Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Reproducing unfinished roughs, penciled-in and scribbled-out dialogue, half-inked panels, torn-up and taped-together pages, even cropping what look like finished comics so that you can't see the whole thing, Columbia and his partners in the production of this book, Paul Baresh and Adam Grano, have produced a fractured masterpiece, a glimpse of the forbidden, an objet d'art noir. ... The horror of Columbia's sickly-cute Pim & Francie vignettes--a zombie story, a serial-killer story, a witch-in-the-woods story, a haunted-forest story, a trio of chase sequences--is extraordinarily effective. ... [T]hese scary stories and disturbing images are all so gorgeously awful that they appear to have corrupted the book itself... — an inherently horrific object. Bravo." – Sean T. Collins

• Review: "...[I]n these pages [of The Troublemakers] lies a challenging, meticulously crafted story of grifters in the middle of a con. Not surprisingly, [Gilbert] Hernandez populates his story with some thoroughly grounded and intriguing figures, but what’s fascinating about the plot is how it criss-crossed over on itself so that not only do the characters remain unaware of who’s conning who but so does the reader. The plot is an intricately woven web of lies and truths, and it’s peppered, of course, with Hernandez’s trademark touch of raw sexuality. Fans of such crime comics as Criminal and 100 Bullets would be well advised to give this graphic novel a chance; they won’t be disappointed. ... [Rating] 9/10" – Don MacPherson, Eye on Comics [Ed. note: I get a big "attack site" warning at that link, so click at your own risk]

• Review: "...[W]ith their crashing planes, erupting volcanoes, boil-stricken sufferers, and monstrous whirlwinds[,] Wolverton’s literalist depictions of Revelation are powerful, shocking, and above all grotesquely beautiful. ... Though Wolverton’s approach to [the Old Testament] stories was somewhat more matter-of-fact than his apocalyptic panoramas, there is still a passion for the bizarre evident in the Bible Story illustrations. ... Wolverton’s Bible illustrations sit on the border between sacred and profane, and that unique placement is what gives them such power." – Gabriel Mckee, Religion Dispatches (hat tip: Kevin Church)

• Review: "...'The Hasty Smear of My Smile'..., which ran as a backup feature in the final issue of Peter Bagge’s Hate (#30) , is a mini-masterpiece. It’s a capsule version of  [Alan] Moore’s considerable skill, the epitome of everything that makes him fascinating as a writer." – Marc Sobel, Comic Book Galaxy

• Interview: At Hypergeek, The Comics Journal editor Mike Dean answers Edward Kaye's questions about the changes to his TCJ subscription

• Opinion: Future Comics Journal blogger Noah Berlatsky of The Hooded Utilitarian offers a critical counterpoint to Jeet Heer's previous comments on the Journal

• Things to see: Johnny Ryan draws beatniks doing their beatnik thing

• Things to see: The Beat has exclusive peeks at stories by Jeffrey Brown and Paul Hornschemeier for Marvel's Strange Tales

Well that didn't take long: as promised, here's the second half of comics podcast The Backroom's video interview with Peter Bagge. Again, pardon the advertisements.

Variety has the first news I've seen on Peter Bagge's development deal with FOX for a TV-show based on his Fantagraphics book, THE BRADLEYS.

Comics podcast The Backroom (based out of my neighborhood comic shop) presents part 1 of a video interview with Peter Bagge (plus some commercials). We will, of course, bring you part 2 when it's posted.

Exciting news here... Our own Peter Bagge has a development deal with FOX for THE BRADLEYS and the network has just ordered a pilot. The only details we can reveal just yet are that Bagge has a pilot script deal with FOX for an animated prime time series featuring The Bradleys (i.e.: the pre-HATE era when Buddy Bradley was a teen and still lived at home). We'll reveal more news when we can... 

Who do you think should voice Buddy, Babs, Butch, Mom & Dad? 

Emily Holt of the Seattle University Spectator introduces the school's newest faculty member: Peter Bagge, who will break out the leather elbow patches to teach a course on writing for comics this winter. Also revealed: Pete's newest comics project, a series of bio-comics about "independent and influential women from the early 20th century." Classic Pete quote: "I’ve never taught a whole college course before. I hope it works out, because my eyesight is starting to fail." (Photo: Clara Ganey, The Spectator)

Peter Bagge sends along the following message:

"Attention all Twin-Cities freaks & geeks: I'll be attending this up-coming FallCon, held at the Minnesota Fairgrounds between Mpls and St. Paul this upcoming weekend.  So please feel free to show up and spend all your hard-earned money on my useless crap!  Hope to see you there!"

http://midwestcomicbook.com/

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "I've been enjoying cartoonist Peter Bagge's contributions to Reason Magazine for years now... But now Fantagraphics has collected them into a great-looking trade paperback [Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me]!... I think Bagge has been doing really interesting work, mixing field journalism with humor and opinion in an entirely novel way. As an essayist Bagge is never preachy, and he often points out the shortcomings of his fellow libertarians (his account of meeting Ron Paul is particularly funny). He explores more than he rants, and when he does let loose, he's got a healthy sense of self-satire. These comics will piss you off, and that's good." – Jesse Brown, Boing Boing

• Review: "Drawn with sweeping black brush strokes, [Night Fisher] is done completely in absence of color. This, however, helps to magnify the tone of the story and brings a subtle heaviness to the work. The artwork itself is excellent.... [R. Kikuo] Johnson does a great job conveying character’s moods and emotions through angles, posture, and facial expressions. ...[I]f you enjoy these realistic and unapologetic looks at adolescence I recommend giving Night Fisher a read." – A. Alba, Hawaii Book Blog

• Review: "Abstract Comics, perhaps more so than any other recent comic release, highlights the way in which the comics world is markedly changing. Comics are indeed reaching across more disparate audiences and being found in a much wider selection of venues. But what might be the implications of this?... If nothing else, it seems that Abstract Comics makes explicit that the line between comics and high art is beginning to disappear.... Abstract Comics is a necessary addition to the comics canon in that it forces us to continue to think what exactly constitutes the comics form." – Sara Cole, PopMatters

• Things to see: New sketchbook drawings & comics from Anders Nilsen

This just in from Peter Bagge:

The first issue of Marvel's new 3 part anthology mini-series, STRANGE TALES, is in comic shops this week. It features my long-delayed "Incorrigible Hulk" story, which has been broken up into 3 parts, with one part in each issue.  My original cover will also serve as the cover of ST #2 (see above).

This mini-series also features many indy comics superstars,all of whom get to interpret one or more of Marvel's well known characters in their own style. Each issue is also 48 pages long and only $3.99. Quite a deal!

As if we need to remind you, the series also includes contributions from Jason, Michael Kupperman, Tony Millionaire, Johnny Ryan, Stan Sakai, Dash Shaw and many others. I'm heading to my LCS after work to pick up my copy!

Peter Bagge just turned this in and I had to share. Coming early next year!