Let's catch up on our Online Commentary & Diversions:
• Review: "…Monologues [for Calculating the Density of Black Holes is] spare and scratchy where [Anders Nilsen's] other work was detailed; loose and spontaneous where his other work was considered; and funny where his other work was melancholy. It's interesting to see the many influences that inform Monologues; there's a bit of absurdists like Ionesco, elements of Tom Stoppard's wit and philosophical musings, stream of consciousness dada in the style of Tristan Tzara, and oblique New Yorker type gags with the scratchy looseness of James Thurber and Saul Steinberg." – Rob Clough
• Review: "…[O]nce again, I’m engaged in Blazing Combat. What a thrill! And the art!… Highly recommended. Don’t argue! Just buy it!" – David McDonnell, Starlog
• Review: "This collection of the 1965-66 Blazing Combat war comic magazine is a stellar publication… It's a master class on how to tell a short story, and I highly recommend checking it out." – Sandy Bilus, I Love Rob Liefeld
• Review: "Blazing Combat, a new hardcover collection from Fantagraphics, showcases some truly fantastic work from a multitude of comics greats… The collection itself is sharp as a tack… Fantagraphics really packages it nicely…" – Litany of Schist
• Review: "This omnibus of all 11 issues of Humbug is equal parts giddy genius and period piece. The satire is razor-sharp… [T]here are such subtleties here and such rapier wit that the line is clearly visible from the Algonquin Round Table to Kurtzman to Crumb to Ralph Bakshi to Mr. Show to The Colbert Report." – Byron Kerman, PLAYBACK:stl
• Review: "Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5… is really funny." – Tucker Stone, "Advanced Common Sense," comiXology (fast-forward to the "Speed Round")
• Review: "In his way, [Michael] Kupperman's just as concerned with making comics' formal aspects work for him as Chris Ware. In his way he's every bit as effective. Goddammit this book [Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5] is funny." – Sean T. Collins
• Review: "[Beasts! Book 1] is captivating, wistful, funny and truly extraordinary – a Bestiary of the traditionally fantastic for the dreary 21st century where imagination and wonder have been formularised as crypto-zoology… a vivid package of sheer fantasy and artistic excellence…" – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!
• Review: "Now, with Low Moon, [Jason] has clenched his fist around me and won’t let me go – this is easily my favorite of his works to date… Top to bottom, I enjoyed Low Moon very much… A worthy addition to one’s bookshelf." – Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room
• Review: "[In Abandoned Cars] Tim Lane presents a personal study of what he calls ‘The Great American Mythological Drama,’ a fog of events / thoughts / dreams / disappointments in music / literature / North American life… Lane leads to something more introspective and extremely sad." – Churrasco la Naje (from Google translation)
• Review: "…[A]lmost nothing is casual in Bottomless Belly Button and almost nothing is superficial in its narrative structure, nor its authorial intentions… [Dash] Shaw's work delves into the interior of the personal relationships of its protagonists, but also in the basic foundations of linear narrative… Shaw transcends the sphere of intellectual narrative to enter the much more epidermal level of physical sensations… Dash Shaw has composed a monumental work, sometimes puzzling, sometimes bordering on melodrama, but always strong and brave, a work full of qualities and findings that will, we believe, be a reference for future comics. His experimentation, his daring and his solutions can't help but remind us of an equally ambitious and dense work, Jimmy Corrigan… Do not miss this." – Little Nemo's Kat (from Google translation)
• Plug: Jonathan Ross gives us ("the company that flies the flag for independent, ground-breaking comics"), and The Comics Journal ("the only widely read and serious publication of comic-book criticism"), a nice shout-out in The Times
• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch continues their conversation with Michael Kupperman. Sample quote: "I think the artist I feel closest with is Tony Millionaire, because he really lives in those comics. He could never be anything else."
• Profile: The Beat spotlights Eleanor Davis as part of their survey of Russ Manning Award nominees
• Profile: Vice looks at another side of Jim Blanchard: curator of wacky/creepy/sleazy music compilations
• History: The Beat engages in a bit of "Comics Archaeology," discussing several releases from our past (and present: "…it must be said, of all the art comix anthologies, Mome is probably the most perfect distillation. Sometimes evolution works.")
• Things to see: These two sample pages really make me wish that Roger Langridge had landed the Wallace & Gromit gig