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Although The Beat is a loyal New Yorker subscriber (it’s the only thing that holds our attention whilst on the elliptical) just beause you’re a subscriber does’t mean you get the Cartoons of the Year special edition. However if our email is to be believed, this issue includes several new pieces that may necessitate a trip to the newsstand.

Michael Maslin has an index of the cartoons reprinted within—among them Emily Flake, Shannon Wheeler and Liana Finck. HE also made a screenshot of the cover, so we can find it on the newsstand.

Shannon Wheeler has also drawn a 3-page comic strip about Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (no relation) the “father of the comic book.” His granddaughter Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson (an occasional Beat contributor) sent out a teeny preview to whet our appetites.

Paul Karasik has also written a two page article dissecting a Charles Addams cartoon. He also sent along a preview!

This week’s regular issue has a cover by Richard McGuire referencing HERE, which comes out any day now. There’s the usual cover feature explaining it:

“As I walk around the city, I’m time-travelling, flashing forward, planning what it is I have to do,” Richard McGuire says about this week’s cover. “Then I have a sudden flashback to a remembered conversation, but I notice a plaque on a building commemorating a famous person who once lived there, and for a second I’m imagining them opening the door. This is the territory of my new book, ‘Here,’ playing with time in both a historic and personal way.”

BY JEN VAUGHN – Fantagraphics Books isn’t necessarily THE MAN of the comics world but since I’ve only ever self-published my own comics, MoCCA 2012 was my first two days on the job as a staff member of the independent comics publisher. There are more than a few differences between the two experiences. Read on!

Fantagraphics’ Kristy Valenti speaks with Kim Deitch before his signing

1- The Work, as in amount of time spent working the table is constant. Seeing as there is a bit more marketing, publicity and established artists’ work on the table we rarely had to describe the content of the books. Jacq Cohen, Kristy Valenti and me (along with former intern Sophie Yanow) manned the four tables full of books and artists signings. Kristy and Jacq barely left the tables to eat and I’m pretty sure that bottle of lemonade under the table was not . . . lemonade.

2- The Digs where we stayed were MoCCA-recommended because they were smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan, right next to the Armory making for an easier walk each morning and night. The hotel room was tiny but the expansive lobby (pictured above) was an homage to both Breakfast at Tiffany’s and those plastic hamster balls. Originally built in 1903 and called the Martha Washington, this former women’s residence-turned-hotel was the perfect place for the woman of Fantagraphics to rest their heads. No long train rides in from Brooklyn this time!

Daniel Johnston and Fantagraphics’ Jacq Cohen

3- Cross-promotion of artists turned out to be one of the joys. Some Fantagraphics artists spoke on panels (like the ever-charming Shannon Wheeler) so an attendee would grab his Oil & Water book but then toddle off in search of a signature at the Boom! Studios table where Wheeler was selling his Too Much Coffee Man. Likewise, folk artist/musician Daniel Johnston was too busy pouring over our new Nancy book to be bothered to remember what time his book signing was until Boom! editor Adam Staffaroni herded him in the right direction.

Nicolas Mahler signs not only his Fantagraphics book called Angelman but also previous publications bought from the Top Shelf table.

4- Table set-up and take down turned out to be an all-day

Tis the season for sampling Eisner nominees!

The Eisner Awards ballot went online last week — meaning eligible voters (comics professionals) everywhere were racing to record their picks for the best of 2010.

However, one book unintentionally was left OFF the ballot: Shannon Wheeler’s I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FUNNIER, published by BOOM! Studios, was omitted in the Best Humor Publication category. The book is a collection of Wheeler’s rejected New Yorker cartoon submissions.

The ballot has now been updated, but many people have already voted — however, they can still change their votes if the Wheeler opus is the one they prefer.

In order to give the book even more of a chance, BOOM! has made the whole thing available to read online for FREE — see above. And they are also making selected physical copies available to eligible voters.

“I thought it would be funnier if I got left off the Eisner ballot, but I guess not!” said Shannon Wheeler.

“When we didn’t see Shannon’s book on the 2011 Eisner Awards ballot, we thought the joke was on us!” said BOOM! Studios Marketing Director Chip Mosher. “But now that the good folks at the Eisner Awards have fixed the glitch, we’re offering voters a chance to experience the unrelenting hilarity of I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FUNNIER for free. So be sure to get your free copy and take another look at your vote for Best Humor Publication!”