Yes! Here's an archival manga collection done right. Publisher, PictureBox and Series Editor, Ryan Holmberg have teamed up to produce a exemplary edition thatsets a new standard which we can only hopeothers will heed. Art and editorial direction mesh perfectly as paper stock, reproduction, layout, introduction, editorial essays and overall book design all come together to deliver an æsthetically sumptuous, editorially excellent and academically rigorous 176 page hardcover volume focusing on the life and work of manga auteur, Seiichi Hayashi. PictureBox states, "Seiichi Hayashi (b. 1945) was a leading figure in Tokyo's hotbed of avant-garde...

In the Swarm presents a cogent response to the rising tide of internet inf(l)ected consciousness that is deeply rooted in the European – primarily German – philosophical tradition, but don't let that scare you off. This slim tome, judiciously translated from the original German by Erik Butler, is straightforward and gets right to the point in sixteen concise chapters, each focused on a facet of the problem currently confronting us: thegradual yet seemingly ineluctable erosion of human agency resulting from our ever greater immersion in the sea of information. Written in 2013, this book was clearly ahead of the curve and will impress any...

Courtesy of Uncivilized Books, we finally have a Sam Alden collection, an actual book, with a spine!It Never Happened Againcollects two works: the 64 page "Hawaii 1997" and the 90 page "Anime." "Hawaii 1997" is the work through which many readers first encountered Alden. When it wasfirst posted on Tumblr, it blazed through the eyeballs of many an internet surfer. The pencils here are strong, bold and decisive, executed with quick, deft strokes which crackle with emotional energy. The figures and landscapes in "Hawaii 1997" feel like they are flowing non-stop out the tip of Alden's pencil and onto the paper in an automatic recollection...

And while we're talking about learning more about the world around us, here's a book of historical reportage in comics that helps us come to understand how things got to be the way they are. The ever-fascinating David B. takes his readers on an unexpected voyage through the waters of history in this informative, educational and timely volume co-piloted by Jean-Pierre Filiu. As readers of B.'s breakthrough masterpiece, Epileptic already know, he is quite adept at depicting scenes of warfare, and, what's more, in doing so in a way that reveals otherwise hidden forces at work below the surface of the battlefield. David B. masterfully employs...

2011 marked the culmination of a decades-spanning career arc as Frank Santoro found his art at the center of the 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial at The Carnegie Museum of Art, where he attended studio art classes as a youth. We are excited to at last be able to offer for sale copies of his 16-page tabloid newspaper comics work that was the highlight of that exhibit. In a signature Santoro move, Blast Furnace Funnies is a work of "High" (i.e., museum quality) art executed in the lowest of the "Low" art forms (a disposable newspaper); employing ephemerality to evoke eternity, he has here worked (in a form that often ends up) in the gutter to reach...

Yes, this 384 page softcover collecting the entire initial run of MisterXcontains some excellent graphics by Paul Rivoche (who also contributed a niceshort piece)and Dean Motter, two short pieces byDave McKean and one by Bill Sienkiewicz, as well as the first notable body of work by Seth, but this archival collection willprimarily be of interest to Copacetic customers for the simple reason thatthe first four issues of the series are byGilbert,Jaime (and Mario) Hernandez! These four issues are absolute gems that were originally created in 1984, when the Hernandez brothers were in their first flush of fame and critical acclaim and still...

What can you say about a book that opens with a Galactus quote from Fantastic Four #49, drops more comics references -- particularly to the classics of the 1980s -- than any novel we've ever read, clearly shows the influence of Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar and, especially, Luba stories, AND won the Pulitzer Prize for best novel of 2007? We'd say, "This is a must read! Particularly suitable for fans of Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude and Michael Chabon's (also Pulitzer Prize winning) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay." And then we'd add: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a gigantic meditation on the inner life of the...