NEW STUFF ARCHIVES
4Q 2006: October - December
all items still available (unless otherwise noted)
ordering info
New for
December 2006
Curses
by Kevin Huizenga
The much anticipated first collection by
up-and-coming-new-comics-champ, Kevin Huizenga is at last on our
shelves. Its arrival may, however, signal the end of Huizenga's
status as an up-and-comer, and initiate his ensconsement in the ranks
of established contemporary masters of comics. This volume brings
together a wide range of Huizenga's work from a wide variety of
sources. It starts off with a little known (well, not to long
time Copacetic customers) gem from the Orchid anthology published by Sparkplug
Comics, titled, "Green Tea." It is adapted from a classic
Victorian horror story
of the same name by
Sheridan Le Fanu, but is given the inimitable Huizenga treatment and
stands as an original work. Following this there is the trilogy
that first appeared in Drawn
and Quarterly Showcase #1, several selections from the now out of
print first issue of Huizenga's ongoing solo title, Or Else, a 2-pager originally done
for Time Magazine, and the full color story, "Jeepers Jacobs,"
originally executed for Kramers
Ergot 5. Anyone not already familiar with these works is
heartily encouraged to consider this a great opportunity to read some
excellent comics delivered in a fine package for a reasonable
price. And, it should go without saying (but, of course, we can't
help but say it anyway) that this is makes for a swell gift.
Learn more about the works of Kevin Huizenga here.
retail
price - $21.95
copacetic price - $17.95
New Tales of Old Palomar
by Gilbert
Hernandez
Delphina
by Richard Sala
The two latest issues in the wonderful Ignatz series of Euro-American
hybrid comics also happen to be two of the best -- and are only the
second and third by Americans (the first being Ganges by Kevin 
Huizenga).
This series of high quality comic books/graphic albums features some of
the finest regularly published comics work currently available and, by
virtue of its periodical status, is both constantly giving us something
to look forward to and bringing back the fun of collecting. This
time we have that titan of titans, Gilbert Hernandez delivering exactly
what the title states: the first of what promises to be a number
of brand new, never before seen stories featuring the sprawling cast of
characters we know and love from the original issues of Love and Rockets.
As with all of Gilbert's tales this one is really a patchwork quilt of
stories of all shapes and sizes sewn together into one snug and
comfortable whole. Delphina presents the first
installment of one of another of Richard Sala's trademarked tales of
eerie mystery rendered in his unmistakable, angular pen and ink
style. This one concerns a clean-cut boy who, in search of his
apple-cheeked girl, finds himself in a small town whose inhabitants...
well, we don't want to give too much away. Suffice it to say
these are folk who put the strange in strangers, and you wouldn't want
to have to depend on them.
retail
price - $7.95@
copacetic price - $6.75@
The
Mourning Star (#1)
by Kazimir Strzepek
This 200+ page square format book, designed by Jordan Crane and
published by Bodega, is the first in a projected series of a lengthy post-apocalyptic
tales of the struggle to survive. It also serves to announce
Bodega's arrival as the heir apparent to the now defunct Highwater
Press, as this book bears many of the traits associated with Highwater
releases. Previously their activites vis a vis Highwater had been
limited to distributing the remainder of the catalogue, but with the
release of The Mourning Star, it appears that Bodega has
assumed the mantle of publishing as well. We wish The
Mourning Star success and welcome Bodega to the fold of small press
comics publishers.
retail
price - $13.00
copacetic price - $11.00
Private Stash:
A Pin-Up Girl Portfolio by 20 Cartoonists
This one is an attempt to be the last word in fetish object.
Playing on the trope of arrested adolescent sexuality stereotypically
identified with the bagging-and-boarding fanboy set of which more than
a few of these participants are graduates, Private Stash starts
out with a squarebound translucent case that contains -- once you've
struggled to remove it from this secure enclosure without damaging it
-- a clever two-layer illustrated wraparound slipcase portrait of all
twenty contributors by Rick Altergott (displaying his Mort Drucker and
Wally Wood chops to full effect) which opens to reveal a 20 panel
accordian-print that opens (to over ten feet!) to reveal the wet-dream
girls of a fairly astounding array of talent: R. Crumb, Dan
Clowes, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Charles Burns, Gary Panter, Peter
Bagge, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deitch, Tony Millionaire, Richard Sala, Ivan
Brunetti, Ron Regé,Jr., Dan Zettwoch, Rick Altergott, Jonathan
Bennett, Sammy Harkham, Tim Hensley, Mitch O'Connell and Archer Prewitt
(It's too bad they couldn't get Chris Ware on board with this one, but
then again, his fantasy might be too much for the rest of us to
handle...).
retail
price - $24.95
copacetic price - $22.00
Swamp Preacher
by David Sandlin
1980s art comic pioneer, David Sandlin reveals the terrible secret of
Carl Bob, "The Swamp Preacher," in this mind-blowing 40-page comic book
that
will have you thinking heretofore unthinkable thoughts about the
nature of America, its people and its practices.
Printed
entirely (except for the amazing full color wraparound front and
inside front covers) in lurid mauve
and green, Swamp Preacher is -- at least for now* -- a
one of a kind experience and and instant classic! *The indicia
states that this is "#1" and the inside back cover mentions "future
issues." We can only pray that this is all true and that we can
continue to follow the incredible tale of Carl Bob and be born again in
the spirit of our age.
retail
price - $5.95
copacetic price - $5.00
The Spirit #1
by Darwyn Cooke
Speaking of born again spirits, here is the much anticipated return of
the one and only Spirit. Created 66 years ago (can you believe
it?!) by the legendary Will Eisner, Denny Colt is back courtesy of
Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New
Frontier),
who, with the able assist of J. Bone on inks and Dave Stewart on
colors, is recreating the Spirit & Co. (including a revamped
Ebony!) for both the 21st century and the DC Comics universe (see the
Batman and Spirit one-shot, also by Cooke & Co., but with script by
Jeph Loeb). The series starts off in full stride with "Ice Ginger
Coffee," a completely self-contained adventure (as Cooke promises all
issues will be in
this nice interview feature)
that brings The Spirit straight away into the war against crime
and the battle between the sexes; right where he belongs.
retail
price - $2.99
copacetic price - $2.50 (2nd print)
King-Cat Comics and Stories #67
by John Porcellino
Just in time for Christmas, a stocking stuffer for all you mini-comics
fans. Always a cause for a modest celebration, this issue
features the ususal mix of comics, stories, lists and letters -- 40
pages in all.
retail
price - $3.00 copacetic
price -
$3.00
Dr.
Id - Psychologist of the Supernatural
by Adam McGovern and Palo Leandri
We listed this one a month or two back and it sold out in the blink of
an all-seeing eye, so we contacted the publisher and secured a supply
of this Copacetic Certified Instant Classic™ sufficient to add it to
our ongoing offerings. With Dr. Id, co-creators McGovern
and Leandri have put a sophisticated spin on the iconic Lee and Kirby
formula to give us a series of psychologically astute tales that are
simultaneously fantastic fun. Seven tales -- both tall and short
-- make up this cosmic compendium of cryptic capers -- elegantly
unravelled by the piercingly perceptive analytical intelligence of the
suave and debonair Dr. Id -- all rendered in a cataclysmic Kirby style
that will have True Believers reaching for their hankies. As an
added bonus, we're treated to a copy of the Doctor's dossier to clue us
in to his highbrow history. All we have to say is, "Be there or
be square!"
retail
price - $2.95
copacetic price - $2.50
ordering
info
New for
November 2006
Ninja
by Brian Chippendale
OK kids, the wait is over. This mega-blast of comics and more by
Fort Thunder co-founder, Brian Chippendale is now on our shelves, and
it's most definitely a book that stands out in a crowd.
Five years in the making, it's Chippendale's first book publication,
and he's gone all out to make it a debut to remember. It's
a giant oversize (11" x 17") 144 page hardcover volume printed in black
and white and full
color where it counts. 80 pages are devoted to the titular
graphic novel that
is both an epic -- and deranged -- fantasy and an urban allegory.
The remaining 64 pages are chock-a-block with drawings, collages,
posters and more. While much is simply pen and ink and/or pencil, this
is reproduced with full attention to all details and subtleties. Ninja is a sensual onslaught
that will stagger your brain as it tries
to take it all in. We found ourselves going back again and again
to
soak up the richness of Chippendale's imagery while simultaneously
working to
crack the riddles of his narratives. Published by the design
wizards at Picture Box.
retail
price - $34.95
copacetic price - $29.75
Acme
Novelty Library 17
by Chris Ware
Well, how about that? Just about exactly one year after number
16, here's number 17 -- right on schedule! This is, as all Chris
Ware 
devotees
doubtless already know, another carefully crafted hardcover from
the
master himself that contains the next chapter in the sordid saga of
Rusty Brown; or as Mr. Ware himself puts it: "Continuing with the
second half of the introduction to his shamelessly meandering graphic
novel “Rusty Brown” (which began last issue at a private school in the
1970s midwest) the six-sided crystal suggested by the exegisis of the
first installment is slowly turned and examined in mid-morning winter
sunlight sometime between the bell of first period and the conclusion
of lunch for the first through the fourth grades. Also included are
more thorough examinations of many of the main characters’ cloudy
motivations, personal habits, and favorite restaurants, to say nothing
of the small dust mote around which they have coalesced and the
complications in its life due to the acquisition of superpowers
sometime the night before." Where else can one so fully revisit
the fullness of childhood pain in such finely rendered depictions of
the horrors of growing up, wallow in such luxurious self-loathing, and
experience such exquisite quivers of self-laceration but in the pages
of the Acme Novelty Library. Back-up
bonuses: the tales of "Branford,
the Best Bee in the World" and "Will We Be Alive in the Year
2005?"
retail
price - $16.95
copacetic price - $15.00
Moomin,
Book One
by Tove Jansson
Well, if they ever decide to turn this into a prime-time animated
cartoon (which would be great -- but don't hold your breath) we've got
the theme song alrady picked out: "What's So Funny About Peace, Love
and Understanding." Performed by, hmmm, let's say -- Shonen
Knife. This Finnish strip has more in common with George Herriman's Krazy Kat
that one might think just looking at it, or even upon first read; but
once you let it sink in, the strip has at its core the same dedication
to carefree existence, along with a simliarly oddball cast of
characters. Of course, it is indelibly stamped with the character
of its country of origin and Europe in general, but it's half the fun
to see this spirit animated in these foreign climes. Publisher
Drawn and Quarterly has this to say: "The Moomins saw life
in many forms but debuted to its biggest audience ever on the pages of
world’s largest newspaper The London
Evening News, in 1954. The strip was syndicated in newspapers
around the world with millions of readers in 40 countries. Moomin, Book One is D & Q's
first volume in their projected plan to reprint the strip's run through
to 1960. This is the first time the strip will be published in any form
in North America and will deservedly place Jansson among the
international cartooning greats of the last century. The Moomins
are a tight-knit family – hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and
adventurous outlooks. Jansson's art is pared down and precise, yet able
to compose beautiful portraits of ambling creatures in fields of
flowers or rock-strewn beaches that recall Jansson’s Nordic roots. The
comic strip reached out to adults with its gentle and droll sense of
humor. Whimsical but with biting undertones, Jansson’s observations of
everyday life, including guests who overstay their welcome, modern art,
movie stars, and high society, easily caught the attention of an
international audience and still resonate today." This is a one
of a kind classic that you owe it to yourself to at least take a look
at.
retail
price - $19.95
copacetic price - $17.77
Lucky
by Gabrielle Bell
D & Q sez:
" Gabrielle Bell fascinatingly documents the mundane details of her
below-minimum wage, twenty-something existence in Brooklyn, NY with a
subtle humor. Her simple, unadorned drawing style, heavy narration and
biting wit chronicles transient roommates who communicate only through
post-it notes; aspiring artists who sublet tiny rooms in leaky, greasy
broken-down border-house loft apartments crawling with bugs, cats and
bad art. Bell tackles a string of forgettable, unrelated jobs including
nude modeling, artist’s assistant, art teacher, and jewelry maker that
only serve to bolster her despair, boredom and discomfort in her own
skin. Bell’s self-scrutiny leads her to dream sequences that allow her
to rise above her banal actuality and hyper-awareness. Bell fantasizes
about her vision of a perfect world as she becomes the accomplished
artist and world traveler she longs to be. Bell’s daily comics allow
her to escape the harsh, judgmental gaze of the world and the monotony
of daily life. Her unpolished art speaks to a desire to record all the
messy details while the pain and confusion is still fresh. Coming
of age amidst the zine revolution, cartoonist Gabrielle Bell has been
creating her comics to much acclaim, even winning an Ignatz Award for
the self-published serialization of Lucky."
retail
price - $19.95
copacetic price - $16.95
Buddha, Volume
4: The Forests of Uruvela
by Osamu Tezuka
The low priced softcover edition of the fourth volume of manga master
Osamu Tezuka's ultimate work is now in stock.
retail
price - $14.95
copacetic price - $12.75
Everyday
Mutts
by Patrick McDonnell
This, the fifteenth Mutts collection, is a large format volume
like the four Sunday-only collections, but is the first to contain both
the dailies in black and white together with the full size Sundays in
full color. Not
only that, but this volume contains 12 extra pages of rough sketches
and watercolors and other neat stuff. As
a result it's a jumbo size book -- the largest Mutts collection yet,
208 pages in all. What can we say: Mutts is good;
more Mutts is better!
retail
price - $16.95
copacetic price - $15.25
Copacetic
Christmas 2006
OK, it's up and running. Check out our page of picks for making
your holiday gift-giving a copacetic experience for all
concerned. We're
sure to tweak it a few times,
so check back whenever you're in the mood.
The Primo Collection
Straight out of the Czech Republic comes a new line of classic Jazz,
Blues, Bluegrass and more. Attractively packaged, excellent
sounding double-disc sets of fine music, these make great
gifts. Single artist sets along with well-rounded
anthologies. Did we mention they sell for a mere $8.88@? Check it out.
McSweeney's
#21
McSweeney's
sez:
"With work by Roddy Doyle, Stephen Elliott, Peter Orner, Joyce Carol
Oates, Yannick Murphy, and Miranda July, as well as the triumphant
return of Arthur Bradford and stories concerning fistfighting Mormons,
New Zealand police malfeasance, and a man named Trang, and with all of
those works interspersed with heartfelt letters to Ray Charles and
storyboards by some of the finest pen-and-ink artists of our day, our
twenty-first issue is sure to be one of our best assemblages yet."
retail
price - $16.00
copacetic price - $14.40
DVD
- Cartune Xprez:
A Collection of Contemporary Animated Videos from the USA
and Canada
This is an amazing, eye-popping new DVD anthology of, for the most
part, new school, lo-fi, DIY
animations that we're pretty confident you won't be seeing anywhere
else anytime soon. Not only that, you'll be hard pressed to find
this
disc anywhere else. So we're working
overtime to bring this disc to your attention as there's some really
creative and original work here, the likes of which you may not have
previously encountered, at least not on a purchasable DVD. Artists on this disc include
Paper Rad & Peter Burr (both Pittsburgh-connected), Amy Lockhart,
Takeshi Murata, Phillippe Blanchard, Michael Bell-Smith, Christopher
Doulgeris, as well as Hooliganship and Slow Dance Recyttal.
Get more
details here.
PLEASE
NOTE: One of the shorts (Gretchen Hogue's Where's
My Boyfriend?)
is composed of a rapid-fire montage of still images -- most appear to
have been cut out of magazines -- that includes quite a few that
are
pornographic in nature. The on-screen time of these images is
generally under one second, they are all employed to humorous effect,
and one would be hard pressed to find anything of prurient interest
here, but, nevertheless, it renders this collection
inappropriate for unsupervised children and anyone who would be
offended by this
type of material. You have been warned.
copacetic price - $12.00
Splendid
Recipes (DVD)
And speaking of new school lo-fi DIY, this brand-spanking-new,
60-minute, home-made-in-tha-'burgh DVD is so new school that we here at
Copacetic have decided that it has pioneered a school all of its own,
and
we've dubbed it "Yinzer Stoner." Splendid Recipes
is the very
first commodified manifestation of this bold new way of representing
reality
through art. So, act now and take advantage of this rare
opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new art movement.
This DVD contains the first two episodes
of the "public access disgrace" also known as "The Dollar Store of
television shows," and features "adolescent crime stories, ghetto
special effects, horrible improvised dialogue, drunken karaoke and much
more."
retail
price - $9.99
copacetic price - $7.77
The Drama, Issue Nine
The latest issue of the art magazine that's the mostest is now on our
shelves. This issue features heavily illustrated interviews with
Fort Thunder co-founder, Brian Chippendale, cover artist Henrik
Drescher and Zippy, the Pinhead
creator, Bill Griffith. Also on offer are a nice preivew of the
catalogue for the show, Wunderground: Providence 1995 to the present
currently on exhibit at the RISD Museum. And, of course, there's
the ever present 32-page comics supplement, this time around featuring
the likes of Matthew Thurber, Vanessa Davis, Zak Sally, Nicolas Robel,
Mark Bell, Mark Burrier, and a 
dozen
others, along with the
experimental inclusion of Adam Levin's short story,
Frankenwittgenstein, illustrated by Keith Jones. AND, as if that
weren't enough, this is the last issue, as the publishers have
decided to call it a day and move on to art book publishing.
We'll let you know what they come up with.
retail
price - $5.95
copacetic price - $5.35
Popeye: Volume One - "I
Yam What I Yam"
by
E.C. Segar
Boy, is this ever a sight for sore eyes. At last, the classic
early Popeye by E.C. Segar is back in print. And not just back in
print, but in style! This is a wonderful deluxe oversize (11" x
15") edition that sports a die-cut hardcover. It contains two and
a half years of dailies and one year of full-page full color
Sunday pages. This is how it was meant to be. The
first of six volumes.
retail
price - $29.95
copacetic price - $25.95
Walt & Skeezix, Volume Two: 1923 & 1924
by Frank King
While we're on the subject of classic newspaper comics, we'll take this
opportunity to let you know that, yes, the second collection of Frank
King's almighty classic, Gasoline Alley is currently gracing our humble
shelves. Designed, once again, by Chris Ware, this volume has
even more support material than the first collection. A lengthy
introduction by comics scholar, Jeet Heer and end notes by Tim
Samuelson are accompanied by an
amazing selection of photographs from the King family album, sketches
and watercolors, scrap-book clippings and other ephemera that together
make an excellent frame for the over six-hundred daily strips this
volume contains.
retail
price - $29.95
copacetic price - $25.47
Little
Nemo: The Complete Collection
by Winsor McCay
edited and with an introduction by Bill Blackbeard
Wait, there's still more! Yes, it's back at last, the super
value-priced Evergreen edition of Little Nemo that contains the entire
run of Winsor McCay's crowning achievement. While nothing
beats
the experience of reading these in their magnificent full-size glory, this book
still has a lot going for it. Namely: it contains the
entire run of Little Nemo in Slumberland,
including the final two years of the strip after McCay had been hired
by Hearst and it had been retitled "In the Land of Wonderful
Dreams." ALL 420
full-page strips appear here in glorious full
color, except for the last 15 strips executed for The New York
Herald, which are printed in duotone, as they originally
appeared. This book is an amazing value.
retail
price - $39.95
copacetic price - $35.00 DEAL!
The Fountain
by Darren Aronofsky & Kent Williams
Now
available in softcover! Here's what we said when the now
out-of-print hardcover was released: "Wow!
This is book has our vote for best original graphic novel
ever published by Vertigo. Two years in the making, this work was
born like a phoenix out of the ashes of Aronofsky's failed original
attempt to make it as a film. Once Kent's pages started showing
up at Darren's door, however, this resparked his imagination and
orobouros-like inspired him to restart the film project, in a scaled
down production. This led to a Mobius strip situation of the two
projects being created simultaneously: the graphic novel based on
the original uncompleted film script (which, upon hindsight, seems much
more suited to the graphic novel format than film) and the new film
inspired by the graphic novel. Kent Williams has really outdone
himself here, producing a career high work that employs his full
arsenal of techniques and stands to introduce many people to his
stellar abilities. Aronofsky's script is a powerful allegorical
tale about coming to terms with the death of a loved one -- and,
ultimately, with death itself. Yes, this book is a bit pricey (not anymore, as this softcover edition is half the
price of the hardcover!) but it's worth it . Recommended." And here's
the trailer for the film.
retail price - $19.95
copacetic price - $17.77
Abandon
the Old in Tokyo
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
This is the second volume in Drawn and Quarterly's ongoing project to
collect the works of the founding father of gekiga, a gritty,
more overtly literary form of manga. Picking up where
last year's The Push Man and Other stories left off, Abandon
the Old in Tokyo
collects Tatsumi's work from 1970. The eight lengthy tales that
make up this 200 page hardcover volume present the seamy
underside of (then) contemporary urban life, but unlike other often
exploitative treatments of this type of subject matter, Tatsumi's
approach provides his readers with a very humane perspective on all too
real humans struggling to make their way in a world that seems to have
changed without them.
retail
price - $19.95
copacetic price - $17.77
Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China
by
Guly Delisle
Speaking of follow-up volumes, this is a follow-up to Delisle's Pyongyang:
A Journey to North Korea,
that was released last year at this time, then as now in conjuction
with Tatsumi's collection. We're not sure what D & Q is
trying to say with these dual releases, but we presume it has something
to do with Asia. In any event, Deslisle, a Québec native
currently residing in France, has abandoned a decade long career
working in animation to devote himself full time to comics, and his
devotion is starting to reap dividends. Shenzhen offers the
reader a super cut-rate fare to this up and coming Chinese
metropolis situated close to
Hong Kong (One
caveat to keep in mind when reading this: the visit this
travelogue records took place in 1997 -- the city has grown quite
a bit since then).
He communicates his feelings of isolation as a non-Chinese speaking
westerner who is there for work (he was overseeing an animation
production) and offers an engaging look at the city's culture and
people that doubles as a historical snapshot.
retail
price - $19.95
copacetic price - $17.77
Rising
Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence
by William T. Vollman
This hefty hardcover volume is a 734 page abridgement of Vollman's
massive seven-volume original that was published in 2003 by
McSweeney's. Vollman's introduction states, "What you have here
is (1) a selection of "when is violent defense of X justified"
chapters, which are (I hope) interesting in their own right; followed
by (2) the complete Moral Calculus, which contains my answers
to every "when is" question considered in the long volume; rounded off
with (3) several case studies from war zones, et cetera, along with all
regional introductions to the case studies." Our favorite quote
from the introduction: "The long version of Rising Up Rising
Down
took me twenty-three years... the abridgement took me half an
hour." We're bringing this to your attention with the thought
that now might be a fruitful time to reflect on this book's theme, and
due to the spectacularly low price at which we currently able to offer
it.
retail
price - $29.95
copacetic super-special price - $9.95
And, finally: prolific Pittsburgh presses present:
Murdaland:
Crime Fiction for the 21st Century - Issue 01
Will wonders never cease. This new book format, semi-annually
published 
periodical
that aims to revive the values of classic pulp
fiction -- think Jim Thompson and David Goodis (whose long lost
novella, "Professional Man," graces these pages) -- is edited right
here in Pittsburgh, PA, practically in our own back yard! Here's
what they have to say for themselves: "Included are fifteen
original stories from such masters of the form as Daniel Woodrell,
Ireland's Ken Bruen and Latin America's new prince of noir, Rolo
Diez. Adding an air of utter veracity are an ex-con's
autobiographical lament of botched stick-ups and lustful romance in the
heartland and a former Sandinista rebel's tale of jealousy and fatal
ambush. Topping the debut off are an excerpt from Tom Franklin's
new novel, Smonk, the picaresque tale of a murderous riverboat
whore in the early 1900s and an unnerving work-in progress by literary
icon, Mary Gaitskill. Expect visceral scenes of violence,
repercussion, mayhem and dread. Dark moments offering an array of
ugly insights you never asked for."
retail
price - $12.00
copacetic price - $10.80
Questor
by Chris Cornwell
Premiering at SPX, this 40-page, horizontally-formatted, black and
white piece is the debut full-length work by Pittsburgh-based artist,
Chris Cornwell. Fans of Fort Thunder who are looking for an
artist who understands the visual vocabulary of its artists and is
capable of intelligently building on their legacy, who has the ability
to create a coherent narrative entirely in carefully rendered, visually
appealing images, who takes the time to
think things through, and
whose vision extends far beyond the borders of the comics world need
look no further -- this is it! And, of course, one need not be a
fan of the Fort Thunder crowd to appreciate this work, as it is, after
all is said and done, quite an original piece. Questor is
a work of pure comics. What you find here, can't be as fully
expressed in any other form.
copacetic price -
$2.00
An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and
True Stories
book
contains a good cross-section of work published
in North America in 2004 and 2005 and functions as a fine follow-up to
both McSweeney's #13 -- which is
clearly its inspiration -- and the just-released Brunetti edited
anthology reviewed above. This collection spans the
generations, including new work from old-timers Kim Deitch, Gilbert
Shelton and Robert Crumb, middle-agers Jaime Hernandez, Lynda Barry and
Joe Sacco, and youngins' Anders Nilsen, Rebecca Dart and Jesse Reklaw,
whose story, "13 Cats of My Childhood," we singled out for praise in
our 2005 SPX report, when
it appeared in it's original form as Couch
Tag #2, stating at the time, "It is one of the best comics at
this year's SPX... and deserving of a much wider audience than it will
be able to find in this form." So, suffice it to say that we're
quite happy to see it included here in this anthology. By far the longest piece included in this
320 page anthology, practically a graphic novella, "La Rubia Loca," by Justin Hall --
another SPX attending self-publisher -- is an engrossing story
about a bunch of hippie slackers stuck on a bus tour through Mexico
with a crazy woman. And keep in mind that these are just the
highlights, there's plenty more.
Best
American Nonrequired Reading 2006Hey, Kids: Comics!
Tales
Designed to Thrizzle #3 by Michael Kupperman retail
price - $4.50 copacetic
price -
$4.00
up-and-coming generation of cartoonists to
work with traditional
comics themes. Inititated by Project: Telstar, which dealt with
science fiction themes with a focus on robots, and continued by Project: Superior,
which had super heroics as its unifying theme, this time around, as the
title suggests, the same generation of cartoonists is given a chance to
tackle the romance comics genre. As with the first two
anthologies,
the works assembled here bear little semblance to their generic
progentiors in the mainstream comics of yore, a guided tour of which we
are given in the introductory essay by Bill Boichel (which is currently
available online as a downloadable
.pdf). "True"
romance
seems mostly a thing of the past in the stories that follow, which here
primarily focus on -- at best -- snatching a moment of happiness with a
fellow being. Many of the pieces center on unrequited love,
heartbreak, romantic disaster, murder, mayhem and confusion.
Sometimes
it's played for laughs and sometimes for tears. Exceptions
include
Aaron Renier's "Reflectors and Rutabegas," which comes closest to being
a traditional romance, and McGovern & Leandri's Dr. Id story, which
employs a 1960s-Dr.-Strange-as-sex-therapist narrative that is
certainly traditional in its form, if not in its content. As with
all
AdHouse Books, the production values are excellent and the quality of
the artwork is uniformly high. Stand-outs for us include the
contributions of Paul Rivoche, Hope Larson, Roger Petersen and Junko
Mizuno, but doubtless every reader of this anthology will find their
own favorites. And there's no way we can avoid singling out
Robert
Goodin's contribution: if there were an award for excellence in
the
service of perversion, this one would have the comics category all
wrapped up. 
Don't
Go Where I Can't Follow
Let
Us Be Perfectly Clear
This
disc finds TVR once again preaching the gospel of the redemptive power
of rock (for lack of a better label) music. Listening to this
disc you can't help but get the feeling of TVR as embodying a sort of
00s rebirth of the 80s spirit of The Pixies. While we will grant
that, yes, TVR certainly lacks the manic energy and zany humor of The
Pixies, the two groups definitely share some common spiritual and
philosophical underpinnings when it comes to their respective
creative processes and aims. Regardless of this or any other
comparison, which is fairly inevitable when attempting to commmunicate
new(er) music, TVR has established a fabulous signature sound, while
Mssrs. Adebimpe, Malone and Sitek have proven themselves to be
effective lyricists and excellent tunesmiths -- together and each in their
own right. Return to Cookie Mountain,
while not -- we have to admit -- being a title we are particularly fond
of, is, nevertheless, a great record and their finest outing to date,
and one we recommend
you make sure to check out. There are four TVR tracks(only one -- "Wolf
Like Me" -- is from this record) that you can listen to on their MySpace page.
And, if you don't feel like taking our word for it, check out all the
raves assembled by Metacritic.
Tin
House: The Graphic Issue
Chicken
with Plums
Well,
this one might aptly described as a survey of a product that is
for people who know they have to grow up, but regret that this is so,
and so, as a sort of consolation, do their best to take a piece of
their childhood with them; but this is no simple nostalgia trip here,
no -- it is much more complex, for these designer toys contain within
them fairly sophisticated critiques of the childhood longings that
spawned them; they may even be considered, in a critical sense, to be
"self aware" of their status as visible links to and tokens of
childhood pasts that are forever beyond recapturing, except
within their own plastic bodies, which are three-dimensional
materializations, not of the past, not the memories of the past, but
the process of recollection itself, the remembrance of things past --
in plastic. I Am Plastic is probably the best
collection of its sort, and weighing in at 368 oversized pages covered
with full color representations of the galaxy of toys thus far extant,
it's going to be hard to pass up for anyone who finds themselves
longing for the sort of connection these toys provide.
Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre
ordering info
Want to keep going? There's tons more great stuff here, almost all of which is still in stock. Check out our New Arrivals Archives:
3Q 2006: July - September, New Arrivals
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current as of 31 December 2006