The Copacetic Comics Company Jim Rugg

Jim Rugg

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Typewriter #6	Nick Bertozzi, Kurt Wolfgang, Dylan Williams, Nicolas Robel and more ...	Self-published		$9.00 ($10.00 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> edited and published by David Youngblood <<•>> One of the highlights of the 2003 SPX, and one of the best anthologies of the year, this 160 page squarebound volume features a lot of great work by a lot of great people like Souther Salazar, Sammy Harkham, Josh Simmons, Kurt Wolfgang, Farel Dalrymple, Dylan Williams, Marc Bell, Paul Hornschemeier, Nick Bertozzi, and Pittsburgh's own Jim Rugg, among many others! The concept with this issue is that each story must begin with the sentence that the previous story ended with. This is one of the best out there: small press, community building, unique, original and good. Long out of print, but we just discovered that we have a secret stash! 2003 • 160 pages • B & W
MOME #22	Kurt Wolfgang, Tom Kaczynski, Joe Kimball, Eleanor Davis and more ...	Fantagraphics	MOME	$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Eric Reynolds Say it isn't true! Sadly, this is the end of the road for the most innovative and challenging regularly published English language comics anthology of the twenty-first century. But they're going out with a bang! MOME 22 is a wallopin' 240-page double issue that is a veritable gathering of MOME alumni (along with some notable last-minute newcomers) featuring 30 artists, including Kurt Wolfgang, Tom Kaczynski, Joe Kimball, Eleanor Davis, Anders Nilsen, Tim Hensley, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, Zak Sally, Jesse Moynihan, Malachi Ward, James Romberger, Nick Drnaso, Joseph Lambert, Nick Thorburn, Victor Kerlow, Jim Rugg, Chuck Forsman, Sergio Ponchione, Steven Weissman, Sara Edward-Corbett, Laura Park, Josh Simmons, Derek Van Gieson (with collaborator Michael Jada), Tim Lane, Nate Neal, Lilli Carré, T. Edward Bak, Dash Shaw, Ted Stearn and Noah Van Sciver. Whew! Get a heaping helping of PDF preview, here.
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.
POOD #3	Jim Rugg, Hans Rickheit, Adam McGovern, Paolo Leandri and more ...	Big If	POOD	$4.00 ($4.50 list)
Read more and comment...	And then there's this! sixteen mammoth 16" x 22" newsprint pages in alternating full color and black & white. Each gigantic page offers up a complete work by an individual creator or creative team – 15 in all, along with one page of editorial content. There's some really worthwhile work here. First off two of the top teams in indy comics are on hand here: Jim Rugg & Brian Maruca deliver another cartoon deconstruction of US foreign policy in their latest US APE tale, "Chernobyl," while Adam McGovern & Paola Leandri splice 60's Kirbyisms onto Orphic lyrics to create a poetic comics evocation of the primal muse in "Spirit Media." Hans Rickheit brings us once again into his finely rendered dream world with "Cochlea and Eustachia." And, there's plenty more before the book closes out with two pages of full color splendor with "Zizmo and the Escapists" by Tobias Tak and "World Excursion" by Bishakh Som.
Diamond Comics #6	Lane Milburn, Jonny Negron, Paul Pope, Zack Soto and more ...	Floating World Comics	Diamond Comics	$3.75 ($4.00 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	<<• edited by Jason Leivian •>> This full color newspaper jammed with comics is from the fine folks at Floating World Comics in Portland, OR. This time around we start off with a wraparound cover by none other than Mr. Paul Pope, who also contributes a page along with, among others, Farel Dalrymple, Sam Hiti, Jonny Negron, Lane Milburn, Dash Shaw, Zack Soto and Pittsburgh's own Jim Rugg! Sadly, this issue is, according to the idicia, the last. Don't let that stop you from enjoying it; just take your time... TEMPORARIY OUT OF STOCK.
Study Group 12 #4	Theo Ellsworth, Jim Rugg, Dan Zettwoch, Edward Bak and more ...	Study Group	Study Group 12	$20.00 ($20.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Zack Soto After, what? five years? we have another issue of Study Group 12. This one is the grandest yet. 8 1/2" x 11 1/2" , with 72 pages printed in navy blue, eight extra pages with an additional layer of magenta, and then all wrapped up in a hand silk-screened cover in aqua and pink. This package holds quite a lot of talent. Creators included in this issue are Theo Ellsworth, Jim Rugg, Dan Zettwoch, T Edward Bak, Richard Hahn, John Vermilyea, Michael DeForge, Vanessa Davis, Farel Dalrymple, Aidan Koch, and plenty more. The front cover is by editor, Zack Soto; back cover by Mr. DeForge, and endpapers by the esteemed Steven Weissman. This is a hand-numbered edition of 500 copies.
Mixed Up	Jim Rugg	Self-published		$3.00 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Here's a brand new mini comic that will be especially enjoyed by those who had a good time trying to figure out the identities of the character mash ups in the various posters executed for the just passed PIX. Mixed Up features 28 mash ups done in a similar fashion (a few of which are actually the ones which were used in the PIX promotions). For those perhaps not quite as well versed in the particulars of comics characters, the best part about it may be the "answer key" at the back of the book, revealing who's who in each. As a result, Mixed Up can double as an excellent parlour game for comics fans everywhere, making it quite the bargain!
Papercutter #14	Brian Maruca, Jim Rugg, Dave Roche, Nate Beaty and more ...	Tugboat Press	Papercutter	$3.50 ($4.00 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> edited by Greg Means <<•>> Yes, it's another fine issue of Papercutter. This time arond, Nate Beaty, the official Papercutter endpaper artist (he's done the endpapers of every issue, you can go check, we'll wait...) gets to stretch his legs in the 21-page, semi-epic "Winslow," written by Dave Roche. Then there's a 10-page gem by reclusive fan favorite Farel Dalrymple, "Live With Our Clerics," and, the icing on the cake - a crazy one-pager by Pittsburgh's own Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, "Eagle, Run." Yet another great issue of Papercutter, which continues to be the best regularly published anthology comic book in North America.
Rambo 3.5	Jim Rugg	Self-published		$2.00 ($2.00 list)
Read more and comment...	A near-perfect embodiment of the mini-comics aesthetic, by that ace Pittsburgh comics all-star, Jim Rugg. A 32-page comics meditation/investigation on/of the post-9/11 American nexus between power and violence, Washington and Hollywood, high culture and pop culture, toys and art, dream and reality, repression and oppression and, finally, the resultant confusion between signifier and signified. Featuring a former President of The United States of America along with you-know-who (or do you?). Heady stuff, and fun to boot!
One Model Nation	C. Allbritton Taylor, Jim Rugg	Image Comics		$14.44 ($17.99 list)
Read more and comment...	One Model Nation is an alternative history set in Germany during the days of the Baader-Meinof in which a "political art noise band,", One Model Nation (a group that seems to ask the question, "What if Joy Division were German?") enters into the mix and changes the course of history, launching a revolution. An engrossing tale for the rock history minded, told in 120 pages of expertly paced and rendered art by Pittsburgh's own Jim Rugg!
Afrodisiac	Brian Maruca, Jim Rugg	AdHouse Books		$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Well, here's a work that sets the table for multi-course feast that will appeal to folks of different stripes for different reasons. First and foremost, it is the most ample display to date of the pop culture prowess of the Pittsburgh-based artist/writer team of Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, who here have given a virtuoso performance. Afrodisiac is an homage to the last gasp of traditional comic book values; specifically, those that were embodied by the comic books of, roughly, 1972 - 1985. These were the final years of the newsstand comic book market – its decade of irrevocable decline. Beginning in 1986 it was permanently eclipsed by the direct market, a turn of events which not only forever altered the perception and reception of comic books, but simultaneously led to a a substantial and equally permanent change in their values and production. The work contained in this compact, full color, hardcover volume demonstrates a deep intuitive understanding of the the tropes and formulas of traditional newsstand comic books, as well as, and perhaps most significantly, the role played by the wide variety of production and reproduction processes and techniques through which the raw language of comics passes en route to becoming the actual physical end product comic book that transmits its content through the readers' sensory apparatus, and thereby promulgates its meaning to the end consumer: human consciousness. Conscious manipulation of the denotative capacities of production processes has a history that goes back at least thirty years, to Art Spiegelman's work in Breakdowns, and it continues to be employed successfully in works such as Paul Hornschemeier's The Three Paradoxes. Afrodisiac is, however, unique in that, here, this conscious manipulation is the driving force behind the entire project, and is encoded in the texts as well as the images, with the character of The Afrodisiac acting as a cypher – one that is simultaneously a celebration and an elegy – for the uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies that was no longer possible in the wake of The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. Jim Rugg is a one-man production house and he has put the pedal to the metal in his reclamation of a panoply of production processes in this pandemonium procuring panegyric to the blaxploitation genre (that was itself an embodiment of the last gasp of the classical Hollywood values that vanished in the wake of the blockbuster onslaught of Spielberg, Lucas & Co.). It is here, in this nostalgic conflation of blaxploitation's own uncritical creation of unabashed power fantasies with those of comic book superheroes, by, let it be said, a couple of middle-class white guys, that another layer of signification transpires. Certainly, an exploration of the text's Playing in the Dark is warranted, and an old Lou Reed song may come to the mind of readers of a certain age; and, the fact that the power fantasy on display in these pages is of a distinctly sexual nature and is employed in the domination and exploitation of women cannot be ignored. Yet, all is rendered with a clear sense of humor, and where level, intellectually engaged heads prevail, there are sure to be some interesting and potentially valuable correlations made (cultural anthropologists, please take note). In other words, Afrodisiac is one of the densest texts one is likely to come across; and while many will doubtless find it a source of uncritical enjoyment, those who do so will be doing themselves a disservice and missing the work's essential character. To get a head start processing this sucka', download this PDF preview.
Janes In Love	Cecil Castellucci, Jim Rugg			$8.88 ($9.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the follow-up volume to Plain Janes, the book that launched the Minx line of graphic novels aimed at the nascent -- and booming -- market for comics among teenage girls. Plain Janes was far and away the best selling volume of the series for us. This is due in no small part to the excellent artwork executed by Pittsburgh's own (and Copacetic customer) Jim Rugg. He and Ms. Castellucci prove that their team is not a one-hit wonder with Janes in Love which we are sure will be enjoyed by all fans of Plain Janes.
The Street Angel Collection	Brian Maruca, Jim Rugg	Slave Labor Graphics		$12.75 ($14.95 list)
Read more and comment...	OK: for those of you who have been putting off checking out Street Angel, one of the most original comic book series of the past few years, featuring breathtaking graphics and a trend-setting new character, and that was a surprise hit when it debuted in 2004 -- there's no reason to wait any longer. And for those of you who are already fans, you'll be happy to learn that when it comes to Street Angel, this new TPB has everything and more: Street Angel issues 1 - 5; all Free Comic Book Day stories; an all-new 12-page Street Angel adventure; pinups from: Jeffrey Brown, Farel Dalrymple, Jesse Farrell, Richard Hahn, Dean Haspiel, Mike Hawthorne, Paul Hornshemeier, Dave Kiersh, Pat Lewis, Jasen Lex, Andy Macdonald, Jim Mahfood, Ted May, Scott Mills, Scott Morse, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Lark Pien, Ed Piskor, Brian Ralph, Zack Soto, Lauren Weinstein, and Dan Zettwoch; a spiffy Sketchbook section; and an introduction by Evan Dorkin.
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...
Project: Romantic	Ash Wood, Hope Larson, Jim Rugg, Nick Craine and more ...	AdHouse Books		$25.00 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This is the final installment of the "Project Trilogy" which provides the up-and-coming generation of cartoonists to work with traditional comics themes. Inititated by Project: Telstar, which dealt with science fiction themes with a focus on robots, and continued by Project: Superior, which had super heroics as its unifying theme, this time around, as the title suggests, the same generation of cartoonists is given a chance to tackle the romance comics genre. As with the first two anthologies, the works assembled here bear little semblance to their generic progentiors in the mainstream comics of yore, a guided tour of which we are given in the introductory essay by Bill Boichel (which is currently available online as a downloadable .pdf). "True" romance seems mostly a thing of the past in the stories that follow, which here primarily focus on -- at best -- snatching a moment of happiness with a fellow being. Many of the pieces center on unrequited love, heartbreak, romantic disaster, murder, mayhem and confusion. Sometimes it's played for laughs and sometimes for tears. Exceptions include Aaron Renier's "Reflectors and Rutabegas," which comes closest to being a traditional romance, and McGovern & Leandri's Dr. Id story, which employs a 1960s-Dr.-Strange-as-sex-therapist narrative that is certainly traditional in its form, if not in its content. As with all AdHouse Books, the production values are excellent and the quality of the artwork is uniformly high. Stand-outs for us include the contributions of Paul Rivoche, Hope Larson, Roger Petersen and Junko Mizuno, but doubtless every reader of this anthology will find their own favorites. And there's no way we can avoid singling out Robert Goodin's contribution: if there were an award for excellence in the service of perversion, this one would have the comics category all wrapped up. PLEASE NOTE: This is the limited edition hardcover edition that we are offering here. Limited to 500 individually numbered copies, it features front and back covers, as well as endpapers that consist of four apocryphal romance comic book covers featuring Afrodisiac, all by Pittsburgh's own megatalent, Jim Rugg! We are offering this at half off it's original price – need we say it? – while supplies last! (LIMIT: ONE PER CUSTOMER)
The Plain Janes	Cecil Castellucci, Jim Rugg	Minx		$7.77 ($9.99 list)
Read more and comment...	While we're on the subject of comics created by Copacetic customers, now's probably a good time to mention The Plain Janes. Written by young adult author, Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool), it is pencilled and inked in its entirety by Pittsburgh's own Jim Rugg, of Street Angel fame.This 176-page trade paperback edition is the opening salvo of the new Minx™ line of graphic novels. Published by DC comics and aimed at teenage readers, the Minx line is intended as a made-in-the-USA alternative to the phenomenally successfull manga series published by Tokyo Pop and Viz."So, how does this rate as competition?" you may ask. Well, for starters, there's certainly quite a bit more going on in The Plain Janes than in your average Tokyo Pop production. It is a self-contained graphic novel, with a beginning, middle and end - unlike the majority of manga offerings aimed at this same market, which go on for as many volumes as the publishers feel they can get away with.Castellucci's plot is - relatively speaking - fairly complex, involving a big city girl, Jane, who has had a close call with an urban terrorist bomb attack and as a result now finds herself firmly ensconced in an alienating suburbia, hovered over by nervous parents, yearning to make new friends, and nostalgic for the funky aesthetics of her former urban environs. How Jane comes to terms with all this makes for the story, which is clearly and cogently drawn by Rugg, who has amply demonstrated his professionalism here.Being that this is the first offering of an entirely new line representing DC's entrance into a new market, there was sure to be a lot of pressure on him to toe the corporate line and deliver a product that the editor could convince the various departments to line up behind. Clearly, this was not a project on which Rugg could go all out and deliver the visual pyrotechnics that readers of Street Angel so enjoyed. However, the artwork on display here provides ample evidence that Rugg successfully met the challenges of his assignment, which was to create an informative, engaging and enjoyable visual representation of the story.If you have a teenage comics reader in your life, we recommend that you let them know about The Plain Janes.

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