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Get "ruined" …and on a Monday night, no less! It's time for another launch in our 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series, a collaboration with our friends at the Elysian Brewing Company. Join us on Monday, May 21st, and try "Ruin," a Rosemary Agave IPA, available on draft, and in exclusive 22 oz. bottles with labels featuring the artwork of the great Charles Burns from his weirdly apocalyptic Black Hole series. The official tapping begins at 6:00 PM, followed by a survival demo by Bryan at 7:30 PM, with "apocalyptic amusements" until 9:00 PM. Come by and collect the next…

In this short video, Jim Woodring reveals the 27-foot mural he painted in Facebook’s Seattle offices a couple of weeks ago (with assistance from his son Max). No, he was not paid in stock.

Harold and Maude FINALLY on Criterion AND with cover art by Jordan Crane? Somebody pinch me! (And then gimme 30 bucks so I can run out and buy it when it's released next month.)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "In Athos in America , the ideas behind the first three stories are so clever and punchy that they carry the rest of the anthology. Furthermore, the stories are constructed such that, due to their structure alone, any further padding would be impossible. In many ways, Athos In America feels like the artist looking back at his body of work to date… Despite his style, Jason is quite effective in modulating emotion from story to story, going from gags to violence to tragedy, sometimes all in the same story. Jason is in total control…

Congrats to Ellen Forney, shortlisted for The 2012 Stranger Genius Award for Literature! Ellen's worked with us (and The Stranger) for years and even though we're not putting out her next book, the graphic memoir Marbles, we're all looking forward to it eagerly! You may recall Jim Woodring won this prize a couple of years ago — kudos to The Stranger's critics for continuing to recognize comics with their Literature award. (Photo for The Stranger by Kelly O.)

It's a good day! Some 16 to 17 years ago, I formed a vague friendship with a young writer named Joshua Glenn under the most tenuous of possible ways for sincere friendship to incubate: between the professional relationship of writer (him) and publicist (me). I have enjoyed Josh's vision and intellect and from the first issue of his zine, HERMENAUT (one of the unequivocally great periodicals of the 1990s), and thru his more recent endeavors, like the website HILOBROW . Through some minor miracle, we've managed throughout the years to have some reason, however ambiguous at times, to stay in touch. And now! Full circle! It's 2012, and…

Come to Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, May 12 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM and discover emerging artists associated with Zack Soto’s Portland-based publishing house Study Group. Enjoy an exhibition of original art, prints and book works by an array of independent cartoonists that represent some of the best in the small press movement. Join Zack Soto, T. Edward Bak, Ian MacEwan, Kazimir Strzepek, and other exhibiting artists at this festive art opening. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community. Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "This series of short comic book tales is sure to offend the weak at heart and easily excitable. As with some of the best horror, The Furry Trap curb-stomps all expectations, zigs when zags are expected, and taps into areas some are just too uncomfortable to talk about…. There’s some sick shit happening in this hardcover and if you’re brave enough, you’ll crack The Furry Trap open and enjoy the stories free of restraint and convention, yet teeming with unbridled creativity and absolute insanity." – Mark L. Miller, Ain't It Cool News •…

Join author Monte Schulz for a signing of The Big Town, on Tuesday, May 10th at Tsunami Books in Eugene, OR!  A novel of the Jazz Age, The Big Town is the story of a failed businessman whose dreams of prosperity hinge on the secret proposition of a millionaire industrialist and a dangerous relationship he finds with a poor orphan girl chasing love in the great American metropolis. The signing begins at 7:00 PM!  Tsunami Books is located at 2585 Willamette Street.

Starting to catch up on Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The frighteningly hilarious world of Rickheit’s graphic novel is a deranged cabinet of curiosities, full of biomechanical tanks, writhing organic matter, amorphous monsters birthing adorable kittens, men and women in animal masks, and countless tubes, gas masks, sex toys, and pseudo-Victorian apocalyptic landscapes. It would all be too oppressive if Rickheit’s sense of humor weren’t so addictive…. This juxtaposition of dry humor undercuts the richly drawn horror of Folly, simultaneously adding to its strangeness and making it bearable for a casual read… The result is a narrative mosaic that…