Sure, you can dig out your DVDs of Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but what if you’re jonesing for some Peanuts on the bus ride to work? Well, the Schulz family and Warner Bros. Motion Comics has anticipated the problem and produced 20 new three-to-four minute cartoons featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang, and made specifically for the Web, cell phones and iPods. The Associated Press has the details:

The videos are all new, made with Flash animation and new voices. Even though it’s new technology, attention has been paid to maintaining the integrity of the strip and its beloved animation specials.

“You’re not trying to change it,” said Jeannie Schulz, widow of the Peanuts creator. “You’re trying to keep it the same and freshen it.”

For a limited time, you can download two episodes for free, but only at iTunes. Otherwise, individual episodes will be priced at 99 cents each, or you can buy the full season for $7.99.

NPR, meanwhile, has an interview with the late Charles Schulz’s son Craig, where he talks about how they found the voices for the new animated shorts and the strip’s legacy. He also talks about how he can see his childhood reflected in the strip, in the way that his father drew certain backgrounds and objects that mimiced their own home, a fact I found more fascinating than anything else in the interview.

• I found this postmortem of Claremont, Calif.’s Comic Bookie, which closes on Friday after 18 years in business, interesting and a little sad. [Daily Bulletin]

• Irene Gallo talks with Freaks of the Heartland artist Greg Ruth about the planned movie adaptation, his early career, and his work process. [Tor.com]

• On a related note, Percy Carey chats with Freaks of the Heartland writer Steve Niles. [Complex.com]

• What could an Obama presidency mean for political cartoonists? [Gawker]

• Joseph Szadkowski profiles Silent Hill and Criminal Macabre artist Nick Stakal. [Washington Times]

• Amazon.com has a brief Q&A with writer Brian Azzarello about his new graphic novel Joker. Curiously, it’s a PDF file. [Amazon.com]

• John Klima spotlights the webcomics Templar, Arizona, FreakAngels and Jump Leads. [Tor.com]

If you’re the type of comics fan who occasionally likes to peruse the newsstand (and bless you if you do), it should be duly noted that this week’s issue of The New Yorker is their annual “Cartoon Issue,” with Steve Brodner talking about how he sees McCain and Obama everywhere; editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich counting down the ways he’ll miss about Dubya; a cute two-page spread by Bruce McCall; a smattering of gag strips pertaining to current events; reviews of Tamara Drewe, Burma Chronicles and Bat-Manga!; spot illustrations by Joost Swarte and — for the piece de resistance — an awesome four-page strip by Robert, Aline and Sophie Crumb about their attending a Crumb family reunion in Minnesota. Hey, Drawn and Quarterly even took out an ad for this issue!

But if you can’t find a hard copy, the magazine’s Web site has a good bit of comics-related content as well, including Cartoon Editor Robert Mankoff answering readers’ questions; an audio file of McCall dissecting his cartoon; a video of Brodner drawing and satirizing the election; and an interview with Dilbert creator Scott Adams:

C.L.: Back to the new book, “Dilbert 2.0.”—What is included?

S.A.: It’s a big, beautiful, ten-pound coffee-table book with a few thousand of my favorite comics, including the ones too naughty to get published in newspapers. It also has stories about the trouble I got into for strips that did get published. I tell the story of how I went from cubicle to cartooning, which required lots of luck and the kindness of strangers. We also include a disc that has every “Dilbert” comic published in newspapers from 1989 until we went to production

– Artist Shepard Fairey, who designed the “Hope” Obama poster, tells Boing Boing he’s pleased as punch to have his work parodied by Mad Magazine: “I consider a high point in my career for pop culture recognition.”

– Laura Hudson talks to James Kochalka about the 10th anniversary of his diary strip, American Elf.

– Hudson also interviews librarian and comics advocate Karen Green, who has a column over at Comixology.

– Doug Wolk looks at Bill Willingham’s upcoming plans for Fables, which include a prose novel.

– Bookslut talks to Phoebe Gloeckner.

– I hadn’t heard about this — cartoonist Carol Lay has a book coming out entitled The Big Skinny, about her lifelong battle with her weight. Wendy Werris has more details.

– Geeknerd’s annual Halloween Costume Bingo is up.

– Frank Santoro takes a look at the new Bat-Manga! collection and declares it good.

– Kristy Valenti takes time to remember the 1986 graphic novel Greenberg the Vampire, one of Marvel’s early entries into the graphic novel market.

– Noah Berlatsky thinks superhero comics are at their best when they don’t take themselves too seriously.

– Everyone and their uncle seems to be talking about Inio Asano’s Solanin, now in stores courtesy of Viz.

– The Festival International de la BD Angouleme, one of the premiere comics events in Europe, announced their official selections list last week. And hey, Wanted is one of the nominees! Over at Comics Reporter, Eurocomic expert Bart Beaty handicaps the list: “In all honesty, the fact that Wanted has been nominated for this prize made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.”

– The Daily Cross Hatch talks to Beanworld creator Larry Marder and Capacity creator Theo Ellsworth.

– Joshua Dysart takes you behind the scenes of the new Vertigo series Unknown Soldier: “Once a month, on the same Wed. that the new issue of Unknown Soldier hits, we’ll post a segment of the book here, separating each stage of the creative process, from script to breakdowns to inks to lettering to coloring. It’s the closest you’re going to get to looking over Alberto’s shoulder while he works.”

– “Brandon” responds to Spurious’ essay about Charles Crumb that everyone linked to last week.

– Brian Briggs is having a “name that trick or treater” contest over on his blog.

– Richard Sala was sharing scary stories on Weekend America the other day.

Can the Punisher + a skrull rifle take out the Sentry? It sounds like we’ll find out in the new Punisher series that launches in January. Jim McLauchlin talks to Joe Quesada about the new book in his latest MyCup ‘O Joe Column:

In 2009, the Marvel Universe is going to become a very, very scary place. It will be the type of place that’s begging for a guy like Frank Castle. With Punisher 1, we’re throwing Frank Castle right into center ring, hunting Big Game like only he can. It all starts with him standing on the edge of the Jersey shore with a Skrull rifle, his sights trained on the head of a major Marvel Universe player. You’ll have to wait and see who he’s aiming at, but suffice it to say, not since Civil War has Frank Castle been so affected by the ripple effects of the Marvel Universe—and never has it more needed his unique brand of justice. What’s the old saying? “One man with one bullet, in the right place, at the right time, can change the world?” Well, just imagine what Frank can do with a million bullets.

But can fans afford to buy another monthly title — esp. if the prices keep going up?

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– The marketing juggernaut continues: Sam Thielman talks with Art Spiegelman about the latter’s new book, Breakdowns.

– The comic strip Rhymes With Orange has a new Web site.

– Chris Arrant profiles Faith Erin Hicks and her new comic The War at Ellsmere.

– Eddie Campbell guides you through Comic Book Morality 101.

– Todd Allen looks at some of the new Webcomic offerings from Shadowline, Liquid and Marvel, and smells trouble … for them.

– Chip Zdarsky shares his ideas for Marvel Comics and it’s totally NSFW (hat tip: Heidi).

– Brigid Alverson writes about plans for the upcoming Haruhi Suzumiya manga.

– Spurious has an interesting essay on Charles Crumb, Robert’s late, tragic older brother.

– Erin Finnegan looks at Tokyopop’s release of Otsuichi’s Goth novel and manga.

– Richard O’Connor blogs about working on an animated They Might Be Giants video with Kim Deitch.

The AMC blog Horror Hacker talks to Charles Burns about his animated contribution to the new anthology horror film Fear(s) of the Dark:

“I worked on the story, the script, the initial animatic (which is sort of a rough storyboard that’s timed out). I was meeting French actors and actresses and having them act for me… with some help from translators,” Burns recalls.  Yet temporarily becoming a collaborateur has taught Burns plenty about the work he’s already been doing for many years.

“I feel fairly secure in my ability to write or put together a story…” he says. “I decided I wanted to step out of my safe zone and try something new and collaborative.” The resultant undertaking has elicited curiosity and rave reviews at screenings worldwide.

Burns also talks about the tentative film adaptation of his seminal graphic novel Black Hole, and suggests that Neil Gaiman isn’t writing the screenplay for it anymore.

“There was a script that was written, or a couple of drafts, but at this point there’s a new writer who’s in the midst of writing a new script,” he offers.

Bummer.

Yale University Press has put together a nicely animated video of editor Ivan Brunetti talking about his latest project, An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories, Volume 2, which, I must say, is one of the finest collections I’ve come across this year.

Ivan Brunetti on An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Vol. 2 from Yale University Press on Vimeo.

– I Live Here, the new book from Mia Kirshner, which features comics by Joe Sacco and Phoebe Gloeckner, has its own blog now.

– I rather like this feature over at The Washington Post, where readers get to vote on a four editorial cartoons, picking which one delivered the sharpest satire.

– Over at the Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon interviews French Milk author Lucy Kinsley.

– I really enjoyed this highly amusing take on Galactus by Phil McAndrew

– Eddie Campbell uses the new Joker graphic novel as a jumping off point to talk about why comic book artists can’t seem to draw clothes properly:

Note that the Joker’s coat folds right over left in the universal manner of women’s coats instead of that of menswear, left over right. I apologise for picking on this artist, but I see the same problem all over the place. It can happen because the artist is looking in a mirror, but the overwhelming reason in the last twenty years is that comic book artists generally speaking, though there are a few fashion plates to give exception to the rule, are the worst dressed people in the world who mostly get around in t-shirts and draw people in leotards.

– John Jakala notes that his daughter’s day care has banned all superhero-related material from the premises, and wonders whether how harmful they may actually be to young children.

– David Bowie sketches!

– Here are some one-sentence comic synopses. (synopsises?)

It was good to be Gerard Scarfe (best known for his work on Pink Floyd The Wall and the Disney’s Hercules movie) this week as the political caricaturist was awarded a CBE (otherwise known as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for the 40 years he’s spent making fun of people:

Describing one of his most memorable images Scarfe said: “When I made my drawings for Private Eye they were shocking at the time, but by today’s standards they probably wouldn’t be.

“I did a drawing of Macmillan, the Prime Minister at the time, in the pose of Christine Keeler, the prostitute who brought down the Government, on the chair.

“And Private Eye put it on the cover of their annual and WH Smith wouldn’t (stock) it, they sent them all back because of that one drawing.”

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The Daily Cross Hatch has posted the first of a promised three-part interview with hot young artist Dash Shaw, whose Bottomless Belly Button and Body World are winning all the raves these days:

When you were working on the book, did it feel like a turning point, in terms of recognition? Having Fantagraphics on your side must have helped a lot.

But I didn’t know that Fantagraphics was going to do it. I had more than half of it done, and then I showed it to Fanta. They said that they were interested, but they wanted to see the rest of it. I finished the rest of it, and then, maybe half a year later, they said, “yes.” In that time I edited a bit and redrew a lot of stuff, but the only things I did after I knew that Fantagraphics was going to publish it was stuff like the cover. Knowing that Fantagraphics was going to publish it and that it was going to be in bookstores did inform my decision about the cover. I wanted it to be the comic in the bookstore that looks more like a minicomic, and not have the author bio and the picture and the coverflaps, and all of these things that it seems like people who do minicomics get in the bookstore market and immediately do. They want their stuff to look like every other book. So I wanted to be the person who gets into the bookstore market and has something that looks like what I was doing before.

– 20 things Every Superhero Comic Collection Needs.

– Laura Hudson talks to Brian Azzarello about his upcoming Joker graphic novel.

– Seth is curating a series of films from the National Film Board of Canada. Drawn! has the details.

– The Mindless Ones look at the work of ero-guru artist Suehiro Maruo (note: some images are probably NSFW).

– Peter Sanderson looks at the new edition of Patrick Rosenkranz’s seminal history of underground comix, Rebel Visions.

– Fantasy.fr has an interview with Devilman creator and manga-ka Go Nagai.

– Judith Rosen checks out the Comics and Classics store in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

– Craig Fischer has a short interview with alt-cartoonist Ben Towle.

– Evie Nagy looks at all the political comics coming out this month.

– Ooooo, I’m a Johnny Storm!

– Noah Berlatsky did not like David Heatley’s new book. Like, at all.

Faith Erin Hicks, 28, burst onto the comics scene last year with Zombies Calling, a fun take-off on the “rules” of horror movies that was published by SLG. This month’s issue of Previews includes her latest work, The War at Ellsmere, which is about “queen bees and mythological beasts” at a girl’s boarding school.

I interviewed the Canadian creator over email to find out more about her background, the new book and what she thinks about “comics for girls.”

JK: When did you decide you wanted to make comics for a living?

Faith: I … uh, don’t yet make comics for a living. Maybe someday! That’s a question I ask any full-time cartoonist I happen to bump into: how do you make a living wage doing this? So far the answers have been varied. And the term “living wage” gets me laughed at a lot. Not many make a living wage.

But as for the WANTING to make a living from comics, it’s a fairly recent goal. I have a background in animation and writing. In university I was an English major and wanted to be some sort of writer (what kind, exactly, I never discovered), then fell in love with drawing towards the end of university and ended up getting in to Sheridan College’s classical animation program after that. So I’ve been working in the animation industry, off and on, for the past four years, and drawing comics on the side.

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• Richard Gehr from the Village Voice went to the The New Yorker Festival earlier this month and brought back a report on Lynda Barry and Matt Groening’s chat. “I think the only art left for us is slowly peeling a label off a beer bottle while somebody tells you about a dream they had,” Barry said.

• Fortune examines Marvel’s recent success — not in the world of movies, but in the world of comics publishing.

• The horror webcomics site Split Lip’s got chills, and they’re multiplying … the site is posting new stories every Sunday throughout the month of October.

• The new Comic Foundry magazine was delayed until this week, but you can read Laura Hudson’s update on a couple of Comic Book Legal Defense Fund-related cases from the magazine over at its website.

• “So why is it that I know more about Tony Stark’s heart condition than I do my own father’s?”

• First Second’s Gina Gagliano posts a Q&A with Get Graphic, a literacy advocacy program that uses comics in Buffalo, N.Y.

• And finally, the greatest headline of the week so far.

• Skim writer Mariko Tamaki talks about her Minx graphic novel Emiko Superstar, and her teen-age years: “I suppose my experience was a lot like Emiko’s in that I had to go outside of school to really connect with a freak identity, and finding that meant disconnecting with some geeky friends who were heading in a direction I wasn’t too into (finance and law - ick). Unlike Emiko, I wasn’t necessarily all by myself when I first discovered things like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I had a pretty cool black lipstick wearing friend to go with me. So Emiko is far braver that I ever was.” [Living Between Wednesdays]

• Multiplex creator Gordon McAlpin discusses work process, promotion, and the future of his popular webcomic: “I do have a long term goal for Multiplex: to end it. … But I could go on doing Multiplex forever in some form. As long as Hollywood exists, I’ve got plenty of material to work with, right?” [COMIXtalk]

• Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, creators of Black Cherry Bombshells, chat about collaboration, influences and why their webcomic features zombies: “Getting the men out of the way, but doing it plausibly and not having to deal with a bunch of extra male characters like ‘the weapons dealer’ or ‘the henchman.’  We didn’t want that — we wanted to get men out of it altogether.” [Pink Raygun]

– Tom Spurgeon interviews Bill Schelly, who’s new biography of Joe Kubert, Man of Rock, should be out in stores any day now.

– In more depressing newspaper news: Acclaimed editorial cartoonist Chip Bok is taking a buyout and leaving The Akron Beacon-Journal. The number of full-time, on-staff cartoonists at daily papers gets smaller and smaller. Of course, so does the number of editors, reporters, photographers …

– On the BBC, they’re talking about comics.

– The Daily Cross Hatch begins a multi-part interview with Art Spiegelman.

– Go! Comi are so excited about their new 07-GHOST series that they’ve set up a whole Web site for it.

– Cool things to bookmark: Elizabeth Conley, Elena Diaz, Pancha Diaz, Andrew Farago, Shaenon Garrity, Konstantin Pogorelov, Jason Thompson, and Leia Weathington have formed a new group blog, titled The Couscous Collective.

– Steven De Souza, who wrote the screenplay for the 1987 Spirit TV-movie (remember that?) offers his thoughts on the upcoming Frank Miller film.

• Ryan Kelly draws Delirium.

• Congrats to former Blog@ columnist Neil Kleid, who welcomed his son into the world this week.

• Online comics retailer Westfield Comics talks to Larry Marder about his return to Beanworld. “I spent 15 years at Image Comics and McFarlane Toys, and three years before that at Moondog’s Comicland as Marketing Director,” he says. “I spent a long time managing other people’s creativity and I decided it was time for me to come back and do my own work.” Also, Blog@ sends our condolences to Marder, whose father recently passed away.

• Here’s an interesting comic reference in a non-comics news story — U.S. News & World Report interviews Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart about why people are drawn to living where they do:

Now you can find people who share your views by picking the TV channels you watch, radio you listen to, and websites you visit. Is it still important to live in a specific place with like-minded people?
If you’re in that consciousness, you can find people like you. They are there. And there’s a marketing reason to move. If you are around people who are like you, then the movies and books you like come to your bookstore. The author you like comes to city hall. If you’re a comic book artist, you move to Portland, and that way the stuff that you want is all around you. You are going to be around the stuff that accumulates around the people who are like yourself.

• How to get your fix in the DC universe.

• And finally, you can read Walking Dead #17 over on MySpace Comics for free.

This week writer Philip Gelatt, artist Rick Lacy and Oni Press served up what Gelatt calls a “smoothie made up of James Bond movies, mid-twenties malaise and toss-away scraps of social theory” in the form of Labor Days Vol. 1. It’s the story of Benton “Bags” Bagswell, a chores-for-hire handyman in London who gets involved in comedic globe-trotting hijinks.

I spoke with both Gelatt and Lacy about the book, which made its debut at the Small Press Expo last weekend and hit stores this past Wednesday.

JK: So the first volume of Labor Days came out this week. What’s it about?

Phil: That’s always been the hardest question for me to answer, and I wrote the damn thing. The short answer is it’s about a guy named Bags. He starts the book as a complete loser and borderline drunk, and then finds himself sucked into a cross-continent chase after a mysterious videotape. The book is very much about Bags, this consummate nobody and miscreant, tossed into an array of situations that he has no business being any part of and meeting an array of bizarre characters including spies, Marxists, radical feminists, gun-blade enthusiasts and fire-breathing hoodlums.

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In an interview with Melissa Block on NPR’s All Things Considered yesterday, Berkeley Breathed talked about ending his current Sunday-only strip:

Breathed says that he’s not usually sentimental about his characters. Still, he found himself “unrealistically emotional” about drawing the final strip, taking pains to make sure the penguin’s last pose was perfect.

Creating Opus for the last time, says Breathed, was like experiencing the passing of his kids’ childhood: “As I drew him finally at the very end, I knew that that was the end — [Opus'] childhood was gone. … It took me a few minutes. I had to pull myself back together again and face the fire.”

Breathed also talks about his upcoming children’s book, Pete & Pickles, which is about a lonely pig who befriends a circus elephant.