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Kim Thompson had an answer for a feature in the March, 1983 issue of Heavy Metal which asked just that question. Our own Kristy Valenti came across it and provided this scan. It's interesting to revisit statements like this now. In terms of what Kim called "pop comics" his last couple of lines are oddly apropos now that 30 years later one of the most successful comic titles is a zombie comic. 

There's a significant event happening tonight for Significant Objects, our collection of extraordinary short stories inspired by ordinary stuff — things like novelty items, discarded souvenirs, and tasteless kitchenware picked up cheap at thrift stores and yard sales. And tonight, Friday, February 21st, at the Dallas Museum of Art, Significant Objects editor Rob Walker presents Materially Untrue: Stories About Objects Unearthed from Art Storage! At 7:00 PM, four Texas authors (Will Clarke, Doug Dorst, Merritt Tierce, and Shay Youngblood) will debut original stories about objects unearted from DMA art storage. This event is FREE and open to the public! A…

Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery as we welcome Gregory Benton signing his new graphic novel B + F this Saturday, February 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. His award-winning hardcover book on the adventurous AdHouse imprint is a sublime meditation on goodwill, hostility, and isolation. Come see! Then return to the bookstore on Wednesday, February 26 at 7:00 PM for "Foxing & Friends," a festive reception hosted by our small press colleagues at American Short Fiction, The Austin Review, A Strange Object, Write Bloody Publishing, and Foxing Quarterly, visiting Seattle for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference….

 Non Sequitur: Abstraction in Contemporary Sequential Art February 28 – March 26, 2014 Opening Reception: Friday, Feb. 28, 7-10pm Special Event: Sequential S'mores – Progressive Art Opening  – with Sequential Artist's Workshop and F.L.A. Gallery, Friday, Feb. 28, 6pm – 12am (click link for more info)  Gallery Protocol is pleased to announce Non Sequitur: Abstraction in Contemporary Sequential Art, an exhibition of comic and sequential art from artists Pat Aulisio, Derek Ballard, Josh Bayer, Erin Curry, CF, Hellen Jo, Aidan Koch, Emma Louthan, Molly Colleen O'Connell, Gary Panter, Raymond Pettibon, Ron Rege Jr, Frank Santoro, Dash Shaw, and Angie Wang. Collectively, these artists represent…

  Fantagraphics is proud to brag that we have not one but TWO of five 2013 finalists in the Graphic Novel/Comics Category for the LA Times Book Prize. • Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust   • The End by Anders Nilsen On Friday evening, April 11, 2014, at 7:30 pm, the winners of the 2013 Book Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony in Bovard Auditorium on the campus of USC. The ceremony will be followed by a buffet reception. We sincerely hope your finalist (s) will be able to attend event. This occasion will mark the 34th…

The most delicious 50% candy so let's eat our feelings of Online Commentaries and Diversions:      • Plug: The Advocate lists Julio's Day as great gift. "[Julio's Day] is a remarkable literary work that compresses 100 years into 100 pages and demonstrates how dramatically life changed for gay men between 1900 and 2000." –Jacob M, The Advocate     • Plug: The AV Club lists Julio's Day at #8 of the top 10 Graphic Novels and Art Comics of 2013. "Comic books have a unique way of evoking the passage of time within static images, and Gilbert Hernandez is a cartoonist that is keenly aware of how he can use…

Nothing brightens up the day like a little day-glo chartreuse, glittery orange, and the gap-toothed smile of Tammy Pierce! Fresh out of the box, here's an advance copy of Unlovable Vol. 3, the new upcoming installment in Esther Pearl Watson's hilarious and heartbreaking saga of a teen on the bottom of her high school pecking order and her misguided attempts to fabulize her humdrum small-town existence. In this volume, it's summer break, which means fun in the sun (sunburn), boys (disastrous crushes), cheerleader tryouts (egad), and… hold up, wait… oh no… summer school! Vol. 3 joins its predecessors on the…

The first softcover edition of Usagi Yojimbo Book 3: The Wanderer's Road came out in 1989. Now, 25 years later, the 7th printing is soon to hit shelves. This is an essential volume of Stan Sakai's rabbit ronin saga, featuring the debut of Usagi's lizard pal Spot, the return of the Blind Swordspig, the introduction of the terrifying Jei (seen above), a hat-tip to Groo co-starring the mercenary Gen, deepening feudal intrigue featuring Tomoe and the Neko Ninja, and the first Ninja Turtle crossover story! We're taking pre-orders now for this brand-new printing which hits shelves in April.

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. Perfect Nonsense: The Chaotic Comics and Goofy Games of George Carlson by George Carlson; edited by Daniel Yezbick 320-page color/black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $49.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-508-2 "Perfect Nonsense is a perfect gift for a fan of illustration and golden age comics and humor and, hm, absurdism." -Heidi MacDonald, The Beat   "[a]…

All right all you Baggers and Baggettes, cast your gaze upon an advance copy of Buddy Buys a Dump, the long-awaited new collection in the saga of Buddy Bradley and his familial unit from the pages of Hate. Watch Buddy adjust to fatherhood, undergo some cosmetic changes, start a new business venture, cope with some skeletons in the closet, and return to Seattle to meet Lisa's parents for the first time. Lisa gets her own spotlight, joining a band and having a racy misadventure. And the story is wrapped up with an all-new chapter that could only be titled "Fuck…