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McSweeney's




Title Creator Publisher Series Price
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary Justin Green McSweeney's $26.00
($29.00 list)
Binkyb
Read more and comment... 		introduction by Art Spiegelman  <<•>>  We were a tad skeptical when we first got wind of this re-issue of one of the undisputed classics of the underground era of comics that it would justify its hefty price tag:  but all of our doubts vanished as soon as this splediferous volume emerged from the box it arrived in.  This is a fabulous, gilded and embossed hardcover edition that is a whopping 10" x 14" and reproduces the entire original classic comic book directly from the black & white, pen & ink original, using full color reproduction.  What this means is that you can really see the original art in all its imperfect glory:  white-out, blue pencil, inadvertent stains – all are clearly on display, rendering the creative process visible, and allowing the reader to really see the art that brought this major comics milestone into being.  As for describing the work itself, we'll hand that job off to these highly esteemed commentators:  "Justin Green – he's out of his mind.  I love every stroke of his nervous pen, every tortured scratch he ever scrawled.  He was among the top storytelling artists of the first wave of 'underground' comics, a darkly humorous social commentator, and the FIRST, absolutely the FIRST EVER cartoonist to draw highly personal autobiographical comics.  Binky Brown started many other cartoonists along the same path, myself included."  – R. Crumb  <•> "With Binky Brown, comics went  practically overnight from being an art form that saw from the outside in to one that sees from the inside out.  (Justin Green's) internal struggle can practically be felt in the drawings themselves, the style sometimes changing from panel to panel – sometimes even within the panels themselves – all in a effort to simply arrive at The Truth.  Comics wouldn't be what they are today without this book, and this new edition places it in its proper place in the comics literary canon.  Thank God for Binky Brown.  And thank God for Justin Green."  – Chris Ware  <•>  "I like it very much but I don't get the slang." – Federico Fellini  <•> Is there really anything more left to be said?  If those endorsements don't sell you, nothing will!
Be a Nose! Three Sketchbooks Art Spiegelman McSweeney's $25.00
($29.00 list)
Beanose
Read more and comment... 		In inimitable McSweeney's fashion, this publication recreates three of Art Spiegelman's actual sketchbooks, accompanies them with a small stand alone guide that would make you think of an oversized CD booklet even if it wasn't titled "Liner Notes," and then secures them with an old fashioned book strap to create this one of a kind item that is sure to appeal to design fans . The first and smallest of the sketchbooks dates from 1979 and shows art just getting under way; the second and by far the most vital, engaging and intriguing, dates from 1983, at what may be the apogee of his creativity, during the Raw/Maus era, and shows him clearly (at least at times) under the spell of Gary Panter; the third, is amazingly recent, dating from 2007, is surprisingly deft, showing Spiegelman in more of a Crumb mood and thinking visually again.  It is doubtless this return to sketchbook-making that has led to this publication as Spiegelman was famously adverse to the idea in the past.  Any and all intrigued with the revolution in comics brought about by Raw would benefit by a trip through these, as would artists interested in learning Spiegleman's methodology, influences and development. 
The Believer #17 Michael Kupperman McSweeney's The Believer $7.20
($8.00 list)

Read more and comment... 		We haven't mentioned The Believer in awhile, and we thought we'd just remind you that it's still managing to successfully maintain a monthly schedule while continuing to present some of the most interesting and engaging writing and interviews (and now, comics, too: The Scaredy Kids by Michael Kupperman: a full-color, one-page continuity-strip that runs every issue) anywhere.  This issue features some fascinating and timely looks at monomania and leadership.
Believer #18 McSweeney's $7.20
($8.00 list)

Read more and comment... 		The John Kerry interview, wherein he let's it all hang out -- at least by the standards of this so far unbelievably over-orchestrated campaign.  Worth the price of admission.
The Believer #30 McSweeney's
($10.00 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
Believer0512
Read more and comment... 		It's here.  Here's what they have to say about it:  "Even beyond Edmund White's youthful hustler, Joyce Carol Oates's fatherly killer, and Roddy Doyle's Rwandan refugee, Issue 18 will not stay at home. Bears, clouds, assassinations, and demons lurk in a high-concept labyrinth of stories."  In addition, this issue comes complete with a deluxe slip-cased edition of the first issue of Wholphin, the new DVD quarterly, about which you can learn more at http://www.wholphindvd.com/.  (Please note that this is the same issue of Wholphin -- albeit with deluxe packaging --  that comes with Believer #30 -- see below.)
The Believer #June/July 2005 McSweeney's The Believer $7.20
($8.00 list)

Read more and comment... 		This issue contains one of the best CDs of the year... at no extra cost!  The entire CD is composed of indy performers covering songs that are currently in heavy rotation on their own home stereos.  The results include:  The Mountain Goats covering The Silver Jews, The Constantines covering Elevator to Hell, Spoon doing Yo La Tengo, Devendra Banhart on Antony & the Johnsons, and fifteen others, of which Sans Serac's cover of Ida's Late Blues is our personal favorite.  In addition there's a full issue's worth of writing on music including an eye-opening piece on the Danielson Famile by Rick Moody, and interviews with musicians including Beck, Aimee Mann, and Smoosh.
McSweeney's #13 Mark Beyer, Ivan Brunetti, Kaz, Art Spiegelman and more ... McSweeney's McSweeney's $20.00
($24.00 list)
Mcsweeneys13
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.