Online Commentary & Diversions for today:
• List: Carol Borden of The Cultural Gutter names Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 as one of "10 Comics I Liked in 2009," calling it "an amazing collection of Golden Age comics and heroes, beautifully restored."
• Review: "It’s weird and it’s different and it immediately showed me that Ganges #2 is not what I thought it was. I was expecting mopey autobio, a distant cousin of Blankets with better artwork, and instead got something that was well worth the hype. …It’s a comic about people and how they interact, held high by shockingly good art. The first ten pages show that Huizenga can do some amazing things with storytelling and the rest of the book shows his strong grasp of body language and how to make talking heads interesting." – David Brothers, 4thletter!
• Tunes: Zak Sally provides a soundtrack playlist for Like a Dog to Largehearted Boy, who says of the book "Sally is incredibly inventive, these cartoons differ in theme greatly, but all come together through his dark, foreboding illustrations. This volume is worthwhile alone for the two editions of Sally's Eisner Award nominated comic, The Recidivist, but the additional works offer a glimpse into this talented artist's evolution (as do the copious notes included in the collection)."
• Interview: TCJ.com begins serialization of Gary Groth's interview with David Levine from The Comics Journal Library Vol. 4: Drawing the Line (originally from The Comics Journal #178)
• Plug: Poopsheet Foundation's Rick Bradford flogs Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s
• Plug: At his blog Love the Line, Richard Cowdry says Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s "is the book I'm MOST looking forward to in 2010!"
• Tribute: For Time magazine, Edward Sorel remembers David Levine (via Journalista)
• Commentary: Illustrator James Gurney quotes art historian/Prince Valiant expert Brian Kane about the history of 19th century illustrated newspapers
• Links: Love & Maggie provides a detailed, annotated and hyperlinked overview of The Comics Journal #38 from 1978
• Things to see: A whole mess of recent illo jobs by Steve Brodner
• Things to see: Mike Sterling takes a look at an interesting Vaughn Bode rarity