Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

• Heads on poles by John Hankiewicz at his Clip Joint blog and Lilli Carré at her Kettle of Fish blog for an eponymous exhibit at Western Exhibitions in Chicago • Josh Simmons has several new portfolio sites on the web: illustrations, storyboards, commissions (as above), and a store where you can buy some of his older comics And more Things to See from the past week: • A glimpse of Frank Santoro's New Values art show at his Cold Heat Comics blog • Artwork by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog • Vintage Jim Flora illustrations, sketches…

Ellen Forney returns to her old hometown of Philadelphia next month at the invitation of the Philadelphia Public Library as part of their featuring the Forney-illustrated book by Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as part of their citywide reading program. She'll be giving a talk and workshops at a few locations — see her blog for the schedule and details.  

At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason shares some rough sketches for the cover art of his next book of short stories, Athos in America, coming late this year. I really like the one where he's sitting on the girder. Jason's posted a lot of great stuff over the past week, including some rare vintage strips and illustrations, like this one of A-ha from a 1988 Norwegian music magazine:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: At Seen, Sam Humphries names Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 The Best Comic of 2010: "While it’s astonishing to see Los Bros Hernandez deliver some of their greatest work at this stage in their careers, at the same time, it should be no surprise at all. They’ve been killing it for nearly 30 years. […] Both brothers are digging deep into the psyche and hearts of the human condition. The results are powerfully moving." • List: "[It Was the War of the Trenches] burns with a sense of outrage at the meaningless…

Longtime Bagge fans will remember the Buddy Bradley Lookalike Contest from the pages of Hate. This image comes from artist Brian Clarke, a.k.a. Les Toil, who remarks on the Peter Bagge Facebook fan page, "Man, if Peter was responsible for the casting of a real-life Bradleys sitcom, I hope he'd consider this kid for the part."

The Economist's Glenn Fleishman reports on the debut of Jim Woodring's giant nib pen: "Resplendent in a purple smoking jacket, an artist's conception of facial hair appropriate to an artist, and an enormous reserve of patience and guts, Mr Woodring made his first strokes. At first, the ink would not flow. 'It was a failure! Go home!' he said. 'I can't think of a worse or more horrible way to do drawing than in front of hundreds of people,' he said with a grim smile." Photo above by Jim's fellow Friend of the Nib Matt Tamaru, who has posted a…

Larry, Bella and Marshall Reid having a drink with Drinky. Good times. (Click here if the embedded video doesn’t display above.)

Blake Bell (who brings us The Steve Ditko Archves and his recent bios of Ditko and Bill Everett) needs your help with his new project, The Bill Everett Archives! Blake is seeking collectors in possession of the original Golden Age comics which printed Everett's artwork so we can include scans of the stories in the books. You could get free copies of the books out of the deal (not to mention our eternal gratitude), and a portion of Blake's royalties goes to The Hero Initiative, so you'll be indirectly helping a good cause too. See Blake's blog for the list…

Freeway by Mark Kalesniko 420-page black & white 7" x 10" softcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-356-9 Ships in: February 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Alex Kalienka is in an awful jam. Literally, a traffic jam — but figuratively, his whole life is a mess. A dream job turned nightmare at the biggest animation studio in the world. A love affair that is not what he imagined. And possibly someone with a life-threatening grudge against him… In his first new graphic novel since 2001’s acclaimed Mail Order Bride, Mark Kalesniko compresses an entire life into a single day as the…

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): — And elsewhere: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Lucky by Gabrielle Bell: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: