Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Angry Beavers creator Schauer displays a knowledge and fondness for the old-school culture of monster movies, and the art [in Rip M.D.] has a nice balance between the macabre and the absurd." – Publishers Weekly (link is temporary)

• Review: "...[I]t’s the combination of form and content, style and substance that makes Poison River – the graphic novel-length 'origin of Luba' story that comprises [Beyond Palomar]’s first two-thirds – one of the most singular, potent, unforgettable comics ever made by anyone, ever. ...[I]n a way, [Love and Rockets X] feels like a riff on the same ideas that drive Poison River, simply filtered through the American/urban/musical milieu normally occupied by Jaime. [...] There aren’t very many comics this affecting, that much I can tell you. You can probably count them on two hands with fingers to spare. I would say I envy the people who still get to read this for the first time, but I just re-read it, and here I sit, knocked on my ass." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: As part of his "Comics of the Decade" series, The Metabunker's Matthias Wivel re-presents his 2000 examination of Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde

• Interview: Vice's Nick Gazin talks to Johnny Ryan, prompting answers like "I have no idea. How the fuck would I know? You're a horrible interviewer."

Jaime Hernandez & Joe Sacco will be special guests at Miami Book Fair International later this month. Jaime has a panel discussion on Saturday November 20 at 2:00 PM, and Joe speaks on the following day at the same time. It's all part of the festival's impressive "Weekend Cartoons" programming track. Much more info at the links above.

Joe Sacco is rightly considered to be one of our greatest living cartoonists, but he is most underrated as a humorist. From yesterday's New York Times.  

Portland-based writer, publisher, and bookseller Chloe Eudaly and renowned cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza, will discuss comics and journalism in a casual and lively presentation on Sunday, August 1 at the Portland Art Museum.
This program is offered in conjunction with the exhibition The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb's Book of Genesis, on view through September 19.

What: Joe Sacco and Chloe Eudaly in Conversation
When: Sunday, August 1, 2 p.m.
Where: Portland Art Museum, Whitsell Auditorium
Ticketing: $5 Museum members, $12 non-members. Tickets available at portlandartmuseum.org or at the Museum's box office.

Joe Sacco returned to his birth country of Malta to report on immigration & globalization in "The Unwanted," a 12-page story running at The Guardian. (Hat tip to ¡Journalista!)

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "In Weathercraft, his first foray into graphic-novel territory, Seattle denizen Jim Woodring employs his repertory troupe of ambiguous, liminal characters — Frank, Manhog, Pupshaw, and Pushpaw — to tell the kind of Pilgrim's Progress tale that David Lynch might have conjured up if he were a cartoonist. ... Impermanence, the conundrum of physical senses that guide and ensnare at the same time, the challenge of a rational response to an irrational universe — all this and more await the returning fan or the open-minded acolyte in Woodring's best work yet. And for an artist of his caliber, that's saying something." – Damian Van Denburgh, Critical Mob

• Review: "Loaded with hipster irony, profanity and long digressive conversations, it’s a loving tribute to half-repudiated childhood pleasures. ... At times, Dungeon Quest captures the anything-goes wanderlust of Calvin & Hobbes — if Calvin’s fantasies were real, set in rundown Los Angeles neighborhoods and loaded with swearing." – Jason Thompson, The Comics Journal

• Review: "The relationship stuff all rings true, and when it gets weird at the end, it doesn’t seem random and arbitrary, and that’s a difficult trick to pull off. ... I found Werewolves [of Montpellier] to be a delightful read; no profound life lessons were learned, but Jason’s storytelling is first-rate and life lessons are overrated anyway." – Johnny Bacardi, Popdose

• Reviewer: On his blog, Jason reviews the film Léon Morin, prêtre

• Review: "Deep within the barroom psychosis, Lane looks into the abyss and thinks about spitting into it. The drive that leads to destruction can also be a powerful and satisfying personal experience. While each story in Abandoned Cars ties together in a thick knot of dread, the best story sees Lane go on a blatantly autobiographical adventure, and head out for an adventure by jumping on trains." – Bob Temuka, The Tearoom of Despair

• Plugs: Library Journal's latest Graphic Novels Prepub Alert spotlights our November releases How to Read Nancy by Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden, Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition by Joe Sacco, and Unlovable: The Complete Collection by Esther Pearl Watson

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.

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Graphic Novel Reporter's "2010 Core Graphic Novels List" includes Ghost World, Safe Area Gorazde, and You'll Never Know; the "Expanded List" includes Abstract Comics, The Complete Peanuts , I Killed Adolf Hitler, It Was the War of the Trenches, Love and Rockets, Pim and Francie, Pogo, The Squirrel Machine, West Coast Blues, and You Are There

• Review: "Many books have been written about World War I, but few can truly worm their way into your head like Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches. … The tales here are devastating and heartbreaking, and often disturbing, but readers will nonetheless have a hard time putting it down." – Holly Scudero, Sacramento Book Review  

• Review: "Perhaps there is something in Charlie Brown, that the longer I read his adventures, the more I become a fatalist. I look at the history of Europe and I know that there are frequent periods of relative peace, such as the past 60 years in Poland. And since they are rare, sooner or later they can suddenly end." – Konrad Hildebrand, Motyw Drogi (translated from Polish)

• Review: "This, then, was my introduction to the idiosyncratic and fantastically imagined worlds of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez. ... While the stories and art of each Hernandez brother is unique, they shine extra bright by being juxtaposed, one to the other. Altogether: these rambling, lingering tales are bewitching." – Anna Clark, Isak

• Review: "...[In A Mess of Everything, Miss] Lasko-Gross covers the usual Holden Caulfield territory with brevity and an eye for detail. Her cartooning is very expressive and the book is coloured in subdued wash-like tones of brown, grey and blue that enhance the emotional impact of her cringe-worthy struggles for independence and individuality." – Bryan Munn, Sequential

• Plug: "[Roberta] Gregory is the cartoonist responsible for the comic series Naughty Bits, which is one of the best comic series I've ever read. Seriously, Life's a Bitch is one of my favorite comics ever. It's basically a biography of one normal — albeit kinda hateful — woman, and it's insightful, funny, and true." – Paul Constant, The Stranger (previewing an event on Saturday that, alas, we didn't know about in advance)

• Plug: Ragged Claws Network gives you a heads-up about Weathercraft by Jim Woodring

• Contributor notes: Bob Andelman, whose interview with Howard Chaykin about Will Eisner is included in The Best American Comics Criticism, talks about the book

• Reviewer: Laura Warholic author Alexander Theroux looks at a new biography of Jack London for The Wall Street Journal: "Readers can be pardoned for thinking it seems not improbable that London, given the chance, would punch Mr. Haley in the nose."

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

• Spanish-language newspaper El País publishes a Joe Sacco cover for their literature supplement

• The cover of Jon Vermilyea's forthcoming turtle-flavored minicomic Pizza Time

• This is a photo John Pham posted on Facebook of a piece he has in the Poketo "Los Angeles I'm Yours" art show at Space 1520 in LA which opened on Saturday and which also features handmade minicomics by Jordan Crane

• Also on Facebook, Bill Griffith posts this one-page story (excerpted above) which was recently published in a new book about Levittown, Second Suburb, edited by Dianne Harris (link goes straight to the image file, since I don't know Bill's Facebook privacy settings, but he posts cool stuff all the time)

• Moose! You're killing me with cuteness, Renee French

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary, page 21

• T. Edward Bak is posting several pages from his current serialized Mome story "Wild Man" — for 50 bucks you can purchase an original page and help fund his impending trip to Alaska for field research for the story, so hit that Paypal link on his blog

• Gabrielle Bell reports from her trip to Stockholm

• The Archer Prewitt-designed Allen Ginsberg figurine from Presspop is coming closer to reality

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Peter Bagge’s not-so-yearly update on the life and times of his signature character Buddy Bradley takes up about half of Hate Annual #8... It’s a funny story with a confident, natural progression and some keen observations to make... [T]his is... a welcome renewal of one of alt-comics’ most treasured series… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "The mid-’70s found Schulz pushing the strip further and further into the oddball, mixing fantasy and reality in extended storylines... The strip as a whole feels less scrappy and more settled in this era, though it’s no less inspired, and Schulz was clever enough to keep working his own state of mind into the finished product. The Complete Peanuts: 1975 - 1976 collects comics clearly drawn by a successful man still nagged by feelings of inadequacy not easily explained away… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Don’t be misled by High Soft Lisp’s cover. This isn’t just comic book smut or an adult version of Archie. Gilbert Hernandez has created some of the most fleshed-out and memorable women in comics since launching Love and Rockets with his brother Jaime in 1981. Their breasts might be outsized, but so are their minds and souls." – Garrett Martin, Boston Herald

• Review: "Fantagraphics’ fourth oversized collection of Elzie Segar’s legendary Thimble Theatre strips, famous as the birth place of Segar’s notorious Popeye the Sailor, continues the winning standard set by earlier editions. ... Fantagraphics’ enormous format remains among the best-looking strip reprints available." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Review: "Levin’s is not often a forceful tone; he digs up information and can deliver it in a scholarly enough manner, but also will follow his muse, digressing into dry humor and even an admitted Faulknerian flight of fancy. He’s fully engaged, grappling with the facts and the issues as he uncovers them, and the reader grapples right along with him. [Most Outrageous] is a much more compelling book for the fact that Levin doesn’t try to wrap it all up in a bow." – Christopher Allen, Comic Book Galaxy

• Plug: Emily Dresner of /project/multiplexer recommends Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde and Palestine: "...Joe Sacco blends embedded journalism on the ground with his art to make very compelling graphic novels."

• Woof: At her blog 1920 A.D., Ainur Elmgren looks at Nell Brinkley's depictions of dogs in The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons 1913-1940