Croatian comics superstar, Igor Hofbauer at last makes it to North America, courtesy of Canadian comics publisher, Conundrum.  Soviet-era-inflected design and motifs seamlessly integrate with dreamlike, dystopian narratives. Printed in black & white, with grey – along with the occasional red – tones.  There's a lot to chew on here.  CHarles BUrns fans might like what they find.  Check it out.

Editor Alexi Zeren states “Freak Buck is a prison for the monsters we build everyday, and the book covers are the cell walls.” This 256 page, (mostly) full color and black & white , 6 1/2" x 9 1/2" hard cover volume is crammed with comics of all sorts fro North and South America and Europe.  Starting with a wraparound cover by Alexis Rose (who also contributes a ten-pager), then front and back endpapers by Igor Hofbauer, (who also contributes several comics pieces), title page by Victor Cayro, and an intro page by Josh Bayer, the book then proceeds to present the work of several dozen creators, first and foremost, Marti (RIP)!  English language readers who have been hankering for more ever since reading Cabbie, can finally get a chance to read some new work – and its great! Then we have up and coming indy creators like Jasper Jubenvill and Corinne Halbert, along with plenty of creators whose work was previously unfmiliar to us here at Copacetic.  Several of these works, it should be stated, are closer to illustration and/or conceptual art than comics, and some are a mix; and, of course, some are staight up comics..  This collection is all over the place!  There is also a fairly lengthy, illustrated interview with Longmont Potion Castle.  And, yes, there is some graphic sexual imagery (not all that much, but enough to warrant mentioning), and some in-your-face imagery, along with plenty of farout, freaky and hallucinatory imagery.

Recommended for Comics Explorers.