The Copacetic Comics Company Frank Santoro

Frank Santoro

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Kramers Ergot #8	Dash Shaw, Takeshi Murata, Robert Beatty, Sammy Harkham and more ...	PictureBox	Kramers Ergot	$29.75 ($32.95 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> edited by Sammy Harkham <<•>> Starting out way back in 2000 as a plain ol' self-published, black and white comic book, Sammy Harkham's Kramers Ergot has been through some serious changes over the years. In 2003, when Sammy went for broke (literally) and switched to a massive full-color book format with the fourth issue, Kramers was transformed from a simple comic book to a synecdoche/catch phrase for the exploding art comics scene. The subsequent two issues followed suit and were published by art house publisher, Gingko Press. Then, with the seventh issue the stakes were raised again with the gigantic, full-blown, original-old-school Sunday page size – a whoppin'' 16" x 21" – full color, hardcover published by Buenaventura Press that knocked people's socks off the world over; not least folks here in Pittsburgh, where we hosted the Kramers Tour at The BrilloBox to much acclaim. Now, with the eighth issue, Kramers is being published by our pals at PictureBox and has entered yet another phase. This time out – perhaps in keeping with its maturation – Kramers takes the form of an unassuming standard size hardcover sporting a tan cloth cover of deceptively straightforward design by Robert Beatty; one which nonetheless provides both visual and tactile pleasure to the reader and hints at what is to come, which is another all-star anthology featuring some of today's top cartoonists working in an environment where they feel comfortable taking risks. An essay by Ian Svenonius, "Notes on Camp, Part 2" sets the tone with a hyperbolic sequel to Susan Sontag's famous essay, in which Svevonius traces a lineage for pop, camp and comics that centers on Warhol and goes back through to the Roman Empire. Then we are treated to a brand new Jimbo adventure by Gary Panter followed by new stories by C.F., Kevin Huizenga (who redraws the story "The Half Men" from the classic ACG series of the 1950s & '60s, Mysteries of Unexplained Worlds), Gabrielle Bell, Johnny Ryan, Time Hensley, Leon Sadler, Chris Cilla, Anya Davidson, Ben Jones and Sammy Harkham, himself. The clear standout of Kramers Ergot 8 is the collaboration between Dash Shaw and Frank Santoro, "Childhood Predators." This sixteen page story is a masterpiece of layout which was consciously composed as a series of eight two-page spreads by someone who really knows what they're doing. Santoro displays his mastery of the medium by employing a host of techniques and methods to deliver a highly textured, subtly nuanced, and deeply felt look at an emotionally complex and politically fraught scenario that will amply reward repeated readings. In addition to the comics, there are a pair of art portfolios featuring Robert Beatty's "retro-future" airbrush art, as well as a series of freakishly photorealistic digital artworks by Takeshi Murata, all of which are reproduced on bright glossy stock, in contrast to the flat off-white stock of the comics work. The 40-page dose of Oh, Wicked Wanda! comics that closes out this issue is also printed on glossy stock to mimic its original appearance in the pages of Penthouse Magazine back in the 1970s. Oh, Wicked Wanda was created by the British artist and writer duo of Ron Embleton and Frederic Mullalley as Penthouse's answer to Kurtzman and Elder's Little Annie Fannie, which ran in Playboy Magazine. As with everything Penthouse, it is the same as Playboy, only more so; and in this case, the humor is decidedly British (as was Penthouse) with its international settings and casual conflation of kinky sex with Nazis. We'd be curious to learn why the largest hunk of this issue of Kramers was devoted to these comics, so we hope Harkham will go on record as to his rationale and motivation here. Regardless of what they may be, Kramers remains in the vanguard of contemporary comics and is indispensable reading for anyone who likes their comics challenging.
Blast Furnace Funnies	Frank Santoro	Carnegie Museum of Art		$8.00
Read more and comment...	2011 marked the culmination of a decades-spanning career arc as Frank Santoro found his art at the center of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial at The Carnegie Museum of Art, where he attended studio art classes as a youth. We are excited to at last be able to offer for sale copies of his 16-page tabloid newspaper comics work that was the highlight of that exhibit. In a signature Santoro move, Blast Furnace Funnies is a work of "High" (i.e., museum quality) art executed in the lowest of the "Low" art forms (a disposable newspaper); employing ephemerality to evoke eternity, he has here worked (in a form that often ends up) in the gutter to reach for the stars. The originals for all 16 pages of Blast Furnace Funnies were exhibited at The Carnegie alongside of a giant stack of the newspapers we're offering here, and they really stood out on the walls for the wide tonal range displayed on each page; from wispy grays to solid blacks, from strong straight lines to streaks, curves, scribbles and blurs, each page contained marks made to match the mood. The color scheme of the newspaper itself is a duo-tone of varying saturations, consisting of yellow and magenta, that yields a surprising variety of hues, suggested and actual. The message that Blast Furnace Funnies has to deliver is a meditation on the relationship between the here and now and the past and gone that is, critically, played out in parallel on the scales of the personal and the historical. The narrative works to convey how we use our sense of the historical to understand our own lives – and even more, to suggest that, at the end of the day, all we really have are our own personal histories; that perhaps the ultimate function of the history that we learn from books and at school is to help us come to grips with existence. We all live in a relentless forward motion, each moment is here and then it is gone, replaced by the next and never to be physically experienced again. The memory of each moment is, however, in the context of an individual's own life – and, like "historical" events – always there. The personal is the historical. Memory is history. Pittsburgh is Pompeii.
Storeyville (original newspaper edition)	Frank Santoro	Sirk Productions		$50.00
Read more and comment...	<<•>> WAREHOUSE FIND <<•>> Much to our amazement, a heretofore unknown secret stash of the original 1995 newspaper edition of Storeyville has been unearthed! Each copy had been sealed in a polypropylene bag and the entire box had been taped up and stored away in a corner where it was eventually forgotten... until now! We haven't seen a copy of this for sale anywhere for years (except for one that was on sale on Amazon for $1000!) so, if this is something you've been thinking about, don't debate about it too long, as there's only this one box, and when it's empty, that's it! A perfect match of form and content, Storeyville is a 40 page tabloid newspaper -- printed in black and white and a set of muted tones ranging from sandy yellow to a deep sepia -- that describes the arc of a youthful adventure that takes its protagonist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the USA to Montreal, Quebec in Canada at the opening of the 20th century. Click on image at left to read our full length review.
Unicorn Mountain, Volume 2	Curt Gettman, Frank Santoro, Juliacks, Paulette Poullet and more ...	Self-published	Unicorn Mountain	$12.00 ($15.00 list)
Read more and comment...	As the cover states, this is a compendium of comics, writing and music. Edited once again by Curt Gettman, this time around Unicorn Mountain is a chunky 206-page squarebound squareformat anthology printed in umber ink on flat white paper of (mostly) Pittsburgh culture that contains an eclectic 21-track CD, all for less than the prie of the average stand-alone CD! Made possible in part by a grant from the seemingly omnipresent Sprout Fund, this issue is a big step up from the first issue. Highlights include "Thousands of Mistakes" by Frank Santoro, "Niran and Theola" by Curt Gettman and Owl Kahol Systems (a pseudonym for a local comics artist), "Like Lace" by JULIACKS, "Rock & You" by Paulette Poullet, a two-page untitled piece by Brian Maruca and Jim Rugg of Street Angel fame, and a fistful of untitled illustrations by Paper Rad. The material on the CD ranges far and wide and includes new tunes by Modey Lemon, Oneida, Ex-Models, Elf Power and Pink Mountaintops. The Karl Hendricks Rock Band's "The Last Uncompromising Hardcore Band" will have you tapping your toes and singing along before you even realize it.
Chimera	Frank Santoro	PictureBox		$20.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Santoro returns to the newspaper format he used to shake up the comics world in 1995 with his vastly influential newspaper comic, Storeyville. Santoro has spent most of the 21st century painting, but has been lured back to comics by a conspiracy of circumstance to produce this unique tri-tone newspaper edition. Anyone interested in seeing comics put to new uses will want to take a look at this piece. With Chimera, we have a work that is striving to achieve a poetics of comics. Drawing on the insights into the symbolic quality of images that he has gained through his years spent concentrating on the practice and study of painting, Santoro has created an evocative convergence of classical and contemporary mythologies that expresses the eternal unchanging nature of the relationship between the heart's true desire and the reality of the world in which one must work to realize it. Don't miss it! ALMOST GONE - ONLY A FEW COPIES REMAINING!
Unicorn Mountain 3 – The Black Forest: A Collection of Art, Comics and Folk Tales from Western Pennsylvania and Beyond	Rina Ayuyang, Chris Cornwell, Theo Ellsworth, Juliacks and more ...	Unicorn Mountain	Unicorn Mountain	$25.00 ($29.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the long awaited third volume from Unicorn Mountain, published right here in Pittsburgh, PA. While lacking the musical component of the first two volumes (in other words: no CD this time around), the comics and illustration work, taken as a whole, is head and shoulders above the first two. Also worthy of note is the fact that this 228 page volume that includes the work of more than 25 local, national and international creators contains full color work for the first time – including an all-new, six-page story by Theo Ellsworth (his first in full color?). Limited to a mere 500 copies! SPECIAL OFFER: For a limited time, anyone purchasing this will receive a copy of Unicorn Mountain #1 at no extra cost! Please be aware that we only have a small quantity of Unicorn Mountain #1 available for this offer; once this supply has been exhausted, the offer ends.
Strange Tales II #1	Jeff LeMirem Jhonen, Kate Beaton, Gene Yang, Dash Shaw and more ...	Marvel	Strange Tales II	$4.44 ($4.99 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	What can you say about a Marvel comic that features an amazing Frank Santoro Silver Surfer story and another Surfer tale by Kevin Huizenga? and that also features a Dash Shaw take on Spider-Man, Jillian Tamaki doing The Dazzler, Kate Beaton on, of all characters, Kraven the Hunter? and that includes work by Rafael Grampá, Shannon Wheeler, Gene Yang, Jeff LeMire, Nick Gurewitch, and includes a horrifyingly acute (not to mention hilarious) deconstruction of Wolverine by Jhonen Vasquez? Well, all we can think of is, "buy it!" If you need further convincing, then we recommend checking out this Marvel Comics hosted interview with Frank Santoro. It's well worth reading.
MOME: Spring 2010 #18	Eric Reynolds, Nate Neal, Frank Santoro, Ben Jones and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This issue's editorial claims that, with the publication of MOME 18, MOME has now published over 2000 pages of comics, and that this "may be a record for an English-language alternative comics anthology." Who knew? To start off the celebration we have Nate Neal's cover feature, the multi-layered and multi-levelled, "Neurotic Nexus of Creation." This one should leave you with much to ponder, especially regarding its innovative formal qualities, but as well as for its worldview. Of special interest to Copacetic customers is the latest message from the Cold Heat universe, brought to you by the combined powers of Ben Jones, Frank Santoro and John Vermilyea. This feature is a vigorously rendered and sumptously colored tale of drugs, rock 'n' roll, sex, and gruesome horror. Also in this issue we have: an all-new Tim Lane tale, "The Passenger"; a surprise new Pip and Norton adventure from Dave Cooper and Gavin McInnes; "Burrow World," wherein Joe Daly does Mat Brinkman; three short pieces by Nicolas Mahler; the third installment of Fuz & Pluck in "The Moolah Tree"; the second installments of both T. Edward Bak's WIldman – "A Barvarian Botanist in St. Petersburg," and Michael Jada & Derek Van Gieson's "Devil Doll"; a four-pager by Lilli Carré that had us thinking of old Rick Geary; the pastoral "Autumn" by Conor O'Keefe; more René French; and the Chris Ware homage, "The Jerk Machine," by Jon Adams. MOME!
MOME #16	Sara Edward-Corbett, Ben Jones, Jon Vermilyea, T. Edward Bak and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> edited by Eric Reynolds and Gary Groth <<•>> The obvious highlight of this issue for us here at The CCC is the new Cold Heat story by the team of Frank Santoro, Ben Jones & Jon Vermilyea. In addition, we have on hand: the furiously productive Dash Shaw, who translates an episode of "Blind Date" into comics form; the second chapter of T. Edward Bak's "Wild Man - The Strange Journey - and Fantastic Accounts - of the Naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, from Bavaria to Bolshaya Zemlya (and Beyond)"; new work from Renée French (who is also responsible for this issue's front and back covers); an all-new “Funny Bunny” strip by the rarely seen (in comics, anyway) Archer Prewitt; “The Moolah Tree”, a new Fuzz & Pluck graphic novel from Ted Stearn, begins it's serialization here; the MOME debut of Nicholas Mahler – "What Is Art?" (translated by Kim Thompson); and new stories from Lilli Carré, Conor O'Keefe, Laura Park, Nate Neal, and Sara Edward-Corbett, with incidental drawings by Kaela Graham. Get a PDF preview, HERE.
Cold Heat #7/8	B. J., Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$17.77 ($20.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Cold Heat closes in for the kill with another double issue. This one brings the series one double issue away from completion. After the massive action blow-out of #5/6, this time around we have more of a culture jam as the saga crosses international boundaries when Castle & Co. head to the southern hemisphere, accompanied by the BBC. The modern condition of living in the global village is given the Cold Heat treatment as well. Land lines and laptops, mobile phones and desktops, the internet and intensive care units, wifi and the web, credit cards and music festivals, airports and hotel rooms, Starbucks and taxi cabs, bright beaches and dark alleys – all seamlessly connect to form the all-encompassing phenomenological envelope that passes for reality in the 21st century. As always, series artist, Frank Santoro takes chances – starting, most obviously this time around, with the front cover, which invokes Ellsworth Kelly and Ad Reinhardt while highlighting the "thingness" of a comic book – as he pushes and pokes at the formal elements that make up the current corpus of comics in his ongoing challenge to the received wisdom that constitutes contemporary comics orthodoxy. The images we've selected to illustrate this listing focus on one of Santoro's greatest strengths: that of exploring the many avenues open to graphically rendering interior subjective states of mind beyond mere mastery of facial expression. The many faces of Castle on display in the pages of Cold Heat embody one aspect of The many faces of Castle on display in the pages of Cold Heat embody the struggle to forge new tools to place in the comics craft toolbox, making each issue of the series double as a workshop – and none moreso than this one. the struggle to forge new tools to place in the comics craft toolbox, making each issue of the series double as a workshop – and none moreso than this one. There's an aspect to the experience of reading Cold Heat that feels like being taken behind the scenes to see how it's done while the action never stops happening all around. It's like bringing you right there on the set while they're filming yet still managing to maintain the manufactured illusion of the movie. This issue has a terrifyingly low print run of 100 copies, so delay purchase at your own risk. PLEASE NOTE: THE LAST FEW REMAINING COPIES IN STOCK ALL HAVE "DINKED" (i.e.. DAMAGED) CORNERS.
Cold Heat Special #9	Lane Milburn, Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$12.00 ($15.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	The latest Cold Heat Special takes the standard practice of many hand-made self-published comics (including several of the previous numbers in this very series) – that of the silk-screened cover encasing photocopied interior pages – and stands it on its head. Yes, that's right, you guessed it: this one has a photocopied cover enclosing 16 hand-silk-screened interior pages of pantomime comics which pictographically record the spiritual regeneration of Castle as she merges with both the biological and historical forces that power her quest for truth, justice and personal growth. Also from PictureBox. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
The Ganzfeld #4	C. F., Paper Rad, David Sandlin, Frank Santoro and more ...	PictureBox	The Ganzfeld	$25.00 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	The Ganzfeld No. 4: Art History? Two years in the making, the latest issue of the Ganzfeld is finally on our shelves! It starts out with a wraparound cover and end papers by the high priestess of Canadian comics, Julie Doucet, and doesn't let up . After the lead off introductions by editor, Dan Nadel and artist extraordinaire, Peter Blegvad, the book is divided up into four sections of approximately equal length. In the first, Art History, you'll discover a lot that you hadn't know that you needed to know but will be glad to learn, including the secret history of the enigmatic cover art for Led Zeppelin's Presence that's always been a nagging question mark lurking in a back alley of your consciousness ever since you first saw it back in 1976. Next up is Drawings, by the recognized hepsters Gary Panter and Mark Newgarden, as well as others whose art you are far less likely to have previously come into contact with; but now will! Artists on Art is an intriguing, highly engaging and fairly unique feature which presents artists on art in art: David Sandlin's 18-page, lushly colored piece on H.C. Westermann is a tour de force of admiration, while Marc Bell's Ph.D.-thesis-in-comics-form provides a fresh, delightful and direct access to the work of Philip Guston that will be much appreciated by many. And then, finally, there's the Comics. This section starts off, semi-miraculously, with a six-page walking tour of Pittsburgh, both real and dreamed -- as a place on the map and as a state of mind -- by peripatetic former resident, Frank Santoro, and continues with fine work by Paper Rad, Leif Goldberg, Ted Stearn, Matthew Thurber, Jim Drain, Mark Newgarden, and a wild and wooly journey to the center of the mind by "C.F." The centerpiece is the amazing 22-page, "Ganmodoki," a piece from the late, surrealist period of Japanese manga legend, Shigeru Sugiura. And there you have it.
MOME #14	Emile Bravo, Gilbert Shelton, John Vermilyea, Ben Jones and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$13.50 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Another fine issue from the recently reenergized MOME. This issue's standout feature is Lilli Carré's, full-color, 32-page piece (graphic novella?), "The Carnival," that is a dream-like meditation on the desires that flow just below the surface of the quotidian, desires that are constantly struggling to break through, and yet seem always to be mysteriously held back by... what exactly? "The Carnival" doesn't pretend to give you the answers, but it will help put you in a place where you might find some on your own. The highlight for us here at Copacetic is an all-new Cold Heat tale by Frank Santoro, Ben Jones and John Vermilyea (who also turns in a solo piece here that has to be one of the most pithy portrayals of the American Way ever penned). And there's plenty more including the continuation of Gilbert Shelton's multi-part saga which reveals -- among other things -- that he, along with fellow underground comix grandmaster, R. Crumb, is a lifelong Carl Barks fan. Emile Bravo provides a deeply sarcastic satire of American Politics; Ray Fenwick, Laura Park, Dash Shaw, Sara Edward-Corbett, Olivier Schrauwen, Josh Simmons and Conor O'Keefe are all on hand, and are joined by newcomers (to American Comics) Hernán Migoya & Juaco Vizuente; and the entire issue is punctuated by a series of one-pages by Derek Van Gieson.
Comics Comics #4	Dan Nadel, Frank Santoro	PictureBox		$2.50 ($2.95 list)
Read more and comment...	It'a about time! The latest issue of the magazine of the comics cogniscenti is now in stock. This issue's cover feature is the one and only Shaky Kane, whose amazing early 1990s work has been sadly neglected; until now! Frank Santoro provides a heartfelt appreciation of Shaky's place in the comics universe and follows it up with a revealing interview. And that's just for starters. This issue also features: "The Death of the Comic Book" by Sammy Harkham; An in-depth review of Steve Ditko's late works Avenging Mind and 160 Page Package by Tim Hodler who also reports on Dave Sim's recent dual release of Glamourpuss #1 and Judenhass as well as providing a close reading of Kentaro Miura's Berserk; Brian Chippendale writes on Brian Michael Bendis(!); the second major feature in this issue is on Woody Gelman, the hidden figure behind many of the Topps gum card series such as Mars Attacks, Funny Monsters and many, many others that have faded from memory (he also was instrumental in the creation of Bazooka Joe, threw some work R. Crumb's way when he was just starting out and served as a mentor to Art Spiegelman); and to cap it all off are full page comics by designer, Mike Reddy and Copacetic fave, Dan Zettwoch (and don't forget, that when we're talking about Comics Comics full page means a whopping old old school 17" x 23"!). Essential reading.
Cold Heat #5/6	Ben Jones, Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$18.88 ($20.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	It's been well over a year since the last issue of Cold Heat appeared, but we're here to tell you that this is one comic book that was worth the wait!! It's a 48 page double issue printed in the trademarked Cold Heat two-color process employing magenta and blue. It's comics at their most adventurous and risk-taking, produced by creators who have the experience, skill and training to get to the other side, and, crucially, to take the reader there along with them -- but you'll have to pay close attention and hold on tight as it's quite a trip! A key to understanding this work is that its true subject is the relationship between the perception of reality and the representation of reality, between the signifier and the signified; how the representation of reality creates a feedback loop which transforms reality in the process. And there is a special focus on the relationship between subjectivity and perception; particularly on how emotional and chemically altered states of mind alter the perception of events, which then, in turn, alters their representation, and, finally, is capable of altering their actual outcome as well. This is a task to which comics are ideally suited and which Frank Santoro has been in the vanguard of exploring. With this issue he has pushed the furthest yet into this unmapped and only dimly comprehended artistic territory. Yes, this is one pricey comic book, but the economics of today's comic book market have forced the publisher into a corner and so this edition is being produced in an extremely small quantity for the True Believers.
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.
Cold Heat Print	Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$20.00 OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	We have in stock a very limited quantity of a signed and numbered Cold Heat print by Frank Santoro (in fact, we have only 2 copies remaining as of 17 November 2008). This print is standard comic book size -- 7" x 10" -- so it will fit right in with the Cold Heat comics if you would like to store it away as part of your collection, but we feel confident that you'll be putting this one on your wall. This is the image here on the right =>; you should know, however, that the colors -- at least on our copies -- are far more vibrant when viewed in person.
Cold Heat Special #8	Frank Santoro, Lane Milburn	Self-published	Cold Heat	$10.00 ($10.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	No, we didn't make a mistake: Cold Heat Special #8, another SPX 2008 highlight, is already here, despite the fact that #6 & #7 have yet to see print. That's the world of Cold Heat: time is non-linear here; temporal warps, shifts and bounces are the norm, so hold on tight. This time around we have an amazing magazine size (8 1/2" x 11") special with a double silk-screen wrap printed in three colors on heavy duty stock by Pittsburgh's own ace printer, Budai. Castle travels through a dream-vision to a world of mythological archetypes that sheds an insightful light on our own. Santoro has found another fine collaborator in Milburn, as their respective strengths forge to create a swirling sense of the porous and shifting border between interior psychological states and the sensory experience of external reality. This special is a special value, so don't delay: these won't be around long as the print run has been limited to a mere 100 copies.
Cold Heat Special #5	Frank Santoro, Ryan Cecil Smith	Self-published	Cold Heat	$8.00 ($8.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	A rare treat, this is a hand made edition, limited to a mere 100 copies, w/ hand silk-screened (on a nice heavy stock) two-color front and back covers that comes complete with endpapers, no less. As for the contents, this time out we witness a brief interlude in the life of Castle wherein she and her now diseased father are out in the woods, hungry and looking for food. Aesthetically speaking, this adventure takes place roughly half way between Storeyville and Black Hole on the comics spectrum. As with the first four Cold Heat Specials, this will NOT be collected with the forthcoming graphic novel.
Cold Heat Special #4	Frank Santoro, Jim Rugg	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$2.50 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This time around we have a 16-page tabloid newspaper comic book filled with further far out fables featuring Cassandra -- aka Castle -- cavorting with chaos. Santoro and Rugg employ the large (22" x 17", when opened) "canvas" of the tabloid format to excellent effect, creating a feast for the eyes with finely rendered dramatic imagery that ranges from psychedlicized fast food bathroom interiors to landscapes of the rolling hills of (what appears to be) western PA, all in the service of a tale of temporal displacement that demonstrates that the past is still here, all around us, and that travelling through time is a simple matter of opening a door or two. There may be some side effects, however...
Cold Heat Special #3	Frank Santoro, Dash Shaw	Self-published	Cold Heat	$8.00 ($8.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	While Santoro burns the midnight oil finishing up the Cold Heat graphic novel, he knows Cold Heat fans are jonesing, and so has commisioned an ongoing series of specials. These specials are all limited editions with very low print runs that won't be reprinted in the graphic novel, so don't miss out! CHS #3 is a collaboration with up and coming comics experimentalist, Dash Shaw (see the latest issue of MOME) that is built around a combination of early Italian renaissance imagery and contemporary urban cityscape. This time out we have a saddle-stapled 16-page horizontally formatted comic book with a wraparound two-color cover that blurs the line between waking and sleeping, dream and reality, drugged and straight, and yesterday and today, as well as between classical fine art and contemporary popular art. Santoro & Shaw's cover image has been hand silk-screened by Pittsburgh's master poster maker, Budai! Limited to 100 copies.
Cold Heat Special #1	Frank Santoro, John Vermilyea	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$3.00 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Upon learning that the Cold Heat comic book series was going to be transformed into a stand-alone graphic novel to be released in late 2008 (at the earliest) and as a result faced with the potential for a year long drought for Cold Heat fans after their being acculturated to a regular release schedule, CH creator Frank Santoro commisioned several ancilliary Cold Heat books to tide readers over while he toils away on the core text. The first Special is an 11" x 14" newspaper, with artists Santoro and Vermilyea taking full advantage of the grand page sizes to present an action-packed adventure that doubles as a sweeping simile.
Cold Heat #3	Frank Santoro, Ben Jones	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$4.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The plot thickens, the mystery deepens, the pace is picked up and no holds are barred in this, the third issue of the most innovative comic book series in America. While other comic books tout their "new" plot twists and "new" characters and "new" concepts, the comics they produce are, formally, all the same, maintaining the tried and tired industry status quo. Cold Heat is authentically different. Creators, BJ and Santoro understand the conventions under girding the standard comic book format and deftly undercut them, subverting the implicit conservatism of these conventions by exogamously marrying them to an entirely different, diverse and far ranging array of techniques, tropes and teleologies. Fauvism, cubism, expressionism and pop art rub shoulders with an allusive montage of narrative codes including action/adventure, detective, horror, romance and more. And that's just what's going on beneath the surface. What you see, starting with the startlingly disorienting and surpassingly original cover image, is a powerful story indicting the wrongs of today that is powered by some of the most visionary artwork around. Delicate yet defiant and densely packed, Cold Heat #3 is a one of a kind comic book.
Cold Heat #2	Ben Jones, Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$4.50 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Picking up where the first issue left off, Cold Heat #2 revs it up a few notches and takes us on a whirlwind ride through the dis-united states of the disturbed American psyche. Series artist, Frank Santoro once again refuses to play it safe. This time around he pulls out all the stops and takes the chances that most other artists wouldn't take even if they could. Leaping into the artistic no man's land between the well established borders of pre-existent genres, Santoro combines the propulsive narratives of mainstream American heroic adventure comics, the exaggerated expressiveness of Japanese manga, and the naivete of self-published autobiographical comics with his own experimental ideas to create a totally unique comics cocktail that will knock you for a loop (You don't have to take our word for it: Check out this double-page spread). Cold Heat takes the outside in and then brings the inside out -- demonstrating how our internalization of international affairs creates monsters in our minds that are every bit as dangerous as anything we'll meet on the street -- and by so doing helps us see our place in and find our way through the mess of our world.
Cold Heat #1	Frank Santoro, Ben Jones	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$12.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	As crazy as it may sound, this is the first issue of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series written and drawn by art comics favorites, Ben "Paper Rad" Jones and Frank "Storeyville" Santoro. Mightily manifesting the poignant praxis of pioneering publisher, Picturebox, Cold Heat is not necessarily stoned, but beautiful -- a hypnotically tranced-out, maximum-volume take on the action/adventure genre that stays out all night and doesn't come home until the party's over and it's time to crash. From it's super-slick full color covers, to its orange-juice-orange inside covers and through its 24-page interior printed entirely in magenta and sky blue, this is a comic book that stands out in a crowd, and about which we are entirely comfortable in saying, "there's nothing else remotely like it on the market." Feeling adventurous? Try this. (and don't sit on the fence too long, as this one's just about gone – very few copies remain) 24 pages, 2-color
Kramers Ergot #7	Dan Zettwoch, Frank Santoro, Chris Ware, Kevin Huizenga and more ...	Buenaventura Press	Kramers Ergot	$125.00 ($125.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	It's here! All we can say right now is, "WOW!" Sammy Harkham, Alvin Buenaventura and their cohorts have raised the bar once again with what must be considered as one of the most singular books in the history of comics. This volume of Kramers rolls back the hands of time by publishing a book that reproduces that magnificent size of the original Sunday comics of 100 years ago that we have been reacquainted with through the efforts of Sunday Press and their mind-boggling Little Nemo collections. Team Kramers has connected the dots and realized: "If they did it then, there's no reason why we can't do it now!" This volume presents all new work created specifically to be reproduced in the full-up, full-color, big-daddy, 16" x 21" format that will recapture the wonderful amazement of the glory days at the dawn of the comics era. The equally amazing renaissance that comics is currently undergoing will likely come to be symbolized in some fashion by this very volume. Kramers Ergot 7 is, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular works of comics ever published. Measuring a staggering 16" x 21", and containing all new, never before seen work that was commissioned specifically for this giant-size format, we will see today's top comic creators pulling out the stops for this rare chance to produce comics work on this scale. Here's a l of contributors: Rick Altergott, Gabrielle Bell, Jonathan Bennett, Blanquet, Blex Bolex, Conrad Botes, Shary Boyle, Mat Brinkman, John Brodowski, Ivan Brunetti, C.F., Chris Cilla, Jacob Ciocci, Dan Clowes, Martin Cendreda, Joe Daly, Kim Deitch, Matt Furie, Tom Gauld, Leif Goldberg, Matt Groening, John Hankiewicz, Sammy Harkham, Eric Haven, David Heatley, Tim Hensley, Jaime Hernandez, Walt Holcombe, Kevin Huizenga, J. Bradley Johnson, Ben Jones & Pshaw, Ben Katchor, Ted May, Geoff McFetridge, Jesse McManus, James McShane, Jerry Moriarty, Anders Nilsen, John Pham, Aapo Rapi, Ron Rege Jr., Xavier Robel, Helge Reumann, Ruppert & Mulot, Johnny Ryan, Richard Sala, Souther Salazar, Frank Santoro, Seth, Shoboshobo, Josh Simmons, Anna Sommer, Will Sweeney, Matthew Thurber, Adrian Tomine, C. Tyler, Chris Ware, and Dan Zettwoch. WOW! (This is no longer available from the publisher and we are almost out of our stock. As a result, we are no longer offering any discount. Sorry.)
Incanto	Frank Santoro	Self-published		$10.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	A one-of-a-kind piece by the creator of Storeyville and Chimera, Incanto is a sketchbook dream diary boldly printed in black on a ever shifting background of sun orange and sea green that peels back the layers of consciousness revealing a zone of archetypes drawing equally on pop culture residues and genetic memories. It is also a formal meditation that simultaneously deconstructs the creative process. Incanto is a work that you'll want to take your time with, to savor. We are just about out of these, so order now or wonder what could have been...
Storeyville	Frank Santoro	PictureBox		$19.95 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	introduction by Chris Ware. The best kept secret in the last twenty years of comics is probably the 1995 tabloid newspaper format Storeyville. A Whitmanesque epic poem in comics form, Storeyville was sui generis at the time of its release, revealing previously unexplored depths in the comics form. For a closer look at this landmark work, we refer you to our review of this original release, here. It is now, finally, twelve years later, being released in a deluxe hardcover edition complete with a 1200 word introduction by Chris Ware along with bonus back up features including an essay providing the history and context of its creation by Dan Nadel. Highly recommended.
Cold Heat #4	Ben Jones, Frank Santoro	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$4.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	How?! Cold Heat #4 is already in stock, and it's a doozy. Disparate and heretofore disconnected aspects of the storyline are joined together as some puzzling pieces of the plot are put into place. We don't want to give too much away here, but suffice it to say that some things have turned out -- surprise! -- not to be what they seemed. Lovers of cosmic mysteries and mighty metaphors will find plenty of food for thought this time around, and thrill seekers should find what they're looking for as the intensity is ramped up a notch or two. Santoro's art really shines this issue as he continues to bring a world beat of styles and perspectives to the mix while at the same time turning in some of his most polished art to date. To those of you who have been watching on the sidelines, uneasy about the ellipticality of Cold Heat's narrative, wondering what it's all about and where it's been leading, we say: Now's your chance -- this is the one you've been waiting for. This is the issue that puts the story into focus and brings the series up to speed, and to put our money where our mouth is, we are offering a special price on a set of the first four issues on our Cold Heat page.
Comics Comics #3	Timothy Hodler, Steve Gerber, Guy Davis, Marc Bell and more ...	PictureBox		$2.00 ($2.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Where traditional Japanese manga is lengthy, old school American comics are large, and Comics Comics is doing its part to keep this tradition alive by being printed on a web-press in newspaper format in the arm-spanning 44" x 28" (when held open) of the good old days. This issue is filled with articles, essays, interviews and reviews by and about the likes of Sammy Harkham, Guy Davis, David Heatley, Lauren Weinstein, Frank Santoro, Dan Nadel and Timothy Hodler, and is filled throughout by humorous marginal illustrations by Matthew Thurber (think Sergio Aragonés in Mad Magazine). The back cover is a gigantic, suitable-for-hanging-on-the-wall extravaganza by the one and only Marc Bell. A must for comics cognoscenti everywhere.

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