Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Mike Getsiv from Abstract Comics: The Anthology started a collaborative project called ABCOLAB on Abstract Comics: The Blog and received contributions from ten countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, England, Finland, Portugal, Russia, the United States and Uruguay. A list of contributors and information on ordering prints is available here.

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[T]his [is] a good-looking book as well as a good reading one. … [T]his is a wonderfully informative read from where I’m sitting. Fire & Water is a long-overdue chance for today’s readers to get a good idea of what made Everett so special and so revered by older fans." – Johnny Bacardi, Popdose • Review: "Richie Rich by way of Archie by way of Tippy Teen by way of, oh, I don’t know — The Grifters meets Tao Te Ching and airing at 10:30 CST on Adult Swim; …it’s easy to admire [Wally Gropius's] all-over-the-place, random…

Periodic clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • Our pals at Presspop share this, the cover illustration by Archer Prewitt for the novelization of the upcoming film Morio (Toilet) • Gabrielle Bell kicks off "Season 3" of Lucky with the first part of her San Diego Comic-Con diary; also, her previously-serialized strip "Manifestation" is presented in its entirety at What Things Do • Dame Darcy's Black Madonna painting and other new stuff in her latest blog update • Bob Fingerman illustrates "Queen of Mean" Lisa Lampanelli for Royal Flush magazine, plus more quick sketches •…

Our roster of online strips has dwindled to one for the time being… This week's Barack Hussein Obama strip seems to spring right from the wildest fantasies of a paranoid right-wing talk radio nutjob… but no, it's just Steven Weissman.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid is up to some extracurricular mischief: along with Mystic Sons of Morris Graves co-founder Charlie Krafft he's putting on an invitational art exhibition opening tonight from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at 3 galleries in the Tashiro Kaplan compound here in Seattle, with a séance to celebrate the centennary of Graves's birth on August 28. For complete details read the full announcement at Regina Hackett's Another Bouncing Ball blog. Ouija board above by Larry with graphic designer Tim Silbaugh.

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "With this second hardcover collection, Fantagraphics allows gives fans of the character much reason to rejoice. Thanks to the use of the original proof sheets (and the marvels of modern printing technology), these strips look better than they did when originally published. … Wherever Prince Valiant goes, adventure follows and every bit of it is breathtakingly beautiful thanks to the work of the legendary Hal Foster. … I don’t know that I can put into words what I have witnessed on the printed page, but I do know this: If you have any interest…

Here's two more angles on the Ben Jones-decorated ice cream truck that Adult Swim parked outside of Comic-Con (originally reported here), taken by our own Eric Reynolds, and Brian Ralph has yet two more views over at the New Bodega blog. UPDATE: Oh snap, there's even more photos from Ben himself on his Picturebox blog! (Hat tip: Jordan Crane at What Things Do.)

We've been collecting more photos from Comic-Con in 3 (so far) Flickr galleries (1, 2, 3). Here are some highlights! From our own Eric Reynolds: Jean Schulz with her Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the Eisners. From our own Adam Grano: Moto Hagio sketching. Jaime Hernandez says howdy to Dave Gibbons. Adam meets Matt Groening. Sadtrooper. From Pink Cow Photography: The Hernandez clan. From Jody C.: Carol Tyler, with Tim Hensley at left in the background. From Exhibit A Press: Stephen DeStefano. From Bridie Macdonald: Ben Schwartz & son, with Andrei Molotiu at left. Great stuff! If you know of…

In this video from the Oregon Cartoon Institute, Rebel Visions & The Artist Himself author Patrick Rosenkranz and Charles Boucher talk about Basil Wolverton and Carl Barks's influence on Robert Crumb. Patrick also directs your attention to the new issue of Destroying Angels zine, with features on Jim Osborne, the Black Prince of the Underground, and 3-D comics pioneer Ray Zone.

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[F]or the first time I realized that Prison Pit [Book 2] isn't a fusion-comics exploration of awesomeness in all its forms, but a horror-comics exploration of awfulness — of violence that maims and kills not just body but soul. Ryan is willing, even this early in a series I imagine will be able to last as long as he wants it to, to completely invert his instantly-iconic warrior, to make the audience root against him desperately, to feel dick-shriveling revulsion at his violence and pity for his victim. 'That fucking sucked,' CF says when…