The Copacetic Comics Company Abrams ComicArts

Abrams ComicArts

Title	Creator	Publisher	Price
Government Issue Comics	Richard L Graham, Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, Al Capp and more ...	Abrams ComicArts	$17.77 ($29.99 list)
Read more and comment...	edited, compiled and annotated by Richard L Graham Government Issue Comics provides readers with a 300 page overview of over sixty years of government sponsored comics. The numerous and various branches of the US government managed, unsurprisingly, to recruit some of the top comics talent of its time, and in these pages you will find work by Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, Al Capp, Joe Kubert and Kurt Schaffenberger – and Charles Schulz, Walt Kelly, Chic Young and George McManus (and Al Wiseman!), along with a host of anonymous unknowns, all working on behalf of educating their fellow citizens on a (very) wide array of issues. Richard Graham, an associate professor and media services librarian at the University of Nebraska has put together a broad survey of this massive but under-appreciated aspect of comics history. It is organized into four categories: military; economics and employment; civil defense, safety and health; and landscapes and lifestyles. Each of these sections begins with an introductory essay by Graham that puts the comics in context. Readers with Q-Code readers will, in theory, be able to access a large online archive of these comics by scanning the digital access code at the end of the book (or, go here and download PDF files of some of the complete comics and start reading now; just scroll down...). Yes, history can be fun! And now for less, as it is now on sale!
Someday Funnies	Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, C.C. Beck, Wallace Wood and more ...	Abrams ComicArts	$45.00 ($55.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Michel Choquette Well, here's something you don't see everyday: a comics anthology that has been completed but unable to find a publisher for nearly forty years, finally being published! As readers of The Comics Journal #299 – the cover feature of which was an in-depth article on the history of this volume – already know, this volume had reached a legendary/mythical status. Robert Greenfield's introduction squarely situates the work contained in this volume as a document of "The Sixties," While comics critic/historian Jeet Heer's foreword provides ample context and background for the comics work the book contains as well as a chronology of its epic 40-year journey from inception to publication. We've barely dipped out toes in this majorly oversize – 11" x 17" – 216 page, full color hardcover volume containing 120 comic strips by 169 creators, so we're not going to say much about the contents at this time, but we will provide you with some of the contributors, and let you do the math: Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, C.C. Beck, Wallace Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Arnold Roth, Don Martin, Gahan Wilson, Bobby London, Trina Robbins, Vaughn Bodé, Steve Englehart, Archie Goodwin, Denny O'Neil, Ralph Reese, Alan Weiss, Herb Trimpe, Frank Zappa, Harlan Ellison, William S. Burroughs, Roy Thomas, Barry Smith (before he added Windsor) Guido Crepax, Ralph Steadman, Leo & Diane Dillon, Walter & Louise Simonson, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Red Grooms, Russ Heath, Jay Kinney, Denis Kitchen, (a very young) Art Spiegelman, (also very young) Stan Mack, Ever Meulen, Joost Swarte, Tom Wolfe, Federico Fellini, and many, many more! Also included is a "92-drawing take on Choquette's travels by Michael Fog" that parallels and brackets the comics the volumes contains. Surprisingly (at least to us), the intent to create an interweaving bracketing tale was a component of the original volume's conception, and blank spaces were deliberately left in many of the pages at Choquette's instruction.
P*S Magazine: The Best of The Preventive Maintenance Monthly	Will Eisner	Abrams ComicArts	$19.75 ($21.95 list)
Read more and comment...	It is rare indeed when our opinion completely agrees with that of publisher provided cover hype, but in this case it does. The material that Will Eisner produced over a period of 20 years (!!!) for PS Magazine is indeed, "the missing link between The Spirit* and A Contract with God" as the cover states. The work contained in this 272 page hardcover volume has the highest critical-importance:critical-awareness ratio of any work we can think of. It represents the single largest unified body of work of one of the most admired creators in the history of comics, yet very few have read much – if any – of it. Now, thanks to Denis Kitchen, Ann Eisner, Eddie Campbell and Abrams ComicArts, we all have the opportunity to rectify this out-of-kilter relationship between material and critical appreciation. Eisner spent twenty years focusing on creating clear concise communicative comics for the United States military. Surely this is a factor that contributed to his development as an artist and the evolution of his mature style. Both forcing him to hone his cartooning skills to meet the demands of the assignment and in holding back his own personal artistic goals for so long that they burst forth so spectacularly in his later years.
Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not)	Jason Shiga	Abrams ComicArts	$16.25 ($17.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Here's the latest graphic novel by the creator of the Copacetic favorite, Meanwhile, that was published by Abrams last year (nearly a decade after Shiga self-published it). Empire State is, however, quite a different kettle of fish. It is a pop-culture savvy tale of bi-coastal romance that has the feel of a roman á clef and is much closer is style and content to its immediate precursor, Bookhunter, that was published in 2007 by those stalwart supporters of independent comics, Sparkplug Comic Books. Empire State is a 144 page, two-color hardcover that is durably constructed and considerately priced.
The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics	Harvey Kurtzman, Denis Kitchen, Paul Buhle	Abrams ComicArts	$22.22 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This massive hardcover volume is now the definitve account of the life and work of the one and only Harvey Kurtzman, the man who brought the world Mad and so much more. Written by Kurtzman's friend and one-time publisher, Denis Kitchen, who also currently represents the Kurtzman estate. Kitchen is an accomplished cartoonist in his own right, one who was influenced by Kurtzman, and who was active during the glory days of Underground comix, and so is more fully capable of appreciating Kurtzman's achievement than your average biographer. This book has it all: miraculously preserved childhood drawings, early comics and illustration work, Kurtzman's glory days in comics, the creation of Mad, Humbug, Trump, and Help! followed by Little Annie Fannie and much, much more, including plenty of rarities that will astound and delight Kurtzman fans. And now available for an amazing price! What's not to like?
The Horror! The Horror! – Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!	Jim Trombetta, Basil Wolverton	Abrams ComicArts	$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	<< • >> Selected, edited and with commentary by Jim Trombetta; with an Introduction by R.L. Stine << • >> Next, we have the Abrams ComicArts entry. This cleverly named tome presents readers with a smorgasbord of brain searing graphics and more. The Horror! is a nicely put together 300+ page full color flexi-bound collection that comes complete with a running commentary by editor Trombetta to provide a "you are there" context. It is heavy on covers and single page examples and much lighter on actual stories than Four Color Fear, but the covers, pages and stories that are here are generally well selected, and taken together do provide an excellent survey of the period (sans EC, of course – except for a few covers; presumably because EC stories are already under separate reprint agreements). Perhaps the biggest surprise are the excellent stories by "artist unknown." Let's hope that some well-informed comics sleuths can deduce the correct creators. The reproduction here is nice as well: good quality, full color scans printed on flat white stock. And the icing on the cake is the bonus DVD slipped inside the back cover which contains the 30-minute TV show that originally aired on October 9, 1955, Confidential FIle, about the "evils" of comic books! Taken all together, it makes for a great introduction to the comics and cultural climate of the early 1950s in the US of A.
Art In Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940 - 1980	Sharon Rudahl, John Thompson, Willy Mendes, Pat Boyette and more ...	Abrams ComicArts	$35.00 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> edited by Dan Nadel <<•>> The long awaited follow up volume to Nadel's pioneering 2006 anthology of rarely seen and under appreciated comics, Art Out of Time, has at last arrived! This time around we have a tighter focus. While much of the work contained in Art of Time originally appeared in newspapers and broadsheets, all the work contained in this volume originally appeared in comic book form between 1942 and 1980. Extending and expanding his mission to bring art world curatorial standards to comics, Nadel has provided an informative introduction to the book as a whole, along with separate one-page explanations of the underlying reasoning behind each of the thematically groupings into which the work is divided: "Demand and Supply," "Where They Were Drawing From," "It's All In the Routine," and "Expansive Palettes." The artists included here range from the golden age superhero work of H.G. Peter and Mort Meskin, through the post-WW II "atomic age" genre work of Bill Everett, Matt Fox, Jesse Marsh and Pete Morisi, and also including early work focused on hardboiled detective, Sam Hill, by the one and only Harry Lucey, who is best know for his 1960s work on Archie Comics. Another artist whose work included here ranges far from their iconic work is John Stanley, who is best known for his multi-decade run Little Lulu. Nadel has dug up a couple of obscure horror tales from 1962 that should be quite a surprise to most Stanley collectors. Also from the 1960s we have Sam Glanzman's Kona and Pat Boyette's career high, the 25 page, "Children of Doom" from 1967. Heading into the underground era we have fairly obscure yet nonetheless era-defining work from Willy Mendes and John Thompson. And, finally, on the cusp of the undergrounds and the alternative revolution that supplanted them is Sharon Rudahl's 34 page epic, The Adventures of Crystal Night, is presented here in its entirety. Essential, we say.
Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater	Frederik Schodt, Eric Nash	Abrams ComicArts	$29.75 ($35.00 list)
Read more and comment...	<<•>> introduction by Frederik L. Schodt Paralleling the rise of comic strips in the US, Kamishibai – paper theater – originated during the early 1930s in Japan, and experienced its heyday during the subsequent 20 years. At its height, during the post war years, it entertained over five million children and adults daily! This lushly printed and designed hardcover volume presents over 300 pages of full color illustrations covering the entire history of the medium from its inception through its glory days to its inevitable decline and current status as a classical form still employed in educational settings. Manga Kamishibai opens a window on a forgotten world.
The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death	Alison Bechdel, Jaime Hernandez, Todd Hignite	Abrams ComicArts	$35.00 ($40.00 list)
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 Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics	Walt Kelly, Bob Bolling, John Stanley, Harvey Kurtzman and more ...	Abrams ComicArts	$35.00 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly If the amazing kids' comics from the halycon days of yore are your thing, then you've hit the jackopot with this one! Well over 300 pages of classics, all scanned from the original comics themselves, and printed at approximately 120% of the originals. These scans have been digitally cleaned up a bit, so there's no newsprint background tones, just the flat white paper that they're printed on. While this might upset some purists, it was probably a good call as this book is clearly going to be marketed as a gift for children as well as for older fans, and lay people will have difficulty appreciating the nuances of newsprint; and they did a more than decent job of balancing the tones. The book is, somewhat arbitrarily, divided into five sections: Hey, Kids; Funny Animals; Fantasyland; Storytime; and Weird and Wacky. The book successfully draws across the spectrum of children's comics from the twenty years following the close of the second world war – the golden age of kids' comics that fed the baby boomers' imaginations before television took over. While certainly no one is going to agree with every choice, the editors – along with the board of advisors – picked a good crop of comics that is certain to contain favorites of every fan as well as win the hearts of every reader and, more importantly, is sure to capture the imagination of the next generation. Includes work by all-time greats Carl Barks, Basil Wolverton, Harvey Kurtzman, John Stanley, Bob Bolling, Walt Kelly, and many, many more (even Dr. Seuss, who started out in comics). Get a sneak peek, here (just click on the image of the open book at the top right, under "Sample Toon Treasury").
Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics to Comix	Denis Kitchen, James Danky	Abrams ComicArts	$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This oversize hardcover book is published, by Abrams ComicArts, in conjunction with the exhibit of the same name that originated with the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin in the spring of this year. Hail, hail, the gang's all here! Underground comix veterans Jay Lynch, Trina Robbins, and Denis Kitchen (with the able assistance of James Danky), all provide essays, as does official comix chronicler, Patrick Rosenkranz, as does leftist extraordinaire, Paul Buhle (who also co-authored the afterword to Spain's Che, listed above; hmmm... we're sensing a serious swing to the Left here). And then there's the documentation of the exhibit itself: nearly ninety full-page, full color reproductions (of works that were, please keep in mind, executed for the most part in pen & ink, in black & white) of original underground comic book (or, comix) pages. Pretty much everyone you would expect is included, as well as a few surprises you might not be familiar with. A great retrospective that is sure to be appreciated by artists, scholars, historians, and fans.
Kirby: King of Comics	Mark Evanier	Abrams ComicArts	$18.88 ($40.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Here it is, the official authorized biography of the King! Yes, of course this is a lavishly illustrated oversize hardcover edition. It's author, Mark Evanier was the man closest to Kirby during the last two decades of his life and so was in a position to learn of many personal anecdotes that no other chronicler of Kirby's life would have had access to. Evanier's acccount of Kirby's life is not pretending to be a thorough, in-depth accounting of Kirby's life and art, full of penetrating analysis – we'll have to wait a bit longer for that one – but what we are given here of the story of Jack's life is a true wonder, and the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour. And, crucially, from a production and presentation standpoint, the creators of this volume have done an excellent job. The quality of the reproductions is top notch and the've made all the right printing decisions -- flat colors on flat, bright, low-reflective, heavyweight white stock. The book is filled with page after amazing page of full size reproductions of original art, as well as luscious reproductions of the comics themselves. This book is a real pleasure to go through. When all is said and done, this must be considered a book that no self-respecting comics fan can be without. And now, at this crazy deal price, no one needs to be.

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