Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

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.

Publishers Weekly presents an exclusive 7-page excerpt from The Armed Garden and Other Stories by David B., in which the creator of the acclaimed Epileptic gives full rein to his fascination with history, magic and gods, not to mention grand battles, in a literate, witty, and absorbing collection of stories.

Just arrived in our warehouse & ready to ship: The Raven by Lou Reed and Lorenzo Mattotti 166-page full-color 9" x 9" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-444-3 See Previews / Order Now In 2000, veteran rock 'n' roller Lou Reed, legendary director Robert Wilson, and a cast of singers and actors premiered Reed's musical POEtry in Hamburg's Thalia Theater. An ambitious combination of Edgar Allen Poe's poems and stories and Reeds reinterpretations of same (with a few classic Reed songs such as "Perfect Day" and "The Bed" integrated for good measure, POEtry bridged the centuries to provide a unique vision of…

Ran out of time to finish yesterday's Online Commentary & Diversions so here's a two-fer: • Review: "With skill, restraint and a deep sensitivity to the roiling emotions involved, Shimura relates the tale of fifth-grade boy Shuichi, who wants to be a girl, and his classmate Yoshino, a girl who wants to be a boy. This is the first volume of the Japanese saga [Wandering Son] to be published in English, and translator Thorn does great work parsing the complex gender honorifics of the Japanese language. We only just begin to get to know our two leads, but Shimura's approach…

At Forbes magazine's Booked blog, Vanna Le shares a slideshow of images from Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons, our collection of the great writer's early graphic work coming in December, saying "The entire collection has just the right amount of charm you would expect from a young and witty O’Connor. But it’s more than just a book for laughs — it offers some insight into O’Connor’s personal life as well as her mockery towards the pretensions of her social environment."

Mome Vol. 22 – Fall 2011 by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds 240-page full-color 7" x 9" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-395-8 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Special double-sized FINAL issue! After 6 years and over 2500 pages of comics, MOME heads into the sunset with an all-star, jam-packed farewell bonanza. Several past MOME favorites return for the swan song, including Kurt Wolfgang, Tom Kaczynski, Joe Kimball, Eleanor Davis, Anders Nilsen, Tim Hensley, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, and Zak Sally (those covers!). Meanwhile, several newcomers get in just under the wire: Jesse Moynihan, Malachi Ward,…

Point your browsers here to tune in live tomorrow (June 13, 2011) at 3PM Eastern/noon Pacific as Johnny Ryan is the featured guest on the Sara Tea Time podcast on BlogTalkRadio. You can call in with your questions, insults, and indecent proposals: (909) 362-8230.

Another marathon 2-week update: • Michael Kupperman did a couple of movie illustrations for The New Yorker over the last couple of weeks: The Hangover Part II (love his Galifianakis) and Horrible Bosses • Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spots and more at his Chewing Gum in Church blog, and new and cheap original art to buy on his Comic Art Collective page • The latest artwork and happenings from Dame Darcy in her new blog update • Shirley Partridge by Jim Blanchard • Another Eleanor Davis spot for The New York Times • Richard Sala presents original art for…

If you've been wondering why it's been a while since we've seen any new comics from Gipi, here's a good reason: he's been making a live-action film, L'Ultimo Terrestre, and he's just shared this teaser at his blog. I don't understand a word but it looks kind of funny, kind of creepy, it's got aliens — sign me up!

Gabrielle Bell's San Diego Diary mini from Tom Kaczynski's Uncivilized Books is coming soon (just in time for this year's San Diego extravaganza). There will be a release party (with Lizz Hickey) at Desert Island in Brooklyn this Thursday, July 14, at 7 PM.