-- Grilled Cheese Invitational : What's better than a grilled cheese sandwich? Nothing, that's what. (Our apologies go out to all and any lactose-intolerant readers. You live a life of heartache we can only imagine.) This competition, though, will feature ingredients ranging from Kraft Singles (yum!) to truffle butter, brie, rice, and more. Starts at 8:30 p.m. at Eli's Mile High Club, Oakland; $5. -- Edward Gorey's Dracula: Guests are encouraged to wear Gorey-inspired......

-- Scott McCloud: Experimental and wildly popular comic artist and novelist (Making Comics) speaks tonight at "Evolution of the American Comic Book". Rory Root (owner, Comic Relief) and Andrew Farago (curator, Cartoon Art Museum) also speak. Starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market; $7-$20. -- End of Summer Slam Jam for Teens: Are there words prettier than "back to school"? Maybe. But when we start seeing back-to-school commercials and such, we......

SFist Jenna sees you in the funny pages! Comics 4 Comix: Have you ever been to the Cartoon Art Museum? Neither have we. Head there tonight for a great cause. An overlooked gem in San Francisco, the Cartoon Art Museum is having its annual fundraiser and silent art auction, starting tonight at 7 pm. Come bid on original comic strip art from both local and national cartoonists, including including Dan Piraro (Bizarro), Frank Cho (Liberty......

SFist Christina, contributing. Last night was the book release party for Shannon O'Leary's Pet Noir, a comic anthology of true pet crime stories published by San Francisco's very own Manic D Press. If you weren't there you missed one hip affair. Held at the wonderful Cartoon Art Museum it was packed the entire night and Pet Noir was selling like hot cakes. Many of the artists who contributed to the book were in attendance......

First, the excitement of the election, and now the excitement of a (for many people) three day weekend. More excitement! Movies: Third I South Asian Film Festival, In Debt We Trust by Danny Schecter Friday and Saturday night, Hardcore Viewmaster on Saturday night, early Werner Herzog shorts at SF MoMA, Saturday afternoon, and New Italian Cinema all day Sunday. Book Parties: Friday at the Cartoon Art Museum, Just Like Heaven, which is a children's......

It's mini-comic week! Our BFFs at Isotope Comics just handed out their annual mini-comics award, so this week we're diving into a couple modest-size graphic booklets. We're suckers for any story about the Monkey King, and we also love the cozy art and fierce personality of Oakland-resident Gene Yang's "American Born Chinese." The six-book series explores Asianness, whatever that is, through tales of modern cultural assimilation, over-the-top stereotyping, and ancient mythology. We couldn't put down......

Having worked in SoMa for seven years, we consider ourselves at least slightly informed as to what's doing in that neighborhood. So we read the New York Times' "36 Hours: SoMa, San Francisco," with some interest, hoping to see some of our favorite drop-in spots in print. What we saw instead was a wallet-busting tour of an area that's got a lot of great bargains. Although SFist totally applauds the inclusion of City Kayak's......