• Webcomics avatar/fictional comic shop clerk Lydia includes The Lagoon and Petey & Pussy in her staff picks this week in The Rack

• Here's a transcript of Gary Panter's panel discussion with C.F. and Dan Nadel at the Tokion Creativity Now Conference

• Sequart looks at Sublife Vol. 1 by John Pham

• Syndicate Product gives a quick overview of The Complete Peanuts

• Wart plugs the January 2009 release of the French edition of Jason's Pocket Full of Rain (in French)

• The Phoenix compares The Drinky Crow Show (debuting this weekend!) to its source material, Tony Millionaire's Maakies

• Wow, check out this amazing mosaic made of Peanuts strips at the Schulz Museum (photo by David Lasky)

Jacob beat me to the punch on the scoop, but here's the full skinny on what might make me break down and get expanded cable again. I just got a sneak peek at the season premiere and it's every bit as hilarious as the pilot, but yet seemed even more visually refined. It also has an extended cameo by the Flight of the Conchords dudes, Bret and Jemaine. Lay-deeeez and gentlemen...

The Drinky Crow Show Premieres on Adult Swim in November
Animated Series Based on Tony Millionaire's Award-Winning Comic Strip Maakies

Based on Tony Millionaire's award-wining comic-strip Maakies, The Drinky Crow Show is a new original series slated to debut on Adult Swim on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 12:15 a.m. (ET/PT).  The animated comedy stars Drinky, a suicidal crow with a drinking problem, and Gabby, a depraved monkey.  Both are crew members aboard the SS Maakies, and together they go on a number of misadventures usually involving drunkenness, violence, and mayhem.

From executive producers Tony Millionaire and Eric Kaplan, The Drinky Crow Show originally aired in May 2007 as part of Adult Swim's "Night of 1,000 Pilots" and quickly became a viewer favorite.  Millionaire is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author, best known for his series of comic books Sock Monkey and his popular weekly comic strip Maakies, for which he has earned multiple Harvey and Eisner awards.  Kaplan has written and produced for a number of television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Malcolm in the Middle, Futurama, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and HBO's Flight of the Conchords.  Kaplan is currently co-executive producer for the CBS show The Big Bang Theory.

Ten episodes are currently in production at Kaplan's production studio, Mirari Films.  

Tony Millionaire is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author who is perhaps best know for his popular weekly comic strip, Maakies, and his series of comic books, Sock Monkey.  

Eric Kaplan has written for a number of television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Malcolm in the Middle, Futurama, and Andy Richter Controls the Universe.  

The series theme song is performed by They Might Be Giants.

Voice Talent
"Drinky Crow" - Dino Stamatopoulos (More Orel)
"Captain" & "Uncle Gabby" - David Herman
"Captain's Daughter" - Becky Thyre

Be sure to look for DRINKY CROW'S MAAKIES TREASURY, the next Maakies book, collecting the last five years of Maakies into one whopping hardcover, hitting stores in April 2009. And of course, there are all of these existing gems.

Maakies fans, let us unite to make Tony Millionaire rich! We all know that comics don't pay well but cartoons do: Tell everyone to watch the premiere of the official Drinky Crow Show series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. It debuts in just two weeks, so open a beer and hit those message boards!

To make it easier for you, here are some ad banner thingies to post around. Tony will appreciate it, I assure you.

By the way, I suspect that 12:15 am on Sunday actually means Saturday night. Sunday at 12:15 means Sunday night. Monday morning if you prefer.

• Dash Shaw and Tony Millionaire are amongst the the official selections from which the the Festival International de la BD Angouleme main prizes will be drawn from at January's festival. That is very cool.

• Joey Anuff has justified the Internet's existence.

• Charles Crumb, who passed away 14 years ago, is gone but not forgotten. 

• Rudy Ray Moore is not so far removed from the realm of this blog that it would be inappropriate to lament his passing here. R.I.P., R.R.M. A tip of the fur bucket to Rick Altergott and Jim Blanchard, who first introduced me to Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-In-Law.

• Dennis the Menace cartoonist Marcus Hamilton is a thankful man. 

• Bob Levin's blog is always worth reading. 

Courtesy the man so good, he should be named Tony Billionaire:

Gary Groth and Jason T. Miles head down to Los Angeles tomorrow morning for this weekend's BOOK EXPO AMERICA at the L.A. Convention Center (right next to the Staples Center - good luck avoiding the crush of rioting Laker fans when their team earns a trip to the NBA finals tomorrow night, gents).

Our booth numbers at the show are #1411-1413, in the W.W. Norton area, and we'll be showcasing basically our entire 2008 line, including previews of just about every title coming out for the rest of the year. We're also bringing along five our favorite sons to do signings on Friday/Saturday: 

FRIDAY 4-5PM in the AUTOGRAPH AREA
"GRAPHIC NOVEL SALUTE"

TONY MILLIONAIRE (Table 7) will be signing copies of The Maakies with the Wrinkled Knees, featuring Drinky Crow from Adult Swim's The Drinky Crow Show!

JORDAN CRANE (Table 8) will be signing copies of the all-ages hit, The Clouds Above, newly available in softcover!

JAIME HERNANDEZ (Table 9)will be signing copies of Love and Rockets, one of the most beloved comics of all-time, which re-launches in July as Love and Rockets: New Stories #1!

SATURDAY 1-3PM in the FANTAGRAPHICS BOOTH (#1411):

1:00-2:00PM: STEVEN WEISSMAN will be signing copies of the all-ages gem, Kid Firechief!

2:00-3:00PM: JOHNNY RYAN will be signing copies of the acclaimed adult humor strip, Blecky Yuckerella!

Also on Saturday, GARY GROTH will be participating in a "Graphic Novel BUZZ" panel. The panel will take place from 4:00 - 5:00 PM in Room 404B. Expect Gary to make some exciting announcements about a few future book projects, you heard it here first!

Anyone heading to Portland for Stumptown later this month might wanna get to town a couple of nights early for this one:

Thank you Tony Millionaire!

(T minus 27 days til fatherhood... and I'm praying she'll have lost that stubble by the time kindergarten starts up.)

Tony Millionaire is the latest guest on Jesse Thorn's The Sound of Young America podcast. Not to be missed. It'll also air Sunday at 6 on WNYC, Friday at 9 on WHYY, for those of you whom that means something. Tony talks about his new book, The Maakies with the Wrinkled Knees, and much more, including the forthcoming Drinky Crow Show on Adult Swim.

As expected for awhile, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network has placed an initial order for 10 episodes of "The Drinky Crow Show," based on Tony Millionaire's acclaimed "Maakies" comic strip. The newest Maakies book, The Maakies With the Wrinkled Knees, will hit stores next month.

A pilot episode of the proposed series was developed by Millionaire and animation producer Eric Kaplan last year. It aired as part of a competition which pitted dozens of pilots against each other, with the fans voting online for their favorites. The Drinky Crow Show was far and away the most popular new pilot, leading to the order for more episodes, which are tentatively slated to begin airing late this year or early next.

We'll have more news on this next week, including an exclusive Flog interview with Millionaire about the episodes that are just going into production.  

In the meantime, here's a new Millionaire interview with the good folks at CBR.