Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi 64-page black & white 9" x 11.75" hardcover • $16.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-435-1 Ships in: March 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now In our ongoing quest to showcase the wide range of Jacques Tardi’s bibliography, Fantagraphics reaches all the way back to one of his earliest, and most distinctive graphic novels: A satirical, Jules Verne-esque “retro-sci-fi” yarn executed on scratchboard in a stunningly detailed faux-woodcut style perfectly chosen to render the Edwardian-era mechanical marvels on display. Created in 1972, The Arctic Marauder is a downright prescient example of proto-“steampunk” science fiction — or perhaps more…

Now that our woes with Diamond's weekly shipping list are resolved, the titles we expected to be on last week's list have shown up on this week's list. So while these books may have already arrived at comic shops, now we can bring you what comics-blog commentators are saying about them. As always, check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. FUC_ __U, _SS __LE: Blecky Yuckerella Vol. 4 by Johnny Ryan 104-page black & white 5.5" x 7.25" softcover • $11.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-415-3 "The final collection of Johnny Ryan’s four-panel weekly sunshine, and…

Charles Burns fan Kyle McClean sent us this photo of his forearm with what looks like a panel from Black Hole, inked by Dom Collella. That's a lot of needle-time right there, yow. Thanks Kyle!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: PopMatters names Four Color Fear to their Best Fiction of 2010 list. David Maine writes: "Four Color Fear is a lovingly accumulated and organized collection of… stories starring ghosts, ghouls, zombies, demons, and monsters of all stripes. […] Some of the writers and artists are well known names from the era… Others are not as famous, but overall, the consistency of art and story is impressive. Four Color Fear offers some nice bonus features too, which elevate it from being a simple compilation of reprinted stories." • List: On the Best Non-Fiction of 2010…

With my home state of Vermont announcing that they've chosen a Cartoonist Laureate, The Stranger's Paul Constant polls Stranger blog readers for a hypothetical Washington State Cartoonist Laureate, offering a near-impossible choice of candidates: Ellen Forney, David Lasky and Jim Woodring. (Or "other." I'd decry the obvious omission of Peter Bagge, but maybe the political nature of much of his recent work would make him too divisive a candidate.)

Anders Nilsen posts photos from the opening night of the New Chicago Comics exhibit at the city's Museum of Contemporary Art, which ends its too-short run next week. Above: exhibiting artists Anders, Paul Hornschemeier, Lilli Carré and Jeffrey Brown. Did you ever see a cuter bunch of cartoonists?

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago 200-page two-color 6.25" x 8" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-56097-892-3 Ships in: March 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The biographical 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente is a human drama of courage, faith and dignity, inspired by the life of baseball star Roberto Clemente. No other baseball player dominated the 1960s like Roberto Clemente and no other Latin American player achieved his numbers. Born in 1924 in Puerto Rico, Clemente excelled in track and field and loved baseball. By the age of 17 he was playing in the PR Winter…

• Jason's commentary on this page of sound effects lettering for the English edition of You Can't Get There from Here (now seen in Almost Silent) is hilarious; plus more early strips, illustrations and film reviews at his Cats Without Dogs blog • New artwork, illustrations and handicrafts and other news (she moved to Savannah, Georgia — be her new intern!) in the latest blog update from Dame Darcy • Another early strip (from 1989) by Richard Sala • A new sketch by Lilli Carré • A new strip by Steve Brodner for yesterday's Washington Post • "Connecticut" by Josh…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List/Coming Attractions: On Publishers Weekly's "Spring 2011 Adult Announcements" preview, the following upcoming titles rank on The Top 10: Comics & Graphic Novels: "Many recent comics biographies have been presented as educational material, but Wilfred Santiago's 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente uses a more expressionist style to tell the story of the baseball superstar who rose from poverty to the top of the game and died a hero's death. Long in the making, it arrives just in time for opening day." "The comic strip gets a much needed new edition of the first…

Paul Karasik requests that the word be spread: "I am teaching at the Masters School in Angouleme and next Friday I will be making a presentation at the Festival on Friday at 4:30 about the process of adaptation in comics with a City of Glass focus… Since it is an event sponsored by the museum, it does not appear in any festival literature…" The Comics Reporter, from whom I lifted this item, comments: "Since Karasik is one of the most thoughtful and articulate cartoonists going, this is bound to be a fun way to spend your time and if you…