Daniel Clowes envisions the future of print on the cover of the new issue of The New Yorker.

You might have heard a tiny bit of buzz about the 11-page excerpt of Crumb's Book of Genesis in the issue, too.

ERIC REYNOLDS

Your Online Commentary & Diversions for the day:

• Review: "...Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1939-41 pulls together some of the goofiest, most innocent, most violent superhero comics ever penned... The forematter (a lovely, insightful, nostalgic essay by Jonathan Lethem) and the afterword (a collection of bibliographic and historical notes on each strip) make perfect bookends for the hot stuff in the middle. This is pure and unadulterated Id, the kind of thing that inspired a moral panic about the corruption of the young. It's every bit as potent today." - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

• Review: "Miss Lasko-Gross takes us into the skankiest basement makeout sessions of our teenage despair in [A Mess of Everything]... Her fictional stand-in figures out how to work the system and achieves redemption through beautifully ugly comics that aptly capture the darker hallucinogenic melodramas of teenage geekdom." - Richard Gehr, The Village Voice

• Review: "[A] wild and woolly collection of pre-Superman supermen... As Jonathan Lethem notes in his introduction, our appreciation for the bizarre otherness of these characters in retrospect suggests that our contemporary icons might well appear no less 'totally opaque and infinitely awkward' to future readers." - Richard Gehr, The Village Voice (same link as above)

• Review: "Bob Levin's new book [Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester] sheds light on the legendary HUSTLER cartoonist without passing judgment or picking a side. Nevertheless, the author paints a fascinating picture of the good ol' boy folks around here called Uncle Dwaine." - K.K. Le Roque, Hustler (from print)

• Review: "Rory Hayes was nuts. I mean, really, truly insane... Hayes was tapping into a rich vein of paranoia and insanity that was truly disturbing... Rory Hayes work has the authentic voice of a true outsider artist, a genuine madman in a world full of posers... Where Demented Wented... is a fascinating collection and well presented. Recommended." - Colin Upton, Inkstuds

• Plug: "Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes: [...] No more adventurous a way to spend $22.99 in comics monies this week."  - Jog

• Oddity: "I Dream of Popeye"??

• Oddity: R. Crumb sneakers from Vans?? (via Spurge)

• Oddity: Marc Palm mashes up Crumb & the Muppets (via everywhere)

Courtesy of UGK featuring Akon (via Minneapolis City Pages).

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 4 (New Printing)
By Robert Crumb

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 4: Mr. Sixties! continues the multi-volume series comprising the complete works of the legendary cartoonist R. Crumb, one of America's most original, trenchant, and uncompromising satirists. The series includes the earliest, heretofore unpublished comic strips, as well as his sketchbooks, underground comix, dramatic and autobiographical strips, and his classic cartoon creations Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural. In this volume: Zap #0 & #1 ("Keep On Truckin'!"), Crumb's work from the East Village Other and Yarrowstalks, plus much rare art, some of Crumb's long-lost American Greetings cards from the '60s, and more (see the entire table of contents here).

144-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Spotted by Kim Thompson, here's an item currently being offered on Amazon for $2,608.78 in worn, "acceptable" condition. What kind of rarity could demand such a price? A rare Golden Age comic? Squint below, or just click for a full-size version. Vendor names have been obscured to protect the guilty.

While I'm at it, here's something else amusing I spotted last week:

Cops confiscate contraband Crumb comics! Are they just now auctioning off the assets of a head shop they busted 40 years ago? (Note: I was too wary of scams & spam to actually click the link; go to that URL at your own risk. If you do investigate, though, please leave a comment letting us know if you find out what the story is.)

The Complete Crumb Comics Slipcase
By Robert Crumb

These handsome, sturdy clothbound slipcases are designed to hold 5 volumes of the softcover editions of The Complete Crumb Comics series. (Note: Hardcover volumes will not fit. Books not included.) They are stamped in gold with a Crumb logo and art on the front and spine. Thought to be out of stock for several years, a cache of these exclusive items was recently discovered hidden inside the Ark of the Covenant in our warehouse. Supplies are limited, and you'll want multiples for your whole collection, so order today! Don't let our melted faces be in vain.

clothbound 8.75" x 11.5" x 2.25" slipcase • $14.95
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

• Review: Entertainment Weekly gives Supermen! an A-, saying "Supermen!, this anthology lovingly assembled by Greg Sadowski, makes the case that these earliest endeavors by the future creators of masterworks like The Spirit, Captain America, and Plastic Man were more than crude throat-clearings — they were unfiltered manifestations 
of psyche, lousy with erotic charge and questionable politics."

• Review: Graphic Novel Reporter on Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane: "Abandoned Cars doesn’t arrive at a clear-cut solution to the American Myth, but Lane’s effort to understand it for himself is beautifully presented... every last detail of the book seems perfectly devised by Lane to bring the stories together and make the reader join the inner dialogue on the subject of the Great American Mythological Drama. It is a brilliant debut."

• Review: Andrew Wheeler says Mome Vol. 11 is "a solid, interesting anthology"; following up with Mome Vol. 12, says "I expect anybody who likes 'alternative' cartooning at all will find something to enjoy here"; and finds Funeral of the Heart by Leah Hayes not to his taste

• Preview: Philadelphia Weekly's "Spring Books Roundup" looks at You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("luscious") and The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 4

• Profile: The Daily Eastern News previews Ivan Brunetti's visit to the Eastern Illinois University campus

• Things to see (and buy if you're filthy rich): The Daily Cartoonist reports that the original art for the April 1, 1973 Sunday Peanuts is up for auction. Go bid, or save yourself a few thou by collecting the strip in The Complete Peanuts 1972-1973, coming this Fall

• Things to see: Thomas from Paul Hornschemeier's Mother, Come Home, rendered in embroidery

• Things to see: Look upon the bookshelves of Eric Reynolds and weep... WEEP

Now available for preview and pre-order: The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 4: "Mr. Sixties!" Back in print with the first new softcover edition of this volume in 12 years! This one has Zap #0-1, "Keep on Truckin'," and a bunch more Crumb classics and rarities from the heady hippie days. Essential! This book is scheduled to be in stock in early April and in stores approximately 4 weeks later.

View a photo & video slideshow preview embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

This is a meaty one:

• Review: For The Savage Critics, Sean T. Collins says The Last Lonely Saturday by Jordan Crane is "pretty much the best love story in comics form I've ever come across... It's an intelligent, moving, beautiful, terrific little comic."

• Review: Rob Clough says that Beasts! Book 2 "mingles myths, warnings, fairy tales, correctives, and genuinely unexplained phenomena and allows its artists to run with them. The end result is a consistently beautiful, lovingly assembled book that forms a kind of metacommentary on the entire notion of the fantastic."

• Review: For the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the wonderfully-named Burl Burlingame reviews Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert by Bill Schelly

• Review: For Robot 6's "What Are You Reading?" column, Tucker Stone encounters Duplex Planet Illustrated #2

• Review: The SF Site's "Nexus Graphica" says R. Crumb & David Zane Mairowitz's Kafka is "a terrific guide to Kafka's life and work — Mairowitz deftly sums up Franz' family/Jewish/pre-Holocaust European experiences and influences, and Crumb's heavy inkings lend the exact tones of darkness to recreations of both Kafka's life — and work." (See sidebar)

• Blurb: Gear Live's "Comix 411" "vote[s] yes" on Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti

• List: Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter weighs in with his Best of 2008 lists. In the top 10 "Archival Editions" there's Where Demented Wented by Rory Hayes at #7, Popeye Vol. 3 at #6, The Complete Peanuts Vols. 9-10 at #3, Explainers by Jules Feiffer at #2, and Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin at #1; Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester by Bob Levin is named "Best Book on the Subject of Comics"; the top 25 "Best Comics (First Run, First Translated, Definitively Collected) of 2008" includes Fuzz & Pluck: Splitsville by Ted Stearn at #19, Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw at #15, Sammy the Mouse #2 by Zak Sally at #12, and Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga at #4 

• Interview: Robot 6 talks to Anders Nilsen about his most recent book, Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes

• Interview: The final installment of The Daily Cross Hatch's interview with the great Al Jaffee finally gets around to Humbug

• Transcript: The Daily Cross Hatch presents our own Eric Reynolds's talk at MCAD at the opening of the MOMEntum exhibit

• Preview: The First Post presents a slideshow of images from Humbug, saying "the short-lived Humbug [was] an exquisite satirical work that, over its 11 issues, routinely equalled MAD in its displays of creative genius... providing a level of trenchant satire that was almost unheard of at the time."

• Preview: Notions & Potions excerpts a page from Ray Fenwick's Hall of Best Knowledge

• Preview: Bryan Munn, in "hyping" The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972, states "Now that two whole decades of Peanuts have been reprinted in the deluxe hardcover format published by Fantagraphics and designed by Seth, we can really get a sense of what a huge achievement this project is and will continue to be for a generation."

• Preview: SFScope covers our Tardi announcement

• Bookmark: Quotes on Comics gives you what's in the name, presented randomly for your diversion

• Things to see: Animated Gary Panter unaired commercial (via Comics Comics)

• Things to see: This month's Vice cartoons by Johnny Ryan