• Off in the morning to Seattle for the Emerald City Con.

If you too are in Seattle this weekend for the Emerald City Con, don't miss this event on Saturday at the Fantagraphics store. The Fanta gang are trying to rectify the lack of parties at this show, and i for one am stoked! There will be a Jim Woodring show up in their gallery, plus there are bars and restaurants galore in the vicinity. Whoo hoo!

• How cool is Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams? So cool, he's hosting a First Thursday event at City Hall, featuring work by local cartoonists and illustrators 5th, from 5 - 7p.m. Artists include Bwana Spoons, Martin Ontiveros, Carson Ellis, Jenn Manley-Lee, Steve Lafler, Shannon Wheeler, and more.

• Here, here! Howard Zinn on why i think that for as loathsome as GOP ideology and policy is, so are most Dems a bunch of weak-kneed wussies. I dream of a day when we have real, people-powed human beings leading our country. Ah, some day...

• Fanboy ALERT!! Indy snobs, read no further. In case you missed it, the recent Anniversary issue of Fantastic Four (#543) has two fabulous back-up stories, neither of which have ANYTHING to do with this whole stupid Civil War bullshit. The first story, "If This Be... Anniversary," is penned by none other than Stan The Man Lee himself, with bitchin' art by some dude named Nick Dragotta and inks by Mike Allred. It's a load of fun, as is the next story, written and drawn by Paul Pope, with colors by super-stud Jose Villarrubia. With "A Day at the Races," Pope proves that he really truly "gets" the Marvel Universe, in which Johnny Storm and Spider-Man compete for attention.

(The feature story is in current continuity, and thus i just couldn't get into it at all. To be fair, i liked the initial concept and ideas behind Civil War, and actually loved the Illuminati one-shot... but after that, it lost steam and simply didn't live up to the hype.)

• Things you should check out and buy, from the new Diamond Previews.

P. 080 Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus vol. 2
P. 257 Elvis Road Hardcover. Buenaventura Press
P. 300 The Black Diamond Detective Agency, by Eddie Campbell (:01 First Second)
P. 342 Mantlo: A Life in Comics, edited by David Yurkovich
P. 366 Modern Masters Vol.12: Michael Golden. (TwoMorrows)

This last item especially makes me tremble with joy.

• Anthology whore that i am, i'm surprised it took me as long as it did, to give a new kid on the block, C'est Bon, a chance. I think i was maybe turned off by the magazine format at first. In any case, the cover for the recent issue #2 kicked my ass, so i picked it up, and am glad i did. I went and rooted out issue #1, and i'm officially a convert.

Details are skimpy, but this is an English-language anthology out of Sweden. Lot's of great material by familiar faces and emerging stars from North America and Europe, with contributors like Martin Tom Dieck, Ho Che Anderson, R. Kikuo Johnson, Daniel Zezelj, Vincent (King Mini) Stall, and Dash Shaw. But there are plenty of new faces too; favorites for me were standouts like Arne Bellstorf, Jimmy Jonsson & Maria Fredriksson, Daniel Savovic, Chiu Kwong Man, Jessica Khane & Pedro Nore, and Jyrki Heikkinen.

It's one of the best anthologies i've come across that effectively blends a decidedly sophisticated European aesthetic with a North American strut. Kudos to editor Mattias Elftorp and staff on a delicious comics feast.

• I recently received an interesting seeming newsletter, that, unfortunately i couldn't read, as it was in Spanish. But this attachment came with it. A beauteous illustration by Brais Rodríguez.

• Another one of the Renee French pieces which will hang in a group show at some two-bit museum, in Europe maybe? What was it called...? Oh yeah, The Louvre.

• Here's a neat piece by Matt Kindt. (Matt, i hope you don't mind that i post this... it's just too cool.)

• Digging through some old emails, i found this cover design and paper-doll illustration by kick-ass German cartoonist Markus Mahwil.

Marvel isn't the only publisher with a Civil War on their hands. Today, my alma mater Oregon Ducks faced Rob Venditti's repeat champion Florida Gators. A great battle it was, but in the end, the Gator's just proved too big and powerful to handle.

No shame in advancing as far as the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, however. A tip o' the hat to the players and coaches for an amazing season.

• Here's the first in a series of ads our production guy (and former intern) Chris Ross made for my favorite local pub-theater, mere blocks from my house.

• Xeric Award Winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire (Lost Dogs) has launched a new web comic entitled SOFT INSTRUMENTS. The science-fiction/steam punk strip will be serialized regularly on Lemire's new blog. The new project's launch coincides with the release of his new graphic novel Tales From The Farm published in March by Top Shelf Comix.

THE STORY SO FAR...
Welcome to 1997, in a world much different from our own. The rise of the steam age prevented the industrial revolution as we know it from ever having occurred at all. As the world's only steam powered juggernaut, Great Britain spread out and assimilated the rest of Europe into the Anglo-centric super power The Union of European Allies. The cultures and languages of these occupied countries were eventually forgotten or pushed far underground, as the Victorian way was cultivated and held onto as the dominant and accepted culture.

As our tale begins, fabled explorer, scientist, adventurer and Gentleman, Dr. Elezear Zednik is sent to Union Territory #617-03 to investigate a rash of mysterious disappearances among the city's factory workers. As he arrives he is met with hostility and mistrust by the local constabulary...

For more details check out Lemire's website.

• I'll be attending the Emerald City Con next weekend (March 31 & April 1), and while the show has not developed into the indy-friendly type of show i was hoping it might, based on a fabulous first con, this year they'll have in attendance one of my all-time favorite comic artists EVER. In fact, if he had been more prolific over the years, he probably would have eclipsed the likes of John Byrne and Art Adams for that top spot, not that Art Adams is the picture of prolific. I'm speaking of none other than artist extraordinaire, Michael Golden. This guy's touch is so fucking sweet, he's one of the only artists i'm so hot for, i'll buy a comic he did the cover for, just so i can rip it off and put in in a portfolio. (Two others fit that bill... the afore-mentioned Art Adams, and Mike Mignola.)

As luck would have it, Mr Golden did this year's Emerald City Con poster. Check it out!!

• A bitchin' looking show coming up at Gallery Nucleus, called featuring work from The Ancient Book of War. It's art by Scoot Morse and some of his pals from Pixar.

Morse is a freaking genius, and his buddies in animation are pretty much mind-blowing artists all around. As Tom (The Spurg) Spurgeon would say, "If i were in L.A., i'd go to this."

• Farel Dalrymple sent a link to an event here in Portland featuring Jonathan (Fortress of Solitude) Lethem ,with whom Farel is working on Omega Man.

Jonathan Lethem
April 12, 2007
Portland Arts & Lectures

• Meanwhile, two hours south in Eugene, old professor and friend of mine, Ken O'Connell currently has some work hanging at Jacobs Gallery in the Hult Center. He writes:

"Here are some images from the show of my sketchbooks from ITALY and the large, sometimes huge (2 feet by 4 feet) prints, that I have made from the sketches. I scan them at 1200 dots per inch and then enlarge and work on the image in photoshop. Then I printed on Summerset velvet rag paper with pigment archival inks. The paper is hung with eyelets soyou can see the paper without glass or plexi in front of it. The Show is up until April 21."

•Â Finally, feast your eyes on another Renee French piece for the Paris show she''' be in, with Jim Woodring, among others.

• A sad day here at Top Shelf, with the recent news from Andrew D. Arnold, that he's ending his tenure at Time, as one of the most important figures in legitimizing comics into the mainstream, with his exceptional taste in comics, and a decidedly well-received column. His efforts will be missed.

You could do worse than spending some quality leisure time perusing his archived columns.

Best of luck, Andrew.

• The first arc ends for Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal. I loved this issue as much as any, and i HIGHLY recommend this book, but as happens often with serialized pamphlet comics, it seemed to end with a bit of a fizzle. This will read great as a trade, and i'm looking forward the to the next storyline.

Oh, and the mini-roundtable on Neo-Noir was excellent too. One of the reasons this is the ONLY monthly floppy i buy, knowing i'll buy the trade too.

• David Yurkovich (who's Death By Chocolate: Redux comes out in July) was recently interviewed at Comic World News, about his forthcoming Bill Mantlo tribute book.

• Rob Vollmar (Author of Bluesman) is scheduled to be on a nationally syndicated radio show on NPR, HERE ON EARTH: RADIO WITHOUT BORDERS, Tuesday May 20th (today) from 3 to 4 PM CST. The show is highlighting the most recent issue of WORLD LITERATURE TODAY magazine that focuses on graphic novels as a literary phenomenon to which I contributed.

You can find out more, including local times and availability here.

The show will be archived on the site and available as an MP3 download for at least a month after the show airs.

• More nifty paintings from Gregory Benton, part of a show at the Aidan Savoy Gallery, 175 Stanton Street (east of Clinton) in NYC.

Deep End
Curated by Alix Sloan
With works by:
Diane Barcelowsky, Gregory Benton, William Crump, Jeffrey Decoster, Andrew DeGraff, Edward del Rosario, Cara Enteles, Marsea Goldberg, Frieda Gossett, Katherine Guillen, Matt Hansel, Jane Irish, Victor Kerlow, Zohar Lazar, Adele Mildred, Russell Nachman, Jennifer Poon, Sally Sloan, Erika Somogyi, Aaron Smith, Eric White and Courtney Wotherspoon
May 3 - June 2, 2007
Reception: Thursday, May 3rd, 7-10pm

• While DC puts out its fair share of really questionable comics, a couple recently solicited trades look fantastic.

Jimmy Olson. Reprints some whacky 60's-era stories. This book will be a great companion to the Bizzaro World and Imaginary Stories collections. (The latter of which also sports a bitchin' cover by the inimitable Brian Bolland.)

Batgirl. Also circa mid-60's, this baby features gorgeous art by two vets at their prime, Gil Kane and Carmine Infantino.

• Last Friday was Steve Lafler's birthday. Happy 50 Steve! And thanks for the great thai food spread! Here's a recent painting Steve did for his new book Cat Suit, and a picture Garret Izumi took at dinner last Friday. We're pretty blessed.

• And finally, as we pass four years of this incredible ill-begotten, oil-induced, cowboy adventure in Iraq, let's not forget the unlucky ones, and what the face of War really looks like. (Photo. Eros Hoagland. New York Times.)

Geez, years of scandal after scandal are finally catching up with the Bushies, and finally Rove is in the cross-hairs. Believe me, i'm no huge fan of the Dems, but i seriously can't wait to get one into the Whitehouse in '08, so housecleaning can begin in earnest. History records will almost certainly be crushed, once the entirety of the administration's activities see the light of day.

•Â Renee French has some drawings in a show at the Adam Baumgold Gallery that opens on March 23rd and runs to April 22. The show includes Anke Feuchtenberger, Tom Gauld, Marc Bell, Saul Steinberg and more...

• So i just finished reading an amazing memoir by Teruyo Nogami, who was Akira Kursawa's long-time continuity/script supervisor. It's titled Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa. And it's amazing. Absolutely a wonderful recollection of little moments of being on-set whilst making some of the world's greatest films.

HIGHLY recommended for film buffs.

• Here's another beauty flyer from Jim Mahfood.

• Portland event alert! FLOATING WORLD COMICS PRESENTS: Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer have been making the world safe for independent & non-superhero comics ever since the early 90's with underground hits like Black Heart Billy and LCD (although they've also done their part in making superhero comics that don't suck).

Both artists, along with Joseph Cross and Brian Churilla, will be at FLOATING WORLD on Thursday, April 5th from 6-10pm, saying hello to fans and displaying a ton of original artwook and books. Joseph Cross designed these incredibly gorgeous new logos, posters, mascots, and images for the store. These prints and other merchandise (bags, t-shirts) will make their debut at this First Thursday show.

•Â Here are two sweet promotional images Jeff lemire made to promote his Essex County trilogy, the first book of which (Tales From the Farm), is out now.

• Ulana Zahajkewycz is one step closer to our final anniversary poster, and it's a beauty.

• Finally, from fabulous artist and cartoonist, Rami Efal's email newsletter:

"Through the past two years I have been drawing and paintings to local jazz and blues music spanning Tel Aviv, Tokyo and New York City. Starting March 15th through April 11th 2007, these paintings and drawings will be on display at the Park Slope Tea Lounge in Brooklyn. Come and enjoy a cup of tea or a glass of red wine and view the works. Artwork is for sale and 50% of proceeds will go to Children International in support of impoverished children and those affected by recent floods in central Asia."

Tea Lounge Park Slope @ 837 Union Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, Brooklyn, NY. Subway: R to Union Street; 2,3 to Grand Army Plaza

Just back a few nights ago from WonderCon down in San Francisco. It's pretty much a "spectacle" show, meaning most attendees come to see the big stars and aging, has-been, child television personalities, and not so much to buy alternative comics. That said, it's still well worth doing for PR purposes alone, and damn do i love San Francisco. The weather was gorgeous, though i spent most of my time underground in the giant hall.

I stayed the first and last night of my trip with old pal Wayne Shellabarger. (Who's book The Veeps we'll be publishing next Fall.) Wayne is a fanatical film freak, and has an extensive dvd collection. We watched one of the most fucked up film noir films i've EVER seen, called Kiss Me Deadly, with a screenplay by Mickey Spillane. I call it film noir, even though the end of the flick is decidedly science fiction. Wow. Crazy stuff.

The ONI guys let me crash their hotel room for three nights... many thanks James and Randy!

At the show, i was horrified to discovered that the man behind the mask (Peter Mayhew) of one of my childhood gods, Chewbacca, was a dick to his fans. He was only too happy to take their money for a lame glossy photo, but god forbid a fan tried to make conversation. Yeesh.

On the plus side, Portlander Shannon Stewart saw fit to swing by with none other than Tom Waits, his wife, and one of his sons. What a super-nice guy. I'm not one to get start-struck a whole lot, but i have to say, that was cool as heck.

Food is great in SF, and two nights in a row i feasted at a brewpub called The Thirsty Bear, which served Spanish tapas. Insanely good food, and great beer.

After the last day of the show, on my way to Wayne's pad i stopped to drop in for a visit to Isotope Comics, got lost, and accidentally discovered a fabulous little bookstore called Bibliohead Bookkstore, at 334 Gough Street. The guy working there, Jeff, was a total comics-head, and was quite familiar with Top Shelf.

• Here's an interesting interview with the new Comics International editor Mike Conroy. I've often seen this comics magazine around, and i have a modicum of respect for Dez Skinn's place in the development of British Comics over the years, but the magazine has seemed pretty irrelevant in the past (it really never provided anything i didn't get elsewhere), so i never bought it.

But after reading this, i'm certainly willing to check out the new issue.

I'll report back once i do.

• A boatload of Kochalka paintings are up for sale online at Giant Robot now.

Here's pics from the opening reception.

• Craig Yoe is at it again. This guy is a fucking comics savant, and i eagerly await every new book he does.

"The Arf Lovers blog relaunches today with new zowie techie thrills like rss feed, perma-links, comments and lots of new links. I do the blog to promote the "Arf" book series and other books I do and to highlight cartoonists I enjoy, new and old skool. And to just have some fun. So, subscribe or bookmark and also please link if you have a blog yourself. And I welcome your feedback in the new comments link under each post.

"The new "Arf" book, Arf Forum, is now at the printer and can be ordered at a discount on Amazon, or you can wait for the edition with the bookplate from Budplant.com. I think it's the best volume yet with unknown surreal genius Ted Scheel and sexy genius Kremos and rare stuff by known geniuses like Bill Holman and George Herriman. And my hero Stan Lee. Starting on Volume 4 of Arf just after I finish my next book...

"Clean Cartoonists' Dirty Drawings (Last Gasp). This will be slighty risque to pretty raunchy comics and cartoons by cartoonists known for their mainstream wholesome stuff. So you'll see nudes by Milton Caniff, Rube Goldberg, Will Eisner, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Mort Walker, Dr. Suess, etc. Clean Cartoonsts' Dirty Drawings can also be ordered now so you can be the first on your block to hide it under your mattress."

A list of books you can order now:
Modern Arf
Arf Museum
Arf Forum
Clean Cartoonists' Dirty Drawings

To write Craig Yoe: yoecomix@hotmail.com

•Â Some nifty new images.

Jeffrey Brown's final cover for our upcoming seasonal sampler book, and the flyer for his forthcoming UK Tour.

Ulana Zahajkewycz's final inked drawing for our upcoming Anniversary poster.