Apologies for the long delay since the last roundup. I enjoy bringing you these posts but lately it's been hard to squeeze them in. I may need to figure out a new approach or something. Anyway, on with the show:

• "Unemployment" strips by Tim Hensley

• Hey, a new comic from Jonathan Bennett! Spin commissioned a 2-page strip from Jonathan as part of their commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind and posted it on Facebook (Via Spurge)

• Nate Neal has a new website you should bookmark/subscribe to, with lots & lots of updates, including comics in the video "Comix-O-Matic" format, sneak peeks of a new book he's working on and a whole mess more

• Drew Friedman spotlights those awesome "Cool Art Pencils" that Pentech put out in the early '90s

• Dave Cooper shares this rough preliminary sketch and a whole mess of reference photos (and behind-the-scenes shenanigans) for a new painting he's working on

• Richard Sala — now on Tumblr! Still some previously unshared updates on his Here Lies Richard Sala blog too

• Tim Lane illustrates the poster & program for the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase festival

• Lorenzo Mattotti also illustrates for a film festival, Annency Cinéma Italien; plus a New Yorker cover and Johnny Rebb

• Lilli Carré illustrates for the Chicago Reader and animates a Wallace Stevens poem at The Hooded Utilitarian

• You may have heard we've signed Noah Van Sciver's in-progress graphic novel about Abraham Lincoln, The Hypo — here Noah presents an excerpt

• Stephen DeStefano continues to fill up his new Tumblr with Popeye designs, sketches and other stuff

• The usual amazing stuff from Renee French

• Steve Brodner on the debt-ceiling debacle for the Washington Post and additional recent sketches at his blog

• Yes, it's a panel from Kevin Huizenga's eagerly-awaited Ganges #4

• Four weeks worth of Paul Hornschemeier's daily sketches at The Daily Forlorn

• As we enter the dog days of summer Wilfred Santiago's arctic fox is looking mighty cool

• Johnny Ryan gets in the Smurf spirit (Seal Team Smurf? Smurf Team Six? Smurf Team Smurf?) and draws his favorite bullies

• Yowie, this back cover to Stan Sakai's latest annual sketchbook — yowie!

And more Things to See since the last update:

• Glimpses of a new comic from Matthias Lehmann

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spots and more at his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• A figure painting from a life drawing class by John Hankiewicz

• Dame Darcy's developed a propinquity for dolphins

• Debbie Drechsler returns to her nature-sketching blog Just Around the Corner

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• Sergio Ponchione gives some glimpses of his summer projects (if I'm interpreting the autotranslation correctly)

• Here's the blog of new Mome contributor Nick Drnaso

• Recent sketches (and aquarium videos) by Laura Park

• New drawings from Sophie Crumb

• Anders Nilsen 's book tour travel sketches

• Lots of updates on recent projects and an autobio-ish strip or two from Derek Van Gieson

• Anthony Vukojevich takes on Love and Rockets #1 at the Covered blog

As Mike already mentioned, the Wizard World Comic-Con is around the corner, and our own Ivan Brunetti will be in Artists Alley table #3704.

We've since learned that more Fantagraphics artists will be in attendance, including Laura Park & Lilli Carré (table #3552) and Mome newcomer Nick Drnaso (sharing Ivan's table #3704).

This show sounds amazing... Ivan Brunetti and LeVar Burton on the same bill? Mome artists alongside Peter Tork of The Monkees? Wait, Billy Corgan's gonna be there? And five of the Willy Wonka kids? And the chick who gave Brandon Walsh "euphoria" at a rave on a very-special-episode of Beverly Hills 90210!?!!!! [passes out from pop culture-overload]

Wizard World Comic-Con runs from Thursday, August 11th to Sunday, August 14th at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Someone, send me pictures.

Mome Vol. 22 - Fall 2011
by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds

240-page full-color 7" x 9" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-395-8

Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Special double-sized FINAL issue! After 6 years and over 2500 pages of comics, MOME heads into the sunset with an all-star, jam-packed farewell bonanza. Several past MOME favorites return for the swan song, including Kurt Wolfgang, Tom Kaczynski, Joe Kimball, Eleanor Davis, Anders Nilsen, Tim Hensley, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, and Zak Sally (those covers!). Meanwhile, several newcomers get in just under the wire: Jesse Moynihan, Malachi Ward, James Romberger, Nick Drnaso, Joseph Lambert, Nick Thorburn, Victor Kerlow, and Ignatz Award-winners Jim Rugg and Chuck Forsman! Recent MOME favorites also return, such as Sergio Ponchione, Steven Weissman, Sara Edward-Corbett, Laura Park, Josh Simmons (plus collaborators The Partridge in the Pear Tree and Wendy Chin), Derek Van Gieson (with collaborator Michael Jada), Tim Lane, Nate Neal, Lilli Carré, T. Edward Bak, Dash Shaw, Ted Stearn and Noah Van Sciver. Over 30 artists in all, including a surprise contributor we don't want to give away!

Download and read a 29-page PDF excerpt (13 MB) with a sample page from nearly every artist and story (barring some surprises).

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Mome contributor Laura Park was working on a pretty sweet illustration gig for most of last year, this heavily-illustrated book by James Patterson, who is a big-deal best-selling YA author. Can't wait to see what Laura did with it — gonna have to give it a flip next time I'm at the bookstore. Laura gives an Amazon link on her Flickr page.

• Surely you're already following Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog where he posts artwork old and new (like his 1989 Elvis Costello illustration above), as well as concise and often very funny film reviews; now he's also posting his juvenilia at The Old Cat and the Dog where you can see his teenage takes on the Punisher, Lucky Luke, the Silver Surfer, Spidey etc.

• Richard Sala gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the cover artwork for The Grave Robber's Daughter and posts a bunch of fantastic full-color concept art for as-yet unrealized story ideas

• Leslie Stein presents a short sequence from the upcoming Eye of the Majestic Creature #6 (our book collects #1-4) and another short sequence from something-or-other

• Sergio Ponchione spotlights his contributions to the new issue of Linus

• For reasons she can't explain, Laura Park drew this self-portrait modeled after the "black dahlia" autopsy photo

• Some recent updates of sketchbook and other drawings by Sophie Crumb at her blog

• Steve Brodner presents his cover illustration for the new issue of the National Journal (with his studies for the caricatures)

• Sammy Harkham uploaded some mostly-new stuff to his Flickr page , including the original uncropped art from the Crickets #4 cover

And more Things to See from the past week:

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

• Daily drawings by Paul Hornschemeier at The Daily Forlorn

• All the latest artwork and news from Dame Darcy in her new blog update

• New drawings from Renee French on her blog

• A new sketchbook strip and more collaborations with Sonnenzimmer from Anders Nilsen

• Oh god, more sketches of medical deformities by Hans Rickheit

• New drawings and watercolors by Derek Van Gieson

• Recent illustrations by Ray Fenwick on his Flickr page

It's been a while since I had a chance to do one of these...

• Jim Woodring's Frank and associates in a piece inspired by Giorgione's painting The Tempest (via Facebook - full size)

• Tony Millionaire did this illustration for the Three Guys and a Twelve-Pack podcast; also, an old strip for Screw (I think)

• This hilarious portrait by Cathy Malkasian is available as a print — you gotta go check it out just for the title and description, which are also hilarious

• A beautiful movie poster illustration and some musician portraits by Matthias Lehmann

• Richard Sala traces the evolution of the cover art for Mad Night

• Lilli Carré shares her Newcity cover illo and also her NYT Op-Ed illo

• Noah Van Sciver started a new sketch blog on Tumblr called Infortunate

• While recently in Chicago, Josh Simmons got his pals Anders Nilsen and Jeffrey Brown to draw some Quackers; Anders also has a bunch of new self-portraits and has put out an expanded fold-out edition of his Kramer's Ergot 7 strip

• Amazing stuff from Renee French on her blog and her new Posterous thing

• At What Things Do, Kevin Huizenga's Cartoon Polymaths strip "The Body of Work," and a couple of classic strips at his Fight or Run blog

• Also at What Things Do, two new installments of Jordan Crane's "Keeping Two"

• I think this weird piece by Steven Weissman relates to Barack Hussein Obama; also his latest "I, Anonymous" spots on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

And more Things to See from the past... jeez, 3 weeks:

• More recent sketchbook drawings by Andrei Molotiu

• At Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog, sketches, old strips and the last of his series of posts on his cartooning heroes

• New prints and an artist's book by John Hankiewicz at his Clip Joint blog

• Buy Dame Darcy's mermaid print to help send her to the annual Mermaid Parade on her 40th birthday! She's also now an ordained Wiccan minister! Good luck and congrats! All this and more in her latest blog update

• Drew Friedman rounds up his various album cover illustrations and collects a whole bunch of TV Guide covers by Jack Davis

• Recent charcoal portraits of Oliver Reed & John Coltrane by Jim Blanchard

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• I believe this strip by Sergio Ponchione has to do with Italian politics

• Laura Park's been busy moving

• Recent drawings by Sammy Harkham on his Flickr page

• Portraits, sketches, illustrations and more by Steve Brodner

• Hans Rickheit keeps posting those old medical deformity sketches on his blog

• Derek Van Gieson made a hilarious-looking board game

• Some marks and text by Tom Kaczynski

• I didn't know Tony Millionaire has been doing portraits for The Chiseler, like this one of 1930s character actor Allen Jenkins

• "Dead Mickey" and "Walking the Dog," plus reviews of Michael Caine movies by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Lilli Carré covers the Chicago Reader, plus a new animated drawing

• Laura Park has been busy drawing spot illos for an 826 Chicago project (like Joey & Johnny Ramone buying $20 worth of Brussels sprouts, above) and rescuing cats with fellow cartoonist Julia Wertz — it's all documented on her Flickr page

• Renee French does it again

And more Things to See from the past week:

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

• Artwork, dolls 'n' more in the latest blog update from Dame Darcy

• Vintage Jim Flora artwork and illustrations at the Jim Flora blog

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway and more artwork at his blog

• Daily storyboards & production art from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• An old sketchbook drawing by Hans Rickheit

• Tony Millionaire presents photos of the clay model for the Uncle Gabby figurine (dude, 60% off!)

• Eleanor Davis posts process images for that amazing New York Times illo

It's been a while, so let's catch up:

• New diary strips & sketches by Lewis Trondheim

• Artwork from Kurt Wolfgang's work in progress Pinokio plus some Mome meta-commentary and other sketches and characters at New Bodega

• Laura Park designed this placemat for fellow Chicago Mome-ster Jeremy Tinder's impending nuptials, and also this cool t-shirt design for The Mountain Goats & Jon Vanderslice

• At her Screened-in Porch blog, Carol Tyler presents “Will Work for Food” from The Job Thing — page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5

• "Crabby," a 3-pager by Tony Millionaire, plus "George R. Binks" and Billy Hazelnuts in color

• New artwork, dolls and other news in Dame Darcy's latest blog update

And more Things to See from the past 2 weeks:

• Illustrations, sketches, old strips 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

• A new lithograph by John Hankiewicz

• Kevin Huizenga posted things on his blogs Fight or Run and The Balloonist

• Drew Weing posts the title lettering for the Serbian edition of S‍et to Sea and photos of Eleanor Davis painting a mural on his blog

• Vintage Jim Flora artwork and illustrations at the Jim Flora blog

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway and more artwork at his blog

• "The Strangest Story You Ever Heard in Your Life" wraps up at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog, plus illustrations at Mondobliquo

• Strips, illustrations and updates from Noah Van Sciver

• Recent illo jobs by Ray Fenwick on his Flickr page, including one for an article by Suze Orman in Oprah's mag — that's high profile!

• Drawings & photos by Renee French

• Recent illustrations and sketches, with commentary, by Steve Brodner

• Daily storyboards & production art from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• A coloring test for a work in progress by Robert Goodin

• Recent sketches by Tom Kaczynski at his Transatlantis blog

• Nate Neal's monthly men's mag strip

I was kinda bummed that the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest just happened to coincide with National Record Store Day, but that just made me extra-happy to find this wonderful collaboration between Mome artist Laura Park and musician Neko Case, to commemorate the occasion!

These limited-edition tees were printed by our friends at Poketo. If you're lucky, you can still find one at participating stores, but with a lovely illustration like that, don't be surprised if they're all sold out!

The Comics Reporter broke the news that the next volume of Mome, number 22, will be the last. CR's Tom Spurgeon commented and spoke to Mome editor Eric Reynolds about ending the long-running anthology; Rob Clough talked to Eric at TCJ.com; and Sean T. Collins comments at Robot 6. We thank the three of them and everyone else who has been a proponent of the series. I for one will miss the publication and abhor the vacuum its departure will leave, but look forward to Eric's future editorial efforts and future work from Mome's long list of contributors.

Pictured above, a Mome pinup created for the issue by Sergio Ponchione; below, artwork from the final issue recently posted by the contributors: from Tim Lane's "Belly Gunner" (see additional pages at his Jackie No-Name blog); from Kurt Wolfgang's "Nothing Eve" (taken from the New Bodega blog); from Derek Van Gieson's "Devil Doll" (see more pages and read his comments on his history with Mome at his These Days I Remain blog); from Nate Neal's "Death" (taken from his Flickr feed); pages in progress from Laura Park (taken from her Flickr feed); and from T. Edward Bak's "Wild Man" (see more pages at his °Ø° blog).

• Also working away on a new Mome story: Laura Park