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  We hosted the release party for our pals Jim Woodring & Paul DiFilippo's Cosmocopia in October, but I've only just begun to dive into this amazing book and objet d'art from our esteemed neighbors at Payseur & Schmidt. It has to be seen to be enjoyed fully, but it includes Di Filippo's new short novel enclosed in a box (with belly band) also containing a 513-piece jigsaw puzzle, "The Artist's Eye," by Jim Woodring. This is a limited first edition of 500 numbered sets, signed by DiFilippo and Woodring. Typical Payseur & Schmidt awesomeness (I actually stole that from their web hype, but it's true). Above is…

Barely a month after Bill Griffith graced our emerald city with a fantastic exhibition and book release party, less than a week after he published an homage to our quirky town and his visit, the Seattle P-I has returned the favor by unceremoniously dropping Zippy the Pinhead from its daily print edition, effective this morning. This should be considered an affront to Mr. Griffith, to Seattle's own Fantagraphics, and to all remaining conscious and literate readers of the newspaper. With Zippy gone, enjoy your Funky Winkerbean when you're stuck waiting somewhere with nothing to read but that section of the paper.  We would be most grateful if you would consider writing…

• In the day's biggest news, the winner of Publishers Weekly's annual Critic's Poll of graphic novels is Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw, with The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez in a 6-way tie for 2nd place and Honorable Mentions to Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane, The Lagoon by Lilli Carré, and Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers • Ben Ostrander sends The Comics Reporter his Top Books of 2008 list, which has Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin on it • Marc Sobel lines up his Top Ten Books…

D.C., get your D.D. this Friday: CIVILIAN ART PROJECTS is pleased to begin the New Year with two spirited solo exhibitions: Carole Wagner Greenwood's "Ghosts and Circumstance" and Dame Darcy's "Gasoline." The exhibitions will open to the public January 9, 2009 and will be on view until February 7, 2009. Exhibition hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday, January 9, 2009 from 7pm to 10pm with a free music performance at 9pm. Civilian Art Projects 406 7th Street NW, Third FloorWashington, DC 20004202-347-0022

• Michael C. Lorah's "Top Eleven: Best of 2008" at Newsarama includes The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez and Deitch's Pictorama by the brothers Deitch • On Jog's "Twenty 'Hot Ones' from 2008" best-of list: Mome Vol. 12 (#18), Angry Youth Comix #14 by Johnny Ryan (#9), and Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga (#7) • Comic Book Resources' new multi-author blog Robot 6 presents their "favorite comics of 2008," which include Tom Bondurant's choice of Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw; Chris Mautner giving Popeye Vol. 3: "Let's You and Him Fight!" by E.C. Segar the top spot;…

Essential reading: Comic Book Resources plunders our Spring/Summer 2009 catalog and brings you the juicy details. Please note that release dates are subject to change.

• Comic Book Resources concludes their "Best 100 Comics of 2008" countdown: Part III ranks Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga at #51 and Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw at #41; Part V has Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers at #20 • The KEXP blog lists Town of Mirrors by Robert Pollard as one of "2008's Best Books About Popular Music" • Derik Badman's "Best Comics of 2008" list includes Bottomless Belly Button as its "Breaking Through in All Sorts of Ways pick" • In their "Nexus Graphica" column for The SF Site, Rick Klaw…

Time for the new installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 32-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. In this week's episode: things going wham in the night! And don't forget to catch up on our current 5-day chunk of Martin Kellerman's hilarious Swedish smash-hit Rocky, updated Monday-Friday! This week starts a new storyline, with Rocky back in New York City!

This cover totally pissed me off when I was a kid and perhaps single-handedly introduced to me the notion of "false advertising":

This month I've mostly been home with my six-month-old daughter, which doesn't leave a lot of time for heavy reading (or watching, for that matter). Short attention span entertainment is where it's at. To the point where I've found myself doing something I haven't done in years: re-reading a bunch of old (mostly Marvel) comics from my youth that have been gathering dust in the basement for 20 years. Comics by John Byrne, Michael Golden, Bill Sienkiewicz, etc. I think I was partially inspired by Frank Santoro's effusive love for the comics he grew up with. He and I are about exactly…