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Jaime Hernandez




Title Creator Publisher Series Price
Nursery Rhyme Comics Gahan Wilson, Roz Chast, Tony Millionaire, Lilli Carre and more ... (:01) First Second $17.77
($19.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		edited by Chris Duffy This 115 page, full-size, full color collection of 50 "timeless rhymes" includes all the favorites and then some.  What makes this one different?  What makes it stand out from the crowd?  What makes it mind-bogglingly amazing?  The list of artists who created the 50 works that fill this volumedoes, that's what.  It is practically a "who's who" of contemporary cartoonists that stretches around the block.  We're only going to give you a baker's dozen here, just to whet your appetite:  Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez (each contributing their own comics nursery rhyme), Theo Ellsworth, James Sturm, Jordan Crane, Eleanor Davis, Patrick McDonnell, Kate Beaton, Craig Thompson, Lilli Carré, Tony Millionaire, Roz Chast, Gahan Wilson... we think you get the idea. This is pretty much a guaranteed gift success story if a comics fan is involved in any capacity:  whether you're giving or getting, this one has it all.  And it is practically a Platonic ideal as a gift designed to sprout a love of comics in a new reader.
The Best of Harry Lucey, Volume One Jaime Hernandez, Harry Lucey IDW Publishing Archie $22.75
($24.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		introduction by (the one and only) Jaime Hernandez    First off, we'd like to nominate this book as the single most overdue volume in the history of comics.  It may not win, but it will certainly be a contender.  If there is one single artist that comics readers need to increase their consciousness of, it's Harry Lucey.  Any comic book reader over forty is almost certainly already familiar with Lucey's work as he pencilled hundreds of stories for Archie Comics, including the majority of its flagship title for fifteen years.  So, anyone who read a few Archie Comics from before 1975 – or any of the ubiquitous Archie Digests that were seemingly everywhere through at least the 1980s – has read at least a few Harry Lucey stories – but there is no way they would have known it:  because LUCEY NEVER GOT ANY CREDIT – until, finally, now.  With all due respect to Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo and all the other fine artists who worked for Archie Comics over the past seventy years, Harry Lucey was the best comics artist who ever worked for Archie and his work is their greatest legacy.  While this volume does not come close to presenting "The Best" of Lucey's work, the fact that it is subtitled "Volume One" fills us with hope that, when taken together with an ever expanding series of subsequent volumes, it will ultimately live up to it's title.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $11.99
($14.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Yowza!  The new issue of Love and Rockets has arrived.  Last year's issue packed such a wallop that we are still thinking about it.  Even though more than a year has passed since then, we never felt like we were waiting for the next one.  It seems that the supernatural power that is imbued through the pen and ink on paper and reproduced in the pages of Love and Rockets is such that it is able to imprint its content on readers' minds to whatever degree is necessary to keep it thriving there until the next issue arrives.  And so, now that the new issue is here – and from what we've heard, it's another mind-blower – all we can do is hold onto our hats and dive in.  See you there!
Esperanza: A Love and Rockets Book Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $15.00
($18.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		This 248-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" softcover is the fifth volume of Locas stories by Jaime Hernandez; and the eighth overall, the other three collecting Gilbert's Palomar stories.  Esperanza picks up where 2010’s Penny Century collection left off in collecting the  the stories from the second volume of Love and Rockets – the comic book size series that ran from 2000 through 2007.  Together, the two volumes collect everything Locas up through #19, the second to last issue of the series (#20, the last issue, presents the full color story that originally ran in the New York Times, along with a second, off-format story of Maggie's childhood, neither of which would work in this volume; completists take note).  Page after page of immortal classics fill this essential volume.  We know that all true believers already own the original issues, but, for the rest of you:  It really doesn't get any better than Love and Rockets.  Really.
Strange Tales II #2 Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Tony Millionaire, Jeffrey Brown and more ... Marvel Strange Tales II $4.44
($4.99 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
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Read more and comment... 		We can hardly belive our eyes:  under a picture-perfect Jaime Hernandez cover are Marvel Comics  stories by both Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez.  "Old School Rules" featuring Iron Man and the Human Torch by Beto, and "Love and the Space Phantom" by Jaime.  Feast your eyes and treasure the moment, for it may not come again.  Also on hand is more Marvel mayhem perpetuated by the likes of Tony Millionaire, Jon Vermilyea, Jeffrey Brown, Farel Dalrymple, Paul Hornschemier, Nick Bertozzi, David Heatley, Sheldon Vella and Paul Maybury.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $11.99
($14.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Break out the champagne, it's here!  The third annual installment of the latest incarnation of the greatest comic book series of our times:  Love and Rockets.  This is the purest manifestation of the Perfect Sphere of True Comics that we mere mortals are likely to encounter here on planet earth.  Two stories each by both Jaime and Gilbert, who fairly evenly divide the issue between them.  We'll certainly have more to say about this issue before too long.
Penny Century Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $14.99
($18.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Well, talk about an embarassment of riches!  Not only have we been treated to the long awaited Art of Jaime, but now we also have the latest in the splendiferous series of trade paperback volumes that, since 2007, have been repackaging the classic work of both Jaime and Beto.  Penny Century is the fourth Jaime volume and the first to present his work that appeared after the conclusion of the initial seminal run of Love and Rockets.  The book opens with the one of kind classic of comics choreography that is Whoa Nellie!, Jaime's 68 page ode to women's wrestling.  Then we are treated to the super fabuous experience of the Maggie and Hopey Color Fun one-shot in glorious black & white.  The bulk of the book collects the titular seven-issue series in its entirety (yes?), followed by the "secret origin" of the lead character, "Bay of Threes," from the fifth issue of the second volume of Love and Rockets.  248 pages of Jaime Hernandez in fine form.  Is there really anything else that needs to be said?
The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death Alison Bechdel, Jaime Hernandez, Todd Hignite Abrams ComicArts $35.00
($40.00 list)
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Read more and comment... 		<<•>>  introduction by Alison Bechdel  <<•>>  YES!  It's here: a dream come true.  Designed by Jordan Crane, and perfectly printed on high quality flat white stock, every page of this oversize hardcover book is a wonder.  Where to start with a book like this?  Well, first off, there are the page after flawless page of full color reproductions of Jaime's black and white (and color) original artwork – including many pieces of unpublished art, several of which are real eye-openers!  Then there is the uncovered cache of rare ephemera like punk rock fliers, early L & R ads, and local and national magazine covers.  Also unearthed are drawings from Jaime's childhood years, including those that cover Jaime's Oxnard High School Pee-Chee folder, amongst which is one of the first ever depictions of Maggie!   Best of all, there is a veritable family scrap book worth of photos documenting the Hernandez clan's development from its earliest days (Jaime in diapers!) on up through the halcyon days of punk rock splendor and beyond that will have long time Love and Rockets fans dewy eyed more than once.  AND, this book isn't just about the art, it's also about the man behind the art.  It's full of choice quotes from Jaime and others in his circle, all of which go a long way towards shedding light on the particular nature of his genius.  Our favorite so far is this gem of Jaime's, in response to the suggestion that he build on his popularity to step into the mainstream:  "That's not the next step.  Love and Rockets is the last step.  I 'made it' when we did the first issue.  Everything else  – The New York Times, even making a movie – is lesser than Love and Rockets, as far as I'm concerned, and everyone else should treat their work that way.  If it's your own work, it should be treated as the last thing, not the first thing."  Amen to that.  Written and curated by Comic Art Magazine founding editor, Todd Hignite, this massive hardcover volume builds on and extends Comic Art's tradition of high standards in writing, graphic design and production.  Hignite's introduction, craftily employing Jaime's New York Times serial "La Maggie la Loca" as both its jumping off point and visual foil, is a model of concise clear prose in the service of promoting an ideal.  The body of the book constructs a well rounded portrait of the artist that will stand the test of time.  We'd say more, but we're all too busy poring over the pages and dabbing our eyes...
The Comics Journal #300 Kevin Huizenga, Art Spiegelman, Howrad Chaykin, Ho Che Anderson and more ... Fantagraphics The Comics Journal $12.75
($14.99 list)
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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!
Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $11.99
($14.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		It's Here!  We don't have a lot to say about it, yet, but what else do you need to know, really?  Well, for starters, how about the fact that this issue features a 42 page pantomime comic by Beto that is a midnight ferry ride through the subconscious realm that will leave you with that tantalizing feeling you get when you wake up from a particularly vivid yet mystifying dream:  that you had the answer, that you saw how all the pieces fit together and you had it all figured out... if only you could remember!  And then there's the fantastic fifty-page finale of Jaime's epic opus of femme superheroics, "Ti-Girls Adventures Number 34."  This contemporary classic that transcends all attempts to categorize it now only comes out once a year, so we feel that all we have to say is, "Be there, or be square!"
Locas II Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $33.99
($39.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		418 pages of the greatest comics of our time under one cover.  This volume picks up, roughly, where Locas left off, and collects nearly all the standard comic book size formatted work that Jaime has executed since the conclusion of the original 50-issue run of the magazine size formatted Love and Rockets.  Locas II bring together under one cover all six issues of the Penny Century series along with Jaime's contributions to the first nineteen issues of the twenty-issue run of the second volume of Love and Rockets.  Not everything from this period is here, however.  The most notable exclusion is the first work Jaime completed after the termination of L&R, vol. I, the three-issue mini-series, Whoa, Nellie!  As it was only tangentially connected to the Locas storyline, it is not collected here.  Also not included are numerous short strips – mostly one or two pages in length – that appeared in the aforementioned issues of Penny Century and L&R, vol. II, but are not related to the Locas continuity, as well as the full color, novella length work that originally appeared (slightly abridged) in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and subsequently appeared in Love and Rockets, Volume II #20. (Completists take note!)  That said, what you are getting is a big book filled with the best of the best, all laid out in a mammoth narrative arc that continues to build on the magnificent structure of past work in creating the most richly complex and deeply human work in the history of comics. 
Locas Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $39.95
($49.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Whoops!  We were so excited by this book's arrival that we plum forgot to list it here and so announce its presence on our shelves.  Sorry about that.  This book is our lead contender for greatest comics collection of all time.  It places between two covers the entirety of the adventures of Maggie and Hopey that transpired during the original fifty-issue run of Love and Rockets.  Reña Titanion, Rand Race, Penny Century, H.R. Costigan, Terry, Daffy, Izzy, Speedy, Ray D., Doyle, Danita and all the rest:  they're all here.  It's big: over 700 pages in all!  It's an embossed hardcover edition that's got a swell dust-jacket! And don't forget Gilbert's Palomar; we haven't:  it's our lead contender for second greatest comics collection of all time.
Love and Rockets #14 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.60
($4.50 list)
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Read more and comment... 		The greatness continues, with Xaime turning in two more days -- Thursday and Friday -- of "Day by Day with Hopey," and Beto doing likewise with his two new installments in "Dumb Solitaire," along with the latest twist in Julio's Day.  Bonuses include a whacky two-pager by Xaime and one-pagers by both Beto and Mario.
Love and Rockets #13 (volume two) Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.60
($4.50 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Beto checks in with an eleven-page installment of  "The Song of the Sea Hog," the tale of one man and his  six wives (five ex-, one current and all still in touch -- ouch!), a  two-page "Julio's Day," and the inaugural of a new series of one-pagers, "The Kid Stuff Kids," which, on the basis of this one at least, seems to play with the form a bit.  Jaime struts his stuff with three "Angel of Tarzana" strips featuring 'Sports Girl' Rivera, two more noirish two-pagers on Ray 'Down-and-Out' D and his obsessive non-starting relationship with Vivian 'Frogmouth', and, finally, "Wednesday Is Bitter Ends Day," the latest episode in "Day By Day With Hopey", that follows our heroine as she transitions to the next chapter of her saga-filled life.  All this in one 32-page comic book.  How do they do it!  Love and Rockets:  still the best comic book on the planet.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $12.75
($14.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		Love and Rockets is dead!  Long live Love and Rockets!!  What we mean is:  Love and Rockets, Volume 2, the standard comic book size format series which has carried Love and Rockets through the last eight years, is no more.  In it's place we have the first issue of Love and Rockets: New Stories, a 100 page annual (Annual?  Only one Love and Rockets per year?  How will we survive?  ¡sob!) of all new work by the one and only los hermanos Hernandez.  This time out of we have a whopping 50 pages (which is, believe it or not, only the first half of this epic yarn) of hi-jinx superheroics delivered as only Xaime can, plus -- count 'em -- six new Gilbert stories and, as an added bonus, a new collaboration betweeen GIlbert and Mario.  You'll want to take your time with this one, and savor every moment.
Love and Rockets #12 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.60
($4.50 list)
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Read more and comment... 		What can we say?  These guys are still at the top of their form.  This issue delivers:  three more-or-less connected, Maggie-related shorts by Jaime venture into the dark underbelly of LA at the same time as they plumb the depths of the human soul, while a relatively (but not entirely) light-hearted romp featuring Hopey looks at relationships; two longer pieces by Gilbert provide more insight into the family romance that lies at the heart of all human character development, with a special focus on the ignorance that poses as superiority in "A Gift for Venus" and more heartbreak soup in the latest installment of "Julio's Day."
Bizarro World Jaime Hernandez, Peter Bagge, Craig Thompson, Dylan Horrocks and more ... DC $26.95
($29.95 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
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Read more and comment... 		DC lets its proprietary guard down for a contained barrage of absurdity; allowing its audience a glimpse at the super-id that lies beneath the super-ego of its stable of heroes.  This long awaited sequel to the popular Bizarro Comics is a veritable who's who of the indy comics world.  Starting off with a cover by Locas maestro, Jaime Hernandez, the line-up inside includes Rick Altergbott, Peter Bagge, Ariel Bourdeaux, Ivan Brunetti, Eddie Campbell, Dave Cooper (in a ten-page opus featuring Super Girl and Wonder Woman), Leela Corman, Evan Dorkin, Ben Dunn, Sarah Dyer, Phil Elliot, Hunt Emerson, Asaf & Tomer Hanuka, Gilbert Hernandez, Dylan Horrocks, James Kochalka, Michael Kupperman (he's in his element here), Roger Langridge, Tony Millionaire (with a very gothic Batman), Harvey Pekar teams up with Dean Haspiel, Craig Thompson, Pittsburgh's own Don Simpson -- even the French team of Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian!  And many more.  Fab fan fun.
The Comics Journal Special Edition 2005 (#5) Paul Hornschemeier, Igort, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez and more ... Fantagraphics $19.95
($24.95 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
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Read more and comment... 		Well, for our money at least, this volume is hands down the best so far.  It has a tripartite structure:  A survey of Manga Masters featuring pieces on Osamu Tezuka, Hideshi Hino, Suehiro Maruo, Saseo Ono and Yoshihiro Tsuge; a focus on Vaughn Bodé that features a critical appreciation, a revealing biography and a personal reminiscence  -- all amply accompanied by classic and rare Bodé comics, illustrations and rarely (if ever!) seen sketchbook pages; and then there's the giant comics feature:  this time around the theme is "seduction" and the contributions by many of today's best comics practitioners are top notch.  Among the contributors are Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Igort (whose 4-pager is among the highlights), Mary Fleener, Rick Geary, Bill Griffith, Megan Kelso, Paul Hornschemeier, Marc Bell, Gabrielle Bell (whose submission is her most accomplished work yet published), Carol Lay and many others.  This is a great volume to have just lying around:  no matter what page you open to you'll find something engaging.
Ghost of Hoppers Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $18.35
($22.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		(Love and Rockets Book 22)  Well, for those among you who, for whatever reason, have not managed to purchase each new issue of Love and Rockets when they're hot off the press, and/or for those who have but can't live without the collected editions as well, we have a new Jaime Hernandez masterwork. Jaime's Ghost of Hoppers collects his contributions to Love and Rockets V.2 # 1-4 &  6-10 (V.2#5 was already collected in Dicks & Deedees).  The legendary mythos continues.
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)
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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)
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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
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)
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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)
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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.
Love and Rockets #10 (Volume Two) Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $4.75
($5.95 list)
Lr10
Read more and comment... 		To celebrate the tenth issue of their second volume of the greatest comic book of modern times, Los Bros have put together a mammoth 64 page square-bound extravaganza that features the conclusion of both the latest Maggie saga by Jaime and the epic, "Me for the Unknown," by Beto and Mario.  Plus, two new installments of Julio's Day and an all-10-page "Roy and his Pals" story by Beto.  And finally, as if that weren't already enough, a giant list of "Our Favorite Comics" by Jaime, Beto and Mario, that includes favorite specific issues, as well as titles, writers and artists.  A veritable walk down memory lane.  Don't miss it!
Love and Rockets #16 (Volume Two) Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.60
($4.50 list)
Lr2_16
Read more and comment... 		In case you wondering, we thought we'd take this moment to let you know that Love and Rockets is still going strong, with new issues appearing at a steady clip. And the work continues to be of the highest caliber, building, issue by issue, the most signifigant narrative structure on the contemporary comics landscape.
Love and Rockets #15 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.60
($4.50 list)
Lr2_15
Read more and comment... 		In case you wondering, we thought we'd take this moment to let you know that Love and Rockets is still going strong, with new issues appearing at a steady clip. And the work continues to be of the highest caliber, building, issue by issue, the most signifigant narrative structure on the contemporary comics landscape, as our in-depth look at "Saturday is Shatterday" from #15 amply testifies (click on image at left to read).
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)
Inthestudiosm
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.
Love and Rockets #7 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.15
($3.95 list)
Lr7
Read more and comment... 		The latest of the greatest.
Love and Rockets #6 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Mario Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.15
($3.95 list)

Read more and comment... 		more greatness from Los Bros.
Love and Rockets #5 (volume two) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Mario Hernandez Fantagraphics Love and Rockets $3.15
($3.95 list)

Read more and comment... 		Secret origin of Penny Century.  An instant calssic!