Tim Kreider signs and reads from his new book Twilight of the Assholes: Cartoons & Essays 2005-2009 at the Strand Bookstore in New York City on February 17, 2011 at 7 PM. "In a slideshow, talk and Q&A, he'll wax nostalgic about the endearing atrocities and deadly foibles of the Bush administration and have a fond chuckle over the deadpan haplessness of Obama and the fascist antics of the tea party." Mark your calendars now and get a bit more info here; we'll be certain to have more info and updates as the date draws closer.

Online Commentary & Diversions returns from the U.S. holiday:

• List: About.com: Manga places Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories at #19 on their list of "50 Essential Manga for Libraries": "Collected for the first time in a gorgeous hardcover edition, A Drunken Dream offers a rare glimpse into the work of one of Japan's most distinctive and influential creators in shojo manga, and heck, manga, period. Worth recommending to both older teen and adult readers alike."

• Review: "Hagio draws these stories as if a full symphonic score were playing in the background. Her delicate, razor-thin pen line expertly captures her characters’ wide-eyed, open-mouthed anguish effectively. [...]  I, certainly, am very glad that Fantagraphics made the effort (and judging by the exceptional production values it was a tremendous effort) to get this book out there ...because... beyond Hagio’s historical significance, [A] Drunken Dream [and Other Stories] is a book that deserves attention." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review: "Ever since it was announced in March (was it really that long ago?), I’d been looking forward to reading [A Drunken Dream and Other Stories] by legendary Moto Hagio. [...] It would be a real shame if Fantagraphics didn’t get any supportive business from this collection and demand for more. [...] I’m looking forward to reading more, and adding to the crying list!" – Sunday Comics Debt (who also provides the following two links)

• Review: "BUY. THIS. BOOK. No, seriously, buy it now. [...] I don’t think there is a single thing wrong with this book; Hagio-sensei touches on each of the topics she chooses to use with such perfection and …delicacy? that you can’t help but be amazed at how she does it. [...] I can’t wait for the next volume of manga Fantagraphics chooses to put out! They did a beyond amazing job with [A Drunken Dream and Other Stories]." – Kelakagandy's Ramblings

• Plug: "This week... everything fades in the presence of a newly-released collection of short manga from shojo pioneer Moto Hagio, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. [...] Simply put, this book is gorgeous. [...] This is a release I’ve been eagerly anticipating since its announcement. Visit your local bookstore to find out why." – Melinda Beasi, Manga Bookshelf

• Review: "'Greatest Generation' hoopla will never seem the same after You’ll Never Know: Collateral Damage, book two in Carol Tyler’s sprightly but relentlessly honest 'graphic memoir'... [T]his is the story of not just a family but a generation, or two or three. And all are told with a saving dash of humor. Tyler’s form, a mix of scrapbook, diary, and cartoon panels, is likewise messy and eccentric, but it pays off in layered textures and viewpoints. Two famous precedents, Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, seem almost one-dimensional by comparison." – Eric Scigliano, Seattle Met

• Review: "While there aren’t necessarily many surprises in the story, Set to Sea is more about the savoring of a series of vivid moments (both for the lead character and the reader) than any sort of narrative complexity. With each page acting as a single panel, the true joy of reading Set to Sea is luxuriating in Weing’s intense crosshatching and detail. [...] Indeed, in a book whose visuals have such a powerful impact, Weing’s decision not to overwrite (and especially not to over-narrate) was his wisest. With nearly 70 of the book’s pages appearing as silent, the result was a book that understood and maximized its charms." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Interview: Nicola D'Agostino presents the original English text of the Drew Weing interview which ran at Comicsblog.it so you don't have to struggle through the mangled autotranslation: "So one day in 2005, I drew a panel with a guy sleeping. The only thing I knew about him was that he was a big fellow. I spent more than a year adding to it bit by bit, just improvising panels as I went. I started Set to Sea with no idea that it would be set in the past, or even set on the sea, so to speak!"

• Review: "...[T]he Billy Hazelnuts books are safe for children, while still being unique and complex enough for adults. Here Millionaire combines a gung-ho adventure spirit with a tempered yet still present darkness — two strains that have been the keys to so much of the greatest children’s literature. [...] Tony Millionaire is a genius and the Billy Hazelnuts books may be his best work. Imagine if Beatrix Potter had dropped acid with the 60s underground comix crowd or if A.A. Milne had collaborated with Franz Kafka. If you love fun, hilarious, and plain weird stories, then Billy Hazelnuts is for you." – Lincoln Michel, The Faster Times

• Plug: Comix 411's Tom Mason plugs the Stephen DeStefano retrospective exhibit at mdh Gallery next week: "It’s a cartoon fan’s dream come true, and did I mention the wine?"

• Profile/Preview: A gallery of images from the book accompanies this article: "See the work of Dan DeCarlo in the book The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo, published by Fantagraphics, which plunges into an alternate universe where Betty, Veronica, Sabrina grew up and live out situations that summed up the lewd sexual desire of men in the time before the sexual revolution of the twentieth century." – Ambrosia (translated from Portuguese)

• Interview: At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason presents a brief Q&A he recently did with the Spanish newspaper El Periodico de Catalunya: "I can hear the voice of a woman, from somewhere above me. 'Don't cry,' her voice says. 'One day you will see Neal Adams at a comic book convention in America.'"

• Feature: USA Today Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson spotlights Jim Woodring and his giant pen project: "I can't wait to see the pen and the drawings! (Also, can we start a campaign to get a live demonstration in New York?)"

• Commentary: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Ng Suat Tong surveys the use of buildings in comics and then looks specifically at architecture in Josh Simmons’s House 

• Commentary: At The Comics Journal, Tim Kreider's requiem for Cathy

• Commentary: The Comics Journal's Kristy Valenti is the guest contributor to this week's "What Are You Reading?" column at Robot 6

• Hooray for Hollywood: At Publishers Weekly's PWxyz blog Rachel Deahl reports that Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button can be seen being read by one of the protagonists of the new film The Freebie

Periodic clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Bleeding Cool presents this R. Crumb sketch which was printed on the front page of Brazilian newspaper O Globo

• Bob Fingerman depicts "Another Day in Hell"

• Two unpublished Jason pages: a gag strip starring "D.V." and an aborted Poe adaptation

• This week's "I, Anonymous" spot by Steven Weissman 

• This week's Maakies by Tony Millionaire (still on Facebook while his new website is being built — if that last link doesn't work try this)

• New Mome contributor D.J. Bryant has a strip in this week's issue of The Stranger — it's not online so I took a snap of it

• Looks like maybe a new Cold Heat page from Frank Santoro? Also figures in conflict

• I don't usually editorialize here but Phineas X. Jones's version of Usagi Yojimbo #36 at Covered is awesome

• Drew Weing's Set to Sea pages 122 & 123

• A partial scan (with color checker card) of an unpublished 1954 Jim Flora woodcut print, Sheffield Island

• Debbie Drechsler draws skinks

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop

• Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin bring us Quackers vs. Buzzers, Quackers vs. Pony Cheetah, & Quacker loves Bunny; also from Josh, these scary guys

• Renee French draws a portrait of Tim Kreider; also these sketches and this photo

• Steve Brodner's animated take on Charlie Rangel

• A new Truth Serum strip by Jon Adams

• Ray Fenwick made a t-shirt design for Nike

'Atsa good Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: On her Pop Candy blog, USA Today's Whitney Matheson gives The Brinkley Girls the #10 spot on her Top 10 comics/graphic novels of 2009, saying "this beautiful book introduced me to a new heroine: Nell Brinkley, an early 20th century newspaper cartoonist. Her drawings of flappers and glamour gals are sexy, strong and ahead of their time. I can't believe I hadn't seen her work before, but I'm so thrilled to know it now." Matheson also lavishes praise on Lilli Carré, who "continued making must-see work" and lands at #69 on Matheson's Top 100 People list, and whose book from Little Otsu lands at the #2 spot on the comics Top 10.

• Review: "The Wolverton Bible... is -- no pun intended -- a revelation. Though his serious work is a bit stiffer and more restrained than the Wolverton art you might be used to, it's more powerful. ... What sets [the drawings in] The Wolveton Bible apart from Crumb's Genesis... is that they come from a true believer. ...Wolverton's drawings have an intensity and sincerity that reveal something connecting him to those stories in a way Crumb just can't duplicate." – Will Pfeifer, "Books of the Year"

• Review: "...[Supermen! is] magical, memorable [and] just plain wonky... The stories range from action-packed to barely-sensible, but they all have a crazed energy you just can't fake. ... They read like the sort of stories imaginative kids would think up -- which might be why they appealed so much to kids in the first place." – Will Pfeifer, "Books of the Year"

• Review: The Hooded Utilitarian's critical roundtable on Ghost World continues with Richard Cook: "The most appealing aspect of Ghost World was the main characters, Enid and Rebecca. And much of their appeal is due to how effectively Daniel Clowes panders to a specific demographic that I belong to: geeks."

• Plug: The Beat's Heidi MacDonald, picking up on Tony Millionaire's Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird sneak peek, comments "In all the talk about comics for kids recently, we’re probably very bad for not mentioning Millionaire’s non-child-averse work more prominently. His work is not for the faint-hearted, but children generally prefer tales that are not faint-hearted." Right on.

• Plug: Interior decorating blog Shelterrific puts Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra on a holiday gift list

• Plug: "Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box... is a fetishized art object/coffee table-style compendium of great VHS jackets, ranging from the campy to the sleazy to the so-bad-it's-good. Highly recommended as a gift idea for the B-movie lover on your holiday shopping list." – Audrey Hendrickson, The SunBreak

• Interview: TCJ.com continues to post the intergenerational conversations from The Comics Journal #300 online; today's selection is David Mazzucchelli (Asterios Polyp) and Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button)

• Interview: Walrus Comix, who say "Not only is [The Pain — When Will It End?] the funniest comic strip ever, but, well, that’s it: it’s the funniest comic strip ever," talk to the strip's creator, Tim Kreider, who says, among many things, "I don’t know why you’d want to be a cartoonist if you didn’t enjoy drawing funny, cool things. If I had to draw an entire graphic novel of people sitting around talking I think I’d hang myself." (Via Journalista)

• Things to buy: Folks in Portland this weekend can purchase handmade arts-n-crafts from Andrice Arp and a bunch of other Portland artists at the Creative Creatures Bazaar at Cosmic Monkey Comics, reports Andrice on her blog

Befitting a Friday, today's Online Commentary & Diversions is heavy on the latter:

• List: Heeb magazine names Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman the #2 comic of the year 5769

• Review: "...[L]ike the rest of Fantagraphics’ spectacular catalogue of books, [Mome] takes some of the most exciting talent around in comics at the moment (both Paul Hornschemeier and Dash Shaw feature in this volume, for example), adds some raw talent that you might not have heard of, and collates it into a cutting-edge anthology. An excellent taster in bite-sized portions for those who want to experiment with a range of sophisticated comics artists without breaking the bank." – Grovel

• Review: "[The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book] has a nice laid-back vibe to it, as Dave and Paul wander into and out of adventures. It's kind of fun to just watch them drive around in Dave's sweet red convertible and look at the scenery. The art has a simple, clean look that retains enough detail to make the setting feel like a real place. And, as I said, it's pretty damn funny. I liked this book and recommend it." – Sandy Bilus, I Love Rob Liefeld

• Reviews: Video blogger Manga Matt looks at Eightball, Bottomless Belly Button, Fred the Clown and Epileptic

• Things to see: The Late Show with Barack Obama, brought to you by Drew Friedman illustrating for The New Republic

• Things to see: At Comics Comics, Dash Shaw reports from his trip to Brazil; on his own blog he provides further proof that he is the most creative book-sketcher-inner (or -onner) in comics

• Things to see: At Covered, Steven Weissman's new version of Superboy #116 makes his previous version suddenly make sense

• Things to see: Tim Kreider illustrates his own (hilarious) column for The New York Times

• Things to see: The masthead for McSweeney's Quarterly #33's "San Francisco Panorama" Sunday-style newspaper sure looks like Clowes to me, and there for sure will be comics by Clowes, Ware and others inside (via The Beat)

Let's see what kind of Online Commentary & Diversions the weekend held for us... a lot, apparently:

• Review: "Carol Tyler is a unique figure in the world of comics... She's now put together the first volume of what promises to be her masterwork, a 'graphic memoir' about her father's experiences in World War II that effortlessly mixes media in a charming, affecting, and devastating package. You'll Never Know goes beyond biography, autobiography and even as a means a therapy to ask a number of deeper questions that may well not have ready answers. It's a stunning achievement, a perfect marriage of form and content, and is my early contender for not only comic of the year, but comic of the decade." - Rob Clough

• Review: "Jordan Crane's Uptight series is a lo-fi throwback of a series... Crane's line is elegant but unfussy, with slightly scratchy character designs that have a grace and fluidity to them reminiscent of Jaime Hernandez." - Rob Clough

• Review: "Grotesque has been one of the most playful entries in the underappreciated Ignatz line. Sergio Ponchione has a very 'American' quality to his line in terms of his line (thick and rubbery) and character design (a series of homages to masters like EC Segar and more contemporary figures like Charles Burns)... Ponchione's sight gags in this issue were something to behold, like a dead baron's tombstone growing arms and legs and coming after his brothers." - Rob Clough (same link as above)

• Review: "Issue #4 of Delphine was the conclusion of the series, and it certainly did not disappoint... Delphine benefitted from the Ignatz format: big pages that let the backgrounds breathe, nice paper, and creepy one-tone color. It was a perfect format for a fairy tale gone horribly wrong." - Rob Clough (same link as above) 

• Review: "When life is on the skids, there are those who just lean into it and those who try to drive their way out. Some get run over, some step on the gas. In Pop. 666 [by Francesca Ghermandi, serialized in Zero Zero], fortunes change at moment’s notice, and events are never anything short of bizarre... This weird and creepy sci-fi horror crime comic is a loopy piece of work, and it deserves to be experienced by more readers..." - Jamie S. Rich, Robot 6

• Review: "I realize as I was reading the book that I’d previously thought of Val as a bit of a wimp due to his hairstyle, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In the first volume he kills a giant crocodile, wears a false mustache, scares an ogre to death, enters a jousting tournament in disguise, gets drunk, falls in love with a girl who already has a fiance, pursues girl with said fiance when she is kidnapped by vikings, and fights off a horde of vikings single-handed. That Prince Valiant is a busy guy!... It is really great seeing an essential part of comics history like Prince Valiant being treated so respectfully in this new edition." - TangognaT

• Review: "Imagine a book publisher had released a retrospective on 'The Graphic Novel' in 1976, or that a cinema hosted a look back at France’s nouvelle vague in 1957, or that a gallery exhibit somewhere spotlighted American Abstract Expressionism in, say, 1946. The experience would have been not unlike reading Abstract Comics: The Anthology today." - Sean Rogers, The Walrus

• Review: "[The Wolverton Bible] is a fascinating testimony to the peculiar vision of the life of an original artist and a somewhat unorthodox view of the 'holy book' by a faithful believer." - Iconoctlán (translation from Google)

• Review: "Popeye Vol. 1 would be enthralling if only for the change in the Thimble Theatre order of things, letting the reader watch as a new character takes over and reshapes the strip into his own image. Fortunately, what it's turned into is a thoroughly fun adventure strip that made me eager for more... There are so many fun newspaper reprint projects going on right now that it's easy to miss a lot of them. Now that I know how good Popeye is, I'm making it a priority to read the rest." - Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

• Review: "[Bottomless Belly Button is a] wonderful book that I strongly recommend for every comic fan... Dash Shaw is a name to remember." - Laurent De Maertelaer, freaky.be (translation from Google)

• Plugs: "Abstract Comics: ...[I]t's fascinating to see what you can do with comics when you're dealing with non-representational, non-narrative imagery, stretching the limits of the medium... Locas II: Oh man, it's another huge collection of Jaime Hernandez's amazing stories from Love and Rockets... Greatness." - Matthew J. Brady

• Plug: "This third volume of Flora visual treats includes newly-discovered artwork that Irwin [Chusid] himself dug out of a time capsule that was buried in a top-secret location. Or maybe I made up that last part." - Liz Berg, WFMU's Beware of the Blog

• Plug: "...I have just started the new Fletcher Hanks collection, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!, and am happy to see it is just as insane as the first one." - Tom Bondurant, Robot 6

• Plug: "Nobody else’s comics read like these [in You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!]. They’re savage and brutal but have moments of eerie and unexpected beauty... And don’t read this stuff right before bed: strange dreams are a documented side-effect." - Matt Maxwell, Robot 6 (same link as above)

• Plug: "Paul Karasik's Fletcher Hanks collections are the gift that keeps on giving." - Chris Sims, Chris's Invincible Super-Blog [the accompanying panel is one of my favorites too]

• Preview: Hans Rickheit has a peek at the hardcover of The Squirrel Machine

• Profile: "Michael Kupperman does funny very well... 'Right now, I'm working on two more short pieces for Marvel, one featuring the Avengers, and I'm going to try to get some of that Marvel spirit of the '70s, with the explosive, sound-effect laden fight scenes.'" - Gary C.W. Chun catches up with Kupperman in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

• Interview: "I've greatly enjoyed Chicago-based cartoonist, artist and animator Lilli Carré's first few forays into the world of comics. Longer works such as Tales of Woodsman Pete and especially The Lagoon were stuffed with undeniably interesting formal techniques... There's a soulful element to Carré's writing that helps greatly to involve the reader in the surface narratives..." - Tom Spurgeon, introducing his Q&A with Lilli at The Comics Reporter

• Opinion: Another great (non-comics) NYT column from Tim Kreider

• Second thoughts: Gil Roth offers some regrets about a negative review he gave to Richard Sala's Evil Eye in The Comics Journal back in 1998

• Comic-Con Rhetorical Question of the Day: "...[H]ow many members of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion do you see at the Fantagraphics booth?" - Sean T. Collins (The Unneeded Answer: we had maybe 2 cosplayers, period, in the booth all week, and no Stormtroopers, although they are more than welcome.)

A brief yet interesting installment of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Profile: "I loved comic books and, if you read enough of them, they’d give you a sort of caffeine high." - Jules Feiffer, in a lengthy conversation with NYC Graphic's Christopher Irving

• Profile: Norway.com puts together the scoop on native son Jason and Low Moon

• Things to see: Dylan Horrocks presents his story from Dirty Stories Vol. 2 online for your reading enjoyment (NSFW)

• Things to read: A great essay by Tim Kreider for The New York Times "Happy Days" blog

• Staff: New vispoems and essay from our own Nico Vassilakis

Post-APE catch-up!

• We haven't had a chance to listen to this ourselves yet, but we are told that British comedy genius and known Fantagraphics fan Graham Linehan (Big Train, The IT Crowd, Father Ted) sings our praises in this interview with The Sound of Young America

• Flickr users Inkyhack and Christopher Diaz (a.k.a. "mr. diazzler") share their APE photos

• Publishers Weekly "Comics Week" reviews David Levine's American Presidents just in time for Election Day (scroll about halfway down)

• Reason reviews Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester by Bob Levin

• Blogger Kevin Schulke takes note of The Complete Peanuts

• The Daily Cross Hatch talks Election 2008 with Tim Kreider

• Alan David Doane talks with Ivan Brunetti (audio download)

• Noah Berlatsky presents his Comics Journal review of Jack Cole's Betsy and Me

• In The Week, author Deb Olin Unferth names Chris Ware's Quimby the Mouse a "best book"

• New animated Peanuts shorts on iTunes, huh?

• Johnny Ryan presents: insulting fan art!

Two can play at this game. (Created without Tim's permission, but somehow I don't think he'll mind.)