Writtenand drawn – and designed – by the Italian artist, Igort (translated into English by Jamie RIchards) and printed in Italy, Japanese Notebooks is a sumptuous visual feast. It is also, of course, much more. It is: an investigation of the personal forces that drive artists to create in general andto pursuethe particular paths they do; an exploration ofhow their imaginationscome to be possessed byspecific images; a memoir of one particular artist's journey; and much else. Igort is one of the most accomplished comics makers currently working, and Japanese Notebooks is likelyhis most personal work yet, one that is apt to hold aparticular...

Leviathan arrives in the USA at last, in the form of The Book of Leviathan, published by Overlook Press. Everyone who is serious about exploring the more far-flung and adventurous realms of comics, enjoys graphic intellectual stimulation, or appreciates a healthy sense of the absurd has an excellent chance of finding what they are looking for in The Book of Leviathan. This is a truly one-of-a-kind item. The Book of the Leviathan employs a wry wit with dextrous aplomb at every turn. Right from the initial impression -- the overall book design, with its ruby edged pages, making it resemble a accountant's ledger -- the reader is put in the...

Ron Regé, Jr. strikes again! What Parsifal Saw collects Regé's work since The Cartoon Utopia. The two key pieceshere are "Cosmogenesis," illustrating the "secret doctrine" of Madame Helena Blavatsky, the key figure in the history of Theosophy (which had a significantinfluence on the first generation of modernist artists, notablyPiet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky), and"Diana," Regé's unique spin on W*nder W*man; both originally appeared in (now out-of-print)self-publishedmicro-editions. Also included are: "Pythagoras," which first appeared in The Pitchfork Review (andlater in Best American Comics 2015!);Regé's brilliant use of Alex...

Hypericum is the latest graphic novel from the amazing Manuele Fior. This 144-page, oversize (9" x 12"), full color hardcover is a wonder to behold. Two tales run on parallel tracks, grounded in 1990s Berlin where Italian insomniac, Teresa Guerrero finds herself after being selected as a "scientific assistant to prepare an upcoming exhibit on Tutankhamen's Treasure" being held there. The story connects to – and is bracketed by – the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's ("King Tut") tomb by the British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard Carter – one of the most momentous and substantial archeological finds of modern times – via the device of...

It's hard to know where to begin with a work as remarkable as this. Originally published in six chapters in Love and Rockets: New Stories 3 & 4 in 2010 and 2011, it includes a flashback chapter titled "Browntown" that, in comic book parlance, could be said to be the – or, at least, a – "Secret Origin of Maggie", as readers are finally made privy to heretofore undisclosed primal scenes at the root of significant swaths of Maggie's personality and character. While it may be a commonplace to state that character is forged in the crucible of family, it is rare indeed to be given the opportunity of witnessing an incidence of this that has...

Accruing accolades and awards by the bushelful, McBride's novel employs a staccato, jump-cut prose style reminiscent of Samuel Beckett, and puts it to new and original uses in this harrowing coming of age tale

Here's Anne Enright's review in the UK Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/20/girl-half-formed-thing-review

Here's James Woods in The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/useless-prayers

Whether the point of this novel is to show us the adult that lies latent in the child or to reveal to us the child that the adult never manages to quite fully outgrow is a question that is difficult if not fruitless to answer. What is certain, however, is that the novel Edwin Mullhouse is brilliantly conceived. It is also shockingly well written, replete with uncannily accurate descriptions of childhood perceptions that can at times be overwhelmingly sympathetic. It is at turns funny, sad, insightful, and even profound; but above all else, it is deeply creepy: It reveals -- almost imperceptibly at first, but then slowly, incrementally, the...

THE FIVE-VinylLP
Produced by LouGiordanoatWhiteDog

REIDPALEY-Vocals

TOMMORAN-Guitar

DAVEDOREMUS-Bass

BRIANGILLESPIE-Drums

Believe it or not, westillhave some factorysealed copies of the original 1989 vinyl LP release ofTHE FIVE,
straight out of the original pressing plant boxes,in gleaming black vinyl, and arecurrently offeringthemfor the amazingly
copaceticpriceof $16.75

SIDE ONE

TheLongHaul
NoRegrets
AllTheWay
Invocation
AllRight
PrayForMe

SIDE TWO

SacredHeart
TheOnlyHonorableThing
SameToMe
CutMeLoose
TheFatLadySings
WhenYrDone

"Clearly the most pivotal and important of all Pittsburgh bands.THE FIVE, (who...

At long last, a book edition – and a swell hardcover, no less – collecting Ethan Rilly's excellent Pope Hats series (issues 2, 3 & 5). Only, it turns out, Ethan Rilly is really... Hartley Lin*! So, now we have Young Frances by Hartley Lin. A finely crafted tale of young urbanites navigating the worlds of work and life as they come of age in 21st centuryNorth America. Recommended.

Don't want to take our word for it? Then how about these wordsfromsomeone whose opinion is worth paying attention to:

"Young Frances is a meditation on work and meaning. Its depiction of corporate culture and the finesse required to exist within it feels...

Huzzah! Here it is: the third – and final (>sob<) – year of Herriman's inventive, insightful and very funny strip– which wrapped up pretty much exactly a century ago–that he drew concurrently with Krazy Kat!Starting off with another fine introduction by Jared Gardner, this volume takes us all the way to the end of the strip's run, which actually results in us getting a bit more that a year's worth this time around, as it ran through to January 18, 1919. Baron Bean is, for our money, Herriman's finest work outside of Krazy Kat, and IDW's Library of American Comics has done an outstanding job of presenting crisp, full size...