Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Bufkin, the flying monkey who is dangerous because he reads, gets ready to go into battle on Joao Ruas's cover to Fables #87 (2009).


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Bigfoot Follies

Bizarro is brought to you today by Science.

A lot of cartoonists do holiday-themed cartoons on major holidays as a matter of routine, I only do them now and then. If I can think of a good one far enough ahead to use it, I will, but I'm often oblivious to the date or what's coming up in the next month or two so it just doesn't work out. A few days before Xmas this year, for instance, I thought of a great cartoon about the Three Wise Men but, alas, it will have to wait until next year.

I like this one because it makes a ridiculous connection between two very unlikely bedfellows. The idea of Bigfoot throwing presents through people's windows makes me giggle. And giggling is good.

Today is the day after New Year's Day, sometimes referred to by laymen as January 2nd. My good friend and genius cartoonist, Reuben Bolling published a particularly brilliant cartoon today so I thought I'd post it here for your edification. Hope you like it, hope you have a prosperous '10.

Click the cartoon to biggernize it.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2 (+1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
3 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
6 (-). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
7 (-). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
8 (+1). Watchmen
9 (+6). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters *
10 (-). Asterios Polyp
11 (+30). Dilbert: 2010 Wall Calendar
12 (+12). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
13 (+13). Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel
14 (+18). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
15 (-4). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
16 (-8). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
17 (-3). The Complete Persepolis
18 (-6). Marvel Encyclopedia
19 (R). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
20 (R). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
21 (+22). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
22 (-3). V for Vendetta
23 (+16). The Rocketeer: The Complete Deluxe Edition
24 (-8). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
25 (N). Ex Machina, Vol. 8: Dirty Tricks
26 (-8). Simon's Cat
27 (+7). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
28 (-11). Stitches: A Memoir
29 (+4). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
30 (-7). Wolverine: Old Man Logan
31 (+18). The Boys Volume 5: Herogasm
32 (R). The DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition
33 (+7). Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
34 (+12). Blankets
35 (-13). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 (Box Set) (Vol. 11-12)
36 (-8). Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
37 (-9). Batman: The Killing Joke
38 (-17). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
39 (N). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat *
40 (R). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
41 (+7). The Arrival
42 (R). American Born Chinese
43 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
44 (-24). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
45 (R). Parker: The Hunter
46 (R). Locke & Key: Head Games
47 (N). Stephen King's The Stand Vol. 2: American Nightmares *
48 (-13). Batman: Battle for the Cowl
49 (N). Incognito
50 (-19). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1


Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Welcome to 2010. Of course, this chart generally reflects the past week, so it's really marking the final week of 2009 between Christmas and New Years. Again, slightly larger grain of salt due to today being a holiday.

* Crumb's Genesis crawls its way back towards the top of the list, with it's sights set on the Wimpy Kid. The books are at #56 & #39 on the overall list.

* Highest debut belongs to the latest Ex Machina collection at #25. The pre-order for the latest Buffy collection pops in at #39 (and also gives a slight bump to the previous Buffy volumes). Rounding out the debuts are a couple of non-Marvel-U Marvel books near the bottom, Stephen King's The Stand & Incognito.

* The biggest gainer is the 2010 Dilbert Wall Calendar; 50% off seems to be enough for people to pony up to hang it on their cubicle next week. Other big gainers are those comics typically used in college classes, as students get ready for the new semester.

* Look for a 2009 year-end Amazon sales chart analysis coming soon-ish...

Happy New Year 2010!

Yet Another Comics Blog, Angel & Spike, along with goth girl Nemi and her friend, all wish you a prosperous New Year!

(covers to Angel #28 & Nemi #76).

Winter Covers - December 31

Batman and The Joker make a dangerous New Year's Eve toast on Tim Sale's cover for Batman: The Long Halloween #4 (1997).

We've hope you've enjoyed our month-long celebration of comic book covers!

Holiday Contest Hiatus

My usual Thursday Contest Game Puzzle Thing has been postponed for the holidays. I'll kick it off again next Thursday, Jan 7, 2010, so look for it then!

In the meantime, I will be posting hilarious cartoons and commentary on an almost daily basis, so check back each day for the horseplay and monkeyshines.

Gargrantuan Glutes

Bizarro is brought to you today by Fashion Concerns.

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite cartoons in a while. The sheer ridiculousness of it still tickles me after all these weeks. (I write/draw cartoons about 6 weeks before they are published.)

Women have long been worried about the size of their butts and since that is where many women gain the most weight, it makes sense. When I was a teen and young adult (sounds like a church pamphlet) women regularly worried about their butts being too big. But around the turn of the century, along comes this fashion craze for big butts, with the likes of Kim Kardashian and J-Lo, and all of a sudden an ample amount of junk in the trunk is desirable.

Everyone has their own wiring and mine does not happen to include a circuit for attraction to ample booties, but I can't help but wonder if this latest rambunctious rump craze is truly new or if lots of men have always been attracted to large buttocks but have stayed in the closet about it. (Black guys have always been open about it, but the stereotype was that white men preferred smaller cabooses.) Clearly, I just don't have enough honest discussions with my guy friends about what turns them on.

Just as in yesterday's blog, again I say, "Hmmm".