Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years (Softcover Ed.) by Bill Mauldin; edited by Todd DePastino 704-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-439-9 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now During WW II, the closest most Americans ever came to combat was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army. This new paperback edition of the 2008 two-volume, deluxe hardcover set brings together Mauldin’s complete works from 1940 through the end of the war under one cover. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted,…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Congress of the Animals is a beautifully illustrated modern fable, which manages to say more without words, than most graphic novels can with hundreds of words. The tale rewards repeat readings, with each successive exposure to the story revealing new and interesting details that were not at first apparent. Woodring has really outdone himself here, and has created the finest work of his career. This is a strong contender for graphic novel of the year, if not the decade!" – Edward Kaye, Hypergeek • Plug: "…Jim Woodring has created a universe that is…

If you just can't wait until 2016 for the next collected installment of Josh Simmons's insane 50-year page-a-month epic Jessica Farm (or were just wondering whether he was keeping up with it — of course he is!), he's just put together a 40-page minicomic with pages spanning January 2008 through April 2011. You can order it for $8 postpaid via the Paypal link on his blog.

We can't embed it here but head over to Facebook to check out the teaser for the in-progress documentary Comics Are Everywhere! featuring interview footage with Daniel Clowes, Esther Pearl Watson and Jaime Hernandez, plus lots of footage of our booth at last year's Comic-Con in San Diego.

Esperanza: A Love and Rockets Book(Love and Rockets Library: "Locas" Book 5) by Jaime Hernandez 248-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" softcover • $18.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-449-8 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Esperanza, the fifth volume of “Locas” stories by Jaime Hernandez, collects the remainder of the stories from the acclaimed Love and Rockets Volume II, picking up where 2010’s Penny Century collection left off. Taking its title from Hopey Glass's birth name, Esperanza follows the somewhat settled-down ex-punkette in her new life as a schoolteacher's assistant — which doesn't mean that her romantic travails have…

• Surely you're already following Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog where he posts artwork old and new (like his 1989 Elvis Costello illustration above), as well as concise and often very funny film reviews; now he's also posting his juvenilia at The Old Cat and the Dog where you can see his teenage takes on the Punisher, Lucky Luke, the Silver Surfer, Spidey etc. • Richard Sala gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the cover artwork for The Grave Robber's Daughter and posts a bunch of fantastic full-color concept art for as-yet unrealized story ideas • Leslie…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Like last year’s Weathercraft, Congress [of the Animals] is an all-original book-length tale of goings-on around Woodring’s distinctive universe, a kind of fussily malevolent Eden…. Frank is no longer simply the prototypical funny-animal; he has now become the everyman, too. It is in this capacity that we root for the rascal: his struggles against the workaday world are our own, as are his temptations, his trials, his longing for home and for some kind of domestic bliss." – Sean Rogers, The Comics Journal

Bounce on over to TCJ.com for another exclusive preview of The Comics Journal #301: an excerpt from the conversation between Thrizzler Michael Kupperman and MADman Al Jaffee!

Ran out of time on Friday's Online Commentary & Diversions, so it's combined with links from the weekend: • Review: "Now Fantagraphics has risen to the fore with [Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1:] Race to Death Valley… It’s a pretty spiffy package, sharply designed and full of smart, well-written essays that provide a rich portrait of the artist and his times, as well as some great comics…. As impressive as Gottfredson's work is, it's in the ancillary materials or 'special features' that makes this book really shine. Editors Gary Groth and David Gerstein have gone the extra mile here……

In this third installment of Rain Taxi's videos from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis last weekend, "Jim Woodring takes the giant nib off his 7-foot pen to ink in the details of his drawing as the audience (and assistant Zak Sally) regales him with jokes."