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COVET. Only available from Japan? Rats! Via The Daily Cartoonist.

Jen Vaughn of the Schulz Library at the Center for Cartoon Studies has a very nice blog post about receiving a care package from us… …and her reaction to it:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Profile: The Stranger's Paul Constant profiles the newsweekly's 2010 Literature Genius, Jim Woodring: "There are only a small number of medium-changing geniuses in the history of cartooning who have managed to develop a singular visual language, and Jim Woodring is one of them." • Review: "…[D]amned if [Prison Pit: Book 2] isn’t one of the most entertaining, hilarious, and addictively fun comics I’ve read all year. […] The violence itself is both brutish and ugly, but is direct and unapologetic, and drawn with such passion and beauty by Ryan. […] It’s over-the-top, extreme, uncompromising,…

Filmmaker Gary VandenBergh is looking to raise funds via Kickstarter to complete Chicken Fat, his in-progress documentary on his late father-in-law Will Elder. Gary was a great help to us when we were putting together our book Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art, and we've been helping with the documentary by supplying digital images. We can vouch for Gary as, in Gary Groth's words, "a generally great guy." They've already got a lot of great interviews in the can, including Art Spiegelman, Bill Griffith, Jay Lynch, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, Drew Friedman, the late Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Gaines and…

Well shoot, I thought we'd already posted these details, but I was wrongo. Full announcement follows (taken from here): FLOATING WORLD COMICS and FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS PRESENTS: PRISON PIT 2: BOOK SIGNING WITH JOHNNY RYAN Join us this October 7th to meet Johnny Ryan and celebrate the release of his latest book, Prison Pit 2. Ryan will sign books and present an exhibition of his original artwork, comix, colorful silkscreen prints, and sculpted figures. Also the main character from Prison Pit, Cannibal Fuckface, will make a special appearance [as portrayed by our own Ajax Wood – Ed.], performing a heavy metal…

The Significant Objects website has the third in a series of posts announcing which 100 stories will be in the Significant Objects book coming from Fantagraphics in the Fall of 2011. .

Here's the official announcement for the book signing in San Francisco, just part of Dave's West Coast book tour this fall: The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Dave Cooper on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 as he celebrates the release of his new book, Bent, published by Fantagraphics Books. Please join Cooper at 7:00pm for a brief discussion of his career in the Cartoon Art Museum’s galleries, followed by a signing in the museum’s bookstore. Copies of Bent will be available for purchase onsite. Please call 415.227.8666, ext. 310 to reserve a copy. More info here.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…A Drunken Dream and Other Stories… is a deeply impressive — and immersive — piece of work that's full of complex emotional truths. And deep weirdness. […] I dug this, and I think many, many people not conversant with manga will, too. Stylistically, it's a curious mix: Her linework gives each page a sense of openness, conjuring a world of light breezes, flowers and sunshine, even as her characters struggle with inner darkness. This darkness can take many forms: doomed eternal love, grief, guilt or — in the collection's most satisfyingly creepy/affecting tale…

I've never seen The Guild, but Gilbert Hernandez did a cover (above) for an upcoming comics one-shot from Dark Horse focused on the character named Vork, reports Robot 6, and hey, any excuse to post some Beto on Flog!

 Underground Comix Scholar, Patrick Rosenkranz  will be teaching an 8 week History of Comics program at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Rosenkranz's contribution to the medium of comics is monumental and his class is sure to bring it. There's a lot of comics noise down in Portland, so if you're reading this and live in The City of Roses then you need to start smelling the roses and listen up! If you happen to pay sales tax and pump yer own gas then I implore you to check out the brand new The Artist Himself: A Rand Holmes Retrospective  as well as You…