The Copacetic Comics Company Jim Woodring

Jim Woodring

Master of surrealist comics extraordinaire.

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
The Frank Book - softcover	Jim Woodring	Fantagraphics		$29.75 ($34.99 list)
Read more and comment...	One of the classic colletions of contemporary comics is now back in print in this softcover edition. This edition appears to be identical in size and contents and reproductive quality with the original out of print hardcover edition. The 350 pages of wordless comics, both in startling black and white and luscious cartoon color, will transport readers into a vivid realm that is part waking dream part parallel universe in which natural laws are clearly in effect but off kilter. Woodring has continued to visit this realm in a series of works, including this year's Congress of the Animals and last year's Weathercraft. The Frank Book is where it all begins – representing the initial voyage of discovery to this previously uncharted region – and remains the essential volume that belongs in every self-respecting comics reader's library. Dan Clowes states, "Frank, and I say this without a shred of hyperbole, is a work of true genius by one of the all-time greats."
The Comics Journal #301	Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, Joe Sacco, R. Crumb and more ...	Fantagraphics	The Comics Journal	$25.00 ($30.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Two years in the making, this massive 624 page issue of the foremost periodical on all things comics is finally firmly ensconced here at Copacetic. The lead off cover feature is an epic 170 page focus on R. Crumb's adaptation of the Book of Genesis that starts off with a 50 page interview with Crumb conducted by Gary Groth which is followed by a 120 page critical roundtable on the book by comics scholars Rick Marschall, Donald Phelps, Robert Stanley Martin, Jeet Heer, Tim Hodler, Alexander Theroux and Kenneth Smith. Groth then moderates a lively 60 page conversation between Mad Magazine's legendary creator of the Fold-In® and Thrizzling® cartoonist Michael Kupperman, and later completes his trifecta of amazing interviews with an engrossing 50 page interview with Joe Sacco that focuses on his reportorial comics masterpiece, Footnotes in Gaza (which is also reviewed in this issue). Chris Lanier writes on Brian Chippendale's Maggots, Warren Bernard alerts us to the large body of work created in the early 20th century by Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist John T. McCutcheon, and Tim Krieder turns in what we will not have to go too far out on a limb to immediately declare to be what is now, surely, the definitive critical appreciation of Dave Sim's 300-issue masterwork, Cerebus. On the art front, we have the complete Gerald McBoing Boing comics – 70 pages of full color comics lithely illustrated by UPA staffers in the early 1950s – as well as sketchbooks by Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, and, surprisingly (bizarrely!), Stephen Dixon. As this is the only issue of TCJ that will be available for all of 2011, we feel quite safe in saying, "If you read only one issue of The Comics Journal this year, this is the one!"
Congress of the Animals	Jim Woodring	Fantagraphics		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Here it is: an all-new wordless graphic novel featuring Frank! This 104 page hardcover is in the same format as 2009's Weathercraft, which was, in 2010, the first ever wordless novel to receive The Stranger Genius Award for literature. Congress of the Animals takes long time readers (and everyone else, for that matter) into uncharted territory when Frank departs the realm of The Unifactor, "the closed system of moral algebra into which he was born" and which controlled his existence... until now! This new work propels Frank into a new world where he meets Quacky and sails on through a series of enigmatic scenarios that we feel comfortable labeling "Woodringian." All lushly penned in ink employing Woodring's inimitable cartoon language, this book is a work that will reward repeated readings. Bonus Fact: Congress of Animals has a great full wraparound image printed directly on the hardcover itself that is a real treat (and that far surpasses the dustjacket image printed at left).
Weathercraft	Jim Woodring	Fantagraphics		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	He's back! An all new wordless Frank epic by the one and only Jim Woodring! Manhog, Whim, Pupshaw & Pushpaw, along with "Betty and Veronica" all join Frank in the magical world of Woodringian archetypes where unconscious drives and desires take on vivid cartoon reality that dives right through your eyeballs and straight into the center of your brain. If you have yet to get a hold of a copy of the Weathercraft Free Comic Book Day preview, just let us know and we'll hand one over, so you' can get revved up.
The Portable Frank	Jim Woodring	Fantagraphics		$15.55 ($16.99 list)
Read more and comment...	If you read comics you owe it to yourself to read The Portable Frank, which contains some of the most powerful sequences of images ever produced. The 14 classic black-and-white tales that make up the 200 pages of this vital tome will take its readers into the deepest caves of their psyche, tapping into genetic memories that reamain hidden and unreachable to other forms of communication. The wordless, "silent" Frank tales are comics at its purest. These are comics that can be read again and again and again and still be fresh each time, for they are inexhaustable, like some sort of magic book of comics that is refilled each time you open it, always the same yet always new; ur-comics. Take a peek at the book by visiting this page on Flickr. (Long time Frank fans, please note: most [all?] of these stories are also contained in its precursor, the mammoth mind-bender, The Frank Book, which also contains all the full color Frank tales. But, to be perfectly honest, they look better here on the flat white paper stock, than they do on the glossy clay-coated stock of The Frank Book, which was more suitable for the full color pieces.)
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.
MOME #10: Winter/Spring 2008	Paul Hornschemeier, John Hankiewicz, Dash Shaw, Jim Woodring and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, it's another fine issue in the ongoing, regularly published comics anthology that consistently publishes some of the most original, challenging and engaiging comics on the market. This time around the obvious highlight is the conclusion of Jim Woodring's The Lute String, which began last issue, a tale that is wonderful in conception as well as masterful in execution and amply demonstrates that Woodring's genius, but there's plenty more to get excited about: The uniquely weird story by up-and-comer Dash Shaw that starts off this issue is his most inventive work yet and will both charm and confuse you; Robert Goodin returns with a swell comics -- as well as comic -- adaptation of a classic Indian fable; also returning is Tom Kaczynski, who is this issue's interview subject as well. And, still with us are a core cadre of MOME regulars: Sophie Crumb, Paul Hornschemeier, Kurt Wolfgang, as well as Tim Hensley, Jeremy Eaton, Émile Bravo and Ray Fenwick (whom everyone is jealous of for his ingenious exploitation of old canvas covered used books). And, finally, we can't leave you without lettnig you know that the one and only John Hankiewicz makes his MOME debut in this issue. For those of you who are already familiar with his work, this notice of his inclusion will provide you with that much more impetus to purchase this issue; but it is those MOME readers among you who are unfamiliar with Hankiewicz: make sure to pay close attention to his contribution, "Success Comes to Westmont, IL" -- if you find yourself intrigued, but you're not sure why, you may want to take a look at his excellent collection, Asthma, published a little while back by Sparkplug Comics, it's a rare gem.
The Frank Book	Jim Woodring	Fantagraphics		$34.95 ($39.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Kazowie! What can you say about a book like this except that they did it right. Here it is: The complete Frank in full color and B & W (as they originally appeared) arranged in chronological order (we believe), beautifully printed and handsomely bound in cloth with a nice dust-jacket and even a sewn-in bookmark! If you haven't read the comics of Jim Woodring, then we can tell you withou equivocation that you don't know what you're missing. The rest of you probably already have this book... As who could live without it, once you've seen the light? Introduction by Francis Ford Coppola.
MOME #9	Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, Ray Fenwick, Gabrielle Bell and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, it's another issue packed with swell contemporary comics, as MOME continues to deliver. The unquestioned highlight of this issue is the first new extended comics work by Jim Woodring in several years: Part I (of 2) of the 45 page piece, "The Lute String." (This issue provides the first 25 pages and the next issue will provide the 20-page conclusion.) There's no one like Woodring, and "The Lute String" proves that he still has the magic touch. He's joined here by team-MOME: the relative newcomers Ray Fenwick, Tim Hensley, Al Columbia, Eleanor Davis, Joe Kimball and Tom Kaczynski, along with the stalwart veterans Gabrielle Bell, Kurt Wolfgang, Paul Hornschemeier and Sophie Crumb.

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