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Holy feck! How I love this magnificent rendition of the dramatis personæ of Father Ted (the classic Britcom co-created by one of our funniest fans, Graham Linehan) by Roger Langridge.

Got a tip from a fan on the Love and Rockets Facebook page that there's a L&R fan art group on the deviantART site. Here's a couple of Maggies posted by big-shot comics pros — first up, a commission by Adam Hughes: And here's Roger Langridge collaborator Chris Samnee: There's some fun stuff from the amateurs too (including a couple of mashups of las Locas with Raymond Pettibon's Sonic Youth Goo album cover). The only problem so far: no Palomar characters?!

Holiday greetings and other eyeball kicks from our artists: • Richard Sala presents a gallery of his holiday cards through the years • Drew Weing and Eleanor Davis present their 2007 holiday card, with a PDF download so you can print it out & assemble the cutouts • Lilli Carré's animated tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas (click over to see it in action) • A charming Majestic Creature holiday strip from Leslie Stein • Quackers holiday greetings from Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin • Daily drawings and animation production artwork from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog •…

Now in our warehouse and ready to ship: Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2 by Steve Ditko; edited by Blake Bell 240-page full-color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-380-4 Previews & Ordering Info This is where Steve Ditko became Steve Ditko. 1954 and 1955 were tough years for the fledgling cartoonist: A life-threatening bout with tuberculosis sidelined him for almost a year, and his main client, Charlton Comics, suffered a devastating flood that forced it to shut its doors temporarily. Yet Ditko's enforced time off and subsequent need to seek out new clients (most particularly Marvel Comics,…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Comic Book Resources begins counting down their Top 100 Comics of 2010. In the first batch: #87: Prison Pit Book 2 by Johnny Ryan: "Absurd, crude, lewd, funny, entertaining, twelve kinds of wrong, one of the most effed-up books I've ever read. It's burned into my brain and I can't get it out. And I love it." – Chad Nevett #99: A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio: "I'd never heard of Moto Hagio until Fantagraphics published this best-of collection of her stories, and it's easy to see why Hagio is…

Mix-n-match comics panels to make your own story with the iPad app Comixer, created by the editors of the dearly-missed Nickelodeon magazine, which means it's kid-friendly, and drawn by Johnny Ryan, which means it's awesome! (Link via Janice via Jenny Ryan on Facebook.)

Get it? Statuettes of R. Crumb's Mr. Natural, hand-carved from sandstone by artisans in Bali, now available from The Official R. Crumb Gallery. Garden gnome hat not included. (Via Boing Boing.) (For cheaper Mr. Natural thrills, The Book of Mr. Natural hardcover edition is only 12 bucks during our 3-day Inventory Reduction Sale!)

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (do I have to explain why they're late?): — Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): — And elsewhere: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Lucky by Gabrielle Bell: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

While we were enjoying a nice little holiday break, Comics Alliance posted an interview with our own Eric Reynolds in which Eric discusses our nascent strategy for making our books available for digital download for your various e-readers and such: "Our digital plans are still very much in the formative stages. I'm not going to lie; we've definitely been slow to move on the digital front, but not for a lack of interest. […] We've been paying close attention for the past year or more and have been slowly developing a strategy, exploring all of the various third party apps…

You have all that Xmas cash burning a hole in your pocket. We've got teetering piles of books in our warehouse. Let's make a deal! We've put together a list of titles we have too many of and we've slashed the prices on these select books by 40% for 3 days only — Monday December 27, 2010 through Wednesday, December 29. (Sale not in effect at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.) This isn't just some old junk we have laying around — this is primo stuff from your favorite artists: Bagge! Burns! Crane! Crumb! Foster! Hernandez! Hernandez! Herriman! Hornschemeier! Kupperman! Millionaire!…