The most frightening paper doll ever?

Ask anyone who appreciates fine books and they'll tell you: Dover Books are a great niche publisher. Specializing in reprints (this is how I first discovered a run of Little Orphan Annie strips decades back) and clever uses of public domain material, the company has carved out an impressive if unlikely market for themselves.

One of the most interesting aspects of their catalogue is their selection of paper doll books. In fact, according to their website they are "The #1 publisher of paper dolls." Why? "Because our low-priced books are irresistible for paper doll enthusiasts of all ages." Agreed. I've bought several of these for my daughter and she loves them -- especially this one.

But I have to draw the line (and scratch my head) over their latest release, Classic TV Moms Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney, the modern king of paper doll illustration. 

I mean, it looks cool enough (with the exception of Peg Bundy I suppose) and when you start flipping through it it satisfies expectations. There's Laura Petrir from The Dick Van Dyke Show, Harriet Nelson from The Ozzie and Harriet Show and then there's page 15:

That's correct. That's Roseanne Barr as Roseanne, the flinty-but-funny working class Mom from 1990s TV hit Roseanne. And yes, she's in lingerie. (This is a dress-up toy after all.) But what was Tom thinking on this one? Dressing up (and down) Mary Tyler Moore circa 1962 I can get the appeal of; but Roseanne Barr? What little girl would even knwo who she was? And if they did, why on earth would they ever want to dress her up? I guess ( = pray) this could be a massive prank, but if it isn't I think Dover needs to fire an editor or two unless they want "The Tom Arnold Coloring Book" on their Spring release schedule.

Best single page of a crummy comic I bought recently

From Unknown Worlds #39 (ACG Comics) Spring 1965:

The handsomest Doug Wright Awards ever

 am proud -- damn proud! -- to say that I survived TCAF, and The Doug Wright Awards, in one piece this year*. (* more or less.) I've downloaded all of my Wright Awards pics, which will become a longer post later when i get my equilibrium back, but for now I thought I'd share this post-ceremony shot of our host Peter Outerbridge posing with the original art Seth did for this year's Best Book video tribute:   

(An aside: I love how that Nipper pin looks on his lapel. Way better than my 20-year-old MEC backpack)

You can watch mini-Peter come to life in our Best Book video, which was written and produced by the awesome guys at Smiley Guy Studios (yay Denny!):



As for the DWAs, I think it was great this year. The feedback was encouraging; one attendee told me it was "touching, classy and well-executed" while a few Quebec audience members said it was the best comics' awards ceremony they had ever attended.

Everything chugged along nicely, the winners were gracious and Marc Bell's trophy fit him perfectly. More later! I am going to go catch up on Lost....

A world-class blabbermouth

No - this is not a confessional post. This weekend's Globe and Mail featured my review of Wilson, Dan Clowes's new graphic novel, and that's a snippet from it. The short version? I like it,and you should too.

The review (with what looks to be a Ghost-World era photo) is here. Please read it and tell me what you think.

A short Clowes story before I pass out from exhaustion. Clowes was in Toronto this weekend as the special guest at TCAF (aka the Toronto Comic Arts Festival). I attended his talk with the eloquent and well-prepared Mark Medley, during which the cartoonist talked about his dislike of reading reviews of his work. There was a brief discussion of Harry Naybors, Clowes' obnoxious Comic Critic character, which appears in issues of Eightball and later in his book Ice Haven.

The next day I saw that my review was in The Globe and immediately dreaded that i was to be Naybor-fied. Anyways, I bumped into Clowes at The Doug Wright Awards later that night and he made a point of saying he really liked the review and appreciated my take on the book.

Yes -- I know this sounds like Harry Naybors' wet-dream, but it was, in a weekend of great moments, the best one by far.