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Take the plunge! What better way to spend your quadrennial extra day by loading up on comics! Today only (February 29, 2012), take 29% off every item in your order (including already-discounted items) by using the coupon code LEAPDAY at checkout on our website. (Or, just mention this offer if ordering by phone — 1-800-657-1100 or 206-524-1967 outside the U.S., 9 AM to 5 PM. Sorry, sale not in effect at Fantagraphics Bookstore.) Jump for joy and spread the word! Shop shop shop!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Awards: Jaime Hernandez's Speedy Ortiz dør (the Danish edition of The Death of Speedy from Aben Maler) was named winner of the Ping Prisen for "Best International Comic in Danish" • List: YALSA's blog The Hub spotlights their previously-announced Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten 2012: "Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son Volume 1 rounds out the Top Ten list for 2012 with a sensitive look at two fifth grade students struggling with gender identity: Shuichi Natori is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino Takatsuki is a girl who wants to be a…

“From Comix to Critiques” was the focus of seminal Seattle publisher Real Comet Press. Founded in 1981 by arts activist Cathy Hillenbrand, then owner the Comet Tavern, this prescient enterprise published an amazing array of books that foreshadowed Seattle’s ascendance to the forefront of international pop culture. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrates the legacy of Cathy Hillenbrand with “Real Comet Press: A Retrospective” opening Saturday, March 10, continuing through April 10, 2012. This exhibition features art, graphics and book works by regional artists nurtured by Real Comet Press including Lynda Barry, Michael Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes, among others….

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Interview: Our own Eric Buckler talks to Wilfred Santiago at our own The Comics Journal: "Unlike working with someone else’s script, there’s no linear method when I work on my own. That is to say I write while I ‘toon, and I ‘toon while I write. So the most important step is editing–what’s left on the page before going to the printer and into the sweaty hands of readers. I do believe writing has improved my cartooning. I don’t think it’s an accident that some of the best cartoonists are writers. I’m not putting…

Writers Talking: Joe Sacco on Feb. 18, 2012 from Multnomah County Library on Vimeo. If you weren't one of the lucky Portlanders who was able to attend Joe Sacco's talk at the Multnomah County Library main branch on Feb. 18 (or if you were and you would like to relive it), the library has now posted video of the entire presentation and Q&A session online (hat tip: Forbidden Planet International). 

Holy crap, it's a busy week! Tuesday, February 28th • New York, NY:  It's that time again… time for another edition of The Crime Stoppers Club with Michael Kupperman and co-host Kate Beaton! This week, they welcome Adam Conover, Julia Segal, Aaron Diaz, and Chris Hastings. This free event starts at 7:00 PM at Luca Lounge. (more info) Wednesday, February 29th • Toronto, ON:  Join editor Blake Bell and our friends at The Beguiling for the launch party of Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1 at The Central. Blake will present a slideshow, titled "Bill Everett and Steve…

Pat Thomas has been all over the television and radio dial talking about Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. He was host Nancy Guppy's guest on Friday's episode of Art Zone on the Seattle Channel — the segment begins at the 8:00 mark in the video embedded above or available here [Edit: link updated to jump directly to the segment]. Florangela Davila of NPR station KPLU talked to Pat this morning; streaming audio and a recap of the segment are available here. Pat's appearance last Wednesday on WNYC's Soundcheck is embedded below and archived here. Pat's…

Zak Silly // photo credit: Jason T. Miles Celebrate Sammy with Zak Sally in Chicago!  As we've reported on the FLOG, Zak has just released Sammy the Mouse Vol. 1, a self-published, self-printed collection of the first three issues of his Eisner-nominated Ignatz series. It is a handcrafted thing of beauty, and you can behold it yourself on Friday, March 23rd at Quimby's [ 1854 W. North Ave. ] at 7:00 PM. Zak will be joined by John Porcellino and Dale Flattum, making this an event you surely cannot miss! And then on Saturday, March 24th, this trio of talented…

We've got our new Nicolas Mahler Angelman page for you! And in lieu of a new Up All Night strip Michael Kupperman has provided a classic from his vaults. — Angelman by Nicolas Mahler (view at original size): Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Some of the most interesting travel books happen by accident. If Alexander Theroux’s wife had not gone to Estonia on a Fulbright Scholarship, it is unlikely that he would have spent an extended period in the tiny Baltic republic, an experience that impelled him to write this book [Estonia: A Ramble Through the Periphery]…. Despite all [his] genuine delight in the quaint, not merely linguistic but extending also to Estonian architecture, what Mr. Theroux mostly shows us about the country and its people is exasperation, irritation, furious rage. To say that it —…