Today, we've got Sean T. Collins reviewing Matthew Thurber's 1-800-Mice, a book he told me he had expected to dislike. But, like a certain special Somebody whose birthday is coming up, Thurber rarely plays to expectations, and certainly didn't in this case.
Elsewhere:
The L.A. Weekly talks to Ben Jones, of Paper Rad and Problem Solverz fame, regarding his new gallery show. He's into old video games, it seems.
Tintinologist Michael Farr picks five titles he'd suggest to people interested in the character. And only two of them were written by Hergé.
I didn't know until Alan Gardner pointed it out yesterday, but Lynn (For Better or Worse) Johnson has been posting a long series of video podcasts, often involving advice on making comic strips and the creative process.
Robin McConnell of Inkstuds has published the full-length transcript of his great interview with Geof Darrow from last winter. If you never listened to that (or even if you did) this is worth checking out. Darrow's a unique figure. And it's always rewarding to read written-out versions of old radio programs. It's the way they were meant to be experienced. (I love you, Robin.)
Tucker Stone reviews a very early issue of The Comics Journal (#38, to be exact), and it's really smart, and good good fun for longtime Journal fans (or foes). My favorite part is where Tucker claims not to enjoy it when "critics criticize other critics," right in the middle of a lengthy post reviewing almost every page of criticism in a 33-year-old issue of TCJ. Maybe he just doesn't like it when the other critics might argue back... Seriously, this is great, and I hope he writes a hundred more like it. (I love you, Tucker.)
Matt Seneca has posted the last two days of his multi-part interview with cartoonist and would-be provocateur Blaise Larmee. These are smart guys (Seneca's easily the best under-30 comics critic I can think of), and it's worth reading, but by this point in the series, I'm beginning to get tired of the constant back-and-forth about whether or not comics are "cool"—especially since they seem to mean the word in the Fonzie sense, not the Marshall McLuhan one. I mean, imagine that Hitchcock and Truffaut (whose famous interview book I'm guessing is being referenced with "Larmee/Seneca") had spent half their time together talking about whether or not movies were cool. But when Matt and Larmee's talk veers in less conventionally teenaged directions, it gets much more interesting. (I love you, Matt.)
When I first came across Tom Spurgeon's annual Holiday shopping guide a week back, it was completely blank, and apparently had been posted without having been written. And so I forgot to go back and check to see if "Mr. Focus" ever decided to write it. Turns out he eventually did, and it's as mind-bogglingly wide-ranging as ever. I don't really give comics-related gifts to anyone (my family and friends are too cool to be into comics), but this is still a great read every year, listing plenty of obscure and/or overlooked material, whether or not you use the guide for its ostensible purpose. (I love you, Tom.)
