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Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: At Comix Cube Kevin Czap praises Steven Weissman's "Barack Hussein Obama" (seen here on our website and in Mome Vol. 21): "It actually reminds me of Wally Gropius in terms of the structure, which is not surprising given its appearance in MOME. One can only hope that the whole thing will get collected, at which point I predict it to be one of my favorite comics ever." (Via The Comics Reporter) • Review: We almost missed this cartoon review by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg at Unshelved Book Club: "…The Last Musketeer… is…

Hey nostalgia-hounds, Heidi MacDonald over at The Beat dug up this 2005 (!) blog post at Four Realities which runs down some highlights from every Amazing Heroes Preview Special.

Gary Panter will be in Paris for the opening of his art show at Galerie Martel on the 29th of April. On his blog he says "I am excited. I have many friends in France and it has been decades since I was there." 

We hinted at it before and now it's been revealed at danielclowes.com: the comic book prop cover illustration by Daniel Clowes used in the recent film Paul. Vigilant Clowes fans will note some references in the details. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing the interiors of this comic existed.

Seattle's Experience Music Project is hosting festivities all weekend to launch their ambitious Nirvana exhibition  and companion book Taking Punk to the Masses, published by Fantagraphics in association with EMP. The celebration begins with a private reception, followed by a members preview, this Friday evening with celebrity DJs including Fantagraphics friends Steve Fisk, Mark Pickerel, and Charles Peterson. Activities continue all weekend, including a panel on the origins of grunge at 2:30 on Saturday, with panelists including Peterson and former Fantagraphics frontman Tom Price, moderated by curator and the book's author Jacob McMurray. The EMP exhibition focuses on Nirvana, while the book takes…

Get ready to rock! This Saturday, April 16 marks the annual Record Store Day promotion. Our neighbors at Georgetown Records are celebrating with free vinyl, CD samplers and swag from labels like Sub Pop, Epitaph, Decca, and WEA, among many others. To sweeten the deal, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is adding a free comic book for every customer of Georgetown Records. Get out and support your local independent record store this Saturday and throughout the year.

Here's your first look at the final cover design for Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising edited by Rick Marschall & Warren Bernard, which is heading to the printer soon for a July release date. The book represents a couple of firsts for us: it's the first release from our Marschall Books imprint, and it's the first design job under salary from the newest member of our Art Department, Tony Ong, formerly at Dark Horse. (As a freelancer, Tony designed the cover for the second printing of Four Color Fear.) That's Tony's beautiful hand-lettering, too.

The video quality’s a little bad, but you can still see Al Columbia’s backdrops in this clip from David Cross’s HBO standup special from about 10 years ago (shot here in Seattle at the Showbox). Kim Thompson recently caught the show popping up in reruns on Comedy Central, which prompted him to dig up this clip on YouTube.

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente is reviewed by Alex Belth on page 16 of the April 18 issue of Sports Illustrated: "…Wilfred Santiago captures the physical grace of baseball and creates a story of visceral and emotional force… Santiago… has produced a rich and surprising work. The compositions and framing are intricate and varied… Santiago captures Clemente's relentless vitality as a player, frames the story around the historical and religious traditions of Puerto Rico, and handles Clemente's tragic death with restraint, all with a gimlet eye and the sensitivity of a true artist. It is a classic story given…

Jason Polan surreptitiously sketched Stephen DeStefano, Mark Newgarden, Kim Deitch, and Paul Hornschemeier at at our MoCCA Festival table last weekend for his Every Person in New York project.