Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

An exciting announcement from Zak Sally and his La Mano 21 imprint: The Kim Deitch Files print portfolio nears completion and will make its debut at two opposite-coast events in December: the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival on Dec. 5 and the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 4th Anniversary celebration on Dec. 11, where Zak will also be performing a solo music set. Sez Zak: "The Kim Deitch Files is a limited edition portfolio of the looseleaf 'story' pages which serve as Kim's sketchbook; it's where he works out the ideas for his comics. included in this folio are selections of…

Here's an illo Ray Fenwick did for O Magazine (bigger at Ray's site).

Click for improved/additional viewing and possible artist commentary at the sources: • Noah Van Sciver draws a rock show (Danzig!) for the Denver Westword, plus more stuff at his blog • Richard Sala's "Psycho-rama" from Blab #7, 1992 • Jackie No-Name diorama cutout and Belligerent Piano intro page from Smoke Signal #3 courtesy of Tim Lane  • Speaking of Smoke Signal, here's Leslie Stein's "Murmur" from that selfsame publication • Robert Goodin does Simon & Kirby at Repaneled • Carol Tyler was a visiting artist at the Center for Cartoon Studies last week (and celebrated a birthday yesterday), all noted…

Mack White appears as "Sir Real" in this clip from the film-in-progress Bozoland by J. Ryan Barone. Some old-school Austin weirdness there. See two additional clips at Mack's website.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Greg Sadowski‘s excellent Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s (Fantagraphics Books) was the first of a quartet of books on horror comics to surface this fall, and for my money, it’s arguably the most invaluable of the bunch. […] There are some real revelations here, and I can tell you that this hardcore horror comics scholar/collector/creator is eternally grateful for all that Sadowski and Benson have added herein to a richer knowledge of these unique comics and this grossly misrepresented and misunderstood period in comics history. With an eye toward…

Johnny Ryan has a new comic up at Vice. @!#?@!

Monday's Strip by Stephen DeStefano has come to a hopefully temporary end, at least until we can coax some new strips out of Stephen. 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: Lucky by Gabrielle Bell: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Vol. 1 is finally seeing a U.S. release, and it’s long overdue. […] The stories are romping adventures that would appeal to a young-adult crowd, but have plenty of edge and playfulness for grown readers; they function both as an evocation and sly satire of classic adventure stories like Tintin. The clever stories, with hidden meaning always skirting around their simplicity, are perfectly complemented by Tardi’s art; readers familiar with one of the greatest names in French comics will need no introduction, but newcomers will be blown…

Host of the "Carousel" series of comics slideshows R. Sikoryak announces an all-ages version of the event taking place tomorrow at 2:00 PM at Dixon Place in NYC, featuring Michael Kupperman and other all-stars of funny kids' comics!

King of the Flies Vol. 2: The Origin of the World by Mezzo & Pirus 64-page full-color 9" x 12.5" hardcover • $18.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-390-3 Ships in: January 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now King of the Flies Vol. 1: Hallorave was named one of Amazon's Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2010. Now, here is the second installment in Mezzo and Pirus’s creepily sexy suburban soap opera — a French Twin Peaks graphic novel as written by Stephen King and drawn by Charles Burns. Eric the fly-head-wearing teenager is back (as well as his hapless mother and her “fiancé”), as…