“I go back and forth on Tom Crippen’s “Post-Human Review” column in TCJ. I think Gary Groth referred to it as not only the best super-hero column ever, but the best super-hero column possible, and I think that that’s about right — not that it is the platonic super-hero column, but that it’s what Gary would think a platonic super-hero column should be.”

- Noah Berlatsky

Above the Fold

• [Top Story] In Canada, Halifax police are investigating the possibility that an April 18 satirical drawing by award-winning Chronicle Herald cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon “promoted hatred.”
  

  CBC News has a report:

  The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after charges against him were stayed on April 15.

  Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.

  “You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need money in order to cull white people’s heads. You wouldn’t do that. This would be libellous,” he said.

  (Above: the cartoon in question, ©2008 The Halifax Herald Limited.)

 

• [Top Story] Publishers Weekly reports that the Media Coalition is filing suit against the state of Indiana, over a new law that would require booksellers to register with the state if they sell “sexually explicit” material.

 

• [Publishing] ICv2 interviews Radical Publishing president Barry Levine: part one, part two. Here’s an abbreviated summary:

  He’s a screen writer who also runs development for Johnny Depp’s company […] basically help brand our universe and help brand Radical Comics […] They’re all franchisable […] have been sold as feature films, before they even came out […] we don’t make comic books to just make films […] John Woo is directing Caliber […] Because our partners are Singaporean and our money comes out of Singapore as well as London, we helped invest X amount of dollars into a film that’s in production right now. It’s an anime […] It has the mentality of a Spongebob, but not as cutting as a Family Guy […] They came from the advertising world […] And of course they’re a business, but they’re also true artists […] We do original content, but we also reinvent iconic stuff, so the brand’s already there […] It’s basically the Dirty Dozen in the times of Saladin […] Caliber is the Arthurian legend retold in the American northwest as the Wild Bunch. Instead of Excalibur, you have a gun […] So our business model is that there are certain things that we set up with studios to help brand us […] The other part of our business model is that we co-finance with studios; we own a piece of the property. It helps us from a creative perspective […] Don’t curtail your imagination, that’s your strongest component.

  So I’m guessing that “franchisable” is a word now. Really, you learn something new every day.

 

• [Retailing] Arizona retailer Dara Hannon believes that Marvel’s erratic shipping schedules is costing both them and her customer purchases.

Literary Comics

• [Profile] Dave Baxter presents the conclusion of his two-part interview with Finding Peace co-creators Tom Waltz and Nathan St. John.

 


• [Profile] Here’s streaming video of a 2002 reading by Rebel Visions author Patrick Rosenkranz, as he discusses the history of underground comix. Also, here’s a 2003 trailer made by Rosenkranz to promote his book, featuring video and audio commentary from Gilbert Shelton, R. Crumb, Justin Green and other leading lights of the form. (Above: screenshot from the first video. Both links via Mike Baehr.)

 

• [Profile] Richard Bruton interviews Love the Way You Love artist Marc Ellerby.

 

• [Profile] Chris Beckett speaks with Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened editor Jason Rodriguez.

 

• [Scene] Here are photos from the opening reception of Gary Panter’s new gallery show in New York City.

 

• [Review] Tom Spurgeon on Trevor Alixopulos’ The Hot Breath of War.

 

• [Review] Sean T. Collins on the tenth volume of the Mome anthology. A lot of Mome reviews turned up this week, for some reason…

 

• [Review] Chris Mautner on two books by Joann Sfar: Little Vampire and the second volume of The Rabbi’s Cat.

 


• [Comics] New comics from Anders Nilsen. (Above: sequence from one of the strips, ©2008 Anders Nilsen. Link via Sean Collins.)

Pop Comics

• [Profile] Vaneta Rogers speaks with Bone creator Jeff Smith about his new Bone exhibit at Columbus, OH’s Wexner Center for the Arts. Related: Kiel Phegley speaks with the exhibit’s curators, Lucy Caswell and David Filipi.

 


• [Review] Elizabeth Donald on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. (Above: sequence from The Walking Dead Vol. 4, drawn by Charlie Adlard. ©2005 Robert Kirkman.)

 

• [Review] Kevin Church on the first issue of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca’s Invincible Iron Man.

 

• [Review] Greg McElhatton on the first issue of Daniel Abraham and Eric Battle’s licensed property, Wild Cards: The Hard Call.

 

• [Review] Steven Bari on the first issue of Dave Sim’s Glamourpuss.

 

• [Review] Van Jensen, Chris Sims and Kevin Church on a variety of recent comics.

 


• [Comics] Pappy offers up a collection of Henry Boltinoff’s 1940s and 1950s humor strips for DC Comics. (Above: filler strip from Batman #53, ©1949 DC Comics.)

Manga

• [Scene] U.S. Naval Forces are printing and distributing a new manga meant to educate Japanese teens and young adults about the upcoming arrival of the USS George Washington nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a report from Stars and Stripes.

 


• [Review] Ken Haley on the first volume of Osamu Tezuka’s samurai epic, Dororo. (Above: sequence from the comic; ©2008 Tezuka Productions, English translation ©2008 Dawn T. Laabs and Vertical, Inc.)

 

• [Review] Leroy Douresseaux on the first two volumes of Tatsuo Yoshida’s Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go.

Comic Strips

• [Comics] The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive continues its look at the genius of Li’l Abner creator Al Capp with the first installment of Capp’s classic Fearless Fosdick story, “The Poisoned Bean Case.”
  

  (Above: That’s comedy! panel from the linked strip excerpt.)

 

• [Snark] Mazda revives bad comic strips.

Editorial Cartoons

• [Scene] Mike Rhode reports from Economist cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher’s talk yesterday at the National Archives in Washington DC.

Minicomics

• [Review] Sarah Morean on the seventh issue of Alec Longstreth’s Phase 7.

Cartooning

• [Art] All this week, Leif Peng has been spotlighting the art and career of commercial illustrator and art teacher Frank Reilly: part one, part two, part three, part four and the concluding fifth part may be online at the main page by the time you read this.
  

  (Above: Unidentified Reilly illustration from Peng’s Flickr set devoted to the artist.)

 


• [Art] Dark Roasted Blend presents a gallery of Soviet-era science-fiction art by Yury Markov. (Above: one of the illustrations on offer. Link via Cory Doctorow.)

 


• [Art] Imagine David Lynch’s Eraserhead as designed by 18th-century woodcut artists, and you’ve got the work of Sam Branton. (Above: “You’re gonna love the way they tickle,” ©2007 Sam Branton. Link via Fatty Jubbo.)

The Comics Press

• [Commentary] Johanna Draper Carlson tracks Newsarama’s slow transformation into Wizard Magazine. Remember, nerds: no console-bashing!

Comics Culture

• [Scene] David Moran reports from the Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels Conference, held last month in Boston.

 

• [Review] Todd Leopold on David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. (Thanks to Tim Gagne for emailing me the link.)

 

• [Multimedia] Let’s close out with a few comics-related podcasts for your weekend enjoyment:
  • Alex Fitch discusses the career and legacy of Jack Kirby with Kirby: King of Comics author Mark Evanier and Jack Kirby Collector contributor Barry Forshaw: part one (34.3MB), part two (36.9MB).
  • The latest episode of Inkstuds features a conversation with Banana Sunday/Small Favors/X-Men First Class artist Colleen Coover. (53MB)
  • Jesse Thorn speaks with The Ten-Cent Plague author David Hajdu. (16.9MB)

  All podcasts are downloadable MP3 audiofiles.

 

• [Commentary] How Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds pissed off Steve Ditko.

 


• [Your not-comics link of the day] Professional photographers recreate children’s drawings. (Above: an example from the link, which is via Christopher Bird.)

 

• [Your Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s Clobberin’ Time!! link of the day] Here’s Sabina from Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, as interpreted by Joëlle Jones.

 


• [Your Scans_Daily link of the day] Fred Guardineer’s masked vigilante, The Mouthpiece. (Above: splash panel from Police Comics #1, ©1941 Quality Comics.)

Events Calendar

Today:

• May 9-11 (Bristol, England): The Bristol International Comics Expo takes place at the British Empire & Commonwealth Exhibition Hall. Guests include Walt and Louise Simonson, Jim Starlin, Dave Gibbons, Alan Davis, Mark Buckingham, Mike Ploog and many others. Details here.

This Weekend:

• May 10-11 (Seattle, WA): The Emerald City ComiCon takes place at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center downtown, and features such guests as Jeffrey Brown, Ed Brubaker, Hope Larson, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Peter Bagge, Jordan Crane, Ellen Forney, Matt Wagner, Kurt Busiek, Scott Kurtz, Gail Simone, Eric Powell, Colleen Coover, Whilce Portacio, Jeffrey Rowland, Steve Lieber, Jennie Breeden, Corey Lewis, Ivan Brandon… it’s a long list. Details here.
• May 10 (Fredericton, New Brunswick): Not willing to let last weekend’s flooding ruin things, the folks at Strange Adventures on York Street will be re-staging Free Comic Book Day today. Details here. (Hat tip: Don MacPherson.)
• May 10 (Columbus, OH): Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud will talk comics at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Mershon Auditorium on High Street, beginning at 2PM. Details here.
• May 10 (New York City, NY): Gary Panter will be signing copies of his new retrospective boxed set at the PictureBox Departmental Store on Third Street in Brooklyn, from 6-8PM. Details here.
• May 10 (Seattle, WA): Join Jordan Crane and other art-comics notables for an exhibit opening and Emerald City ComiCon after-party at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on Vale Street, from 6-9PM. Details here.
• May 11 (New York City, NY): Joshua Ray Stephens will appear at a book-release party for his new offering, The Moth or the Flame, and Brooklyn’s own Desert Island on Metropolitan Avenue, from 6-9PM. Details here.

Next Week:

• May 14 (Halifax, Nova Scotia): Join Ray Fenwick for a release party celebrating his new book, Hall of Best Knowledge at the Eyelevel Gallery on Gottingen Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 14 (New York City, NY): Alt-weekly cartoonists Jen Sorensen and Ruben Bolling will appear at the Tank Space for Performing and Visual Arts on Church Street, beginning at 7:30PM. Details here.
• May 15 (Columbus, OH): Strangers in Paradise author Terry Moore at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Film/Video Theater on High Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 15 (Vancouver, British Columbia): Maus author Art Spiegelman will lecture at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Hornby Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 16-18 (Novi, MI): The Motor City Comic Con takes place at the Rock Financial Showplace on Grand River Avenue. Guests include Al Feldstein, David Petersen, William Messner-Loebs, Bernie Wrightson, Matt Feazell, Pam Bliss, Herb Trimpe, Chris Claremont, Guy Davis and many others. Oh, and Micky Dolenz. Can’t forget Micky Dolenz. Details here.
• May 16 (Berkeley, CA): Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester author Bob Levin will be signing copies and meeting readers at Chester’s Bay View Cafe on Walnut Street, from 7-9PM. Details here.
• May 17-18 (San Jose, CA): Super-Con takes place at the San Jose Convention Center on Market Street. Guests include Russ Heath, Juan Giminez, Amanda Conner, Terry Moore, Steve Leialoha and others. Details here.
• May 17 (White River Junction, VT): The Center for Cartoon Studies will hold an opening reception for its 2008 Thesis Exhibition in the Colodny building on Main Street, immediately following the Center’s commencement ceremony at 11AM. Details here.
• May 17 (Ann Arbor, MI): As part of the Ann Arbor Book Festival, comics blogger Dave Carter will interview The Three Paradoxes author Paul Hornschemeier on the Kalamazoo Stage in the University of Michigan’s Michigan League, at 3:30PM. Details here.
• May 17 (Seattle, WA): Some line or other of skateboards gives you an opportunity to hang out with Peter Bagge and various comics types at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on Vale Street, from 6-9PM. Details here.
• May 17 (San Francisco, CA): An opening reception for the “Tree Show IV” exhibit, containing work by Andrice Arp, Martin Cendreda, Austin English, Matthew Thurber, Jeremy Tinder and others, will be held at Giant Robot on Shrader Street, from 6:30-10PM. Details here.

Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here.

“But I can’t help but think how many we could have moved had the new Iron Man comic came out last week. That would have allowed me to hand over a brand new Iron Man #1 to all the FCBD customers new and old, riding that IM buzz, asking for something with Iron Man in it. Ah well.”

- Mike Sterling

Above the Fold

• [Top Story] Michigan’s Grand Rapids Press reports that two suspects have been arrested in the shooting of retailer David Pirkola — in fact, they were arrested the day after the shooting, but the information has only been disclosed now. James Muriel-Neal Thompson and Marvin Michael-Marquis Jones, both 19 years old, have been charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and assault with intent to murder:

  The pair was arraigned April 28 in Kentwood District Court. Kentwood police said they did not release the names until media inquiries because they were searching for another suspect: Jevon Marquis Sawyer, 18.

  “If release of the information does not conflict with our investigation we will release it, but it’s our call,” Police Chief Richard Mattice said this morning. “We won’t release it if it conflicts.”

  Sawyer remains at large; David Pirkola remains in critical condition at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

 

• [Publishing] Charts time! The 29th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s insanely popular fight comic Naruto (cover pictured at right) makes its debut at #57 on the USA Today top-150 bestselling books chart, while the 28th volume bobs back up at #139. Jay Kinney slips a bit this week, as Diary of a Wimpy Kid falls twelve places to #30 and the sequel, Rodrick Rules, slips ten places to #25. We should all be blessed with such relative misfortune…

  (Incidentally, it’s not at all comics, but the title to the book at #37 — Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea — gave me the biggest laugh I’ve had in days, and I had to share.)

  In France, André Juillard and Yves Sente’s Blake and Mortimer Vol. 18 remains atop the de-mangafied BDzoom top-fifteen bestselling albums list (Google translation). In Japan, the 42nd volume of the aforementioned Naruto makes its debut at #1 on the Tohan top-ten bestselling manga chart — no translation has shown up as I write this, but the Google translation seems to be getting a bit better.

Literary Comics

• [Profile] Dave Baxter speaks with Finding Peace creators Tom Waltz and Nathan St. John about their new collection of war stories. Related: Geoff Collins reviews the book.

 

• [Profile] Joshua Burton interviews The Squirrel Mother author Megan Kelso.

 


• [Scene] Larry Reid’s slideshow lecture on Seattle comics culture is now online. (Above: Peter Bagge’s 1991 cover for the now-defunct music alt-weekly The Rocket.)

 

• [Review] Kevin Church on Ross Campbell’s teen road trip, Water Baby.

 


• [Review] Joe McCulloch and Van Jensen on the new eleventh volume of the Mome anthology. Related: Mome contributor Tim Hensley puzzles over a Spanish-language translation of the anthology. (Above: Something got lost along the way, from the looks of things. Panel from the Spanish translation of “Shamrock Squid,” ©2008 Tim Hensley.)

Pop Comics

• [Profile] Zane Fisher talks to Dead In Desemboque writer Eddy Robert Arellano about the bilingual historieta that he created with artists William Schaff, Richard Schuler and Alec Thibodeau.

 

• [Scene] Billy Tucci goes to Normandy.

 

• [Review] Tom Spurgeon on the third volume of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, et. al.’s Essential Mighty Thor.

 


• [Review] Steven Bari on Thomas Behe and Phil Elliot’s cyberpunk-ish thriller, Contraband. (Above: sequence from the book, ©2008 Thomas Behe and Phil Elliot.)

 

• [Review] Tim Janson on Mark Evanier’s biography, Kirby: King of Comics.

 

• [Review] Graeme McMillan and Don MacPherson on two new Iron Man titles.

 

• [Commentary] Tony Ingram looks back at Mark Evanier’s 1980s superhero series, The DNAgents.

 


• [Comics] Here’s a new Milk & Cheese strip. I’m assuming that this is really all I have to tell you. (Panel from the strip, ©2008 Evan Dorkin. Link via Kevin Church.)

 

• [Oddity] Hey kids, guns!

Manga

• [Review] Rob Vollmar on the first volume of Tatsuo Yoshida’s Speed Racer: Mach Go Go.

 

• [Review] Lori Henderson on the second volume of Kiyo Fujiwara’s shoujo gangster comedy, Wild Ones. (Link via Brigid Alverson.)

Comic Strips

• [Analysis] Sean Kleefeld plays with the structure of an Andy Capp strip.

 

• [Review] David Wallace on the first volume of Checker Books’ collection of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Editorial Cartoons

• [Profile] Mike Lynch links to two videos featuring Economist cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher, in which Kal discusses his work.

Digital Comics

• [Profile] Marc Weisblott caught up with two webcomics writers, A Softer World’s Joey Comeau and Dinosaur Comics‘ Ryan North, at the recent ROFLCon in Cambridge, MA. (Link via Bryan Munn.)

 


• [Review] Sean Kleefeld on Brendan Jones’ comics satire, Breakfast of the Gods. (Above: sequence from the series, ©2008 Brendan Jones.)

Minicomics

• [Profile] Richard Bruton on the self-published work of Love The Way You Love artist Marc Ellerby.

Cartooning

• [Analysis] Steven Grant explains how audacity defines the best cartoonists.

 


• [Review] Bill Randall on the posthumous Saul Steinberg autobiography, Reflections and Shadows, a review that originally appeared in The Comics Journal #258. (Above: Steinberg’s 1951 drawing “Metro,” one of the many illustrations that can be seen at this page.)

 


• [Art] Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents a suite of mid-1920s children’s-story illustrations by Frank Godwin: part one and part two. (Above: Godwin’s “The Sandman.”)

 


• [Art] David Apatoff defends Russian illustrator Illya Repin from a critic. (Above: Illya Repin’s “Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom,” 1876.)

Technology

• [Commentary] National Post columnist Colby Cosh picks at Clay Shirky’s theory of “cognitive surplus” and the Internet.

Comics Culture

• [Scene] Rick Marshall reports from the “LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel” exhibit currently taking place at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.

 

• [Scene] Shawn Conner looks at the “KRAZY!” pop-culture exhibit in Vancouver, British Columbia, which will contain a significant comics presence.

 


• [Your Drawn! link of the day] Chris Houghton’s good cartooning and skillful compositions make his work worth a look, sure, but it’s the fact that he posts daily that really seals the deal. (Above: illustration ©2008 Chris Houghton.)

 


• [Your not-comics link of the day] When American celebrities make Japanese commercials. (Above: Throw enough money at him and yeah, David Bowie will dig out the old Ziggy Stardust outfit for you. Screenshot from a commercial for Vittel bottled water.)

 

• [Your Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s Clobberin’ Time!! link of the day] Here’s beloved children’s character Pippi Longstocking, as interpreted by Derek Kirk Kim.

 


• [Your Scans_Daily link of the day] “Violet Blossoms” is a yuri-tinged short story by Satoshi Fukushima and Emma creator Kaoru Mori: part one, part two. (Above: scene from the first part of the story, originally published in the September 2004 issue of Comic Beam; copyright information unknown.)

Events Calendar

Today:

• May 8 (London, England): Paul Gravett will moderate a cartoonists’ roundtable discussion on diary drawing at the Centre For Recent Drawing on Highbury Station Road, beginning at 6:15PM. Details here.
• May 8 (New York City, NY): The Ho12 Comic Jam takes place at McCarthy’s Pub on 33rd Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 8 (New York City, NY): David Hajdu will discuss his book The Ten-Cent Plague The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America at Brooklyn’s own Freebird Books and Goods on Columbia Street, beginning at 7:30PM. Details here. (Thanks to Pedro Tejeda for emailing me the link.)
• May 8 (San Francisco, CA): Troubletown creator Lloyd Dangle will give a presentation, answer questions and sign books at the Cartoon Art Museum on Mission Street, beginning at 8PM. Details here.
• May 8 (Burbank, CA): The Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole editor Alex Chun will give a presentation on Cole and his Humorama compatriots at the Cartoon Art Professional Society’s May meeting at the Burbank Board of Realtors Building on Magnolia Boulevard, beginning at 8PM. Admission is $10 for non-members. Details here.

This Week:

• May 9-11 (Bristol, England): The Bristol International Comics Expo takes place at the British Empire & Commonwealth Exhibition Hall. Guests include Walt and Louise Simonson, Jim Starlin, Dave Gibbons, Alan Davis, Mark Buckingham, Mike Ploog and many others. Details here.
• May 10-11 (Seattle, WA): The Emerald City ComiCon takes place at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center downtown, and features such guests as Jeffrey Brown, Ed Brubaker, Hope Larson, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Peter Bagge, Jordan Crane, Ellen Forney, Matt Wagner, Kurt Busiek, Scott Kurtz, Gail Simone, Eric Powell, Colleen Coover, Whilce Portacio, Jeffrey Rowland, Steve Lieber, Jennie Breeden, Corey Lewis, Ivan Brandon… it’s a long list. Details here.
• May 10 (Fredericton, New Brunswick): Not willing to let last weekend’s flooding ruin things, the folks at Strange Adventures on York Street will be re-staging Free Comic Book Day today. Details here. (Hat tip: Don MacPherson.)
• May 10 (Columbus, OH): Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud will talk comics at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Mershon Auditorium on High Street, beginning at 2PM. Details here.
• May 10 (Seattle, WA): Join Jordan Crane and other art-comics notables for an exhibit opening and Emerald City ComiCon after-party at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on Vale Street, from6-9PM. Details here.

Next Week:

• May 14 (Halifax, Nova Scotia): Join Ray Fenwick for a release party celebrating his new book, Hall of Best Knowledge at the Eyelevel Gallery on Gottingen Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 14 (New York City, NY): Alt-weekly cartoonists Jen Sorensen and Ruben Bolling will appear at the Tank Space for Performing and Visual Arts on Church Street, beginning at 7:30PM. Details here.
• May 15 (Columbus, OH): Strangers in Paradise author Terry Moore at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Film/Video Theater on High Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 15 (Vancouver, British Columbia): Maus author Art Spiegelman will lecture at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Hornby Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here.
• May 16-18 (Novi, MI): The Motor City Comic Con takes place at the Rock Financial Showplace on Grand River Avenue. Guests include Al Feldstein, David Petersen, William Messner-Loebs, Bernie Wrightson, Matt Feazell, Pam Bliss, Herb Trimpe, Chris Claremont, Guy Davis and many others. Oh, and Micky Dolenz. Can’t forget Micky Dolenz. Details here.
• May 16 (Berkeley, CA): Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester author Bob Levin will be signing copies and meeting readers at Chester’s Bay View Cafe on Walnut Street, from 7-9PM. Details here.
• May 17-18 (San Jose, CA): Super-Con takes place at the San Jose Convention Center on Market Street. Guests include Russ Heath, Juan Giminez, Amanda Conner, Terry Moore, Steve Leialoha and others. Details here.
• May 17 (White River Junction, VT): The Center for Cartoon Studies will hold an opening reception for its 2008 Thesis Exhibition in the Colodny building on Main Street, immediately following the Center’s commencement ceremony at 11AM. Details here.
• May 17 (Seattle, WA): Some line or other of skateboards gives you an opportunity to hang out with Peter Bagge and various comics types at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on Vale Street, from 6-9PM. Details here.
• May 17 (San Francisco, CA): An opening reception for the “Tree Show IV” exhibit, containing work by Andrice Arp, Martin Cendreda, Austin English, Matthew Thurber, Jeremy Tinder and others, will be held at Giant Robot on Shrader Street, from 6:30-10PM. Details here.

Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here.