Hump day Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "What more can I say about these wonderful [Complete Peanuts] collections? I’ve enjoyed each one immensely so far; they make me laugh and grin and even smirk a little from time to time... Top notch book. You can’t have a much better time than reading these collections. Highly recommended." - Todd Klein (link via Robot 6)

• Review: "[Prison Pit: Book 1] is the best comic Johnny Ryan has ever drawn. And I'm the guy that ranked the last Angry Youth Comix in his Best of 2008... This really needs to be experienced on its own. It's rich, clever, energetic, funny - I don't think I've purely in-my-guts enjoyed another comic so much in 2009... You've gotta see it to believe it." - Joe McCullough, Jog - The Blog

• Plug: "...[O]ur favorite comic book artist is Mr. Johnny Ryan!... Johnny continues his brilliant legacy with an 120 page epic tale named Prison Pit... Next to Jughead, Johnny’s about the best thing going on in comic books these days, so don’t be a chump and wait until they make some perverted documentary about him and he’s some hipster darling! ACT NOW!" - retroCRUSH

• Profile: For the Los Angeles Times, Tobias Carroll profiles artists who straddle music and comics, including Zak Sally, whose "surreal and compelling series Sammy the Mouse, begun in 2007, is a kind of existentialist's Bloom County," plus our pals Archer Prewitt & Ron Regé Jr.

• Analysis: For The Walrus, Sean Rogers examines the many intersections between Thomas Pynchon and comics, including Krazy Kat and Arnold Roth

• Events: Michael Upchurch of The Seattle Times looks at the "Comics Savants" exhibit now on view at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Events: Angela Ashman of The Village Voice previews Michael Kupperman's appearance at The Strand Bookstore next Tuesday

I believe I'm reading this announcement from Manu Larcenet correctly (the Google translation isn't much help) that Les Rêveurs will be translating and publishing our Krazy & Ignatz collections -- the first time Krazy Kat has been published in French! [Oops, not quite -- corrected in the comments!] (And Larcenet's photo spread of our editions is quite lovely, no?)

All last week and this week we're bringing you a sneak peek at our Fall 2009 - Winter 2010 schedule of releases! Today's excerpt from our latest book distributor's catalog includes the anthology Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s; reprints of two volumes of The Complete Crumb Comics; Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1961-1962 (Vol. 6); and Krazy and Ignatz 1916-1918: "Love in a Kestle or Love in a Hut." (Note that all the info in this catalog is subject to change along the way to the books' release, including release dates, prices, cover art, book specs, etc.) Click here to download the PDF!

• Review: J. Caleb Mozzocco says The Lagoon by Lilli Carré is "a great comic"

• Review: Parka Blogs looks at Beasts! Book 1

• History: Furry 101 reprints a 1992 article cementing Fantagraphics' place in mid-to-late 1980s furry culture with our brief heyday of anthropomorphic comics

• List: Sporadic Sequential recommends Anywhere but Here by Tori Miki if you're looking for funny manga

• For comiXology, our own Kristy Valenti looks at George Herriman's illustrations for archy and mehitabel

• Things to see: On the Covered blog, Paul Karasik takes Jimmy Olsen into the 3rd dimension, sort of

• Things to see (and buy): "Comic Panel Cut-Ups" from Jeremy Eaton

• Things to see: Richard Cowdry gathers all of Richard Sala's "Invisible Hands" in one place thanks to the miracle of YouTube

• Profile: Meathaus presents a feature article on Dash Shaw

• Blurb: Welcome Friend or Foe gives a nod to Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson

• Blurb: Irregular Orbit takes a quick look at Krazy and Ignatz 1943-1944 by George Herriman

• Things to hear: The Inkstuds radio programme hosts a 4-way roundtable on the best comics of the year with über-critics Paul Gravett, Tom Spurgeon, Douglas Wolk and host Robin McConnell, with much discussion of Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

• Oddity: Courtesy Paul Di Filippo (Jim Woodring's Cosmocopia collaborator), "Life Imitates Jules Feiffer"

Apparently this dates back to 2005, and I have no idea why it was produced, but this short stop-motion Krazy Kat film (YouTube link) by UK animation studio Banana Park is beautifully animated. Maybe we already Flogged it back in '05, but it's certainly worth another look. Found via Joakim Gunnarsson.

• Inside baseball: in a must-read slice of industry history from the mid-1980s, former Fantagraphics staffer Dave Olbrich comes clean about the debacle of the Jack Kirby Awards. Be sure to check the comments for official reaction from Kim Thompson

• Cartoon Brew recommends Fuzz & Pluck: Splitsville by Ted Stearn

• Comics - History & Price Guides takes note of Krazy & Ignatz 1931-1932 by George Herriman

• Stella Matutina says Castle Waiting by Linda Medley would "make a great present for the fairy tale-loving feminist in your life"

• Rob Clough reviews Sublife Vol. 1 by John Pham

• Jim Hanley's Universe recommends Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian as a Staff Pick

• The Seattle Times includes Beasts! Book 1 and Book 2 in their listing of new local book offerings

An explosion of end-of-year lists:

• USA TODAY Pop Candy places Lilli Carré at #58 on the list of "Top 100 People of 2008" 

• Book By Its Cover includes Beasts! Book 2 in their Top 10 of 2008

• Jeff Smith says Popeye Vol. 3: "Let's You and Him Fight!" by E.C. Segar was a favorite of 2008

• Robert Boyd names Jules Feiffer's Explainers and the Hernandez Brothers' Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 two of "The Best Comics of 2008"

• Brian Nicholson places Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw at the top of his list of Best Comics for the year, with Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga not far behind

• Dustin Harbin's top 10 "Best Comics of 2008" has Bottomless Belly Button at #2, Popeye Vol. 3 at #4, and Ganges #2 at #7

• Johnny Bacardi puts Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 on his "2008 Personal 10 Best in Comics" list (previously noted, but I forgot the link)

• Mindless Ones names I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! by Fletcher Hanks a "Top Comic of 2008" (yes, it came out in 2007 but I think they're UK)

• At comiXology, Tucker Stone unveils #30-11 of his "Best Comics of 2008," with Mome Vol. 12, Jessica Farm Vol. 1 by Josh Simmons, Angry Youth Comix Vol. II #14 by Johnny Ryan, and Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 making the list

• GraphicNovelReporter names Bottomless Belly Button one of their "Best Graphic Novels of 2008"

• On the Forbidden Planet International blog, Mike Carey names Things Just Get Away from You by Walt Holcombe ("a strange little masterpiece") and Jessica Farm Vol. 1 ("willfully perverse") as two of his three favorite comics of the year

(Hat tip to Largehearted Boy's diligent compilation of "Best of 2008" Book Lists for a few of these links.)

Got some extra links from Eric today:

• The Village Voice looks at Petey & Pussy by John Kerschbaum and The Lagoon by Lilli Carré

• Dr. K calls Petey & Pussy "vile and wrong" in the nicest way possible

• CMJ and the Philadelphia City Paper both feature Town of Mirrors by Robert Pollard

• The Gosh! Comics Blog blurbs Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1934 and 1935-1944

• Dark Worlds enjoys our collections of Walt Kelly's Our Gang

• Rip Post presents a bunch of Dave Cooper's recent artwork

• At Comicon.com, Jennifer M. Contino interviews Kevin Huizenga

• More French awards news: La Rivière empoisonnée, the French edition of Gilbert Hernandez's Poison River (collected by us in the new volume Beyond Palomar as well as its own older collection), is nominated for the Selection Patrimoine (Heritage Prize) 2009, to be awarded at the Festival International de la Bande Desinée d'Angoulême (caught by Spurge)

• I Wish I Had A Spare $200 Dept: New art for sale from Jim Woodring (going fast!)

• PLAYBACK:stl says Deitch's Pictorama has "a groovy charm" and "a vibe of pure fun"

• For The Patriot-News, Chris Mautner looks at Where Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes

• Elsewhere (Newsarama), Mautner talks to Ivan Brunetti

• Look, it's Jim Blanchard & J.R. Williams at APE

• Eye on Comics looks at Petey & Pussy by John Kerschbaum

• On the Inkstuds audio podcast: Josh Simmons

• The Beat reports from a recent NYC event featuring some of our favorite Euro-comics artists

• The Times-Union posts an essay about the mixed-race heritage of George Herriman and its effect on Krazy Kat (via The Daily Cartoonist)

• The Stranger has lunch with The Lagoon by Lilli Carré

• On Blog Flume, Ken Parille offers critical counterpoint to some of Blake Bell's analysis of Steve Ditko's later work in Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko

• Vitrola looks at Explainers by Jules Feiffer (in Portugese; Google translation here)

• The San Antonio Current looks at Mome Vol. 12, Krazy & Ignatz 1943-1944, and Comic Arf

• I Love Rob Liefeld reviews Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

• Your comics-icons-mashup street art of the day