Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Tiny Showcase announces: "Tonight we have the pleasure of launching an edition of Kupperman's new book, Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, signed by the artist and coupled with an exclusive print. A combination archival-digital print with a translucent, glow-in-the-dark screen print overlay — this showcase is designed to thrizzle. Everything you've ever dreamed of launches tonight at 7:30pm on Tiny Showcase." (They're in Providence so I believe that's Eastern time.) We'll update with an image of the print once it's available, but we wanted to give you some advance warning since these Tiny Showcase editions are, uh, tiny and tend to…

• Frank "caught in the loving tendrils of the sun" by Jim Woodring; also "Hopelessly outclassed" and "The descent into wealth" • A Grotesque "family portrait" and Mr. O'Blique postcards that Sergio Ponchione will be giving away to lucky attendees (I think? the autotranslation's a little iffy) at an upcoming festival in Italy • Ooh, a Jason/Lewis Trondheim exquisite-corpse wraparound cover for a 2004 issue of Belgian comics fanzine Totem; this and film review potpourri at Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog • Sketches and process peeks at Forlorn Funnies #1 at Paul Hornschemeier's The Daily Forlorn • Focus book by…

Two more great pieces of artwork up now in the benefit auctions for the family of Dylan Williams & Sparkplug Comic Books: above, Megan Kelso's one-page story about Nirvana, "My Little Piece of Kurt," from 1994 (as recently seen in the Quiet Rrriot exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery); below, an original page from Paul Hornschemeier's Life with Mr. Dangerous, as seen in Mome Vol. 17. Click each image to go to the respective eBay auctions, and see additional contributions at The Divine Invasion and Profanity Hill.

When I first spotted a scan of this Enid & Rebecca cover of ARTnews on Tumblr last night I just assumed it was a forgotten bit of '90s or early-'00s nostalgia, but then Peggy Burns went and pointed out that it's the current issue, with an article on comic art in the fine-art world. Well all right! (Though I respectfully disagree with Peggy that comics require the attention of the fine-art world to be said to have "arrived." We're here on our own terms, maaaan.)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Beautifully bound, this is graphic journalism on a human and environmental disaster with long-term consequences far beyond here-and-gone traditional news coverage. Honestly told, well written, beautifully illustrated  and accessible to a wide audience: Oil and Water should reach readers of all ages and satisfy the most discerning critics. BRAVO!" – Craig Seasholes, JacketFlap • Review: "More a graphic book than straight comic book or straight novel, it plays to the strengths of both mediums. Kupperman’s prose recalls the casual absurdity of early Woody Allen or Douglas Adams, and as there is no real…

If you were a fan of Dash Shaw's comics adaptations of Blind Date TV episodes in Mome (and who wasn't?) you'll be happy to know that the series lives on beyond the anthology's demise, with the latest installment in video format. Dash explains, "this time I took an episode and paused it every 5 seconds and drew the frame. Then I put the drawings into a timed slideshow with the original audio over it." Watcb above or at Dash's The Ruined Cast website.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Profile: CT.com's Alan Bisbort talks to Michael Kupperman in advance of his appearance at Hartford's Mark Twain House tomorrow: "Kupperman, to be clear and fair, is quite fond of Twain, so his own caricatures are done with the affection one has for an eccentric uncle. His portrayals of Twain are interchangeable with his equally affectionate depictions of Albert Einstein — Twain and Einstein have, in fact, regularly appeared together in Kupperman's comic strips over the years — so he was pleasantly surprised by a recent serendipitous Internet purchase. 'I ordered a Twain wig and…

You can be the proud owner of the original art for page 7 of 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago. Looks like he's added some special touches like hand-coloring and shading and an extra sound effect. Bid it up on eBay!

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: Cochlea & Eustachia by Hans Rickheit: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Forming by Jesse Moynihan: Humblug by Arnold Roth: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams: What's in the Backpack by Victor Kerlow:

Interviewer Nick Gillespie talks to Peter Bagge for Reason TV (YouTube link): "Bagge discusses how he came to define his libertarian political worldview at a young age, and laments his frustration at being an artist who's political views are frequently mischaracterized as 'right wing' by other artists, simply for failing to be in lock-step with the rest of the predominantly progressive-left art world. He also discusses a recent Reason assignment which took him within the walls of a women's prison, and how the experience led him to question his own preconceived notions about the drug war and involuntary incarceration for…