comics

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Luba	Gilbert Hernandez	Fantagraphics	Love and Rockets	$33.99 ($39.99 list)
Read more and comment...	At last!  The second hardcover collection in the epic saga that began with the mammoth (and now, sadly, out of print*) Palomar.  Luba is a massive 600 page hardback that collects the entirety of the three previously released softcovers, Luba in America, Luba: The Book of Ofelia, and Luba: Three Daughters, and then some. The combined retail price of these three softcover trades is $59.97 making the choice of this stunning hardcover a no-brainer for anyone who had yet to purchase this amazing material.  And not only that, this time around the work is printed on non-reflective flat white stock yielding superior image quality, which it will make tempting to even those who already have the trades.  Luba follows the the titular character along with a large supporting cast that spans three generations and the environs of Mexico and southern California. This is a series that  is populated by some of the most colorful characters in the history of comics and that's saying something considering they're all printed in black & white. There are plot lines, actions, reactions and interactions galore.  There is powerful social commentary side by side with action and laughs, and more insight into character formation and sexual development than you will find anywhere else.  Act now to take advantage of our special price! (offer ends 20 June 2009) (*However, there's no need to despair as the entirety of Palomar is available in three excellent softcover volumes, here.)
Che: A Graphic Biography	Spain Rodriguez	Verso		$15.25 ($16.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Ernesto "Che" Guevara's life and times are concisely communicated in exactly 100 pages of comics written and drawn by the man born for the job, Spain Rodriguez.  One of the founding members of the original Underground Comix generation that helped define the 1960s, Spain (the single name by which he is commonly known and referred to in the comics world, but not, alas, in the wider world, for then we could have had a book that was titled, simply, an more appropriately, "Che by Spain") is someone who is sure to have been conversant with Che's iconic and political status during those heady days when his life and work was still in the air and so have had ample time during the ensuing forty-some years since his death to ruminate upon Che's significance as well as digest the morass of historical data and coordinate the diverse opinions into a single, solid over-arching narrative; this he has done.  In yet another example of the communicative efficiency of comics, this work, which can be successfully absorbed after dinner, imparts the saga of an era that will leave its readers more worldly and skeptical.  It must be said that most of the negative aspects that have been imputed to Che's character have been ignored and that some (i.e. conservative) critics will doubtless view this portrayal as a "whitewash."  Regardless of any and all opinions on the pros and cons of Che the man, we're confident in our positive appraisal of "Che" by Spain as making for an absorbing read.
The Photographer	Frédéric Lemercier, Didier Lefevre, Emmanuel Guibert	(:01) First Second		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	• by Emmanuel Guibert (he wrote and drew it), Didier Lefevre (he lived it and photographed it) & Frédéric Lemercier (he laid out and colored it) – translated from the French by Alexis Siegel •  A unique – at least in our experience – work, The Photographer interweaving the actual photographs taken by intrepid photojournalist Lefevre during his numerous journeys in Afghanistan accompanying Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders to us Yanks) during  1986, when the country was at war with the USSR and, as the cold war had yet to be resolved, was therefore, at that time, a strategic ally of the USA; meaning that the CIA was working hand-in-glove with the likes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.  While Che shows comics excelling at digesting large amounts of historical information into a concise cohesive narrative, this work excels in another way:  that of putting the reader right there in this far away alien place, and then guiding them while simultaneously interpreting the experience.  In this way the reader, too, can be there, after a fashion, and connect to these lives of "others" that are so different from our own, and yet, if only by virtue of our shared humanity, still remain, at their most basic level, the same. Learn more by reading Kate Culkin's review at Publisher's Weekly.
Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics to Comix	Denis Kitchen, James Danky	Abrams ComicArts		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This oversize hardcover book is published, by Abrams ComicArts, in conjunction with the exhibit of the same name that originated with the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin in the spring of this year.  Hail, hail, the gang's all here!  Underground comix veterans Jay Lynch, Trina Robbins, and Denis Kitchen (with the able assistance of James Danky), all provide essays, as does official comix chronicler, Patrick Rosenkranz, as does leftist extraordinaire, Paul Buhle (who also co-authored the afterword to Spain's Che, listed above; hmmm... we're sensing a serious swing to the Left here).  And then there's the documentation of the exhibit itself:  nearly ninety full-page, full color reproductions (of works that were, please keep in mind, executed for the most part in pen & ink, in black & white) of original underground comic book (or, comix) pages.  Pretty much everyone you would expect is included, as well as a few surprises you might not be familiar with.  A great retrospective that is sure to be appreciated by artists, scholars, historians, and fans.
The Color of Earth	Kim Dong Hwa	(:01) First Second		$15.25 ($16.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The first volume of a trilogy, the remainder of which is scheduled for release over the coming year, The Color of Earth represents the first major Korean work of graphic fiction – known as manhwa – to be published in the United States.  The work is of uniformly high quality and is filled with many poetic interludes where the drawings and their pacing transport the reader to meditative states.  Students of manga will have much to ponder in as they study Hwa's work to discern those aspects of it that might be isolated as being specifically Korean and so distinguish manhwa from manga.  The tale is set in a timeless village in rural Korea and chronicles the relationship of a widowed mother and her daughter as the daughter matures from girl to woman.  Read Kate Culkin's (yes, again) review on Publisher's Weekly to learn more, then, if you're still not convinced, make sure you take a look at it and see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
The Collected Doug Wright – Canada's Master Cartoonist: 1949 - 1962	Doug Wright, Seth, Brad Mackay	Drawn and Quarterly		$35.00 ($39.95 list)
Read more and comment...	•  edited by Seth and Brad Mackay •  This book is, without any doubt, Seth's crowning achievement as a book designer.  Into it he, and co-conspirator Brad Mackay, have poured all their enthusiasm for their subject.  To say that Doug Wright is the Charles Schulz of Canada is not fair to either party, but as this comparison is alluded to in the book's introduction it serves to give some idea how high the regard is for Wright and his work among those who appreciate his work.  Unlike Schulz, who has ever been before our eyes in death as in life, Wright has effectively faded from sight.  Thus, in order to forcefully revivify his corpus, dramatic measures are called for, and this volume is nothing if not dramatic.  The cover is – with the exception of a die-cut oval in the upper center revealing an embossed portrait of "Nipper," Wright's most famous creation – a solid wraparound of glossy metallic ruby red, making look like the gift to its readers that it is clearly intended to be, as well as boldly announcing the retinal reverb in red that is this  volume's central design motif.  It measures a regal 11" x 15", runs 240 pages printed in full color and black & white as called for, and is designed with a flair that simply must be seen up close and personal to truly appreciate (a meager simulacra of its aesthetic pleasures may be had here.).  Evidently, while the work contained in this volume brings tears of nostalgic joy to its Anglophone Canadian creators, it brings tears of anger to at least one Canadian(?) of Francophone persuasion, whose piece while reeking of sour grapes nevertheless provides some interesting historical context in which to view the work on display here.  We'll go on record as finding this collection to be a true joy to behold that is in no way dependent on one's opinion (or, indeed, of the fact) of the lasting value of the work it collects:  this volume stands on its own by the simple fact that its design and presentation so effectively embodies its creators' reverence for Wright and his work.
Closed Caption Comics #8	Lane Milburn, Mollie O'Connell, Ryan Cecil Smith, Conor Stechschulte and more ...	Closed Caption Comics	Closed Caption Comics	$6.00 ($8.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	by the Closed Caption Posse We usually pick this up every year in the fall, at SPX, but CCC is way ahead of schedule this year and the Copacetic shelves have already been graced with this hand-embossed-cover-sporting 80-Page Giant packed with brand new comics the likes of which you won't be finding anywhere else.  The gang's all here, including – among others – Lane Milburn, Mollie O'Connell, Ryan Cecil Smith, Conor Stechschulte, Molly Goldstrom, and cover artist Erin Womak.  The comics from Closed Caption Comics that we pick up every year at SPX have pretty much all been hits here at Copacetic, most of all this, the flagship title.  While we believe that it's fair to say that CCC is working with some of the tropes established by Fort Thunder, there is quite a bit of original work here, and anyone interested in deeply personal, artistically informed comics work should be checking this out.
The Eternal Smile	Gene Luen Yang, Derek Kirk Kim	(:01) First Second		$15.25 ($16.95 list)
Read more and comment...	More than a long-awaited follow-up, this hefty, full-color volume teams two of the brightest lights of the Asian-American comics scene to bring readers of comics a triptych of tales celebrating universal themes that incorporate motifs from fairy tales, myths and legends and integrate them into the fabric of contemporary California life.  Fans of formal invention will find plenty to celebrate as well.  Yang, author of the multiple award-winning American Born Chinese, and Kim, author of the amazing Same Difference, employ between them a host of styles and techniques to properly situate the content of their narratives in the readers minds
Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology	Jeff Yang, Jef Castro, Hellen Jo, Gene Yang and more ...	The New Press		$19.75 ($21.95 list)
Read more and comment...	•  edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow and Jerry Ma  •  200 pages of original superhero comics by and about Asian-American characters.  Published by The New Press, SI was years in the making and presents an amazing array of talent displaying an impressive diversity of artistic approaches and techniques.  Here's a review worth reading, from Reappropriate, "a personal & political blog by an angry Asian American woman."
Tank Girl One: The Remastered Edition	Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin	Titan Books	Tank Girl	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This new editions of Tank Girl features:  superior reproduction (especially of the color pieces) printed on a larger paper size, enabling a greater appreciation of Jamie Hewlett's fine ink stylings; a new introduction by Tank Girl co-creator, Alan Martin, filling in some details, about Tank Girl's origins and early days; rare photos, alternate covers, promo posters, early drawings and the like; ALL the original Deadline Magazine covers in which these stories first appeared (although we must inform you that these reproductions are thumbnail size); full-size reproductions of all the original covers to the Dark Horse Comics editions in which (most of) these stories first saw print stateside; and, last but certainly not least, bits of of work not collected in the first edition of these Titan trade collections.   What's not to like?
Tank Girl Two: The Remastered Edition	Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin	Titan Books	Tank Girl	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This new editions of Tank Girl features:  superior reproduction (especially of the color pieces) printed on a larger paper size, enabling a greater appreciation of Jamie Hewlett's fine ink stylings; a new introduction by Tank Girl co-creator, Alan Martin, filling in some details about various behind-the-scenes creative goings on; rare photos, alternate covers, promo posters, early drawings and the like; ALL the original Deadline Magazine covers in which these stories first appeared (although we must inform you that these reproductions are thumbnail size); full-size reproductions of all the original covers to the Dark Horse Comics editions in which (most of) these stories first saw print stateside; and, last but certainly not least, bits of of work not collected in the first edition of these Titan trade collections.   What's not to like?
Connective Tissue	Bob Fingerman	Fantagraphics		$14.44 ($22.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Video store clerk Darla Vogel, the protagonist of this work, a nutty hybrid novel of prose and illustrations, with comics epilogue, might be considered a New York disciple of Tank Girl, so this seems a good place to bring this work to your attention.  The art here shows that Fingerman has definitely been paying close attention to Kyle Baker's work,and what's not to like about that?  The Fanta hype states:  "If William Burroughs, Lewis Carroll, HP Lovecraft, and Harvey Kurtzman ever collaborated, the result might resemble (this) bold new confection of words and pictures." SPECIAL PRICE
The Brinkley Girls	Trina Robbins, Nell Brinkley	Fantagraphics		$25.00 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	•  edited by Trina Robbins  •  While they might seem to be located on the other end of the spectrum of femininity from the aforementioned Tank Girl, this is simply a lack of historical perspective. "The Brinkley Girls"  are actually the daring cartoon precursors to today's freaky females.  In fact, much of the work contained in this volume is a formally daring combination of prose and illustration, with the illustrations admittedly quite dominant.  As Brinkley's work evolved, some of it took on more of a sequential, comics-oriented approach, but it remained unique both its style and flavor throughout is nearly thirty year run. The Brinkley Girls were the creation of one Nell Brinkley, a fabulously talented artist – and a glamour girl in her own right – who plied her trade in the rough and tumble masculine world of Hearst Publications, specifically The American Weekly, during the years 1913 through 1940.  Editor Robbins has done an equally fabulous job of assembling the material for this fine volume (which, by the way, is an elegantly proportioned 10" x 13" hardcover volume, printed in full color – from high resolultion scans of original materials – throughout its 136 pages), and her fine introductory essay puts it all in context.  The artwork here simply has to be seen to be believed. Brinkley, rather than create a continuity based on a single character or set of characters, after the fashion of practically all other cartoonists, instead created an series of discrete self-contained continuity adventures featuring non-recurring characters that ran a set number weeks and then ended, to be followed by a new adventure.  What connected them all, is that, figuratively speaking, they all "starred" a set of Brinkley's gorgeous – and gorgeously rendered – golden girls,and this is what ensured their lasting fame.  Brinkley's work influenced a host of classic newspaper cartoonists, most notably Dale Messick, the creator of Brenda Starr, and its inffluence continues to be felt, both directly and indirectly, today:  The work of Dame D'Arcey will appear in a whole new light after you've spent some time with this volume.  Opening this book will open your eyes to an era and an artist.
George Sprott	Seth	Drawn and Quarterly		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Earlier this month we lauded Seth's design of the first volume of the collected Doug Wright as being, "without any doubt, Seth's crowning achievement as a book designer."  We are now, in the wake of George Sprott, forced to add to that comment the qualifier, "working with material other than his own," for with this lavishly produced, spectacularly sized (12" x 14"), and yet modestly priced volume, Seth has taken his design to another level by integrating book design deep into the fabric of his work; to such a degree that the apprehension and full appreciation of the material is inseparable from it.  George Sprott is simultaneously a character study, a historical saga, and a cultural analysis, but most of all it is a comics feast prepared by one of today's top cartoonist's operating at the height of his powers.  Make sure you check out this preview.  This is one book you don't want to miss!
Moomin, Book Four	Tove Jansson	Drawn and Quarterly	Moomin	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	For the past three years, a new Moomin book has been released each year during the start of the Christmas season, but this year it looks like Christmas has come early to Moominland.  Also, for some reason we got it into our head that the complete collected Moomin was only going to run four volumes, but we were, evidently, mistaken, as Drawn and Quarterly has already announced the fifth volume.  So now we can all relax and enjoy this new release, free from the angst that would have accompanied the experience had this indeed been the end of the line for Moomin comics.  Here's a brief preview.

dvds

Title	Director	Publisher	Price
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Collector's Edition Mega-Set	Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin	A & E	$59.95 ($159.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Copacetic Comics is amazed to present our second Depression Buster Bargain™:  ••>>  A mind-boggling box of 21 discs featuring just about everything ever produced for television under the aegis of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and then some, at an equally mind-boggling price!  The complete series, three live films, one German television show, six personal best shows, two NEW documentary films and bonus galore!  What can we say about Monty Python that hasn't been said before?  Taking the angsty absurdity of post-WWII European existentialists across the English channel and then running it through the Goon Show grinder, and, via American ex-pat and former Harvey Kurtzman underling,Terry Gilliam, adding a touch of Mad, the Python posse somehow stumbled on a secret formula involving a heretofore unseen combination of startlingly original format, style and sense of humor that gave birth to a once in a lifetime television experience that is now available at what may be a once in a lifetime price.  Perfect timing, we say.  Read the long description for more details.
La Dolce Vita - Deluxe Collector's Edition	Federico Fellini	Koch Lorber	$39.95 ($79.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	(1960) directed by Federico Fellini  • starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg & Anouk Aimée   •   Here it is:  Indisputably one of the greatest films of all time, the film that captured a fleeting moment in time and yet defined not only an era but a state of mind, Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita is now available on DVD.  This is the film that pinpointed once and for all the transformation that movies -- Hollywood movies initially, but all of cinema ultimately -- have wrought upon the human soul.  We are now all actors in a film, we view are own lives as cinematic spectacles to fulfilled, we are all dying to live la dolce vita.  And here we have the definitive DVD edition, completely restored and remastered.  You can take it from us – Koch-Lorber have done a terrific job here; at least as good as Criterion in this regard: the image is clean and crisp, the contrast is perfectly calibrated and the sound is sharp.  And this 3-disc deluxe edition is loaded with bonus features galore, which you can read abot by clicking on the image at left.

cds

Title	Artist	Publisher	Price
The Bix Beiderbecke Story	Bix Beiderbecke	Proper Records	$29.75 ($33.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Including sides cut with small bands to his work with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, this 4CD set covers his whole career and full liner notes, photographs and discography tell the whole story.

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