comics

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
A Comics Studies Reader	Jeet Heer, Kent Worcester	Mississippi University Press		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	We knew it was only a matter of time until a book like this showed up on our shelves. To anyone interested in getting started in digging deeper into the amazing riches buried beneath the surface of the comics page, Heer and Worcester's A Comics Studies Reader is one of the best shovels money can buy.  Sure to become the default primary source text for many a Comics Studies 101 class -- as well as becoming the go to text for the comics unit in pop culture classes -- CSR is provides a number of different critical approaches to the subject, in the process providing its readers with some valuable interpretive tools.  Following the editors' introduction and Thierry Groensteen's overview essay, "Why Are Comics Still in Search of Cultural Legitimization?", the book is divided into four sections, each of which receives its own editorial intro: Historical Considerations; Craft, Art, Form; Culture, Narrative, Identity; Scrutiny and Evaluation.  While everyone will doubtless have their own ideas about what should constitute a volume such as this, and there are certainly writers whose work we were disappointed not to see included, second guessing is easy.  This is a fine survey of the burgeoning field of critical approaches to comics that serves its primary purpose quite well:  to stimulate the intellects of students and scholars of all stripes and hep the rest of the world to what we've known all along:  comics contain a motherlode of cultural treasures that will amply reward any and all who dedicate themselves to its study.
The Complete Newspaper Dailies: Volume One 1929-1930	Phil Nowlan, Dick Calkins	Hermes		$34.95 ($39.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This massive, oversize (12" x 9"), horizontally formatted hardcover initiates the collecting of the complete newspaper dailies of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  It starts off with an introduction by noted science fiction author and long time comics fan, Ron Goulart, that is accompanied by a bunch of swell reproductions of the covers to the early Buck Rogers comics, movie posters, lobby cards and merchandise, along with some early science fiction magazine covers to help put it all in context.  The big shock we got when we started in reading this is that Buck Rogers is from... Pittsburgh, PA!!!
How I Changed My Fattitude	Carol Lay			$16.25 ($18.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Long suffering (anybody out there remember Good Girls?) comics artist Carol Lay does her part to expand the boundaries of comics with this first ever all-comics weight-loss guidebook.  This is a full color, full-size, 196-page work that is filled with Ms. Lay's characteristic wit and good humor and that makes for an engaging, entertaining and educational read.  Billed as a memoir, it combines personal narrative with humorous anecdotes, practical tips and how-to guides, and follows it all up with a fairly comprehensive illustrated reference section that covers calorie charts, menus, and a heaping pile of recipes.  It closes with a handy checklist to help anyone setting out on this particular journey to keep on the path.  It should go without saying (but you know us well enough to know we can't resist) that this will make the perfect gift for any comics fan looking to improve their physical well-being.  Intrigued?
MOME #13	Gilbert Shelton, Dash Shaw, Laura Park	Fantagraphics	MOME	$13.50 ($14.99 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Gary Goth and Eric Reynolds The marquee highlight this time around is the first part (of three) to an all-new full-length saga -- "Last Gig in Shnagrlig," (no, that's not a typo) by the one and only Gilbert "Freak Brothers" Shelton.  Other MOME first timers this time around are David "Duplex Planet" Greenberger, Josh "Happy" Simmons, Laura Park and Pic.  They join Dash Shaw, Kurt Wolfgang, TIm Hensley (who contributes a whopping three stories this time out), Nate Neal, T. Ott, Sarah Edward-Corbett, Conor O'Keefe and Derek Van Gieson.  Alienation and absurdity abound, thoughtfully rendered with craft and care.
The Comics Journal #295				$10.75 ($11.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This time around we have interviews with popular mainstream comics author, Brian K. Vaughan (Runaways, Y the Last Man, etc.) and Italian graphic novelist, Gipi (Garage Band, War Story, etc.).  There are the usual truckload of reviews, among which the highlight is the debut of Frank Santoro as the reviewer for "Minimalism," The Journal's coulmn devoted to reviews of self-published work, in which he gives us his take on ten deserving creations.  This issue's classic comics section is devoted to "The Theorist," an early full-page strip by Charles A. Voight that ran in the original Life humor magazine from 1915 to 1921.  It delineates the mayhem wrought by a man who thinks too much for his own good; it features concise writing, crisp penwork, and a strong understanding on the relationship between delivery, pacing and the punchline; and, hey, whattaya know -- it's funny!
Wizzywig 2: Hacker	Ed Piskor			$12.75 ($15.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The youngest old schooler on the block, Pittsburgher Ed Piskor, is back with the second volume of his series chronicling the computer counterculture.  Expect intrigue, suspense, moral dilemmas, crazy late night antics, intimations of drug use, a bunch of brainiacs engaging in anti-authoritarian behaviors and more, all sharply delineated with Piskor's patented persnickety penwork and laid out in his relentless quadruplicate grid. .
Steve Ditko: Edge of Genius				$19.99 ($25.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Two more fantastic, 160 page, 8 1/2" x 11", volumes from the one and only Pure Imagination Publishing.  The Ditko volume is especially splendiferous for providing readers with a hefty chunk of Ditko's earliest work -- one (his first) from 1953, and a whopping sixteen from 1954.  These stories originally appeared in the pages of such classic titles as Black Magic, Strange Suspense Stories, This Magazine is Haunted, and The Thing.  Also included in the Ditko volume is a freaky bondage tale Ditko co-created with his studio-mate, Eric Stanton, for the infamous Irving Klaw's Movie Star News (best known for its Bettie Page in bondage photos).  We'd never seen this one before.
Alex Toth: Edge of Genius - Volume 2				$19.99 ($25.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Tales of war, adventure, horror and especially romance fill the second Toth volume in the Edge of Genius series.  What can we say about Toth that hasn't been said a thousand times before?  The comics here are the gold standard for layout and storytelling.   Anyone who enjoys fine comics should be sure to read some Alex Toth, and anyone with ambitions to doing comics themselves -- at least those comics that involve storytelling -- pretty much has to get around to studying Toth sooner or later.  The sooner the better, we say.  Edge of Genius - Volume 2 is a great place to start.
Beasts Book 2				$29.75 ($34.95 list)
Read more and comment...	edited and designed by Jacob Covey The Beasts are back!  Fantagraphics is, we're sure, proud to present the second volume filled with full-page (in some cases, multiple-page) "depictions gathered from diverse authorities, modern and medieval, with varying degrees of reliability."  Here we have another gilt-edged, fancy-pants, hardcover volume featuring another host of amazing talent including Peter Bagge, Blexbolex, Lilli Carré, Brian Chippendale, Eleanor Davis, Kim Deitch, Leif Goldberg, Tomer Hanuka, Jaime Hernandez, Paul Horschemeier, Walt Holcombe, Roger Langridge, John Vermilyea, Laura Weinstein, Jim Woodring, Dan Zettwoch -- who turns in a whopping four-pager -- and plenty more!
Beasts				$19.99 ($24.99 list)
Read more and comment...	- softcover edition edited and designed by Jacob Covey The long out-of-print premiere volume of Beasts now gets a second lease on life in this econmically priced softcover edition.  Page after full-color page of all-new, never-before-seen, far out and freaky beasts created by the likes of Marc Bell, TIm Biskup, Matt Brinkman, Art Chantry, Dave Cooper, Jordan Crane, Renee French, Gilbert Hernandez, James Jean, R. Kikuo Johnson, Tony Millionaire, Ron Regé, Jr., Johnny Ryan, Souther Salazar, and many more -- 90 artists in all!
In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor				$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Here's the catalogue that accompanied the landmark exhibit held late last year at the Laguna Art Museum.  Named in honor of the 1968 Robert Williams painting that graces the catalogue cover, and celebrating the trailblazing role of Williams's Juxtapoz magazine in fostering this California-based art movement -- alternately known as Pop Surrealism and Lowbrow Art -- which has grown (more or less) out of the car culture of "Big Daddy" Roth, Von Dutch, and, yes, Robert Williams, who is clearly riding high here, this catalogue is chock full of works in all sorts of mediums including comics, sculpture, photography, prints, and, primarily, painting.  There are insights galore to be gained from the artwork on display here, primarily involving the unintended consequences of America's culture of consumerism and its subsequent spread to Asia.  You can get a bit -- but only a bit -- of an idea what's in store at this Flickr page on the show.
The Cream of Tank Girl	Jamie Hewlett			$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This is a great big and beautiful hardcover volume that will be a guaranteed treat for any and all Tank Girl true believers.  Its primary achievement is to recreate the bonhomie of the good ol' days back at Deadline UK, where Tank Girl was the toast of the town and fun was the word of the hour.  Most if not all of the fabulous Tank Girl covers are here, along with most of the Hewlett work that was produced for its pages that never made it into any of the Tank Girl collections.  Also included are a select scattering of photos carefully calibrated to give readers that "you-are-there" feeling.  And speaking of feelings, a distinct feeling -- almost a  tangy taste -- of "we're never going to grow up and you can't make us" thoroughly permeates the proceedings here.  Bonus material includes a complete storyboard for an unproduced Tank Girl animation by Hewlett, along with the beginnings of what was to be Hewlett and Martin's follow-up to Tank Girl, "The 16s."  This was imagined as a Peanuts-like continuity strip, but it was, alas, not to be, and this volume closes out with a look at what might have been.

books

Title	Author	Publisher	Price
Jazz A B Z	Phil Schaap, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Rogers	Candlewick Press	$9.95 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	OK, this is not just the perfect gift book for the jazz fan on your list, it is also makes for an ideal gift to give to anyone -- of any age -- who has a love of words and pictures.  This sumptuous hardcover volume has the potential to turn the squarest square into the heppest cat.  Everyone is a jazz fan in the making:  this is just the ticket to inspire them to take a closer look.  Jazz ABZ is a pæn to jazz in art and poetry that simply has to be seen to be believed.  The essence of jazz -- collaboration, composition, and improvisation -- is embodied in this singular tribute to the form.  The overall package is designed to resemble the traditional albums of 78rpm records from back in the day when jazz was king.  Rogers has totally nailed the jazz aesthetic in these 26 poster-like portraits, each devoted to a giant of jazz. Every one of these is accompanied by a truly wonderful jazz-poem portrait by the one and only Wynton Marsalis that really captures these historic figures in surprisingly sophisticated pieces (surprising in that who knew Mr. Marsalis was an accomplished poet?  Not us, that's for sure!) that manage to simultaneously demonstrate a great empathy for the humanity of these jazz champions in the description of their characters and capture the essence of their unique musicality in the equally unique form each of the poems takes.   And we're selling it for 60% off it's original list price!
Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Photographs			$11.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh photographs are widely considered to constitute one of the greatest city portraits in the history of photography. Smith himself saw them as the central, pivotal work of his storied career, despite the fact that his ambitions for it were such that they were never fully realized. Over the course of three years -- 1955, 56 & 57 -- spent on and off in Pittsburgh, Smith made 17,000 photographs of the city in his attempt to push beyond the limitations of the photo essay and expand the boundries of the medium of photography to create a grand, unified work of art akin to a symphony or a novel. Editor Stephenson has distilled the essence of this massive effort into the 175 duotone photographs that fill this 10" x 11" softcover volume. Many of these will be instantly recognizable to any Pittsburgher as they have been reproduced so often, but they take on added meaning and new life when viewed in the context of the over-arching narrative created by the assemblage collected here, which presents an unmatched portrait of Pittsburgh, PA smack in the middle of the American Century. Stephenson and Trachtenberg provide biographical and historical contexts that add immensely to the appreciation and comprehension of the work. This is a work that will be treasured by Pittsburghers, admired by artists, photographers, critics and connoisseurs, and valued by historians for many years to come.

dvds

Title	Director	Publisher	Price
Wholphin #7		McSweeney's	$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	It would be hard to improve on their own blurb:  "Wholphin No. 7 features a short film by Gus Van Sant based on a William S. Burroughs short story; a face off between American gray squirrels and British red squirrels; a hallucinogenic post-Katrina New Orleans masterpiece; a documentary exploring autism from the animators of Waking Life; an incredibly close look at the sun in its most inactive and gorgeous state; Field Notes from Dimension X, bumper cars, UFOs and more. Issue 7 also includes a special bonus disc containing a highly controversial interactive scientific experiment in retroactive causality, in which the Wholphin audience, just by watching, will help to determine the role of consciousness in the establishment of a physical reality."  Yes, it's another great issue of the "DVD Magazine of Rare and Unseen Short Films."  Wholphin has yet to let us down.  Every issue has been a winner.  We heartily encourage anyone who enjoys intelligent, adventurous, independent films and has yet to check it out, to do so as soon as opportunity and finances permit.  We have all seven issues in stock for our regular discount.

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