Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

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: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams: Underworld by Kaz & co. (click for animated strip):

Spanish cartoonist Jose Tomás (who's also responsible for this homage to Johnny Ryan) barrages Peter Bagge with some dumb questions about music and lettuce, mostly.

Matt Thorn, editor/translator of our manga books, tweeted: "Me with Moto Hagio at tonight's Japan Cartoonist Association award ceremony, where Hagio was a recipient." Hooray! (And love the new hairstyle!) But here is the pièce de résistance: "A photo I took earlier tonight of Moto Hagio in cat ears. No, seriously. Not Photoshopped." Excuse me while I go DIE FROM CUTENESS.

Kevin Huizenga has revealed the cover art for Ganges #4 over on his blog — there will be a few tweaks before it goes to press, but this is pretty close to the final version. The issue makes its debut at Comic-Con next month and it's in the Previews catalog this month (with the old cover art) for shipping to comic shops in August! (Hats off to Sean T. Collins at Robot 6 for scooping us with the reveal.)

Well this seems apropos for the 6/9 edition of Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Fermentation and fog: That's the atmosphere in which Dave McKean's graphically charged Celluloid breathes and pants and gasps…. You ever wonder what Lynd Ward would've wrought in full color if he'd been doubly possessed by the god Eros and William Gibson's Wintermute?… Let's not dally with euphemism: McKean's vivid, wordless dreamscape isn't simply erotic, it's downright pornographic. But with a masterpiece like this, Dictionary.com's going to have to redefine 'pornography.'" – Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle

Good grief! We just received another shipment of Prince Valiant books and once again some of them got slightly marred in transit. Thus we are continuing to offer them to you at half off the cover price! This includes Vol. 1 (1937-1938), Vol. 2 (1939-1940) and the new Vol. 3 (1941-1942). As before they're perfectly readable — just cosmetically less than perfect. They're so cheap! Please help us get rid of them once and for all! Click the links above to order.

Wilfred Santiago posted this montage of photos showing progress on a gorgeous new painting of Roberto Clemente, subject of his graphic biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente, over at the 21 Facebook page. Can't wait for further progress. (ETA: You can check out a higher-res version on Wilfred's Flickr.)

Here's the second installment of Rain Taxi's videos of Jim Woodring wielding his giant pen at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis last weekend with an assist from Zak Sally. "In this clip, Woodring discusses the self-imposed rules he uses when inking with the mammoth instrument and completes the outlining process before removing the nib," say they. To be continued.

  Sibyl-Anne Vs. Ratticus by R. Macherot 64-page full-color 8.5" x 11.25" hardcover • $16.95ISBN: 978-1-60699-452-8 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Sibyl-Anne and her fiancé Boomer live in blissful peace in the French countryside until the evil rat Ratticus, evicted from his previous residence, sets his eye on the quiet acre that the couple share with their friends (a porcupine, a crow, and a rabbit). After a hilariously unsuccessful attempt to infiltrate the quiet little community in drag (which leaves a member of the cast smitten, Some Like It Hot-style), the devious Ratticus engineers the…