The Copacetic Comics Company Houghton Mifflin

Houghton Mifflin

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
The Best American Comics 2011	Alison Bechdel	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$22.75 ($25.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Alison Bechdel This year's volume gets off to a good start with Bechdel's own illustrated introduction wherein, in addition to introducing the work that follows she meanders autobiographically and waxes philosophical in and about comics. It must mean something that this year's volume is the first in which there was a substantial amount of work that we here at Copacetic were not previously familiar with. It seems that we can no longer keep up with all the deserving work out there. As it doesn't feel like we're reading any less, the only conclusion to draw is that there's even more good work out there than we can keep up with. A good sign, indeed! The contributor list includes the essential work by those key artists whose work over the past year it is the first and foremost responsibility annual "best of" collection to present: Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, Joe Sacco, three of the best cartoonists of our times, did some of the best work of their career over the past year, and it is duly represented by excerpts here. Dash Shaw's Bodyworld also receives a massive excerpt here (second in length only to Sacco's), and there are about a half dozen additional excerpts, most notably from Kevin Huizenga, Jeff Smith and Ken Dahl. Then there are the short pieces, from all over, many of which – for the first time, as we noted – were new to us. Included under this category are David Lasky and Mairead Case's "Soixante Neuf," Michael DeForge's "Queen," (how did we miss this one?), cover artist Jillian Tamaki's "Domestic Men of Mystery," Eric Orner's "Weekends Abroad" and Angie Wang's sumptuous "Flower Mecha." Other great short pieces that we had already read and were glad to see here, include stories by Gabrielle Bell, John Pham, Joey Alison Sayers (from Papercutter, our favorite comic book anthology series), Noah Van Sciver, the webcomics sensation Kate Beaton and Paul Pope. And we can't leave without mentioning the six-page "Anatomy of a Pratfall" by Peter and Maria Hoey from their self-published comic book series, Coin-Op. This is a strongly Joost Swarte-inflected piece that would have been at home in Raw Magazine back in the day; it also reminds us, in its complexity, of some of Michel Gondry's more adventurous music videos. We weren't hep to Coin-Op before reading this year's Best American. Now we are; that's the idea.
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 Best American Comics 2009	Dash Shaw, Koren Shadmi, David Sandlin, Ron Regé and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$20.00 ($22.95 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Charles Burns Well, Crumb is a tough act to follow, but we'll give it a shot with this star-studded anthology filled with the best and the brightest from the last twelve months of comics, as judged by Charles Burns. In a book like this, we feel that the contributor list says it best: Doug Allen, Peter Bagge, Gabrielle Bell, Matt Broersma, Daniel Clowes, Al Columbia, Robert Dennis Crumb, Sammy Harkham, Tim Hensley, Gilbert Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Ben Katchor, Kaz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Michael Kupperman, Jason Lutes, Tony Millionaire, Jerry Moriarty, Anders Nilsen, Gary Panter, Laura Park, Mimi Pond, Ron Regé, David Sandlin, Koren Shadmi, Dash Shaw, Art Spiegelman, Ted Stearn, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, Adrian Tomine, Chris Ware, Dan Zettwoch. 'Nuff said. Well, actually, we can't help but add that while the material contained in this anthology is absolutely fabulous, the quality of its reproduction is, mysteriously, not up to the same standard as the three previous volumes in this series, which were excellent in that department. This shouldn't stop anyone from picking up this fine volume, but it is worrisome. Let's hope that this was a one time aberration and that next year we'll find the fine folks at Houghton Mifflin have figured out what went wrong and put things in the production department back on track.
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
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For	Alison Bechdel	Houghton Mifflin	Dykes to Watch Out For	$22.22 ($25.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Now there's no excuse. Fence sitters can no longer complain about the format or the price or the confusing order of the previously issued volumes of Alison Bechdel's seminal strip. To celebrate it's 25th year, Houghton Mifflin has released this hunky hardcover edition. Weighing in at 392 pages, it contains a very substantial serving of the extant DTWOF strips, making it much more than your standard "best of" collection. Even longtime fans of the strip (like us) who own all the individual volumes will be hard pressed to resist this volume. Format fiends may find that they prefer the balance of the squarish, vertical presentation of the strips as single-pages, over their previous horizontal formatting as side by side two-pagers. And then there's the irresistible icing on the cake: the all-new, never-before-seen, 12-page strip that serves as the introduction. It is the long awaited (at least by us, anyway) "secret origin" of Dykes to Watch Out For, telling the story of Ms. Bechdel's gradual realization and embrace of her latent, long-repressed desire to be a professional cartoonist. What's that? You say you're not a lesbian and so why should you read this? Well, listen up -- here's why: DTWOF is the best ongoing continuity comic strip of its time. The characters that populate this volume are pen and ink creations that live, breath and grow in concise single page strips that precisely capture the underlying humanity that we all share and in the process have defined an era. Yes, it helps if your politics are towards the left of the political spectrum, but even this is not a prerequisite to enjoying the pleasures of this cartoon text (the Norman Rockwell homage of the front cover serving as ample testimony to this fact). Open yourself up to opportunity and you'll make some new friends.
Best American Comics 2008	Lynda Barry	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$8.88 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	The Best American Comics 2008 edited by Lynda Barry is now on sale for only $8.88! This is a 324 page, nicely produced, hardcover volume that is chock-a-block with great comics. Starting with the amazing embossed wraparound dustjacket by Eleanor Davis, the book is cover to cover comics that are worth reading. It leads off with a ten-page introduction by editor Barry, rendered in her new What It Is collage-comics style. It then proceeds -- in alphabetical order, no less -- with a well-rounded survey of the state of American comics. Missing from previous volumes in this series was any focus on Ms. Barry's peers in the independent newsweekly world. That has been smartly rectified this time out with a nice selection of work by fellow pioneer of independent comics syndication, Matt Groening (Life In Hell), along with Alison Bechdel (Dykes To Watch Out For), Derf (The City) and Kaz (Underworld). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We've got excerpts from some of the year's best graphic novels -- Salon by Nick Bertozzi, The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary, Berlin: Book Two by Jason Lutes, Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, among others. Then we've got a one after another super solid short and medium length comics works that show a truly remarkable range. We have instant classics by established masters like Jaime Hernandez's "Gold Diggers of 1969" from Love and Rockets and Chris Ware's "Thanksgiving Series" from The New Yorker. Then we have what is probably this collection's signal strength: new work by new(er) talent: Graham Annable and Sarah Oleksyk, both from Papercutter; T. Edward Bak and Evan Larson, both from Project: Romantic; Eleanor Davis and Martin Cendreda, both from MOME; Eric Haven and Michael Kupperman from their own comics, Tales To Demolish and Tales Designed To Thrizzle, respectively; and then self-published works by Lilli Carré, Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett, Joseph Lambert, and John Mejias. And there's more! This one is a winner. Recommended!
Fun Home (hardcover)	Alison Bechdel	Houghton Mifflin		$17.95 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Fun Home is as forcefully felt a memoir as any yet published in comics, but it quite possibly can lay claim to being the single most thoroughly thought out as well. The deeply healing catharsis that Bechdel achieves here is enabled to no small degree by her extensive use of literary reference. She draws on a full complement of her artistic forebears to create an elaborate intertextual support narrative in a manner that is akin to that which her father employed in his painstaking restoration of the gothic revival mansion which is the central setting for the story. Sound interesting? Read our full length review.
Best American Comics 2006	Anne Elizabeth Moore, Harvey Pekar	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$19.80 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This surprisingly -- given that it's from Houghton Mifflin, a major NY publisher, whose eyes are usually more closely set on the bottom line -- well produced book contains a good cross-section of work published in North America in 2004 and 2005 and functions as a fine follow-up to both McSweeney's #13 -- which is clearly its inspiration -- and the just-released Brunetti edited anthology reviewed above. 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.
Fun Home (softcover)	Alison Bechdel	Houghton Mifflin		$11.85 ($13.95 list)
Read more and comment...	(softcover edition) Well, it's hard to imagine that any Copacetic customers missed this one the first time around, but you never know. There may be a few of you out there lurking in the shadows who have been patiently waiting to pounce on the softcover once it arrives. Well, if so, then those of you did will be happy to know that your wait is over. Now available in softcover is the most heralded comics memoir since... well, ever (yes, there's Maus, of course, but, properly defined, it isn't really a memoir). We've long been fans of Ms. Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, and we gave Fun Home an enthusiastic review as soon as it was published, but even we were surprised by how this book took the country by storm. According to one of the many back cover blurbs, Fun Home was made the "Best Book of the Year" by no less than 23 major newspapers, including The NY TImes, The LA Times, The Times (London), The Guardian (UK), and even Time and People magazines! It seems like people were lining up to sing the praises of this book. And well it should be. Our surprise -- and a quite pleasant one it is, we hasten to add -- is that a work of comics dealing with an inter-generational saga centered on gay and lesbian sexual identity would be the recipient of such accolades. Times they (still) are a'changing, indeed.
The Best American Comics 2007	Jeffrey Brown, John Porcellino, Gabrielle Bell, Adrian Tomine and more ...	Houghton Mifflin	Best American	$19.75 ($22.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Chris Ware From Lynda Barry to Dan Zettwoch and everything inbetween, this volume provides us with a a fabulous selection of excellent comics in an attractive well produced package at an affordable price. While -- as Chris Ware makes eminently clear in his excellent introduction -- it is certainly hard to make any sort of definitive argument that these are "the best" American comics of 2007, we are quite confident that no Copacetic customer will be disappointed with the 340 pages of comics herein assembled. It is true that some may find that they already own much of what appears here, but few if any will have read it all and most will discover exciting new work and be introduced to talented comics creators. Among the amazing contributors you will find, Alison Bechdel, Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, C.F., Robert, Aline and Sophie Crumb, Kim Deitch, Sammy Harkham, Gilbert Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Anders Nilsen, Gary Panter, Paper Rad, John Porcellino, Ron Regé Jr., Seth, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomnie, Carol Tyler and more (whew!)

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