If you've been wondering why it's been a while since we've seen any new comics from Gipi, here's a good reason: he's been making a live-action film, L'Ultimo Terrestre, and he's just shared this teaser at his blog. I don't understand a word but it looks kind of funny, kind of creepy, it's got aliens — sign me up!

• This strip by Stan Sakai showing himself interviewing his creation Usagi Yojimbo is so damn cute I'm sharing it even though it was posted on the blog of our rival publisher Dark Horse. Heck, rival schmival, buy Usagi no matter who puts it out! It's Usagi!

• Happy Presidents Day from our own Jason T. Miles

• A glimpse at her story in Mome Vol. 21 from Lilli Carré

• Pick up the new issue of Bitch magazine for a one page comic about Lucy Parsons by Laura Park

• A mess of collaborative drawings by Andrice Arp and friends

• At Covered, it's Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius done Action Comics #1-style by Jeffrey Meyer

And more Things to See from the past week:

• A new illustration from Matthias Lehmann at his Bloc-Notes blog

• Strips, illustrations and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

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

• Landscapes in airbrush and pen from Frank Santoro

• Recent timely sketches & illustrations by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• More artwork from Mark Kalesniko's new graphic novel Freeway at his blog — dang a lot of work went into that book

• A page from a Kevin Huizenga "Focus" book at his New Construction blog

• Noah Van Sciver has a Bad Dream and translates a ghost story to video

• New sketches & strips by Laura Park

• The latest from Renee French

• The final batch of sketches from the "21" sketchbook at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog

• Sketches, portraits, & updates from Steve Brodner

• Gipi still illustrates for Internazionale

• A nattily dressed forlorn monstrosity and a portrait of collaborator Shaun Partridge by Josh Simmons

• Daily drawings from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Recent sketches by Tom Kaczynski at his Transatlantis blog

Spotlighting a bit more artwork from the GRSF Post-It Show 6 (some previously seen here), among other things.

• Eleanor Davis's "Es vs. Ich" Post-it series at her Doing Fine blog, with preliminary doodles on her We Be Ouija sketch blog

• Anders Nilsen's Post-its at The Monologuist

• Jim Blanchard's portrait of Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack T. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove (not a Post-it)

• Leslie Stein's "Murmur" from Smoke Signal plus other stuff at her Majestic Creature blog

• Johnny Ryan posted a few of what look to be mostly previously unseen commissions from a few years ago on his Flickr page

• Creepy panels from Joe Kimball

And more Things to See from the past week:

• From Steven Weissman, his latest "I, Anonymous" spots and other things on his Chewing Gum in Church blog, plus sketchbook pages on Flickr

• A new print at John Hankiewicz's Clip Joint blog

• Sketches by Frank Santoro at the Cold Heat Comics blog

• More sketches for Mark Kalesniko's forthcoming graphic novel Freeway (now up for pre-order!) at his blog

• Noah Van Sciver looks back on "Noahism"

• Sketches and strips by Laura Park at her Flickr page

• Illustrations at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog, and at his Mondobliquo blog

• Drawings, sketches, photos (Domo vs. Slug Girl) from Renee French

• A new illustration and a change of technique by Gipi

• Daily drawings and visual art made from the script of The Social Network by Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

Gipi recounts the story behind this illustration, learning that he's not the first artist in Italy to have this idea recently.

Click for improved/additional viewing and possible artist commentary at the sources:

• Noah Van Sciver draws a rock show (Danzig!) for the Denver Westword, plus more stuff at his blog

• Richard Sala's "Psycho-rama" from Blab #7, 1992

• Jackie No-Name diorama cutout and Belligerent Piano intro page from Smoke Signal #3 courtesy of Tim Lane 

• Speaking of Smoke Signal, here's Leslie Stein's "Murmur" from that selfsame publication

• Robert Goodin does Simon & Kirby at Repaneled

• Carol Tyler was a visiting artist at the Center for Cartoon Studies last week (and celebrated a birthday yesterday), all noted on her Screened-in Porch blog

• Gipi discusses his recent health problems and presents a series of self-portraits at his blog

And more Things to See from the past week:

• Early strips, illustrations, outtakes and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spots and sketches (and Post-its for sale) on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• A new print at John Hankiewicz's Clip Joint blog

• Sketches by Frank Santoro at the Cold Heat Comics blog

• An exhibit announcement at Marco Corona's Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• Vintage Jim Flora illustrations & artwork (plus shelf porn) at the Jim Flora blog

• Nature sketches with running commentary by Debbie Drechsler at her Just Around the Corner blog

• More sketches for Mark Kalesniko's forthcoming graphic novel Freeway (now up for pre-order!) at his blog

• Sergio Ponchione re-launches Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog

• Drawings, sketches, photos from Renee French

• Daily drawings (and a few videos) from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Caricatures, a new Need to Know video, and commentary on current events by Steve Brodner

• Pages and panels by Derek Van Gieson at his These Days I Remain blog

• New sketches by Eleanor Davis at her We Be Ouija blog

Periodic clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Yoinked from Facebook, Miss Lasko-Gross's self-portrait for the Graphic Details art show at the Cartoon Art Museum

• Another Facebook find: Charles Schneider posted this new album cover illustration by Gahan Wilson

• Facebook strikes again: a rejected cover sketch for Gil Kane's Savage!, from the Gil Kane Unchained page (see the final cover and read a review of the book at Guns in the Gutters)

• A Jim Woodring sketch on his own letterhead from 1993 along with a 1992 interview at TCJ.com's Guttergeek

• Bob Fingerman draws "Girl and Critters"

• Trace monotype prints by John Hankiewicz from his own figure drawings

• This week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane, which he posted early "out of excitement"

• Mark Kalesniko's "Tina in a Polka-Dot Dress"

• Dang, Josh Simmons, that's a fat Quacker; also, a collaboration with Wendy Chin descriptively titled "Wang"

• From Renee French, "balls," "Doc" and, um something shadowy

• Steve Brodner's Senate Frieze for the New Yorker

• Car engines by Gabrielle Bell, Esther Pearl Watson & others for an invitational art show curated by Anders Nilsen at Chicago's Lula's Cafe (via The Monologuist)

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary page 35

• Tony Millionaire's most recent Maakies strip

• Gipi asks the age-old question: "Shit or chocolate?"

Buckle in for two weeks worth of clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Jaime Hernandez, 1977 (from friend/fan Bernie Ramirez on the Love and Rockets Facebook page)

• Anders Nilsen's Dennis Hopper for Cinefamily is magnificent

• How about a little Dennis the Menace/Lost mash-up at Big Shiny Robot?

• Moscow-born San Francisco-residing cartoonist Roman Muradov sends us some pages done in homage/tribute to Jason — they're good, and got a thumbs-up from Jason

• Again with the Comics presents a Scooby-Doo story drawn by... Ivan Brunetti?? (via Steven Thompson)

• Jason's sketch of Jean-Pierre Melville, plus more recent blog entries about Lino Ventura, Alain Delon, and summer reading

• Rosebud Archives presents a super-rare promotional flyer for Charles M. Schulz's Young Pillars

• It's the two latest weekly installments of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• Gipi describes his new video "Antony" as "a classic film thriller"

• For The Bold Italic, Jon Adams profiles 3 real-life Bay Area Comic Book Guys (via Robot 6); also, two installments of Truth Serum

• From Kevin Huizenga, a new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond

• From Dash Shaw: a new silkscreen print; sketchbook pages; Ruined Cast sketches; The Lion King

• From Steven Weissman: "I, Anonymous" for last week and this week; Lumpy Noodle

• Frank Santoro gives another sneak peek at his Strange Tales Silver Surfer

• Drew Weing presents Set to Sea pages 112, 113, 114 & 115. Also, could someone snag me a set of these buttons? 

• Tim Lane's Belligerent Piano episodes 21 and 22

• A 1950 profile of Jim Flora

• Johnny Ryan has a bunch of new prints for sale. We saw Matt Groening admiring the one above at Comic-Con, our own Kristy Valenti very happily bought the cat one, and the "Nachos" one is just 100% pure genius

• Debbie Drechsler's latest round of nature sketches features squirrels, birds, bugs & spiders

• From Mark Kalesniko, two sets of quick sketches

• Sergio Ponchione posts some pages of his artwork from Cattivi Soggetti, an anthology of noir stories written by Danielle Brolli

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop

• Noah Van Sciver posts an excerpt from Blammo #5

• From Josh Simmons & co: King Quackers, Skeezy Quacker, Quacker dreams, Quokkers, cupcake crimes

• Renee French has too many updates to link all of them individually; just go to her blog and work your way down. This, this, and this are highlights for me

• Steve Brodner's latest segment from PBS's Need to Know, "Obama Where Art Thou?" and his tribute to the late John Callahan

• I think the painting from Josh Simmons's House snuck into Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary

• Tom Kaczynski's sketches from the La Mano 2nd Annual Report and another show

• Something new & untitled from Joe Kimball

Periodic clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Set to Sea pages 104 and 105 from Drew Weing

• It's your all-new weekly installment of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• Lots of Kevin Huizenga updates: a new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip, Fight or Run's Chopper at rest; and minicomic sketchbooks at New Construction (not to mention a peek at his new D&Q book)

• A heartbreaking "I, Anonymous " from Steven Weissman

• Sketches of sculptures by Aristide Maillol by John Hankiewicz

• A scene with power lines by Frank Santoro

• New crafts (including this vampire wedding cake topper) and photos from Portugal in Dame Darcy's latest blog update

"THEN, OUTA NOWHERE… Grunt. Shriek. Bash. Crash. Ook. Ook!"

• A new short short story from Gary Panter

• A luscious new story page and this week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• A 1967 Mexican cityscape by Jim Flora

• Debbie Drechsler sketches squirrels

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — I can just hear the funky theme song

• Noah Van Sciver is waiting on tenterhooks to hear if the story this page is from has been accepted for Mome (sorry Noah, I got no scoop)

• Quackers silliness here and here and Randy Gander raunchiness here and here from Josh Simmons & cohort

• From Renee French: photo, platform, tire swing, hair rock

• Steve Brodner's tribute to Sen. Robert Byrd

• Something new from a work in progress, an article for Il Post, and a video about the Mafia by Gipi

• Nate Neal, payin' the bills

• Two illustrations by Marco Corona for Internazionale

• Two new installments of Truth Serum by Jon Adams

The Architektur Forum in Linz, Austria recently hosted a fascinating-looking exhibition of "Architecture and Comics" in association with the Next Comic-Festival. The exhibit included reproductions of work by Jim Woodring, Johnny Ryan , Joe Sacco, Gipi, Lorenzo Mattotti, Chris Ware and many others, including this 3D reconstruction of George Herriman's Coconino County Jail from Krazy Kat constructed by exhibit curator Christian Wellmann, who provided this photo. For more photos and information about the exhibit (in German), visit Unkraut Comic Magazin.

A variety of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: The Comics Journal's R.C. Harvey names Sam's Strip ("because its spoof of comic strip cartooning is a joy to behold and because it has been so long awaited") and Humbug ("because, like Sam’s Strip, we’ve waited so long for a reappearance and because of the exquisite care Fantagraphics took in making the copies of the magazine’s pages as exact as possible") as two of the Best Reprints of 2009

• Review: "...[T]he handful of short stories [in The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.] represent great leaps in, or at the very least previously unseen examples of, [Shaw's] innovative approach to comics coloring, as well as some inventive storytelling techniques." – Christopher Allen, Comic Book Galaxy

• Analysis: At PopMatters, Oliver Ho explores the resonances between Gipi's Wish You Were Here #2: They Found the Car and the classic noir film Out of the Past: "It’s as though the story is trying to invert noir’s cliches. For example, Gipi avoids flashbacks, where Out of the Past is built on them. In this respect, the comic feels like a distilled, even-harder-boiled noir story."

• Links: Love & Maggie concludes their exhaustive, annotated breakdown of the contents of The Comics Journal #38

• Changes: Best of luck to frequent OCD link-ee Heidi MacDonald as The Beat leaves the PW umbrella and goes solo

• Things to see: More kids-book illustrations by Richard Sala

• Things to see: I can certainly understand why Kevin Huizenga did this particular piece of fan art

• Things to see: Mark Newgarden would gladly paint a mural for you Tuesday for a hamburger to-day (via The Comics Reporter)