Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:
• Review: "I've been enjoying cartoonist Peter Bagge's contributions to Reason Magazine for years now… But now Fantagraphics has collected them into a great-looking trade paperback [Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me]!… I think Bagge has been doing really interesting work, mixing field journalism with humor and opinion in an entirely novel way. As an essayist Bagge is never preachy, and he often points out the shortcomings of his fellow libertarians (his account of meeting Ron Paul is particularly funny). He explores more than he rants, and when he does let loose, he's got a healthy sense of self-satire. These comics will piss you off, and that's good." – Jesse Brown, Boing Boing
• Review: "Drawn with sweeping black brush strokes, [Night Fisher] is done completely in absence of color. This, however, helps to magnify the tone of the story and brings a subtle heaviness to the work. The artwork itself is excellent…. [R. Kikuo] Johnson does a great job conveying character’s moods and emotions through angles, posture, and facial expressions. …[I]f you enjoy these realistic and unapologetic looks at adolescence I recommend giving Night Fisher a read." – A. Alba, Hawaii Book Blog
• Review: "Abstract Comics, perhaps more so than any other recent comic release, highlights the way in which the comics world is markedly changing. Comics are indeed reaching across more disparate audiences and being found in a much wider selection of venues. But what might be the implications of this?… If nothing else, it seems that Abstract Comics makes explicit that the line between comics and high art is beginning to disappear…. Abstract Comics is a necessary addition to the comics canon in that it forces us to continue to think what exactly constitutes the comics form." – Sara Cole, PopMatters
• Things to see: New sketchbook drawings & comics from Anders Nilsen