Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Here are some thoughts on last year's comics that I would like to share with you. I don't dare call this a "Best Of" list — these are merely some comics that I read and that stand out to me, excluding Fantagraphics releases because it's my job to love them all equally, though you'll find some stuff from Fanta folks in here. Listed more or less alphabetically: • Against Pain by Ron Rege Jr. (D&Q) – A nice hefty slab of Ron's unique vision. I'm always compelled by Ron's stuff and it's great to have this much of it in one place. •…

We've brought our previous website poll to a close. In answer to the question "Following Palestine and Ghost World, what should get the Special Edition treatment next?" the top response is "The Bradleys / Buddy Bradley saga" after an early lead for "Complete (non-Frank) Jim Woodring" and a long period of domination by "Complete Eightball." See the final results here. (UPDATE: apparently we've been the victims of ballot-stuffing — see the comments for details.) So does your top choice have a chance of being made? Well, they've all been discussed at one point or another, but so far the only…

The newest release from Jim Flora Art is this fine art screenprint of Flora's cover for Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band. More details and ordering info here.

• List: The Comics Reporter posts Rich Tommaso's Best of 2008 list, which includes Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers • Review: Swedish blog Weltklasse Serier says Ganges #1 by Kevin Huizenga is "a blue anemone in the great series of forest," according to the Google translation • Blurb: Irish illustration blog Scamp takes note of Beasts! Book 2 • Things to see: Getting excited for the imminent release of our Humbug collection? Whet your appetite with some original pages, courtesy of Joey Anuff

Time for the new installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 32-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. In this week's installment: dang, those parents are heavy sleepers. And don't forget to catch up on our current 5-day chunk of Martin Kellerman's hilarious Swedish smash-hit Rocky, updated Monday-Friday! This week, Rocky has his last hurrah in New York City.

Sweet baby Jane! We just barely got Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Vol. 1 out the door, and now we've got the cover for Vol. 2 to show you! This one will feature pink glitter and I'm guessing that the orange is going to be day-glo like the hot pink of Vol. 1. I'm betting that Vol. 2 will be out early next year — Eric can correct me in the comments if I'm wrong.

Here's the world premiere of Seth's cover design for The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974, this Fall's volume in the series. This is a preliminary version; the final printed version will likely have minor changes. If you'd been wondering (like I had) how Seth was going to handle the scale issue for the Woodstock cover, here's his beautiful solution. And watch out: the 1971-1972 volume (with Sally on the cover) is looking like it will arrive earlier than expected!

Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1959-1960 (Vol. 5) By Hank Ketcham We are proud to present the fifth volume of Hank Ketcham's phenomenal panel covering the end of the Postwar Era, 1959-1960. Ketcham captured the mischievousness, rambunctiousness, and anarchy of a kid's world better than any other cartoonist. The strip appeals to both parents and children — while parents shake their head ruefully at how accurately Ketcham caught the essence of children's natural zest for mayhem, children identify with Dennis and the chaos that he leaves in his wake. Ketcham's gags are funny, subtle and touching, and executed with…