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Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Gender-bending is nothing new in manga, but it's rare to see the transgender sexual identity issues depicted in a realistic way, rather just as a plot gimmick. With her spare, elegant art and slice-of-life storytelling, Shimura resists the urge to use sensationalism, to tell her sweet and sensitive, albeit unusual, coming-of-age tale…. Just as Shimura treats her two tween characters with respect, so does Fantagraphics' hardcover edition of this story. By presenting Shimura's simple, yet elegant artwork in a larger page format and reproducing her lovely color pages on thick, creamy paper, Fantagraphics…

I hope the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles has a lot of beer in stock, because Tony Millionaire will be in the house on Wednesday, June 29th! It's the debut of The Andrés Du Bouchet Center for the Performing Arts, a monthly comedy series hosted by comedian and Conan writer Andrés Du Bouchet, and curated by Adam Spiegelman and Fantagraphics friend Scott Jacobson. Starting this week, you can join them on the last Wednesday of every month for an evening of "artistic expression in a safe, supportive environment where people are drunk." Sounds perfect for Tony! Not only will Tony…

It's time for another one of our periodic warehouse-buster sales, with a great big selection of good old fashioned floppy-style comics, our Ignatz Series comics, a bunch of our great anthologies (including Mome), some magazines and other stuff, all marked down at least 30% now through Thursday, June 30, 2011 — that's only 4 days to get in on the savings! Browse the full selection here.

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web. Hans Rickheit has apparently decided that your mind is not sufficiently blown because he has launched a second ongoing webcomic, starring his recurring characters Cochlea and Eustachia! — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: New addition! Cochlea & Eustachia by Hans Rickheit: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new udpates!): Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

One of the most "unusual" references to Roberto Clemente can be found on the cover of Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual LP. The Pittsburgh Pirates legend's name appears prominently above the doorway behind the twisting pop diva in the photograph by Annie Liebovitz. Go figure. This 1983 recording sold over 9 million copies, yet won only a single Grammy award for album packaging. Apropos of little, other than a reminder to read Wilfred Santiago's wonderful graphic novel biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente.

Seattle: Fantagraphics Comics If you've always wanted to get a behind-the-scenes look inside our glamorous offices and see what things are like around here on a day-to-day basis, this segment that The A.V. Club came by to film for their "Pop Pilgrims" series should give you a pretty good idea. Host Dan Telfer and his crew got the grand tour from Gary Groth, and we had Peter Bagge stop by to give his perspective and insights. My favorite parts are the bits that show my co-workers just going about their day and getting shit done. (I missed all the hubbub…

We're trying something new! Every couple of weeks we'll be spotlighting a loosely thematic selection of a few of our recent and older titles just to, you know, remind you that they exist, and to entice you to buy them we're offering them at a whopping 40% off for four days only, Friday through Monday! Selections and themes have been suggested by our warehouse manager, who is chock full of good ideas. This outing: "A Hairy Bestiary"! Beasts! Book 1 [Softcover Edition]: A classic mythological menagerie, comprised of creatures that were thought at one time to actually exist, depicted by…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Castle Waiting Vols. 1 & 2 take two spots on Nancy Pearl's "10 Terrific Summer Reads" list at NPR.org: "The black-and-white drawings are precisely crafted, with small, endearing touches that render each character entirely unique. The dialogue is clever and filled with subtle grace notes of drollness and humor. The set will be especially appealing to readers of all ages who enjoy seeing and reading traditional fairy tale tropes teased and played with, all with a sense of good-humored fun." • Review: "…Congress of the Animals finds twisted fabulist Woodring at the top…

If you would like to be the proud owner of the original art for Paul Pope's tribute to Roy Crane which accompanies Pope's terrific introduction to Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune Vol. 2, it is among the original Pope artwork available for sale via The Beguiling.

Move over, Peter, Bjorn & John!  Or, Peter, Paul & Mary, for that matter! Devin, Gary & Ross is the musical project of artists Devin Flynn, Ross Goldstein, and our very own, Gary Panter! They've been described as "Velvet Underground-era VU meets Alexander "Skip" Spence meets the equally LSD-infused solo output of Germany's Juergen Gleue, only WAY more deadpan." You can hear for yourself: their debut EP, Four Corners Bounce, is out now on the Arbitrary Signs label, and to celebrate, they're having a Record Release Party this Friday, June 24th at Desert Island in Brooklyn!  You wouldn't think it to…