Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Is that the sound of a snowball fight in Hell? Daniel Clowes? Official website? What do you mean it's been up since December? What is happening?!

We're pleased to report that You'll Never Know Book 2: Collateral Damage by C. Tyler and Weathercraft by Jim Woodring are finalists in a diverse field of nominees for the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Graphic Novels category. Congratulations to Carol and Jim! (Also to Dash Shaw, nominated for his Pantheon book Bodyworld.) Winners will be announced on April 29; see here for the complete list of finalists in all categories.

• This strip by Stan Sakai showing himself interviewing his creation Usagi Yojimbo is so damn cute I'm sharing it even though it was posted on the blog of our rival publisher Dark Horse. Heck, rival schmival, buy Usagi no matter who puts it out! It's Usagi! • Happy Presidents Day from our own Jason T. Miles • A glimpse at her story in Mome Vol. 21 from Lilli Carré • Pick up the new issue of Bitch magazine for a one page comic about Lucy Parsons by Laura Park • A mess of collaborative drawings by Andrice Arp and…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions includes links related to all of our artists with the initials L.M.: • List: Sequential Tart's Rebecca Buchanan names Linda Medley's Castle Waiting one of "My Fourteen Favorite Comics About Love" • Review: "Tim Kreider is a great caricaturist, as his latest collection of cartoons, Twilight of the Assholes, attests. He has a real knack for portraying the unsightly physical traits of modern Americans– the rolls of fat, the paunchy stomachs, the jowls, flabby arms and chinless faces — that make up more of the current populace than we’d care to admit (myself included). Plus,…

Alexander Theroux was a guest on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday yesterday to discuss the new edition of his book The Strange Case of Edward Gorey and his friendship with Gorey with host Liane Hansen: "I was in a bookstore and bought several of his books, and the proprietor told me he lived virtually around the corner. I couldn't believe it. So I drove over and knocked on his door and took a photograph, and he signed some books. And I had written some stories I thought he might want to illustrate. And so it was a question of my being…

The organizers of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) announced today that the great Lorenzo Mattotti will be a special guest at the festival and we couldn't be more excited about it. (Unfortunately, contrary to the announcement at the time of this posting, it's very unlikely that we will have The Raven in time for the festival. We will have plenty of copies of Stigmata, however!) It's going to be a thrill having Lorenzo appear at our booth! Stay tuned for updates.

The Bill Everett Archives news has been coming fast and furious from editor Blake Bell! The Everett artwork that will be used for the front cover of Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1 (debuting at Comic-Con this year, in stores this Fall) has been chosen, as Blake reveals here and we show above; and a title for Vol. 2 (out the same time next year) has also been chosen, which is… aw heck, I won't steal all of Blake's thunder — head here to find out!

Tim Kreider returns to his Baltimore stomping grounds this Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, for a release party for his new book Twilight of the Assholes at Atomic Books. Tim will sign and read from the book starting at 7:00 PM. The Atomic Books events calendar is here.

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web, including a new addition that we've been delinquent bringing you past chapters of: — "Appetite for Delicatessen" by Steven Weissman (for the Henry & Glenn art show in L.A.; view at original size): — And elsewhere: The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum (an encore presentation of John's Act-i-vate strip at MTV Geek) Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Lucky by Gabrielle Bell: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate): Truth Serum…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "[21: The Story of Roberto Clemente] is a reverent, yet sometimes playful look at the man and what he had to go through to get where he did. […] The scenes with the various family members remind me a bit of what Gilbert Hernandez gets up to in Love and Rockets, that same sort of close-knit relationship thing. […] Santiago’s art is cartoonish, yet expressionistic and appealingly loose. […] He does a great job, and even the best of the best often have trouble with this, of drawing baseball players that actually look…