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

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

• T. Edward Bak presents a new epilogue to his acclaimed comic Service Industry

• Jordan Crane posts a new installment of "Chapter Two - Unraveling" at What Things Do

• The new Jim Flora fine art print, Ferris Wheel Fireworks, is now up for pre-order

• See and buy all 100+ pieces of Johnny Ryan, Matt Furie & Le Merde art from GRSF's The Boys are Back in Town exhibit — I think there's some new characters from Prison Pit Book 2 in there

• On a graph with "vagueness" and "obscenity" on the X and Y axes, this Renee French drawing is in the upper right corner

• Harmonicats with ELO bling and other oddities in Derek Van Gieson's "Abstraction House"

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Reading this book was like unearthing a trunkload of old baby pictures… if the babies in question would eventually grow up to become Mad Magazine and Rat Fink. ...[L]ike a Buddy Holly song on an oldies station or WWII-era tattoo flash, some art just stands the test of time and becomes classic. Basil Wolverton’s Culture Corner is a one-of-a-kind work and definitely falls into that category. [Grade: A]" – Chad Derdowski, Mania

• Review: "For some time now, Norwegian cartoonist Jason has been on my shortlist of recommended artists for the uninitiated. ... The next question, naturally, is: which Jason book to start with? Almost Silent... fits the bill perfectly. ... This is the output of an artist with a clear vision who is truly at the top of his game. ... Beautifully bound and reasonably priced, you’re not going to find a much better entry point into the world of contemporary graphic novels than Almost Silent." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Review: "...The Last Lonely Saturday [is] pretty much the best love story in comics form I've ever come across. ... It's an intelligent, moving, beautiful, terrific little comic." – Sean T. Collins (we linked to this previously when it ran on The Savage Critics but it's worth re-running)

• Review: "Here’s a book that was initially attractive as an intriguing, if intellectual, curiosity, only to reveal itself in short order as a continually fascinating experience. ... I hope this volume, despite its killer commercial potential, will inspire a second. ...Abstract Comics is the most surprising book of the year." – Rich Kreiner, "Yearlong Best of the Year," The Comics Journal

• Interview: Mr. Media's Bob Andelman talks to Monte Schulz about This Side of Jordan: "My dad read the book before he died. He liked Rascal a lot — 'He's such a funny little guy.' He used to tell me I was raising the level of art in the family." Listen via the embedded player above or at this link, or download the MP3

• It's a new New Character Parade strip from Johnny Ryan

• Kevin Huizenga gives us perhaps the kookiest installment of Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond yet

• Frank Santoro's views of Pittsburgh, PA

• David Paleo presents his portrait of Rickie Lee Jones from the book Talk to Her

• Gabrielle Bell gets a haircut in her new Lucky strip

• A recent book cover illustration by Sergio Ponchione

• A peek, an escape from Renee French

• Usagi Yojimbo art by Stan Sakai for the Comix Experience 21st Anniversary CLBDF Benefit auction

• So, one of those Apple Council creeps got to Kevin Huizenga too, huh?

• Mark Kalesniko captures a woman on her cell phone

• Sayeth Hans Rickheit: "I like Page 15 [of Ectopiary] simply because it contains a stuffy old lady denigrating beatniks and artists; that is always a winning ingredient of any succsessful book, in my opinion."

• Fresh off the drawing board, new pages from Derek Van Gieson

• The "structure" drawings from Tom Kaczynski keep on a-coming: "fossilized bloom," "batholitic vessel," and "decay as propellant" (above)

• A new chunk of Jordan Crane at What Things Do

• The last word today goes to Jeremy Eaton, with this illustration for a (now out-of-date) Seattle Weekly article about that whole Amazon/Diamond foofarah. 'Nuff said!

Well lookee here:

Memoirs of a Scanner (Pillows Edition) from Damon Stea on Vimeo.

• Watch carefully or you'll miss a certain cameo appearance in this clever video that Kim came across on The Daily Dish a few days ago

• A Johnny Ryan drawing for a good cause

• And the logo for that school? It's by Jordan Crane (the above two items via Steven Weissman on Twitter)

• Three Men in a Tub's Ted Dawson posts this 1976 self-portrait by Charles M. Schulz. Dig those pants! (Via The Comics Reporter)

• Hand-embellished purses (and bunny ears) made by Dame Darcy, very reasonably priced

• A flurry of activity from Lilli Carré: a print for Artifice Magazine, a silkscreened accordion book she's selling at the Chicago Zine Fest this weekend, and two watercolor drawings

• New sketches from Mark Kalesniko

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest illustration for the WSJ; also, last chance to order that commission you've been wanting

• Another in a series from Tom Kaczynski

• A cut Mome one-pager from Derek Van Gieson

I might have to start posting these art-blog roundups on the weekends too... these Monday updates are outa control...

• Airbrushed Zippy the Pinhead art (artist unknown)! Posting this on Facebook, Bill Griffith says "This is the 2-page spread ad for the 'Zippy Movie' from Variety magazine, 3/29/90. The ad was taken out by the Aspen Film Society (at that time they were the producers of the movie) in hopes of attracting a studio/distributor. Are we in turnaround yet?" More about it (and the likewise never-to-be Zippy TV show series) here

• Check out all the artwork from the Covered art show here on the Secret Headquarters Flickr page — I'm pretty sure I haven't featured this Johnny Ryan piece on Flog before — and organizer/curator Robert Goodin has a report and photos from the opening on his blog

• Michael Kupperman awards the Oscar for best Oscar

• John Hankiewicz does Ditko , plus another sketchbook page

• A 1994 minicomic by Frank Santoro & Jon Good

• Jewelry and accessories "made from 100% genuine doll" by Dame Darcy

• Several new pieces by Richard Sala available at Comic Art Collective or direct via Richard's blog

• Detail of a mid-1990s Jim Flora illustration

• The conclusion of Gabrielle Bell's New York story

• Mark Kalesniko is really channeling Egon Schiele in this one

• Yowie! Sergio Ponchione presents a full-color Grotesque story from the pages of the new issue of Linus

• This one from Renee French is even creepier as the follow-up to this one

• Ectopiary page 14 and a Cochlea and Eustachia one-pager from Hans Rickheit

• More from "Tales of Abstraction House" by Derek Van Gieson

• Three more structures by Tom Kaczynski: "incoherent amalgamation," "basalt garden" and, above, "The Tomb of Jack Kirby"

• More new Jordan Crane at What Things Do

Good grief, all you art bloggers sure stay busy over the weekends...

• Man, remember the awesome comics that Tower Records' Pulse magazine ran back in the 1990s, like this one from Frank Santoro?

• A piece by Richard Sala for an Oz-themed art show at Gallery Meltdown in L.A. which opened on Saturday (Steven Weissman's in it too)

• Speaking of Steven Weissman, here are some ideas he's working on

• Nautical sketches circa 1950s by Jim Flora

• Two from Jim Blanchard, who describes the commissioned drawing at top as "Definitely the high point of my art career so far"; at bottom, a record cover (click through for even more groovy lettering on the back cover)

• A series of mother-with-child sketches by Mark Kalesniko

• God damn, Renee French

• Alain Saint-Ogan fan art and "F" is for Fielder by Kevin Huizenga

• This and two more sketchbook spreads by Anders Nilsen

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary page 13, plus a singing monkey

• The continuation of a New York Lucky story by Gabrielle Bell

• Nate Neal sneaks a guy into this page of Derek Van Gieson's story

• More new Jordan Crane at What Things Do

• Talk about a blockhead (haw haw): I'm Learning to Share! shares a Charles M. Schulz rarity, Two-by-Fours (via Robot 6)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Anderson’s King is most definitely NOT your feel-good, sanctifying version of King’s life that most readers are probably used to. ...[T]he MLK presented here is a multi-dimensional, gifted man … but still very much a man, nevertheless, filled with doubt, frustration, anger, arrogance, and even deceit. ... While Anderson starkly presents King’s less-than-saintly episodes... the final reaction is a fuller understanding of a great man, with inspiring ideals, and an unshakeable dedication to equality through nonviolent, loving means. ... MLK’s legacy undeniably lives on in Anderson’s King." – Terry Hong, Bookdragon (Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program)

• Review: "Dash Shaw was praised to the skies for his hefty 2008 graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button, but the 26-year-old cartoonist’s real strength so far in his career has been his short strips, which have displayed a diversity of subject matter and style that make each piece feel like something wholly new. The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.... does reveal a future master in his formative stages, working to find a balance between his interest in subtle adult relationships—teacher/pupil, flirter/flirtee, etc.—and his yen to try out new approaches to drawing and coloring. Shaw may be the cartoonist of the rising generation most capable of delivering a long-form work with the formal daring and humanity of a David Mazzucchelli or an Art Spiegelman. Consider The Unclothed Man a document of his baby steps… B+" – The A.V. Club

• Plug: "The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 comes out in March, meaning we'll be halfway through this amazing, historical publication. I can't say enough about these collections. It's not only remarkable in its simple, truthful capturing of the human condition, but a beautiful historical document of the second half of the 20th Century." – Rob Kozlowski

• Interview: On the Inkstuds radio programme, Jordan Crane and Sammy Harkham have a feisty conversation with host Robin McConnell about their webcomics concern, What Things Do

• Commentary: NPR 's Glen Weldon, surveying some of the connections between comics and pop music, says "Love and Rockets, by Los Bros Hernandez, wasn't just about a punk band, it was a book steeped in an anarchic punk sensibility that even today, 30 years later, still seems bracing and unapologetic."

• Academia: Prof. Zak Sally presents his classroom curriculum

• Aha: So that's where the Snoopy-in-a-cast storyline in the upcoming 13th volume of The Complete Peanuts came from (via Spurge)

Gaze in wonder (and click for expanded/complete wonderment):

• Official images for the 2010 MoCCA Art Festival by Dash Shaw: poster (top), booklet (middle; hilarious) and t-shirt (bottom); Dash comments on his blog

• XOY, a new print by John Hankiewicz

• Don't miss Debbie Drechsler's frequent updates to her sketch blog, such as these lovely birds

• Steven Weissman's artwork for the "Year of the Tiger" show at GR2; also, the original sketch

• Paul Hornschemeier's cover art for the paperback edition of James Kennedy's novel The Order of Odd-Fish

• Is "Focus" a new mini from Kevin Huizenga? He never 'splains nothin' on his blog

• Part 3 of Chapter 2 of this Jordan Crane story at What Things Do

• Niño Milagroso — an illustration for a novel by Hernán Migoya by our own Eric Reynolds

• Don't forget to check Renee French's art blog for daily updates like this

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At The Comics Journal, the back half of Rob Clough's Top 50 Comics of 2009 includes:

#29, The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 by Charles Schulz: "Twenty-two years into his run on this strip, Schulz was still at his peak even as Peanuts was moving into a new phase."

#31, Mome Vol. 14: "The most consistently excellent anthology in comics, issue after issue."

#39, Uptight #3 (misidentified as #2) by Jordan Crane: "Both [stories] were perfectly suited for this lo-fi yet gorgeously designed comic..."

#43, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book by Joe Daly: "Daly didn’t create just a story or a set of characters, but an entire community for readers to wander around in and become comfortable with. Equal parts Tintin and The Big Lebowski, this was a stoner detective story, with all sorts of absurd events popping up in everyday life and eventually making a kind of sense."

#46, Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me by Peter Bagge: "This is Bagge-as-Mencken, trenchantly tearing apart stupid ideas from both the left and the right and doing it while actually going out into the field, gathering facts, and talking to people. His hyper-expressive style was a perfect fit for his over-the-top political commentary."

And finally, #50, Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 by Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez: "Jaime’s conclusion to 'Ti-Girls Adventures' managed to combine rip-snorting action and compelling character work. Gilbert’s 'Hypnotwist' was both a callback to his New Love-style weirdness and yet another entry in his 'pulp movie' adaptations. ...[I]t’s clear both brothers were having such a good time following their impulses."

• Review: "Abstract Comics: The title is, in itself, a manifesto. It makes official the existence of these strange objects that some will reject as a contradiction in terms: 'abstract comics.' ... In the abstract comics gathered by Molotiu, sequential ordering produces nothing on the order of a story; but solidarity between the panels is established (in more or less convincing and seducing fashions) in another mode — plastic, rhythmic and so to speak musical. Personally, I do not refuse to make a place for these creations in the field of comics, because I wish that field to be as open and as diversified in its expressions as possible, without excluding anything a priori. Nevertheless, I still note that they have closer affinities with the operating modes of contemporary art that with the ordinary ambitions of drawn literatures." – Thierry Groensteen, Neuvieme Art (excerpt and translation by Andrei Molotiu at the Abstract Comics Blog)

• Review: "Perhaps the best adjective I could employ to describe Castle Waiting would be 'homey.' It’s all about the pleasures of home and the relief of being amongst family who accept you, even if they don’t happen to be related to you or even entirely human. ... Taken on the surface, it’s a perfectly cozy and enjoyable story. If one decides to delve more deeply, themes of tolerance and equality can be found gently at work, though by no means do they take precedence over the characters. Lest all of this sound a bit too quaintly domestic, let me assure you that the story is also quite funny." – Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue