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Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Castle Waiting Vol. 2 384-page black & white 5.75" x 8.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-405-4 Ordering Info & Previews With its long-awaited second volume, this witty and sublimely drawn fantasy eases into a relaxed comedy of manners as Lady Jain settles into her new life in Castle Waiting. Unexpected visitors result in the discovery and exploration of a secret passageway, not to mention an epic bowling tournament. A quest for ladies’ underpants, the identity of Pindar’s father, the education of Simon, Rackham and Chess arguing about the “manly arts,” and an…

Click for improved/additional viewing and possible artist commentary at the sources: • A John Pham sketchbook drawing posted by Jeaux Janovsky • Johnny Ryan painted this Le Merde "Burgerbuns" figurine for an art show at Super7 — more info at Johnny's blog • At Repaneled, Derek Van Gieson does one from Gilbert Hernandez and one from Jaime Hernandez • Look closely and you'll see that Carol Tyler hatched in the shadow of her bouquet on her Artists Alley table at Comic-Con in San Diego, as posted on her Screened-in Porch blog And more Things to See from the past week:…

For any Americans out there who remain ignorant of the cultural currency of Jacques Tardi and his creation Adèle Blanc-Sec in his native France and/or require proof beyond the recent Luc Besson film adaptation: our friend and continental correspondent Marianne Goldin, currently living overseas in France, sends along this photo of packages of Adèle Blanc-Sec brand sugar at the local market. Looks like there's more Tardi Adèle artwork on the indivudually-wrapped lumps, too. Kim Thompson comments, "Ha! Funny that she's possibly the least 'sweet' heroine in comics history. ADELE LEMONS would be more like it." I suppose it's appropriate inasmuch…

Pages from The Exquisite Book are now available as individual archival, bamboo-mounted prints: you got your Ray Fenwick, Lilli Carré, Esther Pearl Watson, Anders Nilsen, Jordan Crane, and Paul Hornschemeier, plus dozens more.  (Via Paul's blog.)

Lilli Carré provides the cover illustrations for a new W.W. Norton edition of Very Good, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehouse. Lilli has the full wraparound as well as preparatory artwork and commentary at her blog.

Archival prints, sculptures, handmade goods and original artworks (including work from Mome) by Andrice Arp are available in her recently-announced (but been-up-for-a-while) Etsy shop. A range of stuff for every budget!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:   • Gift Guide: Bleeding Cool's "Twenty Fat Expensive Comic Gifts for Christmas" includes Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition ("1200 pages folks. That’s sixty issues worth in one book") and The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Vol. 1 which we should note is neither very fat nor very expensive ("Now a major French motion picture. But always a great comic book") • Review: "Most film books are dry academic treatises whose ultimate destiny is to sit unused on a college library shelf. Destroy All Movies!!! A Complete Guide to Punks on Film is the antithesis…

The latest issue of Vice magazine features the latest iteration of Johnny Ryan's annually-updated poster of Howard Stern's Wack Pack; Vice goes all-out on their website with a fully-annotated version where you can click on each character for audio clips (and transcripts) of Johnny's comments. Fancy!

The latest Rat Pack portrait to be offered at Drew Friedman's Fine Art Prints concern is this limited-edition print of groundbreaking entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. Irwin Chusid's loving web of words and all the ordering details can be found here.

Bill Griffith was at Baltimore's Atomic Books on Saturday signing his latest Zippy the Pinhead collections, including the brand new one Ding Dong Daddy from Dingburg.