Happy holidays! Gravy is the Giant-Size X-Men #1 of my family and I’m so stuffed that my stuffed fingers keep hitting double keys. So I’ll celebrate with a shortened post for the holiday season. 

First off, over at The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon has the Ultimate Black Friday Holiday Shopping Guide to nothing but good stuff - sound recommendations for you, your friends and even your family. Highly recommended, if only to open discussions.

Virginia Comic Con: Scoop over at Diamond Galleries has some nice photos of the recent Virginia Comic Con up. Michael Golden, John Gallagher, Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, Louis Small, Chuck Dixon, Steve Conley, Alex Saviuk, and Billy Tucci were among those present who got their picture taken.

Skin: Over at the Forbidden Planet blog, Joe revisits an old favorite, Skin by Brendan McCarthy, Peter Milligan and Carol Swain.

Spider-Man: You know what I really want for Christmas this year? A Spider-Man action figure dressed like Chris Claremont circa 1981.

Jeff Marriotte: He’s got a new project with artist Daniele Serra coming out from Image/Shadowline in March. Called Fade to Black, he’s put up a couple of preview pages that look really nice.

Fangoria Comics: I missed this earlier in the month, but Bob Greenberger has a nice interview with Tony Brownfield at Fangoria Graphix, about their return to publishing.
(thanks to John Zipperer at Weimar World Service)

The Princess And The Frog: Animator Michael Sporn has conflicting emotions and a lot to say about the new Disney 2-D animated feature, The Princess And The Frog.

And finally, here’s a selection of bimbos of the comic book universe. In French, and probably not safe for work and probably safe only for action figure fetishists. I’m pretty sure these toys will stuff somebody’s stocking.

Happy holidays and let the shopping begin! If you’re planning on giving the gift of comics this year, be sure to drop by your LCS and spend a little money locally.

[Artwork: a little bit of Skin]