Newly-rechristened Vancouver-based culture website The Snipe (formerly Guttersnipe) is celebrating their new name by giving away a copy of Dave McKean's new graphic novel Celluloid to one lucky reader! See here for contest rules and more info.

Throughout his career, Lyonel Feininger had one foot in fine art, as a leading figure of German expressionism and the Bauhaus.  But, as we all know, he had his other foot planted in the world of comics, with his ground-breaking strips in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, The Kin-Der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie's World.

This summer, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City celebrates Feininger with his very first major show in the states in forty-five years! Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World will showcase not only his historic strips, but his paintings, photography, and even a series of miniature hand-carved wooden figures and buildings he created, known as City at the Edge of the World. 

On Wednesday, July 20th, The Whitney spotlights some recent artists who also intersect fine art and comics: Gary Panter, Chris Ware , and Art Spiegelman!  Join them at 7 PM for the panel The Fine Art of Comics, moderated by John Carlin. 

You might even win tickets to the event if you follow The Whitney Museum on Twitter at @whitneymuseum!  At 2 PM ET, they'll tweet a trivia question, and the winner gets tickets to the panel, and a copy of Feininger's complete comics collection The Comic Strip Art of Lyonel Feininger!

Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World runs until October 16th at the Whitney Museum of American Art [945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, NYC].

Writer David Abrams has a weekly "Friday Freebie" book giveaway on his blog The Quivering Pen, and this week he's offering up a "Fantagraphics Threebie" of Unlovable Vol. 1, Castle Waiting Vol. 2, and Special Exits! All you have to do is tell him which of our 2011 releases you're most looking forward to by next Thursday, April 28, and you'll be entered into the drawing. See here for all the details.

Online Commentary & Diversions will return next week. Here's today's:

• List: Lilli Carré's residency at Spudnik Press was selected one of Chicago's Top 5 Solo Exhibitions by Newcity

• Review: "I'm pretty close to having read all of Jason's comics, and each one is so solid and reliable, I'd be perfectly fine with building a house on them — except then it might be hard to read the comics themselves. [...]  I continue to be impressed with Jason's unique and distinctive style, and if anything, he's only gotten better over time. ...[I]t's nice to know that one of my favorite creators is still at the top of his game. Werewolves [of Montpellier] is less a horror story and more a character study, but that's okay by me. Fans of Jason definitely should pick this book up right away, and anyone new to his work will find themselves cursed with a need to read more of his catalog after finishing this one." – Rob McMonigal, Panel Patter

• Interview (Audio): It's a typically informative and entertaining chat between Inkstuds host Robin McConnell and Renee French

• Plug/Contest: "When I saw Destroy All Movies!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film on the bookshelf in the film section of the bookstore where I work, I was smacked all-over nostalgic. One might argue that books like this — big-format subculture guidebooks — are unnecessary now that we mostly all have internet access. Maybe. I still think everyone who coveted Factsheet 5 zine guides when they were young should feel obligated to get a copy of Destroy All Movies!!! for their lonely, floppy-haired nephew in Chilton, Wisconsin." – Matthew Simmons, HTMLGIANT (click through to find out how to win a copy of the book!)

• Plug: "Last week Fantagraphics released an incredibly comprehensive Usagi Yojimbo collection to celebrate the long eared ronin’s 25th Anniversary, and The Blot can’t wait to get his hands on a copy!" – The Blot Says...

Blake Bell wants your input in choosing the artwork to feature on the cover of The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1 — see the 10 candidates on Blake's blog and then cast your vote on his Bill Everett facebook page. One randomly selected voter who selects the image that eventually goes on the book will win a free copy of the book when it's published! My vote is pictured above, though obviously I recuse myself from the contest.

The good folks at Lincoln Butterfield Animation are having a Facebook contest: come up with a punchline for this cartoon and you could win a copy of Rip M.D.! See here for the rules. Have fun and good luck!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At Attentiondeficitdisorderly, Sean T. Collins names Megan Kelso's Artichoke Tales ("a thoughtful fantasy about the fallout of war") one of his Comics of the Year of the Day

• List: Look how many of our publications were listed when The Comics Reporter asked comics pros to "Name Five And Only Five Comics Publications From 2010 You Liked"

• Lists: Readers of Comic Book Resources have voted Jaime Hernandez #49 on their Top 50 Comic Book Artists, and Gilbert Hernandez and Daniel Clowes #49 and #48 respectively on their Top 50 Comic Book Writers

• Review: "[The Littlest Pirate King]'s an engrossing story which is marred somewhat by another of those inconclusive endings which please some but only irritate me. The story's not really the show here anyway, though there is a lot of intellectual grist to mill in it — the quest to know and understand the whims and whys and wherefores of the divine being but one example. B's art is really something to see here; while cartoonish in a superficial sense, he displays a masterful command of composition and visual whimsy and many pages and panels adopt an expressionistic, almost Escher-like, complexity which thankfully does not hinder reading comprehension but rather enhances and illuminates, like all 'good' art should do. While I do wish it had a more definitive conclusion, this is still a visual treat and well worth checking out." – Johnny Bacardi, Popdose

• Review: "Tyler’s portrait of her family [in You'll Never Know, Book 2: Collateral Damage] is at once warm and unsparing; they have awful moments — drinking, bitterness, just plain cussedness (on everyone’s part — there are no saints here), but they also have the in-jokes and little celebrations that are such an important part of happy family life. She has a good ear for the way daughters talk about their mothers and the goofy humor of her parents’ generation — humor that even in real life, sometimes struck me as papering over something painful. Tyler shifts styles and points of view often, telling old and more recent stories in parallel, focusing on different family members, and changing her drawing and paneling styles to fit the topic." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6

• Interview: At Bookslut, Sean P. Carroll, who writes "What Is All This?: Uncollected Stories... offers a fascinating perspective on [Dixon's] long dialogue with the short form. ...Dixon’s unmistakable style and experimentalism draws not only on his familiar New York City locale, but also includes unexpected digressions that offer ample evidence why he is one of our foremost practitioners of fiction. It is a masterful tome that exemplifies Dixon’s ability to transform the vagaries of the everyday into a lasting work of art," questions Dixon about the book: "Why did I rewrite all 62 stories? Originally there were about 80. I threw out about 20 of the stories of mine never in book form as not being worth republishing in book form. The 62 I did rewrite or finish, I thought worthy of book form, and I just wanted to either complete them as stories (the incomplete ones) or improve on the ones that had been in magazines."

• Plug: "Jason is still one of the comics medium’s leading artists, with a fantastic knack for visual storytelling before words. Continuing in the hardcover tradition of Almost Silent, What I Did collects three Jason favorites – 'Hey, Wait…' 'Sshhhh!' and 'The Iron Wagon' – into one elegantly bound book that will match perfectly on the shelf with the other omnibus-style compilations Fantagraphics has released for Jason." – Pads & Panels

• Plug: "I'm delighted to have Four Color Fear... on our new release table now. This is a delightful collection of... gruesome and twisted tales." – (Jackson Street) Books on 7th

• Coming Attractions: Bleeding Cool continues wading through our Spring/Summer 2011 releases, covering Mickey Mouse and Mail Order Geniuses

Two big features on Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2 today: Techland has a preview sampling of 12 "gorgeous, freaky pages," while Wired offers a slideshow of images with commentary from the book by editor Blake Bell and giveaway for a free copy of the book!

Tony Millionaire's National Ransom Photoshop contest has concluded and Tony has announced the winners. The above entry by William Creswell is not the actual "A#1 winner" — we didn't want to give that away, so you'll have to head to Tony's site to see it and all the other hilarious and impressive entries.

Fire up your favorite photo-editing software and put Tony Millionaire's Elvis Costello album cover art in the hands of your favorite celebrity, deity, etc. and post the link on Tony's Facebook page here. Winner (chosen by Tony) gets a drawing of Drinky Crow on a postcard! Contest ends next Monday. If you're not on Facebook, post the link to your entry in a comment on this blog post or tweet it at us and we'll pass it along to Tony. There's already some pretty stiff competition, so get cracking!