Fantagraphics, Elysian and Charles Burns Serve Up 12 Beers of the Apocalypse

In a year-long wind-up to the end of all time (according to the Mayan calendar), Elysian Brewing Company and Fantagraphics Books, both of Seattle, are planning a series of twelve beers, issued on the 21st of each month in 2012 and featuring label artwork by Charles Burns. Taken from Burns's weirdly apocalyptic work Black Hole, the labels will adorn Elysian's "Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse," featuring the creativity and unusual ingredients for which its brewing team is known. What twelve beers would you brew (and drink) if you knew they would be your last? First up in January is NIBIRU, named…

Daily OCD Extra: this month’s Booklist reviews, with a star for Nuts

In this month's issue of Booklist you can find praise for three of our recent releases: Nuts by Gahan Wilson: "One of the greatest gag cartoonists, whose monthly contributions to Playboy may prove that magazine’s most durable legacy, Wilson gave National Lampoon something to be remembered for, too — his only comic strip, collected here. Titled to echo Charles Schulz’s great newspaper feature full of kids who think and talk like adults, the six-paneled Nuts develops a realistic situation from out of memory (the strips typically begin with the word “remember”). All the fully visible characters are children, mostly boys,…

Eternal, Unresolvable Conflicts

Dan Clowes Extended Interview from Closer Productions on Vimeo. This is a fantastic "extended" clip of Dan Clowes' interview for the Shut Up, Little Man film, although it makes me nostalgiac for the pre-Internet 1990s, when things like these tapes were shrouded in mystery.

Michael Kupperman Signing in Staten Island Tomorrow!

Michael Kupperman is helping Comic Book Jones celebrate their 4th anniversary! Join Michael tomorrow Friday, December 16th at this Staten Island comic book store for a fun-filled afternoon of signings, plus 25% off everything in the store! Why, that happens to include Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 and Tales Designed to Thrizzle! As of this typing, there's no set signing times, but we'll keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook as soon as we get more details! Comic Book Jones is located at 2220 Forest Avenue, Staten Island, NY. UPDATE: Comic Book Jones let us know “He will be appearing at…

Daily OCD: 12/14/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The book is lovingly made and the strips presented with care and pleasure. But is it any good? Oh yes. It's funny and charming, bursting with witty wordplay and vivid characters you love immediately. You can see the influence the Marx Brothers and Krazy Kat and Mark Twain had on Pogo and its love of silly grammatical puns and Southern dialect. And you can see the influence Pogo had on Doonesbury and Calvin & Hobbes… In short, read Pogo and you can immediately see it slide into the pop cultural matrix and how…

Drew Friedman’s Jack Davis weekend

Drew Friedman has a wonderful, photo-packed account of his time with the great Jack Davis in New York City a couple of weeks ago at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival, including a recap of the panel discussion with Davis he co-hosted at the festival with Gary Groth. Go, read, be delighted! (Photo by Ryan Flanders.)

Video: Jack Davis & Gary Groth at the Strand

We were thrilled to be able to present living legend of comics and illustration Jack Davis in conversation with Gary Groth at the Strand Book Store in NYC a couple of weeks ago, and now we can share the excitement via the Strand's video of the event posted on their YouTube account!

You Can Run But You Can’t Hide

So, I've been in Florida for the past week visiting my wife's family for the holidays. Needless to say, I did a doubletake when I noticed this Honda parked next to our rental car outside a shopping mall in Naples: I am dying to know whose car this is. Mort Walker? Jeff Mason? The guy from CrossGen? Anyone?  

New Comics Day 12/14/11: 500 Portraits

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. 500 Portraits by Tony Millionaire 192-page black & white 5.75" x 7.5" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-473-3 "500 Portraits is a collection of drawings by the mighty Tony Millionaire of various people, some famous, some not so famous. I’m sure it all will be exquisitely rendered." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6…