Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Drew Friedman joined host Bob Andelman on the Mr. Media BlogTalkRadio program this morning; listen to their conversation here or with the embedded player below. Listen to internet radio with Mr Media Interviews on Blog Talk Radio

Richard Sala has revealed a delightfully ghoulish new series of all-new artwork on his blog: "Unmasked" is a Halloween portrait gallery, inspired by old-time ads for monster masks, of the fiends and creeps who may be behind the "masks" (meaning the actual faces) of the people you see every day (including, perhaps, the one in the mirror)! Richard will be posting a new set of faces every Monday, Wednesday & Friday for the rest of October. The first installment is here; stay tuned to Richard's blog, and we'll be sure to alert you to future entries in our periodic "Things…

New from Drew Friedman's Fine Art Prints concern is this portrait of John Lennon (originally published in TIME for a tribute to Lennon by Paul McCartney), released to commemorate what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday on October 9. Irwin Chusid's typically well-written description and ordering details can be found here.

At ComicAttack.net, Ken Meyer Jr. has posted another "Ink Stains" column featuring Gary Groth's pre-Fantagraphics Fantastic Fanzine — this time, number 11, focused on Jim Steranko, from 1970. The entire issue is available as a free PDF download, and Meyer provides some historical background and commentary: "How a high school kid managed to score so many amazing pieces of art points to Groth’s future success as a publisher and muckraker."

Our weekly strips from the Steves (a little late since I'm on vacation): — Monday's Strip by Stephen DeStefano (view larger) Originally run as an experiment on Stephen's blog starting in 2008, Monday's Strip is re-presented here. — Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The latest collection of Bill Griffith’s newspaper strip Zippy the Pinhead, Ding Dong Daddy from Dingburg is also my first exposure to the long-running underground. […] Zippy is unlike any comic strip, or comic book for that matter, I’ve thus encountered. […] Mixed into a steady stream of seemingly random silliness,… readers also uncover a singular worldview, a commentary on politics, religion, the stumbling newspaper industry and its technological replacements, and seemingly Griffith’s favorite windmill, pop culture. …Griffith [is] a sublimely witty observer." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama • Review: "I happy to…

The very first Peanuts strip ran on October 2nd, 1950, which means that tomorrow is the 60th Anniversary of the strip! It's been our honor and privilege to continue publishing the definitive collected edition of Charles M. Schulz's immortal masterwork, The Complete Peanuts, and we're joining in the celebration by offering every volume and box set of the series (to date) for 20% OFF from now through the end of October. Treat yourself and your loved ones (I hear there's some kind of gift-giving season coming up) to these beautifully designed and universally acclaimed collections of America's most beloved comic…

This afternoon Kim Thompson was showing off his newly-acquired import DVD copy of Estigmas, director Adan Aliaga's 2009 Spanish film adaptation of the graphic novel Stigmata by Lorenzo Mattotti and Claudio Piersanti, which we will be publishing in English in December. The trailer in Spanish is embedded above; watch it with English subtitles and get more information about the film at the SIFF website (the film screened here in Seattle at the SIFF Cinema last week).

Meet Princess Kitty Look what I stumbled on when I went to watch a funny cat video: Johnny Ryan's illustration for the Found Footage Festival has been animated motion-comic style for the intro to the FFF's series of videos for The A.V. Club (see it following the commercial). Neat. Also: you tell 'em, kitty.