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American Presidents By David Levine For more than a half century, David Levine has taken on the most powerful men of the free world with only his pen and a bottle of India ink. That pen has proved to be mightier than the sword as Levine skewered, illuminated, satirized and condemned every president of the 20th century, as well as the most significant presidents from colonial times and the Civil War era. His drawing of Lyndon Johnson revealing a scar in the shape of Vietnam is considered one of the most recognized (and most copied) of the Vietnam era. His…

Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert By Bill Schelly Joe Kubert’s extraordinary career spans the history of the comic book in America: he began drawing comics in 1938, just as Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1, and continues to be one of the most vital cartoonists working today, writing and drawing both mainstream comic book characters as well as, more recently, graphic novels of his own conception. Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the career of one of the most distinctive, dynamic artists in the history of comics….

Sshhhh! (New Printing) By Jason From the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning author comes this sharp suite of short tales, ranging from the funny to the terrifying to the surreal to the touching, all told entirely in pantomime. Like Chris Ware, Jason's clean, deadpan style (featuring animal-headed characters with mask-like faces) hides a wealth of emotion and human complexity, leavened with a wicked wit. Jason's work has also drawn comparisons to Art Spiegelman for the similar ways both artists utilize anthropomorphic stylizations to reach deeper, more general truths, and to create elegantly minimalist panels whose emotional depth-charge comes as an…

  I've been on vacation since SPX and as such neglected until now to link to this excellent feature (with slideshow) on David Levine in the pages of Vanity Fair. The news isn't all good — Mr. Levine is losing his eyesight and his legendary career has been curtailed accordingly — but the piece is a respectful, insightful profile of one of New York's most iconic artists. And it doesn't hurt that it hits just on the eve of the release of our new Levine book, American Presidents:  

Behold: Jaime Hernandez's Wonder Woman sketch for the Wonder Woman Day benefit auctions. (Via Forbidden Planet Intl.)

The great Gene Deitch sent me this nifty photo of himself this morning, taken by another great cartoonist (and would-be Zorro), Pete Poplaski, who recently visited Gene in Prague.  Poplaski brought with him the near mint copy of the first issue of the 1957 Tom Terrific comic book, which I never even knew existed until now.   

The Daily Crosshatch runs part one this morning of a Dash Shaw interview conducted at SPX last weekend. Speaking of which, I should have some kind of SPX report up next week, long after anyone cares. Oh, boy! 

Johnny Ryan says and we quote: VICE UK made these t-shirts using the covers I drew for their boys and girls student guides. Click the image and it will take you to the VICE site and you can buy one.

Only one new release from us arriving in comic shops this week: • The Comics Journal #293 Before you make the trip, preview the contents of this issue at the link above — we've got multimedia and excerpts.