History & Biography
It has been discovered that the medium of comics is particularly well suited to quickly and directly convey the particulars of time, place and person that would -- in standard prose works -- require page upon of text that would nevertheless fall short of the immediacy of a well-rendered image. With a few notable exceptions, we will not be including autobiographical comics here, as they are, generally speaking, a genre unto themselves.| Title | Creator | Publisher | Series | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean | Sarah Stewart Taylor, Ben Towle | Hyperion |
$15.95 ($17.99 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
The fourth volume in the acclaimed series of comics biographies for younger readers produced under the auspices of The Center for Cartoon Studies, provides its first female subject, and we have to applaud their choice. Who better embodies the rugged individualism, the bold daring, and the fantasy of flight that we associate with comics books than Amelia Earhart? This Broad Ocean focuses on Earhart's successful 1928 crossing of The Atlantic Ocean, and young readers have a surrogate in the character of Grace, a sort of self-appointed cub reporter for the small, coastal Newfoundland village of Trepassey, from whence Earhart departed on her history-making (herstory-making?) trans-Atlantic solo-flight, and that is the setting for much of the story. Anyone looking to provide some inspiration and encouragement to a young reader should consider this volume, along with all the rest in the series. | |||||
| King: The Special Edition | Ho Che Anderson | Fantagraphics |
$29.75 ($34.99 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Here it is at last, the complete work, how it was meant to be read. This 312 page oversize hardcover volume contains the entirety of Anderson's comics biography of King. A 10-year-long project, Anderson's goal was to deliver a portrait of MLK that is one of a complex, multi-layered, flesh and blood human being, a task for which comics are ideally suited. Employing a host of styles, techniques, devices and processes, Anderson has striven to match the method to the mood and the moment, and thereby enhance the reader's engagement with the material and so heighten its emotional impact, which is, unsurprisingly given who this book is about, quite intense at times. There is much more on offer in this biography than simply technical expertise, however. It is a truism that every biographer finds himself (or herself) in his subject, and this is clearly the case here. King is a very personal take on MLK, one that focuses on those earthier characteristics that are often given short shrift in the plentiful King hagiographies that stock the shelves. It is exceptionally strong in its focus on King's personal life – his marriage and his friendships – and it does not shy away from confronting his extramarital affairs. The might, the majesty and the miracle that is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are, of course, all here, but so is the man. So, while King is a graphic tour de force, it is also a demonstration of how we internalize larger than life figures and they become a lens through which we see ourselves. Most of all, King provides readers with an excellent opportunity to revisit and reflect upon the life of one of the most important figures in American history. This edition includes 64 pages of bonus materials including breakdowns, layouts, cover sketches, typescripts, and a personal essay that revisits and reflects the years of the work's creation, as well as the entirety of his comic book prelude to King, Black Dogs. Taken together, this material provides an exceptionally well-rounded look at the creative process and the personal growth that it both partakes in and contributes to – clearly making this the definitive edition of this heartfelt work. | |||||
| The Fixer (softcover) | Joe Sacco | Drawn and Quarterly |
$14.95 ($19.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
For those of you who either missed this the first time around, were waiting for the lower priced softcover, or who just got turned onto Sacco by reading his just released masterwork, Footnotes in Gaza, here's your chance to get yer mitts on this close focus look at the disintegration of former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, from the point of view of post-war Bosnia. To learn more about this work, we recommend that you read this excellent in-depth review by Michel Faber for The UK Guardian. | |||||
| Footnotes in Gaza | Joe Sacco | Henry Holt |
$26.95 ($29.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
With this new work – over six years in the making – Joe Sacco returns to the people and the land that launched him to the forefront of comics journalism – a position which he has held ever since. Few indeed are the number of people who can lay claim to being the top in their field for as long as Sacco has his, and with Footnotes in Gaza, he extends his lead even further, to the point where his position as being the single most important founder of the field/genre/school of comics journalism is now well nigh unassailable. Footnotes in Gaza is the major work of a mature master, fully confident of his abilities and coolly in control of his talents. Taking a page from the Art Spiegelman playbook and extending it to address his own concerns, Sacco deftly weaves a detailed account of his own personal quest – in the here and now (or at least what was the here and now at the time, 2003, when he carried out his research) – to unearth the details of two specific historical events that took place in Gaza in November of 1956, by interviewing every possible living participant, with his own depiction of the interviewees' recollections. These events are, as the title baldly states, considered mere footnotes to the wide world outside of Gaza, but to the people who lived through them, they are traumas undimmed by the passage of half a century. If ever the devil was in the details, it is here, and the details that are dredged up by Sacco's research into this historical "footnote" are certain to engender strong opinions on both sides of the horrific divide that is addressed by the central events of this tale. To readers not directly involved in these events, however, there is the chance to delve into both how the past is ever present and, crucially, how the present can be and is projected into the past. In addition, readers are offered the opportunity to contemplate how "seeing" an event recapitulated in visual images differs in both kind and degree from merely reading a description of the same event. These, and other, interactions of the past and present, brought to light through reportorial diligence and mediated here by both art and memory, form the core of this fascinating and powerful work. | |||||
| The Comics Journal #300 | Kevin Huizenga, Art Spiegelman, Howrad Chaykin, Ho Che Anderson and more ... | Fantagraphics | The Comics Journal |
$12.75 ($14.99 list) |
||
Read more and comment... |
This is, reportedly, the last issue of the Journal in it's current format. After this it will become a hybrid publication: updated daily online with the news, reviews, and opinion pieces that have been Journal mainstays for many a decade now, and then, a semi-annually published deluxe book-like edition that sounds like it's taking its cue – at least somewhat – from Comic Art Magazine. That said, this format is going out with a real BANG! Its 286 pages are packed with some of the greatest comics conversations you are likely to find under one cover anywhere! Check it out: The ball starts rolling with a whopping 32-page exchange between none other than Art Spiegelman and Kevin Huizenga – this one alone is worth the price of admission; this is then folowed in due course by conversations between Jean-Christophe Menu and Sammy Harkham; Frank Quitely and Dave Gibbons; David Mazzucchelli and Dash Shaw; Alison Bechdel and Danica Novgorodoff; Howard Chaykin and Ho Che Anderson; Denny O'Neil and Matt Fraction; Jaime Hernandez and Zak Sally (!); Ted Rall and Matt Bors; Jim Borgman and Keith Knight; and Stan Sakai and Chris Schweizer... whew! So what are you waiting for? You know you can't pass this one up! | |||||
| Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth | Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos, Annie Di Donna and more ... | Bloomsbury |
$20.00 ($22.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Here is the ideal gift for any and every comics reader of the math and/or logic persuasion, as well as those intrigued by the developments in these fields that led to Alan Turing's breakthroughs that made computers possible and so indirectly gave birth to the information age amidst which we currently find ourselves. This engaging and highly readable graphic account the history of mathematics and logic during the first half of the twentieth century is recommended for anyone looking for a solid read. Employing the dramatic device of linking all the historical events to the life of the philosopher/mathematician, Bertrand Russell, and bracketing the story with a self-referential account of its creation in the present, the authors have managed the difficult feat of simultaneously educating and entertaining the reader in equal measure. Needless to say (but, as all of you reading this well know, that has never stopped us before and we see no reason to let it start stopping us here) this book is packed with potential to be the perfect holiday gift for any mathematically inclined comics reader. Learn plenty more about it at: http://www.logicomix.com | |||||
| 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. | |||||
| 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! | |||||
| 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: 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. | |||||
| Famous Players: The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor | Rick Geary | NBM | Treasury of XXth Century Murder |
$14.44 ($15.95 list) |
||
Read more and comment... |
The second Treasury of XXth Century Murder, which follow up his long running series of Treasuries of Victorian Murder, takes us to the early days of Hollywood and the first stars that populated it. Their lives intersect at the mysterious death of William Desmond Taylor on February 1, 1922. Rick Geary is a talented – if, perhaps, a bit morbid – cartoonist whose works we have been enjoying for over thirty years now. He has the uncanny ability to pick just the right ingredients and boil down a story to its essentials, preserving the fullness of its characters and concentrating its flavors and so providing a treat of a tale in one surprisingly lean volume after another. | |||||
| The Impostor's Daughter | Laurie Sandell | Little, Brown |
$22.22 ($24.99 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Here's the debut graphic novel from esteemed publisher, Little, Brown & Co. It's also the second graphic novel to emerge from the unlikely source of the staff of Glamour Magazine (the first, Cancer Vixen, was surprisingly well received here at Copacetic). Here's the publisher's description: "Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job--interviewing celebrities for a top women's magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars. But while researching an article on her dad's life, she makes an astonishing discovery: he's not the man he says he is--not even close. Now, Laurie begins to puzzle together three decades of lies and the splintered person that resulted from them--herself." | |||||
| Life, In Pictures | Will Eisner | Norton |
$27.50 ($29.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Somehow, we neglected to bring this book to your attention when it was originally released late last year. Like its two fine precursors in W.W. Norton's fine series reissuing Eisner's classic mature work – The Contract with God Trilogy and Will Eisner's New York – Life, in Pictures is a large, well bound, hardcover edition which contains three complete works accompanied by critical introductions and annotations, all printed in the signature sepia tones of Eisner's late work. This time around we get: The Dreamer, a roman á clef about Eisner's early years in comics; and two full length graphic novels that provide a history of Jewish life in America – To the Heart of the Storm and The Name of the Game. Also, be sure to keep in mind the fact that these hardcover Eisner omnibuses are a terrific value as they contain three complete works each of which retails for $16.95 (except for The Dreamer, which is less) in softcover. You really can't go wrong. | |||||
| You'll Never Know | Carol Tyler | Fantagraphics |
$19.99 ($24.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Well, you know that Fantagraphics has entered the ranks of the mainstream when they have a Fathers' Day release, and, yes, you guessed it, this is it. It is Carol Tyler's memoir of her life with father (and mother and her own daughter, and more besides... but the central focus here is on dad). Formally, it shares some aspects with Maus: the adult child interviewing the elderly father to pry out the WW II memories before they're lost forever, and the concomitant presentation that intertwines these present day efforts with the actual recollections themselves. Tyler, of course, brings her own distinct visual style to these efforts, but, more than that, she has hit upon an effective, original formal device of presenting her father's WW II recollections in the form of a comics scrapbook/photo-album that is sure to pull at the heartstrings of some readers. There are probably not an awful lot of Copacetic customers out there who have a still living father who fought in "the Big One," so it may seem that we're wasting our breath here, but this book will be appreciated by anyone who can be engaged by a deeply personal and heartfelt exploration of family history as well as anyone who enjoys fine comics, and will provide a special pleasure to those who would like to celebrate and explore the father-daughter bond. | |||||
| 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. | |||||
| Maus (two-volume slip cased edition ) | Art Spiegelman | Pantheon |
$25.00 ($28.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
||||||
| Kaspar | Diane Obomsawin | Drawn and Quarterly |
$11.75 ($12.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
A nutty, minimalist comics retelling of the key points in the life of the legendary Kaspar Hauser that "draws on Hauser's own writings and contemporary accounts." Take a look and see what you make of it. | |||||
| The Beats: A Graphic History | Harvey Pekar , Ed Piskor | Henry Holt |
$20.00 ($22.00 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
by Harvey Pekar & Ed Piskor with Paul Beuhle, Trina Robbins, Peter Kuper, Mary Fleener, Summer McClinton, et al The dynamic duo of historical comics, Harvey Pekar and Ed Piskor, are back with The Beats: A Graphic History. Yes, of course, the unholy trinity of Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg are here, front and center, but this anthological history of the beats ranges far and wide to include the likes of Michael McClure, Robert Duncan, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Charles Olsen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima, and many others. While the focus is on the 1950s we are taken back to the early days of the principal actors and up to the present with the reverberations of their work, actions and lives. It's hard to overstate the impact that these figures had on American culture. They were the prime movers in consciously breaking out of the conformity that the pressures of the Great Depression and the Second World War placed on Americans, of valuing the rights of the individual over the security of the nation, of the personal over the (re)public, and so inititated the frontline of the biggest battle of the culture wars that continue to rage to this day. Anyone interested in getting an easily assimilable introduction to the major players in this important cultural movement need look no further. The authors neglected to provide any sort of bibliography to help readers move on to the literature itself, so we'll help out by hooking you up with The Beat Page, the best spot on the web from which to start delving into this movement. | |||||
| 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. | |||||
| R. Crumb Handbook | R. Crumb, Peter Poplaski |
$22.50 ($25.00 list) OUT OF STOCK! |
||||
Read more and comment... |
This is a 440 page hardcover book that covers the entirety of Crumb's life and work. It's packed with hundreds of Crumb comics, illustrations and never before published photos and comes with a full-length CD of Crumb's music. The book is organized around a new, lengthy reminiscence by Crumb of his entire life. While Crumb has covered much of this territory in previous accounts, there are fresh details and new insights revealed here that will provide readers not only with a greater understanding of Crumb's psyche and development, but also of how and why he grew to become one of the most significant artistic voices of his generation. | |||||
| Jackie Ormes, The First African American Woman Cartoonist | Nancy Goldstein |
$29.75 ($35.00 list) |
||||
Read more and comment... |
This lavishly illustrated -- in black and white and full color -- oversize hardcover volume published by the University of Michigan Press brings us the life and career of an important American artist. Jackie Ormes was born right here in Pittsburgh, PA and was raised just up river in Monongahela. Her most popular comic strip, Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger ran every week for eleven years -- from 1945 through 1956 -- in the Pittsburgh Courier, which was nationally distributed in those days. Her other strips, including Torchy Brown, which were produced for the Chicago Defender and other papers, are also covered in detail, as is the story of the licensing of her characters for dolls and toys. This fascinating and detailed look at an under-appreciated corner or comics history looks like it will make for a rewarding read. | |||||
| Comic Art #7 | Dylan Williams, Denis Kitchen, Ken Parille |
$8.10 ($9.00 list) OUT OF STOCK! |
||||
|
Read more and comment... |
It's been a bit longer wait this time around, but the latest issue of the connoisseur's comic magazine is here. The best production values in the business present an insider's look at Harvey Kurtzman's post-Humbug career by Denis Kitchen; Tante Leny and the Dutch Underground Press by Patrick Rosenkranz; an amazing look at some rare classic Sunday Funnies in "The Comics That Time Forgot" by Peter Maresca; a taut yet meandering personal reminiscence by the one and only David Collier; a look at Fred Guardineer's 1935-36 Journal by Dylan Williams (how did he get a hold of this!?!?!); and a close reading of Dan Clowes's David Boring by Ken Parille that is written in accordance with the standards and practices of contemporary academia and will have you screwing your thinking cap on tight. | |||||
| Stuff and Nonsense | A.B. Frost | Fantagraphics |
$22.22 ($24.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
This is a giant-size (11 x 13) hardcover that makes the claim that the work by A.B. Frost which it contains represents an important precursor to Comics as we know them. While not considered comics at the time of their creation -- for the simple reason that comics had yet to be defined as a separate category of art -- A.B. Frost’s work meets Scott McCloud’s definition of comics as text plus image arrayed in sequence to represent the passage of time. Comics scholars will be hard pressed to resist this one. Definitely worth a look. Book designed by Chris Ware. | |||||
| Romance Without Tears | Matt Baker | Fantagraphics |
$20.00 ($22.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
compiled and with an introduction by John Benson Talk about long overdue! This book presents -- for the first time since their original appearences over fifty years ago -- a selection of some great but sadly overlooked comics from the post-WWII era. Originally published in the late 1940s and early 1950s, these comics are the real romance comics. The stories in this volume were (at least, according to Benson) penned by one Dana Dutch, an almost completely unknown author about whom the only thing we can say for sure is that he sure knew how to tell a good story. The art is, for the most part, executed by one of the all time greats of comics, Matt Baker. Better known for his sultry super heroines like the Phantom Lady, his best work is here in the Romance (and Crime) comics published by the St. John Co. These are comics that tell engaging stories about people whose actions have discernable motivations and who make decisions that they are then forced to live with. Totally forgotten by all but a few die-hards is the fact that the women in these early romance comics were very much the agents of their own destiny; certainly when compared to their counterparts in the later romance comics whom, during the genre's long uninterrupted slide into oblivion that ran from the late 1950s through to its ignominious end in the early to mid '70s, gradually became a self-parody of their former selves, metamorphosizing into mindless automatons who sighed and cried their way to the alter. Sadly, it it is these later comics that are normally conjured up when one hears the term "romance comics." This is due, in large part, to specific images from these later, genre-in-decline (i.e., decadent) comics being given iconic status by their being reproduced in the paintings of pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein. But it is the comics that are presented here in Romance Without Tears, that are the true Romance Comics. These are the comics that now need to be remembered and reevaluated so that they may reenergize the comics of today! 160 pages; full color (except for one story); squarebound; 8 1/2" x 11" | |||||
| Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (softcover) | James Sturm, Rich Tommaso | Hyperion |
$8.88 ($9.99 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
This is the second -- after Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi's Harry Houdini: The Handcuff King, released about six months back -- in the ongoing series of young adult comics biographies being produced under the auspices of The Center for Cartoon Studies. Satchel Paige is another striking exemplar of the humble yet heroic character that captures what is best about America. Sturm is the head of CCS for a reason: he knows how to employ the language of comics to do what comics does best: tell stories and show character. Paige comes alive on the page as the reader gets to see his life unfold from a number of different perspectives, each offering a different facet of Paige's character and career. But that's only half the story. The heart of this work is the darkness of the Jim Crow south, and the generations long struggle of the descendents of slaves for self respect and self determination in a world dominated and controlled by the descendents of masters. Sturm and Tommaso show us that Satchel Paige, in addition to being a phenomenal athlete, provided a beacon to those looking for a way out of their horrible bind, and that this was perhaps his greatest legacy. Learn all about it on this CCS hosted page designed for educators who want to use this work to teach the kids today a thing or two about what's gone before. (softcover edition) | |||||
| Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow | James Sturm, Rich Tommaso | Hyperion |
$15.00 ($16.99 list) |
|||
|
Read more and comment... |
This is the second -- after Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi's Harry Houdini: The Handcuff King, released about six months back -- in the ongoing series of young adult comics biographies being produced under the auspices of The Center for Cartoon Studies. Satchel Paige is another striking exemplar of the humble yet heroic character that captures what is best about America. Sturm is the head of CCS for a reason: he knows how to employ the language of comics to do what comics does best: tell stories and show character. Paige comes alive on the page as the reader gets to see his life unfold from a number of different perspectives, each offering a different facet of Paige's character and career. But that's only half the story. The heart of this work is the darkness of the Jim Crow south, and the generations long struggle of the descendents of slaves for self respect and self determination in a world dominated and controlled by the descendents of masters. Sturm and Tommaso show us that Satchel Paige, in addition to being a phenomenal athlete, provided a beacon to those looking for a way out of their horrible bind, and that this was perhaps his greatest legacy. Learn all about it on this CCS hosted page designed for educators who want to use this work to teach the kids today a thing or two about what's gone before. hardcover: | |||||
| Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History | Harvey Pekar | Hill and Wang |
$20.00 ($22.00 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar and Gary Dumm; edited by Paul Buhle w/ addditional text by SDS members and addtl. art by Josh Brown, James Cennamo, and others. A history lesson, a consciousness-raising session, a political roundtable discussion, an artistic jam-sesion -- in its mulitplicity of perspectives, this comics history provides a well-rounded portrait of its subject. One of the most high-profile, widely-active and important political groups of its time, SDS is almost synonomous with leftist politics in the 1960s. The tale told here is complex, multi-faceted, labyrinthine and fascinating. The fact that Pekar's editor on this volume, Paul Buhle, is a well regarded leftist writer and scholar who was the founding editor of the SDS journal, Radical America, is a big plus in bringing together the former SDSers who tell their personal stories alongside Pekar's history. A walloping 26 bonus tales are presented here in all thier graphic glory, including several each by Pekar and Buhle along with those by lesser known figures such as Mark Naison, Penelope Rosemont and many others. Taken together these multiple points of view weave a comics tapestry of the SDS years. The 212 page volume closes out with brief look at the tentative revival that SDS is currently undergoing, illustrated by none other than Pittsburgh's own Ed Piskor! | |||||
| J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography | Rick Geary | Hill and Wang |
$15.25 ($16.95 list) |
|||
Read more and comment... |
Best known for his series of comics documentaries on famous 19th century murders, Rick Geary enters the 20th century with a comics biography of the most famous lawman of them all, J. Edgar Hoover, that manages to cull the essentials and distill them into exactly 100 pages of the precisely rendered comics that are his trademark (as Copacetic customer David Grim has just serendipitously pointed out). Informative and enjoyable, this is a straightforward story that, while minimal in detail, is, almost entirely free of speculation, and thereby skirts salacious material regarding the longtime director of the FBI. Nevertheless, the reader will come away with a solid picture of the man and his times. | |||||
| Barefoot Gen 6: Writing the Truth | Keiji Nakazawa | Last Gasp | Barefoot Gen |
$13.50 ($14.95 list) |
||
Read more and comment... |
In Volume Six, Gen fights against a corrupt medical system, the discriminatory practices of his neighbors, and the American presence in postwar Japan. Gen's brother, Koji, has gone away to work in the coal mines, but has since disappeared. To make up for the shortage, he and his friends must resort to more drastic measures, which lands one of the bunch in a juvenile detention center." What's that? You say you haven't even started reading this series yet? Well, don't despair, we still have the first four volumes of this 20th century masterpiece in stock and copacetically priced. | |||||