If given some magical chance to swipe someone’s artistic ability, I could narrow down my preferred list real quick: Paul Southworth of Ugly Hill, Scott Kurtz of PvP, or Paul Taylor of Wapsi Square. Taylor’s art style is simply amazing. Every time I’m at a comics convention, I’m in awe, watching Paul draw. So allow me to share a bit of exciting news from Paul’s world of Wapsi:

Wapsi Square: Book 2

Blank Label Comics is excited to announce the release of the “Wapsi Square: The Demons In My Back Pocket” by cartoonist Paul Taylor. This is the third “Wapsi Square” book (the first volume was released last year and a collection of early strips was published by Keenspot).

The book is 8.5″ x 11″ / 160 pages, with perfect binding and black-and-white interior ink. You can order one right now through Lulu. Sample pages One Two Three Four Five

Pug Owners! We’re almost at the end of June, which means there’s only two more days to get your pics in our photo contest: “Is Your Pug the Funniest?”

Tell your friends, tell your friends-friends, and spread the word over at Pug Village and the Pug Community! There’s just two days left to get your photo entries in — and I don’t want anyone to miss out by a day or two.

Reminder: the winner will be getting a personalized, frame-able drawing of their pug, plus a personalized copy of “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly”. So get your pics in!

And if you haven’t seen them, check out the pics submitted so far!

This morning, I received the production samples for the third Sheldon book…and they look amazing. Really, really amazing. I’m a stickler for details, and this book exceeded all my hopes.

So, even though copies aren’t available in the store yet, I wanted to share a few quick pics with you.

The final look, weight, colors, and baby-soft vellum cover all came out great:

And check out how nicely all three books hang together. My buddy Katherine did a really nice job of giving all three a “line look”.

And here they are from the side. Hangin’ out together. Livin’ the dream. You know how it goes.

And finally, a shot of all three from the back.

I can’t wait ’til you guys get a chance to see ’em!

And don’t forget…if you were hoping to get a limited Artist’s Edition, those will be put on sale to newsletter subscribers first. So if you haven’t yet, sign up!

(Note: Sheldon by E-mail subscribers will get the newsletter automatically, so no need to sign up twice.)

Submitted by Sheldonista Nikola N:

A few quick things to note on the Sheldon Wallpapers:

1.) On request, I’ve added 1600 x 1200 to the list of available resolutions. So now, the full list includes…800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

…that should cover 99.9% of folks. But if you have a random, Bulgarian-made computer screen with a resolution not seen above — I’ll happily add that resolution to the list!

2.) Also, the dead link for 1920×1200 has been fixed. Sorry about that!

3.) Also, also: I’ve added the wallpapers to the Sheldon Store checkout process. So now, every Sheldon purchase also gets you these wallpapers as thanks! (Just click on “Return to Merchant” when you’re finished with your Paypal checkout).

4.) Also, also, also: you guys are rad. I put these up under a donation system of “any amount” — but “any” in my mind meant “small”. A few of you Europeans were far too giving. Which either means the dollar is trading favorably for you, or you’re entirely too generous. Thanks, in any case!

Didn’t get your wallpaper yet? Pick up yours by clicking here!

Sheldonista Cara G. sent in another submission in our on-going game of weird restaurant signs.

So far, I think Cara’s winning. “Eat Here, Get Gas & Worms”? Who was proofreading this thing?

Sheldonista Cara G. seriously upped the ante in this game of “innappropriate signage on restaurant storefronts”. Check out Cara’s entry:

Lots of readers e-mail me asking for Sheldon wallpapers for their monitors. But because of all the different screen resolutions that are out there, it turns out to be quite a task…and I haven’t had the time to devote to it.

Until now! I’ve had a tiny breathing period between finishin’ up the third Sheldon book and startin’ the next super-secret Sheldon project…so I took the last two days to make some wallpapers in umpteen-thousand resolutions. Here they are, complete with 2007 calendars!

Both are available for a Paypal donation of any amount. Just click on this button to get both:

After donating, clicking the “Return to Merchant” button will take you to the page where you can download the wallpapers. It’s easy-peasy.

If you encounter any problems in the process, just e-mail me using the e-mail address you used with PayPal, and I’ll make it right.

(…and don’t sweat the donation, if it’s not possible. I’m just curious to see how this “tipping-via-Paypal” thing works. If you can’t swing it right now, just e-mail me and I’ll send the wallpapers for free.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the subscription drive that “News-Free Comics” is currently having.

“News-Free Comics” collects Sheldon and lots of other great strips into one “news-free” monthly newsprint collection.

I’m not involved with it’s production or sale, but I thought I’d mention it for the Sheldonistas that might be interested.

I’ve started fiddlin’ with Google Analytics to see where in the world Sheldon readers are coming from…and I thought I’d share some early fun facts with you:

– California, Texas, New York, and Washington have the biggest Sheldon readerships by state.

– Sheldon does really well in the UK. Mostly in the greater Londonopolis area.

– Not a lot of love from France. (…clearly, these strips continue to haunt me with “La bande dessinée” readers: #1, #2, #3.)

– Germany, however, has a bigger readership than 80% of US states. Mostly from Frankfurt and Munich. Who would’ve guessed?

– A surprisingly large showing from Sweden. Given my love for IKEA’s meatballs, this brings special joy to my heart!

– Big Sheldon readerships in Toronto and Vancouver.

– The southeast coast of Australia is a little hub of Sheldonistas, with big showings in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney.

These little geographical tidbits will help me plan out what future comics conventions I’ll be coming to in 2008.

In fact, I can already announce one conclusion for my 2008 travel plans! South Dakota, you’re out. I’d love to see Mount Rushmore again, but I’m sorry…it’s just not working out between you and I.