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Quoted directly from Paul Hornschemeier's blog: Inimitable Cartoonist and Fine Human Being Anders Nilsen has pulled together some great artwork for an even greater cause: health care reform. The participating artists are: John Porcellino, Genevieve Elverum, Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti, Dan Clowes, Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, Todd Baxter, Sonnenzimmer Print Studio, Adam Henry, Kevin Huizenga, Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine Print Studio), Lynda Barry, Lilli Carre, David Heatley, Kyle Obriot, Stephen Eichhorn, Buenaventura Press, Sammy Harkham and the organizer, Anders Nilsen. The proceeds will go to Democracy for America Now, a national advocacy group running television…

Cool cover on the current issue of Seattle alternative weekly the Stranger featuring hand cut art from Eroyn Franklin's Xeric award-winning graphic novel Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory. This amazing new book, limited to a numbered edition of 1,000 copies, is available exclusively at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. 

A short-n-sweet Online Commentary & Diversions update: • Review: "While Prison Pit does, in fact, have a definable story throughout, it’s one that feels as though it were crafted in the margins of a spiral-bound notebooks stowed safely away in some backpack littered with the Sharpie penned names of metal bands. And though Ryan didn’t go so far as to in append a listening soundtrack to the back of this volume, one can almost certainly be assured that it contains its share of Cannibal Corpse and Slayer tracks." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch • Events: The Seattle Weekly…

Get this Chris Ware-designed t-shirt for only $10 + free shipping today at Woot and your money benefits the 826 program in my birth state of Michigan. Everybody wins! I ordered mine…

MONTE SCHULZ TOURS WEST COAST IN SEPT.-OCT. TO PROMOTE THE RELEASE OF THE NEW NOVEL, THIS SIDE OF JORDAN     This September, Fantagraphics Books will publish This Side of Jordan, a novel by Monte Schulz. To support the release, the author will tour thirteen cities on the West Coast in September and October:   Fri., Sept. 25, 8PM • Southern California Writers Conf., Irvine, CA Mon., Sept. 28, 7PM • Chaucer's Books, Santa Barbara, CA Wed., Sept. 30, 7PM • Mysterious Galaxy Books, San Diego, CA Thurs., Oct. 1, 6PM • Laguna Beach Books, Laguna Beach, CA Sat., Oct. 3, 5PM • Skylight Books, Los Angeles, CA…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions starts with a bang: • Review: "…[A]n astonishingly rich and convincing picture of uncertain, developing human relationships. Besides the masterful storytelling, [Locas II: Maggie, Hopey & Ray] is notable for superb black and white artwork. Panel by panel and page by page, it's a delight to watch darkness crowding into open space, while supple linework dances freely in its allotted territory. This is a landmark in comics literature." – Publishers Weekly (starred review) • Review: "From Wonderland with Love is an excellent introduction to the part of the Danish comics scene that tries to push…

West Coast Blues By Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette NOTE: BECAUSE OF OUR CONTRACT WITH THE LICENSOR THIS BOOK CANNOT BE SOLD OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA. IF YOU RESIDE ANYWHERE OTHER THAN THE U.S. OR CANADA PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO ORDER IT FROM OUR WEBSITE; YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BE PROCESSED. A SAVAGE NOIR THRILLER REUNITING A MASTER CRIME NOVELIST AND A SUPERLATIVE FRENCH CARTOONIST George Gerfaut, aimless young executive and desultory family man, witnesses a murder and finds himself sucked into a spiral of violence involving an exiled war criminal and two hired assassins. Adapting to the exigencies…

The Squirrel Machine By Hans Rickheit AN ANACHRONISTIC PARABLE FOR THE CONVULSIVE ELITE What is the squirrel machine? Is it a rodent ensnarement device? A mechanism for concealing one’s guarded harvest? An anachronistic fable? A meaningless diversion? Set in a fictional 19th Century New England town, the narrative initially details the relationship and maturation of Edmund and William Torpor. But the two brothers quickly elicit the scorn and recrimination of an unamused public when they reveal their musical creations built from strange technologies and scavenged animal carcasses. Driven to seek a concealment for their aberrant activities, they make a startling…

Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra By Femke Hiemstra Dutch artist and designer Femke Hiemstra has a unique style and vision that evokes the work of Robert Williams and Mark Ryden, but with a less cynical worldview that invites the viewer to enter the magic spaces she creates. Rock Candy is the artist’s first retrospective and fully spotlights her talent, whimsy and wit in a deluxe package certain to catapult her to the forefront of the Pop Surrealism movement. Hiemstra’s paintings and illustrations are united by a meticulous attention to craft that gives life to her dark, lush, fairytale…