Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

A special bonus in your weekly batch of online strips: Awesome parenting in this week's The House of No, rejected New Yorker cartoons by Derek Van Gieson… …and this week Derek got one in! He's got it has an extra one (oops, I got misled by the caption font) on his blog… …iBlecky in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan…. …and the conversation gets awkward in Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

Observe & report: • My Love for You Is a Stampede of Horses has images and a review of Esther Pearl Watson's gallery exhibit Space is the Place — check back Monday when they'll be giving away a copy of Unlovable! • Several sketchbook pages by Sophie Crumb, including the portrait of her mom Aline above

Online Commentary & Diversions, now with images… what am I, nuts?? At least it's a short one: • Review: "If sound effects like 'SNEEZEBLOOD!!' or prayer fights make you laugh, Chocolate Cheeks by Steven Weissman is definitely up your alley. More than that, Weissman’s fantastic art is worth giving this collection a look even if you haven’t read previous 'Yikes' books." (Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars) – Chad Nevett, Comic Book Resources • Plug: "If you are feeling nostalgic for the days of scanning shelves full of well worn VHS tapes at your local video store, I recommend Portable…

No, not Monkees… monkeys! Michael Kupperman tweeted: New Yorkers! This should be fun: http://tinyurl.com/ykmssp9 I'll be reading my brand new "Jungle Princess" story… What it is: a monkey-themed installment of the live comedy-variety show "Kevin Geeks Out" at 92YTribeca in NYC and it's tonight! More info here.

Lookit (& clickit): • Part 6 of Steven Weissman's "This Already Happened" at What Things Do • Mike Loveland takes an interesting approach to Jason's Pocket Full of Rain on the Covered blog • Buongiorno, Marco Corona • The Perils of Overexuberance, a mid-1990s painting by Jim Flora

Shorty Online Commentary & Diversions: • Interview: Paul Hornschemeier reports on his blog: "I sat down with Brandon Wetherbee of the You, Me, Them, Everybody podcast to skip across topics such as mystery novels, crayons, Curt Swan, Robert Crumb, District 9, sock garters, Pixar, syndicated cartoons, Spider-Man, touring with bands, and facial moisturizer. A good time was had by all in a tiny room." • Profile: Portuguese blog Mania dos Quadradinhos looks at the Fantagraphics work of Roger Langridge (autotranslation)

Mark Kalesniko has started a new art blog where so far he's been posting watercolor sketches of stylish girls such as this. Hopefully we'll be seeing glimpses of his new Fantagraphics graphic novel Freeway (scheduled for Summer 2010 release), and of course we'll point you toward future updates in our "Things to see" posts.

Apropos of the release of Almost Silent, we've created a Facebook page for Jason for fans to follow along with the latest updates about his books. For now the page will be focused primarily on Jason's U.S. releases, though we'd be more than happy to have his European publishers involved as well (if any of them are reading this). Join on up! Jason on Facebook And don't forget about our Facebook pages for Peter Bagge, the Hernandez Bros., Ted Stearn's Fuzz & Pluck, and, of course, Fantagraphics.

Mome Vol. 18 – Spring 2010 by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds 128-page color/b&w 7" x 9" softcover • $14.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-303-3 Ships in: March 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award nominee returns for its fifth year. With this issue, the series has now featured over 2000 pages of comics in its four and half years of existence (2109, to be exact), which may be a record for an English-language alternative comics anthology. This issue's cover is by Nate Neal, who delivers "The Neurotic Nexus of Creation," a 15-page explication of the creative…

Oh my lord! Thanks Derek!