Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Another hot tip via Zack Soto: T. Edward Bak has a new art blog enigmatically titled °Ø° (or antizerogravity) full of his sketches, illustrations and preview pages from his Mome serial "Wild Man."

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Monte Schulz has proven that his father isn’t the only Schulz with considerable storytelling talent. This Side of Jordan is a strong vision of the American Heartland at a time when America was a little less jaded, yet many in the country had already developed a malaise of directionlessness. Schulz manages to capture a moment in history, a piece of humanity in transition. It’s bleak, but funny, and smartly written.  It may not have any pictures, but readers of good fiction should appreciate what Schulz has accomplished." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama •…

I love this.

Juxtapoz magazine sics Nicholas Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship) on Tony Millionaire (Maakies), hilarity ensues in two parts.

Via Zack Soto on Twitter.

Just arrived in our warehouse (already!) and ready to ship: The Comics Journal #300 Edited by Mike Dean & Kristy Valenti; Gary Groth, Executive Editor A spectacular anniversary issue featuring intergenerational dialogues between the cream of the cartooning biz: Alt wiz Kevin Huizenga and reigning Maus king Art Spiegelman; indy comics publisher/cartoonist/musician Zak Sally and Love and Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez; Bottomless Belly Button auteur Dash Shaw and Asterios Polyp elder auteur David Mazzucchelli; inflammatory muckraker Ted Rall and editorial cartoonist Matt Bors; super-popular Zits! cartoonist Jim Borgman and newly syndicated Keith “Knight Life” Knight; Martin Luther King chronicler Ho…

Scheduled to arrive at ye olde comic shoppes this week: Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1, collecting all the gloriously gruesome and lurid horror comics that oozed from Ditko's pen in the pre-Code first two years of his career in one spanking hardcover… …and Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days by Al Columbia, which critics call "a fractured masterpiece," "stunning," and "messed up," and Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter declares "the book of the week"! Visit the links above to check out descriptions, previews and reviews, contact your local comickery to confirm availability, and then hie…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The different techniques — ink on paper, watercolor, pencil, black or color, collage, digital manipulation, minimalist drawing, patchwork, cartoony lines… — associated to the different strategies and presences of 'comics' elements in these variations will make us wonder, on the one hand, on a progressive dilution of any formal determination in relation to this art (bringing it closer, thus, to freer or more conceptual artistic disciplines, in which the gesture is more important than, say, talent, virtuosity, technical prowess), and, on the other hand, in the phantasmatical emergence of an unifying idea (a name:…

Now available for preview and pre-order: the momentous 300th isssue of The Comics Journal, our biggest issue ever, with an unprecedented collection of "intergenerational dialogues" between some of the best and brightest of the comics and cartooning world. It's a lineup that truly must be seen to be believed — which is why we're showing you right here, with a teaser of each and every conversation! View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded below. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended so you can read them)….

The ever-industrious Jim Flora-philes Irwin Chusid & Barbara Economon have announced the release of 4 more silkscreen prints in the Jim Flora Art "Primer for Prophets" series. "Cool Flora illustrations of the American family during the Atomic Age, when grocers employed stockdogs, crows fought tug-of-war over lingerie, and cigarettes were allowed in the obstetrics ward."