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Blake Bell makes the following announcement on his blog: "On Friday, August 27, 2010, come to the Toronto Fan Expo (running from Friday to Sunday) and see my slideshow entitled "Steve Ditko and Bill Everett: Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Daredevil & Beyond." The hour-long presentation begins at 5pm in Room 103A and features tons of imagery and commentary related to my two new books Fire and Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner and the Birth of Marvel Comics (out in Sep.) and Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2 (out in Oct)." Blake will also be tabling at the show — click over for more…

Recently posted on Flickr by designer Paul Buckley (and brought to my attention by Richard Sala)… Great Expectations — Richard Sala: The Canterbury Tales — Ted Stearn: The Communist Manifesto — Killoffer: All beautiful! Looks like this latest round of Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions hits stores toward the end of October.

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978 (Vol. 14) by Charles M. Schulz introduction by Alec Baldwin 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-375-0 Ordering Info & Previews As the 1970s wind down, the last two recurring Peanuts characters have fallen into place: Snoopy’s brother Spike and the youngest Van Pelt sibling, Rerun. But that doesn’t mean Schulz’s creativity has diminished; in fact, this volume features an amazing profusion of hilariously distinctive new one- (or two-) shot characters! For instance, in an epic five-week sequence, when Charlie Brown is found…

Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History Script by George Chieffet; art by Stephen DeStefano 120-page monochrome 6.5" x 8.5" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-354-5 Ships in: September 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now This book is available with a signed bookplate as a FREE premium! The bookplate has been uniquely designed for this book, and each bookplate is printed on acid-free cardstock and hand-signed by the author. (Click here for more books available with signed bookplates.) Please select your preference above before adding the item to your shopping cart. Note: Signature plates are VERY limited in quantity…

Influential comix artist Carol Tyler will appear in at Fantagraphics Bookstore in Seattle on Saturday, September 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM to present her two-volume graphic memoir YOU'LL NEVER KNOW with an exhibition of original art and book signing. This will mark Tyler's fist visit to the Northwest. Carol Tyler's career in cartooning began as a graduate student in painting at Syracuse University in the early 1980s. She later moved to San Francisco and began a lasting relationship with underground comix legend Justin Green. Her work soon found its way into seminal female comix anthologies Twisted Sisters and Wimmen's…

Kim Deitch has treated his Facebook friends to a look at some in-progress pages from his next book, The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley, which we will be publishing at a future date to be determined (Kim's gotta finish it first). I stole the images to share with you here! Click each page to view the images at original size:

While supplies last get a copy of Newave: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s FREE from contributing artist J.R. Williams with an original art purchase of fifty dollars (or more) from his Comic Art Collective page. Whatta deal! More details here.

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Reviews: The Techland critical roundtable looks at Drew Weing's Set to Sea: "Set to Sea… is the real thing: a one-off nautical action book (a hardcover version of Drew Weing's sweet, lively web-comic) that's a real pleasure to look at and linger over. Every panel-as-page just radiates joy in drawing." – Douglas Wolk "I positively adore this format. […] I could pull half or more of the pages in this book and hang them as wall art. […] I gave this book one of my highest distinctions. I made my girlfriend read it."– Mike Williams…

The Minneapolis Indie Xpo takes place this Saturday, and the kick-off pre-party at Big Brain and the 501 Club on Friday night is doubling as a release party for a handful of new comics, including Zak Sally's Sammy the Mouse #3! More info at Zak's La Mano blog. Look for Zak, Tom Kaczynski and Noah Van Sciver at the fest as well. Looks like a fun show!

Enter to win a prize pack that includes The Artist Himself: A Rand Holmes Retrospective by Patrick Rosenkranz along with another book, 2 DVDs, and 6 CDs from the Logo cable network and pop-culture site Modern Tonic! Rules & entry form are here.