Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

One's a pre-teen pop star and daughter of Will Smith & Jada Pinkett-Smith, one's a Gilbert Hernandez Love and Rockets character who looks steamed that the former copped her 'do. (Together they fight crime?) Hat tip to L&R fan Paul James for sharing the photo on the Love and Rockets Facebook page.

Jaime Hernandez is part of the "Novelas, Love and Other Adventures" exhibit at Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) in San Jose, California. The exhibit is up now, with an opening reception and artists talk featuring Jaime and Rio Yanez this Friday, Feb. 4, at 7 PM. More information & RSVP on the MACLA Facebook invitation.

"Cartoon Polymaths," an exhibit featuring Richard McGuire, Saul Steinberg, Paper Rad, Mariscal, Tony Sarg and Winsor McCay opening at Parsons The New School this week looks like a must-see for NYC comics fans. Kevin Huizenga did a two-page comic for the program, the above panel from which Kevin posted on his The Balloonist blog.

L to R: Johnny Ryan, Jaime Hernandez, Ron Regé Jr., Jordan Crane, Sammy Harkham, Frank Santoro. This photo from Frank's impressive recounting of his visit to L.A. at Comics Comics has been making the rounds a bit, for obvious reasons. One of those "good thing a meteor didn't hit at that moment" moments. (Also pretty much a sausage fest, huh?)

Here's video in two parts of a 2009 screening of Olivier Schrauwen's animated short film "Der Hipster" with live musical introduction and accompaniment by Bram Devens. I think there might be some cultural humor that went over my head, but there are some funny visual jokes and the punchline is really great. Via Dash Shaw at his The Ruined Cast blog.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, in association with the Bureau of Drawers, hosts "LOVESICK" Comix Exhibition Opening February 12. Aaron Renier and Jason Shiga appear on Wednesday, February 23. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery loves local comix! Saturday, February 12 features the opening of "Lovesick," an exhibition of emerging and established artists from the Bureau of Drawers cartoonist collective. The show includes original art, handmade books and prints by 16 Seattle comix artists and illustrators. Exhibiting artists will be present for a festive reception at Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, February 12 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM — just in time for Valentine's….

• Jason draws R. Crumb and other memories of Angoulême 2000, plus more sketches, illustrations and film reviews at his Cats Without Dogs blog • Dash Shaw 's new zine for this year's Angoulême Festival • Betty Boop x Eraserhead by D.J. Bryant • After a couple of very well-received mainstream comics efforts, Roger Langridge is back in the minicomics game • Another panel from the concluding chapter of Derek Van Gieson's Mome serial • Tom Kaczynski's lovely tribute to the late Trish Keenan from one of my top-20 favorite bands, Broadcast And more Things to See from the past…

Congratulations to Steve Brodner, who reveals on his blog that he's been awarded a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators for his above editorial illo for The New Yorker. Our pal Peter Kuper also picked up a Silver Medal in the Books category. The award ceremony takes place on Friday evening, and Steve and Peter appear on a panel discussion titled "Artists Against the War" on Feb. 10. More info at the preceding links.

"Overpass" is a morbidly funny new 3-page "Alex" story posted by Mark Kalesniko over at his blog. I'm not sure if it's an outtake from his new graphic novel Freeway or brand new material but it's a welcome sight either way!

Paul Hornschemeier has moved his "News and Headlice" blog to the following new URL: http://blog.forlornfunnies.com Update your RSS readers and bookmarks (does anyone still use those anymore?). Paul kicks things off over there with a new shirt design in the Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop, a panorama of the New Chicago Comics exhibit, and the announcement of So-So Heroes, his postcard set coming out from Chronicle Books this fall.