in the new Diamond Previews.

Page 202: Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!, by Scott Morse. Published by AdHouse. The cover here says all you need to know.

Page 292: The Quest for the Missing Girl, by Jiro Taniguchi. Published by Potent / Fanfare. I think Taniguchi is probably the most underrated manga master in North America. The storytelling is sublime, and his art is transcendental.

The following message is not a part of Previews. I lifted it from the web, because it is awesome.

but if was in Portland, i'd check this event, On the Margins, at Floating World Comics out in a heartbeat. Dunja Jankovic's comics are sublime and haunting.

• James Kochalka gets some love at SPX (In Conversation with Heidi MacDonald), even while Top Shelf gets snubbed with not a single Ignatz Award nomination.

• The new Frazetta hardcover, Telling Tales, FINALLY came out... nice package, but oh god, why did they add such horrifically garish colors to Frazetta's insanely delicate and sublime brushwork? (Of which he did far too little.) I haven't read into the text yet, but let's presume two possibilities. The editor had access to high-quality material for a particular strip from which he could scan, and reproduce the artwork. In this case — and it certainly seems this to be the case — the art should have been reproduced in b&w. If on the other hand high-quality material was not on hand, then a far better option would have been to scan the actual comics pages where they ran in the first place. No doubt line quality may be lost, but the undeniably cool look of the page as a lush relic, yellowing pages, and crude-yet-terrific half-tone coloring and all make up for said loss. A great example of this is the Art Spiegleman / Chip Kidd presentation of a choice sampling of work in their book Jack Cole and the Plastic Man. Another fine example of this methodology of archiving used to good effect is in the more recent Sheena: Queen of the Jungle collection, published by Devil's Due. (The star attraction being, for this viewer, of course the contributions of Matt Baker.)

• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' new Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is an instant masterpiece. Wow...

• Also, decidedly NOT comics, and because i can't help it; This Week in Conservatism.

• And finally, more killer art from Max Estes.

with Brian Heater has wrapped at Daily Cross Hatch.

And speaking of Nate, geez, does this guy ever sleep? He just launched a smashing new website.

• In the better-late-than-never category, after what seems like years, i've finally found a day to pour over a ton of convention purchases, submissions, and what have you that have been piling up. A book Rex, by Danijel Zezelj was in the mix. I've read some of this guy's short form material in anthologies here and there. I thought it was o.k. but not so much as to live up to the hype. Well this sucker is like a fucking roundhouse kick to the face, pumping with high energy jams. And his art here seems MUCH more nuanced... a better use of grey tones that what i've seen before. Big thanks to publisher Jason Thibault at Optimum Wound comics for the hook-up.

• Our Top Shelf pals at Grass Hut are fishing for an intern. These cats are as cool as it comes, let me tell you. (Two weekends ago i attended a terrific opening for the brilliant L.A. based artist Andrew Brandou. Local Southern-style restaurant Screen Door made waffles peach-foster style... i thought i'd died and gone to heaven.)

Join the Grass Hut family. Be a part of an art movement bigger then the individuals involved. Learn the hands on nitty gritty skills to run an independent art market.
-Work with artists from Portland and all over the world.
-See how a tiny business handles international business.
-Understand DIY art marketing byway of street cred.
-Practice basic graphic design (website, postcards, posters)
-Have fun.
-Use the studio to paint and drawl.

To learn more simply contact Bwana Spoons or Justin “Scrappers” Morrison. Grass Hut (Art Market). 811 E. Burnside. Portland, Oregon. (503) 445-9924.

Grasshut@grasshutcorp.com

• Max Estes sure is staying busy, and cranking out choice pieces of art. Go. Buy.

• Veeps gets reviewed in the new issue of webmag, Comics Waiting Room, and at Omnivoracious too.

can be read at Comics Should Be Good.

• Nate Powell's book tour for Swallow Me Whole had a couple slight changes. Here are the final tour dates, as well as some boss art he created for this too.

*10/4-5 @ SPX, North Bethesda, MD
*10/7 @ Ada Books, Providence RI. 7pm.
*10/8 @ Million Year Picnic, Cambridge MA. 5pm.
*10/9 @ Giant Robot, New York NY.
*10/10 @ Rocketship Comics, Brooklyn NY.
*10/17 @ Boxcar Books, Bloomington IN.
*10/18 @ Quimby's, Chicago IL.
*10/25 @ Floating World, Portland OR.
*10/26 @ Comics Dungeon, Seattle WA.
*10/29 @ Comic Relief, Berkeley CA. 5-7pm.
*11/1-2 @ APE, San Francisco CA.
*11/1 @ Isotope, San Francisco CA. night time.
*11/13 @ Bizarro Comics, Athens GA. 3-6pm.
*11/22 @ Vintage Phoenix, Bloomington IN.
*11/28 @ Collector's Edition, North Little Rock AR.

• David Chelsea has a beautiful new web site.
Here's some art i nabbed from it.

• Steve Lafler has been painting like a fiend! Check it out!

• Here's a nifty little movie from Grass Hut.

• A tip of the hat to Benton Jew (one half of the outstanding and criminally underrated Jew Bros.) for the lead on his blog about the vintage Space Ghost dvd set, which features a documentary on the legendary Alex Toth. The doc isn't perfect by any means (cheesy effects, maudlin music, etc.), but it was a wonderful window into one of comics' masterminds. Well worth watching.

• Previews Picks for the month of September. (If it's not too late to make a difference.)
-Land of the Giants lunchbox. I saw one of these at San Diego, and man are they cool.

-Vintage illustration lovers (like myself) should be palpitating with the news of two forthcoming hardcovers; monographs for Norman Sounders and Reynold Brown.

-TwoMorrows continues with two more creator spotlights in their Modern Masters series. And while i only have roughly half of the series thus far, i will indeed be picking up the new ones featuring Mike Ploog and Kyle Baker.

-Sweet! The Adventures of Tintin, Hardcover Boxed Set!

-Stan's Soapbox. Verily, True Believers, all of Stan Lee's hyperbolic editorials from the late 60s and 70's in under one cover! I freaking lapped these up as a kid... Kudos!

-Fuzz & Pluck: Splitsville, by Ted Stearn. (Fantagraphics.)
Well, this series took forever and a day to be completed, but this great book is well worth the wait. Awesome awesome stuff.

-OMFG! The complete Blazing Combat Hardcover! Holy crap, this is great news! Also, from the fine folks at Fantagraphics.

-The Venice Chronicles hardcover, by Enrico Casarosa. (AdHouse Books.) I've had the pleasure of reading this, and it's gorgeous! Buy this book.

-Rejoice!! The second mammoth oversized slipcased hardcover of Kirkman, Adlard, and Rathburn's Walking Dead is coming. One of the greatest comics of all time. Serously.

Now that both Obama and McCain have announced their VP picks, the media are stuck on 'em 24/7... but we know a couple of guys who have been Veep-crazy since Sarah Palin was modeling swimwear!

The hilariously cynical Bill Kelter, author of the upcoming Top Shelf book Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance, has been blogging up a storm over at www.veeps.us. Meanwhile his partner in crime, Wayne Shellabarger, has whipped up two more killer portraits in the style of the 46 that appear throughout Veeps, celebrating the nominations of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. Check 'em out!

Veeps is scheduled to hit in late October... just in time for the election (and 47th Veep)!

• Well Bill, Wayne and myself are back from the Denver location shoot on Road to Insignificance, the film about the life & times of Veeps author's Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger. And while we didn't get to attend any actual events, the streets were alive with activity.

With principle shooting wrapped, i'm now totally stoked to see a rough cut of this baby, although editing won't begin until November. We've been playing this close to the vest somewhat, and as a straight documentary, but it's bound to come out sooner than later that while the core of Bill and Wayne's friendship is the real deal, we're straying from the truth in this film. Oh, and i'm the director.

Meanwhile, Bill made yet another guest appearance a few days ago on KPOJ, the Air America affiliate here in Portland. Awesome!

• Top Shelf 2.0 contributor Joe Decie put up this terrific strip on Webcomics Nation.

• James Kochalka did this freaky fun Fantastic Four page (issue #9, page 17) on commission.

• Peter Kuper is editing the next issue of WW3. I do believe it's a wordless issue. This stunning Eric Drooker cover boggles, as his covers always do.

• Rich Koslowski informs me that Top Shelf is well-represented in a new book called 500 Essential Graphic Novels, by old Top Shelf friend Gene Kannenberg, Jr.

The following Top Shelf books made the cut:
• THREE FINGERS in the "Fantasy" category (Rich Koslowski)
• BOX OFFICE POISON & TRICKED "general fiction" (Alex Robinson)
• GOODBYE CHUNKY RICE "general fiction" & BLANKETS "non-fiction" (Craig Thomspon)
• HEY MISTER "humor" (Pete Sickman-Garner)
• HUTCH OWEN "humor" (Tom Hart)
• LOST GIRLS "general fiction" (Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie)
• MONKEY VS ROBOT "humor" (James Kochalka)
• OWLY "adventure" (Andy Runton)
• SAME DIFFERENCE "general fiction" (Derek Kirk Kim)

• Besides that his work kicks serious quantities of ass, Nate Powell is every publishers dream. He arranged and schedule the following promotional tout in support of the forthcoming Swallow Me Whole, AND is designing and producing a 2-color screenprinted poster for this as well. Here is his tour schedule, and a rough design for the poster.

9/26: gallery show, Sweet Hickory, Bloomington IN (featuring pages from SMW and other stuff)
10/4-5: SPX
10/7: Ada Books, Providence RI
10/8: Million Year Picnic, Cambridge MA
10/9: Giant Robot, New York NY
10/10: Rocketship Comics, Brooklyn NY (TBC)
10/11: Desert Island, Brooklyn NY (TBC)
10/18: Quimby's, Chicago IL
10/19: Boxcar Books, Bloomington IN
10/25: Floating World, Portland OR
10/26: Comics Dungeon, Seattle WA
10/30: Comic Relief, Berkeley CA (TBC)
11/1-2: APE
11/1: Isotope, San Francisco CA
11/11: TBA, Savannah GA
11/12 or 13: Bizarro, Athens GA
11/22: Vintage Phoenix, Bloomington IN
11/28: Collector's Edition, North Little Rock AR