Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Periodic clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • Dash Shaw identifies this only as "scrap" • Mark Kalesniko presents the original art for the cover of Mail Order Bride • A short autobio strip from poor Noah Van Sciver • From Renee French: beetle, trap, trap • Page 30 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary; also, this is NSFW • Why not go look at some Drew Friedman classics over at Golden Age Comic Book Stories? • Get a daily dose of Dan Clowes at Fuck Yeah Daniel Clowes • Anders Nilsen presents some things to consider…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[T]he first volume of Mezzo and Pirus’s stunning King of the Flies [was] published earlier this year by Fantagraphics. … Over just 64 pages, the team known as Mezzo and Pirus tell an impressively complex collection of ten interlinked short stories. …Mezzo and Pirus are remarkably skillful, and create a deep and believable world. It’s meant as a compliment to say that by the end of this book, it feels as if twice as many pages have passed. … With its bold style and thick lines, dark hues with splashes of garish colour, Pascal…

Get yer limited-edition Maakies Drinky Crow poster signed by Tony Millionaire from I Love Waterloo!

io9 has a sneak peek at our forthcoming book Catalog No. 439: Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes, described as "a mail-order tome of electrical cages, creepy costumes, and other casual torture devices. DeMoulin [Bros.] marketed these gadgets to men's social clubs, who were all too happy to subject new recruits to shocking see-saws and detonating flower pots."

Congratulations to T. Edward Bak for reaching his Kickstarter fundraising goal for his research trip to Alaska for his ongoing Mome serial and graphic novel in progress Wild Man. You can still donate through the end of the month and get yourself nifty pledge gifts like prints and original art, and maybe enable TEB to get some extra-nice expedition gear or something.

Jason brings our attention to another example of his work inspiring other media: a 2005 stage show titled Psst! by Minneapolis dance and theatre company Off-Leash Area. Excerpts can be seen here (and above), and another clip can be seen here.

Dusty Wright of his eponymous Show talks to Jim Woodring against a backdrop of original Weathercraft art at Scott Eder Gallery during Jim's recent trip to NYC.

Set to Sea by Drew Weing 144-page black & white 5.5" x 6.25" hardcover • $16.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-368-2 Ships in: July 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now  The central character is a big lug and an aspiring poet who runs up tabs at the local bars by day and haunts the docks by night, writing paeans to the seafaring life. When he gets shanghaied aboard a clipper bound for Hong Kong, he finds the sailor’s life a bit rougher than his romantic nautical fantasies. He helps rebuff a pirate assault, survives a gunshot to the eye, and learns to live…

This week's strips, back on schedule: Don't worry, the kitty's unharmed in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan… …and the prez has a TV eye in this week's Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

Nate Neal reveals the jacket wraparound for his forthcoming graphic novel The Sanctuary, coming this Fall from Fantagraphics. Click for a larger view on Nate's Flickr page.