NEW
STUFF ARCHIVES
New for
March 2010
The Art of Jaime Hernandez:
The
Secrets of Life and Death
by Todd Hignite
introduction by Alison Bechdel
YES! It's here: a dream come true. Designed by Jordan
Crane, and perfectly printed on
high quality flat white stock, every page of this oversize hardcover
book is a
wonder. Where to start with a book like this? Well, first
off, there are the page after flawless
page of full color reproductions of Jaime's black and white (and
color) original artwork – including many pieces of unpublished
art, several of which are real eye-openers! Then there is the
uncovered cache of
rare ephemera like punk rock fliers, early L & R ads, and local and
national magazine covers. Also unearthed are drawings from
Jaime's childhood years,
including those that cover Jaime's Oxnard High School Pee-Chee folder,
amongst which is one of the first ever depictions of Maggie!
Best of all, there is a veritable family scrap book worth of
photos documenting the Hernandez clan's development from its earliest
days (Jaime in diapers!) on up through the halcyon days of punk rock
splendor and beyond that will have long time Love and Rockets fans dewy eyed more
than once. AND,
this book isn't just about the art, it's also about the man behind the
art. It's full of choice quotes from Jaime and others in his
circle, all of which go a long way towards shedding light on the
particular nature of his genius. Our favorite so far is this gem
of Jaime's, in response to the suggestion that he build on his
popularity
to step into the mainstream: "That's not the next step. Love and Rockets is the last step. I 'made it' when
we did the first issue. Everything else – The New York Times, even making a
movie – is lesser than Love and Rockets, as far as I'm concerned,
and everyone else should treat their work that way. If it's your
own work, it should be treated as the last thing, not the first
thing." Amen to that. Written and curated by Comic Art Magazine founding editor,
Todd Hignite, this massive hardcover volume builds on and extends Comic Art's tradition of high
standards in writing, graphic design and production. Hignite's
introduction, craftily employing Jaime's New York Times
serial "La Maggie la Loca" as both its jumping off point and visual
foil, is a model of concise clear prose in the service of promoting an
ideal. The
body of the book constructs a well rounded portrait of the artist that
will stand the test of time. We'd say more, but we're all too
busy poring
over the pages and dabbing our eyes...
retail price - $40.00 copacetic
price -
$34.00
Penny
Century
by Jaime Hernandez
Well, talk about an embarassment of riches! Not only have we been
treated to the long awaited Art of
Jaime, but now we also have the latest in the splendiferous series of trade
paperback volumes that, since 2007, have been repackaging the classic
work of both Jaime and Beto. Penny
Century is the fourth Jaime volume and the first to present his
work that appeared after the conclusion of the initial seminal run of Love and Rockets. The book
opens with the one of kind classic of comics choreography that is Whoa Nellie!, Jaime's 68 page ode
to women's wrestling. Then we are treated to the super fabuous
experience of the Maggie and Hopey
Color Fun one-shot in glorious black & white. The bulk
of the book collects the titular seven-issue series in its entirety
(yes?), followed by the "secret origin" of the lead character, "Bay of
Threes," from the fifth issue of the second volume of Love and Rockets. 248 pages
of Jaime Hernandez in fine form. Is there really anything else
that needs to be said?
retail price - $18.99 copacetic
price -
$14.99
High
Soft Lisp
by Gilbert Hernandez
And for any Love and Rockets fans who thought things were getting a
little too Jaime-centric there, we now present the latest in the
original series of trade paperback volumes collecting the work that
originally appeared in comic book form. High Soft Lisp collects work that
originally appeared in both the second volume of Love and Rockets, as well as from
Gilbert's solo title, Luba's Comics
and Stories. Collectors should take note of the fact that
the indicia states that "a few pages have been added, and some have
been altered" in the service of creating a more unified feel. And
readers should also take note that Gilbert's hormones were, apparently,
in overdrive during the period when this work was created, as there is
quite an abundant amplitude of sexual activity on display here as
Gilbert puts Fritz & Co. through the paces in his attempt to
delineate the heartbreak that is immanent in every act of sexual
congress that occurs in a world where all is surface, where what you
see – and only what you see – is what you get; a world where everyone
is living in their own personal movie and every life is merely a role.
retail price - $16.99 copacetic
price -
$13.99
Manga Kamishibai:
The Art
of Japanese Paper Theater
by Eric P. Nash
introduction by Frederik L. Schodt
Paralleling the rise of comic strips in the US, Kamishibai – paper
theater – originated during the early 1930s in Japan, and experienced
its heyday during the subsequent 20 years. At its height, during
the post war years, it entertained over five million children and
adults daily! This lushly printed and designed hardcover volume
presents over 300 pages of full color illustrations covering the entire
history of the medium from its inception through its glory days to its
inevitable decline and current status as a classical form still
employed in educational settings. Manga Kamishibai opens a window on
a forgotten world.
retail price - $35.00 copacetic
price -
$29.75
Thor:
Tales of Asgard
by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
Well, as much as we hate to admit it, every once in a while Marvel
Comics gets it right, and this is one of those times. This full
color hardcover volume presents 260 pages of Kirby and Lee greatness
from the pages of Journey Into
Mystery and Thor, all
taken from the
magic era of their original runs in the early and mid-1960s. Add
to that a fairly swell 40+ page bonus section and wild six-page foldout
of all six covers of the recent mini-series that forms an impressively
dramatic portrait of the major players in the Nordic mythos that is the
basis for the stories contained herein, and you've got a pretty darn
decent entertainment value. Yes, the stories have been recolored,
and so are not 100% true to the spirit of the original, and while we'd
be lying if we said this didn't bother us, we will give credit where
credit is due and say that, Matt Milla, the colorist assigned the job,
chose a suitably muted pallete of colors that helps to counterbalance
the glaring brightness of the glossy, clay-coated paperstock that the
powers that be at Marvel irritatingly continue to insist on for their
archival productions, and so allows – for the most part – the strength
and nobility of Kirby's compositions to come through. These are
stories that old-timers
will be certain to enjoy revisiting and newcomers should find quite
worth their while. Anyone interested in advancing their comics
skills will find plenty to glean from these (mostly) five-pages tales,
especially where it concerns efficient storytelling – Kirby and Lee can
cram a lot of both plot and action into five pages, and usually manage
to impart a little lesson along the way. Action!
Drama! Thrills! Chills! Romance!
Adventure! They're all here in the mighty Marvel manner. (more
than) 'Nuff said!
retail price - $29.99
copacetic price -
$26.99
1-800-Mice
#3
by Matthew Thurber
More zany madcap adventures from the wickedly warped pen of the one and
only Matthew Thurber. Now self-published under his own Ambergris
Books imprint. Fantastic fun for fans of the pamphlet form.
retail price - $4.00 copacetic
price -
$3.75
Weird
Schmeird #2
by Ryan Cecil Smith
Closed Caption Comics alumnus, Ryan Cecil Smith continues his sojourn
in
Japan and in Weird Schmeird #2
(sorry, no #1 available) has applied
himself to incorporating all
that he has absorbed into a single
power-packed comics package. This one comes packed in a
screen-printed (in pink!) resealable glassine envelope and comes
complete with a set of six screen-printed,
laser-die-cut-cardboard-punchout, transportation-themed, snap-together
toys! Collector's Please Take Note:
this is a limited
edition of a mere 130 handmade
copies originating in Japan! In other
words, you snooze, you lose on this one!
retail price - $8.00 copacetic
price -
$8.00
Papercutter
#12
The cover story in this, the twelfth issue of our favorite regularly
published comic book anthology, is a 16-pager scripted by Rachel
Bormann (Cakewalk) with art
chores handled by none other than Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole)! It
presents an extremely subjective account of attending a Santana
concert, titled, "The Uncomfortable Gaze of Carlos Santana." Also
in this issue we have, "Pet Cat," a very funny and wickedly wise
history of the fictional comic strip "Oh No, Pet Cat" by the one and
only Joey Alison Sayers, the funniest transgender cartoonist we
know. We always have long looked forward to loading up on laughs
with the latest collection of her webcomic, thingpart
each year at SPX, and now, with this six-pager, Papercutter readers can share in
the laughter. This issue closes out with a funny animal fable by
Mark Campos and Dalton Webb.
retail price - $4.00 copacetic
price -
$3.50
Krazy
& Ignatz in Tiger Tea
by George Herriman
edited by Craig Yoe, introduction by Paul Krassner
Here we have 91 Krazy Kat dailies from 1936 and 1937; two extended runs
– eight straight weeks in '36 and four in '37 – interconnected by
choice strips inbetween. While, as is usual with collections
edited by Craig Yoe, it is hard to determine what guided his choice and
arrangement of the material – other than the fact that the strips are,
at least in theory, all related to the putative "Tiger Tea" storyline
that is considered Herriman's only foray into an an extended connected
narrative – but, hey! – it's all George Herriman,
so, really, who
cares? Introduced by Paul Krassner and editor Yoe, and packaged
in an affordable hardcover volume, it's hard to pass up.
retail price - $12.95 copacetic
price -
$11.75
Animal
Crackers
by Gene Luen Yang
Before he became a household name as a result of the runaway success of
his graphic novel, American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang produced two
graphic novellas for Slave Labor Graphics: Gordon Yamamoto and
the King of the Geeks, and Loyola Chin and the San PeLigran
Order. Both are herein collected, along with bonus
materials. Both of these tales center on high school life and
integrate modicums of science fiction and fantasy with themes of ethnic
and group identity. Fans of American Born Chinese might
well enjoy
seeing Yang feeling his way towards his more mature work, and anyone
who appreciates fun, well drawn comics with a sense of humor and solid
storytelling might want to take a look.
retail price - $14.95 copacetic
price -
$13.50
The Book
of Grickle
by Graham Annable
200 pages of oddball cartoons by noted animator Annable. While
Graham pays the bills doing animation work for the likes of Chuck
Jones, LucasArts, TellTale Games and Laika Animation, he has spent much
of his free time over the last decade and a half creating his unique,
gag-filled, cartoony comics. Now's your chance to see what he's
been up to. Read a brand new (30 March 2010) four-part interview
with Graham Annable on The Daily
Cross Hatch, here (we've linked you to Part
Four because it's the easiest way to access the first three parts, all
of which are linked to near the top of the page after a brief
introductory paragraph).
retail price - $17.99 copacetic
price -
$16.25
Alex
Toth in Hollywood, Volume Two
By Alex Toth
More classic Toth from his work on the legendary late-'50s and
early-'60s
Dells. On hand we have four western tales from Roy Rogers, Sugarfoot, and Wagon Train, "Gale Storm," an
excellent full-length, women-centered, hi-jinx adventure from Oh! Susanna (FC 1105), an
underwater adventure from Sea Hunt, and a comedy sketch from The Danny Thomas Show one-shot (FC
1180).
The highlight of this collection is, however, a set of five tales taken
from Toth's early-'60s run on 77
Sunset Strip. Here we have the treat of an extended run of
Toth art in a contemporary urban setting, replete with cars, girls,
teen hoodlums and tough guys in suits. What more can you ask for!
retail price - $25.00 copacetic
special
price -
$19.99
Items
from our March 2010 listings may now be purchased online at our new
site, HERE.
New For
February 2010
King:
The Special Edition
by Ho Che Anderson
Here it is at last, the complete work, how it was meant to be
read.
This 312 page oversize hardcover volume contains the entirety of
Anderson's
comics biography of King. A 10-year-long project, Anderson's goal
was
to deliver a portrait of MLK that is one of a complex, multi-layered,
flesh and blood human being, a task for which comics are ideally
suited. Employing a host of styles, techniques, devices and
processes,
Anderson has striven to match the method to the mood and the moment,
and thereby enhance the reader's engagement with the material and so
heighten its emotional impact, which is, unsurprisingly given who this
book is about, quite intense at times.
There is much more on offer in this
biography than simply technical expertise, however.
It is a truism that every biographer finds himself (or
herself) in
his subject, and this is clearly the case here. What's
more, Anderson's own personal reflections on his creation of this work
which start off the bonus section (see below) impart a sense that
working on King provided a
redemption of sorts to Anderson's own life, and that the process of
working on it helped him regain both his footing and his focus, and so
demonstrates yet again the power of Dr. King's shining example. King
is a very personal take on MLK, one that focuses on those earthier
characteristics that are often given short shrift in the plentiful King
hagiographies that stock the shelves. It is exceptionally strong
in
its focus on King's personal life – his marriage and his friendships –
and it does not shy away from confronting his extramarital
affairs. The
might, the majesty and the miracle that is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
are, of course, all here, but so is the man. So,
while King is a graphic tour de force,
it is also a demonstration of how we internalize larger than life
figures and they become a lens through which we see ourselves.
Most of
all, King provides readers with an excellent opportunity to revisit and
reflect upon the life of one of the most important figures in American
history. This
edition includes 64 pages of bonus materials including breakdowns,
layouts, cover sketches, typescripts, and a personal essay that
revisits and reflects the years of the work's creation, as well as the
entirety of his comic book prelude to King, Black Dogs. Taken together,
this material provides an exceptionally well-rounded look at the
creative process and the personal growth that it both partakes in and
contributes to – clearly making this the definitive edition of this
heartfelt work.
retail price - $34.95 copacetic
super special price -
$22.95
Meanwhile
by Jason Shiga
Mathematically-minded, computer-program-writing,
troubleshooting-oriented comics fans please take note: Here is a
comic
book for you. This is a comic that is very hard to accurately
describe. It is a true one-of-a-kind work (so much so that it may
be
destined to remain so for all eternity) that is a take on the "choose
your own adventure" genre that is much, much more. To give you a
better idea, here's the entirety of the author's introductory
note:
"Meanwhile began as a series of seven increasingly complex
flowcharts.
Because of asymmetries in the branching, a special notation had to be
invented for the final three charts. Once the outline of the
story was
structured, a computer algorithm was written to determine the most
efficient method to transfer it to book form. However, the
problem
proved to be NP-complete. With the use of a V-opt heuristic
algorithm
running for 12 hours on an SGI machine, the solution was finally
cracked in the spring of 2000. It was another six months before
layouts were finished, again with the aide of homebrew computer
algorithms. After a year of prep work, production began on the
book,
which was completed one year later." And that brings us to the
fact
that this work was originally released in a hand made edition with a
tiny press run roughly seven years ago, and only now has it finally
managed to make it out into the wider world courtesy of Amulet Books,
an imprint of Abrams. You owe it to yourself to check this one
out!
retail price - $15.95 copacetic
price -
$15.00
GoGo
Monster
by Taiyo Matsumoto
Here's a lushly produced 455 page hardcover graphic novel of the inner
life of an introverted elementary school child whose life as depicted
in these pages is filled with the compulsive fantasies (or are they
just fantasies? perhaps they're something more... [see below]) that
have, in many cases (perhaps Matsumoto's own), led in their turn to the
compulsion to draw and bring them to life that has launched many a
cartoonist's career. Looked at from another angle, it can be seen
as a childhood take on the Philip K. Dick paradigm that pits an
atypical personal/subjective reality against consensus/objective
reality, in which the protagonist and those around him question his
sanity but the readers are led to wonder on which side the reality
lies, with the answer ususally being... both! Should you be
interested
in learning more about this intriguing work, you're in luck as there is
this
fine review by Sean Collins, and interested readers may find that
wading through this
long Brian Chippendale post
about his recent tour to Japan (among other places) to read his
thoughts
on this and other Matsumoto works. Either way, you'll see that
this
work has inspired some highly engaged responses.
retail price - $27.99 copacetic
price -
$25.00
Almost Silent
by Jason
Here is a perfect embodiment of the well worn phrase, "All things come
to he (or she, of course) who waits." This tres chic hardcover omnibus
collects four – count 'em! – previously issued and out of print
Jason softcovers, and sells for just a hair over half the combined price of
the softcovers! So, those who didn't manage to get these the
first time around, are hereby rewarded for their procrastination (or,
in the case of those who are arriving late to the party, it's a
variation on "the last will be first.") The four volumes
collected are: Tell Me
Something, You Can't Get There From Here, The Living and the Dead,
and – the Copacetic Favorite – Meow,
Baby! All are in glorious black & white, with the
exception of You Can't Get There,
which has an added color (an olive-tinged goldenrod). We are
especially happy that Almost Silent
enables us to be able to once again offer Meow, Baby! (and so save our
customers from the predations of price-gouging
Amazon resellers). This is the work in which Jason really
struts his stuff by plugging his patented comics language into a
veritable panopticon of forms, from the classic three-panel gag-strip,
through an assortment of one-pagers, two-pagers and four-pagers, all
the way through to a TinTin-esque novella. Meow, Baby! offers the perfect
opportunity to really study Jason's working method, and have a great
time doing it, as this is some of his best (and funniest!) work. Tell Me Something is a
"silent-film" treatment of Jason's favorite theme, sex and death,
this time around seasoned with crime and marriage. You Can't Get There From Here is
Jason's morbidly funny twist on the Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein
relationship. And, finally, The
Living and the Dead is, yes, you guessed it, Jason's zombie
book. And there you have it. Wotta Deal!
retail price - $24.99 copacetic
price -
$22.22
Barefoot Gen 9: Breaking Down Borders
Barefoot
Gen 10: Never Give Up
By Keiji Nakazawa
At last! Over twenty years after Nakazawa completed his epic
masterpiece it
was first published in Japan,
the definitive English translation has been completed and the last two
volumes have been published here in the USA, courtesy of the fine folks
at Last Gasp. These volumes take us to eight years after the
atomic
blast that destroyed Gen's home city of Hiroshima, and the destructive
forces unleashed by this devastating blast continue to reverberate
through the lives of its inhabitants. The series ends with a
violent
climax before concluding on an upbeat and hopeful note. Anyone
who has
been waiting for the completion of the series before starting now has a
green light to tear through this 2,500 page masterwork. We say,
go for
it!
retail price - $14.95@ copacetic
price -
$13.50@
Dodgem' Logic
edited and published by Alan Moore & Co.
Who would've thunk it? Here we are coming up on the twenty-fifth
anniversary of The Watchmen,
and instead of hanging with the entertainment glitterati, it's primary
creator, Alan Moore, is celebrating by starting an idiosyncratic
fanzine with the distinctly regional flavor of Northampton, UK.
This
premiere issue comes complete with a full-length 19-track CD
celebrating "50 years of Northampton Music," which makes it quite the
bargain. Also on offer here are a six-page essay by Mr. Moore
concerning all things underground; the first installment of a "rotating
column for women," this one by Melinda Gebbie; comic strips by Kevin
O'Neill, Savage Pencil and Alan Moore(!); and plenty more.
retail price - $5.00 copacetic
price -
$4.50
Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean
by Sarah Stewart Taylor & Ben Towle
The fourth volume in the acclaimed series of comics biographies for
younger readers produced under the auspices of The Center for Cartoon
Studies, provides its first female subject, and we have to applaud
their choice. Who better embodies the rugged individualism, the
bold
daring, and the
fantasy of flight that
we associate with comics books than Amelia Earhart? This Broad
Ocean
focuses on Earhart's successful 1928 crossing of The Atlantic Ocean,
and young readers have a surrogate in the character of Grace, a sort of
self-appointed cub reporter for the small, coastal Newfoundland village
of Trepassey, from whence Earhart departed on her history-making
(herstory-making?) trans-Atlantic solo-flight, and that is the setting
for much of the story. Anyone looking to provide some inspiration
and
encouragement to a young reader should consider this volume, along with
all the rest in the series.
retail price - $17.99 copacetic
price -
$15.95
Wizzywig, Volume 3: Fugitive
by Ed Piskor
Once again we head down the hallowed halls of hacker-dom in the form of
the firm, pen & ink delineations
of Pittsburgh's own Ed Piskor.
Following
the continuing adventures of the mythical Kevin "Boingthump" Phenicle,
this time as he heads underground as a fugitive from "justice."
Piskor
provides readers with a wide-angle, -eye-view of creating and
using a celebrity hacker to frame the debate over wild frontier of
computing, as well as an inside, close-up view of what life is like for
one so framed. Mr. Piskor continues to be supremely confident in
the
desirability of his product and so offers readers the opportunity to
not only download
a PDF containing the entirety
of the first two volumes, but also the first half of this
third volume as well!
retail price - $15.00 copacetic
price -
$12.75
McSweeney's
33: San Francisco Panorama
I'm sure that we were not alone in thinking that the last few issues of
McSweeney's had not been living up to the high design and content
standards that they had set for themselves over the years. We
were beginning to wonder if, perhaps, the enterprise had run out of
gas, and that Eggers & Co. had set their priorities
elsewhere. And while the latter may very well have been the case,
we are happy to announce that, with, at least, it's thirty-third issue,
all those concerned have put McSweeney's
back front and center. This is a knock-your-socks-off issue that
asks – and boldly answers – the question, "What's so good about a
newspaper, anyway?" McSweeney's 33 is, more or less, a what-if?
fantasy of what the San
Francisco Sunday paper could be like in an alternative universe where
profit-driven capitalism did not govern all enterprise-related
decisions. Originally published and distributed in San Franciso
on December 9, 2009, it is now available to the rest of us. More
or less patterned after the Sunday New York Times (only bigger – a
whoppin' 15" x 22"!), this hefty newspaper edition of McSweeney's is
filled with engaging, well written articles on all sorts of topics and
at all lengths from (rough guess, here) 100 to 10,000 words. The
graphics department has taken full advantage of the oversize "canvas"
offered by these large broadsheets, and the printing and paper
are excellent for full visual impact. There is a 96-page book
review insert printed on extra high quality paper stock that is not
only filled with reviews but also: interviews with the likes of 
Junot
Diaz, Miranda July and James Franco; new, original short works of
fiction by George Saunders, Deb Olin Unferth, Roddy Doyle and others; a
gigantic feature on the work of J.G. Ballard by Geoff Nicholson; pages
of letters; and more! There is an oversize 112-page magazine
insert that is printed on an even higher grade of paper stock that is
overflowing with in-depth essays on all and sundry as well as columns
by Michael Chabon, Chip Kidd and others. And, of course, we have
saved the best for last: there is an honest-to-God,
good-old-fashioned, 16-page, full color comics section, filled with all
new work by Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Kim Deitch, Seth, Alison Bechdel,
Adrian Tomine, and
plenty more. And, as if this weren't already enough, there's a
bonus Acme Novelty Library, Rocket Sam cut-out by Chris Ware to while
away a lazy Sunday afternoon. Don't miss this vibrant,
full-blooded testimonial to the power and glory of newspapers.
retail price - $16.00
copacetic price -
$14.44
Wholphin
10
And, since we're singing the praises of the new McSweeney's, it seems
appropriate to take a moment to point out that the latest number of
their sister publication, Wholphin, the "quarterly" DVD of good short
and medium length films you aren't likely to see otherwise, has arrived
simultaneously. There's not much to say other than it's another
treat-filled extravaganza that we don't think you'll want to pass up
once you've check out this
preview.
retail price - $19.95 copacetic
price -
$17.77
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Here's a book that is, if you're "in the demo", simply impossible to
pass up. The story of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe,
in New York City, in 1969, written by none other than Patti
herself – what more could you ask for? Opening the book at random
(no foolin'!) we came upon this paragraph: "A cold front passed
over New York City in October. I developed a bad cough. The
heating was erratic in our loft spaces. They were not meant to
live in and were cold at night. Robert often stayed at David's, and I
would pile up all our blankets and stay awake till quite late reading
Little Lulu comics and listening to Bob Dylan." Yes, we'll be
quite at home here...
A cursory look through this book reveals that it, unsurprisingly,
echoes Dylan's memoir of his own early
days in NYC, Chronicles, Volume 1; we can
hardly wait to see how it stacks up. Should
you feel like reading more about this one before taking the plunge,
you're in luck, as it has been the recipient of plenty of media
attention and has received ample
online-accessible-reviews.
retail price - $27.00 copacetic
price -
$24.00
Items
from our February 2010 listings may now be purchased online at our new
site, HERE.
New for
January 2010
Afrodisiac
by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
Well, here's a work that sets the table
for a multi-course feast that
will appeal to folks of different stripes for different reasons.
First and
foremost, it is the most ample display to date of the pop culture
prowess of the Pittsburgh-based artist/writer team of Jim Rugg and
Brian Maruca, who here have given a virtuoso performance. Afrodisiac is an homage to
the last gasp of traditional comic book values; specifically, those
that were embodied by the comic books of, roughly, 1972 - 1985.
These were the final years of the newsstand comic book market – its
decade of irrevocable decline.
Beginning in 1986 it was permanently eclipsed by the direct market, a
turn of events which not only forever altered the perception and
reception of comic books, but simultaneously led to a substantial and
equally permanent change in their values and production. The work
contained in this compact, full color, hardcover volume demonstrates
a deep intuitive understanding of the the tropes and formulas of
traditional newsstand comic
books, as well as, and perhaps most significantly, the role played by
the wide variety of production and reproduction processes and
techniques through which the raw language of comics passes en route to
becoming the actual physical end product comic book that transmits its
content through the readers' sensory apparatus, and thereby promulgates
its meaning to the end consumer: human consciousness. Conscious
manipulation of the denotative capacities of production
processes has a history that goes back at least thirty years, to Art
Spiegelman's work in Breakdowns, and it continues
to be employed successfully in works such as Paul
Hornschemeier's The
Three Paradoxes. Afrodisiac
is, however, unique in that, here, this conscious manipulation is the
driving
force behind the entire project, and is encoded in the texts as well as
the images, with the character of The Afrodisiac acting as a cypher –
one
that is simultaneously a celebration and an elegy – for the uncritical
creation of unabashed power fantasies that was no longer possible in
the wake of The Dark Knight Returns
and The Watchmen.
Jim
Rugg is a one-man production house and he has put the pedal to the
metal in his reclamation of a panoply of
production processes in this pandemonium
procuring
panegyric to the blaxploitation genre (that was itself an embodiment of
the last gasp of the classical Hollywood values that vanished in the
wake of the blockbuster onslaught of Spielberg, Lucas & Co.).
It is here, in this nostalgic conflation of blaxploitation's own uncritical
creation of unabashed power fantasies with
those of comic book superheroes, by, let it be said, a couple of
middle-class
white guys, that another layer of signification transpires.
Certainly, an exploration of the text's Playing
in the Dark is warranted, and an old Lou Reed song
may come to the mind of readers of a certain age; in addition, the fact
that
the power fantasy on display in these pages is of a distinctly sexual
nature and is employed in the domination and exploitation
of women cannot be ignored. Yet, all is rendered with a clear
sense of
humor, and where
level, intellectually engaged heads prevail, there are sure to be some
interesting and potentially valuable correlations made (cultural
anthropologists, please take note). In other words, Afrodisiac is one of the densest
texts one is likely to come across; and while many will doubtless find
it a source of uncritical enjoyment, those who do so will be doing
themselves a disservice and missing the work's essential
character. To get a head start processing this sucka', download
this PDF
preview.
retail price - $14.95 copacetic
price -
$12.75
Footnotes in Gaza
by Joe Sacco
With this new work – over six years in the making – Joe Sacco returns
to the people and the land that launched him to the forefront of comics
journalism – a position which he has held ever since. Few indeed
are the number of people who can lay claim to being the top in their
field for as long as Sacco has his, and with Footnotes in Gaza, he extends his
lead even further, to the point where his position as being the single
most important founder of the field/genre/school of comics journalism
is now well nigh unassailable. Footnotes
in Gaza is the major work of a mature master, fully confident of
his abilities and coolly in control of his talents. Taking a page
from the Art Spiegelman playbook and extending it to address his own
concerns, Sacco deftly weaves a detailed account of his own personal
quest – in the here and
now (or at least what was the here and now at the time, 2003, when he
carried out his research) – to unearth the details of two specific
historical events that took place in Gaza in November of 1956, by
interviewing every possible living participant, with his own depiction
of the interviewees' recollections. These events are, as the
title baldly states,
considered mere footnotes to the wide world outside of Gaza, but to the
people who lived through them, they are traumas undimmed by the passage
of half a century. If ever the devil was in the details, it is
here, and the details that are dredged up by Sacco's research into this
historical "footnote" are certain to engender strong opinions on both
sides of the horrific divide that is addressed by the central events of
this tale. To readers not directly involved
in these events, however, there is the chance to delve into both
how the past is ever present and, crucially, how the present can be and
is projected into the past. In addition, readers are offered the
opportunity to contemplate how "seeing" an event recapitulated in
visual images differs in both kind and degree from merely reading a
description of the same event. These,
and other, interactions of the past and present, brought to light
through reportorial diligence and mediated here by both art and
memory, form the core of this fascinating and powerful work.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic
price -
$26.95
Bringing Up
Father
by George McManus
McManus is a Copacetic Favorite and one of the all time greats, the
founder of the (co-opted by
the Europeans) Ligne Claré
(clear line, to us Yanks) school of
art now most closely associated with Hergé. All hail the
Library of American Comics series currently being published by IDW for
not only bringing this classic strip to a new generation of readers,
but for producing in the process what might very well be the best
single collection of the work of George McManus ever released!
This collection presents several distinct continuities – including what
may be the single most famous, the cross country tour (that includes a
stop in, you guessed it, Pittsburgh, PA) – all from the glory days of
the strip: the late 1930s - early 1940s. Humor abounds in
the domestic comedy plot lines that both prefigured and influenced the
sit-com format that has been a staple of television programming from
the days of I Love Lucy
through to The Simpsons:
all these shows have roots in Bringing
Up Father. But the true joy of this strip is in the
quality of the line. The comics heir to the high value placed on
line by the fin de siclé
Art Nouveau movement – as well as the Art Deco movement that came in
its wake – McManus, along with – during the latter part of his
career – his able assistant Zeke Zekley, crafted a drawing technique
that provided all necessary visual in formation in the outline -- no
messy cross-hatching, shading or chiaroscuro for these guys – no! –
just
a clear, precise line, thank you. McManus was a true comics
original and hugely influential. The work of artists as diverse
as Carl Barks and Joost Swarte, and many others in between, show the
strong stamp of McManus's artistic influence. You owe it to
yourself to at least take a look at the work of this master, and, with
the fine choice of work, excellent reproduction, and copious historical
material, this volume is the clear and obvious place to start.
retail price - $49.95 copacetic
price -
$44.44
Copper
by Kazu Kibuishi
Kazu Kibuishi is the creator of the much acclaimed Amulet series as well as the editor
for the equally acclaimed Flight
comics anthology series. His work has a loyal following here
among readers of all ages. The Flight
anthology has a strong appeal to teen to young adult readers and Amulet has long been the natural
go-to choice for fans of Jeff Smith's Bone
looking for a follow-up reading experience, and is of late
building a new base of readers all on its own. Now
we have a new collection of his web comic, Copper, about a boy and his
dog. This square format (9" x 9") full color collection of lively
short tales leap off the page. There's
definitely a (subdued, more reflective and less manic) Calvin and
Hobbes flavor to the strip, and, like Calvin and Hobbes, Copper
is a work that really can appeal to all ages. There's no need to
take our word for it, however, as you can read it all online.
The book contains a nifty bonus: a 10-page behind the scenes,
step-by-step look at the creation, execution and production of the
strip that will be of great interest to many an aspiring comics
creator. Anyone interested in thoughtful, well crafted, kid-friendly
comics should definitely be look into Copper.
retail price - $12.95 copacetic
price -
$11.75
The
Believer 67
We haven't written about The Believer in a while, but there was no way
we could let this go without throwing it your way. This is by far
the most comics-centric issue yet, and it's a
must! First off, there is the amazing Charles Burns cover that
celebrates Chris Ware's interview of Jerry Moriarty, the latter of
whom, in turn, contributes a gigantic, removable, fold-out poster of a Jack Survives page. Then
there are the additional interviews with Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and the
one-and-only Peter Blegvad! On top of this add a historical
overview of the life and career of Morrie Turner, the creator of Wee Pals, the first nationally
syndicated "comic strip of color." And,
if that weren't already enough,
this issue features the debut of the all-new Comics page, edited by
Alvin Buenaventura and featuring full color comics by the likes of
Anders Nilsen, Ron Regé, Jr., Tom Gauld, Leif Goldberg,
Lisa Hanawalt, Charles Burns, Lilli Carré and Al Columbia.
A keeper, we'd say.
retail price - $10.00 copacetic
price -
$9.00
Newave!
The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s
by everyone and your uncle
888 pages!!! No holds are barred here in this anything goes blast
of the first wave of self-published mini-comics. Scatology and
sexuality, perversion and punk rock, fantasy and fabulation, and
general kicking out the jams were the order of the day back when the
cathartic capacities of small scale self publishing were first embraced
by a generation of comics creators. While the majority of the work on
display here is by artists and writers that are not widely known
today, there are some gems scattered throughout the book, including the
rookie outings of Mary Fleener and Pittsburgh's Wayno, to name but two.
retail price - $24.95 copacetic
price -
$22.22
Troublemakers
by Gilbert Hernandez
Beto's new stand-alone graphic novel is finally here! This time
around he heads deep into Jim
Thompson territory with this tale of of a terrible trio of
backstabbers that is perhaps his most caustic comment yet on the
horrors of self-centeredness. A straight-up, hardboiled work in
the pulp tradition. While this may appear to be a twenty dollar
hardcover graphic novel, that's only superficial. At its heart it
is a cheap, grimy twenty-five cent paperback found on the floor at the
back of the garage. With page after page plauged with doubt and
soaked with ennui and despair, you'll finish up with life lessons
learned and characters to avoid.
retail price - $19.99 copacetic
price -
$15.95
Hotwire 3
edited by Glenn Head
If ever the third time is the charm, this is it. Hotwire, the
king-size comic book anthology of all new work marches forward in its
unique, self-established tradition of
wacky hi-jinx pieces designed to frazzle and freak.
Highlights include a
career high for Rick Altergott, an
amazing new piece by Tim Lane, a rare full color Mack White work, a
classic Mary Fleener tale, and the first new "masterpiece comic" by R.
Sikoryak since his 2009 anthology of the same name – this one engaging
Dennis the Menace to fill the shoes of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark – new
pieces by Michael Kupperman, Max Andersson, Johnny Ryan, and editor
Glenn Head, as well as a brand spankin' new David Sandlin story,
"Infernal Combustion," that continues in the vein of his fabulous Swamp
Preacher one-shot comic book of a couple years back.
retail price - $22.99 copacetic
price -
$19.99
Thirteen Going
On Eighteen
by John Stanley & Co.
Fans of John Stanley – who is best known for his work on
Little Lulu and Tubby
– as well as any fan of traditional, straight-up
comic books, for that matter – are sure to be pleasantly surprised by
their encounter with this, possibly the least appreciated of Stanley's
works.
And Drawn and Quarterly is so confident that not only will you agree
with this assertion, but that you will be so enamored of this Stanley
& Co. creation that you will be grateful for their decision to
provide you with a double dose right out of the gate. That's
right, this initial volume of Thirteen Going On Eighteen collects the
first nine complete issues of the series and weighs in at a wollapin'
336 pages. And, as purchasers of the first two volumes of D &
Q's ongoing John Stanley Library series – Melvin the Monster, and Nancy
– already know, this is another beautiful Seth-designed volume.
retail
price - $39.95 copacetic price -
$33.95
The Box Man
by Imiri Sakabashira
Imiri Sakabashira (evidently a pen name for Mochizuki Katsuhiro) is, to
us gaijin, a figure shrouded in mystery. Born in 1964, he is an
important contributor to Garo, one of the major alternative manga
anthologies (that, intriguingly, was also born in 1964). While
the long awaited publication of The Box Man will go a long way to
exposing Sakabashira to western readers, it will do little to remedy
the mystery enshrouding the artist, as it does not contain one shred of
editorial or biographical information – neither the original
publication date nor it's original Japanese title are included on the
copyright page. It is almost as if there is a conspiracy of
silence in place to deliberately obscure this creator of this
work. Were this actually to be the case, it would make a perverse
kind of sense as The Box Man is nothing if not a deliberately obscure
work. Clearly working in the surrealist tradition of channeling
the unconscious and getting it all onto the paper without worrying too
much about what it all means, The Box Man strikes us as possibly
informing contemporary creators as diverse as Geoff Darrow and Chris
"C.F." Forgues. However, not knowing when this work was
originally published hinders any speculations of this nature. It
does appear that he himself has been influenced somewhat by Suehiro
Maruo. So, anyone reading this who is hep to the details of this
enigmatic figure, please clue us in! Meanwhile, peer into a
corner
of The Boxman by downloading a PDF preview, here. And, for further
delectation, check out his online gallery and spend some time with his
sumptuously weird illustration work, here.
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price -
$19.99
The
Fixer - softcover edition
by Joe Sacco
For those of you who either missed this the first time around, were
waiting for the lower priced softcover, or who just got turned onto
Sacco by reading his just released masterwork, Footnotes in Gaza,
here's your chance to get yer mitts on this close focus look at the
disintegration of former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, from the point of
view of post-war Bosnia. To learn more about this work, we
recommend that you read this excellent
in-depth review by Michel Faber for The UK Guardian. Also collected
in this softcover edition are the classic one shot comic book / graphic
novella, Soba, as well as the
story, "Christmas With Karadzic," both originally produced during the
late 1990s.
retail
price - $19.95 copacetic promotional special price - $14.95
Items
from our January 2010 listings may now be purchased online at our new
site, HERE.
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ordering info
prices and
availability
current as of 31 March 2010