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Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
John Carter of Mars: The Jesse Marsh Years	Jesse Marsh	Dark Horse		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	One of the great masters of comic book art, Jesse Marsh is best remembered as the long-running artist on Dell's Tarzan comics (Marsh drew the first 153 issues, one of the longest unbroken runs in the history of comics). Here at Copacetic, while we do, of course, have a great and abiding respect for Marsh's work on Tarzan, it is his modest three-issue run on that other Edgar Rice Burroughs creation, John Carter of Mars, that has long been our favorite of his works. Marsh really shines here, with page after stunning page of fabulous work. He manages to combine a 'fifties SF sensibility with pop abstractions derived from modern art and his own classic comics language that he developed on Tarzan for a career high work that is magnetically attractive; you can get lost in the pages. This full color hardcover from Dark Horse contains good quality scans of every page of the original comic books, along with the front and back covers – and, thankfully, inside front and back covers as well. Our only criticism is Dark Horse's continual reliance on glossy coated stock. C'mon guys, wake up! These works were originally printed on newsprint. When you're printing scans of original comic book work, it needs to be printed on flat, uncoated, off-white stock. Dark Horse is clearly doing the work a disservice by printing the interior pages on glossy white stock. But this is a mere quibble next to the easy availability of this classic that this edition has now made possible. Enjoyment of this classic is now only a couple clicks away! Marsh's work was a fixture in the household of los hermanos Hernandez when they were growing up, and its influence is quite visible, in their work, especially that of Gilbert, whose line owes quite a bit to Marsh's (Gilbert's long focus landscapes and skyscapes are also very much indebted to Marsh's example), so it is quite fitting that the forward to this volume is by Mario Hernandez, the eldest, who would have likely been the one to have first brought these comics home and introduced them to his bros; and its inclusion more than makes up for the aesthetic damage of glossy stock. Here's hoping that this book is the success that it deserves to be, that it sells out and requires a second printing, and that the powers that be at Dark Horse wise up and select a more suitable paper stock for the second printing. This work is good enough that it would be worth buying again if they do!
Hicksville	Dylan Horrocks	Drawn and Quarterly		$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Here at Copacetic Comics, we've long been fond of calling Hicksville "The Watchmen of small press comics." This is useful in that practically all comics readers are familiar with and have positive associations with The Watchmen, and we feel that Hicksville is a similarly ambitious, successful and important work, and so is one that we like to draw attention to, and comparing it to The Watchmen is a cheap and easy way to do so. Whether or not this is a good, right or fair thing to say in regards to to the themes and content of the respective works, we're not going to try to defend. The comparison's validity rests more on a historical point in that both are works whose central narratives, in addition to telling engaging stories, simultaneously serve to deconstruct the basis of the genres they are working in. For Watchmen it is that of the superhero, for Hicksville it is the genre of autobio comics and its rise out of the world of comics fandom. Now, back in print after a two-year hiatus, this new edition of Hicksville is, we feel, likely to be the definitive one, as everything about it feels just right. Most especially the significant addition of an all new, all comics introduction by Horrocks that he himself states (in this quite-worthy-of-reading Publisher's Weekly interview) is "one of the most frank and personal things I've ever drawn." This introduction is an important minor work in its own right and puts the proverbial icing on the cake of this seminal volume (preview it here). So, for any and all Copacetic customers who have yet to experience this comics masterwork, we say: now is the time.
Penny Century	Jaime Hernandez	Fantagraphics	Love and Rockets	$14.99 ($18.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Well, talk about an embarassment of riches! Not only have we been treated to the long awaited Art of Jaime, but now we also have the latest in the splendiferous series of trade paperback volumes that, since 2007, have been repackaging the classic work of both Jaime and Beto. Penny Century is the fourth Jaime volume and the first to present his work that appeared after the conclusion of the initial seminal run of Love and Rockets. The book opens with the one of kind classic of comics choreography that is Whoa Nellie!, Jaime's 68 page ode to women's wrestling. Then we are treated to the super fabuous experience of the Maggie and Hopey Color Fun one-shot in glorious black & white. The bulk of the book collects the titular seven-issue series in its entirety (yes?), followed by the "secret origin" of the lead character, "Bay of Threes," from the fifth issue of the second volume of Love and Rockets. 248 pages of Jaime Hernandez in fine form. Is there really anything else that needs to be said?
The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death	Alison Bechdel, Jaime Hernandez, Todd Hignite	Abrams ComicArts		$34.00 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> introduction by Alison Bechdel <<•>> YES! It's here: a dream come true. Designed by Jordan Crane, and perfectly printed on high quality flat white stock, every page of this oversize hardcover book is a wonder. Where to start with a book like this? Well, first off, there are the page after flawless page of full color reproductions of Jaime's black and white (and color) original artwork – including many pieces of unpublished art, several of which are real eye-openers! Then there is the uncovered cache of rare ephemera like punk rock fliers, early L & R ads, and local and national magazine covers. Also unearthed are drawings from Jaime's childhood years, including those that cover Jaime's Oxnard High School Pee-Chee folder, amongst which is one of the first ever depictions of Maggie! Best of all, there is a veritable family scrap book worth of photos documenting the Hernandez clan's development from its earliest days (Jaime in diapers!) on up through the halcyon days of punk rock splendor and beyond that will have long time Love and Rockets fans dewy eyed more than once. AND, this book isn't just about the art, it's also about the man behind the art. It's full of choice quotes from Jaime and others in his circle, all of which go a long way towards shedding light on the particular nature of his genius. Our favorite so far is this gem of Jaime's, in response to the suggestion that he build on his popularity to step into the mainstream: "That's not the next step. Love and Rockets is the last step. I 'made it' when we did the first issue. Everything else – The New York Times, even making a movie – is lesser than Love and Rockets, as far as I'm concerned, and everyone else should treat their work that way. If it's your own work, it should be treated as the last thing, not the first thing." Amen to that. Written and curated by Comic Art Magazine founding editor, Todd Hignite, this massive hardcover volume builds on and extends Comic Art's tradition of high standards in writing, graphic design and production. Hignite's introduction, craftily employing Jaime's New York Times serial "La Maggie la Loca" as both its jumping off point and visual foil, is a model of concise clear prose in the service of promoting an ideal. The body of the book constructs a well rounded portrait of the artist that will stand the test of time. We'd say more, but we're all too busy poring over the pages and dabbing our eyes...
Bringing Up Father: From Sea to Shining Sea	George McManus	IDW Publishing	Library of American Comics	$44.44 ($49.95 list)
Read more and comment...	McManus is a Copacetic Favorite and one of the all time greats, the founder of the (co-opted by the Europeans) Ligne Claré (clear line to us Yanks) school of art now most closely associated with Hergé. All hail the Library of American Comics series currently being published by IDW for not only bringing this classic strip to a new generation of readers, but for producing in the process what might very well be the best single collection of the work of George McManus ever released! This collection presents several distinct continuities – including what may be the single most famous, the cross country tour (that includes a stop in, you guessed it, Pittsburgh, PA) – all from the glory days of the strip: the late 1930s - early 1940s. Humor abounds in the domestic comedy plot lines that both prefigured and influenced the sit-com format that has been a staple of television programming from the days of I Love Lucy through to The Simpsons: all these shows have roots in Bringing Up Father. But the true joy of this strip is in the quality of the line. The comics heir to the high value placed on line by the fin de siclé Art Nouveau movement – as well as the Art Deco movement that came in its wake – McManus, along with – during the latter part of his career – his able assistant Zeke Zekley, crafted a drawing technique that provided all necessary visual information in the outline -- no messy cross-hatching, shading or chiaroscuro for these guys – no! – just a clear, precise line, thank you. McManus was a true comics original and hugely influential. The work of artists as diverse as Carl Barks and Joost Swarte, and many others in between, show the strong stamp of McManus's artistic influence. You owe it to yourself to at least take a look at the work of this master, and, with the fine choice of work, excellent reproduction, and copious historical material, this volume is the clear and obvious place to start.
Afrodisiac	Brian Maruca, Jim Rugg	AdHouse Books		$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Well, here's a work that sets the table for multi-course feast that will appeal to folks of different stripes for different reasons. First and foremost, it is the most ample display to date of the pop culture prowess of the Pittsburgh-based artist/writer team of Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, who here have given a virtuoso performance. Afrodisiac is an homage to the last gasp of traditional comic book values; specifically, those that were embodied by the comic books of, roughly, 1972 - 1985. These were the final years of the newsstand comic book market – its decade of irrevocable decline. Beginning in 1986 it was permanently eclipsed by the direct market, a turn of events which not only forever altered the perception and reception of comic books, but simultaneously led to a a substantial and equally permanent change in their values and production. The work contained in this compact, full color, hardcover volume demonstrates a deep intuitive understanding of the the tropes and formulas of traditional newsstand comic books, as well as, and perhaps most significantly, the role played by the wide variety of production and reproduction processes and techniques through which the raw language of comics passes en route to becoming the actual physical end product comic book that transmits its content through the readers' sensory apparatus, and thereby promulgates its meaning to the end consumer: human consciousness. Conscious manipulation of the denotative capacities of production processes has a history that goes back at least thirty years, to Art Spiegelman's work in Breakdowns, and it continues to be employed successfully in works such as Paul Hornschemeier's The Three Paradoxes. Afrodisiac is, however, unique in that, here, this conscious manipulation is the driving force behind the entire project, and is encoded in the texts as well as the images, with the character of The Afrodisiac acting as a cypher – one that is simultaneously a celebration and an elegy – for the uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies that was no longer possible in the wake of The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. Jim Rugg is a one-man production house and he has put the pedal to the metal in his reclamation of a panoply of production processes in this pandemonium procuring panegyric to the blaxploitation genre (that was itself an embodiment of the last gasp of the classical Hollywood values that vanished in the wake of the blockbuster onslaught of Spielberg, Lucas & Co.). It is here, in this nostalgic conflation of blaxploitation's own uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies with those of comic book superheroes, by, let it be said, a couple of middle-class white guys, that another layer of signification transpires. Certainly, an exploration of the text's Playing in the Dark is warranted, and an old Lou Reed song may come to the mind of readers of a certain age; and, the fact that the power fantasy on display in these pages is of a distinctly sexual nature and is employed in the domination and exploitation of women cannot be ignored. Yet, all is rendered with a clear sense of humor, and where level, intellectually engaged heads prevail, there are sure to be some interesting and potentially valuable correlations made (cultural anthropologists, please take note). In other words, Afrodisiac is one of the densest texts one is likely to come across; and while many will doubtless find it a source of uncritical enjoyment, those who do so will be doing themselves a disservice and missing the work's essential character. To get a head start processing this sucka', download this PDF preview.
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary	Justin Green	McSweeney's		$26.00 ($29.00 list)
Read more and comment...	introduction by Art Spiegelman <<•>> We were a tad skeptical when we first got wind of this re-issue of one of the undisputed classics of the underground era of comics that it would justify its hefty price tag: but all of our doubts vanished as soon as this splediferous volume emerged from the box it arrived in. This is a fabulous, gilded and embossed hardcover edition that is a whopping 10" x 14" and reproduces the entire original classic comic book directly from the black & white, pen & ink original, using full color reproduction. What this means is that you can really see the original art in all its imperfect glory: white-out, blue pencil, inadvertent stains – all are clearly on display, rendering the creative process visible, and allowing the reader to really see the art that brought this major comics milestone into being. As for describing the work itself, we'll hand that job off to these highly esteemed commentators: "Justin Green – he's out of his mind. I love every stroke of his nervous pen, every tortured scratch he ever scrawled. He was among the top storytelling artists of the first wave of 'underground' comics, a darkly humorous social commentator, and the FIRST, absolutely the FIRST EVER cartoonist to draw highly personal autobiographical comics. Binky Brown started many other cartoonists along the same path, myself included." – R. Crumb <•> "With Binky Brown, comics went practically overnight from being an art form that saw from the outside in to one that sees from the inside out. (Justin Green's) internal struggle can practically be felt in the drawings themselves, the style sometimes changing from panel to panel – sometimes even within the panels themselves – all in a effort to simply arrive at The Truth. Comics wouldn't be what they are today without this book, and this new edition places it in its proper place in the comics literary canon. Thank God for Binky Brown. And thank God for Justin Green." – Chris Ware <•> "I like it very much but I don't get the slang." – Federico Fellini <•> Is there really anything more left to be said? If those endorsements don't sell you, nothing will!
Driven By Lemons	Joshua Cotter	AdHouse Books		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This book took us quite by surprise, as it will anyone who has read or is even familiar with Cotter's previous and best known work, Skyscrapers of the Midwest. Skyscrapers, was a widely lauded work which originally appeared in a series of comic books before being collected as a hardcover graphic novel. It presented a relatively straightforward tale in which fantasy intertwined with reality that hewed closely to narrative norms. In other words, it is a work that in no way prepares any of its readers for the free flowing stream that is Driven By Lemons. Cotter, along with Adhouse Books publisher, Chris Pitzer, have here created a book that is, by all appearances, a facsimile of Cotter's 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" hardcover Moleskine sketchbook (although it is highly unlikely that it is actually a true facsimile, the conceit that it is is important to its meaning – Hold on a second there! According to this interview [which comes complete with a lengthy manifesto-like preamble by Cotter] it actually is a facsimile of his sketchbook, and he planned it all out in advance.). While some of the work it contains will be clearly recognizable to readers of Cotter's earlier work, most boldly charts new territory. In a nutshell, Driven By Lemons is a shining example of self-discovery through sketchbooking. Clearly, something has changed in Cotter's life since he completed Skyscrapers, and as he tried to adapt to his new environment – physical, emotional, psychological, or some combination of these – he kept a record of his travails in his sketchbook, tried to cohere it into some sort of narrative, and Driven By Lemons is the result. There is some truly adventurous comics work here; you can feel the inspiration. Make sure to crack this one open and take a look.
Ganges #3	Kevin Huizenga	Fantagraphics	Ignatz	$7.25 ($7.95 list)
Read more and comment...	It's time for comics connoisseurs to crank up their cogitation once again, as a new issue of Ganges is in stock and on sale here at The Copacetic Comics Company. And the verdict? Kevin Huizenga once again delivers the goods! This time around we have the inner workings of an agitated mind – that of Glenn Ganges, to answer your question – at the edge of sleep, visually embodied as its own cartoon being, distinct and separate from – if in many respects identical to – the body housing this mind. All readers who have ever had a rough time falling asleep and have had their mind wander to and fro seemingly of its "own" accord will have plenty to relate to here, and there are indeed many comic moments in this comic book, BUT there is also much food for thought, along with a poetic evocation of middle-American suburban landscapes as dreamscapes that shows Huizenga slowly feeling his way towards integrating some weightier emotional content into his analytics. In dissecting the mechanics of consciousness on the precipice of sleep, as the waking mind gradually lets go of sensory input and transitions to a period of internal synaptic data transfer, Huizenga once again strives to put the language of comics to novel uses. The layers of consciousness are first depicted and then explored as metamorphic strata composed of distinctly variant degrees of abstraction; memories transform into imaginings which then turn in on themselves in auto-analyses all prompted by the slightest shifts in the tectonic plates of self-awareness. This is a comic that not only can, but demands to be read over and over again. There is so much going on here that each reading will turn up something that was missed before. Here is work that is powering comics forward, and that should not be missed by anyone who want to see where it's going.
The Complete Jack Survives	Jerry Moriarty	Buenaventura Press		$29.75 ($34.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Begun thirty years ago, Jack has at last found a permanent luxury dwelling in this sumptuously produced (by Buenaventura Press) oversized hardcover book that will be treasured by comics aesthetes everywhere. Jerry Moriarty, who has the courage to admit that, "When I started out, I didn't know what I was doing," took a chance and headed into unknown territory, taking a painterly sensibility rooted in the depression-era painting of Hopper, Sheeler and Burchfield, and grafting it straight onto his own hardwired, homegrown comics sensibility. Without taking the time to worry what it all meant or where he was going, he just struck out for the territory and made it all his own. Take a tour.
The Book of Genesis, Illustrated	R. Crumb	Norton		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, here it is: the most talked about book in comics. Five years at the drawing board hath wrought Crumb's own pen & ink rendering of the West's origin myth. Crumb, as he warned and as we would naturally expect, hasn't pulled any punches and has illustrated this tale as written, warts and all. Crumb says it best himself in his introduction: "I, R. Crumb, the illustrator of this book, have, to the best of my ability, faithfully reproduced every word of the original text... Every other comic book version of The Bible that I've seen contains passages of completely made-up narrative and dialogue, in an attempt to streamline and 'modernize' the old scriptures, and still, these various comic book Bibles all claim to adhere to the belief that the Bible is 'the word of God' or 'inspired by God,' whereas I, ironically, do not believe the Bible is 'the word of God.' I believe it is the words of men. It is, nonetheless, a powerful text with layers of meaning that reach deep into our collective consciousness, our historical consciousness, if you will. It seems to be an inspired work but I believe that its power derives from its having been a collective endeavor that evolved and condensed over many generations ..." Every line in this book is hand drawn. The only mechanical text is on the copyright page, the inside jacket flaps, and the commentary in the addendum. It's the Bible! It's a comic book! It's Crumb! It is, in short, amazing. Dive right in with this preview. Update: Due to R. "crotchety oldster or painstaking perfectionist - you decide!" Crumb's insistence that this book be printed exclusively on one, specific paper stock which is manufactured only once a month and in quantitities that are unable to meet the demand for this book, we have been having a hard time tracking down enough copies. However, we just received a nice restock, so we are once again offering our standard Copacetic discount!
Kramers Ergot #6	Sammy Harkham, C.F., Paper Rad, Marc Bell and more ...	Buenaventura Press	Kramers Ergot	$34.95 ($34.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Edited, as always, by Sammy Harkham -- this time around with an assist by co-publisher Alvin Buenaventura -- this now seemingly biennial publication continues to live up to the promise made with the fourth and fifth volumes. The format follows that of the last volume: a flat matte finish (this time sans texture) flexi cover fixed to a sturdy Smythe sewn binding that holds the contents firmly in place. And what contents! Many of those talents that readers have come to associate with Kramers Ergot are here again, and have submitted work that is as engaging as ever. Sammy Harkham, C.F., Paper Rad, Marc Bell, Souther Salazar, Ron Regé, Jr., Matthew Thurber, Dan Zettwoch and Elvis Studio are joined by Vanessa Davis, Tom Gaud, Martin Cendreda, Bald Eagles and a handful of others. Also, KE Alum Gary Panter finds himself under the same covers as former fellow Raw artist, Jerry Moriarty, who is given plenty of space to present his idiosyncratic Hopperesque visions for the first time (we've seen) in many years. In addition, with this issue Kramers Ergot adds a curatorial component to its offerings for the first time, as readers are given a rare look at two great historical figures of the comics world: we get a healthy sampling of a late sketchbook by the Dutch comics artist, Marc Smeets, which is preceded by "an incomplete appreciation" by Chris Ware; and an amazing reproduction of the early and highly influential manga, Norakuro by Suiho Tagawa. All in all, it seems once again to be an essential read for anyone involved in the contemporary comics scene. Here is a preview of the front cover along with 10 sample pages.
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: A Cartoon History of Hiroshima	Keiji Nakazawa	Last Gasp	Barefoot Gen	$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This is it, one of the most important comics works of all time, the complete ten-volume saga will now be presented in English for the first time, courtesy of Project Gen and Last Gasp. Barefoot Gen chronicles one family’s experience living in Hiroshima before, during and after WWII. This opening volume provides an emotionally moving chronicle of this family’s hardships during wartime -- hardships that were more severe than most due to the family's pacifism and anti-war stance. This book, however, will always be remembered most for its absolutely searing first-person account of experiencing the first atomic bombing. There is no other account in any medium that matches the power of Nakazawa’s. The experience of reading this book will be permanently imprinted in the memory of anyone who reads it; it is an unforgettable experience. Produced in the 1970s, Barefoot Gen precedes Art Spiegelman’s Maus by a decade, and in fact -- as Spiegelman’s introduction attests -- was both a catalyst for and a profound influence on that Pulitzer Prize winning work. Barefoot Gen almost single-handedly established the genre of comics-as-dramatic-history that has gone on to produce other great works in addition to Maus, such as the works of Joe Sacco (Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde) and Persepolis, among many others.
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.
American Splendor Presents Bob & Harv's Comics	R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar	Thunder's Mouth Press	American Splendor	$9.99 ($16.00 list)
Read more and comment...	What's new about this one is the price. We are now able to offer this classic 1996 volume that collects the entirety of R. Crumb's contributions to Harvey Pekar's trailblazing comics series at an amazing low price that we hope will be a boon to all of those who are watching their wallet yet have their eyes out for high quality comics. It really doesn't get much better than these titanic team-ups. These are the comics that put American Splendor on the map and transformed Harvey Pekar from just another working schmoe to an icon of the independent artistic spirit that inheres to the American working class. Yowza! Anyone who hasn't managed to get around to reading these yet is in for a real treat, and even those that have may want the chance to savor them yet again (and again, and again...). RECOMMENDED! Preview it, here.
Asterios Polyp	David Mazzucchelli	Pantheon		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This is perhaps the longest awaited work in the history of comics (No? Let us know what, in your estimation, beats it.). Over ten years in the making, Mazzucchelli's first ever solo graphic novel is also his first major work since his 1994 graphic adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass, a trailblazing, highly influential work which put him at the forefront of the then nascent "serious" graphic novel movement. David Mazzucchelli's work with Frank Miller in the mid-80s -- Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One -- made him a mainstream comics superstar, but then he walked away from it all to pursue his own calling of an independent, more thoughtful form of comics and became a legend in the process. And now here we are, over twenty years later with his most important work. Talk about anticipation! Mazzucchelli has spent the last decade pondering the possibilities and potentials of comics and Asterios Polyp embodies his findings. Metaphysical speculations that exploit the uniquely communicative linguistic capabilities that inhere specifically to the comics form combine with Mazzucchelli's own idiosyncracies, Eisnerian pathos, and a notable Japanese aesthetic, as well as explorations and deconstructions of the printing and production process that shows commonality with contemporaries Paul Hornschemeier (specifically The Three Paradoxes), Dash Shaw (particularly Bodyworld), and, especially, Frank Santoro (pretty much everything), all of which is woven together in a tale clearly inspired by classical Greek mythology, dramatics, and philosopohy that commands the reader's full attention, forcing perceptual and conceptual apparatuses into overdrive and demanding multiple readings.
I Never Liked You	Chester Brown	Drawn and Quarterly		$15.00 ($16.95 list)
Read more and comment...	One of the best – and almost without doubt, the most painfully sad – graphic memoir ever penned. The urtext of adolescent alienation. An undisputed masterpiece. Recommended to all serious comics readers as well as anyone who needs help in facing up to painful and unhappy memories.
The Playboy	Chester Brown	Drawn and Quarterly		$11.75 ($12.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This classic memoir of Chester's high school obsession with Playboy magazine disabused Hugh Hefner of his notion that Playboy magazine was just good clean fun, but only for the five minutes or so it took him to put it out of his mind. Other, more engaged thinkers will hold onto this impression a bit longer. It's hard for most to realize in this day and age when the high school memoir is a major staple of the comics – or should we say, graphic novel – market, but when the comics that make up this volume, and its companion piece, I Never Liked You, were first serialized in the pages of Yummy Fur, they were like nothing anyone had ever read before. Chester's acute perceptions of and brutal honesty about his adolescence surpassed that of even the master of confessional comics, R. Crumb. The only true precursor to these works is Justin Green's seminal underground comix masterpiece, Binky Brown and the Virgin Mary. But, as good and revolutionary as Justin Green's work indisputably was, it was Chester Brown's work that created the template for today's spate of confessional comics.
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.)
Black Hole	Charles Burns	Pantheon		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The dedication says it all: "This book is dedicated to Dean, Mark, J., Phil, Casey, Colleen, Vickie, Mike, Patty, Janet, Penny, Terri, Doug, Paul, Jan, Tom, Scott, Kurt, Ann, Kim, Diane, Sally, Kathleen, Mari, Libby, Jon, Jim, Pat and Pete. I never forgot you." Here is a man deeply marked by his formative years. Charles Burns has been painstakingly producing weirdly beautiful black and white comics since the late 1970s. By far the biggest chunk of this time -- just shy of a decade -- was spent on the single work we now have before us: Black Hole. It was originally serialized in a series of twelve comic books, begun by Kitchen Sink Press -- who went out of business mid-way through the series -- and then completed by Fantagraphics Books. Now, the entire series has been collected in this single hardcover volume by Pantheon Books, which is -- amazingly -- priced at less than half what you would have paid for the original comic books. Click on the cover image to read our full length review.
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (softcover)	Chris Ware	Pantheon		$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (JCTSKOE) is, first and foremost, the tale of the development of the American super-ego, it’s human cost, and its relationship to the comic book super-hero. Ware’s choice of the Chicago Exposition of 1893 to serve simultaneously as historical signifier and the origin of his narrative is key in this regard. It is with the exposition of 1893 -- most importantly, at least as far as JCTSKOE is concerned, in its design and architecture-- that the USA reveals its fantasy of, and implicit ambition towards, empire in the classical Greco/Roman mold. It was Walt Whitman’s fever dream made flesh-- or at least cast in stone. It was here, during the glory days of the American industrial revolution, the dawn of the age of Morgan, Carnegie and Rockefeller, that the mold for the twentieth century and the USA’s dominance of it was cast. It was here that America’s industrial strength super-ego was born, leading a generation later to the inexorable necessity of the comic book super-hero. It is in establishing this latter connection that JCTSKOE is a true intellectual trail-blazer, revealing previously uncharted areas of our nation’s unconscious.
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (hardcover)	Chris Ware	Pantheon		$31.50 ($35.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (JCTSKOE) is, first and foremost, the tale of the development of the American super-ego, it’s human cost, and its relationship to the comic book super-hero. Ware’s choice of the Chicago Exposition of 1893 to serve simultaneously as historical signifier and the origin of his narrative is key in this regard. It is with the exposition of 1893 -- most importantly, at least as far as JCTSKOE is concerned, in its design and architecture-- that the USA reveals its fantasy of, and implicit ambition towards, empire in the classical Greco/Roman mold. It was Walt Whitman’s fever dream made flesh-- or at least cast in stone. It was here, during the glory days of the American industrial revolution, the dawn of the age of Morgan, Carnegie and Rockefeller, that the mold for the twentieth century and the USA’s dominance of it was cast. It was here that America’s industrial strength super-ego was born, leading a generation later to the inexorable necessity of the comic book super-hero. It is in establishing this latter connection that JCTSKOE is a true intellectual trail-blazer, revealing previously uncharted areas of our nation’s unconscious.
One Hundred Demons (hardcover)	Lynda Barry	Sasquatch Book		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Lynda Barry's art has never been more rich and satisfying than it is in One Hundred Demons, the landmark 2002 book which represented a formal and stylistic breakthough not only for Ms. Barry, but for the world of comics as well. The work she has created for this beautifully printed volume features a layered bricolage that is undergirded by confident brushwork and an intuitively intimate color sense. All of it is solidly welded to an amazing and joyful sense of play in the service of a universalized personal revelation. Taken together, it makes for an unforgettable reading experience. No one has ever done a better job of conveying the bittersweetness of growing up than Lynda Barry. No one has more fully employed the medium of comics to portray childhood and adolescence than Lynda Barry. No one has bored more deeply into personal pain to find the joy that is buried hidden within. One Hundred Demons is a masterpiece that anyone who remembers what it was like to be a child growing up will instantly appreciate. Anyone who has forgotten will be powerfully reminded. As we age our childhood recedes, growing ever dimmer in the distance; yet our characters -- which were forged by those experiences that took place during that childhood -- tend to remain relatively fixed despite the increasing distance from those formative years. In One Hundred Demons, Lynda Barry demonstrates again and again how our past is always there, hovering just below the surface of our conscious thoughts, pushing our buttons and directing our courses of action, regardless of whether we are aware of or oblivious to this fact. To see what all the fuss is about, get a preview of the material on-line from Salon.com. While the hardcover is now out of print, we still have a good stock of copies available at this time.
Ethel & Ernest	Raymond Briggs	Alfred Knopf		$17.77 ($21.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This book is perhaps the single most touching and heartfelt graphic novel ever produced. The story of the author's parents and, beginning about half way in, the author's own as well, Ethel & Ernest presents a beautiful miniature of a couple's life together that is at the same time a definitive tale of 20th Century working class Britain. Yes, the book is not free from sentimentality, but has anyone ever produced a work about one's own parents that is? and not only that, the sentiment in Ethel & Ernest is of the highest order. The only work produced in comics that is even remotely comparable to this is Will Eisner's late work, especially A Contract With God. It is a sturdy work that is built to last; capable of being enjoyed over and over again. Raymond Briggs is one of the most widely acclaimed children's book authors in Britain. His most famous book, The Snowman, has been adapted as a half-hour television special which occupies roughly the same spot in the British national consciousness as A Charlie Brown Christmas does in the American. While there are dozens if not hundreds of interesting and worthwhile autobiographical comics currently on the market, the vast majority are produced by people in their twenties and thirties. Raymond Briggs is in his sixties, and Ethel and Ernest offers us the benefits of his maturity: artistic, intellectual, emotional and philosophical. It is an offer well worth accepting. Here are reviews from Salon and Rational Magic.
The Little Man: Short Strips 1980 - 1995	Chester Brown	Drawn and Quarterly		$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	There’s no one quite like Chester Brown. This is probably a good thing. Nevertheless, he is one of the handful of certifiable masters to have worked in comics during the last two decades; and while Dave Sim can take rightful credit for being, along with his estranged former spouse, Deni Loubert, the progenitor of the modern comics movement in Canada, it is Chester Brown that is the single most important figure to have emerged out of this movement thus far and it is Brown’s work that has had and will continue to have the greatest impact on both his compatriots and the medium as a whole. The Little Man is the best single-volume compendium of his work. Collecting work spread out over the span of the first fifteen years of Brown’s career, this pert little book packs a hefty punch. The bulk of the material is culled from Yummy Fur, the comics series which established Brown's reputation and with which he is still most closely associated in the comics world. Click on the image at left to read our full length reveiw.
Stuck Rubber Baby	Howard Cruse	Paradox Press		$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Stuck Rubber Baby is one of the few graphic novels that really and truly succeeds as a novel on the novel’s terms. It is an extraordinarily complex and rich tapestry of characters deftly woven into the fabric of a specific time and place: a mid-sized community in the deep south during the civil rights era. While this book was originally released in 1995, its recent reprinting makes it appropriate to revisit it at this time. Please click on the image at left to read our full length review.
Dr. Id: Psychologist of the Supernatural	Adam McGovern, Paolo Leandri	Indie Ink Studios		$2.50 ($2.95 list)
Read more and comment...	When we first listed this title on our new arrivals page it sold out in the blink of an all-seeing eye, so we contacted the publisher and secured a supply of this Copacetic Certified Instant Classic™ sufficient to add it to our ongoing offerings. With Dr. Id, co-creators McGovern and Leandri have put a sophisticated spin on the iconic Lee and Kirby formula to give us a series of psychologically astute tales that are simultaneously fantastic fun. Seven tales -- both tall and short -- make up this cosmic compendium of cryptic capers -- elegantly unravelled by the piercingly perceptive analytical intelligence of the suave and debonair Dr. Id -- all rendered in a cataclysmic Kirby style that will have True Believers reaching for their hankies. As an added bonus, we're treated to a copy of the Doctor's dossier to clue us in to his highbrow history. This is a comic book. All we have to say is, "Be there or be square!"
A Drifting Life	Yoshihiro Tatsumi	Drawn and Quarterly		$25.00 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	OK, this is the one you've been waiting for! Eleven years in the making, a whopping 840 pages in length, A Drifting Life is the graphic memoir of one of the all-time manga greats. Over the last several years, Drawn and Quarterly has been assiduously releasing Tatsumi's classic gekiga, in which he pioneered a street savvy, morally ambiguous form of comics that thrived on grittier material and was more ambivalent about the post-war boom in Japan. A Drifting Life chronicles the years 1945 through 1960, during which the author -- who was born in 1935 -- came of age, discovered his artistic talent and entered the competitive (and combative) world of manga. Personally compelling, narratively engaging, artistically challenging, A Drifiting Life also provides an informative look at the manga industry during the critical post-WWII years. Not to be missed. Be sure to take a look at this PDF preview. retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.00
Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman	George Herriman, Patrick McDonnell	Abrams		$18.88 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Where to begin with such a book. It is clearly and definitely the best book ever done on Krazy Kat, which is, at least in our estimation, the greatest of the classic newspaper comics. Ergo, it is, Copacetically speaking, one of the single best volumes of comics ever produced. In other words, it wins the Desert Island Award™: If there were one comics related book to take to a deserted island, this might very well be it. And as if that weren’t enough, it has now been reissued in an economy softcover edition that’ll only set you back a double sawbuck. Think of it-- a lifetime of pleasure and consolation for what it would cost you to spend a few hours in a bar. And they say there is no God. For sheer aesthetic achievement, narrative inventiveness, psychological incisiveness, cultural significance, and creative ebullience, Krazy Kat, the masterpiece in comics that George Herriman produced on a daily basis from 1913 through 1944, cannot be beat. This volume provides a judiciously selected, finely reproduced and intelligently arranged collection of George Herriman’s work accompanied by an engrossing account of his life and career.

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