comics

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Cold Heat Special #8	Frank Santoro, Lane Milburn	Self-published	Cold Heat	$10.00 ($10.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	No, we didn't make a mistake:  Cold Heat Special #8, another SPX 2008 highlight, is already here, despite the fact that #6 & #7 have yet to see print.  That's the world of Cold Heat:  time is non-linear here; temporal warps, shifts and bounces are the norm, so hold on tight.  This time around we have an amazing magazine size (8 1/2" x 11") special with a double silk-screen wrap printed in three colors on heavy duty stock by Pittsburgh's own ace printer, Budai.  Castle travels through a dream-vision to a world of mythological archetypes that sheds an insightful light on our own.  Santoro has found another fine collaborator in Milburn, as their respective strengths forge to create a swirling sense of the porous and shifting border between interior psychological states and the sensory experience of external reality. This special is a special value, so don't delay:  these won't be around long as the print run has been limited to a mere 100 copies.
Punk Rock and Trailer Parks		Slave Labor Graphics		$11.77 ($15.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The creator of the long running independent newsweekly strip, The City, has created a pitch perfect tale of the classic days of punk rock.  Set in his home town of Akron, Ohio, in 1980, PR & TP gives us the senior year and then some of high school loser cum small-town-punk-rock-legend, Otto "The Baron" Pizcok.  While the central narrative is entirely fictional, its setting is not, and Derf wryly  captures the mid-Ohio ambience and recreates the hot and heavy scene at the main Akron club -- The Bank -- that was, at least for the time chronicled here, the center of the punk scene.  Plot, pacing, characterization, the supporting cast -- all are spot on.  Punk Rock and Trailer Parks will make for a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone who likes comics and punk rock and will be a real thrill for anyone who remembers these days.
Capacity	Theo Ellsworth	Secret Acres		$12.75 ($15.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	If you ask us what was the highlight of this year's SPX, we won't hesitate to answer that it was the premiere of Theo Ellsworth's collection, Capacity.  This hefty 336 page tome collects all seven issues of Mr. Ellsworth's fantastic self-published series of comics of the same name, (these have been big sellers here at Copacetic, but most, if not all, of them are now out of print) PLUS well over 100 pages of new -- and amazing -- material.  This is a veritable jackpot of a book, and we commend the fine folks at Secret Acres for taking the chance on Theo and publishing it.  It is packed with page after page of the most energetically imaginative pen and ink drawings we've ever seen.  There's a hint of Moebius here, but really, when you get right down to it, this book makes us think that Ellsworth's body, despite residing in the northwest of the USA, has been occupied by a spirit from gothic Europe; probably that of a monkish scribe who produced illuminated manuscripts that contained detailed architectural renderings... and this spirit is pushing itself into our world through Theo's skillful hands, manifesting itself here in these fantastic pages of comics, which, the more you look at them the more they really do seem to start to come alive and enter into the mind and spirit of the reader.   We strongly encourage you to visit  www.artcapacity.com to help prepare yourself for the experience.  Theo Ellsworth's talent is clearly working at maximum capacity.
Swallow Me Whole	Nate Powell	Top Shelf		$14.44 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Nate Powell's first graphic novel is one of the more ambitious attempts yet to tackle family dysfunction and mental illness in comics form.
The Night of Your Life	Jesse Reklaw	Dark Horse		$14.44 ($15.95 list)
Read more and comment...	In addition to having one of our favorite names, Jesse Reklaw is a talented cartoonist (he won this year's Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini-Comic).  He has been producing his Slow Wave comic strip for alternative newsweeklies for over ten years now and The Night of Your Life, a bargain-priced 244 page hardcover, is the second Slow Wave collection (We still have a few copies of the first, now out of print, 2000 collection, Dreamtoons, around here somewhere, if anyone is interested).  The premise behind Slow Wave is simple and elegant:  Reklaw solicits dreams from his readers, he picks one a week and converts that dream into a comic strip that is composed of four panels of equal size, two over two; each and every week.  Here are the best of the last eight years.  Learn more at www.slowwave.com.
Red Rocket 7	Michael Allred	Image Comics		$15.55 ($16.99 list)
Read more and comment...	For those of you who like a bit more -- alright, a lot more -- fantasy mixed in with your graphic novels that celebrate the saving grace of Rock, Red Rocket 7 may be the ticket.  For our money, this book is Allred's most interesting work. This is a budget priced reissue of the original series.  It's 200 pages of full color comics that provides the entire original story & covers & bonus material in a "hi sci fi" 7" square-formatted trade paperback.  Originally released in a 10-issue 10" square format comic book series 10 years ago, it (re)tells the dominant (i.e. - Anglo-centric) history of rock 'n' roll as though it were the story of one lone hero, and thereby welds it to the super-hero genre.  Specifically, reading this version of the history of Rock it feels very much as though it were part of the Marvel Universe, in that everything fits together seamlessly, and everything connects to the lead protagonist, which, then causes the reader to pause and reflect how this way of reading history -- that of positioning an identity that stands in for the reader at the center of the action -- has a strong pull, is a sort of siren song:  it's a pleasure to read, but you end up where you started, alone with the music.  Strange, alienating and yet pleasurable, Red Rocket 7 is a synecdoche for something, we're just not sure what...
Deitch's Pictorama	Kim Deitch, Gene Deitch, Seth Deitch	Fantagraphics		$17.00 ($18.99 list)
Read more and comment...	It's a family affair as dad (Gene) and his three sons jam to their obsessions in this all-new 200 page book that mixes comics and illustrated fiction and that is a truly unique concoction of story, art and imagination.
My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down	David Heatley	Pantheon		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Heatley's deeply personal -- and deeply weird -- comics mix his dream and waking states to create a unique reading experience.  This book collects the bulk of his previously published work, along with plenty more that was new to us.  Heatley has hit upon an affecting primitive cartooning voice and his comics can knock you for a loop.  The black and white and full color work that fills this oversize hardcover volume is highly controversial and not for the easily disturbed or upset.  Heatley's artistic method is to dive deep into his own subconscious, where he explores the turbulent emotional seas of sex, race and family roiling in his psyche.   What he turns up includes quite a bit of human weakness:  unhealthy attitudes, unlikeable traits, and downright nastiness that may be nausea inducing, along with moving confrontations with the precipitant fears and disappointments that must be overcome for healing and growth to take place.  Any identification with the material has the potential to force the reader into uncomfortable positions of self-examination, and even those who experience an outright rejection of the material might still find themselves asking, "How did we get here?"
Ojingogo	Matt Forsythe	Drawn and Quarterly		$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Forsythe possesses a highly engaging drawing style that animates these lively pantomime pieces of a girl and her creatures.  This all ages collection is a visual treat.
Jamilti and Other Stories	Rutu Modan	Drawn and Quarterly		$14.44 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	The author of Exit Wounds returns with this collection of all her extant short work.  While the execution of the material ranges from early work rendered entirely in pencil to her current "paperless" work that is rendered entirely electronically using a Wacom™ tablet and Photoshop™, the material all connects in one way or another with Israael and the Jewish experience. Get a taste, here.
Burma Chronicles	Guy Delisle	Drawn and Quarterly		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	The creator of the widely acclaimed works, Pyongyang and Shenzhen, both of which chronicled his adventures as a French animator in Asia, returns, this time in the wake of his Medicines Sans Frontiers' employed spouse and their child as she is assigned to Burma and Mr. Delisle goes along for the ride -- and, of course, the chance to explore and document yet another Asian locale.
Berlin, Book Two: City of Smoke	Jason Lutes	Drawn and Quarterly		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	The long awaited second book of Berlin, collecting issue #9 - #16 of the series, is at last available.
Aya of Yop City	Clément Oubrerie, Marguerite Abouet	Drawn and Quarterly		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the second of what we hope will be an ongoing series of the adventures of Aya in the Ivory Coast of three decades past.  If you have yet to enjoy the original volume, Aya, you might want to consider starting there.  In either case, to experience Aya's unique appeal, click here, for a nice PDF preview of Aya of Yop City.
Against Pain	Ron Regé	Drawn and Quarterly		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This book is a gift to the long suffering Rege collector as it assembles all his far flung contributions to other publications such as Kramers Ergot, McSweeney's, The Ganzfeld, Rosetta, and many, many others.  It also includes the out of print stand alone comic, Boys, that was co-created with writer Joan Reidy.  This is an oversize hardcover volume that presents most all of the works as they originally appeared -- whether it was black & white, full color, or Regé's own pastel duotone -- but at a larger size than they have previously been seen, which can - and does - make old work new again.  Regé's work is singular in the intensity of its emotional clout.  He is clearly an artist who has sufffered and who strives to work through his suffering in an attempt to create an artistic catharsis that with be emotionally purgative for his readers as well as for himself.
American ELf: Book Three	James Kochalka	Top Shelf		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, it's true:  two years have passed and here we are ready for another hefty dose of the day-in-day-out life of the burgeoning Kochalka clan.  This volume collects all the daily online diary strips for 2006 & 2007, once again in full color.
Breakdowns	Art Spiegelman	Pantheon		$25.00 ($27.50 list)
Read more and comment...	This volume reissues the seminal, long out-of-print, and highly sought after volume which collected Spiegelman's trailblazing (pre-Maus)1970s work.  These are the thoroughly original, self-aware comics about comics through which he forged a comics of deconstruction.  This, in turn, led him, along with his wife, François Mouly, to pioneer a new comics aesthetics that forefronted comics' formal properties, consciously focused on the mechanics of production and that changed the face of comics in the 1980s: RAW.  And there's more:  this fabulous, oversize harcover volume includes a 20-page introduction in comics form in which Spiegelman takes the logical next step and deconstucts his own comics!  This one is pretty much essential.
Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume Two	Maurice Vellekoop, Carol Tyler, Harvey Pekar/R.Crumb, Kevin Huizenga and more ...	Yale University Press		$25.00 ($28.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Ivan Brunetti It's too early to say for certain, but this follow-up to Brunetti's already classic 2006 anthology, also published by Yale University Press, might just be even better than its precursor.  One thing's for certain:  Brunetti has held onto -- and further refined -- his editorial vision of arranging the work contained in this volume in an organic sequence, deftly managing to map out the similarities between artists so that each piece flows smoothly into into the other, creating an amazing sense of an innate connectivity between all areas of comics here on display.  This book is a powerful ally in the struggle to bring the light of comics to those poor souls still dwelling in the darkness.  It's the perfect choice to turn on a friend or relative to the joy, beauty and pleasures of our favorite medium.  Hold onto your hats, here's the contributor list:  Daniel Clowes, Saul Steinberg, Sammy Harkham, Chris Ware, R. Sikoryak, Michael Kupperman, Drew Friedman, Mark Beyer, Mack White, Jayr Pulga, Renee French, Kim Deitch, Richard Sala, J. Bradley Johnson, Archer Prewit, Anonymous (utility sketchbook), HJ Tuthill, Milt Gross, Bill Holman, Harvey Kurtzman, R.Crumb, Basil Wolverton, Art Spiegelman, Jess, John Hankiewicz, Tim Hensley, Bill Griffith, Richard McGuire, Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Woodring, David Collier, Eugene Teal, Charles Burns, Karl Wirsum, Gary Panter, Paper Rad, Fletcher Hanks, CF, Charles Forbell, Ron Rege, Jr., Winsor McCay, Matthew Thurber, Souther Salazar, Kevin Scalzo, Megan Kelso, James McShane, Laura Park, Vanessa Davis, Onsmith, Joe Matt, Jeffrey Brown, Martin Cendreda, Dave Kiersh, John Porcellino, Carrie Golus/Patrick Welch, Jessica Abel, Cole Johnson, Lynda Barry, Debbie Drechsler, Diane Noomin, Aline Kominsky-Crum, Ariel Bordeaux, Chester Brown, Anders Nilsen, Joe Sacco, Phoebe Gloeckner, Elinore Norflus, Brian Chippendale, Leif Goldberg, David Mazzuchelli, Jerry Moriarty, Ben Katchor, Frank Santoro, Dan Zettwoch, Kevin Huizenga, Harvey Pekar/R.Crumb, Carol Tyler, Maurice Vellekoop, Seth, Adrian Tomine, Jaime Hernandez & David Heatley.  It's simply amazing.  Comics Power!  PLEASE NOTE:  We feel compelled to mention that this volume includes several pieces that contain quite explicit sexual content; and while this content represents only a miniscule fraction of the total, it nevertheless renders this volume fit for ADULTS ONLY.
Best American Comics 2008	Lynda Barry	Houghton Mifflin		$8.88 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The Best American Comics 2008 edited by Lynda Barry is now on sale for only $8.88! This is a 324 page, nicely produced, hardcover volume that is chock-a-block with great comics.  Starting with the amazing embossed wraparound dustjacket by Eleanor Davis, the book is cover to cover comics that are worth reading.  It leads off with a ten-page introduction by editor Barry, rendered in her new What It Is collage-comics style.  It then proceeds -- in alphabetical order, no less -- with a well-rounded survey of the state of American comics.  Missing from previous volumes in this series was any focus on Ms. Barry's peers in the independent newsweekly world.  That has been smartly rectified this time out with a nice selection of work by fellow pioneer of independent comics syndication, Matt Groening (Life In Hell), along with Alison Bechdel (Dykes To Watch Out For), Derf (The City) and Kaz (Underworld). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  We've got excerpts from some of the year's best graphic novels -- Salon by Nick Bertozzi, The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary, Berlin: Book Two by Jason Lutes, Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, among others.  Then we've got a one after another super solid short and medium length comics works that show a truly remarkable range.  We have instant classics by established masters like Jaime Hernandez's "Gold Diggers of 1969" from Love and Rockets and Chris Ware's "Thanksgiving Series" from The New Yorker.  Then we have what is probably this collection's signal strength:  new work by new(er) talent:  Graham Annable and Sarah Oleksyk, both from Papercutter; T. Edward Bak and Evan Larson, both from Project: Romantic;  Eleanor Davis and Martin Cendreda, both from MOME; Eric Haven and Michael Kupperman from their own comics, Tales To Demolish and Tales Designed To Thrizzle, respectively; and then self-published works by Lilli Carré, Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett, Joseph Lambert, and John Mejias. And there's more!  This one is a winner.  Recommended!
Acme Novelty Library #19	Chris Ware	Drawn and Quarterly	Acme Novelty Library	$14.44 ($15.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Any among you who were anxious that Mr. Ware might choose to rest on his laurels and start "coasting" or "phoning it in" will have all their worries laid soundly to rest with this amazing volume.  Yes, this is a continuation of the "Rusty" Brown saga, but right from the start it takes a quite unexpected turn, the full implications of which are not fully apparent until the conclusion of the volume, and even then will likely inspire considerable pondering on the part of the reader.  The level of sophistication and nuance inhering to Ware's narrative strategy reaches new heights in this complex, multi-part and multi-layered work that is at once painfully embarrassing and deeply moving; a disturbing, fascinating and, finally, profound exploration of a callow nature and the genesis of an arrested development.  Ware's mastery of the craft of comics clearly continues to grow as well, and is on full display here, particularly in the beautiful subtleties of the coloring and in the use of page layout to finesse the stories' pacing.  In as much as one of the themes dealt with here is the 20th century American conflation of technology and the fantastic, it might be appropriate to describe Ware as creating a delicately constructed narrative feedback loop to inter-link the stories that constitute Acme Novelty Library 19, and thereby forge a single unified piece that pulses with living complexity, a method that carries with it an echo of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein --  the employment of mechanistic means to create an organic end -- which ushered in the conjunction of science and fiction.  Suffice it to say that Chris Ware's talents continue to astound and amaze.  (Also amazing and astounding is the fact that the price of this issue of Acme Novelty Library is less than that of the last two!)
Snake Oil #2	Chuck Forsman		Snake Oil	$4.44 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Well, we hate to do this, but here goes:  (Anders Nilsen's Big Questions + Sammy Harkham's Crickets) x Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison =  Chuck Forsman's Snake Oil.  Each self-published issue is 24 pages printed on flat, textured and, respectively, grey, blue and purple stocks and sports a swell hand-silk-screened 2- or 3-color cover.  Definitely worth taking a look, which you can do without leaving the comfort of your current environs by visiting the Snake Oil site/blog.
Curio Cabinet #3	John Brodowski	Self-published	Curio Cabinet	$3.50 ($4.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Here's a new 8 1/2" x 11", 32-page, pencil-drawn pantomime comics magazine, which come to us from rugged Rutland, VT.  The  half-tone reproduction is excellent throughout each of these self-published issues, both of which feature cover-to-cover comics -- all killer, no filler -- and each of which contain several pieces.  All of these are expertly drawn with a great attention to detail which draws the reader into the dream-world they depict, all are pretty darn strange, and some readers may find themselves disturbed.  These comics are very visual and defy encapsulation.  Suffice it for now to say they feature the Loch Ness monster, a giant bear, the grim reaper, a lonely psycho and more.  These comics are definitely not for everyone, but they might be for you.
The Complete Peanuts Box Set 5: 1967-70	Charles Schulz	Fantagraphics	The Complete Peanuts	$44.44 ($49.95 list)
Read more and comment...	And, for those of you who wait for the annual box set, your wait is over, for it, too, has arrived.  As always, it contains the two volumes released individually during the year -- these are the exact same volumes, identical in every way -- enclosed in a sturdy and attractive slipcase, yet priced substantially less.  Another true value!
Papercutter #8	Corinne Mucha, Elijah Brubaker, Jeremy Tinder	Tugboat Press	Papercutter	$3.50 ($4.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This issue features a wide range of material.  The cover and lead feature are by Corinne Mucha (My Alaskan Summer) who tells the story about a time in her life when she was haunted by a coven of traveling witches.  Jeremy Tinder (Black Apple Ghost Factory) cuts loose with a story about a man embarking on the craziest night of his life. Elijah Brubaker (Reich) returns to Papercutter to share a glimpse at the coolest kids in high school. Additional art by Nate Beaty.

books

Title	Author	Publisher	Price
Cometbus #51	Aaron Cometbus	Self-published	$2.75 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	A book length excursion into the people and places that together make up the history of the Berkeley, CA alternative bookstores centered on Telegraph Avenue that played no small part in the history of the 1960s counter-culture explosion that reverberates to this day.  Aaron focuses primarily on the personalities involved, and there's a veritable deluge of empathy here, so be prepared to be carried  away.

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