and some photos of the installation

• Dig Paul Hornschemeier's new logo for the Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death Ray) podcast/comedy show

• A newly-drawn splash page (along with the original version from 15 years ago) by Tim Lane for the upcoming 3rd issue of Happy Hour in America, along with some musings on craft

• Sergio Ponchione's Professor Hackensack returns to discuss matters scientifical in the new issue of Linus

• Kevin Huizenga's jaw-dropping comic from Kramer's Ergot 7 is now up at the newly-revived What Things Do; Kevin offers some notes and commentary on it at his New Construction blog; also, a possibly new Glenn Ganges glimpse

• A recent drawing by Renee French, who it should be noted seems to have moved her more extemporaneous sketches and photos over to her new Posterous blog

• A sneak peek of something by Josh Simmons

• Anders Nilsen is working on some collaborative paintings with Sonnenzimmer for an upcoming exhibit — more glimpses at Anders's blog, more info here

• Hey, I know those dogs! It's Robert Goodin's Idget & Toaster fending quite well for themselves in the zombie apocalypse in a panel from Rob's story in the banned-in-Canada anthology Black Eye

• Tony Millionaire posts Drinky Crow's first published appearance , from 1993

• Unexplained illustration by Johnny Ryan

• Nate Neal draws Hans Rickheit's Cochlea & Eustachia

• Eleanor Davis draws Aphasia from C.F.'s Powr Mastrs for the Picturebox fan forum — see the amazing hair salon mural she did with David Mack too

And more Things to See from the past week:

• At Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog, sketches, illustrations, movie reviews and a great series of posts on his cartooning heroes, some of which may surprise you

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spots on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• A new print by John Hankiewicz

• Artwork, dolls, prints, and hey, they're on sale in the latest Dame Darcy blog update

• Drew Friedman spotlights recent illustrations and pays tribute to some of his favorite fellow cartoonists at his blog

• Vintage Jim Flora artwork and illustrations at the Jim Flora blog

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• A recent current-event sketch by Steve Brodner

• A Mome outtake page and lots more drawings by Derek Van Gieson at his These Days I Remain blog

• New sketch, new illustration by Tom Kaczynski

• New Trubble Club!

That's right, Drew Friedman started up a new blog! What better place to keep up with all his latest illos, artwork and updates? None, I tell you!

This Drew Friedman illustration of "middle-aged Jewish comedians" The Beastie Boys leads off the reviews section of the latest issue of Rolling Stone.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Exuberantly expressive..., Santiago imbues his biography of famed Puerto Rican baseballer Roberto Clemente [21] with the furious energy of a Clemente triple. [...] Santiago evokes the world Clemente lived in, from the dusty Puerto Rican streets where he played baseball with bottle caps and tree branches to his years as a perennial All-Star. The art is scratchy and abstract when it’s dealing with home and homesickness, and then hardens into the stuff of superhero comics whenever Clemente steps to the plate." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

• Review: "…The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980… features a touching intro by Al Roker — who conducted the one of the last interviews with Schulz — along with two years’ worth of strips that find Schulz still going strong as a documentarian of life’s simple pleasures and overwhelming anxieties." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

• Review: "Jacques Tardi’s 1972 graphic novella The Arctic Marauder... is a fine example of the French artist’s early work, which combines turn-of-the-century adventure stories with deadpan zaniness. It’s recommended for those who like submarines disguised as icebergs, world-domination plots, detailed schematics of bizarre inventions, heroic dowagers, and sudden reversals, as well as for those who’d like to see all of the above rendered in Tardi’s typically detailed linework, which looks amazing even when obscured by ice and snow." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

• Interview: The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon talks at length with Dungeon Quest creator Joe Daly: "I want to develop a dedicated fan base, even if it's a small fan base, and reward their dedication with my best efforts to entertain them. More than a 'comics guy' or a 'writer' or 'artist' I want to build a reputation as an entertainer. I feel that the value of sheer entertainment is often overlooked or dismissed in today's sophisticated and occasionally pretentious comics world."

• Interview: At TCM's Classic Movie Blog Movie Morlocks, Paul Gaita talks to Drew Friedman: "I’m going from freaks back to Old Jewish Comedians for the third and final book — and again, I had to leave some comedians out. I feel bad about that, but I’m not going to do a fourth book. That’s it. I’m done with the Jews. I’m becoming an old Jew myself — I don’t need to draw them anymore." (via The Comics Reporter)

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch's Brian Heater begins serializing a transcription of his MoCCA panel conversation with Peter Bagge: "I’m slowly turning [Buddy Bradley] into the crazy old guy who works at the dump. That’s why I gave him the Popeye look. Though I’m always on the verge of having him get rid of it. I keep thinking that I’ll have another character make fun of him for it. He doesn’t need the eyepatch, he doesn’t need to shave his head, and there’s no reason for him to be wearing a captain’s hat."

• Profile: Read all about Peter Bagge's recent visit to The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont at the CCS Visiting Artist Blog

The latest Drew Friedman showbiz portrait available in a limited edition from Drew Friedman Fine Art Prints is of TV comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs. As always, the description includes a finely-written bio of the subject by Irwin Chusid.

Inspired by Robert Crumb's recent visit to New York City, Drew Friedman drew this portrait of Crumb in Times Square and wrote a brief appreciation of the man for Vanity Fair.

Here are some great photos of Robert Crumb at the opening of R. Crumb: Lines Drawn On Paper at the Society of Illustrators in NYC last Friday (March 25). The top two are by Rob Sussman; the bottom one, with Bob in a saucy pose with SOI director Anelle Miller, is by Jordin Isip; all were provided by Drew Friedman (thanks Drew!).

UPDATE: More great pics by Edel Rodriguez here!

We found out about this event too late to notify you about it in advance, but Drew Friedman had a book release extravaganza for his new book Sideshow Freaks from Blast Books at The Drama Book Shop in NYC last week where he was interviewed on stage by Irwin Chusid, with special guest appearances by Todd Robbins, Larry Storch, and James Taylor (not the singer) and an introduction by the one and only Joe Franklin! The whole thing was captured on video in 6 parts — part 1 is embedded above and here are part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6. It can only be described, as Drew does, as "A once in a lifetime get-together!"

As previously reported, Fantagraphics is gearing up for the 2011 MoCCA Fest in New York City, April 9-10!

And not only will we be joined by Peter Bagge, Michael Kupperman, Ted Stearn, Leslie Stein, Stephen DeStefano, and Gahan Wilson, but we just added Kim Deitch, Drew Friedman, Mark Newgarden, Nate Neal, Derek Van Gieson, and Sara Edward-Corbett to our signing roster, too!

More details (along with a signing schedule) to follow soon!  See you there!