Your daily dose of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Maybe it’s because blood and brain matter look somewhat more disturbing in the chunky, primitive black and white favored by famed French cartoonist Tardi, but there’s something particularly creepy about his adaptation of the late Manchette’s crime novel [West Coast Blues] that wouldn’t have been well served by color. ... Manchette’s plot is pure pulp, with a driving engine for a plot and a Lee Marvin-like inclination toward swift and unreflective action. Tardi’s art delivers the action with admirable punch and attitude to spare." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "Rock Candy is a wonderful book. [Femke] Hiemstra's work is a tribute to folk tales and surreal nightmares. It could not be better portrayed than how designer Jacob Covey of Fantagraphics has done it. This compact book, in style with Hiemstra's art, depicts her imaginative work in a playful way. Sketches, examples and inspirations then give a look behind the scenes how Hiemstra's childhood dreams and nightmares are established. An absolute must!" – Cadoc.nl (translated from Dutch)

• Plugs: At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins runs down his SPX haul, including a bunch of our Ignatz Series titles

• (Wild) Things to see: Vice magazine has a series of strips they commissioned to tie in with the Where the Wild Things Are movie by some of our favorite cartoonists selected by Johnny Ryan; Josh Simmons contributed this strip and reveals a different one that was rejected (for PG-13 gore)

• Things to see: Peanuts parody from Roger Langridge

• Things to see and buy: Via email from C. Tyler: a rare original Justin Green comics page on eBay

Pressure Printing has announced a new limited-edition print titled "Haniwa" from Rock Candy artist Femke Hiemstra. Go to their blog for more info and lots and lots of photos, from art in progress to print in progress to finished product.

• Lists: Graphic Novel Reporter's "Graphic Novel Picks for Fall 2009" has Al Columbia's Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days as a pick for Tweens, while The Squirrel Machine, West Coast Blues, and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD are on the Adult Fiction list

• Review: "...[T]hese extraordinary visions from a different, four-colour era [in You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!] are as bold and striking as they are violent and strange.... Classic comics from a different age." - Grovel

• Review: "This new book from Fantagraphics of Femke Hiemstra’s work [Rock Candy] is gorgeous. The cloth hardbound book has a nice die-cut cover and the inside is jam packed with Femke’s works including tons of paintings and drawings alongside loose sketches.... The way the sketches are juxtaposed with the finished work in the book makes me feel like I’m getting an insider’s view. If you're a fan of 'pop surrealism,' this is a book for you." - Julia Rothman, Book By Its Cover

• Review: "I said, 'It seems to me that when comics become abstract, they really cease to be comics and become, for all effective purposes, simply abstract art.' But this anthology [Abstract Comics], in its best work as well as in its not-best, shows that that's not true. Comics really are a coherent enough medium to support their own tradition of abstraction. That tradition doesn't quite exist yet. But, in this anthology, [editor] Andrei [Molotiu] shows conclusively that it could." - Noah Berlatsky, The Hooded Utilitarian

• Review: "...magnificent reproductions, done in a sturdy hardcover [Prince Valiant Vol. 1: 1937-1938] with oversized pages and entirely restored colors and shadings (indeed, those of us who’ve seen Prince Valiant reprint editions in the past will need some mental time to adjust to how much we’ve been missing)." - Steven Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly (via Steven Hart)

• Commentary: At Comics Comics, Jeet Heer offers some follow-up thoughts to Dan Nadel's previous essay on Prince Valiant

• Interview: Adrian Kinnaird of From Earth's End talks to Abstract Comics contributor Draw: "I had an epiphany. The gutter is where all the action in a comic takes place, it's where the reader creates the comic reading experience.... I wasn't trying to create effects, I was trying to create a visual representation of what happens in the gutter of a comic."

• Preview: Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool looks ahead to our February '10 release King of the Flies: Hallorave by Pirus & Mezzo: "King Of The Flies looks like it should disturb and entertain on an equal basis."

• Preview: Akileos Editions will be releasing a translated edition of Blazing Combat in France

• Things to see: At the Covered blog, Steven Weissman's Zip-a-Toney take on Superboy #116

• Things to see: The clown appears to be the "food" in this scenario, from Tim Lane

New comics arrive in comics shops on Thursday this week due to the U.S. holiday. That gives you an extra day to count up your nickels because HOO BOY do we have a ton of stuff scheduled to land in shops this week! Such as:

All and Sundry: Uncollected Work 2004-2009 by Paul Hornschemeier

Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock 'n' Roll Life by Bruce Paley & Carol Swain

Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 by the Hernandez Brothers

The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book by Joe Daly

Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra

The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit

This Side of Jordan by Monte Schulz (cover by Al Columbia)

West Coast Blues by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette

Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra
By Femke Hiemstra

Dutch artist and designer Femke Hiemstra has a unique style and vision that evokes the work of Robert Williams and Mark Ryden, but with a less cynical worldview that invites the viewer to enter the magic spaces she creates. Rock Candy is the artist’s first retrospective and fully spotlights her talent, whimsy and wit in a deluxe package certain to catapult her to the forefront of the Pop Surrealism movement.

Hiemstra’s paintings and illustrations are united by a meticulous attention to craft that gives life to her dark, lush, fairytale landscapes where inanimate objects come to life and frolic with anthropomorphs of all types. She incorporates mixed media, found objects, typography, and a variety of influences ranging from fireworks packaging to Japanese woodblock prints.

Rock Candy presents Hiemstra’s entire life and career under one cover. In addition to over 100 gorgeous reproductions of her paintings and illustrations, Rock Candy includes photographs and reproductions of her studio, her influences, her family and much more. The book also includes an introduction by Kirsten Anderson, author of Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art and proprietor of the Roq La Rue Gallery (Seattle, WA), as well as an interview with Hiemstra, statements about the works by the artist, and many other surprises that are certain to make Hiemstra a household name amongst fans of Pop Surrealism.

176-page full-color 6.5" x 8.25" hardcover with die-cut cover • $29.99
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Presenting a unique art book collecting the work of the Pop Surrealism movement's brightest rising star. Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra intersperses the young Dutch artist's stunning work with photos and ephemera demonstrating her process and influences. This book is now available for pre-order in our online shop following its hit debut at Comic-Con last month. Get a taste by downloading our 15-page PDF preview. This book will be in stock and shipping in a week or two, and in stores approximately 4 weeks later (subject to change).

In our news section, we're pleased to bring you the lowdown on our books and comics slated for release in August, 2009, as will be seen in the pages of Previews. It's a big month! The list includes:

• The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 by Charles M. Schulz
• The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set
• Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 1 by Roy Crane
• Rock Candy by Femke Hiemstra
• This Side of Jordan by Monte Schulz
• Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition by Stan Sakai
• Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 by the Hernandez Brothers
• Like a Dog by Zak Sally 

We also put up our actual Previews spread as a print-quality PDF file, just for fun. Jason Miles designed it and it'll clobber your eyeballs like a roundhouse from Capt. Easy himself. Click on through for the full dirt.

Artist Femke Hiemstra has launched a fantastic new website, FEMTASIA. If you haven't heard of her yet, Fantagraphics will be publishing Hiemstra's first art collection, ROCK CANDY, in the late Spring of this year, so you will soon.

Robin McConnell and the Inkstuds crew talk to Anders Nilsen about Big Questions and more.

Van Jensen of CBR talks to Jacob Covey and Femke Hiemstra about BEASTS! 2.