Fantagraphics Blog

• Heads on poles by John Hankiewicz at his Clip Joint blog and Lilli Carré at her Kettle of Fish blog for an eponymous exhibit at Western Exhibitions in Chicago • Josh Simmons has several new portfolio sites on the web: illustrations, storyboards, commissions (as above), and a store where you can buy some of his older comics And more Things to See from the past week: • A glimpse of Frank Santoro's New Values art show at his Cold Heat Comics blog • Artwork by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog • Vintage Jim Flora illustrations, sketches…

Ellen Forney returns to her old hometown of Philadelphia next month at the invitation of the Philadelphia Public Library as part of their featuring the Forney-illustrated book by Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as part of their citywide reading program. She'll be giving a talk and workshops at a few locations — see her blog for the schedule and details.  

At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason shares some rough sketches for the cover art of his next book of short stories, Athos in America, coming late this year. I really like the one where he's sitting on the girder. Jason's posted a lot of great stuff over the past week, including some rare vintage strips and illustrations, like this one of A-ha from a 1988 Norwegian music magazine:

  Visit Andrew Sullivan's blog for the full pic and description.

* Other People's Publications** Yeah, You Know Me. "Down with OPP" spotlights excellent titles from other publishers that you can find at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.  And this week, I present to you Make Me a Woman by Vanessa Davis (Drawn & Quarterly). This week's column ain't exactly for the ladies. I'm sure we all bought this book when it first came out, gleefully pouring over this collection of sketchbook drawings that Davis did from 2004 to 2010. Some of these stories were originally published online in a monthly column she did for Tablet magazine, but they were new…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: At Seen, Sam Humphries names Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 The Best Comic of 2010: "While it’s astonishing to see Los Bros Hernandez deliver some of their greatest work at this stage in their careers, at the same time, it should be no surprise at all. They’ve been killing it for nearly 30 years. […] Both brothers are digging deep into the psyche and hearts of the human condition. The results are powerfully moving." • List: "[It Was the War of the Trenches] burns with a sense of outrage at the meaningless…

Longtime Bagge fans will remember the Buddy Bradley Lookalike Contest from the pages of Hate. This image comes from artist Brian Clarke, a.k.a. Les Toil, who remarks on the Peter Bagge Facebook fan page, "Man, if Peter was responsible for the casting of a real-life Bradleys sitcom, I hope he'd consider this kid for the part."

The Economist's Glenn Fleishman reports on the debut of Jim Woodring's giant nib pen: "Resplendent in a purple smoking jacket, an artist's conception of facial hair appropriate to an artist, and an enormous reserve of patience and guts, Mr Woodring made his first strokes. At first, the ink would not flow. 'It was a failure! Go home!' he said. 'I can't think of a worse or more horrible way to do drawing than in front of hundreds of people,' he said with a grim smile." Photo above by Jim's fellow Friend of the Nib Matt Tamaru, who has posted a…

Larry, Bella and Marshall Reid having a drink with Drinky. Good times. (Click here if the embedded video doesn’t display above.)

  I'd never seen this Crumb painting before. I entertained the notion that it might be a fraud for a moment, but I think the telltale signs are the building facades and cars, which are classic "Harlem"-era Crumb. Available on eBay for a mere $100K.