Mister Baker, perhaps the funniest cartoonist alive, steps out of his clown shoes and puts on his severest suit and tie to deliver this sermon of repression and defiance, violence and vengeance, and struggle and sacrifice, in this synecdochical story of slavery in these United States. Reading this book, in which the narrative is advanced almost entirely in images (pantomime style) interspersed with excerpts from The Confessions of Nat Turner, it is impossible not to marvel at the strength of Baker's storytelling. And, there is a method to the madness of attempting to relate so complex a tale entirely in images. It captures the forced...

Tillie Walden's long in the works and hotly anticipated coming of age story has arrived. In the pages of Spinning, Tillie Walden provides a first person window into the world of competitive figure skating. One of the western world's many subcultures,figure skating is like the proverbial iceberg which is carried alongbythe ocean of the dominant culture:all that most of ussee is the tippy top that appears on television during national and international competitions, while9/10 is submerged and hidden from site to all but those directly involved – until now. It is a world populated largely by girls.Manyof whom, as revealed here, enterit at the...

FROM THE ARCHIVES

A run of nine consecutive volumes of Ranma 1/2 by one and only Rumiko Takahashi. Ranma 1/2 is a true classic manga series, whose influence on subsequent shoojo manga is hard to overstate. It also offers a wealth of humorous observations on gender norms and gender construction, to boot!

We came across this run in the archives; all new and unread. If there's anyone who picked up the first volume and is ready to read more, this is a perfect opportunity to do so!

GIlbert Hernandez enthusiasts, aficionados, completists and collectors have reason to celebrate the release of Comics Dementia. Here, collected in a single volume, we have over 200 pages of GIlbert's wildest and wooliest comics, drawn together from hither and yon in the comics firmament. Not for the faint of heart or weak of mind, the work here is where Gilbert cuts loose and lets you have it, right in the eyes! So, hold onto your hats! 64 stories in all!

It's time to let the good times roll - with MORTON! Let's all join David Collier on a cross country (in this case, Canada) rail journey and experience old school reality before it slips into the history books. We will be conveyed along our journey by train, the most civilized form of travel. We will experience the journey via comics, the most suitable form through which to communicate such an undertaking. And our pen & ink guide will be David Collier, who intuits the precise perspective.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | ONE solid second hand copy

When it comes to artfully integrating book design into the form of a graphic novel in such a way as to enhance the expression of its content, Mr. Hornschemeier has few peers. To our mind, only Clowes, Ware and Seth have been as successful in this department*, and it bears remarking that there seems to be a bit of trend in effect among these design-oriented comics craftsmen as the latest work by each of these three creators shares with Hornschemier's a strong biographical focus on the protagonist. Wilson, Lint and George Sprott each present their eponymous protagonist's life story**, and Life...

It's here. The originalLocas saga featuringMaggie & Hopeyfrom the original run of Love and Rockets. It's creation beganin 1981 and it ran through 1996. 712 pages. All Jaime Hernandez. What more needs to be said?

All printed in the same magazine-size, on the same flat white stock, as the original issues. All together in a massive* hardcover with sewn binding.

A look at the book and a few samples of the greatness that reside within: HERE.

* Almost seven pounds; thus the high shipping cost (sorry).

And what better to follow the latest Kevin H. with than the latest by his longtime associate and fellow St. Louisan, Dan. Z., whose long promised graphic novel debut has at last arrived! Birdseye Bristoe is 72 full color pages of pure Zettwoch: set in a fictional (but perhaps even more authentic for being so) midwestern locale somewhere between St. Louis and Louisville, and filled with cut-away drawings, explanatory diagrams, maps and, of course, page after page of fun-filled comics filled with down home midwestern characters of all ages and stripes, it tells a story of industrial development and technological change that for all it's...