* Congratulations to longtime pal of the blog Craig Thompson for completing Habibi! What the world needs now is a 700-page twee-Islamic fantasy epic, and I mean that sincerely.
* Whoa–hot on the heels of the triumphant new Fort Thunder-reuniting issue of Monster, PictureBox is releasing a new Mat Brinkman art book called Heads, 44.
* And speaking of Brinkman, he has an art show called Phatansmatgoria opening at The Hole in NYC on Saturday, September 18–New York Comic Con weekend, if you’re in town and not too busy. (Via the indispensable Monster Brains.)
* And speaking of NYC art show openings, the Adam Baumgold Gallery is holding one for Chris Ware and The ACME Novelty Library #20 tomorrow! Razzafrazzin’ short notice… (Via Peggy Burns.)
* And speaking of art shows generally, I’m catching a pleasantly Barkerian vibe from these Jess Fink pieces for an art show called Monsterbation.
* And speaking of art still more generally, Mishka NYC is selling a boatload of reasonably priced Johnny Ryan art. Love the Ground Zero Bossk.
* Jeffrey Brown’s new cat book, Cats Are Weird, is out! Exclamation point merited, as I really liked the last one.
* This morning when the new Hark, a Vagrant! strips popped up in my Google Reader I looked at them and thought to myself “Wow, Kate Beaton has really turned some kind of corner with her inking, this stuff looks sick.” But it turns out it was actually Rebecca Clements drawing in the style of Kate Beaton. Ladies, this was a worthwhile experiment.
* These teasers for the upcoming “No Way Out” storyline in The Walking Dead make it look like the story will be about exactly what I wanted it to be about.
* Matt Seneca reviews the latest issue of retailer Desert Island’s house anthology Smoke Signals, of which I have shamefully seen not a single issue.
* Filing this away for when I finally catch the season premiere (there was a DVR mishap): 11 Reasons Why Ben Morse Loves Gossip Girl Right Now.
* This is strangely fascinating to me: Paranormal Activity is spawning a direct-to-Japan(!) sequel called Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night. I mean, why not, A, and B, does this sort of thing happen often and I just haven’t noticed it before?