A heads-up to all of our mail-order customers: We are currently in the process of packing up our fabled warehouse and relocating our shipping operations to a new facility. Orders are still going out but our shipping staff is a bit overtaxed with the move, so for the next 2 months or so, orders may take longer than usual to arrive — around the high end of the estimated shipping times listed on our shipping information page — with the exception of rush orders, which continue to be processed normally. We'll keep you updated on any other developments which might impact our customers.

The upshot of all of this is that our mail-order operation will be more efficient than ever once we are settled into our new facility. We appreciate your patience and your business!

(Any press people looking for the scoop on the changes to our facilities, please contact Eric Reynolds.)

We missed last week's update, through nobody's fault but my own. Sorry about that!

This week we are changing our approach somewhat. Steven Weissman's Barack Hussein Obama continues as usual but instead of a one-panel teaser we're bringing you the full strip — you'll still need to click through to see it at its original size, though. Plus, starting this week we're bringing you a variety of previously unpublished, unseen or out-of-print strips and stories from some of your favorite Fantagraphics artists! On with the show:

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

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"How Much Do You Know About Your Mutual Fund Manager?" (with introduction) by Michael Kupperman (view larger)

"I'm including the rough as well as the finish because the rough has more charm... This was originally a page I pitched to a business magazine — rhymes with diplingers — on their request. The art director seemed quite shaken by it. "This is just, I don't know, really disturbing," he informed me, his voice shaky with emotion. "We're all a little freaked out." They rejected both it and the more benign, fluffy substitute I proposed — too frightened.

"At that time The New Yorker was regularly shaking me down for comics, and I passed this along to them and, to my amazement, they accepted it for the back page. (This was 2003, before the cartoon caption contest took over). The following thirty or so revisions went smoothly, it was going in, and then — we invaded Iraq. The New Yorker featured an elegaic poem written for the occasion instead, something about how lusty Mars doth trumpet forth, etc. They quickly forgot this page, and it was never printed."

Our roster of online strips has dwindled to one for the time being...

This week's Barack Hussein Obama strip seems to spring right from the wildest fantasies of a paranoid right-wing talk radio nutjob... but no, it's just Steven Weissman.

The good news: you get two of each strip this week (they're doubled up on the page) since we missed last week's update due to Comic-Con! The bad news: see below...

This week's is the FINAL Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan EVER! Not a joke! Not an imaginary story! (Actually it's literally both, but we're not kidding about it being the last one.)

...and the first of this week's Barack Hussein Obama strips by Steven Weissman could've taken place at San Diego last week, while the second is a diplomatic disaster.

It's still the weekend, right?

Another volley in the battle of the sexes in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...and the PotUS bonds with our allies in this week's Barack Hussein Obama strip by Steven Weissman.

Our weekly update is a little late but we have a bonus to make up for it:

It's almost like the Prison Pit world and the Blecky world collide in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...and Steven Weissman is visiting family but still managed to send this week's Barack Hussein Obama strip by cameraphone, along with a bonus wide shot!

Our weekly visit with the stubbly girl and the PotUS:

Here's something I don't think very often: I wish the world were more like this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...Meanwhile, the Secret Service gets a little road rage in this week's Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

This week's strips, back on schedule:

Don't worry, the kitty's unharmed in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...and the prez has a TV eye in this week's Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

This week's strips, normally posted on Fridays (we'll hopefully be back on schedule this week):

It's the greatest new character ever in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...and those are some crazy contact lenses [correction: they're marbles] in this week's Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

This week's strips, normally posted on Fridays (we'll probably be late with them next week too):

Start your day with a nutritious breakfast in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

...and a White House g-g-g-ghost in this week's Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.