Daily OCD: 4/26/10

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Peter Bagge’s not-so-yearly update on the life and times of his signature character Buddy Bradley takes up about half of Hate Annual #8… It’s a funny story with a confident, natural progression and some keen observations to make… [T]his is… a welcome renewal of one of alt-comics’ most treasured series… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "The mid-’70s found Schulz pushing the strip further and further into the oddball, mixing fantasy and reality in extended storylines… The strip as a whole feels less scrappy and more settled in this era, though it’s no less inspired, and Schulz was clever enough to keep working his own state of mind into the finished product. The Complete Peanuts: 1975 – 1976 collects comics clearly drawn by a successful man still nagged by feelings of inadequacy not easily explained away… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Don’t be misled by High Soft Lisp’s cover. This isn’t just comic book smut or an adult version of Archie. Gilbert Hernandez has created some of the most fleshed-out and memorable women in comics since launching Love and Rockets with his brother Jaime in 1981. Their breasts might be outsized, but so are their minds and souls." – Garrett Martin, Boston Herald

• Review: "Fantagraphics’ fourth oversized collection of Elzie Segar’s legendary Thimble Theatre strips, famous as the birth place of Segar’s notorious Popeye the Sailor, continues the winning standard set by earlier editions. … Fantagraphics’ enormous format remains among the best-looking strip reprints available." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Review: "Levin’s is not often a forceful tone; he digs up information and can deliver it in a scholarly enough manner, but also will follow his muse, digressing into dry humor and even an admitted Faulknerian flight of fancy. He’s fully engaged, grappling with the facts and the issues as he uncovers them, and the reader grapples right along with him. [Most Outrageous] is a much more compelling book for the fact that Levin doesn’t try to wrap it all up in a bow." – Christopher Allen, Comic Book Galaxy

• Plug: Emily Dresner of /project/multiplexer recommends Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde and Palestine: "…Joe Sacco blends embedded journalism on the ground with his art to make very compelling graphic novels."

• Woof: At her blog 1920 A.D., Ainur Elmgren looks at Nell Brinkley's depictions of dogs in The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons 1913-1940