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Would you like to watch Jacques Tardi draw for three minutes? Sure you would! Here he is working up a panel from his recently-published semi-sequel to IT WAS THE WAR OF THE TRENCHES, PUTAIN DE GUERRE. (My best translation: FUCKING WAR. Will need to rethink that for when we do our edition of the book.) Around  0:50 Tardi complains that he always screws up the boots and has to bring out the Wite-Out. So he is not a god. But almost.

The Comics Journal's Tom Crippen presents some samples of Gahan Wilson's National Lampoon strip "Nuts" (to be released in a complete collected edition by your pals here at Fantagraphics in the not-too-distant future).

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Drew Weing's slender, hand-sized debut graphic novel Set to Sea is a crosshatched masterpiece. […] Weing draws in an elaborate, crosshatched style that's half Popeye, half Maakies, and it meshes brilliantly with the subject matter and the storytelling. Set to Sea is so lovely in places that I found myself exclaiming aloud — it's got a naive-but-self-conscious grace that is impossible to describe and that few have ever mastered. This one is highly recommended." – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing • Review: "In the first and the second volume [of Mome] there are a…

It's time for a new episode of Yikes! animated adventures! Look at all those familiar names in the credits: Steven Weissman (creator), Martin Cendreda (animation), Johnny Ryan & Walt Holcombe (voices)… it's an explosion of talent and hilariousness!

The colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack celebrates the holiday season on December 11 with a diverse array of challenging visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic business district. Dozens of independent artists' studios will be open to the public, joined by the many creative enterprises that make Georgetown a wonderfully unique civic asset. Among the many highlights of the holiday Art Attack: Open studios at Equinox with live music, blacksmithing demonstrations, refreshments and the work of over 50 resident artists; Georgetown Arts and Cultural Center hosts figurative sculpture by Katrina Wolfe; the 4th Annual Holiday Artisans Bazaar Party…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about our release this week, check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. Special Exits by Joyce Farmer 208-page black & white 8" x 10" hardcover • $26.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-381-1 Ordering Info & Previews "A decade-plus in the making project by underground veteran Joyce Farmer; observations of the declining health of her father and stepmother, and Farmer’s own changing role in their lives. I know nothing more, but I’ll be eager to…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The second volume of Linda Medley's quirky Eisner-winning modern classic has finally arrived. […] Castle Waiting is a warm yet bittersweet ramble through the margins of the fairy tale world. […] Medley's distinctive black and white art is full of life, while her writing is as engaging if leisurely as ever." – Publishers Weekly • Review: "…[O]ne of the best and most under-covered of many under-covered comics of 2010 [is] Fantagraphics’ English-language edition of Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches. […] Fascinatingly structured as a 20-page overture leading into an…

Gipi recounts the story behind this illustration, learning that he's not the first artist in Italy to have this idea recently.

An exciting announcement from Zak Sally and his La Mano 21 imprint: The Kim Deitch Files print portfolio nears completion and will make its debut at two opposite-coast events in December: the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival on Dec. 5 and the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 4th Anniversary celebration on Dec. 11, where Zak will also be performing a solo music set. Sez Zak: "The Kim Deitch Files is a limited edition portfolio of the looseleaf 'story' pages which serve as Kim's sketchbook; it's where he works out the ideas for his comics. included in this folio are selections of…

Here's an illo Ray Fenwick did for O Magazine (bigger at Ray's site).