By Zak Sally In this issue, things ramp up, as Sammy still can't seem to find some peace and quiet in the comfort of his home (because a giant finger is poking him in the skull, among other things), and some new 'friend' won't take 'No' for an answer. An answer for what? Why, a PICNIC, of course. EVERYBODY loves a PICNIC, right? As if that weren't enough, Feekes keeps shooting off his drunk mouth (with dire consequences), there's more secret scary underwater business from Him, and where the hell is Puppy-boy, anyway? Also in this issue: a moustache.

By Gabriella Giandelli Things are getting weirder in the apartment house in this, the third (of four) episode of Gabriella Giandelli's surreal tale. Two teens record a rock song, an ugly breakup takes place between a husband and a wife, the old lady resorts to increasingly desperate measures to find her inner peace, more and more people have begun to notice the white rabbit, much to his distress...and the Creature That Lives In The Basement And Feeds on Dreams is becoming frustrated because no one is dreaming.

by Michael Kupperman The eagerly anticipated fourth volume of Thrizzle does something no comic magazine has ever done before - it helps your family organize its entire day! Every page is dedicated to a half-hour of an average 16-hour cycle, allowing it to compliment and entertain along the way with Pagus, Twain and Einstein, The Scaredy Kids, and Jungle Princess!

TCJ #297 contains a career-spanning interview with Mort Walker, the creator of the long-running comic strips Beetle Bailey and Hi & Lois. Graphic designer, editor and cartoonist Jordan Crane discusses his groundbreaking anthology NON, his internationally acclaimed all-ages graphic novel The Clouds Above and his Uptight series. Plus: An essay and comics gallery focusing on the work of the famous 17th-century caricaturist Thomas K. Rowlandson.

Edited by Gary Groth, Mike Dean & Kristy Valenti SC, 7.5 x 9.5, 200 pages, FC, $11.99 Our annual Best-of the-Year issue, featuring interviews with the best cartoonists of the year about their work. Plus, TCJ explores the international comics scene with a sampling of edgy works by contemporary Finnish cartoonists that have never before been published in English.

Brian K. Vaughan, writer of Y: The Last Man, will take readers behind the scenes of the upcoming Y film, TV's Lost, his award-winning comic Pride of Baghdad and the politics that infuse his WildStorm series Deus Ex Machina, as well as his upcoming comics projects. Paul Karasik chats with Italian cartoonist Gipi about his Santa Maria video and animation studio, They Found the Car, Garage Band and Notes for a War Story. Visions of sugarplums and other holiday themes dance through the heads of comic-book and strip cartoonists in a special gallery drawn from 30 years of personalized Christmas cards.