It was a mad, Mad afternoon when Robin McConnell, MK Reed and I dropped into the Mad Office. Assistant Art Director and comics consumer Ryan Flanders reluctantly fell for my charms and agreed to a tour even though their deadline loomed large a few days later (hey, we don't want to impede a dying medium, right?). Even the guards had a cute shtick that took 5 minutes of my life and a humorless person would have left. Luckily, that's not me.

Ryan started off the tour by showing us his first office at MAD, it's near the door, pretty cold but looks a bit similar to mine at Fantagraphics.

The MADtropolitan Museum of Art showed off some of the best and brightest of recent hilarious paintings, complete in their gold gilded plastic frames melted down from the plastic noses and vintage glasses frames of the cancelled shows The Real Housewives of Jersey and Williamsburg.

The props display case was amazing from Gutrot which I've definitely drank and Spy vs Spy toilet paper. Photoshop ain't got nothing on printed, folded and glued cardboard.

Everyone else in the office was just as charming, waiting for the day their piles of tchotchkies bury them. Art Director (and a cartoonist himself) Sam Viviano showed off some amazing original artwork and Sculpey sculptures created for photo-shoots. Check out that DREW FRIEDMAN drawing over Ryan's shoulder.

The Wall of Artists is tagged anytime a Mad-contributing creator stops by the office. Nate Neal (who created Sanctuary) was on the board. Many of our creators worked at or for MAD like Al Feldstein, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Harvey Kurtzman and Noah Van Sciver to name a few.

One of my favorite props was an actual headstone used as a support structure in the office created for a back cover thanks to a Feldstein/Gaines joke.

Ryan's new office turned out to be a nightmare, so well organized I made a mental note to courier him a spring-loaded box of trash upon my return home.

Like any good office the mail room is actually where all the good stuff is located (at Fantagraphics, our fridge is in there). Snuggled among packing materials and one hell of a cutting board are sexy flat files full of Al Jaffee, Tom Bunk — EVEN a Tom Fowler, internet friend.

LOOK at this Al Jaffee fold-in drawing. My dream is to have one printed SOMEDAY, SOMEHOW instead of lamely attaching my fold-in to the magazine and tricking my friends into thinking it was actually printed in the magazine.

Jewish Batman, you slay me. That utility belt must have some tasty kosher deserts near the back. (by Al Jaffee)

One beautiful Jack Davis drawing that was REJECTED from the magazine (or Davis decided to redraw) blew me away. The best part was the tattoo "My Mom Loves Me" is infinitely better than Mother tattoos of the world.

In gorgeous ink and the now-illegal duoshade/duotone. Please place your drinks down, Fantagraphics and MAD magazine are not responsible for your spittle shorting out your keyboard.

Despite the slow decline of the magazine industry, MAD magazine has lived on, able to pay cartoonists for their work (wow-za!) and maintain a staff. By raising prices and creating a Mad reading app, they stay current and accessible. MAD's first audience may be a bit gray in the face now as they celebrate their 60^th anniversary but continue to wow audiences. As a kid, I didn't have much access to the magazines but my grandmother would buy any books at any yard, church or library sale. Three rooms in their house were lined with built-in-books shelves and in the ‘humor' or comic sections lay the trade paperback editions of MAD (often with the cover ripped off). Ryan was kind enough to explain that most of those were unused comics and many have not been reprinted to this day due to copyright ambiguity. Sounds like something for a legal intern to help them figure out.

As long as parents send kids care packages at camp, people stay overnight in the hospital and Hollywood makes bottom-feeder television and convoluted movies, MAD will reign supreme. Thanks again to Ryan Flanders for the tour, Robin McConnell for some of the photos (there are MILLIONS more here) and MK Reed for the company.

Perhaps you couldn't make it to our events in New York this past weekend, or maybe you had such an awesome time, you wanna relive it again through photos.  Well, my friend... this FLOG post is for you.

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Here's the man of the weekend, Mr. Jack Davis! (I love this photo; how could I not open with it?)

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Jack had an especially busy weekend, because not only was he a guest-of-honor at the 2011 Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival, but he also had an art show at the Scott Eder Gallery, and a talk at The Strand Bookstore! Here he is, in a rare moment of relaxing, with fellow Fantagraphics artist Derek Van Gieson. (Not pictured, but also at the table, Nate Neal, and someone flipping through Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture!)

photo credit: Derek Van Gieson

Speaking of The Strand, the event at this famed NYC bookstore was a huge success! Derek has some more gorgeous black-and-white photos at his blog, and we've got some more pics from Jeff Wong below:

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Look, it's good ol' Tom Spurgeon and Bob Fingerman!

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Jack Davis, tellin' it like it IS, with Gary Groth! 

photo credit: Jeff Wong

photo credit: Jeff Wong

It's always great to see Heidi MacDonald, stopping by to chat with Mark!

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Sam Henderson!

photo courtesy of Drew Friedman

And finally, here's an adorable shot of Drew and Jack, after their panel on Saturday night!

Thank you so much to The Strand Bookstore, the Scott Eder Gallery, and to the mighty organizers of the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival for an amazing weekend!  Thanks to our ass-kicking artists, Josh Simmons, Kim Deitch, Dash Shaw, Jack Davis, Michael Kupperman and Al Columbia for spending time signing at our table. And, as always, thanks to our awesome customers for stopping by our table, and making our first visit to the BCGF a successful one!

• Convention sketches inspired by song lyrics is a pretty great idea, and an Atlanta comic fan named Erich collects them and posts them on his blog. Above: Lisa Leavenworth + Mudhoney by Peter Bagge (hat tip: CBR)

• Noah Van Sciver illustrates the Denver Westword's "hipster's guide to sports"

• More Jack Davis fun from Will Pfeifer's Today's Inspiration blog, as Pfeifer presents a bunch of Davis-illustrated "Funny Valentines" Topps cards (hat tip: The Comics Reporter)

• Victor Kerlow draws Julie Hagerty and Albert Books in Lost in America for The New Yorker

• Eleanor Davis presents a preview of her Mome 22 story "Nita Goes Home" on her Doing Fine blog and sketches for the story (like the above) on her We Be Ouija blog

• John Cuneo recent illustrations & sketches including Mad Men above

• A book cover illustration (above) and preliminary sketches, and a New Yorker cover from January, by Lorenzo Mattotti

• More composer illustrations (like Stravinsky here) and Linus illustrations from Sergio Ponchione

• Nate Neal posts the prologue to his new book in progress, The Ten Thousand and First Thing

• Speaking of prologues, here's one from Nick Drnaso

• Laura Park got a new puppy! He helps her draw.

• Chuck Forsman posted images of his new minicomic The End of the Fucking World which he had at SPX (and his nice-looking cat Bruce)

• Of course I'm going to post this one from Paul Hornschemeier's The Daily Forlorn sketch blog

• Coach and Two by Tony Millionaire

• Steven Weissman's sketches and notes for "Peter Criss Diary" as seen in Mome 22, plus his latest "I, Anonymous" spots at his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• Whoever Jason is that's a pretty sweet dedication sketch by Wilfred Santiago in his birthday-present copy of 21

Plus:

• Matthias Lehmann shows a bit of a new magazine illustration

• Frank Santoro draws another Greek myth

• Sketches and drawings by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• Debbie Drechsler sketches some unusual finches

• Stephen DeStefano posted a couple of his character drawings from the late lamented Sym-Bionic Titan: Lance in action and a crowd scene

• Steve Brodner draws and comments on last week's GOP debate, 9/11 cash-ins and this hilarious one on the fate of Anthony Weiner's House seat

Lots and lots of images to share, and lots and lots of overflow spilling over into links:

• We linked to this a while back in Daily OCD, but the interview with Lilli Carré at art:21 includes the first glimpse of her sketchbook I've ever seen (along with other art) and daaaang; Lilli also drew Groo the Wanderer for Matthew J. Brady 's theme sketchbook (there's a good one by Jeremy Tinder too) AND did this illustraton for The New York Times AND this amazing letterpress print

• Is Barack Obama losing his indie cred? Drew Friedman shares his illustration for the New York Observer about the President falling out of favor with the hipster demographic, and...

• Aww, Drew Friedman's portrait of his dad Bruce Jay Friedman for Tablet; Drew also presents an awesome gallery of Plop! covers by Basil Wolverton and Wally Wood at his blog

• Some Jaime Hernandez record-cover art I hadn't seen before, for the band The Shame Idols (via Love & Maggie)

• This one makes Janice very happy: Jason draws Robert Smith of The Cure — plus film reviews and various other commentary at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Johnny Ryan draws some of his favorite bullies for Vice and shares some recent commissions on his Flickr page: Gremlin/robot orgy, Star Wars 4-way and fuckball

• Wowee-wow, lookit these vintage Sesame Street illustrations by Jack Davis that were posted by Leif Peng at his Today's Inspiration blog (via Drawn)

• Dig this nifty nutty video that Michael Kupperman made for no particular reason; then when you're done, watch this psychedelic one

• Gary Panter sending this box of dog biscuits to a dog named Gary Panter is probably about the cutest thing you'll read all day

• I think Steven Weissman loses this sketchbook battle with his son Charles — that and his weekly "I, Anonymous" spots and more at his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• Writer Dan Sinker shares the evolution of Paul Hornschemeier's cover illustration for The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel — via Paul's blog, where Paul also shares a website header illustration and accompanying interview; also, about umpteen new entries on his daily sketch blog The Daily Forlorn

• Eleanor Davis illustrates for The New York Times and for Rattler magazine

• Richard Sala presents the original, unretouched artwork for his Kramer's Ergot 7 strip, likewise for a Peculia story, plus some words on "Invisible Hands" — plus a whole lot more on his Tumblr blog

• The first page of a feature graphic story Tim Lane is doing for the Riverfront Times, to appear later this month, plus some of Tim's sketches for the story

• Lorenzo Mattotti previews 3 upcoming publishing projects: a graphic adaptation of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and a collection of Venice landscapes; and a collaboration with Art Spiegelman for an upcoming September 11-themed collection from Casterman

• Sergio Ponchione teases his Prof. Hackensack strip and illustrations in the new Linus as well as some recent illustrations of classical composers

• Laura Park's strip for this month's issue of The Believer, plus a Picasso-esque sketch (and, if you look around, lots of photos of her adorable new puppy)

• Speaking of Laura Park, Derek Van Gieson did this little jam strip with her on a recent visit to Chicago, where they and others also took part in a little Trubble Club action; more from Derek at his These Days I Remain blog

• Stephen DeStefano illustrated this poster for a new Washington, DC staging of Lithuanian Sweetheart, a play written by his Lucky in Love collaborator George Chieffet; also, an album cover illustration, Popeye playing hockey, Popeye playing soccer

• Louis C.K. fan art on Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin's Quackers blog (I'm not sure who did it — I'm guessing Wendy... and if you don't watch Louie you should) — meanwhile Josh has a couple new doodles on his The Furry Trap blog

• I was going post Renee French's portrait of the Crimson Bolt (Rainn Wilson's character from the movie Super) but I decided to go with this more mysterious, less link-baity piece instead

• Sammy Harkham's 2009 portrait of singer-songwriter Will Oldham for Colors magazine

• From Steve Brodner: Warren Buffett for Harper's (above); the SE; Planet of the Apes for The New Yorker; Rome sketchbook; Keystone XL pipeline protestors; and feral CEOs

• Sketchbook pages and more sketchbook pages by Anders Nilsen

• Glimpses of 11 binders worth of storyboards for Dash Shaw's The Ruined Cast

• Views of some rather astonishing cut-out dioramas made by Hans Rickheit for a recent art show

Additionally:

• Colleen Frakes shares some birthday sketch comics done for her by Mome contributors Joe Lambert and Chuck Forsman

• A drawing by Matthias Lehmann for an upcoming book from Le Dernier Cri

• Recent drawings by Andrei Molotiu

• The latest creations and updates from Dame Darcy at her blog

• Frank Santoro is selling his sketches of "black & white boom" cover art, along with the original comics, to help keep him in cash while he works on his new comic — there's a new mythology piece on his Tumblr too

• A bunch of new sketches by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• From Jim Blanchard, a rollerderby poster and a painting of Tura Satana

• Bird sketches with field notes by Debbie Drechsler

• A performance poster illustrated by Nate Neal

• An image-packed update on various works in progress from Noah Van Sciver

• Roger Langridge sketches Popeye vs. Bluto

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

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

See Previews / 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!

SALE! Today through Friday September 2, 2011, save 30% OFF all single back issues of Mome (or save big with our 5- and 10-issue bundles), PLUS save 30% off an amazing selection of books by Mome contributors!

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

---

Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

And elsewhere:

Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new udpates):

It's Not Easy Being a Man by Nate Neal for PRZman

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview? (Audio): Tony Millionaire appeared on host Benjamen Walker's radio show Too Much Information on WFMU — we haven't had a chance to listen yet so we don't know exactly what form it takes but you can download or stream the episode here

• Profile: At GALO Magazine, Emily Crawford Misztal talks to Nate Neal and looks at his debut graphic novel The Sanctuary: "While the language and the ways of the characters in the book will be unfamiliar to readers, the motives that drive them are as old and familiar as the sun. Neal sees the ancient setting as a way to get at the core of what it means to be human—in any era. 'It is a chance for me to examine human behavior on a more universal level,' Neal said. 'Sex, power, revenge, the primal stuff, is underneath everything that we do. There’s more covering over what we do now. With the cavemen, I can strip everything away and get right down to it.'"

• Plug (Video): Roger Ash of Westfield Comics sits down on camera to recommend our upcoming release Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture

• News: The Washington Post's Michael Cavna gets Gary Groth's comments on Robert Crumb's withdrawal from the upcoming GRAPHIC festival in Sydney, Australia

• Commentary: At Robot 6, Brigid Alverson examines the topic of aging as "the final frontier" of comics storytelling and praises creators such as Joyce Farmer and Carol Tyler for their handling of the subject matter (in Special Exits and You'll Never Know, respectively)

• Feature: Rob Lammle of mental_floss posts an entertaining list of "10 Peanuts Characters You've Probaby Forgotten" — devotees of our The Complete Peanuts series will be familiar with some of them, and some of them give hints as to what to expect in future volumes!

• Analysis: At Taking Its Time, Jeff Hayes writes on the use of Jacques Tardi's It Was the War of the Trenches in an academic setting, specifically the high school English classroom: "In using a text like It Was the War of the Trenches, democratic education is being practiced. It is not just because of how the book is constructed visually; we must look at it also as an artifact of importance in presenting how another culture views historical events-how those events may or may not have affected the lives of others we do not think of in the rush of war and the aftermaths that follow as we choose what is important in history and what is not."

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

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):

Nate Neal presents two stories related to his graphic novel The Sanctuary in the "Comix-O-Matic" video format: the one-pager "Lor Mok Kuri," and "Cha-Ul Nu Mon-Mon," the prequel story which appears in Mome Vol. 21.

Lor Mok Kuri from Nate Neal on Vimeo.

Cha-Ul Nu Mon Mon from Nate Neal on Vimeo.

And here's a pretty fantastic piece of fan art drawn for Nate by fellow Mome contributor Eleanor Davis!