Daily OCD: 10/17/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Every now and then, if I’m lucky, I might just bump into a stone cold masterpiece. The kind of art that makes you just want to shout and scream it is so good. So, in the interest of doing just that, let me say that this Jaime Hernandez’s 'The Love Bunglers' (Love and Rockets: New Stories no. 4) is such a work. I don’t even need to qualify it for myself (i.e. 'what’s coming later; what’s come before; shouldn’t there be a cooling period?') when I say: This is not just Jaime’s finest work, but…

Twain in the Membrane: Twain About Town!

photo credit: the great Alex Cox from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund The reports of Mark Twain's death were greatly exaggerated indeed!  Why, he's been all over the New York area lately, promoting the smash-hit Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, as transcribed by the wonderful humorist and cartoonist Michael Kupperman. Here he is, at the New York Comic-Con this past weekend, signing with our friends at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund… photo credit: M. Sweeney Lawless …meeting Chewbacca… photo credit: Emily Flake …Oscar the Grouch… photo credit: M. Sweeney Lawless … and making lots of new friends! You can…

Daily OCD: 10/14/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Comic strips, as printed in American papers, have been linked to advertising since their very inception, and have been a constant staple of ad campaigns. Now a good-looking, large-format book shows much of the history of advertising cartoons: Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising 1870s – 1940s… Many of the cartoons in this colorful collection are handsome, and in hindsight, many are so silly that they call into question any 'American Intelligence,' despite what Lucky Strikes told us. That cartoons made such pitches, and with seeming success for their time, is a…

Weekend Webcomics for 10/14/11: Kupperman, Weissman & more

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (now updated with Maakies!): — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Forming by Jesse Moynihan: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new strips this week): Maakies by Tony Millionaire: The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider:…

Last day of our International Comics sale!

Today's your last day to save at least 30% off comics and graphic novels by international creators! From manga to bandes desinées, classic to cutting-edge, we have masterpieces from every permanently-inhabited continent (if you count New Zealand as part of Australia, anyway). Our original announcement lists just a few of the amazing creators whose works are on sale. There's never been a better time to discover some of the best comics the world has to offer, and it's almost over, so don't delay!

Daily OCD: 10/13/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Rendered in a simply stunning panorama of glowing visual passion and precision, Prince Valiant is a non-stop rollercoaster of stirring action, exotic adventure and grand romance; blending human-scaled fantasy with dry wit and broad humour with shatteringly dark violence. Beautiful, captivating and utterly awe-inspiring the strip is a World Classic of fiction and something no fan can afford to miss. If you have never experienced the intoxicating grandeur of Foster’s magnum opus these magnificent, lavishly substantial deluxe editions are the best way possible to do so and will be your gateway to an…

Daily OCD: 10/12/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Feature: At SF Weekly, Alan Scherstuhl provides you with "10 Reasons Why Prince Valiant Bests All 2011's Adventure Heroes" (starting with "He lances giant crocodiles"), saying "Sure, those glossy lips and that pageboy bob makes him look something like ye olde Ramona Quimby, but don't let that fool you. The star of what is arguably the twentieth century's best-drawn newspaper comic strip, Hal Foster's Prince Valiant is all hero, through and through, for his age and ours. The first four volumes of Fantagraphics' collected Prince Valiant reveal young Foster's creation as both the sum…