Hmmm… what’s inside?

• A bevy of comic and graphic artists such as Charles Burns, Blutch, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire exorcise their fears in a collection of black and white animated shorts fittingly titled Fear(s) of the Dark. It is still in production, but a trailer is available. Today’s image is from Charles Burns’ contribution. (via meathaus)
• The Penguin comics cover fest continues with Tom Gauld giving us a sneak peak at his forthcoming cover for The Three Musketeers.
• Don’t miss a beat. Heidi MacDonald passes along the news about Ted Rall doing a guest Maakies strip, even as Rall and Millionaire supposedly profess to being on crusty terms.
• Christmas is here early this year. At Life Meter, a loose assemblage of top notch cartoonists and artists, including Dan Abdo, Raina Telgemeir, Jacob Chabot, and KC Green, offer imaginative interpretations and loving parodies of a wide swathe of video gamer faves—cult hits like Guitar Hero and Katamari Damacy, classics such as Frogger and Mario, unique gems like Earthbound, truly geeky ones like Animal Crossing and the Legend of Zelda, and even one from the floppy disk days. The organizers of Life Meter are currently working on their second mini comic anthology.
• Instead of treating his Chris Ware comics like museum pieces, Niem Tran takes a much more reverent approach by cutting along the dotted lines and assembling them into an impressive menagerie of paper toys. Go check out his “humble salute to Chris Ware,” and before long, you’ll be looking at your own Chris Ware comics with a dangerous new gleam in your eyes.

—Elizabeth Chou