Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Technically (or so says Fantagraphics!) [Toys in the Basement] is a children's book. A children's book by way of your worst adult nightmare. Seriously if there's a child out there who could read this all the way through without pissing his pants, I would like to meet that child and lock him up before he does the rest of society some harm. Because this 'children's' book is twisted. And that's why I enjoyed it so much." – P.D. Houston, Renderwrx Productions • Review: "…[Unlovable] is crushingly funny and achingly sad. […] Drawn in…
Things to See: Robert Goodin covers Prison Pit
Robert Goodin does Johnny Ryan 's Prison Pit at Covered. Duuuuuuuude.
Editors Notes: Kim Thompson on Approximate Continuum Comics
[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim, now available to pre-order from us and coming soon to a comics shop near you. – Ed.] Now this is the material that was serialized in The Nimrod, right? Yes and no. The Nimrod #1, 6, and 7 featured the first three installments (out of six). So if you have all the Nimrods, sorry, you'll be buying half of it all over again. But the translation's been reworked and it's been re-lettered from scratch….
Gary Groth talks Barks Library in the Carl Barks Fan Club Newsletter
Gary Groth gives the scoop on our publishing history and our plans for the forthcoming Carl Barks Library series in the new issue of the Carl Barks Fan Club Newsletter. It's available as a free download from The Good Artist (direct download link: 1.9MB PDF), and you can request a complimentary printed copy from the Carl Barks Fan Club.
Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim – Previews, Pre-Order
Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim 160-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" softcover • $18.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-410-8 Ships in: May 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now One of the very first autobiographical graphic novels to come from France, Lewis Trondheim’s Approximate Continuum Comics set the standard for the honest, often hilarious chronicling of a cartoonist’s life. Trondheim’s typically graceful, confident cartooning shows him wrestling with his own demons (sometimes, in dream sequences, literally) and an often malevolent world, while trying to maintain his rising career as one of Europe’s most beloved cartoonists. Approximate Continuum finally brings American readers the…
Editors Notes: Kim Thompson on Approximate Continuum Comics
[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim, now available to pre-order from us and coming soon to a comics shop near you. – Ed.] Now this is the material that was serialized in The Nimrod, right? Yes and no. The Nimrod #1, 6, and 7 featured the first three installments (out of six). So if you have all the Nimrods, sorry, you'll be buying half of it all over again. But the translation's been reworked and it's been re-lettered from scratch….
Dash Shaw’s Unclothed Man comes to McSweeney’s Wholphin DVD
Excellent and welcome news: On his The Ruined Cast blog Dash Shaw announces: "The 13th volume of Wholphin, the McSweeney’s quarterly DVD anthology, will have my 2009 IFC series The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. on it." That's artwork from the animated series in the lower quadrant on the cover there; of course, much more artwork from the series, as well as a bunch of Dash's short stories, can be found in our companion book of the same name, and the series is still available to watch at IFC.com.
Things to See: Kupperman jams with Joe Matt, Kent Osborne
Michael Kupperman tweeted this blurry shot of a sketchbook strip he did with Joe Matt and Kent Osborne. UPDATED: Now with less blurriness:
Things to See: 3/28/11 Roundup
• An outtake from Werewolves of Montpellier, plus other illustrations and strips and more film reviews at Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog • From Richard Sala, a classic strip (part 1, part 2) and a vintage illustration • When Laura Park met Julia Wertz and drew some comics with her: portrait, part 1, part 2; also, a new sketch & new prints by Laura • Sketches for book cover illustrations by Anders Nilsen • One of our favorite Portlanders makes a guest appearance (of sorts) in the latest batch of Trubble Club strips (contributed to by some of our favorite…
Daily OCD: 3/28/11
Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…Freeway is often stunning. Kalesniko spent 10 years on the book, and the time and care is evident in the structural complexity. […] One of the unique properties of comics — utilized well by artists like Chris Ware and Richard McGuire — is the ability to connect disparate pieces of information using the page like a chart. Kalesniko doesn’t draw any arrows or experiment with layouts, but he does convey the impression of a man dealing with his daily frustrations by letting every sight, sound, and sensation send him on a trip through…
