comics

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
What It Is	Lynda Barry	Drawn and Quarterly		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	It's here!  What It is, the long awaited, all new, 208 page hardcover volume of heuristic metacomix by the one and only Lynda Barry, is both a beautiful and inspiring work of art and an insightful exploration of the creative process.  Her first new work since her 2002 masterpiece, 100 Demons, What It Is uses the language of comics to probe the secrets of creativity itself, which leads her deep into the caverns of philosophy, where, ever the intrepid explorer, Ms. Barry undertakes an especially thorough excavation of the cave of epistemology.  There in the murky darkness she discovers that memory and imagination blur and merge amidst the stalactites and stalagmites of our respective genetic heritages before condensing and collecting in placid prehistoric pools to mix with the ancient amoebas; in the process dissolving time itself.  The past, present and future come together -- an instant and an eternity stand as one in the revelation that it all starts with... The Image!  Lynda Barry, long considered among the major contemporary comics creators, has, with What It Is,  taken comics to a new place and created a work that can stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantheon with those created by Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel Basquiat, and Hayao Miyazaki, to name but a few of her new peers.  This book is full of surprises and delight.  There's really only one thing to say about this book:  "YES!!!"  If you still need convincing, then feast your eyes on this amazing (lucky)13-page preview and/or read our full length review.
Bottomless Belly Button	Dash Shaw	Fantagraphics		$25.00 ($29.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Weighing in at 700+ pages, we're pretty sure this one surpasses Craig Thompson's Blankets as the longest unserialized graphic novel ever published in the US.  Just think:  over 700 pages of far out and freaky graphic storytelling that you've never laid eyes on before -- and neither had we... until we sat down (after getting together a solid supply of food and drink to sustain us) and read this hefty tome. Where to start? Well, first off is the fact that the book took over two years to draw, is divided into three sections (each of which you are advised by the author to take a break after reading -- although we have to admit that we ignored this warning and plowed straight through), is printed in brown ink on 6" x 9" white paper, and tells the tale of the Loony family, in particular Peter Loony.  It begins with the line, "There are many types of sand."  Some 700 pages later the urge to compare this book to Blankets was, at least for us, irresisitable.  Like Blankets, Bottomless Belly Button is also a deeply personal work of catharsis that takes the form of a long, involved book that tells the tale of an introverted artist struggling with the emotional baggage he has been weighed down with by his family and who, in his effort to move ahead, gets involved with an extroverted, more sexually experienced girl.  But, while the general narrative arc of these two works may have much in common, the specifics are different in almost every particular.  The setting here is a hot and sunny beach, the exact opposite of the icy cold snowy north woods of Blankets.  The sexual episodes in BBB are presented as being (at least somewhat) perverse and unsettling, as opposed to the  rhapsodic and fulfilling scenes of sexual congress in Blankets.  BBB is intellectual and analytical where Blankets is lyrical and expressive.  The crucial difference lies in the attention given to the other family members. In BBB, while the protagonist is alienated from his family from the word go, the family itself is given much, much more attention here than in Blankets, with each family member being given a fully fleshed out portrait and their own set of challenges.  While the protagonist may be alienated from his family, the creator of this work, Dash Shaw, certainly has quite a bit of empathy for all actors in his drama, and as a result the reader comes away from BBB with a surprisingly strong sense of each member of the supporting cast and, crucially, how they all fit together as a family.  In the  final analysis, BBB is more about probing the mystery of the family than it is a rite of passage tale, and so, really, is not so much like Blankets after all.
Amor Y Cohetes	Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez	Fantagraphics	Love and Rockets	$13.55 ($16.99 list)
Read more and comment...	It's hard to believe, but with this volume, the seventh in the new format, the repackaging of the first volume of Love and Rockets is now complete!  While the first six volumes gave us the massive mythologies of Hoppers and Palomar, this issue collects all the odds 'n' ends and bric á brac that the fertile imaginations of los Bros unleashed when they were kicking back; as well as the story that started it all back in Love and Rockets #1, Gilbert Hernandez's BEM.  Let us rhapsodize for a moment:  It was with BEM that Gilbert Hernandez -- comics' own St. George -- slew the dragon of derivative, formulaic heroic fantasy comics by ripping out its heart and laying it bare.  BEM demonstrates once and for all that the success of the formula is based on keeping fear alive, that the hero and the villain are, unwittingly perhaps, complicit in an illicit pact to keep the reader enthralled with the eternal recurrence of evil.  BEM pulls back the curtain and reveals formulaic heroic fantasy comics as Ouroboric circles devoid of any real hope, real progress or real growth; promising salvation but delivering the damnation of addiction with an empty formula expertly designed to keep readers coming back for more with the dangled promise of the imminent unveiling of a mystery that not only is there no intent to deliver on, but as BEM finally and brilliantly reveals, there is not even the capacity or ability on the part of the danglers to do so in the first place for the simple reason that the creators of this formula are themselves as equally trapped within it by their fealty to the profit motive -- unable to see outside the borders of their own fear and need and so drawing in the hordes to feed their own cravings (Love and Rockets:  it's not just a comic book series, it's a hermeneutics.).  We'll be the first to admit that anyone coming to this story now, over 25 years after the fact -- and especially those who were never themselves in the thrall of superhero comics in the first place -- will have a hard time fully appreciating the importance of this story, but that's no reason not to try.  The revelation of BEM cleared the way for a whole new approach to comics:  the way that Love and Rockets went on to pioneer.  Comics have never been the same since.
MOME #11: Summer 2008	John Hankiewicz, Paul Hornschemeier, Killoffer, Tom Kaczynski and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Speaking of "a whole new approach to comics," what better fits this description than MOME?  To any readers who might have felt a creeping worry that MOME wouldn't be able to keep it up, that there simply wasn't enough high calibre new work being produced to keep MOME floating on its lofty plane, let us be first to say that these fears can be laid to rest with this issue, which is arguably the best yet.  It starts off with a new Al Columbia piece that (finally) lives up to the promise of his outsized rep. "5:45 A.M." is a story which shows us that, yes, God is in the details.  In a mere eight, actionless panels -- more or less a tableaux nature morte --  Columbia manages to quite successfully share with us his own dark lord.  "Einmal Ist Keinmal" by this issue's cover artist, Killoffer, follows.  A variation on his singular masterwork, 676 Apparitions of Killoffer, "EIK" will give you plenty to ponder while you pore over its seductive linework.  Nate Neal is up next with "The 5 Simple Cosmic Do Dats" wherein he deftly manages the fairly astounding party trick of grafting his own left-leaning post-punk tendencies onto a synthetic hybridization of the aesthetics of Kim Deitch and the narrative techniqes of Dan Clowes to create that wonder of wonders:  an entertaining work that is both funny and smart.  You might find yourself scratching your head at first while working through this one, but keep going -- or better yet, start over and try again -- this one has more going on in it than first meets the eye.  Four panels of "Truth Bear" by Ray Fenwick (who doubles as this issue's [quite engaging] interview subject) follow.  Eleanor Davis serves up an irresisitable visual treat , "The 10,000 Rescues," and then we have seven pages of fun with the future of the wonderful world of Art in "The Galactic Funnels," courtesy Dash Shaw, before plunging into John Hankiewicz's personal gift to Copacetic -- a five-page story that combines his own totally unique approach to narrative with a brief episode in the life of the one and only Anita O'Day! (Thank you, John.)  Then it's Emile Bravo's turn to wow us with his four-page assembly of signs & meaning which deftly deconstructs the quandary of globalization, "A Question of Human Resources."  Newcomer, Conor O'Keefe brings a novel approach to his two pieces, combining an old-old-school Sunday page design sense (we suspect he may have spent some time curled up with Art Out of Time) with a very contemporary sensibility.  We look forward to watching his talent develop (and we hope that it continues to do so in the pages of MOME).  And then there's the topper:  "Million Year Boom," by Tom Kaczynski will knock your socks off.  It is probably the first succcessful translation of the Ballardian (as in J.G. Ballard) narrative approach to science fiction yet achieved in comics form.  This deeply creepy tale brings us face to face with a world where major corporate leaders so deeply internalize their own marketing messages and stock market hype that they become untethered from consensus reality and move into the ambiguous landscapes of delusion, paranoia and insanity that were so successfully mined by Ballard (and, to be fair, by many others, most notably Philip K Dick; but none so well as Ballard, who is most convincingly evoked here).  While the influence of Clowes is certainly evident in Kaczynski's work, he has created a wholly original synthesis here.  This issue is rounded out with contributions by MOME regulars Andrice Arp, Paul Hornschemeier and Kurt Wolfgang.  Encore!  Encore!
Gary Panter	Gary Panter	PictureBox		$27.95 ($95.00 list)
Read more and comment...	NOW ON SALE FOR OVER 70% OFF!!!  While we certainly had some sympathy for those who felt that this amazing volume was simply too dear, there's no longer any excuse.  The definitive career-spanning collection of the one and only Gary Panter is now available for a price so low that the mind simply boggles.  Now's your chance to experience the first and foremost fomenter of the fine-art/comics nexus in all his glory in this massive, oversized, two-volume hardcover for less than the price of a fistful of new comics.  This book is so well designed that it is practically a work of art in itself!  Published by PictureBox, "This monumental, slipcased set is split into two 344-page volumes. The first is a comprehensive monograph featuring over 700 images of paintings, drawings, sculptures, posters and comics, alongside essays by Robert Storr, Mike Kelley, Edwin Pouncey, Richard Klein, Richard Gehr, Karrie Jacobs and Byron Coley, as well a substantial commentary by the artist himself. The second volume features a selection from Panter’s sketchbooks–the site of some of his most audacious work–most of which has never been published in any form."  NOW ON SALE FOR OVER 70% OFF!!!
The Explainers	Jules Feiffer	Fantagraphics		$25.00 ($28.99 list)
Read more and comment...	OK, this is the one we've been waiting for.  It all starts here.  Jules Feiffer is the founding father of the alternative newsweekly comic strip.  He walked into the offices of the Village Voice at some point during the first year of its operations and pitched an idea for a continuing comic strip.  The editors took him up on it and for the next forty years Feiffer turned in a strip nearly every week, ALL of which will be collected by Fantagraphics in four fat volumes, each collecting a decade's worth of strips.  This 546 page volume is the first.  Feiffer reinvented the comic strip for the then nascent "Alt." crowd that had The Village as it's ground zero.  These strips seem amazingly contemporary even today.  Try saying that about any other 50 year old comic strip (well, not counting Peanuts, which is, evidently, timeless).  Feiffer created the template, and pretty much owned it for twenty years.  Once the punk rock generation clawed their way into the newsweeklies Feiffer's way became ubiquitous, and cartoonists the likes of Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Mark Stamaty and Stan Mack spread the gospel.  The comics contained in The Explainers are smart and funny and made a vital contribution to the development of American comics.
Comic Arf	Craig Yoe	Fantagraphics		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	It's time for another oversize collection of "the unholy marriage of comics + art" as defined by editor Yoe.  The highlight this time around is the opening salvo:  31 of today's top cartoonists each complete an installment of "Draw Your Own Conclusion," a series originally created in the late 1920s by old-school-comics-master, Milt Gross, as a contest wherein readers sent in their version of the last panel, and the winner received $25 (a lot, in those days) and saw their conclusion see print.  This time around we're all winners as the responders whose conclusions see print range from R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Kaz to Xaime Hernandez, Pete Bagge and Ivan Brunetti to Mike Mignola and Sergio Aragonés to Patrick McDonnell and Bill Griffith to Jules Feiffer and Matt Groening to Mort Walker and Bil Keane... and more!  There's also a hefty dose of Gross's full-page full-color Sunday pages from the same period.  There's plenty more on hand here including color scans of the original art for a seven-page Bob Powell pre-code horror story.
Dororo, Volume One	Osamu Tezuka	Vertical		$12.75 ($13.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Hard to believe, but here's yet another late sixties masterwork by the one and only Tezuka, published by Vertical.  This time around the publisher, Vertical, has opted for the original righit-to-left Japanese page order; in other words, unlike the other Vertical editions of Tezuka's work (Buddha, MW, etc.) this one reads "back" to "front."  This is the first of three volumes.
Speed Racer: Mach GO GO GO	Tatsuo Yoshida	UNDEFINED		$33.33 ($39.95 list)
Read more and comment...	by Tatsuo Yoshida & Co. Just in time for the Wachowski Bros. full-length (2 1/2 hours!) CGI-intensive feature film, DMP has put together a complete edition of the original Speed Racer manga from back in the day.  It's a slip-cased edition composed of two hardcover volumes that will be sure to rev up the emotional engines of Speed Racer fans (you know who you are).  Read this, for a fairly thorough accounting of its merits, a nice photo of the actual item and a general meditation on all things Speed Racer.
Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella #1	Lewis Trondheim	UNDEFINED		$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Fully cognizant adult funny animals walk and talk through the streets and across the skies of Europe, searching for meaning and beauty in this 120 page graphic novel that is confidently rendered in pen and ink and sensitively colored in watercolor by one of the most popular of contemporary European comics artists.
Three Shadows	Cyril Pedrosa	(:01) First Second		$14.44 ($15.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Hey, this one's a beaut.  :01 (First Second, to you) made all the right choices to emphasize the aesthetic pleasures in this fine 268 page graphic novel by reknowned (at least in France) French artist Cyril Pedrosa.  All we have to say is that if dramatic narratives, cinematic storytelling and great ink brush work are your thing, then this is for you!  Not sure, check out this preview.
Little Vampire	Joann Sfar	(:01) First Second		$12.75 ($13.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Vampires.  Little vampires.  A cute li'l blood-sucker doing his thing in a big book full of full color comics.  Little vampire, little vampire, won't you come out and play. What more can be said, which is more or less a sort of follow up (prequel?) to Sfar's earlier Vampire Loves, which presents the gambollings of a moody adolescent vampire. It seems the world just can't get enough of vampires.  Here's the comic that dares to ask the question, "Can vampires be cute?"To help you decide the answer, here's a preview. It's cute!
Life Sucks	Jessica Abel	(:01) First Second		$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria and Warren Pleece :01 seems intent on moving in on Vertigo's turf with this one.  A tall tale of walking on the wild side with twenty-something, surfer-duding, night-clerking, goth-rocking (and not-so-cute -- what a difference fifteen or twenty years makes, huh?) vampires.  Might be good, let's check out this bloodless preview and see what we think.  Hmm, looks a bit like Ghost World meets a PG-13 version of Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss.  Vampires.  It looks like there's no getting away from them.  Why are we not surprised?

books

Title	Author	Publisher	Price
Maps and Legends	Jordan Crane, Michael Chabon	McSweeney's	$22.22 ($24.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The first non-fiction collection by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Kavalier & Clay ranges from autobiographical essays (growing up in the then experimental community of Columbia, MD) to book reviews (Cormac McCarthy's The Road, for one) to artist appreciations (Howard Chaykin, Will Eisner, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) to Judaism (Golems anyone?) and then back to memoirs (writing Mysteries of Pittsburgh, childhood encounters with literature).  We can pretty much guarantee that any and all readers who are enamored of Chabon's fiction will take great pleasure in reading this volume, as the same discerning intelligence is on ample display here in sentences and paragraphs that are as finely crafted as any he has written and that will leave each reader with greater appreciations of and deeper insights into all the covered topics.  And then there's the way fab, three tier, Jordan Crane dustjacket.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union			$14.44 ($15.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Oh, yeah -- we should mention that this fine novel, wherein Mr. Chabon grafts his own set of concerns -- faith, family, father and failure -- on top of a straight, down and dirty hard-boiled detective story with sterling results, is now available in s fine, french-flapped softcover edition for all those of you who were unable, for whatever reason, to obtain a copy of the hardcover.

dvds

Title	Director	Publisher	Price
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Julian Schnabel		$25.00 ($29.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Where to begin with a film like this?  Well, for starters, this film single-handedly renewed our faith in the existence of a cinema of redemption, of the sort we had thought had long ago passed from this earth.  The viewing of this film reveals a complex signification system constructed of layer upon layer upon layer of meaning-generating signs, symbols and referents and designed to address the core theme of communication and those inter-personal relations that most closely -- at least, in Schnabel's view -- inhere to it.  These the film differentiates as inter-generational familial relations -- particularly the father-son relation -- along with its corallary, gender relations; the relation between self-interest and self-sacrifice, which can, in turn, be further parsed to the relation between self-expression and submission; which leads, finally, to the relationship between art and religion. These themes are explored to such a depth as to reveal their shared roots.  At the end we discover that the essence of life is a struggle to communicate our being in the face of mortality, and that the cinema is -- when properly employed -- a powerful language in this struggle, one that is, in fact -- as powerfully demonstrated by this film -- capable of redeeming the life led in its service.

cds

Title	Artist	Publisher	Price
Dig!!! Lazurus, Dig!!!	Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds		$16.17 ($17.98 list)
Read more and comment...	A finely crafted old school rock album filled with hard-driving songs populated by angst-ridden characters that strain to shed some light on the state of things while simultaneously rocking out.  Grinding guitars and whining keyboards glide over a solid rhythm while Cave drones on.  While this is certainly not up to the level of Abattoir Blues -- his masterpiece, in our opinion --  it's a finely crafted piece of work that gives ample evidence that Cave & Co. are still on a roll, and is certainly worth a listen (you'll have to click around a bit to find it, but the whole album is [or, at least was] up for your listening pleasure).

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