The Copacetic Comics Company Featured Item

Featured Item

Title	Author	Publisher	Price
Building a Better Robot: 10 Years of the Mr. Roboto Project	Andy Mulkerin, Mike Q. Roth, Dan Bidwa, Arthur Daniel Allen and more ...	Universioty of Roboto Press	$20.00 ($20.00 list)
Read more and comment...	You want local? We got local. Building a Better Robot is a made in Pittsburgh book (and DVD!) that chronicles a made in Pittsburgh project that has become a fixture on the Pittsburgh scene: Mr. Roboto. This 8" square format book runs for 192 pages and contains at least that number of black and white photos by a host of scene documentarians – notably Shawn Brackbill – as well as a full-length DVD containing, according to its creators, "37 songs by Pittsburgh bands that either helped define the Mr. Roboto Project or were themselves highly defined by Roboto. In addition, the DVD contains video of some of these bands performing at the first Roboto space. It also has a digital and searchable version of the Roboto show list, and extra images, including show fliers."
The Ecstasy of Influence	Jonathan Lethem	Doubleday	$25.00 ($27.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Twenty years on, Lethem is unique among contemporary novelists in continuing to bring the full force of both his critical acumen and his phosphorescent prose stylings to bear on a wide breadth of subjects that other writers often ignore – despite his having achieved the Empyrean heights of world class critical renown signified by a MacArthur prize. Lethem remains ever true to his roots, and is the champion of the importance and lasting value of an intelligent American popular culture rooted in arts and literatures of all stripes, including comics and science fiction (foremost among which might be his devotion to Philip K. Dick; see immediately above), movies and music, novels and paintings, and more. The Ecstasy of Influence is the collection of these writings that we've all been waiting for. Seventy-nine engaging pieces of sterling prose – consisting of a mix of long form essays and short form reviews, as well as pieces that fall somewhere between – celebrating culture and the individual's identity-forming interactions with it that will leave every one of its readers wiser and more self-aware.
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick	Philip K. Dick, Pamela Jackson, Jonathan Lethem	Houghton Mifflin	$35.00 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Philip Dick had a very certain kind of mind. You either relate to him or you don't. It was a mind that turned ever increasingly in on itself during a lengthy career that began in 1954 with turning out science fiction stories and novels at a frantic pace and ending with a sort of quasi-relgious mysticism attempting to ground itself in hard science. To say Dick lived life on the edge is putting it mildly, and in February and March of 1974 he experienced a multi-episode revelation that changed the course of his life for its remaining eight years, and The Exegesis is, more or less, his attempt to understand it. The Exegesis is an investigation of the process of thought itself and so involves being self-aware and self-watching as the investigation proceeds knowing that the investigation ultimately transpires in the mind and so must itself be investigated at the same time that it proceeds. Dick believed that it is precisely this delicate oroborosian, mobius strip highwire balancing act of consciousness watching itself which germinates the seed of discovery. It is fascinating and frustrating in equal measure as Dick spent years pouring his thoughts out onto thousands upon thousands of pages (the introduction states that the unedited total length of The Exegesis is an estimated two million words). Thus what we have in this published volume is only a sampling of the whole, but it is a sampling that is the result of (thirty!) years of work by the people best suited for the job – including Paul Williams, Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem – and so brings you, the reader, the best possible version that could be presented in under 1000 pages. Hardy souls, prepare to venture forth!
Add Toner	Aaron Cometbus	Last Gasp	$11.00 ($12.00 list)
Read more and comment...	A sequel of sorts to his perennial collection, Despite Everything, Add Toner picks up where that volume left off and collects the "highlights" (according to Aaron's introductory essay) of Cometbus issues #44 through #48 – which must be close to everything, as it's 368 pages. It also contains, an addendum, "8 Out of 10 Days," which is "a conglomeration of books, that for one reason or another were never released," complete with an all new essay contextualizing them.
We Others: New and Selected Stories	Steven Millhauser	Alfred Knopf	$25.00 ($27.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Long-time Copacetic customers are well aware of how highly esteemed Mr. Millhauser is within our walls. Millhauser has painstakingly crafted a voice in writing, an approach to the material, and a fictional method that combined to create a new and potent force in literature that has produced truly remarkable works that have definitely shaped the post-'60s literature since first dawning in the 1972 novel Edwin Mullhouse. Here we have seven new stories together with selections from four of his previously published story collections that we have been persistently touting here for the past decade. We would like to assure anyone reading this who has yet to succumb to our persuasions that this fine volume will provide an excellent entry point to one of the most singular, pleasurable and uncanny bodies of work they are likely to ever come across. Long-time readers of Millhauser will, of course, perhaps feel a slight irritation at having to buy stories they already own, but this irritation will pass away within moments of opening the pages of this book, replaced by thankfulness and wonder.
Lightning Rods	Helen DeWitt	New Directions	$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Wow! While we had never completely given up hope that there would ever be a follw up to Helen DeWitt's brilliant debut, The Last Samurai (NOT to be confused with the Tom Cruise vehicle of the same name that came out years later, to which it bears no relation), we had come pretty close. So we were nearly bowled over with surprise by our discovery of the impending release of Lightning Rods, which has now just arrived on our shelves. We imagine that most – and hope all – of our customers who have had the opportunity to read The Last Samurai will share our excitement.
Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight for – from Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities	Andrew Laties	Seven Stories Press	$15.25 ($16.95 list)
Read more and comment...	*Revised and Updated Edition* <<•>> foreword by Edward Morrow; afterword by Bill Ayers <<•>> And here is the winner for the longest subtitle! Speaking of which, how can we not like a book endorsing this point of view? In fact, author Laties will be here in person at Copacetic on the evening of Monday, October 3, 2011. Get an idea of what's in store with this excerpt posted on scribd.com
The Authentic Animal: Inside the Odd and Obsessive World of Taxidermy	Dave Madden	St. Martin's Press	$25.00 ($26.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Ever find yourself wondering what possessed people to skin and stuff animals and then mount them on their walls or build dioramas based around them and install them in giant glass cases in museums? Well, wonder no more! University of Alabama professor and Copacetic customer Dave Madden has spent the last several years of his life putting together a book that answers this very question. Beginning with the "father of modern taxidermy," Carl Akeley, who created the Akeley Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, Madden continues on a journey that brings him to the World Taxidermy Championships, a taxidermy academy, the garage workshops of taxidermy enthusiasts and many other taxidermy-related locales, as he spares no expense (affordable by someone living on a professor's salary) to bring his readers this "thought-provoking blend of history, biology and philosophy."
Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield	Robert Gober, Cynthia Burlingham, Charles Burchfield	Prestel	$44.44 ($49.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Charles Burchfield is an artist whom Copacetic customers, as a population, have a strong likelihood of connecting with. He spent a fifty-year career – first in his native Ohio, after studying at the Cleveland Institue of Art, and then in upstate New York – forging a startlingly original visual language. Working primarily in watercolors, Burchfield picked up where Van Gogh left off in creating artworks that manage to visually communicate non-visual perceptions. Heat Waves In a Swamp is the catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hammer in LA, the Whitney in NYC and the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY in 2009 and 2010 that was put together by independent curator, Robert Gober along with the Hammer's Cynthia Burlingham. This 184 page hardcover is edited by Burlingham and Gober, who both contribute essays along with a host of other Burchfield scholars that together work to heighten our appreciation and understanding of the artist and his work. And, it is, of course, the sterling reproductions of Burchfield's works that are the feature attraction here. The selection and its presentation are both excellent. One of the standout features of this catalogue is its inclusion of never before published notes and sketches taken from the voluminous Burchfield archives housed at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. This catalogue is far and away the best single-volume introduction to Burchfield currently available and we heartily encourage all to explore the wonders within – especially practicing artists, comics and otherwise, who stand the most to gain. Meanwhile, take a moment to explore a sample of his wide-ranging work online.
Monkey Portraits	Jill Greenberg	Bulfinch	$12.47 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	What is there to say about a book like this? You either get it, or you don't. Here at Copacetic, we feel that it would behoove one and all to get it, so, as a result of a special purchase, we're doing what we can to help by offering Monkey Portraits at 60% off its original price. Looking at these full blown studio portraits of our fellow primates will open your eyes to the human condition in more ways than one; they're really quite amazing. This hardcover collection of photographs documenting approximately two dozen species, with a special focus on orangutans – now evidently considered our closest relation, with their DNA having been shown through complete sequencing to be slightly closer to that of humans than that of chimpanzees, who were previously thought to be our closest kin – is quite well produced and the reproduction of the images are of uniformly excellent quality, providing you with a look at these simian souls which is of a different category altogether from that which you get at a zoo or even a wildlife preserve. Our sole complaint about it is that the captions that accompany the photos are unnecessary and risk trivializing the images themselves, which are quite potent enough to stand on their own without any textual assistance. Thus, to most completely reap the rewards that this amazing collection of images provides, it is best to simply ignore the captions entirely and focus on the faces, which are eloquent enough.
Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America	Bradford Wright	John Hopkins University Press	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Anyone wanting to pursue a study of comic books can’t do better than to begin with Comic Book Nation. Bradford W. Wright’s book, published in April of 2001 by Johns Hopkins University Press, provides a solid foundation in the history, analysis and criticism of the principal events, trends and personalities as well as of the companies, creators and characters of the first century of comic books in America. The only caveat to this statement is that Wright focuses almost entirely on the mainstream of comic books that has been typically- although certainly not totally-- devoted to the adolescent market. More than simply a history of comic books, however, Comic Book Nation works to articulate and demonstrate the role comic books have played in the rise of the consumer culture that has so altered the American way of life. Specifically, how the marketplace insinuated itself into the transfer of tradition that takes place between each current generation (i.e. that of the parents) and the next (i.e. that of their children). Prior to the introduction of a youth market for consumer goods, of which Wright shows that comic books were arguably in the vanguard, the values of each generation were reproduced through parents, schools, and religious institutions. Comic books managed to get right in between the generations (perhaps initiating what came to be known as the “generation gap”) and present values and versions of reality-- however distorted-- directly to the youth of the 1930’s, ‘40’s and ‘50’s, and, although to an ever decreasing extent, to the youth of the 1960's to the present as well. Wright intimates that the commodification of youth culture began with the comic book. It was the recognition of this, however ill-formed and misapprehended, that precipitated the anti-comic hysteria that gripped the nation in the early 1950’s. The anti-comic crusade led by Dr. Fredric Wertham ended comics' dominance of the youth and young adult entertainment market, but in no way had any lasting effect on the rise of a consumer culture in which values are transmitted-- to all, but especially to the young and impressionable-- through commodities marketed by corporations. Thus, while the youth of today-- as well as, it is important to note, more and more of the adults of today who were, of course, the children of yesterday-- are presented with a myriad of choices in the marketplace out of which to forge their identities-- from television programming (the primary form of which is the commercial), movies, music, video games, books and magazines produced and delivered to them by the established entertainment conglomerates to all the offerings of the internet and world wide web which are, of course, being rapidly colonized by these same established interests-- few today realize or even consider that it was the comic book that pioneered this transformation of American culture that lies at the roots of the “Culture Wars” that currently divide this country (and seem likely to divide the rest of the world as well), in the process rendering obsolete the old political divisions of Left and Right. More than any political policy, it is the struggle over who exactly is in charge of transmitting tradition from one generation to the next, and by extension who gets to decide what constitutes that tradition that is what defines and divides “liberal” and “conservative". Regardless of which side of the debate you find yourself on it is hard to argue against the statement that it is exactly this ability-- some might say necessity-- to forge one’s own identity in the marketplace and away from the traditional bearers and transmitters -- some might say imposers-- of value (i.e. the institutions of family, education and religion) that distinguishes American culture from all others that have come before it, responsible for both the adulation and the vituperation that American culture is greeted with around the world. Time and again, when American culture begins to make inroads into a foreign land it is feared and denigrated by the old (i.e. the present generation, the bearers of tradition) while it is embraced by the young (i.e. the next generation, the intended recipients of that tradition). It is not difficult to understand why. Comic Book Nation charts the rise and decline of the comic book industry with a deft hand and observant style that is markedly free of cant and stridency. Wright’s ability to meld a critical understanding of the history and practices of the companies that produced and distributed comic books with an incisive cultural interpretation of the meaning and significance of their contents is admirable and one can only hope that it will be seen by others working in the field as an example worthy of expanding on. This is a book that will increase the appreciation and understanding of the place of comic books in American culture for anyone-- whether a life long aficionado of comics or a novice initiate-- who reads it. And should anyone be considering teaching a class either entirely on comic books or incorporating a unit on comic books within a course on American popular culture, that person need look no further than Comic Book Nation to have an ideal core text in hand.
Jazz A B Z	Paul Rogers, Wynton Marsalis, Phil Schaap	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!

Mon - Thu	11 - 5
Fri & Sat	11 - 7
Sun	12 - 4