comics

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Locas II	Jaime Hernandez	Fantagraphics	Love and Rockets	$33.99 ($39.99 list)
Read more and comment...	418 pages of the greatest comics of our time under one cover.  This volume picks up, roughly, where Locas left off, and collects nearly all the standard comic book size formatted work that Jaime has executed since the conclusion of the original 50-issue run of the magazine size formatted Love and Rockets.  Locas II bring together under one cover all six issues of the Penny Century series along with Jaime's contributions to the first nineteen issues of the twenty-issue run of the second volume of Love and Rockets.  Not everything from this period is here, however.  The most notable exclusion is the first work Jaime completed after the termination of L&R, vol. I, the three-issue mini-series, Whoa, Nellie!  As it was only tangentially connected to the Locas storyline, it is not collected here.  Also not included are numerous short strips – mostly one or two pages in length – that appeared in the aforementioned issues of Penny Century and L&R, vol. II, but are not related to the Locas continuity, as well as the full color, novella length work that originally appeared (slightly abridged) in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and subsequently appeared in Love and Rockets, Volume II #20. (Completists take note!)  That said, what you are getting is a big book filled with the best of the best, all laid out in a mammoth narrative arc that continues to build on the magnificent structure of past work in creating the most richly complex and deeply human work in the history of comics.
Abstract Comics	Andrei Molotiu	Fantagraphics		$29.99 ($39.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Andrei Molotiu, college professor, art historian, and all-star poster to the TCJ message board, has pulled together a wide ranging assortment of works under the banner of "abstract comics."  Molotiu well understands the vagaries that will attach themselves to an overly broad designation such as this and has penned a cogent introduction to give readers as idea of his thoughts about what areas this label could assist in classifying.   Importantly, he is well aware that this primary purpose of this collection is to get the conversation started.  And this it has already accomplished, as the numerous posts to the Abstract Comics Blog firmly attest.  Artists represented in this volume range from celebrated masters such as R. Crumb, Gary Panter and Patrick McDonnell, to accomplished practitioners of the comics arts such as James Kochalka, Lewis Trondheim, J.R. Williams and John Hankiewicz, to marginally known art comics figures like Richard Hahn, Jason T. Miles, Blaise Larmee and Warren Craghead III, but the majority of contributors are obscure figures working on the margins that few readers of these pages will be familiar with – at least in the context of producing comics – such as editor Molotiu himself, who turned in eight pages of free floating abstractions, and Copacetic's own Bill Boichel whose entry is a 24-page mini-comic that has been reformatted as a two-page spread.  Yet lack of renown should not be conflated with lack of artistic vision as some of the most engaging works on display here are by the least recognized artists.  In recognition of the fact that the purchase of this volume represents a bit of a risk for most comics readers due to the largely unfamiliar terrain, we have decided to shoulder some of that risk by offering an introductory special price of 25% below retail, which works out to a savings of $10.00 that you can either pocket... or spend on more comics!
Sleeper Car	Theo Ellsworth	Secret Acres		$5.00 ($6.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Looking for something to celebrate?  How about this:  An all new 32-page comic book by Theo Ellsworth!  It's been almost a year since up-and-coming indy-comics publisher, Secret Acres unleashed the full force of his massive talent in the definitive Capacity collection that was released at last year's SPX and has been one of Copacetic's best sellers since then.  In the interim, the question, "Is there anything new by Theo Ellsworth?" has become perhaps the most frequent of all queries here at Copacetic (followed closely by, "Can I use the bathroom?") Now, at last we can answer in the affirmative.  Sleeper Car is firmly in the tradition of the comics that filled Capacity, and is sure to be enjoyed by all its fans.  The sleeper car is now ready for boarding, aaall aboooaaarrd!
Cold Heat #7/8	Frank Santoro, B. J.	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$18.88 ($20.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Cold Heat closes in for the kill with another double issue.  This one brings the series one double issue away from completion.  After the massive action blow-out of #5/6, this time around we have more of a culture jam as the saga crosses international boundaries when Castle & Co. head to the southern hemisphere, accompanied by the BBC.  The modern condition of living in the global village is given the Cold Heat treatment as well.  Land lines and laptops, mobile phones and desktops, the internet and intensive care units, wifi and the web, credit cards and music festivals, airports and hotel rooms, Starbucks and taxi cabs,  bright beaches and dark alleys – all seamlessly connect to form the all-encompassing phenomenological envelope that passes for reality in the 21st century.  As always, series artist, Frank Santoro takes chances – starting, most obviously this time around, with the front cover, which invokes Ellsworth Kelly and Ad Reinhardt while highlighting the "thingness" of a comic book – as he pushes and pokes at the formal elements that make up the current corpus of comics in his ongoing challenge to the received wisdom that constitutes contemporary comics orthodoxy.  The images we've selected to illustrate this listing focus on one of Santoro's greatest strengths:  that of exploring the many avenues open to graphically rendering interior subjective states of mind beyond mere mastery of facial expression.  The many faces of Castle on display in the pages of Cold Heat embody one aspect of The many faces of Castle on display in the pages of Cold Heat embody the struggle to forge new tools to place in the comics craft toolbox, making each issue of the series double as a workshop – and none moreso than this one. the struggle to forge new tools to place in the comics craft toolbox, making each issue of the series double as a workshop – and none moreso than this one.  There's an aspect to the experience of reading Cold Heat that feels like being taken behind the scenes to see how it's done while the action never stops happening all around.  It's like bringing you right there on the set while they're filming yet still managing to maintain the manufactured illusion of the movie.  This issue has a terrifyingly low print run of 100 copies, so delay purchase at your own risk.
Masterpiece Comics	R. Sikoryak	Drawn and Quarterly		$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Literally two decades in the making, here is a book that lives up to its name!  There are levels of irony upon irony and then within and in between these there lurks hints and glimmers of more.  There is militant subversion and blatant transgression of the exact same material for which is simultaneously exhibited the deepest respect and greatest empathy. R. Sikoryak is a truly singular master of comics who knows its classical forms and major practitioners inside out to a degree that is simply unparalleled.  His work contained here will trigger a panoply of associations to anyone devoted to the form of comics and this is then squared for those who are on equally familiar terms with the literary classics that are adapted. Sikoryak's achievment in successfully splicing together classic literature and classic comics at the deep level of their respective genetic codes is such that the reading of this collection will, for some, spark a revolution in their perceptual apparatus that will topple the reigning dominant ideology and force a reordering of priorities. We have here the Book of Genesis as a series of Blondie Sunday pages;  Dante's Inferno imagined as Bazooka Gum insert comics; Shakespeare's Macbeth as a Mary Worth sub-plot; Voltaire's Candide imagined as Ziggy; Marlowe's Faust as a series of Garfield dailies;  Wuthering Heights as an EC horror comic; The Scarlet Letter as acted out by Little Lulu and Tubby; Kafka's "Metamorphosis" starring Charlie Brown; The Portrait of Dorian Gray as a sequence from Little Nemo in Slumberland; Waiting for Godot starring Beavis and Butthead; and, finally the piece de resistance, Crime and Punishment as a 1950s Detective Comics featuring Batman & Robin and the Joker followed by the encore of Camus's L'Etranger condensed into a series of Action Comics covers circa the same era.  No self-respecting comics fan can hold their head high without having this volume in their library. Please take a moment to feast your eyes on this PDF sneak peek.  And then take a few moments to read this 3-part interview with Sikoryak.
Barefoot Gen 7: Bones Into Dust	Keiji Nakazawa	Last Gasp	Barefoot Gen	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This amazing 10-volume saga nears its conclusion with this volume that, interestingly, deals, in part, with Gen's efforts to publish an eyewitness account of the bombing.  Clearly, the impetus to give voice to this story, which in turn led to the creation of this landmark work, was there from the very beginning.  Indeed, the original comic book publication of this tale in the United States (in the early 1970s – making it, we believe, the first US manga publication) was titled, "I Saw It!"  A title that conveys a sense of urgency that belies the twenty plus years it took to get the story out.  Anyone who has yet to read the first volume of this series, is hereby given a push to do so... today!
Barefoot Gen 8: Merchants of Death	Keiji Nakazawa	Last Gasp	Barefoot Gen	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This amazing 10-volume saga nears its conclusion with this volume that, interestingly, deals, in part, with Gen's efforts to publish an eyewitness account of the bombing.  Clearly, the impetus to give voice to this story, which in turn led to the creation of this landmark work, was there from the very beginning.  Indeed, the original comic book publication of this tale in the United States (in the early 1970s – making it, we believe, the first US manga publication) was titled, "I Saw It!"  A title that conveys a sense of urgency that belies the twenty plus years it took to get the story out.  Anyone who has yet to read the first volume of this series, is hereby given a push to do so... today!
Bringing Up Father	George McManus	NBM	Forever Nuts	$19.95 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the first volume in what we hope will be an ongoing series of George McManus's immortal classic newspaper comics series, Bringing Up Father.  It is also a subset of an already ongoing series from NBM, Forever Nuts, dedicated to collecting "classic screwball strips."  Already available in this series are the initial volumes of Mutt 'n' Jeff and Happy Hooligan.  While we have nothing disparaging to say about these two, we feel compelled to point out  that, while the early strips on display in this volume are indeed exemplars of the form, Bringing Up Father is much more than simply a screwball strip.  Together with Chic Young's Blondie, it pioneered the family sitcom that went on to become a staple of radio and then television entertainment that continues to this day (interestingly, The Simpsons now holds the title of the longest running sitcom of all time; perhaps the roots of the sitcom form in comics has somehow contributed to The Simpsons' longevity...).  And not only that, George McManus is the undisputed progenitor of what has come to be known as the clear line school of comics.  While this school came to be codified in France – hence its moniker, ligne claire (of which "clear line" is a translation) – it all begins here with these strips collected here – all dailies from the first two years of the strip, 1913 & 1914.   McManus is more than just the originator of the clear line, he is also its undisputed master.  The strips here are just the beginning:  over the next thirty years he perfected a smooth clear line that continues to set the standard by which all others are measured.  Here's hoping we get a chance to see more of it in print soon!
Tank Girl 3 (remastered)	Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin, Philip Bond	Titan Books	Tank Girl	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Here it is, the new and improved, "remastered" edition of the third volume of that pop/punk icon, Tank Girl.  While we have to admit to preferring the in-your-face covers of the original series of trades to the more discreet packaging on the new editions, we must say that the interiors are superior.  The pages have been re-proportioned to bring them closer to the Deadline originals, the art that was intended for black and white reproduction is printed here as intended, while the color work receives much better reproduction; and there are two extra stories that don't appear in the original edition, making for 16 additional bonus pages.  Not only that, this edition costs LESS than the old one.  All in all, it's hard to knock.
A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge	Josh Neufeld	Pantheon		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Three years in the making, here is what is highly likely to be the definitive comics documentary of the great New Orleans flood of 2005.  Heavily researched, it combines intimate human portraits with important details to create a close up and personal account.
Melvin Monster	John Stanley, Seth	Drawn and Quarterly	The John Stanley Library	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Drawn & Quarterly launches their long held dream project of a John Stanley Library with this lush, Seth-designed hardcover volume containing 112 pages of full color comics – all scanned from the original comic books, for that collector frisson (all that's missing is the smell) –  that originally comprised the first three issues of the 1965 Dell series.  Seth has lavished his designer attentions on this book and it is another fine fetish-worthy volume.  Not sure if Melvin Monster is for you (or, perhaps, a child near you)?  Well then, just take a moment out of your busy day to peruse this full color preview and see what you think.

View previous updates: View a previous update ... July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003