Jim Woodring will be a special guest at the Oslo Comics Expo, May 28-29, 2010 (info in English). Jim requests the pleasure of your company on his blog and reveals OH MY GOD IS THAT A T-SHIRT DESIGN I WANT IT.

Ahem. Jim's Weathercraft and Jason's Low Moon are nominated for 2010 Sproing Awards (Best Translated Comic and Best Norwegian Comic, respectively), which are awarded at the festival. Congratulations to both!

Starting today, Paul Hornschemeier is debuting a new t-shirt design every week in his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop. Announcing the project on his News and Head Lice blog, Paul says "The shirts will range from pure illustrations to pure text, some will have a relationship to my books, but most will simply be ridiculous, to one degree or another." We'll feature future designs in our "Things to see" posts.

My original title for this post was "R. Crumb FUCKs Wallets." Maybe I should've stuck with that.

It's probably a sign that I'm too cynical that my reaction to this was mild surprise that it's an authorized design (licensed by Supreme for Porter, or something like that) rather than a ripoff, which would have been pretty easy to do.

See more images & products at SLAMXHYPE (via Alan David Doane). No word on where to buy these. Japan maybe?

UPDATE: Our super-sleuth in residence Janice Headley comments:

no! in new york!
http://www.supremenewyork.com/

Well lookee here:

Memoirs of a Scanner (Pillows Edition) from Damon Stea on Vimeo.

• Watch carefully or you'll miss a certain cameo appearance in this clever video that Kim came across on The Daily Dish a few days ago

• A Johnny Ryan drawing for a good cause

• And the logo for that school? It's by Jordan Crane (the above two items via Steven Weissman on Twitter)

• Three Men in a Tub's Ted Dawson posts this 1976 self-portrait by Charles M. Schulz. Dig those pants! (Via The Comics Reporter)

• Hand-embellished purses (and bunny ears) made by Dame Darcy, very reasonably priced

• A flurry of activity from Lilli Carré: a print for Artifice Magazine, a silkscreened accordion book she's selling at the Chicago Zine Fest this weekend, and two watercolor drawings

• New sketches from Mark Kalesniko

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest illustration for the WSJ; also, last chance to order that commission you've been wanting

• Another in a series from Tom Kaczynski

• A cut Mome one-pager from Derek Van Gieson

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

Now open: The Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop, for all your Paul Hornschemeier apparel needs. Two designs available now in various styles, with more coming soon. Guaranteed sartorial success. See Paul's introductory blog post for more info.

A quick Online Commentary & Diversions update to close out the week:

• List: Popmatters names Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box one of The Best of Books 2009: Non-Fiction: "This awesome picture book... [is] filled with a delightfully odd array of vintage video covers... VHS cassettes may be treated like toxic waste in the age of the Blu-ray, but Portable Grindhouse offers that micro minority who still remain faithful to their trusty VCR a long overdue reprieve." – Ronald Hart

• Review: "Half the fun of [The Troublemakers] is trying to figure out just who is getting conned the worst? I zipped through this fun read, filled with backstabbing, double-crosses, and the spectacular art of Gilbert Hernandez. There is enough sex, violence, and treachery for any fan of pulp fiction. ... This offshoot of the Love and Rockets series is too much fun to miss." – Joseph Jay Franco, Bookrastination

• Plug: The Geeks of Doom flip through January's issue of Previews: "The next item I’ll definitely be picking up is It Was the War in the Trenches [by Jacques Tardi] from Fantagraphics. You know how I said before that I’m a fan of military history; well this book will scratch that same itch. This book takes a look at World War I from the eyes of the soldiers in the trenches. I’m very excited to read this one."

• Profile: Meathaus spotlights the work of Ray Fenwick

• Things to see: This is cute, though I'm not sure whether Sparky would approve (via Boing Boing)

You too can be a goofy dude or dudette in one of two new Uncle Gabby Maakies t-shirts from Waterloo. Don't drink 'n' drive, kids.

When these Online Commentary & Diversions posts get long enough I get an error message in our blogging interface; this is one of those, so buckle in:

• List: Heeb's Graphic Novel Gift Guide includes Popeye Vol. 4: "Plunder Island", which editor Jeff Newelt says contains "heartfelt masterpieces of illustrated slapstick adventure." (via Robot 6)

• List: Design Observer's recommended Holiday Books 2009 includes Abstract Comics: "...[T]his arresting book is like a scoop of primordial narrative, representational mud. Which is to say, it has vitaminic powers."

• List: Jason's Low Moon and Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 get shout-outs from our esteemed colleagues on the Matador Records/Beggars Group staff in their annual staff/artist end-of-year best-of Matablog megapost

• List: Comics-and-More's Dave Ferraro's Favorite Comic Book Covers of 2009 include Luba by Gilbert Hernandez (designed by Jacob Covey), Uptight #3 by Jordan Crane, West Coast Blues by Tardi & Manchette (designed by Adam Grano), Abstract Comics (designed by Jacob Covey), and The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 (designed by Seth)

• Review: "Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Life... is my favorite graphic novel of the year, and it is marinated in a life lived through real rock and roll delivered via stories as wide-open and lung-puncturing as a two minute Ramones rant. Artist Swain is an alternative comics’ veteran... with an attractively scruffy style; storyteller Paley has an author-blessed background in the margins of the freak milieu... This comic book adaptation of a real life shows the biggest bruises and the smallest scars, but cuts out all the heroic flab. Again, one of the best graphic novels of the year, as well as one of the best rock books too." – Chris Estey, KEXP

• Review: "The Playboy cartoons collected [in Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons] demonstrate above all Wilson's phenomenal range in subject, style, and inspiration. ... The menace in domestic relations, the evil that kids are capable of, the outright nastiness that man inflicts on man: it's all here, drawn in Wilson's inimitable comic style. ... And Fantagraphics has also served Wilson well.  This collection is a wonder of book design, with die-cut boards, marvelous color reproduction, and a fantastic slipcase.  The clear plastic panel on one side reveals the laminated  back board of the books, each one a different headshot photo of Wilson himself, his face smashed against the plastic, a prisoner in his own collection. It's a perfect expression of all the inspired madness within." – Thomas DePietro, The Barnes & Noble Review

• Review: "[Abstract Comics] is a great book for the comics enthusiast and visual artist alike." – Book Soup Blog (via the Abstract Comics Blog)

• Review: "The comics [in Abstract Comics] resemble IQ quizzes that test the ability to recognise patterns. But they are more difficult here — insanely difficult — as they replace simple geometric shapes with abstract comic lines, colours and collage. Solving them will no doubt provide tremendous pleasure but there are no answers given, of course." – Parka Blogs, who also have very nice photos and video of the book (also via the Abstract Comics Blog)

• Reviews: Érico Assis of Brazilian site Omelete has the rundown on the recently released Brazilian edition of The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 (Vol. 1): "But of course, the interest here is the historical value. Maybe time to recover, at least you remember the pop culture, were much simpler. If you like to do time travel, at least with the brain, Complete Peanuts gives you several hours of escapism for a past environment of children, a bit silly. And perhaps so happy." Also: "If Tales Designed to Thrizzle does not please a dedicated fan of Monty Python, I like my stuffed parrot. ... With the collection, it's time to conquer the world. At least the world of smart people who recognize the genius of Monty Python." (slightly broken English from Google translation)

• Review: "In The Great Anti-War Cartoons, Craig Yoe has gathered an amazing assembly of peaceful protests that seeks to prove that the pen is truly mightier than the sword. ... All of it is thought-provoking and deserves a look. And where else will you see a collection like this? Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb, Rube Goldberg, Honore Daumier… my god. Even if you don’t dig the message, you gotta dig the art. In the end, it’s obviously a book that’ll stick with me and would make a worthy addition to your collection. ... Grade: A" – Chad Derdowski, Mania

• Review: "War sucks, and [in The Great Anti-War Cartoons] Yoe has selected a wide range of cartoons that make the point with elegance and grim wit. ...[I]n terms of craft, vision, and passion, political cartoons simply don't get much better." – Noah Berlatsky, Chicago Reader

• Review: Noah Berlatsky is the 4th writer at The Hooded Utilitarian to take a crack at Ghost World in their critical roundtable: "I’ve never been able to quite wrap my head around what about the book so thoroughly irritates me."

• Metacommentary: TCJ.com's Shaenon Garrity comments on the (TCJ-hosted) Hooded Utilitarian's critical roundtable on Ghost World: "...the other reason I like Ghost World: like it or hate it, you can talk about it endlessly."

• Profile: Turkish cartoonist Adem Mermerkaya looks at the work of Joe Sacco (autotranslation is little help I'm afraid but it looks fairly substantive if you read the language)

• Things to see: A whole mess of new stuff — sketches, gags, abstractions — on T. Edward Bak's art blog, plus an early character design and research for his current Mome story 

• Things to see: Matthias Lehmann's latest addition to his art blog is particularly nice

• Democracy/fashion: Vote for the next Maakies t-shirt design from Waterloo

The latest cartoon artist to get the t-shirt treatment from streetwear giant Stüssy (following the likes of Jaime Hernandez & Peter Bagge): Basil Wolverton! There's a big feature with an interview with Basil's son Monte right on the Stüssy website right now (no permanent link, though, since it's all Flash-based). Found via Tee Shirt Blog (en Français). Totally tubular!