New for June 2005

The Street Angel TPB Collection
by Jim Rugg
OK:  for those of you who have been putting off checking out Street Angel, one of the most original comic book series of the past few years, featuring breathtaking graphics and a trend-setting new character, and that was a surprise hit when it debuted in 2004 -- there's no reason to wait any longer.  And for those of you who are already fans, you'll be happy to learn that when it comes to Street Angel, this new TPB has everything and more: Street Angel issues 1 - 5; all Free Comic Book Day stories; an all-new 12-page Street Angel adventure; pinups from: Jeffrey Brown, Farel Dalrymple, Jesse Farrell, Richard Hahn, Dean Haspiel, Mike Hawthorne, Paul Hornshemeier, Dave Kiersh, Pat Lewis, Jasen Lex, Andy Macdonald, Jim Mahfood, Ted May, Scott Mills, Scott Morse, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Lark Pien, Ed Piskor, Brian Ralph, Zack Soto, Lauren Weinstein, and Dan Zettwoch; a spiffy Sketchbook section; and an introduction by Evan Dorkin.  And remember:  this is a made-in-Pittsburgh production by a Copacetic customer, so don't delay -- get this Street Angel TPB today!
retail price - $14.95  copacetic price - $12.75



Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Volume 2)
by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Finally, this much awaited follow-up to Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (which is still available, by the way) is on the Copacetic shelves.  O'Malley is a natural when it comes to creating comics -- the panels, pages and characterization just flow in a style that lies at a comfortable half-way point between high-energy manga simplicity and American-indy chiaroscuro.  Weighing in at 200 pages of fun it's sure to be worth the wait!
retail price - $11.95  copacetic price - $10.75




Fantastic Four Omnibus
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
This gigantic, toe-crushing hardcover volume collects the entirety of the first thirty issues -- along with  the first annual -- of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine."  Not only does this book provide you with all the material contained in the first three Fantastic Four Archive volumes for $50 less, it includes material NOT found in the archive editions such as the letters pages.  AND The contents of FF #1, including the cover and all interior pages, have been newly restored for this volume.  It runs 848 pages in total.  Yes, the release of this volume is timed to shamelessly exploit the hype surrounding the release of the new Fantastic Four movie which will doubtless betray the greatness contained in these classic issues, but... who cares!  This is a great opportunity to get these issues at a (copacetic) price that is less than the cost of buying 31 new FF comics at today's prices (31 x $2.99 = $92.69)!  Think about it.
retail price - $99.95  copacetic price - $84.95


The Essential Fantastic Four Volume 4
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
This one collects  FF #64 - 83 plus Annuals #5 & #6 -- the two greatest annuals in the history of the Fantastic Four (at least in our humble opinion).
Over five-hundred black & white pages of Lee/Kirby greatness.   The Silver Surfer, The Inhumans, Doctor Doom, Psycho-Man, Annihulus, Black Panther, Wyatt Wingfoot, the first appearances of Adam Warlock (here known only as "him"), and many, many more timeless characters march across these pages delineated as only Jack "King" Kirby ever could.
retail price - $16.99  copacetic price - $15.29



Captain America's Bicentennial Battles
by Jack Kirby
Well, while we're on the subject of Jack Kirby classics we feel that we have no choice but to draw your attention to one of the most underrated of Kirby's works.  Originally released as a Marvel Treasury Edition in 1976, this work has been hard to get a hold of for the last twenty years.  It's a one-of-a-kind tale that has Budda™ taking Cap on a spin through America's past, present and future and shows Jack playing to his strengths as he works his way through the genres of mythological, western, war, super-hero, and science fiction comics -- all in one epic tale!  And not only that, but the twelve-page first chapter is inked by Barry Smith at the height of his powers (the only time Smith -- a life-long Kirby admirer -- ever inked Kirby).  This volume also collects Captain America #201 - 205 and so continues collecting the Kirby Cap run that was initiated last summer with the "Mad Bomb" TPB which collected #193 - 200, and which we still have in stock.
retail price - $19.99  copacetic price - $16.99




Little Lulu Volume Four: Sunday Afternoons
by John Stanley
Another 200 page volume of classic John Stanley Little Lulu is now here.  THE perfect lazy summer read.
retail price - $9.95  copacetic price - $8.95




Walt and Skeezix
The Complete Daily Comic Strips, Volume One: 1921 - 1922
by Frank King
Well, first there was the Complete Peanuts, and now there's the Complete Gasoline Alley.  This volume collects only the dailes, due to the fact that the Sundays were gigantic and designed as an organic whole and so not suitable to be broken down and squeezed into this book's format (Many fine examples of the early Gasoline Alley Sunday pages are available in Drawn & Quarterly Volume Three and Volume Four, and one Sunday is reproduced here, just to give you a taste.)  That said, this book, lovingly designed by Chris Ware -- think McSweeney's #13, only not quite as elaborate -- is, from a production standpoint, a true work of art.  The book begins on January 1, 1921, several years into the the strip's continuity, but just before baby Skeezix is discovered on Walt's doorstep and so a perfect place to start the generational saga that Gasoline Alley was to become.  The introductory notes and appendix are expansive, illustrated and accompanied by many, many rare photographs heretofore unseen by just about anyone outside the King clan.   This volume  -- like those in the Complete Peanuts -- contains two complete years, 1921 & 1922 in this case, but with the difference that there are only two strips per page, instead of three, accurately reflecting the significantly larger size that comic strips were printed at during the time these strips originally appeared, compared to the Peanuts strips that began almost exactly thirty years later.   While it's pretty safe to say that Gasoline Alley fans will be in seventh heaven while working their way through this volume, we believe that anyone interested in the early days of American comics strips should at least pick this book up and take a look at it.
retail price - $29.95  copacetic price - $25.47


Paul Moves Out
by Michel Rabagliati
A cause for celebration for all Paul fans everywhere, Paul Moves Out looks like a strong contender for the best volume in the series so far.  It's a snazzy 104-page 81/2" x 11" hardcover,  printed on nice, flat, light cream stock.  The story deals with that most important of developmental stages, moving out! 
retail price - $19.95  copacetic price - $16.95


War's End: Profiles from Bosnia 1995-96
by Joe Sacco
This hardcover follow up volume to 2003's The Fixer is in the same format and collects two long out of print Sacco gems from his years reporting in Bosnia.  The first, Soba, is our personal all-time favorite Sacco piece, an endearing portrait of a Bosnian everyman caught in the thick of it.  The second, Christmas with Karadzic, is a solid piece of traditional reporting done in comics, and done well -- in and of itself offering solid proof to all skeptics that comics are a great reportorial medium.  We heartily recommend this volume.
retail price - $14.95  copacetic price - $12.75


Ice Haven
by Daniel Clowes
This, the latest from comics maestro Clowes, is a nifty, shiny, perky, 100-page hardcover that is a repackaged, revised and revamped version of Eightball #22 and is probably the single work that most completely realizes his vision.  Yes, we know you already have Eightball #22, and that you're asking yourself, "Why should I have to buy this again?"  What can we say?  It's up to you to decide whether or not to fork over for Ice Haven as well.  Only you can decide whether or not to miss out on the compelling psychological breakthroughs embodied in new chapters like, "David Goldberg," "The Convenience Store," and "Leopold and Loeb."  Only you can decide whether or not to take a pass on these still mint first print copies that the publisher has already sold out of that are climbing in value as we speak.  Only you know whether or not you can live without the authoritative edition of this great comics masterwork.   We're confident you'll make the right decision.  To learn more about the world according to Clowes, check out this NPR interview.
retail price - $18.95  copacetic price - $17.00


A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
This highly anticipated new novel by the author of High Fidelity is now on the copacetic shelves.  We haven't read it yet (hey, cut us some slack -- it just came out) but we admire the premise:  four people encounter each other on a roof top en route to ending it all, get to talking, order a pizza and ponder the meaning of it all.  Then events take control and the whole thing begins to take on a life of its own.  The publishers have this to say:  "Intense, hilarious, provocative, emotional, A Long Way Down is a novel that asks big questions: about life and death, strangers and friendship, love and pain, and what it takes to make it through a long, dark night of the soul."
retail price - $24.95  copacetic price - $18.75 ¡special!


Blue Monday, Volume 4:  Painted Moon
by Chynna Clugston
The latest volume in the best comics series featuring high school life currently on the market.  Blue Monday is especially noteworthy in that its characterization is equally deft on both sides of the gender aisle, attaining a particularly unique degree of success portraying the gals, but all the while remaining easily enjoyable by all.  This is a great series that we whole-heartedly recommend to all teenage readers (and perennial teenagers, as well).  While most comics fare aimed at teens tend to veer towards either the overwrought or the excessively cute when dealing with issues of sexuality, Chynna Clugston (formerly Clugston-Major) has been simply frank and smart.   Painted Moon is the fourth volume in a series that has been consistently savvy, entertaining, insightful and, most of all, fun!
retail price - $11.95  copacetic price - $10.75


WE3
by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
Whew!  This is a brutal, emotionally wrenching and disturbing -- but ultimately very rewarding -- book.  Collecting the entire Vertigo mini-series, it takes that which so many rely on for emotional succor, and especially so in these anxiety ridden times -- our pets -- and then places them directly at the center of the source of so many of our anxieties -- the high-tech amoral world of the modern American military establishment.  Yet, it is a pitch perfect treatment of the theme.  There is not a single false step from start to finsh, and Quitely's art is the best of his career.  If you can stomach the grisly imagery this book dishes out, you'll find that it has a point to it and that the narrative makes a very strong case to back it up.  Although, to be honest, as with any work of fantasy that attempts to double as a polemic, there is the inevitable bit of having your cake and eating it too; but that's all part of the pleasure, guilty though it may be.
retail price - $12.99  copacetic price - $11.69


Public Enemy #2
An All-New Boondocks Collection
by Aaron McGruder
Boondocks is among the best comic strips in the newspaper today.  It is one of the funniest, and is certainly the most in-touch with America's media dominated political axis as it plays out on the ground.   Aaron McGruder is on our shortlist for most important 20-something cartoonist in America.  This is a book that you'll find yourself picking up again and again for the sweet (and altogether wholesome, despite all the controversy) comic relief that it provides.  If you ain't hep, here it is.
retail price - $15.95  copacetic price - $14.35


El Largo Tren Oscuro
by Samuel Hiti
Fans Of Tiempos Finales (and we know there are quite a few of you out there) will be happy to learn that Samuel Hiti is back with a new 100-page work in a new format (but with the same great art and creepy ambience).  We're offering it for a limited time at a reduced price (and not only that:  each copy includes an original, signed sketch!)
retail price - $9.95  copacetic price - $7.95

and, also for a limited time, we are offering a special on Samuel Hiti's 2000 production, the original End Times: Tiempos Finales 48-page comic book.  PLUS:  each copy is signed by Hiti!
retail price - $4.95  copacetic price - $3.95

H.P. Lovecraft:
Against the World, Against Life
by Michel Houellebecq
Translated by Dorna Khazeni  /  Introduction by Stephen King
And, speaking of creepy ambience, it doesn't get any creepier than Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  Against the World, Against Life is the latest entry in the longstanding tradition of French intellectuals championing an American creative artist -- think Baudelaire and Poe, Camus and James M. Cain, Goddard and Samuel Fuller, Jaques Tati and Jerry Lewis.  Houellebecq, however, has more of agenda than his precursors and skillfully blends his valorization of Lovecraft with a cultural critique of America.  This volume also contains two of Lovecraft's greatest tales:  "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Call of Cthulhu."  For a more detailed review, here's J. Hoberman's Village Voice review.  And, if that whets your appetite and you feel like taking a bite out of the book right away, here's a lengthy extract courtesy the Guardian.  And, as an added bonus, check out this complementary French celebration of American popular culture, The American Pulp Magazines Cover Gallery sponsored by L'encyclopedie Francophone de la SF.  Scroll to the bottom for the complete run of Weird Tales, where most of H.P. Lovecraft's works originally appeared.  Just click on the thumbnails for full-cover scans.
retail price - $18.00   copacetic price - $15.30


ordering info


New for May 2005

New Proper Boxes
Proper has done it again!  Not only do we have four new great sets , but, starting with this latest batch (which mysteriously skips PB85 -- we'll try to get to the botton of this...), we have a swellegant new format:  say goodbye to clunky, space-wasting, perenially cracking-and-breaking, petrochemical-consuming jewel cases, and say hello to plain-old-fashioned disc jackets, just like those covering the LPs of yesteryear, only CD-size.  This enables the new proper box to present just as much music -- four CDs presenting an average of 100 tracks lasting 5+ hours -- in half the space -- which, as those of you who have visited our shop know, is a big deal, as our shelves are so crammed full of CDs, we were beginning to wonder how we were going to fit in any more -- and makes room for even thicker booklets than usual, with several now cracking the 60-page barrier.  To learn more, please visit our Proper Box Page.  Here's what's new this time around:
Proper Box 84 - Chet Baker: The Early Years
Proper Box 86 - Clifford Brown: Joy Spring
Proper Box 87 -  Sons of the Pioneers: My Saddle Pals and I
Proper Box 88 - Jazz in Britain: 1919 - 1950
copacetic price - $22.50@


The Plot:  The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
by Will Eisner
The final work by one of comics' greatest practitioners and an early  pioneer of the graphic novel form, The Plot reveals the history of how the infamous anti-semitic Protocols came into being as well as how they were subsequently used.  It is in keeping with much of Eisner's later work in its exploration of the dark underside of human character, but this time around it is a documentary work based on facts, and it is quite a bit darker; but the story told is one worth learning about, for some of the 20th century's most misguided leaders looked to this false document's lies for justification, and, sadly, in this the supposed "information age" of the 21st century, some still do.  To learn more, read this review by Tony Norman at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
retail price - $19.95  copacetic price - $17.95


End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones - DVD
If ever there was a band whose career testifies to the saving grace of Rock 'n' Roll -- it was the Ramones.  They forged an original ethos out of the chaos of their upbringing, and then proceeded to relentlessly preach this gospel of Punk Rock for two decades, in the process sacrificing their worldly existences to their spiritual legacy.  As a result, their music has entered into the lives of literally millions of people around the world, winning countless converts to the Punk Way, and, perhaps most importantly, inspiring a huge number of these converts to grab some amps and start up a band of their own -- The Clash and The Sex Pistols, just for starters -- and in so doing changed the face of Rock itself.  How exactly this band from Queens managed to accomplish all this remains -- despite the close-up and personal look at the band provided by this DVD -- a mystery for the ages.  As this documentary makes abundantly clear, Jeffrey Hyman, John Cummings, Douglas Colvin and Thomas Erdelyi -- aka Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy --  were a bunch of "losers" if ever there was one (although Tommy comes off as relatively well adjusted), yet these same four guys -- with a little help from Marky (well, in his case, a lot), Ritchie and C.J. --  went on to become one of the most influential bands of their era, and in the process were transformed into the patron saints of the outcast.  That they managed to get together and do what they did is -- to paraphrase Joe Strummer in an interview segment that was inexplicably deleted from the theatrical release, but, thankfully, is here on the DVD -- so unlikely as to be comprehensible only by being seen as the result of some sort of divine intervention.  In short, the Ramones were, in their own way, a sort of miracle.  Hallelujah!  Watch this DVD and feel your faith renewed, in all its manifest complexity.
copacetic price - $18.88

The Snake Pit Book
by Ben Snakepit
Speaking of punk rock, here is the chunkiest and lunkiest slab of pure punk rock comics that's come our way since... well, ever!  Three full years of daily day-in-the-life strips of the one and only Ben Snakepit.  With the release of this volume he is hereby crowned the current reigning DIY value king, as this book present over 1,000 strips for  -- at the copacetic price -- less than a penny a strip, and that's not even counting the bonus section!  Seeing as these strips are inspired at least in part by the example of James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries it is good to see his endorsement grace the cover.  But even more fitting is the spot-on introduction by Aaron Cometbus, who is clearly Ben Snakepit's spiritual forefather.  There is no better comics portrait of the post-Ramones world than this one.
retail price - $12.00  copacetic price - $10.00

Mixed Reviews
by Aaron Cometbus
Well, speak of the devil!  Here he is, back with a follow-up volume to last year's well received (and now totally sold out) Chicago Stories.  This one has the same square-bound, pocket-size format but weighs in with an extra twenty pages -- 68 in total -- for the same price.  Not only that, but these pieces have not appeared in Cometbus, but instead are a mixture of new, never-before-published work and rareties culled from sources as diverse as the Philadelphia Independent and Maximum RocknRoll.  This time around we have ten pieces (three of which are super short) that, as the title intimates, are reviews... of sorts.  What's actually being reviewed, as with all the best writing, is life itself, and the quality thereof, as it can be located and isolated with certain people, at various places and times, in particular objects and products.  Casting this, the widest of nets, Aaron shares his catch:  reviews of coffee, a thirtieth birthday, a restaurant (tangentially, at best), NYC, the NYC life, love at the library, the inherent integrity of being a punk, and more.  Another volume perfectly suited to a life in the back pocket of your pants, by the guy who should know.
copacetic price - $3.00


Watching Days Become Years #2
by Jeff LeVine
Our high opinion of Mr. LeVine's work is already on record in our reviews of the first issue of Watching Days Become Years and his self-published It Felt Fine Just to Lose.  His work in WDBY #2 continues to live up to the high standards established by these recent works.  Here, he employs his unique sythnesis of image and text to bring the reader in for some high resolution close-ups of the minutiae of quotidian consciousness.  Roughly hewn yet with exquisite subtleties enabled in large part by his excellent employment of grey-tone markers, LeVine's drawings consistently manage the difficult, seemingly magical feat of positioning the reader inside of his own head.  Whether looking in or looking out, when you're looking at Levine's images you can't help but feel that you're looking through his eyes.  This slight of hand-on-paper is actually accomplished by the accompanying text, which is such a concentrated embodiment of LeVine's authorial voice that it manages to bypass intellectual digestion and instead is absorbed directly into the reader's bloodstream-of-consciousness whereupon it directly insinuates itself in the perceptual centers, resulting in the internalization of the images with which it is paired.   The work in this second issue is all about the paradox of watching days become years while still finding brief, fleeting moments in which eternity can be held and savored in all its pain and glory.
retail price - $5.00  copacetic price - $4.50


ZAP #15
The legendary underground comic book that started it all back in 1967 is back with a 15th issue.  The long time regulars --  R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain and Victor Moscoso -- welcome a couple of fellow old-timers to the ranks of Zap for the first (?) time:  Paul Mavrides and Gilbert Shelton, to whose famous early (pre-Freak Brothers) creation, Wonder Warthog, is given one of the two covers in the 69 layout.  As would be expected, the highlight of the issue is the ten-page Crumb story, "Walkin' the Streets," which, if his dated signature is to be believed, he worked on for twelve years!  This is the story that was exhibited in its entirety at the latest Carnegie International.  If you missed it, you can take it from us:  it's a classic.  In addition to the individual works by the contributors listed above, another tradition returns in this issue --  the Zap Jam:  everybody dived in for a group two-page swim in the pen, ink and paper pool of comics.
retail price - $4.95  copacetic price - $4.45


City of Tomorrow #1 & Solo #4
by Howard Chaykin
When Howard Chaykin stages a comeback, he stages a comeback!  After a decade of lackadaisical and dispirited meandering at the edges of comics, he is now back at center stage and busy -- make that very busy -- producing some of the best work of his long and storied career (now well into its fourth decade). Starting out of the gate with 2004's hardcover original graphic novel, Mighty Love -- described by Chaykin as The Shop Around the Corner in spandex -- he followed up in short order with his brutally satiric revisionist update of The Challengers of the Unknown, a six-issue mini-series, presumably soon to collected in a TPB.  And now we have his latest, The City of Tomorrow #1, the first issue of another six-issue series and Solo #4, a 48-page, advertisement-free collection of six graphic shorts each of which gives a standard comics genre the Chaykin treatment: a jazz inflected war story starts it off, followed by forays into science fiction (love & cloning), the western (and it's Hollywood counterpart), a husband & wife espionage drama, an EC-inspired "social message" story and finally... Chaykin's first ever stab at auto-bio comics!  In City of Tomorrow Chaykin is back doing what he does best, namely a science fiction saga set in a recognizably near future in which he gets to reflect on the current trends of today.  What we find is an amoral world driven by selfishness and the profit motive, where secret operatives hidden from the world at large carry out hidden agendas for the powerful.  Sound familiar?  It's too early in the series to determine exactly how it's going to play out, but it appears as though a central theme will be the moral hazard engendered by an over reliance on robots.  And as for his chops? Chaykin's back with his trademark: a sleek graphic-design savvy solidly welded to classic old school comics storytelling.  There are only so many pages in a comic book, and Chaykin doesn't want to waste any of them holding the reader's hand and walking him or her down well trod paths.  What you see on a page of Chaykin's work represents the tip of the iceberg.   There's an entire imaginative "berg" below the surface that is an accretion of a lifetime of comics sensibilities.  He trusts his readership to share with him a comprehension of generic conventions and an awareness of current events.  Chaykin isn't here to provide a palliative escapist fantasy that allows readers to retreat into a denial of the reality surrounding them.  Rather, he redeploys the archetypal heroic narrative to provide a caustic criticism of his chosen targets --  usually the myopic normative behavior dedicated to maintaining a corrupt status quo that he sees as dangerous to and damaging of a decent, civilized society -- and prod his readership's intelligence into a bit of critical thinking of it's own.  Chaykin's comics can be confusing to the uninitiated:  he produces narratives that are of an unsurpassed density and that involve much cross-cutting and parallel plotting.  Anyone not paying attention can quickly become lost.  Those willing to devote their fair share of focus and concentration will, however, find their efforts rewarded with an entertaining education in the ways of human nature and the underpinnings of our society.   In addition, there is the sheer aesthetic pleasure in experiencing a master ply his craft.  Long time Chaykin devotees will know that these are comics not to be missed; and to any readers of traditional genre based comics who have yet to experience Chaykin's work, all we have to say is:  now's a great time to check it out --  both City of Tomorrow #1(retail price - $2.99  copacetic price - $2.69) and Solo #4(retail price - $4.95  copacetic price - $4.45) are comics worth savoring.


The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
w/  Bill Murray, Owen Wilson. Cate Blanchet, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe & Jeff Goldblum
The latest in Wes Anderson & Co.'s series of mordant comedies about difficult father figures (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is now available on DVD in a double-disc edition from Criterion that's loaded with features.  These movies are all in a class by themselves, and The Life Aquatic is certainly no exception:  it's a true one-of-a-kind film, with Bill Murray capitalizing on his success in Lost in Translation to deliver a career high performance, and Owen Wilson once again playing Owen Wilson as only Owen Wilson can.  Worthy of special note: this movie has one of the most copacetic soundtracks in the history of cinéma.
retail price - $32.99   copacetic price - $27.99


Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man: A King-Cat Collection
by John Porcellino
This book, only the second (the first, Perfect Example, is currently out of print, but is slated to be reprinted by Drawn & Quarterly within the next 12 months) ever collection by DIY legend John Porcellino, exploits the advantages avaliable only to someone with a long  career.  Starting with some pages from some of the earliest issues, the material in Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man spans a full decade, and it shows:  you can witness the evolution of Porcellino's graphic style, from the early rough work all the way through to his highly refined Zen/minimalist style of the present.  And then there's the story itself, full of the wistful resignation to life's exigencies that is the Porcellino trademark.
retail price - $12.00  copacetic price - $10.00

ordering info


New for April 2005

The R. Crumb Handbook
by R. Crumb and Peter Poplaski
This is a 440 page hardcover book that covers the entirety of Crumb's life and work.  It's packed with hundreds of Crumb comics, illustrations and never before published photos and comes with a full-length CD of Crumb's music.  The book is organized around a new, lengthy reminiscence by Crumb of his entire life.  While Crumb has covered much of this territory in previous accounts, there are fresh details and new insights revealed here that will provide readers not only with a greater understanding of Crumb's psyche and development, but also of how and why he grew to become one of the most significant artistic voices of his generation. 
retail price - $25.00  copacetic price - $22.50


Love and Rockets #13
Beto checks in with an eleven-page installment of  "The Song of the Sea Hog," the tale of one man and his  six wives (five ex-, one current and all still in touch -- ouch!), a  two-page "Julio's Day," and the inaugural of a new series of one-pagers, "The Kid Stuff Kids," which, on the basis of this one at least, seems to play with the form a bit.  Jaime struts his stuff with three "Angel of Tarzana" strips featuring 'Sports Girl' Rivera, two more noirish two-pagers on Ray 'Down-and-Out' D and his obsessive non-starting relationship with Vivian 'Frogmouth', and, finally, "Wednesday Is Bitter Ends Day," the latest episode in "Day By Day With Hopey", that follows our heroine as she transitions to the next chapter of her saga-filled life.  All this in one 32-page comic book.  How do they do it!  Love and Rockets:  still the best comic book on the planet.
retail price - $4.50  copacetic price - $3.60

The Naked Cosmos - DVD
And, while we're on the subject:  In what is evidently an attempt to exorcise childhood demons of cheap childrens' television programming, Gilbert Hernandez, the brilliant comics maestro of Love and Rockets and Palomar fame, has, in The Naked Cosmos, created a truly odd work.  Produced on a total budget probably somewhere in the low three-digits, this DVD contains three complete half-hour episodes in which all the characters are played either by Gilbert (Quintas, Mr. Mims, Ego, Kalisto, Zansky and possibly others we're forgetting) or his wife, Carol (Mistress Velda and The Chief).  This show beggars description, but it's a limited edition -- 2000 copies --  it comes with an original 20-page comic book, and it's fairly easy on the pocketbook.  Be the first -- and probably only -- person on your block to bring home The Naked Cosmos!
retail price - $15.00  copacetic price - $12.75

Flaming Carrot #2 (#34, for true believers)
Bob Burden may or may not be the Cervantes of comic books but the Flaming Carrot is his Don Quixote.  He's been away for awhile, but now he's returned.  Burden is starting to get his chops back with this issue, and it looks like we can expect some wild times to come.  If you haven't read Flaming Carrot Comics before, do yourself a favor and pick this one up, there's really nothing else like it anywhere, in any medium.  The Flaming Carrot is 160 proof moonshine comics.
retail price - $3.50  copacetic price - $3.15

Embroideries
by Marjane Satrapi
If this book had been available when Elvis Costello penned "I Just Want to Hear Girls Talk," he might not have bothered -- he would have just picked this book up instead and been satisfied.  Because that's what this book is:  cover to cover girl talk (well, to be honest, women talk, but that would spoil our tenuous analogy).   This book lets you "behind the veil" and what you'll find is surprisingly universal in its applicability.
retail price - $16.95  copacetic price - $14.40


Flight: Volume Two
edited by Kazu Kibuishi
This massive sequel to last year's well received Flight anthology weighs in at a hopping 432 full color pages!  You're definitely getting your money's worth on this one.  This hefty tome containing thirty-three pieces of the mind being freed and the heart taking flight is the production of a diverse cross-section of the up and coming generation of cartoonists who are working hard to expand the realm of graphic fantasy -- as well as break out of it altogether.  It includes stand out work by Hope Larson, Becky Cloonan, Rad Sechrist and Pittsburgh's own Neil Babra; an interesting early piece (from 2001) by Doug TenNapel; a new four-page cosmic gag-strip by Jeff Smith; and twenty-seven more graphic experiences.
retail price - $24.95  copacetic price - $22.45


NIL: A Land Beyond Belief
by James Turner
This 236-page original graphic novel is a biting and extremely dark political satire that makes Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 look like a walk in the park by comparison.  The graphic sensibility on display here really is novel, and the computer rendering process employed is an appropriate vehicle with which to deliver the book's message of a society which has abandoned all values save the quest for profit.  To learn more, visit the Official NIL Website.
retail price - $12.95  copacetic price - $11.65


The Complete Peanuts: Volume Three - 1955 to 1956
by Charles M. Schulz
introduction by Matt Groening
The wait is over!  The third volume of the most sought after comic strip collection of all time is now on the Copacetic shelves.  Two complete years -- every daily, every Sunday; 731 strips in all -- in one deluxe hardcover volume.  This is the point where Schulz really hits his stride.  It's pretty much non-stop immortal greatness for the next five volumes (at least!).  Every strip is impossibly good.  It's not hard to believe that he was receiving divine guidance of some sort or another:  day after day, no matter in which direction he shoots his arrows of art, Schulz is right on target.  To learn more about this series, visit our Complete Peanuts page.
retail price - $28.95  copacetic price - $23.15


Mutts 10: Who Let the Cat Out?
by Patrick McDonnell
While we're on the subject of newspaper comic strip collections, the latest collection of the comic strip that has our nomination for heir to Peanuts' crown as king of today's funny pages is here as well, arriving in the same shipment. 
retail price - $10.95  copacetic price - $9.85


DC: The New Frontier - Volume Two
by Darwyn Cooke
This is it!  The second and concluding volume in the classic, definitive treatment of the genesis (and exodus, for that matter) of the Silver Age superhero.  We've done plenty of raving about this series before, so rather than repeat ourselves here, we'll refer you to our previous comments on New Frontier.  All we've got to say at this time is:  No self-respecting fan of superhero comics will want to miss this series, and now that it's completely in print in two handy TPBs, there's really no need to put it off any longer.
DC • 192 pages • full color
retail price - $19.99  copacetic price - $17.99



Miniature Sulk
by Jeffrey Brown
Well, Mr. Brown is back with 100 little pages of what he does best:  drawing cute comics delving into the frailties and foibles of his friends & family, and, of course, himself.  While reminiscences of his childhood days play an expanded part in this collection, the bulk is devoted to his usual carrying case of concerns:  girls, dating & sex, along with the standard healthy dollop of just plain goofiness.  There is one stand-out exception to the above, and that is the 15-page short story (in a Jeffrey-Brownian sense of the term), "To Wenatchee," which is actually fairly successful and may point in the direction JB's longer work may go after the release this summer of AEIOU, the final volume in his "relationship trilogy" that began  in 2002 with Clumsy and continued with Unlikely.
retail price - $8.00  copacetic price - $6.80


Owly: Just a Little Blue
by Andy Runton
Owly's back in this his second full-length graphic outing.  Just a Little Bit Blue is basically a parable of Christian charity in the guise of a cute funny animal comic, and it successfully accomplishes its task.  As with all Owly comics, there is no dialogue or narration.  The only text appears in a sign that's tacked on the wall of a shop visited by Owly during the course of the narrative; for the remainder of the story, the visuals alone are relied upon to carry the story forward -- although there is an occasional recourse to communication through symbols and eidetic recollection.  Many comics claim to be "suitable for all ages," but Owly really and truly is:  any child old enough to hold a book can get something out of this, and we'd be hard pressed to imagine any parent anywhere on the planet who could find something to object to in this comic book.
retail price - $10.00  copacetic price - $8.50


Ed the Happy Clown #1
by Chester Brown
Well, this comic book series pretty much occupies the opposite end of the social acceptability spectrum from Owly:  this is not the comic book you want to share with your mom.  Monsters, clowns, hordes of sociopathic pygmies, severed limbs, blown brains, talking penises... well, you probably get the idea.  Originally serialized in  Yummy Fur from 1983 through 1989, the saga of "Ed the Happy Clown" captured in ink on paper the non-stop hemorrhagic flow of Chester Brown's subconscious as he submitted to the surrealist imperative of spontaneous creation -- without, let it be said, personally identifying with the surrealists themselves (it's all explained in the copious notes that append this issue's installment -- and, presumably, those of future issues -- nine in all -- as well).  This is the work that announced Chester's presence to the world of comics, and it made quite an impact at the time.  Now's your chance to revisit one of the seminal comics of the 1980s, personally guided by the author himself. 
retail price - $2.95  copacetic price - $2.65

Deviant Funnies #1 & #2
by Ed Piskor
These two issues are chock-a-block with serious old-school humor comics that have their roots in the glory days of EC and the original Mad.  The level of diligence in the rendering and inking evident in these self-published comics is rarely seen at this end of the comic book spectrum.  The content of the pages in Deviant Funnies run the gamut from birth to death -- filling in the space between with sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and a lot of laffs.  Ed is a Pittsburgh local boy who is doing his all to make good.  He recently handed in the longest story in Harvey Pekar's American Splendor: Our Movie Year; and, he did such a good job that Harvey has asked him to be the sole artist on his next project, due out late in 2006.  Don't miss this chance to get your hands on these two mini-masterworks.
retail price - $3.00@  copacetic price - $2.50@

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Want to keep going?  There's tons more great stuff here, almost all of which is still in stock.  Check out the rest of our New Arrivals Archives:

1Q 2005: January - March, New Arrivals