Clips & strips from the last few days — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Michael Kupperman's cover art for the book Why Not a Spider Monkey Jesus? by A.G. Pasquella

• Gilbert Hernandez fanzine art from 1981 as unearthed by Frank Santoro at Comics Comics

• ComicsAlliance presents selections from the 1991 Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special

• From Jim Woodring, Frank, Fran and the skullfruit

• Leon explores the mystery of Poffo's Hat in this Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga

• Another 1975 flashback from Bob Fingerman

• This week's "I, Anonymous" and one two three four Post-It Show previews from Steven Weissman

• New artwork for sale, Portugal tour diary and more in Dame Darcy 's latest blog update

• On the Jim Flora Art Blog, a circa 1940 woodcut depicting fishing in New Orleans (guess those days are over, thanks BP) and a commemoration of Pete Jolly's birthday

• Recent nature sketches by Debbie Drechsler: Narrowleaf onion, ground squirrels, a blue-bellied lizard, and Ithuriel's spear

• Four new screenprints by Lilli Carré — these and other products of her residency at Spudnik Press will be on display this Thursday, June 10, 2010, 6-7:30pm: more info here

• Several recent sketches by Mark Kalesniko

• It's your all-new weekly installment of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• I believe this is last week's Maakies by Tony Millionaire

• Sergio Ponchione contributed this illustrated recipe to an anarchist cookbook, it seems (and also drew Linda Lovelace)

• Speaking of illustrated recipes, here's one from Laura Park

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — another classic

• From Josh Simmons & co., the latest Quackers & Randy Gander hijinks 

• From Renee French, this thing, this guy, this thing, this photo, this thing, and this guy

• Steve Brodner takes on the Gulf oil disaster in this segment from PBS's Need to Know, with commentary and two more disaster-related sketches on his blog

• Anders Nilsen posts photos of his recent "button installation" for Ogilvy & Mather's lobby, along with time-lapse video of its creation

• Page 27 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary

• Derek Van Gieson presents "The Cycle of Love"

• From Ray Fenwick, a comics illustration for an article in the Globe and Mail

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Another new episode of The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE

• "Tuppence" is another Butter and Blood piece from Steven Weissman, who adds "There are photos here and a catalogue eventually here."

• New Stinckers, including 2 new Steven Weissman designs, are now in stock at GR2

• Dame Darcy announces a sale in her Etsy shop and an extensive tour of Portugal!

• Richard Sala presents "Recent drawings commissioned for a book of ghost stories"

• Gabrielle Bell presents her full-color strip from the current issue of The Believer (based on a poem by Sasha Chernyi)

• "Girl Wearing Red Sunglasses" by Mark Kalesniko

• Sergio Ponchione posts this teaser from Grotesque #4 (available soon!) and announces he'll be at the Salone Internazionale del Libro in Turin this weekend

• Steve Brodner brings you a news dispatch from "Matt Sludge"

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary, page 23

• "Children of the Grave" (in color!) and another "Abstraction House" page from Derek Van Gieson

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• A new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beond strip by Kevin Huizenga

• From Steven Weissman, this week's "I, Anonymous" and the piece that gives the Butter and Blood art show at GR2 its name

• At last, those misty color backgrounds that Frank Santoro's been posting make sense

• A midday visit to the lake by Debbie Drechsler

• Two new illustrations by Sergio Ponchione, including... the world's first Muslim online sex shop? (completely SFW)

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop

• Don't miss Bunny Quacker, Josh Simmons's counterpart to his Quacker Bunny above, at his & Wendy Chin's Quackers blog — he's just as grumpy

• A montage of new Frank drawings by Jim Woodring... is that our first glimpse of Frank's female counterpart that Jim's mentioned? Also, Jim would like to see you at TCAF

• More glimpses and test images for Derek Van Gieson's Mome story "Devil Doll"

• Jon Vermilyea shows off the printed cover and pages of his new Pizza Time zine

Daily clips & strips — hit the links for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• This limited-edition print by Sergio Ponchione is available at festivals (I think — the autotranslation is a little sketchy) from Coconino Press. Sergio also reveals that Grotesque #4 is in the can (and coming this summer from Fantagraphics); the complete Italian run of Grotesque will be available in a slipcased set with additional materials, and the slipcase will be available separately (hopefully U.S. fans will be able to order it from overseas); and the full-color Grotesque stories from Linus magazine will appear in future volumes of Mome (hey, that was my suggestion)!

• More progress on Steven Weissman's ghosts-in-progress

• Go-Getters is a new lithograph from John Hankiewicz

• Dame Darcy provides illustrations for The Penalty of Hope, a book of poetry by Vincent D. Dominion — more info

• The new installment of Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

• Soon to be on the Covered blog? Our own Eric Reynolds gives his take on a Jesse Marsh Tarzan cover, in color and black & white

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Ghost World feels like a really apt bit of social history to me now, rather than a piercing look at real life.  I believe it, but I believe it happened, not that it happens, at least not quite this way, at the age shown here. But, what is timeless is the theme that crops up towards the end: the unsettling feeling one gets when contemplating the lurch into adulthood." – Christopher King, Timmy's House of Sprinkles

• Plugs: The bloggers at Comics And... Other Imaginary Tales comment on our offerings in the current issue of Previews, including Four Color Fear ("This will be awesome!"), Grotesque #4 ("This is a great story with great art and well worth the money"), and Wally Gropius ("The dichotomy between the clean and wholesome lines and the dirtyness of the story is what's pulling me in.")

• Profile: Christina Whiting of the Homer News reports on Jim Woodring's current residency at the Bunnell Street Arts Center: "The Bunnell gallery space has been transformed into an exhibition of Woodring's art and into a working studio. His work table is covered with pads of paper, bottles of ink, quill pens and unfinished drawings — basic tools of his trade. ... Throughout the month, Woodring also has been working on a 100-page graphic novel, which he plans to publish. The first 20 pages are currently displayed in the gallery exhibit area, and he is adding a new page to the wall every couple of days. 'I'll likely create ten new pages while I'm here,' Woodring said."

• Interview: At The Comics Journal, Alex Dueben talks to Ho Che Anderson about his new book Sand & Fury: "I’ve always been highly, highly influenced by movies, as much if not more so than comics. There were certainly comic book influences on S&F, like Richard Sala’s work and also Richard Corben whom I’m a big fan of, and even a little Jason Lutes though it’d be difficult to see. But it’s true that the majority of the influences were cinematic, particularly Dario Argento and David Lynch."

• Interview: Bob Fingerman (right) & comedian Marc Maron (left) chat it up on Marc's WTF podcast

• It's a new New Character Parade strip from Johnny Ryan

• Kevin Huizenga gives us perhaps the kookiest installment of Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond yet

• Frank Santoro's views of Pittsburgh, PA

• David Paleo presents his portrait of Rickie Lee Jones from the book Talk to Her

• Gabrielle Bell gets a haircut in her new Lucky strip

• A recent book cover illustration by Sergio Ponchione

• A peek, an escape from Renee French

• Usagi Yojimbo art by Stan Sakai for the Comix Experience 21st Anniversary CLBDF Benefit auction

• So, one of those Apple Council creeps got to Kevin Huizenga too, huh?

• Mark Kalesniko captures a woman on her cell phone

• Sayeth Hans Rickheit: "I like Page 15 [of Ectopiary] simply because it contains a stuffy old lady denigrating beatniks and artists; that is always a winning ingredient of any succsessful book, in my opinion."

• Fresh off the drawing board, new pages from Derek Van Gieson

• The "structure" drawings from Tom Kaczynski keep on a-coming: "fossilized bloom," "batholitic vessel," and "decay as propellant" (above)

• A new chunk of Jordan Crane at What Things Do

• The last word today goes to Jeremy Eaton, with this illustration for a (now out-of-date) Seattle Weekly article about that whole Amazon/Diamond foofarah. 'Nuff said!

I might have to start posting these art-blog roundups on the weekends too... these Monday updates are outa control...

• Airbrushed Zippy the Pinhead art (artist unknown)! Posting this on Facebook, Bill Griffith says "This is the 2-page spread ad for the 'Zippy Movie' from Variety magazine, 3/29/90. The ad was taken out by the Aspen Film Society (at that time they were the producers of the movie) in hopes of attracting a studio/distributor. Are we in turnaround yet?" More about it (and the likewise never-to-be Zippy TV show series) here

• Check out all the artwork from the Covered art show here on the Secret Headquarters Flickr page — I'm pretty sure I haven't featured this Johnny Ryan piece on Flog before — and organizer/curator Robert Goodin has a report and photos from the opening on his blog

• Michael Kupperman awards the Oscar for best Oscar

• John Hankiewicz does Ditko , plus another sketchbook page

• A 1994 minicomic by Frank Santoro & Jon Good

• Jewelry and accessories "made from 100% genuine doll" by Dame Darcy

• Several new pieces by Richard Sala available at Comic Art Collective or direct via Richard's blog

• Detail of a mid-1990s Jim Flora illustration

• The conclusion of Gabrielle Bell's New York story

• Mark Kalesniko is really channeling Egon Schiele in this one

• Yowie! Sergio Ponchione presents a full-color Grotesque story from the pages of the new issue of Linus

• This one from Renee French is even creepier as the follow-up to this one

• Ectopiary page 14 and a Cochlea and Eustachia one-pager from Hans Rickheit

• More from "Tales of Abstraction House" by Derek Van Gieson

• Three more structures by Tom Kaczynski: "incoherent amalgamation," "basalt garden" and, above, "The Tomb of Jack Kirby"

• More new Jordan Crane at What Things Do

Your daily dose of eyeball kicks:

• Holy smokes, this Dave Cooper painting, titled February, is part of the group show The Devil Made Me Do It curated by Industrial Squid at WWA Gallery in Culver City

• I like the composition of this drawing of Helvella lacunosa in a cemetary by Debbie Drechsler

• Some Pim & Francie fan art by YouTube user Danny2113182

• Artwork by Sergio Ponchione is used in the stage set for the performance for which this video is the trailer; Sergio's blog post also includes a small newspaper spot illustration he did

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot

• A teaser panel and outtake page from the last chapter of Derek Van Gieson's Mome story "Devil Doll," plus a sketchbook page (not shown here)

Behold:

• 3 images from one of Ben Catmull's current projects

• Two spot illos for the Feb. issue of Linus by Sergio Ponchione

• The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog shares some Valentine's Day advice from Jack Cole & Shel Silverstein

• Groovy poster design by Jim Blanchard for his Missus's band The DTs' gig tomorrow night (head there after seeing Gahan Wilson at our store)

• Johnny Ryan's contribution to The Sinstones, an anthology minicomic of Flintstone gags

• An animated editorial cartoon by Steve Brodner (there's a cute dog)

• Dangit Laura Park, yer makin' me hungry with your noodle doodles

By the way, multiple belated hat tips to Robot 6, whose roundups of end-of-year links have been invaluable to the last few installments of Online Commentary & Diversions. On with the links:

• List: Publishers Weekly announced the results of their 2009 Comics Week Critic's Poll; among the top vote-getters are You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("I love this autobiographical family story as much for the way Tyler weaves between her own life and her father's, as for its painterly, illustrative panoramas of suburban neighborhoods and army scenes." – Sasha Watson) and Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman ("Milk and other liquids may come out your nose as you read one of the funniest comics ever put to paper. Kupperman's droll absurdism is matched by a stiff, woodcut-like art style that underplays the sometimes outre concepts. A comedy diamond." – Heidi MacDonald). Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman et al, Low Moon by Jason, Luba by Gilbert Hernandez, Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941, West Coast Blues Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi, and You Are There by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Claude Forest all received single votes in the poll

• List: At comiXology, Tucker Stone counts down his top 25 Best Comics of 2009, with Grotesque #3 by Sergio Ponchione at #23 ("...every once in a while, I get a reminder how vast the world of comics really is. Grotesque — European, unusual, brilliant — was one of those, an experimental passport to another universe"), Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga at #7 ("...Ganges captured the thing that all of us spend a lifetime doing — thinking — and turned it into something deserving of examination") and, in the top spot, Prison Pit: Book 1 by Johnny Ryan ("Aggro, obscene, hilarious, compulsive: Prison Pit. It wasn't just the greatest comic of the year, it was one of those comics that operated like the end result of a math equation, a definitive answer to the question of what comics are, and what they should be...")

• List: Johnny Bacardi's Personal Best of the Decade includes Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes

• Review: "Each [panel] almost vibrates with the frenetic, desperate energy of the characters as they try to pull off their cons. That energy explodes in the final pages, as the story comes to a dramatic but ambiguous conclusion. In the end, the work offers an homage to B-movies while standing out as a graphic novel. The Troublemakers will please long-term Hernandez fans. It also should serve as a good introduction to newcomers looking to jump into the Love and Rockets universe." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "...Giraffes [in My Hair], a collection of anecdotes from Bruce Paley's teens and twenties on America's countercultural fringe, is a breezy read. ... Swain's art rarely calls attention to or gets in the way of itself, and in that it meshes seamlessly with Paley's deadpan 'here's what happened' narrative style, his reluctance to overstate or oversell the import of the anecdote reminiscent of Harvey Pekar's." – Sean T. Collins

• Review: "...[The Comics Journal] has reached issue 300 and is celebrating with a fascinating collection of creator-chats as industry tyros and giants come together to interview, share, bitch and generally shoot the breeze about graphic narrative: a tactic that makes this the most compelling read of the year for anyone truly interested in what we all do and why." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review: "Fantagraphics Books continues its series devoted to chronologically packaging [Peanuts] and has not missed a step along the way. ... I’m pleased to inform that the latest edition, the twelfth in the series, is as lovingly curated as the first... [I]t is nice to know that one of the form’s greatest achievements is being held up as the accomplishment it really is." – Dw. Dunphy, Popdose

• Review: "It’s clear from editor/publisher Steffen P. Maarup’s survey [From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium] that, contradicting Horatio’s famous line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is nothing 'rotten' about the state of comics in Denmark today. If anything, it’s nurturing a number of major talents as well as sprouting exciting new shoots." – Paul Gravett (via Robot 6)

• Review: "[In Sam's Strip] Walker and Dumas clearly take pleasure in working in callbacks to classic comic strips... [and] many of the metatextual gags are funny and fun. ... Dumas’s drawings of classic comic-strip characters are excellent... The result is a frustrating, compelling curiosity: the soul of an underground comic trapped in the mortal coil of a Hi and Lois." – Shaenon Garrity, The Comics Journal

• Plugs: At Comics Alliance, Douglas Wolk's recommended comics of the week include The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez ("It's crazy, vivid, grindhouse-y stuff") and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw ("intriguing")

• Plugs: The Gosh! Comics Blog also highlights The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw among the week's noteworthy releases

• Plug: Rob Orange of Seduced by the New features Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams

• Plug: Illustrator Joanna Barnum spotlights Nell Brinkley as an inspiration

• Plug: Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy takes note of the upcoming Kim Deitch book The Search for Smilin' Ed

• Analysis: Robert Boyd examines Popeye's propensity for cross-dressing, with evidence from Popeye Vol. 4 (via Jeet Heer)

• Coming Attractions: Wayno, whose work appears in the forthcoming Newave: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, talks about the book and the (announcement!) upcoming exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Events: Star Clipper is sponsoring a screening of Ghost World at Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis tonight — oh jeez, in like half an hour! — and copies of the graphic novel and other Clowes books will be on sale

• Things to see: Follow your nose to a new Kevin Huizenga-drawn Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip

• Things to see: Finished pages from Robert Goodin's 19-page story "The Spritual Crisis of Carl Jung"