The Copacetic Comics Company R. Crumb

R. Crumb

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
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!"
Mineshaft #24	R. Crumb, Mary Fleener	Self-published	Mineshaft	$6.95 ($6.95 list)
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Mineshaft #25	R. Crumb	Self-published	Mineshaft	$7.00 ($7.00 list)
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Mineshaft #26	R. Crumb, David Collier, Dennis Eichhorn	Self-published	Mineshaft	$9.00 ($9.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The old folks' fanzine is back, with one of the best issues yet. Starting off with the latest installment of R. Crumb's dream diary along with a pair of R. Crumb sketches, this issue features a great lineup of comics, including two by Copacetic fave, David Collier (one of which is written by auto-bio comics champ, Dennis Eichhorn), J.R. Helton and Pat Moriarity (who also contributed this issue's cover), Aleksandar Zograf, and a truly fine tale by Nina Bunjevac, along with some mighty nice illustrations by Christoph Mueller and William Crook, Jr. (who also offers his thoughts on the subject of his drawings), poetry by Diane DiPrima and more! Added bonus: an R. Crumb portrait of Wallace Wood adorns the back cover.
The Best American Comics 2010	Neil Gaiman, R. Crumb, David Mazzucchelli, Carol Tyler and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$20.00 ($23.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Neil Gaiman This time around, editor Gaiman provides a selection that is heavy on excerpts of graphic novels rather than self-contained works. His picks include, as one would expect, the most celebrated works of last year: R. Crumb's Book of Genesis and David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp.; but there are some surprises, as well. In fact, the book starts out with the biggest surprise of all: and actual Marvel Comic! But wait – hold on, it's not what you think. It's an excerpt from the seventh issue of the Omega the Unknown limited series that was later collected in book form. Written by Jonathan Lethem, this excerpt starts off with the sequence that was drawn by none other than Gary Panter. One can readily see how irresistible this choice was: how could you not include what may very well be the only Marvel comic ever drawn by Gary Panter? Other excerpted works include: the completely necessary Acme Novelty #19; the off-the-radar-for-many, Citizen Rex by Gilbert and Mario Hernandez; Lilli Carré's The Lagoon (Carré was also selected for this year's Best Non-Required Reading); Josh Neufeld's docu-comic, A.D: New Orleans after the Deluge; Carol Tyler's ongoing masterpiece, You'll Never Know; Derf's Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, which we've been trying to convince people to read since it came out; and several others. Every reader of this volume is sure to pursue the purchase – or at least perusal – of at least one of these works in its entirety, and there are bound to be a few who will want them all. In addition to these excerpts from these graphic novels, there are plenty of short pieces by the like of Ben Katchor, James Kochalka, Peter Kuper, Jesse Reklaw and Gabrielle Bell. Worthy of singling out, is the excellent 14-page "Trinity," by the sorely under-appreciated Michael Cho (who also executed this volume's cover), that originally appeared in the relatively obscure Taddle Creek, and so ran the risk of being missed by most, and so is perhaps Gaiman's single best call. And, finally, we can't go without mentioning that we are happy that a selection from Copacetic favorite, Capacity, by Theo Ellsworth, is also on hand in this volume, and, not only that, but Ellsworth was commissioned to produce original endpapers for this volume as well, providing a visual treat to its opening and closing. This series continues to be a great way to introduce the uninitiated to the wide world of comics, and makes an excellent gift.
The Book of Genesis, Illustrated	R. Crumb	Norton		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, here it is: the most talked about book in comics. Five years at the drawing board hath wrought Crumb's own pen & ink rendering of the West's origin myth. Crumb, as he warned and as we would naturally expect, hasn't pulled any punches and has illustrated this tale as written, warts and all. Crumb says it best himself in his introduction: "I, R. Crumb, the illustrator of this book, have, to the best of my ability, faithfully reproduced every word of the original text... Every other comic book version of The Bible that I've seen contains passages of completely made-up narrative and dialogue, in an attempt to streamline and 'modernize' the old scriptures, and still, these various comic book Bibles all claim to adhere to the belief that the Bible is 'the word of God' or 'inspired by God,' whereas I, ironically, do not believe the Bible is 'the word of God.' I believe it is the words of men. It is, nonetheless, a powerful text with layers of meaning that reach deep into our collective consciousness, our historical consciousness, if you will. It seems to be an inspired work but I believe that its power derives from its having been a collective endeavor that evolved and condensed over many generations ..." Every line in this book is hand drawn. The only mechanical text is on the copyright page, the inside jacket flaps, and the commentary in the addendum. It's the Bible! It's a comic book! It's Crumb! It is, in short, amazing. Dive right in with this preview. Update: Due to R. "crotchety oldster or painstaking perfectionist - you decide!" Crumb's insistence that this book be printed exclusively on one, specific paper stock which is manufactured only once a month and in quantitities that are unable to meet the demand for this book, we have been having a hard time tracking down enough copies. However, we just received a nice restock, so we are once again offering our standard Copacetic discount!
American Splendor Presents Bob & Harv's Comics	Harvey Pekar , R. Crumb	Thunder's Mouth Press	American Splendor	$14.44 ($16.00 list)
Read more and comment...	What's new about this one is the price. We are now able to offer this classic 1996 volume that collects the entirety of R. Crumb's contributions to Harvey Pekar's trailblazing comics series at an amazing low price that we hope will be a boon to all of those who are watching their wallet yet have their eyes out for high quality comics. It really doesn't get much better than these titanic team-ups. These are the comics that put American Splendor on the map and transformed Harvey Pekar from just another working schmoe to an icon of the independent artistic spirit that inheres to the American working class. Yowza! Anyone who hasn't managed to get around to reading these yet is in for a real treat, and even those that have may want the chance to savor them yet again (and again, and again...). RECOMMENDED! Preview it, here.
Mineshaft #21	R. Crumb, Mary Fleener, Ed Piskor	Self-published	Mineshaft	$6.25 ($6.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	A counter-culture zine of comics and more that is still going strong. This issue features a front cover and five sketchbook pages by R. Crumb, a swell 4-page comics-bio of that beatnikita, Diane di Prima by Harvey Pekar and Mary Fleener, a selection of fine pen and ink drawings along with commentary by their creator, William Crook, Jr., Bill Griffith's 3-panel revelation of "How I Got My Start in the Comics Business!!" a back cover and more by Cristoph Mueller, and a "Sunday" page by Jay Lynch and Pittsburgh's own Ed Piskor describing an afternoon with the one and only Chester Gould. Plus plenty more!
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.
The Comics Journal Special Edition: Volume Two - Summer 2002	Bill Griffith, R. Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware and more ...	Fantagraphics		$7.47 ($22.95 list)
Read more and comment...	What's so great about this book? Well, just for starters, it was the 2003 Harvey Award Winner for the Best Anthology. It's 180 pages in all. The cover feature spotlight shines on master cartoonist Jim Woodring who turns in the fab cover painting you see here and who is the subject of two essays by Donald Phelps and Kenneth Smith respectively, as well as a new interview. Text-and-art features include an appreciation of the cartoonist W.E. Hill by Zippy creator Bill Griffith (with many examples of Hill's unique tabloid-sized Sunday pages in full color); "All Hail Jack Kent," an appreciation of King Aroo's creator written by indy comincs maven, Tom Devlin, that includes a rare look at the strip itself, in the form of a dozen full page, full color, high resolution scans of Sunday comics full-pagers; Timothy Kreider probes deeper into the cat cartoons of B. Kliban; an essay on French comics artist, Louis Trondheim by British comics critic, Paul Gravett; a bit of comics history by Robert Fiore wherein he explores "how Harvey Kurtzman and Al Capp succumbed to the 1960s;" and "Between Borders," a who's who in Mexican alternative graphic narrative, by Ernesto Priego. And then there's the comics. Hold onto your hats and check out the contributor list: Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, Michael Kupperman, James Sturm, Mary Fleener, P. Craig Russell (w/ Lovern Kindzierski), Penny Van Horn, Spain Rodriguez, Ron Regé, Jr., John Porcellino, Jordan Crane, David Collier, Peter Blegvad, Rick Geary, Rick Altergott, Johnny Ryan, Steven Weissman, Megan Kelso, Gerald Jablonski, Ted Jouflas, Roger Langridge, Tim Hensley, Justin Green, Mark Kalesniko, Carol Lay, Sam Henderson, Ho Che Anderson, Phoebe Gloeckner, Tony Millionaire, Frank Stack, Bill Griffith, Arnold Roth, Mark Martin, Ivan Brunetti, John Kerschbaum, Wilfred Santiago, Sherri Flenniken, Mack White, Carol Tyler, Victor Moscoso, and, yes, even R. Crumb, whose submission is an instant classic! But, most amazing of all is the price, of this, our first Depression Buster Bargain™!
Best American Comics 2006	Jesse Reklaw, Joe Sacco, Anders Nilsen, Jaime Hernandez and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$8.88 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edted by Harvey Pekar and Anne Elizabeth Moore This volume marks the first time that comics joins the well established "Best American Series." It is a surprisingly well produced book -- surprising in that it's from Houghton Mifflin, a major NY publisher, whose eyes are usually more closely set on the bottom line -- that contains a good cross-section of work published in North America in 2004 and 2005 and functions as a fine follow-up -- as a yearbook does to an encyclopedia (for those of you old enough to know what we're talking about) -- to both McSweeney's #13 -- which is clearly its inspiration -- and the just-released Brunetti-edited Yale anthology. This collection spans the generations, including new work from old-timers Kim Deitch, Gilbert Shelton and Robert Crumb, middle-agers Jaime Hernandez, Lynda Barry and Joe Sacco, and youngins' Anders Nilsen, Rebecca Dart and Jesse Reklaw, whose story, "13 Cats of My Childhood," we singled out for praise in our 2005 SPX report, when it appeared in it's original form as Couch Tag #2, stating at the time, "It is one of the best comics at this year's SPX... and deserving of a much wider audience than it will be able to find in this form." So, suffice it to say that we're quite happy to see it included here in this anthology. By far the longest piece included in this 320 page anthology, practically a graphic novella, "La Rubia Loca," by Justin Hall -- another SPX attending self-publisher -- is an engrossing story about a bunch of hippie slackers stuck on a bus tour through Mexico with a crazy woman. And keep in mind that these are just the highlights, there's plenty more. 2006 • full color • hardcover • 320 pages
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.
In the Studio: Visits with Contemporary Cartoonists	Todd Hignite, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Gary Panter and more ...	Yale University Press		$17.77 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	WOW!!! It's here and it's a dream come true. Founding editor of Comic Art magazine, Todd Hignite has given us an elegant, oversize, beautifully produced, 320 page hardcover book that takes you into the studio and collections of today's top independent cartoonists. Featuring tons (499, to be exact) of reproductions of the highest quality, depicting the original art, personal collections and physical environs of R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, Jaime Hernandez, Dan Clowes, Seth, Chris Ware and Ivan Brunetti side by side with extensive interviews with the creators themselves, this is a book to savor. Todd Hignite is a passionate, intelligent and articulate defender of comics. His concise introductions to each of the assembled artists are examplary, and the introductory overiew with which he opens the book is an eloquent and perspicacious presentation of the richly complex significance of the art and practice of comics. Recommended! NOW 40% OFF! A real treasure, for less.

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