
NEW
STUFF ARCHIVES
Copacetic
Arrivals: 2Q 2009
all items still
available (unless otherwise noted)
ordering
info
New for
June 2009
Asterios Polyp
by
David Mazzucchelli
This
is perhaps the longest awaited work in the history of comics (No?
Let us know what, in your estimation, beats it.). Over ten
years in the making, Mazzucchelli's first ever solo graphic
novel, is also his first major work since his 1994 graphic adaptation
of Paul Auster's City of Glass, a trailblazing, highly
influential work which put him at the forefront of the then nascent
"serious" graphic novel movement. David Mazzucchelli's work with
Frank Miller in the mid-80s -- Daredevil: Born Again and
Batman: Year One
-- made him a mainstream comics superstar, but then he walked away
from it all to pursue his own calling of an independent, more
thoughtful form of comics and became a legend in the process.
And now here we are, over twenty years later with his most
important work. Talk about anticipation! Mazzucchelli has spent the
last decade pondering the possibilities and potentials of the comics
form and Asterios Polyp
embodies his findings. Metaphysical speculations in comics form
combine with Mazzucchelli's own idiosyncracies, Eisnerian pathos, and a notable Japanese
aesthetic, as
well as explorations and deconstructions of the printing and production
process
that shows commonality with contemporaries Paul Hornschemeier
(specifically The Three Paradoxes), Dash Shaw (particularly Bodyworld),
and Frank Santoro (pretty much everything), all of which is woven
together in a tale clearly inspired by
classical Greek mythology, dramatics, and philosopohy that commands the
reader's full attention, forcing perceptual and conceptual apparatuses
into overdrive and demanding multiple readings.
retail price -
$29.95 copacetic price
- $26.95
Queer
Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz
by L.
Frank Baum, Walt McDougall and W.W. Denslow
It's
here: the latest gigantic Sunday-page-sized super-book from
Sunday Press, the trailblazing publisher that opened all our eyes to
the glory of early 20th century Sunday comics pages with Little Nemo in
Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays
and its sequels. This time around we are treated to a look at the
super-rare Sunday pages devoted to the wonderful world of Oz.
Here's
what publisher, Peter Maresca has to say: "Now arriving in
Kansas
(and everywhere else): a long-hidden treasure from the Land of
Oz. In
1904 L. Frank Baum, creator of The Wizard of Oz , wrote a
story specifically for the Sunday color comic sections to promote his
second Oz
book. These pages, illustrated by comic pioneer Walt McDougall, ran for
26 weeks and feature some of the most innovative comic strip layouts of
the era. In that same year, a second Oz Sunday feature
appeared, Scarecrow and Tinman, by famed Wizard of Oz illustrator
W.W. Denslow. This sumptuous volume also includes the complete run of
BOTH of these fantasy series, reprinted for the first time in the
original colors and in full broadsheet size. The book also features
additional Denslow comics 1901-03, such as Billy Bounce (the first
superhero of the comics) as well as beautiful comic features from
McDougall and Oz illustrator John R. Neill. This book is full of rarely
seen comic gems - a must-have for all Oz fans and collectors
of classic comic strips." Dig into some details in this
illustrated page on the publisher's site.
72 pages, 16 x 18 inches.
retail price -
$75.00 copacetic price - $75.00 (sorry, no
discount on this one)
Last Year
at Marienbad
directed
by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet
w/
Delphine Deyrig and Girogio Albertazzi
There
are few truly one-of-a-kind films. By any
measure, Last Year at Marienbad
is clearly one of them. A film that is successful like none other
in
recreating a mental landscape, that shows the inner workings of a
restless mind and haunted memory, that employs the language of cinema
to probe the interior twists and turns of consciousness, that
demonstrates how thought is action in a manner that, while tempermentally
quite different from,
may yet be considered the most successful translation of the Proustian
approach to narrative in any film yet realized. Here, in L'année dernière à Marienbad,
like in Á la recherche du temps perdue,
we are confronted with a life turned inside out. Robbe-Grillet,
Resnais & Co. managed a feat that has yet to be repeated, and now
we are presented with the – for now – definitive DVD edition, courtesy
of The Criterion Collection (who else?). This is a two-disc
edition
with some interesting and worthwhile extras – including two short
Resnais documentaries from 1956 & 1958 – but all pale next to the
glory of the restored high-definition transfer of the film
itself.
Your film education is incomplete until you've seen this film.
And
this is also one film that can quite decidedly stand up to repeated
viewings, as its aesthetic pleasures and intellectual challenges are
not easily exhausted.
retail price -
$39.98 copacetic price
- $34.95
Cometbus
52: The Spirit of St. Louis, or How To Break Your Own Heart, a Tragedy
in 24 Parts
by
Aaron Cometbus
It's
safe to say that here we have the item that delivers the biggest
bang for your buck. A mere two dollars will get you this memoir
of
Aaron's early days of punk rock life spent in St. Louis that fills
sixty-four prose-packed pages. Angry? Yes, but chock full
on insights
into human nature and recognitions of the inevitable patterns that so
many fall prey to. The definitive DIY writer continues his
literary
journey. It is certainly safe to say that long time Cometbus
readers
will be joining him, but for those of you who have yet to take a walk
on the Cometbus side of life, now's your chance – just hold onto your
hats!
retail price -
$3.00 copacetic price
- $3.00
Two
Eyes of the Beautiful
by
Ryan Cecil Smith
Based
on Umezuo Kazuo's Blood Baptism, this self-billed
"grotesque horror manga" comes to us from Nishinomiya, Japan, where RCS
is currently hanging his hat and teaching English. Cognizant of
the fact that the largest part of the market for this item lies across
the Pacific Ocean, here in the USA, he has conscientiously jammed as
much as humanly possible into the 28, 4 1/2" x 6" pages and GOCCO
printed cover, so that it can be sent half way around the world without
breaking the bank for shipping costs. Another fine example of
form following
function. Hi-Energy, high quality comics & story-telling are
in ample evidence here and are sure to be enjoyed by fans of fine
hand-made comics wherever on this globe they may reside.
retail price -
$5.00 copacetic price
- $4.00
Low Moon
by
Jason
Here
it is, the first Jason omnibus. Five – count em'! – graphic
novellas in one hardcover volume. All new, none before published
in the United States (although the work whose title supplies that of
the collection, "Low Moon," was serialized in the New York Times).
This works out to less than half the price per work compared to the
softcover editions we're all so familiar with (at the copacetic price,
they're a mere four dollars and change each). The lead off tale,
"Emily Says Hello," is Jason at his darkest. You won't wallow in
despair for long, however, as it is followed by "Low Moon" which is a
quirky – and funny – take on the classic western, as only Jason could
do. Then we have the pivotal, center story, the aptly, if oddly,
named, "&." A period piece set during what appears to be the silent
film era, this is a piece of gloomy slapstick, an apparent
contradiction in terms that only Jason could pull off, and the source
of the cover image. Next up is "Proto Film Noir," which we are
not going to say anything about, just to keep you guessing at what a
story bearing such a title could possibly be about (here's a tip: don't
bother, you'll never guess). Finally, the book closes with "You
Are Here," which may very well be the definitive Jason story, and has
to be one of the most pithy stories ever penned on the price exacted by
the failure of forgiveness. Did we mention that all stories are
full color? While everyone doubtless has their own personal
favorite Jason book, we feel comfortable stating that from an objective
standpoint, this one is clearly the best yet. So, what are you
waiting for?
retail price -
$24.99 copacetic price
- $22.22
Multiforce
by
Mat Brinkman
After
last year's release of Brian Chippendale's Maggots,
this
work is the last major piece of the puzzle that is made up of the
long awaited comics works from the halcyon days of Fort Thunder.
Although those days are now fading into history, the work itself is
only now finally getting the wider exposure it deserves; which, in
turn, will allow the next generation to put together these pieces in
their own original ways. No surprise that this, as well as the
bulk of other Fort Thunder works,
are all
issuing forth from that art
comics publishing powerhouse, PictureBox, Inc. Multiforce
is a megasize (11" x 16.5") saddle-stitched pamphlet comics that brings
together the entirety of this Fort Thunder era serial that
originally ran in the pages of Paper Rodeo from 2000 through
2005. This is truly original work that has had a strong influence
on many of the up and coming generation – but only on those who managed
to get a hold of the hard to come by original copies of Paper
Rodeo. Now it is here for all!
retail price -
$15.00 copacetic price
- sold out!
Cold
Heat Special #9
by
Frank Santoro and Lane Milburn
The
latest Cold Heat Special takes the standard practice of many
hand-made self-published comics (including several of the previous
numbers in this very series) – that of the silk-screened cover encasing
photocopied interior pages – and stands it on its head. Yes,
that's right, you guessed it: this one has a photocopied cover
enclosing 16 hand-silk-screened interior pages of pantomime comics
which pictographically record the spiritual regeneration of
Castle as she merges with both the biological and historical
forces that power her quest for truth, justice and personal
growth. Also from PictureBox. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
copacetic price
- $12.00
Uptight
#3
by
Jordan Crane
Speaking
of long awaited comic books, here's another one that copacetic
customers have been patiently awaiting for (quite) awhile. Well,
we're quite pleased to announce that the wait is over for what is
certainly one of the finest pamphlet comic book series going.
(Although we're not sure if one issue every two years really qualifies
as "going.") This time around we have a kind-of-sort-of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde split issue in which the Dr. Jekyll component
appears an unnamed, cuckolded garage mechanic who is the protagonist in
the first story (although one could easily make the case that it is
girlfriend, Delores, who is in fact the protagonist of this story; but
that would mess up our simile) and Mr. Hyde manifests as the
(re)appearance of Simon from The
Clouds Above
in an all new adventure which, we suspect, serves a compensatory
function. Anyway, it's safe to say that this is one comic book
that no self-respecting comics reader can go without. Especially
as no one can use the excuse of being too broke to afford this
one. It's worth it just for the cover alone.
retail price -
$2.75 copacetic price
- $2.50
Papercutter
#10
by
Dominic Jay, Jesse Reklaw and Minty Lewis
While
perhaps not in quite the rarefied Olympian strata as Uptight,
Papercutter
nonetheless continues to get our vote as the best ongoing, regularly
published (here is where it trounces Uptight - five issues of
Papercutter have been published in the interregnum between the last two
issues of Uptight), anthology comic book title currently on the
market. High quality production and simple, spot-on design
showcase uniformly excellent work by many of today's top independent
comics creators (with a special focus on those in and around
Papercutter-publisher, Tugboat Press's stomping grounds, Portland,
OR). All for a quite reasonable price. And it's regular
publication schedule (Well, they may miss a deadline once in a while,
but the key fact is that they have a deadline in the first place, and
that they actually care if they miss it; this sets them apart in the
relatively lackadaisical world of indy comics publishing. #10 is
a family affair of sorts in that it is primarily composed of two
stories by the comics couple of Jay and Lewis, who are kept at arms
length from one another by the centerfold executed by the one and only
Jesse Reklaw.
retail price -
$4.00 copacetic price
- $3.50
The Color of Water
by
Kim Dong Hwa
The
second volume in the Korean comics (manhwa) trilogy that we highly
praised a couple months back has arrived and it continues to live up to
the promise of the first, The
Color of Earth.
This too is a 300+ page work of finely drawn comics that provide an
intimate and insightful portrait of a young woman's coming of
age. Be sure to give this series a look if you haven't already.
retail price -
$16.95 copacetic price
- $15.25

You'll Never Know
by
Carol Tyler
Well,
you know that Fantagraphics has entered the ranks of the
mainstream when they have a Fathers' Day release, and, yes, you guessed
it, this is it. It is Carol Tyler's memoir of her life with
father (and mother and her own daughter, and more besides... but the
central focus here is on dad). Formally, it shares some aspects
with Maus: the adult child interviewing the elderly father to pry
out the WW II memories before they're lost forever, and the
concomitant presentation that intertwines these present day efforts
with the actual recollections themselves. Tyler, of course,
brings her own distinct visual style to these efforts, but, more than
that, she has hit upon an effective, original formal device of
presenting her father's WW II recollections in the form of a comics
scrapbook/photo-album that is sure to pull at the heartstrings of some
readers. There are probably not an awful lot of Copacetic
customers out there who have a still living father who fought in "the
Big One," so it may seem that we're wasting our breath here, but this
book will be appreciated by anyone who can be engaged by a deeply
personal and heartfelt exploration of family history as well as anyone
who enjoys fine comics,
and will provide a special pleasure to those who would like to
celebrate and explore the father-daughter bond.
retail price -
$24.95 copacetic special price - $19.99
Life, in
Pictures
by
Will Eisner
Somehow,
we neglected to bring this book to your attention when it was
originally released late last year. Like its two fine precursors
in W.W. Norton's fine series reissuing Eisner's classic mature work – The
Contract with God Trilogy and Will Eisner's New York – Life, in
Pictures
is a large, well bound, hardcover edition which contains three complete
works accompanied by critical introductions and annotations, all
printed in the signature sepia tones of Eisner's late work. This
time around we get: The Dreamer, a roman á clef about Eisner's
early years in comics; and two full length graphic novels that provide
a history of Jewish life in America – To the Heart of the Storm
and The Name of the Game.
Also, be sure to keep in mind the fact that these hardcover Eisner
omnibuses are a terrific value as they contain three complete works
each of which retails for $16.95 (except for The Dreamer, which
is less) in softcover. You really can't go wrong.
retail price -
$29.95 copacetic price
- $27.50
Items
from our June 2009 listings may now be purchased online at our new site,
HERE.
Special Bonus Feature - Here's a
report on MoCCA 2009 by Copacetic customer turned comics reporter,
Yakov Hadash: http://snipurl.com/ilikecomics
New for
May 2009
George Sprott
by
Seth
A
few listings down below, we lauded Seth's design of the first volume
of the collected Doug Wright as being, "without
any doubt, Seth's crowning achievement as a book
designer." We are now, in the wake of George Sprott,
forced to add to that comment the qualifier, "working with material
other than his own," for with this
lavishly produced, spectacularly
sized (12" x 14"), and yet modestly priced
volume,
Seth has taken his design to another level by
integrating book design deep into the fabric of his
work; to such a degree that the apprehension and full appreciation of
the material is
inseparable from it. George Sprott is simultaneously a
character study, a historical saga, and a cultural analysis,
but most
of all it is a comics feast prepared by one of today's top cartoonist's
operating at the height of his powers. Make sure you check
out this preview. This is one book you don't want to miss!
retail price -
$24.95 copacetic price
- $22.22
Moomin,
Book Four
by
Tove Jansson
For
the past three years, a new Moomin book has been released each year
during the start of the Christmas season, but this year it looks like
Christmas has come early to Moominland. Also, for some reason we
got it into our head that the complete collected Moomin was only going
to run four volumes, but we were, evidently, mistaken, as Drawn and
Quarterly has already announced the fifth volume. So now we can
all relax and enjoy this new release, free from the angst that would
have accompanied the experience had this indeed been the end of the
line for Moomin comics. Here's
a brief preview.
retail price -
$19.95 copacetic price - $17.77
Luba
by
Gilbert Hernandez
At
last! The second hardcover collection in the epic saga that
began with the mammoth (and now, sadly, out of print*) Palomar.
Luba is a massive 600 page hardback that collects the entirety of
the three previously released softcovers, Luba in America, Luba:
The Book of Ofelia, and Luba: Three Daughters,
and then some. The combined retail price of these three softcover
trades is $59.97 making the choice of this stunning hardcover a
no-brainer for anyone who had yet to purchase this amazing
material. And not only that, this time around the work is printed
on non-reflective flat white stock yielding superior image quality,
which it will make tempting to even those who already have the
trades. Luba follows the the titular character along with
a large supporting cast that spans three generations and the environs
of Mexico and southern California. This is a series that is
populated by some of the most colorful characters in the history of
comics and that's saying something considering they're all printed in
black & white. There
are plot lines, actions, reactions and interactions galore. There
is powerful social commentary side by side with action and laughs, and
more insight into character formation and sexual development than you
will find anywhere else.
retail price -
$39.95 copacetic price - $33.95
(*However, there's no need to despair as
the entirety of Palomar is available in three excellent
softcover volumes, here.)
Che: A Graphic
Biography
by
Spain Rodriguez
Ernesto
"Che" Guevara's life and times are concisely communicated in
exactly 100 pages of comics written and drawn by the man born for the
job, Spain Rodriguez. One of the founding members of the original
Underground Comix generation that helped define the 1960s, Spain (the
single name by which he is commonly known and referred to in the comics
world, but not, alas, in the wider world, for then we could have had a
book that was titled, simply, an more appropriately, "Che
by Spain") is someone who is sure to have been conversant with Che's
iconic and political status during those heady days when his life and
work was still in the air and so have had ample time during
the ensuing forty-some years since his death
to ruminate upon Che's significance as
well as digest the morass of historical data and coordinate the diverse
opinions into a single, solid over-arching narrative; this he has
done. In yet another example of the communicative efficiency of
comics, this work, which can be successfully absorbed after dinner,
imparts the saga of an era that will leave its readers more worldly and
skeptical. It must be said that most of the negative aspects that
have been imputed to Che's character have been ignored and that some
(i.e. conservative) critics will doubtless view this portrayal as a
"whitewash." Regardless of any and all opinions on the pros and
cons of Che the man, we're confident in our positive appraisal of "Che"
by Spain as making for an absorbing read.
retail price -
$16.95 copacetic SALE price - $7.77
The
Photographer
by
Emmanuel Guibert (he wrote and drew it), Didier Lefevre (he lived it
and photographed it) & Frédéric Lemercier (he laid
out and colored it) - translated from the French by Alexis Siegel
A
unique – at least in our experience – work, The Photographer
interweaving the actual photographs taken by intrepid photojournalist
Lefevre during his numerous journeys in Afghanistan accompanying Medicins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors
Without Borders
to us Yanks) during 1986, when the country was at war with the
USSR and, as the cold war had yet to be resolved, was therefore, at
that time, a strategic ally of the USA; meaning that the CIA
was working hand-in-glove with the likes of Osama bin Laden and the
Taliban. While Che
shows comics excelling at digesting large amounts of historical
information into a concise cohesive narrative, this work excels in
another way: that of putting the reader right there in this far
away alien place, and then guiding them while simultaneously
interpreting the experience. In this way the reader, too, can be
there, after a fashion, and connect to these lives of "others" that are
so different from our own, and yet, if only by virtue of our shared
humanity, still remain, at their most basic level, the same. Learn more
by reading this
interview with Emmanuel Guibert as well as Kate
Culkin's review at Publisher's Weekly.
retail price -
$29.95 copacetic price - $26.95
Underground Classics:
The Transformation of Comics to Comix
by
James Danky and Denis Kitchen
This
oversize hardcover book is published, by Abrams ComicArts, in
conjunction with the exhibit of the same name that originated with the
Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin in the spring of this
year. Hail, hail, the gang's all here! Underground comix
veterans Jay Lynch, Trina Robbins, and Denis Kitchen (with the able
assistance of James Danky), all provide essays, as does official comix
chronicler, Patrick Rosenkranz, as does leftist extraordinaire, Paul
Buhle (who also co-authored the afterword to Spain's Che,
listed above; hmmm... we're sensing a serious swing to the Left
here). And then there's the documentation of the exhibit
itself: nearly ninety full-page, full color reproductions (of
works that were, please keep in mind, executed for the most part in pen
& ink, in black & white) of original underground comic book
(or, comix) pages. Pretty much everyone you would expect is
included, as well as a few surprises you might not be familiar
with. A great retrospective that is sure to be appreciated by
artists, scholars, historians, and fans.
retail price -
$29.95 copacetic price - $26.95
The
Color of Earth
by
Kim Dong Hwa
The
first volume of a trilogy, the remainder of which is scheduled for
release over the coming year, The Color of Earth represents the first
major Korean work of graphic fiction – known as manhwa – to be
published in the United
States. The work is of uniformly high quality and is filled with
many
poetic interludes where the drawings and their pacing transport the
reader to meditative states. Students of manga will have much to
ponder in as they study Hwa's work to discern those aspects of it that
might be isolated as being specifically Korean and so distinguish
manhwa from manga. The tale is set in a timeless village in rural
Korea and chronicles the
relationship of a widowed mother and her daughter as the daughter
matures from girl to woman. Read Kate
Culkin's (yes, again) review on Publishier's Weekly
to learn more, then, if you're still not convinced, make sure you take
a look at it and see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
retail price -
$16.95 copacetic price - $15.25
The Collected Doug
Wright – Canada's Master Cartoonist: 1949 - 1962
edited
by Seth and Brad Mackay
This
book is, without any doubt, Seth's crowning achievement as a book
designer. Into it he, and co-conspirator Brad Mackay, have poured
all their enthusiasm for their subject. To say that Doug Wright
is the Charles Schulz of Canada is not fair to either party, but as
this comparison is alluded to in the book's introduction it serves to
give some idea how high the regard is for Wright and his work among
those who appreciate his work. Unlike Schulz, who has ever been
before our eyes in death as in life, Wright has effectively faded from
sight. Thus, in order to forcefully revivify his corpus, dramatic
measures are called for, and this volume is nothing if not
dramatic. The cover is – with the exception of a die-cut oval in
the upper center revealing an embossed portrait of "Nipper," Wright's
most famous creation – a solid wraparound of glossy metallic ruby red,
making look like the gift to its readers that it is clearly intended to
be, as well as boldly announcing the retinal reverb in red that is
this volume's central design motif.
It measures a regal 11" x 15", runs 240 pages printed in full color and
black & white as called for, and is designed with a flair that
simply must be seen up close and personal to truly appreciate (a meager
simulacra of its aesthetic pleasures may be had here.).
Evidently, while the work contained in this volume brings tears of
nostalgic joy to its Anglophone Canadian creators, it brings tears of
anger to at
least one
Canadian(?) of Francophone persuasion, whose piece while reeking of
sour grapes nevertheless provides some interesting historical context
in which to view the work on display here. We'll go on record as
finding this collection to be a true joy to behold that is in no way
dependent on one's opinion (or, indeed, of the fact) of the lasting
value of the work it collects: this volume stands on its own by
the simple fact that its design and presentation so effectively
embodies its creators' reverence for Wright
and his work.
retail price -
$39.95 copacetic price - $35.00
Closed
Caption Comics 8
by
the Closed Caption Posse
We
usually pick this up every year in the fall, at SPX, but CCC is way
ahead of schedule this year and the Copacetic shelves have already been
graced with this hand-embossed-cover-sporting 80-Page Giant packed with
brand new comics the likes of which you won't be finding anywhere
else. The gang's all here, including – among
others –
Lane
Milburn, Mollie O'Connell, Ryan Cecil Smith, Conor Stechschulte, Molly
Goldstrom, and cover artist Erin Womak. The comics from Closed
Caption Comics that we pick up every year at SPX have pretty much
all
been hits here at Copacetic, most of all this, the flagship
title. While we believe that it's fair to say that CCC is working
with some of the tropes established by Fort Thunder, there is quite a
bit of original work here, and anyone interested in deeply personal,
artistically informed comics work should be checking this out.
retail price -
$8.00 copacetic special price - $6.00
The
Eternal Smile
by
Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim
More
than a long-awaited follow-up, this hefty, full-color volume teams
two of the brightest lights of the Asian-American comics scene to bring
readers of comics a triptych of tales celebrating universal themes that
incorporate motifs from fairy tales, myths and legends and integrate
them into the fabric of contemporary California life. Fans of
formal invention will find plenty to celebrate as well. Yang,
author of the multiple award-winning American Born Chinese, and
Kim, author of the amazing Same Difference, employ
between them a host of styles and techniques to properly situate the
content of their narratives in the readers minds
retail price -
$16.95 copacetic price - $15.25
Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith
Chow and Jerry Ma
200
pages of original superhero comics by and about Asian-American
characters. Published by The New Press, SI
was years in the making and presents an amazing array of talent
displaying an impressive diversity of artistic approaches and
techniques. Here's a review worth
reading, from Reappropriate,
"a personal & political blog by
an angry Asian American woman."
retail price -
$21.95 copacetic price - $19.75

Tank
Girl One & Two: The Remastered Edition
by
Jamie Hewlett & Alan C Martin
These
new editions of Tank Girl feature: superior
reproduction (especially of the color pieces) printed on a larger paper
size, enabling a greater appreciation of Jamie Hewlett's fine ink
stylings; new introductions by Tank Girl co-creator, Alan Martin,
filling in some details, in Book One, about Tank Girl's origins and
early days, and, in Book Two, about various behind-the-scenes creative
goings on; rare photos, alternate covers, promo posters, early drawings
and the like; ALL the original Deadline Magazine covers in
which these stories first appeared (although we must
inform you that these reproductions are thumbnail size); full-size
reproductions of all the original covers to the Dark Horse Comics
editions in which (most of) these stories first saw print stateside; and,
last but certainly not least, bits of of work not collected in the
first edition of these Titan trade collections. AND, they're less
expensive than the old editions. What's
not to like?
retail price -
$14.95 copacetic price - $13.50
Connective
Tissue
by
Bob Fingerman
Video
store clerk Darla Vogel, the protagonist of this work, a nutty
hybrid novel of prose and illustrations, with comics epilogue, might be
considered a New York disciple of Tank Girl, so this seems a good place
to bring this work to your attention. The art here shows that
Fingerman has definitely been paying close attention to Kyle Baker's
work,and what's not to like about that? The Fanta hype
states: "If William Burroughs, Lewis Carroll, HP Lovecraft, and
Harvey Kurtzman ever collaborated, the result might resemble (this)
bold new confection of words and pictures."
retail price -
$22.99 copacetic special price - $17.77
The Brinkley Girls
by
Nell Brinkley
edited
by Trina Robbins
While
they might seem to be located on the other end of the spectrum of
femininity from Tank Girl
and Darla Vogel, this is simply a lack of historical perspective. "The
Brinkley Girls" are actually the daring cartoon precursors to
today's freaky females. In fact, much of the work contained in
this volume is formally similar to Bob Fingerman's in that it is a
combination of prose and illustration, with an admittedly very big
difference being that here, with Nell Brinkley, it is the illustrations
that are quite dominant, while the reverse is the case in Fingerman's
work. As Brinkley's work evolved, some of it took on more of a
sequential, comics-oriented approach, but it remained unique both its
style and flavor throughout is nearly thirty year run. The Brinkley
Girls were the creation of one Nell Brinkley, a fabulously talented
artist – and a glamour girl in her own right – who plied her trade in
the rough and tumble masculine world of Hearst
Publications, specifically The American
Weekly,
during the years 1913 through 1940. Editor Robbins has done an
equally fabulous job of assembling the material for this fine volume
(which, by the way, is an elegantly proportioned 10" x 13" hardcover
volume, printed in full color – from high resolultion scans of original
materials – throughout its 136 pages), and her fine introductory essay
puts it all in context. The artwork here simply has to be seen to
be believed. Brinkley, rather than create a continuity based on a
single character
or set of characters, after the fashion of practically all other
cartoonists, instead created an series of discrete self-contained
continuity adventures featuring non-recurring characters that ran a set
number weeks and then ended, to be followed by a new adventure.
What connected them all, is that, figuratively speaking, they all
"starred" a set of Brinkley's gorgeous – and gorgeously rendered –
golden girls,and this is what ensured their lasting fame.
Brinkley's work influenced a host of classic newspaper cartoonists,
most notably Dale
Messick,
the creator of Brenda Starr, and its inffluence continues to be felt,
both directly and indirectly, today: The work of Dame D'Arcey
will appear in a whole new light after you've spent some time with this
volume. Opening this book will open your eyes to an era and an
artist.
retail price -
$29.99 copacetic special price - $25.00
And
now for something completely copacetic... Depression
Buster Bargain™ #2!
The Complete Monty Python's
Flying Circus Collector's Edition Mega-Set
Copacetic
Comics is amazed to present our second Depression
Buster Bargain™:
A
mind-boggling box of 21 discs
featuring just about everything ever produced for television
under the
aegis of Monty
Python's Flying Circus, and then some – over 36 hours
worth (and that's not even including the copious bonus material) – at
an equally mind-boggling price!
The
complete series, three live films, one German television
show, six personal best shows, two NEW documentary films and bonus
galore! What can we say about Monty Python that
hasn't been said
before? Taking the angsty absurdity of post-WWII
European
existentialists across the English channel and then running it
through
the Goon Show
grinder, and, via American ex-pat and former
Harvey
Kurtzman underling,Terry Gilliam, adding a touch of Mad, the Python posse somehow
stumbled on a secret
formula involving a heretofore unseen combination
of startlingly original format, style and sense of humor that
gave birth to a
once in a lifetime television experience that is now available at
may be a once in a lifetime price. Perfect timing, we say.
retail
price - $159.95
copacetic depression
buster price - sold
out!
Items
from our May 2009 listings may now be purchased online at our new site,
HERE.
ordering
info
New for
April 2009
In
order to to make it to the promised land of a "new comics" we must
first scale "the mountains of the past." With this month's
lead-off trio of
books, some important mountains come to us, making them that much
easier to scale and so bringing those of us willing to do so that much
closer to our goal...
Supermen
edited and designed by Greg Sadowski
introduction by Jonathan Lethem
Ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and see the wonders of the
ages! This is where it all began: the protoplasmic early
days of the superhero comic book -- wild & heady, zany & crazy,
fantastic & non-sensical, rough around the edges; all this and
more. Reading these stories is like witnessing history in the
making, it is being present at the birth. Sure, we've all read
those original Superman and Batman stories along with other DC
classics, as well as
a those old Captain America, Submariner, Human Torch tales, and maybe a
few other Golden Age Marvels (well, Timelys, actually), but these are
usually presented in a self-promoting fashion by their corporate owners
which mitigates and obscures the historical context in which these
works need to be read to fully appreciate their novelty. The work
here spans the years 1936 to 1941, with the bulk of it originating in
1939 and 1940. It is divided by publisher and includes the Comics
Magazine Company, Chesler, Centaur, Fox, MLJ, Fiction House, Columbia,
Your Guide/Rhoda and Novelty Press, Some of the earliest work by
the brightest stars of the Golden Age are collected here: Jack
Kirby, Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Jack Cole, Basil Wolverton, Bill Everett,
Ogden Whitney, Dick Briefer, Fred Guardineer, and, yes, Fletcher
Hanks. It appears that this volume has been put together
employing high quality scans of the original comic books which were
then digitally restored and and enhanced and then crisply printed on
flat (non-glossy) bright paper stock, and the results are
excellent, A minor quibble is that, for our money, we would have
preferred an off-white paper that more closely matches the newsprint
upon which these comics were originally printed, but this is negligible
when stacked next to all that is right with the production. While
it should go without saying that no self-respecting comics scholar can
pass this up, we hasten to add that anyone who misses the plain old fun
that we associate with the term comic book, who wants a jolt of that
good ol' four-color energy from back in the day, need look no further
than this fine volume.
retail price -
$24.99 copacetic price - $22.22
The Best
of Simon and Kirby
By (well, yes, of course) Jack Kirby and Joe Simon
edited by Steve Saffel, with essays by Mark Evanier and an introduction
by Joe Simon
Just say no to those horribly overpriced and poorly produced Marvel
Masterworks and DC Archives editions and say hello to this sumptuous
oversize hardcover edition that does it right. Not only is this
240
page book, at 9" x 13", a full 30% larger than these volumes, but the
images are taken from excellent resolution scans of the original comics
and it is printed on high quality flat white stock, and, as if
that weren't enough, it is priced 20% less!
Kudos to the fine folks at Titan Books for a job well done. And
then
there's the work itself. The over two dozen tales taken from this
two-decade-long partnership that are contained in this volume amply
display
the breadth of vision and amazing ability of this dynamic duo.
The
work is divided by genre and then presented chronologically within each
of the categories, which are: "The Heroes," "Way Out Science
Fiction," "War and Adventure," "The Birth of Romance," "Crime Drama,"
"The Great Western," "Oh! The Horror!" and "Sick Humor." Simon
and
Kirby really could do it all! While we here at Copacetic will
always
maintain that the creative engine was primarily powered by Kirby while
the business brains and marketing savvy were Simon's, Mark Evanier,
working with the still living Simon to put out this volume simply
repeats Jack's consummately diplomatic response to the question of who
did what – "We both did everything" – and leaves it at that. No
matter
how you look at it, though, this team was one of the most important in
the history of comics, and this is a book that no self respecting
comics
fan should be without (unless, or course, they already own the original
comics, in which case our hat's off to them).
retail price -
$39.95 copacetic price - $35.00
Boody: The Bizarre
Comics of Boody Rogers
edited by Craig Yoe
While some of the curatorial aspects of this publication leave
much to be desired, the work on display here
is 100% pure comic books, and we won't hesitate to deliver our thanks
to Mr. Yoe and Fantagraphics Books for giving this work a second lease
on life and bringing it before a whole new audience who can now get the
chance to appreciate the quirky eccentricities and idiosyncrasies and
just plain old personality that gets transmuted into four-color folk
wisdom here through the magic of lines on paper. This is an
excellent
companion piece to the the book, Supermen, also published by
Fantagraphics and listed above. Both publications employ the
magic of
scanning to provide readers with high quality facsimiles of the
original comic book pages with all their inherent aesthetic qualities
and quirks intact. The comics work of Boody Rogers is thoroughly
charming in its naive weirdness and is unique in so many ways that it's
hard to know where to begin. Let's just suffice it to say that
Rogers's grasp of the vernacular of his time and place combined with
his mastery of the craft of cartooning makes for an Americana that's
loaded with insights into the quotidian quirks in our nation's
character that you'd be hard pressed to find in such an easily
assimilable form anywhere else.
retail price -
$19.99 copacetic price - $17.77

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5
by Michael Kupperman
Yes, it's comics as only Michael Kupperman can do them. Once you
enter
the pages of these thrizzling tales you can say good-bye to
rationality, logic and all the rest of those old-fashioned ways of
making sense of the universe. Here you will discover that history
is
in the eye of the beholder and that when it's viewed through the eyes
of Mr. Kupperman, well then, let's just say it looks a little bit
different than you remembered it. The centerpiece of this, the
"Old
People's Issue," is the adventures of Twain & Einstein, a
compendium of mustachioed mayhem. In addition we are treated to
tall
tales of Ben Franklin, Buzz Aldrin, and The Monkees™, as well as
"Sherlock Holmes versus Jungle Boy," "Real Old-Timey Horror," "Legs To
Die For," and so much more!
retail price -
$4.50 copacetic price - $4.00
Rumbling, Chapter 2
by Kevin Huizenga
This new self-published release marks the terminus of a round-trip of
sorts. Customers of long-standing will recall that Huizenga burst
into Copacetic consciousness with the startlingly original work
contained in his self-published series, Super Monster, which climaxed
with the 14th issue, the one-of-a-kind masterwork entitled Gloriana Comics (which
was reprinted as Or Else #2, see
below). It was not long after the publication of this issue that
Huizenga was "signed" by Drawn & Quarterly, who went on to publish
several new pieces in D
& Q Showcase #1, a continuing series, Or Else -
which combined material from Super Monster with newer material
-- and then released a hardcover collection, Curses,
which pulled this and other material together. Huizenga's work
has/is also been/being published by Fantagraphics (Ganges) and
Buenaventura (Kramers Ergot, Fight or Run) as well. Yet, while
his star was rising over the field of contemporary comics, he continued
to self publish smaller, more personal / less accessible works such as untitled,
Sermons and New Construction. Now, a combination of
market realities, personal preference and artistic aims has brought
about the cessation of Or Else and the bringing forward of
Huizenga's self-publishing efforts. Rumbling, Chapter 2
continues the "adaptation" (really, a massive inflation [reinflation?]
of a work "from which all the air has been removed" – Manganelli's
stated aim in creating one hundred novels each of forty lines) of Centuria:
One Hundred Ouroboric Novels (#44) by Giorgio Manganelli that
began in Or Else #5. Rumbling,
as we stated in our review of the first part, imagines a United States
embroiled in a sectarian struggle which has metastasized into armed
military conflict that simultaneously harkens back to the religious
wars of pre-Enlightenment Europe as well as the present armed struggles
in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. It works to imagine how these wars
might come about and what they might look like if they occurred on US
soil. This continuation is bracketed by a dense two-page lead-in
that offers a different sort of speculation: that concerning a look
back from the future brought about by the future imagined in Rumbling
and the consequent technological evolutions that occur and how they in
turn reformat consciousness; a sort of flash-forward within a
flash-forward, or a speculation within a speculation...
Intellectually digesting the contents of this issue involves a
fairly advanced level of abstraction in order to successfully process.
And a knowledge of the history of religious conflict certainly
wouldn't hurt. That said, Rumbling furthers Huizenga's unique
employment of the language of comics to craft a heuristic exposition on
the centrality of process in the contemporary historical
dialectic. In addition, by crafting narratives which delineate
the steady erosion of our human being that is effected by the merciless
march of history and so provide a cautionary tales by which to avoid
the worst of it, while simultaneously trying to win back the heart of
the matter by insinuating a morally guided reason inside the machine,
Huizenga strives to remind us that there are many possible worlds and
it's up to us which one we choose to live in.
retail price -
$3.00 copacetic price - $3.00
A
Mess of Everything
by Miss Lasko-Gross
Here we have the continuation of the memoir began in 2007's Escape
from Special about
the turbulent high school years of a troubled teenager. As with
the
initial volume, this one is all about navigating the perils of growing
up. Drug (ab)use and shoplifting, rock 'n' roll and school
scribblings, self-esteen issues and anxiety, friendship and alienation,
comic books and cooking class, dealing with the 'rents and the first
fumblings of romance -- it's all here.
retail price -
$19.99 copacetic price - $17.77

My Mommy Is In America and She Met Buffalo Bill
Jean Regnaud & Émile Bravo
This volume represents a bit of a departure for Fanfare/Ponent Mon, who
have to date primarily focused on translating and publishing the best
of contemporary Japanese manga (most notably the work of Jiro
Taniguchi) so that they may rest under western eyes. My Mommy
is a French graphic novel that is aimed at younger readers (In addition
to winning the "Essentials Award" at the 2008 Angouleme Festival, it
received the 2008 Tam Tam Literary Award from Salon du Livres er de la
Presse Jeunesse, in the category of comic album, age group: 8-13 years
old). Readers of MOME will recognize Bravo's distinct style as it
brings to life Regnaud's tale of a lonely five year-old boy who lives
with his father and younger brother, but terribly misses his absent
mother. Take a quick look, here.
retail price -
$25.00 copacetic price - $22.22
Mother, Come Home
by Paul Hornschemeier
Here's
the work that brought Hornschemeier critical and
commercial success when it was initially published, first in the pages
of Forlorn Funnies #2 - 4 (2002-03), and then in a softcover trade from
Dark Horse in 2004. After being unavailable for the last year or
so,
it is now back in print in its first ever
hardcover edition, from Fantagraphics Books.
retail price -
$22.99 copacetic price - $20.00
Funny Misshapen Body
by Jeffrey Brown
A brand new 200+ page Jeffrey Brown piece
about, yes, his funny misshapen body, but also a whole lot more
besides. This book is composed of a chocolate box assortment of
vignettes from many different periods of the life of Jeffrey
Brown.
There is no immediately apparent order to the pieces, so this seems to
be a good book to just open at random and dip in here and there as the
mood strikes. School days, from kindergarten through college gets
the
most ink here, with the usual focus on high school. He definitely
ranges beyond his usual obsessions of girls and sex (very little of
which is on display in this Simon and Schuster publication), with
a special
focus on his experiences with doctors and hospitals. Brown's work
is as engaging as ever here despite the topical differences, so we're
confident that his long time fans will find much to enjoy (In addition,
this might
make a good gift book for anyone bedridden with a digestive
disorder...).
retail
price -
$16.00 copacetic price - $14.44
I Saw You
edited by Julia Wertz
Yes,
it's a comics anthology entirely
consisting of comics inspired by "real-life" missed connection ads
posted on Craigslist. These short tales range from sad to
pathetic to
depressing to funny to deranged to impossible-to-describe. An
astonishing 98 artists contributed to this anthology, including – but
not limited to – Sarah Oleksyk, Jesse Reklaw, Sam Henderson, Peter
Bagge, Liz Prince, Shannon Wheeler, Laura Park, Jeffrey Brown, Keith
Knight, Elijah Brubaker, Greg Means, Gabrielle Bell, Alec Longstreth
and Aaron Renier. If nothing else, this massive array of talent
testifies to the universality of Craigslist. This book probably
has
something important to say about interpersonal relationships in the
internet era, if we can only figure out what it is...
retail
price -
$12.95 copacetic price - $11.75
Be a Nose! Three
Sketchbooks
by Art Spiegelman
In inimitable McSweeney's fashion, this publication recreates three of
Art Spiegelman's actual sketchbooks, accompanies them with a small
stand alone guide that would make you think of an oversized CD booklet
even if it wasn't titled "Liner Notes," and then secures them with an
old fashioned book strap to create this one of a kind item that is sure
to appeal to design fans . The first and smallest of the sketchbooks
dates from 1979 and shows art just getting under way; the second and by
far the most vital, engaging and intriguing, dates from 1983, at what
may be the apogee of his creativity, during the Raw/Maus era, and shows
him clearly (at least at times) under the spell of Gary Panter; the
third, is amazingly recent, dating from 2007, is surprisingly deft,
showing Spiegelman in more of a Crumb mood and thinking visually
again. It is doubtless this return to sketchbook-making that has
led
to this publication as Spiegelman was famously adverse to the idea in
the past. Any and all intrigued with the revolution in comics
brought
about by Raw would benefit by a trip through these, as would artists interested in learning
Spiegleman's methodology, influences and development.
retail
price -
$29.00 copacetic price - $25.00
Adventures
in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics
by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, Alexis Frederick-Frost
And here's a book to help nurture the next
generation of Art Spiegelmans. This volume was produced under the aegis
of The Center for Cartoon
Studies.
It is the creation of the Center's director, James Sturm, and two of
his students.
It very simply provides the basic building blocks of comics while
embodying core CCS principles of story-telling. It is primarily geared
to encourage and empower youngsters to create comics of
their own and is priced to encourage parents and relatives to buy it
for them (or even for them to buy it themselves). There's a swell
17 page excerpt on the web, here.
Check it out!
retail
price -
$12.95 copacetic price - $11.75
The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
by Nicholas Gurewitch
This is a giant, 256 page, oversize, horizontally formatted hardcover
volume collecting the bulk of the extant PBF strips as well as several
appendices wherein are found "lost" unpublished comics accompanied by
brief explanations as to the basis of their exclusion; sketches and
thumbnails; and a fairly lengthy interview, which , taken together, go
a fair ways into demonstrating Gurewitch's creative process.
retail price -
$24.99 copacetic price - $22.22
Alex Toth in Hollywood
by Alex Toth
This 160 page 8 1/2" x 11" collection contains some of Toth's
finest. In it we find four full-issue-length stories, all dating
to the late 1950s, from the Dell Four Color series of one-shots:
"The Wings of Eagles" (#790), "The Lennon Sisters" (#951), "The Law
Trap"
(#992), and "The FBI Story" (#1069). In addition there are three
short stories of 6, 8 & 10 pages in length from roughly the same
period -- two westerns and a comedy featuring Danny Thomas.
Classic stuff!
retail price -
$25.00 copacetic special price - $19.99
The Believer Magazine
- March/April 09 (#61): The 2009 Film Issue
It's been awhile since we went out of our way to mention The
Believer in this space. It seems as though we've begun to
take it for granted: another month (or two), another Believer.
But this time around we were compelled to sit up and take notice.
The DVD that accompanies this issue would, in all likelihood, under
normal circumstances command a price higher than that being charged for
this entire issue. Titled JLG in USA, this 3+ hour disc
contains what may possibly be the entirety of extant work documenting
French filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard's stateside forays. It
contains 2 not-quite-full-length documentaries – Two
American Audiences (Mark Woodcock, 1968, 40 minutes) and Godard
in America (Ralph Tranhauser, 1970, 50 minutes); Two 30-minute
episodes of The Dick Cavett Show devoted to Godard that were
taped on the occasion (circa 1980) of Godard's "come-back" film, Sauve
qui peut (la vie); an eight-minute romp with Godard and friends at
Del Mar Beach near San Diego – A Weekend at the Beach with Jean-Luc
Godard
(Ira Schneider, 1979, 8 minutes, video); and a slideshow by Jeffrey
Blankfort of Godard's visit to San Francisco and Oakland during Huey
Newton's trial. And that's just the DVD! The issue itself
is overflowing with film related contents, most notably interviews with
key independent filmmakers Michael Leigh (a Copacetic fave), John
Sayles, Julie Delpy and Sam Mendes; an illustrated feature on the
wonder of Polish film posters; The Believer Book Award (always worth
reading) and plenty more. All for one amazingly low price!
retail price -
$10.00 copacetic price - $9.00
Together Through Life
(CD)
by Bob Dylan
And
we'll leave you with this, the new Dylan LP from which our opening
reference to "the mountains of the past" is taken. It's his 33rd
solo
release (it's too bad he didn't have a record for which he was
one-third responsible, for then, he could have followed Fellini --
whose first film he was only half responsible for, thus giving him the
option of naming a film "8 1/2" -- and named this record "33 1/3",
[although, then again, maybe we're better off this way...]). The
new Dylan album is uncanny. After putting it on for only the
second time, some of the songs feel like old favorites. It really
feels like some of these songs are well worn tunes even though they're
brand new (However, our resident expert on all things recorded, Michael
Prosser, informs us that this may very well be due to the fact that the
melodies are primarily recycled blues classics). Here's
the official promotional interview, where Dylan talks about it.
The LP available in three formats:
standard, single CD: retail price - $18.97 copacetic price - $12.99
Deluxe
edition w/bonus CD of Dylan's radio show and DVD interview with Ron
Silver:
retail price - $25.99 copacetic price - $18.88
and
vinyl (2-Disc, 180 gram vinyl, w/ complimentary CD):
retail price - $29.99 copacetic price - $25.00
Items
from our April 2009 listings may now be purchased online at our new
site, HERE.
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:
1Q 2009: January - March, New
Arrivals
4Q
2008: October - December, New
Arrivals
3Q 2008: July - September, New
Arrivals
2Q 2008: April - June, New
Arrivals
1Q 2008: January - March, New
Arrivals
4Q
2007: October - December, New
Arrivals
3Q
2007: July - September, New
Arrivals
2Q
2007: April - June, New
Arrivals
1Q 2007: January - March, New
Arrivals
4Q
2006: October - December, New
Arrivals
3Q
2006: July - September, New
Arrivals
2Q
2006: April - June, New
Arrivals
1Q 2006: January - March, New
Arrivals
4Q 2005: October - December, New
Arrivals
3Q
2005: July - September, New Arrivals
2Q
2005: April - June, New Arrivals
1Q
2005: January - March, New Arrivals
4Q
2004: October - December, New Arrivals
3Q
2004: July - September, New Arrivals
2Q
2004: April - June, New Arrivals
1Q
2004: January - March, New Arrivals
4Q
2003: October - December, New Arrivals
3Q
2003: July - September, New Arrivals
2Q
2003: April - June, New Arrivals
1Q
2003: January - March, New Arrivals
2002:
January - December New Arrivals
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