The Copacetic Comics Company Dark Horse

Dark Horse

Indy super star publisher and Hollywood conduit, Dark Horse gets its titles -- like Hellboy and Mask -- licensed for films and get films -- like Star Wars, Aliens & Predator -- licensed for its comics.

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Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Milk and Cheese: Dairy Product Gone Bad	Evan Dorkin	Dark Horse	Milk and Cheese	$18.88 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	O, the mayhem! the brutality! the sheer unadulterated violence! the carnage! the lunacy! the unbridled ferocity in the service of adolescent petulance! and, most of all, the gut-busting laughs that all this will mercilessly shake out of the reader! All this can now be yours in this massive, durable, oversize, 240 page hardcover volume that collects it all in one place to have and hold forever more – all for a shockingly low price (that will be sure to spike higher should this treasure go out of print; so don't delay).
Motel Art Improvement Service	Jason Little	Dark Horse		$18.88 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	Somehow, this one slipped through the Copacetic cracks on its release. Jason Little is a natural storyteller and an excellent colorist, and Motel Art Improvement Service combines his strengths in bringing you this highly entertaining and rather racy work that will take your mind off of whatever's worrying it and plunge you straight into the soft underbelly of the hospitality industry with a screwball comedy story set behind the scenes at a string of hotels. It features: one directionless, hot-to-trot bicyclist and her worldly roommate; one zany, drug fuelled artist; one drug dealing army soldier on leave; a couple of drug manufacturing college chemists (yes, it's safe to say that drugs feature prominently in this tale); and a wide assortment of hotel staff and guests as well as a lone NYC art dealer on a quest. Motel Art is produced in a nearly identical format to Little's previous book, Shutterbug Follies, and features the same leading lady, Bee, and you can read a ten-page excerpt here at beecomix.com, so it does not seem unreasonable to assert that it is the second in a series.
Citizen Rex	Gilbert Hernandez, Mario Hernandez	Dark Horse		$17.77 ($19.99 list)
Read more and comment...	The other Hernandez brother, Mario, busts out with brother Beto and pens a fantastic fifties-style sci-fi fable that focuses on a highly stratified, mediated, fabricated and policed society that put us in mind of a futuristic synthesis of Latin and Anglo America – which, come to think of it, may very well be how things play out. In other words: this work of old school comics that echoes the science fiction comic books of the 1950s that nourished the growing minds in the Hernandez household could tell The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal a thing or two about the shape of things to come. Citizen Rex is also a frantic, fast-paced and fun read packed with detail and nuance, that, while completely zany, will, nevertheless reward close reading. Hardcover!
The Finder Library, Volume 1	Carla Speed McNeil	Dark Horse		$22.75 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	OK: any reader who enjoys both world-building science fiction and comics who has yet to experience the wonder that is Carla Speed McNeil's Finder should simply stop reading this now and go out and buy this 664 page mega-collection that collects the first 22 issues of this long running series. These works were originally collected in four volumes – Sin-Eater 1 & 2, King of the Cats and Talisman – with a combined price of $69.80 and that was a great value, so, basically, this new volume is practically giving it away! Do yourself a favor and head on over to this page, where you can learn more and read a 28-page excerpt from the early pages of this book that reveals a clear Dave Sim influence. McNeil's work has constantly evolved over the years since the inception of Finder in 1996. McNeil has developed her own clear comics voice; she has absorbed a wide array of techniques and styles that will be familiar to readers of Joe Sacco, Gilbert Hernandez, and Alison Bechdel. And then there are the characters! The series is anchored by a female-friendly (he'd better be, considering he was created by a woman) bad boy. As it develops, he is brought into contact with a a wide array of fully formed characters that successfully combine realism and fantasy in delivering to the reader an intriguing host of aliens, humans, half-breeds and mutants.
Archie: Archie Firsts	Bob Montana, George Frese, Vic Bloom	Dark Horse		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Finally, Dark Horse has put out a classic comics reprint edition that gets it right with paper stock and reproduction. This attractively put together hardcover collection of Archie "firsts" – appearances and issues – is printed in bold colors on flat, non-reflective off-white stock that is a pleasure to read. Here are the first appearances of Archie, Betty, Jughead and Mr. and Mrs. Andrews from Pep Comics #22, followed by the premiere issues of Archie Comics, Archie's Girls Betty & Veronica, Archie's Pal Jughead, and Archie's Rival Reggie, along with a bonus in the form of Reggie's first appearance in Jackpot Comics #5. However, Dark Horse has apparently acceded to the Archie Comics Co. aversion to giving credit where credit is due, evidenced by the lack of any attempt to provide credit listings beyond those of the cover artists of the four number one issues; and God forbid they should actually make an attempt to provide some biographical information and background on these historically important works. Luckily for us, Montana, Frese and Bloom did not shy away from signing much of their work, and in these halcyon days, The Archie Comics Co. did not prevent them from doing so. This volume is an intro lead-in volume to a projected series of Archie Comics Archives, and we here at Copacetic sincerely hope that Mike Richardson & Co. can manage to lift the veil of ignorance that is casting a pall over everything related to the classic Archie Comics catalogue.
Cages	Dave McKean	Dark Horse		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	McKean's mammoth masterpiece is at last back in print in this massive oversize softcover edition from Dark Horse that is quite the value. If you've been long pining after this work but felt that you couldn't afford it, this may be the opportunity that you've been waiting for! And if you have never seen it before, now's your chance to check it out and learn what all the fuss is about.
Giant-Size Little Lulu, Volume One	John Stanley, Irving Tripp	Dark Horse	Little Lulu	$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This hefty 650+ page book brings back into print the first three volumes of Dark Horse's collected Little Lulu in one big book. Here we have the entirety of the Dell Four Color, Little Lulu one-shots along with the first five issues of the stand alone title. If you (or anyone you know) missed out the first time around, now's your chance to get started with one of the most lauded kids comic book series around.
John Carter of Mars: The Jesse Marsh Years	Jesse Marsh	Dark Horse		$26.95 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	One of the great masters of comic book art, Jesse Marsh is best remembered as the long-running artist on Dell's Tarzan comics (Marsh drew the first 153 issues, one of the longest unbroken runs in the history of comics). Here at Copacetic, while we do, of course, have a great and abiding respect for Marsh's work on Tarzan, it is his modest three-issue run on that other Edgar Rice Burroughs creation, John Carter of Mars, that has long been our favorite of his works. Marsh really shines here, with page after stunning page of fabulous work. He manages to combine a 'fifties SF sensibility with pop abstractions derived from modern art and his own classic comics language that he developed on Tarzan for a career high work that is magnetically attractive; you can get lost in the pages. This full color hardcover from Dark Horse contains good quality scans of every page of the original comic books, along with the front and back covers – and, thankfully, inside front and back covers as well. Our only criticism is Dark Horse's continual reliance on glossy coated stock. C'mon guys, wake up! These works were originally printed on newsprint. When you're printing scans of original comic book work, it needs to be printed on flat, uncoated, off-white stock. Dark Horse is clearly doing the work a disservice by printing the interior pages on glossy white stock. But this is a mere quibble next to the easy availability of this classic that this edition has now made possible. Enjoyment of this classic is now only a couple clicks away! Marsh's work was a fixture in the household of los hermanos Hernandez when they were growing up, and its influence is quite visible, in their work, especially that of Gilbert, whose line owes quite a bit to Marsh's (Gilbert's long focus landscapes and skyscapes are also very much indebted to Marsh's example), so it is quite fitting that the forward to this volume is by Mario Hernandez, the eldest, who would have likely been the one to have first brought these comics home and introduced them to his bros; and its inclusion more than makes up for the aesthetic damage of glossy stock. Here's hoping that this book is the success that it deserves to be, that it sells out and requires a second printing, and that the powers that be at Dark Horse wise up and select a more suitable paper stock for the second printing. This work is good enough that it would be worth buying again if they do!
The Book of Grickle	Graham Annable	Dark Horse		$16.25 ($17.99 list)
Read more and comment...	200 pages of oddball cartoons by noted animator Annable. While Graham pays the bills doing animation work for the likes of Chuck Jones, LucasArts, TellTale Games and Laika Animation, he has spent much of his free time over the last decade and a half creating his unique, gag-filled, cartoony comics. Now's your chance to see what he's been up to. Read a brand new (30 March 2010) four-part interview with Graham Annable on The Daily Cross Hatch, here (we've linked you to Part Four because it's the easiest way to access the first three parts, all of which are linked to near the top of the page after a brief introductory paragraph).
Beanworld 3: Remember Here When You Are There	Larry Marder	Dark Horse	Beanworld	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	introduction by Jeff Smith <<•>> The first NEW Beanworld book in... well, we're not sure how long, but we know the number of years is in the double digits, so all you long-time Beanworlders have a real reson to celebrate, and all you Johnny-come-latelies, well, you know, you have a reason to celebrate too, even if you don't know it. Beanworld was one of the few true originals of the "Black and White Explosion" titles that flooded the market during the mid- to late-80s. When the flood ebbed, it took most of the forgettable titles with it, but Beanworld had established a firm beachhead on the comics terrain, with a strong core group of supporters that have kept it alive – if out of print – for the intervening years until its 2009 return, courtesy of Dark Horse Books, which began with the collecting of all extant work in two hardcover books, and has now culminated in this third, all-new volume, the first made-to-order Beanworld graphic novel. Get beany at Larry Marder's Beanworld Bog.
Crossing the Empty Quarter	Carol Swain	Dark Horse		$22.22 ($24.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Carol Swain has quietly been amassing a substantial and significant body of work in her native England for approximately a quarter century, building a small but significant following among the comics cognoscenti here in the States, who have been admiring and enjoying her work in dribs and drabs as it has made its way over here in numerous anthologies, one previous collection – Way Out Strips – and two graphic novels – the just released Giraffes in My Hair, done in collaboration with Bruce Paley, and Foodboy – most published by Fantagraphics Books. Now Dark Horse Books has stepped up to publish a quite substantial collection of her short stories, 38 in all – 29 in black & white and 9 in colour – most of which are executed in her texture-accenting colored pencil technique which has won her many a convert, and many of which have not been previously available in the USA. This 200 page hardcover is a rare treat that is filled with unique, heartfelt work that hits home. Get a feel for it with this 20-page online "flip-book." You'll be glad you did.
The Art of Tony Millionaire	Tony Millionaire	Dark Horse		$34.95 ($39.95 list)
Read more and comment...	It's here, Tony Millionaire's coffee-table moment – but, professional drinker and rabble rouser that Mr. Millionaire is, it might be a tad risky to put the fine china next to this volume, as the spirit inhabiting it is liable to bubble forth and wreak havoc. It is a volume that is likely to feel more at home next to a bottle of spirits, whether it's at the corner tavern or the basement bar. Included along with page after page of Mr. Millionaire's classic-illustration-era, fine pen and ink stylings are many heretofore unknown and unseen bits and pieces of his life and times and antics: newspaper clippings, embarrasing photos, confessions of vicious boozing and more! Long time fans will find much to induldge in.
The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack	Nicholas Gurewitch	Dark Horse		$22.22 ($24.99 list)
Read more and comment...	This is a giant, 256 page, oversize, horizontally formatted hardcover volume collecting the bulk of the extant PBF strips as well as several appendices wherein are found "lost" unpublished comics accompanied by brief explanations as to the basis of their exclusion; sketches and thumbnails; and a fairly lengthy interview, which , taken together, go a fair ways into demonstrating Gurewitch's creative process.
Little Lulu: Lulu Goes Shopping #1	Irving Tripp, John Stanley	Dark Horse	Little Lulu	$9.95 ($9.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	All we have to say is, "It's about time!" Well, that's not all, really. First off we'd like to thank the folks at Dark Horse Comics for dedicating their resources to this important project. John Stanley's Little Lulu is one of the great runs in the history of comics: 145 consecutive issues of simple yet elegant, straightforward yet disarming stories about Lulu and Tubby, their pals and their parents. Like Carl Barks, his contemporary at Dell Comics (Lulu's original publisher) John Stanley -- with the indispensable assistance of inker/finisher Irving Tripp -- had that rare ability to produce work capable of simultaneously engrossing the sensibility of a child and charming that of an adult. In this inaugural volume we are presented with the entire contests of issues #6 - 12 of Marge's Little Lulu (the full title, as the character of Little Lulu was created by Marjorie "Marge" Henderson Buell in 1935 for The Saturday Evening Post; despite the fact that she had nothing to do with the comic book series, it nevertheless kept her name), originally published by Dell in 1949. The covers are absent, however. Presumably this is a rights issue of some sort, but Dark Horse was mute on this topic, being regrettably brief in their introduction to this series, with no explanation as to this lack, nor for their reasons for initiating the series with the sixth issue. Not only are the first five issues of the numerical series skipped over, but the ten four color one-shots that preceded them. Will these be issued at a later date? Let's hope they let us know. But this is a minor quibble. Dark Horse did a fine job: the reproduction is uniformly excellent and it is printed on a decent quality, flat, bright white, 6" x 9" stock; 218 pages in all. John Stanley's Little Lulu, while long enjoying the ardent support of a core group of readers, is still under appreciated given the quality of his work. If you are unfamiliar with his work, do yourself a favor and check this book out. It may not be your cup of tea, but if it is, you'll have a lot to look forward to. In addition, this volume offers an ideal way to introduce a young reader -- or a reader of any age, for that matter -- to the joys of comics.
Beanworld: Wahoolazuma!	Larry Marder	Dark Horse	Beanworld	$17.77 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Good grief! Can it really be true that Beanworld is now 25 years old? Say it isn't so! Here in Larry Marder's lively hands, the art and craft of comics is reduced to its bare essentials: signs and symbols. Visually simple but deceptively deep, this is a work that works simultaneously on multiple levels and that has, as the back cover blurb succinctly states, "captivated readers from grade school to grad school."
Eisner/Miller	Will Eisner, Frank Miller	Dark Horse		$17.95 ($19.95 list)
Read more and comment...	Anyone familiar with the history of film criticism knows of its most famous interview: Hitchcock/Truffaut, in which the younger acolyte turned successful auteur in his own right -- Francois Truffaut -- interviewed the grand master of cinema -- Alfred Hitchcock. The interview was released in a large illustrated volume which has been continuously in print for over thirty years. Well, now the world of comics has an almost, but not quite identical -- as it is closer to a dual interview of the pair by Charles Brownstein -- equivalent in this volume. Eisner/Miller presents the younger acolyte turned successful auteur in his own right -- Frank Miller (although, in relative terms, Miller has been far more succcessful and influential than Truffaut) -- interviewing the grand master of Comics -- Will Eisner. And this interview has now been released by Dark Horse in a thick illustrated volume. Only time will tell how long it remains in print, but we do know one thing for certain: it's an instant classic!
The Night of Your Life	Jesse Reklaw	Dark Horse		$14.44 ($15.95 list)
Read more and comment...	In addition to having one of our favorite names, Jesse Reklaw is a talented cartoonist (he won this year's Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini-Comic). He has been producing his Slow Wave comic strip for alternative newsweeklies for over ten years now and The Night of Your Life, a bargain-priced 244 page hardcover, is the second Slow Wave collection (We still have a few copies of the first, now out of print, 2000 collection, Dreamtoons, around here somewhere, if anyone is interested). The premise behind Slow Wave is simple and elegant: Reklaw solicits dreams from his readers, he picks one a week and converts that dream into a comic strip that is composed of four panels of equal size, two over two; each and every week. Here are the best of the last eight years. Learn more at www.slowwave.com.
Michael Chabon presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 1	Howard Chaykin, Michael Chabon, Glen David Gould, Bill Sienkiewicz and more ...	Dark Horse		$9.95 ($17.95 list)
Read more and comment...	This collects the entirety of the first two issues of the comic book of the same name. The page size of this volume is a bit smaller than the comic books. However, this edition sports new front and back covers by Mr. Chris Ware, more than making up for it. 160 pages; full color throughout.
Mother, Come Home	Paul Hornschemeier	Dark Horse		$13.75 ($14.95 list) OUT OF STOCK!
Read more and comment...	Collecting Forlorn Funnies #2 - 4, Mother, Come Home is a great contemporary graphic novella about sadness and loss. Will Eisner has this to say: "Brilliant! Graphic literature at its best. This book leaves the comics ghetto far behind." Need more convincing? Here's this from Craig Thompson: "While formalistically inventive, this book is heart-wrenching. No panel is wasted. No gesture is inconsequential. Every color, prop, and rhythmic panel enrich its lucid landscape." So there! We would say that Hornschemeier has incorporated some of the more pertinent formal lessons of Chris Ware into a tale that covers somewhat similar territory as that of Jimmy Corrigan, but while Ware employs his technical mastery as an emotional distancing device, Hornschemeier actually confronts some of the emotions that accompany personal loss, which makes it closer to Craig Thompson's Blankets, in that regard. While Mother, Come Home does not pack the punch of either of these heavyweights, it nevertheless is definitely worth a look.
Rocco Vargas	Daniel Torres	Dark Horse		$27.77 ($29.95 list)
Read more and comment...	oversize hardcover Well, this one's been available for awhile -- in fact, in came out before Copacetic came into being, and, well, we missed it, and, so, we'd like to take a moment to rectify this situation. Rocco Vargas by Daniel Torres is a genuine comics classic. This beautifully printed 238 page volume collects the entirety of the original run of this fabulous Spanish SF saga. Originally executed during the 1980s, and appearing in Heavy Metal as well as in individual editions from now defunct Catalan Commmunications, these stories are an original hybrid of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Will Eisner's Spirit, and really evoke that mysterious something that we feebly attempt to cover with the label "spirit of adventure." It goes without saying (but we'll say it anyway) that these are thoroughly masculine fantasies that go right for that boyish zone in the adult male. In addition, it bears noting that there are some instances of those crypto-racialisms that are part of the baggage of classic pulp fiction. The most prominent of these is Samson, the Martian, who has a relationship with Vargas that is almost identical to that of Ebony to the Spirit. Add to the mix a few Asiatic Venusian vamps and villians and you get the idea. Now, Samson, like Ebony, is a thoroughly lovable character, but, like Ebony, he's a problematic one. So, take these stories with a grain of salt, just to be safe. In Rocco Vargas, Daniel Torres dishes up a delightful platter of fantasy that will thoroughly sate anyone's appetite for armchair adventure.

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