Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

• The Deconstructing Comics podcast talks about I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! by Fletcher Hanks • Publishers Weekly's "Comics Week" newsletter reviews Sublife Vol. 1 by John Pham • The Daily Cross Hatch posts the third and final part of their interview with Dash Shaw • Roger Langridge presents some Spongebob Squarepants strips he drew for Nickelodeon magazine in the styles of Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Milton Caniff, Charles M. Schulz and others

Today we're presenting a preview look at the haunting debut graphic novel The Lagoon by Lilli Carré. Click this link if the embedded slideshow doesn't appear above, and/or to open it in a new window.

Here's an advance look at John Kerschbaum's brutally funny graphic novel debut Petey & Pussy, starring a pair of kvetching, balding, foul-mouthed anthropomorphic misanthropes. Click this link if the embedded slideshow doesn't appear above, and/or to open it in a new window.

Hey, Wait… By Jason This superbly evocative graphic novella by the award-winning Norwegian cartoonist Jason (his first appearance in the English language) starts off as a melancholy childhood memoir and then, with a shocking twist midway through, becomes the summary of lives lived, wasted, and lost. (Imagine a version of Stand by Me in which not all of the kids outrace the train.) Like Art Spiegelman did with Maus, Jason utilizes anthropomorphic stylizations to reach deeper, more general truths, and to create elegantly minimalist panels whose emotional depth charge comes as an even greater shock. His sparse dialogue, dark wit,…

As an experiment, I'm switching to a daily link post instead of the weekly "blogosphere roundup" — hopefully smaller chunks will be easier to digest, not to mention more timely. And here we go: • Derik Badman cites a Jaime Hernandez story in an article about the use of the first-person point of view in comics • Look at some incredible sketchbook pages by Matthias Lehmann • The Onion A.V. Club's "Comics Panel" gives high grades to Tales Designed to Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman and Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers • Steve Brodner hits…

Editor Craig Yoe is seeking material for The Great Anti-War Cartoons, a 120-page black & white hardcover we're publishing next year. Visit Craig's site for more information and a preview slideshow.

Ben Catmull: cartoonist, music video director (via Spurge). Still Working from Ben Catmull on Vimeo. Johnny Ryan sez on his blog: "Superfan Patrick O'Odonnell and friends have produced another cinematic masterpiece based on one of my comics. If you ever wondered what would happen if Stanley Kubrick fell out of the top floor of the World Trade Center and landed brain first into a pile of my comics, you'd probably get something like this." Behold.

Eric has been scooping me on some stuff this week. I'm grateful for it because it makes my job a little easier; just make sure to look for his link posts if you haven't seen them already. This week's reviews & analysis: • The Honolulu Star-Bulletin looks at Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers • Read About Comics recommends the third issue of Baobab by Igort • The Boston Globe notes the New York Times' review of Jules Feiffer's Explainers and adds their two cents • Alex Siddons learns something from Alex by Mark Kalesniko… •…