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Thanks to Joe Sacco for supplying us with a fresh batch of signed bookplates exclusively for folks who order Palestine: The Special Edition and Safe Area Gorazde directly from us. We're continuing to replenish our limited quantities of these FREE premiums when and where we can. Click here for the full selection of books available with free signed bookplates. (Disclaimer: Signature plates are limited in quantity and available only while supplies last. In the event that we run out, signature plates will not be backordered. Bookplates are not available separately from their respective books and are only available to individual consumers.)

• Dash Shaw and Tony Millionaire are amongst the the official selections from which the the Festival International de la BD Angouleme main prizes will be drawn from at January's festival. That is very cool. • Joey Anuff has justified the Internet's existence. • Charles Crumb, who passed away 14 years ago, is gone but not forgotten.  • Rudy Ray Moore is not so far removed from the realm of this blog that it would be inappropriate to lament his passing here. R.I.P., R.R.M. A tip of the fur bucket to Rick Altergott and Jim Blanchard, who first introduced me to Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-In-Law. • Dennis the Menace cartoonist Marcus Hamilton is a thankful man.  • Bob Levin's blog is…

Zak Sally and Jaime Hernandez at the Rain Taxi Literary Festival a couple weekends ago. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Sid (a.k.a. "Alf" from Green Acres) Melton!  Pic by Steve Cross. 

It's a Fantagraphics-less week for new stuff arriving in comics shops. Hey, don't be sad… you can still buy some of our older stuff that you don't have yet, right?

Holy smokes, I didn't know that Kim Deitch designed and storyboarded a Waldo animation for They Might Be Giants' "Trees" on their Venue Songs DVD! Shame on me! Follow this link to watch the video and get the whole backstory. Thanks Comics Comics!

Popeye Vol. 3: "Let's You and Him Fight!" By E.C. Segar Our third volume (of six) of the acclaimed hit series collecting the entirety of E.C. Segar's original Popeye (a.k.a. Thimble Theatre) comic strips features work from 1932 to 1934. In addition to the daily and Sunday strips, this volume will present a true collector’s item: Segar’s never-reprinted two-week “World’s Fair” continuity. In 1933, in addition to the normal daily and Sunday continuities, Segar produced a special, two-week sequence of extra-large strips (two to three tiers each) in which Wimpy and Popeye travel to Chicago to take in the World’s…

Commemorate a memorable presidential campaign and sport your Trekkie pride via this Drew Friedman print available from the New York Observer. Drew, if you're reading, I'm still holding out for a Sarah Palin-in-Tatooine-Slave-Gear poster.      

Shocktilyoudrop.com talks to Charles Burns about Black Hole, Fear of the Dark, and more.  Thedailycrosshatch.com continues it's interview with Bottomless Belly Button creator Dash Shaw. This Thursday night at MIT, comics critic (and Krazy & Ignatz contributing editor) Jeet Heer will moderate a talk about "Comics & Social Conflict" between King creator Ho Che Anderson and Diana Tamblyn.  Finally, here's a bunch of beautiful recent illustrations by Jeremy Eaton, including one particularly near and dear to my heart. Jeremy also tells the story of a rather pathetic 24 hour comics session that I was privileged enough to participate in. 

I just put a bunch of scans online from the ridiculous book idea I haven't had the money/energy/dimwittedness to pursue: Bears Versus Horses culls together myriad illustrations from vintage sources which depict animals in conflict with each other. Apologies and thanks to the sources on the web from which I've garnered much of this imagery. These are mostly taken from Ebay auction listings I can't afford to "win."