The Copacetic Comics Company Adrian Tomine

Adrian Tomine

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Summer Blonde	Adrian Tomine	Drawn and Quarterly	Optic Nerve	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the hardcover edition. Collects Optic Nerve 5 - 8. Each issue is a stand alone story. Tomine's best collection? Maybe...
Optic Nerve #12	Adrian Tomine	Drawn and Quarterly	Optic Nerve	$5.95 ($5.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The first half of this issue, consisting of "A Brief History of the Art Form Known as 'Hortisculpture'", shows Mr. Tomine following in the footsteps of his mentor and role model, one Daniel Clowes, in playfully and inventively incorporating the newspaper comic strip format in to that of the comic book. Tomine has taken the formal replication a bit further, however. Here we have a story artfully divided into four-panel, black and white "dailies" and full-color, full-page "Sundays." Titled "Hortisculpture," the strip "runs" one Sunday strip shy of five full "weeks." The second story, Amber Sweet, is classic Tomine, but... in full color! The issue closes out with two pages of meta-comics, with Tomine ironically inserting himself into the work to provide behind-the-scenes commentary on its creation, his attachment to the "floppy" form of comics (aka comic books), and his feelings of hope, pride, frustration and despair about the very comic you're holding in your hands.
Scenes from an Impending Marriage	Adrian Tomine	Drawn and Quarterly		$8.88 ($9.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Only Adriane Tomine would dare to turn his own wedding into a comic book, hawk it to the public, and hope to get away with it. And get away with he does, in this cute, little 56 page hardcover that is quite a pleasure (perhaps a guilty one) to read. He tells his tale in an expertly prepared formal blend that is composed of a series of vignettes – all executed employing a standard nine-panel grid – that are punctuated with single-panel gag cartoons that are part New Yorker, part Family Circus. Tomine's art here is as expert as ever, but is rendered in a slightly less polished manner that stands in regard to his previously published work in a way that is somewhat analagous to how Seth's "sketchbook" graphic novel Wimbledon Green stands to his previously published work. The perfect gift for that special someone you'd like to drop a hint to.
The Best American Comics 2009	Dash Shaw, Koren Shadmi, David Sandlin, Ron Regé and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$20.00 ($22.95 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Charles Burns Well, Crumb is a tough act to follow, but we'll give it a shot with this star-studded anthology filled with the best and the brightest from the last twelve months of comics, as judged by Charles Burns. In a book like this, we feel that the contributor list says it best: Doug Allen, Peter Bagge, Gabrielle Bell, Matt Broersma, Daniel Clowes, Al Columbia, Robert Dennis Crumb, Sammy Harkham, Tim Hensley, Gilbert Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Ben Katchor, Kaz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Michael Kupperman, Jason Lutes, Tony Millionaire, Jerry Moriarty, Anders Nilsen, Gary Panter, Laura Park, Mimi Pond, Ron Regé, David Sandlin, Koren Shadmi, Dash Shaw, Art Spiegelman, Ted Stearn, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, Adrian Tomine, Chris Ware, Dan Zettwoch. 'Nuff said. Well, actually, we can't help but add that while the material contained in this anthology is absolutely fabulous, the quality of its reproduction is, mysteriously, not up to the same standard as the three previous volumes in this series, which were excellent in that department. This shouldn't stop anyone from picking up this fine volume, but it is worrisome. Let's hope that this was a one time aberration and that next year we'll find the fine folks at Houghton Mifflin have figured out what went wrong and put things in the production department back on track.
The Adrian Tomine Scrapbook: Uncollected Work: 1990 - 2004	Adrian Tomine	Drawn and Quarterly	Optic Nerve	$21.25 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The title pretty much say it all. This is an atttractive oversize softcover edition with rounded corners that charts Tomine's maturation as an artist and gives us a chance to to peek at his sketchbooks and check out his non-comics illustration work. There is, of course, plenty of comics work, too. A must have for any serious Tomine fan, and worth at least a look for everyone else.
Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume Two	David Mazzuchelli, Leif Goldberg, Brian Chippendale, Elinore Norflus and more ...	Yale University Press		$20.00 ($28.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Ivan Brunetti It's too early to say for certain, but this follow-up to Brunetti's already classic 2006 anthology, also published by Yale University Press, might just be even better than its precursor. One thing's for certain: Brunetti has held onto -- and further refined -- his editorial vision of arranging the work contained in this volume in an organic sequence, deftly managing to map out the similarities between artists so that each piece flows smoothly into into the other, creating an amazing sense of an innate connectivity between all areas of comics here on display. This book is a powerful ally in the struggle to bring the light of comics to those poor souls still dwelling in the darkness. It's the perfect choice to turn on a friend or relative to the joy, beauty and pleasures of our favorite medium. Hold onto your hats, here's the contributor list: Daniel Clowes, Saul Steinberg, Sammy Harkham, Chris Ware, R. Sikoryak, Michael Kupperman, Drew Friedman, Mark Beyer, Mack White, Jayr Pulga, Renee French, Kim Deitch, Richard Sala, J. Bradley Johnson, Archer Prewit, Anonymous (utility sketchbook), HJ Tuthill, Milt Gross, Bill Holman, Harvey Kurtzman, R.Crumb, Basil Wolverton, Art Spiegelman, Jess, John Hankiewicz, Tim Hensley, Bill Griffith, Richard McGuire, Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Woodring, David Collier, Eugene Teal, Charles Burns, Karl Wirsum, Gary Panter, Paper Rad, Fletcher Hanks, CF, Charles Forbell, Ron Rege, Jr., Winsor McCay, Matthew Thurber, Souther Salazar, Kevin Scalzo, Megan Kelso, James McShane, Laura Park, Vanessa Davis, Onsmith, Joe Matt, Jeffrey Brown, Martin Cendreda, Dave Kiersh, John Porcellino, Carrie Golus/Patrick Welch, Jessica Abel, Cole Johnson, Lynda Barry, Debbie Drechsler, Diane Noomin, Aline Kominsky-Crum, Ariel Bordeaux, Chester Brown, Anders Nilsen, Joe Sacco, Phoebe Gloeckner, Elinore Norflus, Brian Chippendale, Leif Goldberg, David Mazzuchelli, Jerry Moriarty, Ben Katchor, Frank Santoro, Dan Zettwoch, Kevin Huizenga, Harvey Pekar/R.Crumb, Carol Tyler, Maurice Vellekoop, Seth, Adrian Tomine, Jaime Hernandez & David Heatley. It's simply amazing. Comics Power! PLEASE NOTE: We feel compelled to mention that this volume includes several pieces that contain quite explicit sexual content; and while this content represents only a miniscule fraction of the total, it nevertheless renders this volume fit for ADULTS ONLY.
McSweeney's #13	Mark Beyer, Ivan Brunetti, Kaz, Art Spiegelman and more ...	McSweeney's	McSweeney's	$20.00 ($24.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Finally, it's here: the most anticipated release of 2004 (so far). Striving for objet d'art status, McSweeney's 13 comes as close as any comics release to attaining it. Starting with a dust jacket that folds out into a two sided comics poster: the outer side featuring a dense full color, 360º narrative by editor and comics fiend, Chris Ware; the inner side featuring a vaguely ceremonial (think Mayan) worshipping of the idols of comics by Gary Panter. But there's more: tucked into the folds of this dust-jacket-cum-suitable-for-framing-wall-art are two mini-comics commissioned especially for this issue; one -- in full color -- by Ron Rege, Jr., and the other in B & W (as it should be) by long time mini-master, John Porcellino. And that's just the dust jacket! Moving on to the front and back binding plates (the hard covers beneath the dust jacket), we have a hundred or so images culled from a 1936 guide to cartooning separated by a lavishly embossed spine. The end papers are by Ivan Brunetti, and feature a wallpaper of minimalistic renditions of his personal comics and cartoon hall of fame. And, finally, there is the contents of the book itself. The subject of much speculation as to whether it would be reprints or newly commissioned work, the answer is... Both! About half and half, depending on how you look at it. Here's how it breaks down: Some of the work has appeared in non-comics periodicals, but is collected herein for the first time. Under this category are Mark Beyer, Ivan Brunetti, Kaz, Art Spiegelman (although his pieces are being reprinted everywhere at this point) and some of the pieces by Chris Ware. Straight out reprints are the inclusions by Charles Burns (although the frontispiece is new), Chester Brown, Debbie Drechsler, Jaime and Gilberto Hernandez, Mark Newgarden, Archer Prewitt, Joe Sacco, Richard Sala (newly colored, however), Seth, and Adrian Tomine. New to us -- and therefore, we imagine, new to you as well -- are the works by Lynda Barry, Jeffrey Brown, Dan Clowes, David Collier, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Julie Doucet, David Heatley, Ben Katchor, Joe Matt, Richard McGuire, Gary Panter, some of the Chris Ware, and of course the aforementioned dust-jacket and minis. In addition to all this contemporary work, there are selections of classic and archival work sprinkled throughout: First and foremost among these is a 15-page spread on "the inventor of comics," Rodolphe Töpfler, and his first appearance in America, introduced by Chris Ware; an 80% reproduction of an original 1922 Mutt and Jeff daily strip by Bud Fisher that takes four pages to display (which gives you an idea of how big they drew comics back then!); and a nine page spread on George Herriman, introduced by Tim Samuelson and featuring Herriman's last Krazy Kat dailies, also reproduced from the originals. And, as if this weren't enough, there are two appreciations by Chris Ware, one of the abstract-expressionist-turned-representational-painter-with-a-personal-affinity-for-comics-iconography, Philip Guston, and the other of Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz. In addition there is a critical appreciation of comics from John Updike, and nostalgiac/elegiac remembrances of comics related experiences by Glen David Gold, Malachi Cohen, and Chip Kidd. The volume opens with a preface from Ira Glass, followed by an introduction by Chris Ware, who, when all is said and done, is clearly more than simply the editor of this work. This is a great piece, especially when you consider it's primary purpose: preaching to the unconverted, those countless, teeming millions out there in America and beyond who don't locate the foundation of their identity in comics. With this volume, McSweeney's begins a new ambitious distribution arrangement with Publisher's Group West in the USA and Penguin Books in the UK; thereby bringing their publications before a great many more potential readers. They couldn't have chosen a better volume to initiate this venture. Let's wish them luck.
Private Stash: A Pin-Up Girl Portfolio by 20 Cartoonists	Adrian Tomine, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Gilbert Hernandez and more ...	Buenaventura Press		$22.00 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This one is an attempt to be the last word in fetish object. Playing on the trope of arrested adolescent sexuality stereotypically identified with the bagging-and-boarding fanboy set of which more than a few of these participants are graduates, Private Stash starts out with a squarebound translucent case that contains -- once you've struggled to remove it from this secure enclosure without damaging it -- a clever two-layer illustrated wraparound slipcase portrait of all twenty contributors by Rick Altergott (displaying his Mort Drucker and Wally Wood chops to full effect) which opens to reveal a 20 panel accordian-print that opens (to over ten feet!) to reveal the wet-dream girls of a fairly astounding array of talent: R. Crumb, Dan Clowes, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Charles Burns, Gary Panter, Peter Bagge, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deitch, Tony Millionaire, Richard Sala, Ivan Brunetti, Ron Regé,Jr., Dan Zettwoch, Rick Altergott, Jonathan Bennett, Sammy Harkham, Tim Hensley, Mitch O'Connell and Archer Prewitt (It's too bad they couldn't get Chris Ware on board with this one, but then again, his fantasy might be too much for the rest of us to handle...).
Shortcomings	Adrian Tomine	Drawn and Quarterly	Optic Nerve	$16.95 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	At last, Mr. Tomine's first actual graphic novel is here. This fine Drawn & Quarterly hardcover edition articulates an angst-ridden Asian-American assimilation in 108 finely rendered pages collecting Optic Nerve #9 - #11. This work captures the lives of 20-somethings navigating their way towards a place in the scheme of things that they can call their own. Tomine is that rare creator with perfect pitch and it's uncanny how he always manages to get it... just right. This time out, a romance unwinds, a friendship blooms and fades, and life goes on.
The Best American Comics 2007	Jeffrey Brown, John Porcellino, Gabrielle Bell, Adrian Tomine and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$19.75 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Chris Ware From Lynda Barry to Dan Zettwoch and everything inbetween, this volume provides us with a a fabulous selection of excellent comics in an attractive well produced package at an affordable price. While -- as Chris Ware makes eminently clear in his excellent introduction -- it is certainly hard to make any sort of definitive argument that these are "the best" American comics of 2007, we are quite confident that no Copacetic customer will be disappointed with the 340 pages of comics herein assembled. It is true that some may find that they already own much of what appears here, but few if any will have read it all and most will discover exciting new work and be introduced to talented comics creators. Among the amazing contributors you will find, Alison Bechdel, Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, C.F., Robert, Aline and Sophie Crumb, Kim Deitch, Sammy Harkham, Gilbert Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Anders Nilsen, Gary Panter, Paper Rad, John Porcellino, Ron Regé Jr., Seth, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomnie, Carol Tyler and more (whew!)

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