Here it is: the first public look at our long-awaited Humbug collection! This two-volume slipcased hardcover set assembles the never-before-collected, complete, original 11-issue run (1957-58) of the satirical magazine conceived and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and created by Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee (Kurtzman's MAD magazine cohorts one and all) and Arnold Roth.

Click here if the embedded slideshow doesn't appear above, or to open a larger version in a new window. And if you haven't already, you'll also want to check out our exclusive feature "The Production Evolution of a Humbug Page."

Esther Pearl Watson
UNLOVABLE
Opening reception and book signing Saturday, February 7, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through March 4, 2009
(more event info)

HUMBUG
Original art, artifacts and ephemera from Harvey Kurtzman's classic humor magazine.
Public preview Saturday, March 7, 11:30 to 8:00 PM
Exhibition continues through April Fools Day, 2009
(more about Humbug)

Dame Darcy
Music performance and book signing
Saturday, March 14, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
(more about Dame Darcy)

Jaime Hernandez and Stan Sakai
Original art by two masters of the medium.
Opening reception and book signing Saturday, April 4, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through May 6, 2009
(more about Jaime Hernandez and Stan Sakai)

Tony Millionaire
DRINKY CROW
Opening reception and book signing Saturday, May 9, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through June 10, 2009
(more about Tony Millionaire)

JASON
Opening reception and book signing Saturday, June 13, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through July 8, 2009
(more about Jason)

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at the corner of Airport Way S.) in Seattle's Georgetown arts community. Phone 206.658.0110. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM.

• List: The Comics Reporter posts Rich Tommaso's Best of 2008 list, which includes Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers

• Review: Swedish blog Weltklasse Serier says Ganges #1 by Kevin Huizenga is "a blue anemone in the great series of forest," according to the Google translation

• Blurb: Irish illustration blog Scamp takes note of Beasts! Book 2

• Things to see: Getting excited for the imminent release of our Humbug collection? Whet your appetite with some original pages, courtesy of Joey Anuff

Holy figs, this daily link post looks like one of my weekly roundups of old:

• PopMatters takes a quick look at Robert Pollard's Town of Mirrors

• PopMatters again, on Bill Mauldin's Willie & Joe: The WWII Years

• Iconoctlán examines The Comics Journal #293 (en Español; Google translation)

• The Austin American-Statesman's lengthy roundup of coffee-table book holiday recommendations includes Bill Mauldin's Willie & Joe: The WWII Years and Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell

• NuVoid wraps up the 2008 output of Robert Pollard, including Town of Mirrors

• Did you know that if you buy the Popeye the Sailor: 1941-1943 (Vol. 3) DVD set you also get an exclusive Popeye mini-comic we produced with a story from our upcoming Popeye Vol. 4 collection? Booksteve noticed

• Chris Barat reviews Popeye Vol. 3: "Let's You and Him Fight!"

• Forward talks to Miss Lasko-Gross for a profile of Jewish women cartoonists

• The North Adams Transcript looks at Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane

• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch includes Abandoned Cars, Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell, and Jules Feiffer's Explainers on its list of "Best Books of 2008: Graphic Literature"

• Beard reviews Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers

• Tropismes (l'Appartement) is yet another French site looking at Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw (Google translation)

• Terri Torres is excited for the new issue of Linda Medley's Castle Waiting

• On the USA TODAY Pop Candy blog, Whitney Matheson declares Lilli Carré's The Lagoon is the "Best book [she] read" last week

• Cartoonist Mark Kaufman is looking forward to our Humbug collection

• Dustin Harbin's top 10 "Best Comics of 2008" includes Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga, Popeye Vol. 3, and Bottomless Belly Button

• Here's video from Pat Moriarity's art opening at 108 Occidental Gallery in Seattle, with music from Pat and his son Jack

• Bill Willingham looks back at Coventry

• Wayno talks about contributing to our forthcoming collection of 1980s "New Wave" minicomics

• On the Comics Comics blog, Mark Newgarden & Paul Karasik need your help in dating an Ernie Bushmiller Nancy strip

• Dan Zettwoch discusses his contribution to Beasts! Book 2

• The Dallas Morning News reports on an exhibit of Bill Mauldin cartoons at the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City

• Mark Mattson compares our annual catalog favorably to the Sears Wish Book -- did you get yours?

HUMBUG is coming in early 2009.

Presenting your first look at the final design (from one angle) of our eagerly-anticipated Humbug collection. Image (and post title) provided by book designer Adam Grano. Read more about the Humbug project right here. (Press: higher-res image available - contact Eric Reynolds.)

• Dash Shaw and Tony Millionaire are amongst the the official selections from which the the Festival International de la BD Angouleme main prizes will be drawn from at January's festival. That is very cool.

• Joey Anuff has justified the Internet's existence.

• Charles Crumb, who passed away 14 years ago, is gone but not forgotten. 

• Rudy Ray Moore is not so far removed from the realm of this blog that it would be inappropriate to lament his passing here. R.I.P., R.R.M. A tip of the fur bucket to Rick Altergott and Jim Blanchard, who first introduced me to Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-In-Law.

• Dennis the Menace cartoonist Marcus Hamilton is a thankful man. 

• Bob Levin's blog is always worth reading. 

We got another package of original Humbug art, this time from Will Elder. Here's an example in keeping with the Christmas theme of the Al Jaffee art we posted previously. Click any of the photos for larger versions.

Here it is with the color overlay:

And here's a detail shot:

And don't forget to check out our feature detailing the production process of restoring a Humbug page.

We recently received a large package of original art from Al Jaffee for our upcoming complete Humbug collection. Here's just one amazing example -- click the image above to see a high-res version, and click here for a set with close-up detail photos. Also, if you haven't seen it already, see our nifty feature detailing the production process of restoring a Humbug page.