Just In (Case You Missed It) - New Stuff Archives 1Q 2014

New for March 2014

AY1

The Abyssal Yawn #1
by Bill Wehmann & Ed Steck
Hot off the press, it's the latest Made-in-Pittsburgh release! This full color 32 page comic book sports a card stock cover and is printed on high grade glossy stock throughout. These heavy duty production measures were necessary to carry the weighty concepts that are herein delivered. The Abyssal Yawn is a far-flung multi-dimensional science fiction tale in the tradition of Jack Kirby and Jim Starlin – think the Silver Surfer and Warlock – that took a detour through the meta-comics dimensions of Fort Thunder and navigated the Kramers Ergot force field with the aid of contemporary post-modern literary techniques and a bit of gage. This unique comic book blend has been made available in a print run of a mere 300 copies. Like anything this far off the beaten path, it's going to take some time for the comics market to catch wind of it, but once it does, these won't be around long – so make sure to check it out while you still can. You can see more of Wehmann's work, and watch The Abyssal Yawn come together (albeit in reverse, as you scroll down) at the Pacific Reverb Society Tumblr.
retail price - $8.00 copacetic price - $8.00

totl1

Top of the Line #1 - 4
by Dan McCloskey
In his 8-issue series, Top of the Line, now half way completed, writer/artist Dan McCloskey takes a look at our contemporary environment through a science fiction lens that shows readers how the world around us is likely to appear to the evolved perceptual apparatuses that are embedded a few layers down in our consciousness. The human nervous system, evolved over millions of years in which everything it came into contact with was nature-made and animation (movement) was primarily associated with life (anima, from which animate and animal derive, is Latin for life soul) is as a result hardwired to equate movement with life. Over the last three totl4

centuries an ever increasing number of devices and machines which are in actuality inanimate (i.e, not alive) have been designed and manufactured to behave in ways that not only make them appear to our senses to be animate/alive, but, increasingly of late, aided by sophisticated software, to lead us to interact with them as "living" things. This tendency has many side-effects, not least of which is a need to parse and often then to repress the urge to reciprocate in kind to the illusory anima, which in turn leads to a host of (mal)adaptive issues. Top of the Line opens up this phenomenon up for a bit of comics exploration that yields some interesting results. Other aspects of our world are given alternative encoding in this series as well, such as the gaping divide between the haves and have-nots and the exploitative media that functions to maintain this divide by creating a society of the spectacle that fans of The Hunger Games should be able to appreciate. But please don't let all this talk of intellectual investigation give you the wrong idea – most of all, Top of the Line is a rollicking comics adventure of youth in revolt drawn with a vibrant line embodying the exuberance of its creator. Check it out!
retail price - $2.99@ copacetic price - $2.99@

Real Good Stuff #1/#2
by Dennis Eichhorn & Co.
RGS1

These two covers are of one book. Printed in the 69 format, wherein RGS2

you can start on either side, both of which meet in the middle whereupon you can flip the book and start again, for two reads in one. Dennis Eichhorn made a name for himself in the independent comics world of the early '90s, with the series Real Stuff (and, later, Real Smut). Eichhorn's comics work follows the Harvey Pekar paradigm of a writer who corrals a wide-ranging group of artists with engaging material and assembles them into comics, and Real Stuff is his equivalent of Pekar's American Splendor, wherein he converts anecdotes and episodes from his life into comics fables for our times. The similarity ends there, however, as Eichhorn, a Montana native and graduate of the University of Idaho, who has spent most of his adult his life in the Seattle area, has led an existence a world away from that of Pekar. Sex and drugs along with a bit of rock 'n' roll but a lot of drinking are what define Eichhorn's extroverted comics tales, in great contrast to Pekar's introverted tales of angst, record collecting and work. As per the Real Stuff norm, there are plenty of able artists on hand here, including, most notably, long-time Eichhorn-collaborator, Mary Fleener, who turns in a story as well as the cover to "#2".
retail price - $10.00 copacetic price - $9.00

cwm3

Comics Workbook Magazine #3
edited by Andrew White & Zach Mason, w/ Frank Santoro
This issue features Dash Shaw in conversation with Frank Santoro at SPX 2013 (transcribed by Andrew White), essays on Nancy by Dorothy Berry, interviews with Annie Mok and Ed Luce by Zach Mason, an essay on the comics of Marissa Paternoster by Brandon Soderberg, and an essay on sexual assault themes by Laura Knetzger. Cover by Dash Shaw!
retail price - $2.50 copacetic price - $2.00

Black Is the Color
by Julia Gfrörer
A fantastic pen and ink meditation on mortality, 18th century sailor style, but this time from the perspective of the mermaids! This work puts us in the mind of a cross breed of the work of Tony Millionaire and Dame Darcy with Sammy Harkham as spiritual guide. Pheobe Gloeckner sez: "(Julia Gfrörer's) work is spare and elegant, yet the hand of the artist is always evident in her line. Her characters inhabit cold or desolate environments, often on the brink of inanition or beyond, yet still yearning to love and be loved." Here in this 72 page French-flapped graphic novella, we have her most substantial published work yet.
retail price - $14.99 copacetic price - $13.75

The Amateurs
by Conor Stechschulte
Mr. Stechschulte makes his Fantagraphical debut with this 64 page graphic novella. Originally hailing from rural Pennsylvania, Conor found his way to the Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art (MICA) after which he became a part of the Closed Caption Comics team. In The Amateurs, he has penned and inked a strange tale of unusual goings on at a rural (Amish?) butcher shop. Filled with animals alive and dead, humans in their right mind and wrong, blood is spilled and things go south.
retail price - $14.99 copacetic price - $12.75

S! The Baltic Comics Magazine #15 & #16
S15

Straight from Latvia to you – it's two small but solid slabs of full color comics! As per S16

usual, each of these 162 page mini-comics anthologies is themed. #15 is the long awaited Cats issue, and #16's theme is Villages. Given that this is The Baltic Comics Magazine, it should come as no surprise that the largest share of its contributors are from the countries in the region, most notably Latvia and Finland. S! takes contributions from all over, however, and in these pages is work from the rest of Europe, as well as from the Americas and Asia. Most contributors are unlikely to be familiar to Copacetic customers, but there are exceptions: #15 includes work by Edie Fake, Warren Craghead and Michael DeForge, all of whose work has long been popular here. #16 includes regular Comics Workbook contributor, Oliver East and 2013 Comics Workbook Competition bronze medal winner Evangelos Androutsopoulos. So, while you may not be familiar with most of the artists whose work is presented in the pages of S!, the inclusion of these artists should give you an idea of the type of material to expect. These are great little books. Make sure to check them out!
retail price - $12.00@ copacetic price - $12.00@

YR2

Young Romance 2
by Jack Kirby with Joe Simon
Defying the norm, this second collection of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's classic romance comics – a genre which they created, by the way; Young Romance #1 was the very first romance comic book – is a better book than the first volume, with both stronger stories and superior reproduction. Romance was among the most successful of comic book genres in the history of the form, and was the most popular during its heyday of the late '40s and early '50s – the period on display in this excellent volume. Many people have a negative perception of romance comics as cliche ridden melodramas of brainless women duped into marriage by paternalistic, condescending men. While there is more than a grain of truth to this in the later romance comics created after 1955 under the proscriptions of the definitively paternalistic Comics Code Authority, the early years of romance comics were full of vital tales of women in search of their own destiny. While of course these stories employed the reductive approaches to narrative necessitated by the requirement that major life episodes be squeezed into 8 to 12 pages of comics, the stories, and especially the characters that populate them, on display in the works contained in this collection are head and shoulders above other comic books being produced at the time and set high water marks for the medium. The advent of romance comics was a crucial chapter in comics history. The early years of the genre revitalized the medium; some of the very best comic books ever produced are romance comics, and the comics contained in this collection are among them. Recommended!
retail price - $29.99 copacetic price - $25.00

Cannon

Cannon
by Wallace Wood
In some respects, Cannon could be seen as the end of romance – with a motto somewhere along the lines of "make war, not love (have sex)" – in which purely male concerns have usurped any hope of an enduring, loving rapprochement between the sexes. Comic book men don't get any more manly than Cannon. Created by Wallace Wood for a primarily military readership, Cannon started out in a one-shot comic book, Heroes Inc., in 1969, before going on to be serialized in the U.S. Army's Overseas Weekly, beginning in 1971. Big men with guns and naked women are the signature tropes on display in this Vietnam War era series, which was imbued with cold war themes of communists and brain-washing, with some fairly negative hippie stereotypes thrown in for good measure. Clearly, these themes resonated with Wood, one of the titans of the Atomic Age of comics, and he turns in some forceful, engaging work that provides as vital a portrait of this particular mindset as one is likely to find; yet it is a mindset that is clearly tinged with bitterness (see a naked woman, fire a gun; repeat). Taking a historical perspective on this work, viewing it as a report from the cold war trenches, wherein highly sexist paranoia was the norm, can provide mitigating benefits. While we may have long since emerged to our current, relatively enlightened age, the allure of the behaviors and values on display here remain, albeit in altered forms. As William Faulkner so notably said, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past."
retail price - $34.99 copacetic price - $29.75

Stink Helmet
by Otto Splotch
We got a supply of these in before the holidays, but sold out before we had the chance to list them here. We have now received a restock of this vibrantly wacky comic book.
retail price - $15.00 copacetic price - $13.75

Niji

Nijigahara Holograph
by Inio Asano
Fantagraphics ventures further in the manga graphic novel field with this new work by the creator of Solanin and What a Wonderful World from Viz. Anyone not familiar with his work is invited to sample it in this generous 29-page PDF preview.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.75

Items from our March 2014 listings may now be purchased online at our eCommerce site, HERE.

New for February 2014

BP2

Black Pillars #2
by Andrew White
Don't miss the concluding issue to Andrew White's symbolic exploration of love and loss. Character interactions are interpolated with landscapes cum dreamscapes and time goes in reverse as White plays with the grammar of comics, gradually teasing out ways in which images structure memories, link them together, form conceptions of the present and through imagination, construct the future. Requires and rewards repeated readings. Please Note: this is a limited, hand numbered edition of 100 copies, each of which comes with an original, color (!) drawing on the back cover.
retail price - $6.00 copacetic price - $6.00

Yearling #1
Killer in My Sleep #1
by Rich Tommoso
Two new hot off the press comics written and drawn by Rich Tommoso, and published by his own Recoil imprint. These are classic old school comic books that will appeal to all those readers pining for straight up comics. Anyone who says, "They don't make comics like they used to anymore" clearly hasn't seen the comics coming out under the Recoil imprint. Yearling is officially classified as being part of the Recoil "Super Avenger Crime" line, while Killer in My Sleep should be filed under "Crime/Suspense". Tommoso is on a roll. Get these small batch comics while you still can!
retail price - $4.95@ copacetic price - $4.44@

Celebrated Summer
by Chuck Forsman
"Road Trip!" This immortal phrase takes on added layers of meaning as a pair of disaffected youth drop acid and hit the road in this original graphic novel by mini-comics mogul, Chuck Forsman, founder of Oily Comics and creator (and publisher) of the hit series The End of the Fucking World, which was collected by Fantagraphics as TEOTFW not all that long ago. Mr. Forsman is clearly on a roll. Consider hitching a ride with him and his pen & ink pals, Mike and Wolf, for a "celebrated summer". Get an inkling of what's in store with this six-page PDF preview.
retail price - $16.99 copacetic price - $15.00

R. Crumb: The Weirdo Years
by R. Crumb
This hardcover volume from original Weirdo publisher, Last Gasp presents a complete collection of Crumb's work for this legendary magazine that kept the freak flag flying through the 1980s. The 250+ pages of Crumb, include his foto-funnies, and his hugely influential historical/biographical pieces on Krafft-Ebing and Philip K. Dick. In addition, all of his covers are reproduced in full color.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $26.75

Weird #3 & #4
edited by Noel Freibert
And, speaking of Weirdo, how could we resist following it up with this listing of Noel Freibert's ongoing anthology, Weird, that is keeping the outsider comics spirit alive for the next generation. In addition to editing and publishing Weird, Mr. Freibert is it's primary contributor. In the 68 page third issue, he is joined by Patrick Kyle, Michael DeForge, Dunja Jankovic, Lane Milburn and others, including the elusive Carlos Gonzalez, whose 9-page story, "My Wife Is Sick" is a standout. In the 52 pages of the fourth issue, readers will find pieces by C.F., Dash Shaw, Andy Burkholder and Marisa Takal intermingled with those of Boss Man Freibert.
retail price - $10.00@ copacetic price - $9.00@

IB1

Insect Bath
edited by Jason T Miles
An all-new, 32 page floppy comic book from Fantagraphics featuring the work of Sammy Harkham, Matthew Thurber, Juliacks , Eamon Espey, Noel Freibert, Alex Degen, Scott Roller, Zach Hazard Vaupen, Max Clotfelter, Alex Delaney along with editor Jason Miles. Underground and horror comics traditions merge in this creepy book full of suffering and angst. Immerse your pain in the Insect Bath...
retail price - $3.99 copacetic price - $3.59

The Complete Multiple Warheads
by Brandon Graham
This trade collection from Image Comics collects the entirety of the extant Multiple Warheads: the four issue mini-series and Downfall - in full color and black and white, as they originally appeared - and then some! Squishy sexy stoner science fiction comix from the mind and pen of Sir Brandon Graham, ladies and gentlemen.
retail price - $17.99 copacetic price - $16.25

wac

The Wes Anderson Collection
by Matt Zoller Seitz
This massive (300+ pages) oversize (10+" x 12+") hardcover volume, packed with never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photographs from all of Wes Anderson's films kept selling out so fast during the holiday season that it wasn't in stock long enough for us to manage to list it here until now. On the textual side, an introduction by Michael Chabon gets the ball rolling, followed by prefatory remarks by Seitz, after which the book is divided into chapters devoted to Anderson's films in chronological order; starting with Bottle Rocket and going all the way through to Moonrise Kingdom. Each chapter opens with a relatively brief essay by Seitz which is then followed by a lengthy interview with Anderson about that chapter's film. It's hard to imagine a better book for a Wes Anderson fan.
retail price - $40.00 copacetic price - $35.00

Moonrise Kingdom (DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital Copy/Ultraviolet)
directed by Wes Anderson
And, just for the record, we're putting it out there that we have this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink edition of Mr. Anderson's soon-not-to-be-latest film available for anyone who would like it to grace their physical and/or virtual homes. Includes bonus features, "A Look Inside Moonrise Kingdom," "Welcome to the Island of New Penzance" and "Set Tour with Bill Murray." Moonrise Kingdom presents a (very retro) take on an all-American adolescence in all its glory, as only Wes Anderson can.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $19.98

SotD

Spirits of the Dead (Blu-Ray)
directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini
A portmanteau film of three filmic adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales originally released in 1968, Spirits of the Dead is a must-see by virtue of its inclusion of the one-of-a-kind Toby Dammit, Federico Fellini's amazing adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" featuring Terence Stamp; a crucial document of the era as well as an amazing cinematic experience. At long last, after the DVD debacle in which a French language print was used as the master, rather than the original, multi-language (primarily Italian and English) version, this Blu-Ray edition gives us the real goods. The booklet included with the film includes essays by Tim Lucas and Peter Bondanella along with reproductions of lobby cards and international posters.
retail price - $34.95 copacetic price - $25.75

Items from our February 2014 listings may now be purchased online at our eCommerce site, HERE.

New for January 2014

MM3

Mould Map 3
edited by Hugh Frost & Leon Sadler
One of the most anticipated works of 2013 makes its debut as the first major (Copacetic) comics release of 2014. The anthology's declared theme is: "An exploration of the ways in which network technologies mediate our experience of each other and our surroundings." Fans of Kramers Ergot in specific and PictureBox publications in general will find much to engage them here in this 224 page, 9 Pantone colour anthology featuring all new work from 35 leaders of contemporary narrative art locked in struggle with the dominant cultural paradigms. This struggle takes place in comics work of all stripes, from erotic embrace to violent rejection, from formal deconstructions to fun-filled fantasias. Take a minute to peruse the contributor list: Aidan Koch — Amalia Ulman — Angie Wang — Ben Mendelewicz — Blaise Larmee — Brenna Murphy — CF — Cody Cobb — Daniel Swan — Dmitry Sergeev — Gabriel Corbera — GHXYK2 — Hugh Frost — Jacob Ciocci — James Jarvis — Joseph Kelly — Jonas Delaborde — Jonathan Chandler — Jonny Negron — Julien Ceccaldi —Karn Piana — Kilian Eng — Lala Albert — Lando — Leon Sadler — Matthew Lock— Noel Freibert — Olivier Schrauwen — Robert Beatty — Sam Alden — Sammy Harkham — Simon Hanselmann — Stefan Sadler — Viktor Hachmang & Yuichi Yokoyama. Then head over to the original Kickstarter site for the project, where you can feast your eyes on plenty of preview art and further details. SPECIAL BONUS: Each copy comes packaged together with 3 posters and 3 prints!
copacetic price - sold out!

Ant Colony
by Michael DeForge
It's here: the deluxe full color, 112 page, horizontally formatted hardcover collection of Michael DeForge's internet work, Ant Comic. A high intensity allegory rendered in dazzling full color and employing DeForge's personal cartooning language to great advantage, Ant Colony is a wholly original work that is not to be missed. In the words of no less a comics authority than Jaime Hernandez, "DeForge is one of those rare comics naturals and Ant Colony proves it."
retail price - $21.95 copacetic price - $19.75

MF2

Miss Fury: 1941 - 1944
by Tarpe Mills
In glorious full color at last, here are the first four years of this wildly original series of Sunday comics pages – that were also collected in comic book form by Timely (Marvel, back when) Comics. These are the strips that inspired us to write the following upon the occasion of their reprinting in black and white a few years back under Greg Theakston's Pure Imagination imprint: "You want a gorgeously drawn, action packed, golden age super hero comic book, that centers on the adventures of an occasionally costume-clad heroine that's written and drawn by a woman and that, while it doesn't shy away from presenting its readers with a gaggle of curvaceous gals, is clearly the product of feminist thinking? What's that? You thought no such thing exists? Well, that's where you'd be wrong, as Miss Fury by Tarpe Mills fits the bill in spades. As these comics were created during WWII, Miss Fury is not only compelled to deal with thugs, burglars and blackmailers -- as well as a femme fatale, a petulant boyfriend and an amoral seductress bent on getting him -- but also Nazi spys and soldiers: the major villian is a Nazi general, who, while clearly evil, is nevertheless surprisingly presented as courageous and heroic -- a far cry from the typical comic book caricatures of vicious bunglers, and a highly unusual example of ambivalence in the face of the enemy. Perhaps most fascinating is that during the Nazi invasion of Brazil (we told you this story was action packed) a fiery Latina forges an alliance with rugged gauchos and rainforest indians to repel the Nazi attack (assisted by Miss Fury, naturally) -- shades of today's leftist alliances to save the rainforest from rapacious multinational conglomerates. This book is a revelation!" This new, full color, oversize hardcover edition is beautifully printed. It is edited by Trina Robbins, who has assiduously included plenty of bonus features, including rare earlier work by Ms. Mills. Check it out!
retail price - $49.99 copacetic price - $44.44

Infomaniacs
by Matthew Thurber
The creator of 1-800-MICE returns with this one-of-a-kind graphic novel that lies on the comics spectrum somewhere between Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle and Chester Brown's Ed the Happy Clown. Infomaniacs provides readers with a hardcover volume filled with 192, 8" x 11" pages of stream of consciousness comics exploring the ongoing mutations occurring in human consciousness as a result of our ever increasing engagment with and reliance upon internet connected computing.
retail price - $22.99 copacetic price - $20.00

CWM2

Comics Workbook Magazine #2
edited by Andrew White, Zach Mason & Frank Santoro
The print magazine component to the online proponent of up and coming independent comics founded by Frank Santoro is back with a second bi-monthly issue. This 16 page 8 1/2" x 11" black and white magazine features an interview with Lala Albert by Frank Santoro, an essay on the learning process of becoming a cartoonist by Whit Taylor, and a guide to securing arts funding for comics by Warren Craghead which is more than worth the price of admission all by itself. Also on hand are new comics by Evie Cahir, Derik Badman, Jen Rickert, and Sasha Steinberg. How can you turn down the chance to get all this for two dollars?
retail price - $2.00 copacetic price - $2.00

Comics Workbook #2: Variations/Deconstructions
by Andrew White
A flipbook collecting all of the comics in the Variations series (on one side) and the Deconstructions series (on the other side) from White's ongoing contributions to Comics Workbook. White's work continues to explore the innate formal qualities of comics in intelligent and intriguing ways. Comics readers, students and practitioners will have to really dig to find this kind of work anywhere else, so save yourself the trouble and just buy this. 26 pages. Full color. 8.5 x 11.
retail price - $8.00 copacetic price - $7.50

C12

Copra 12
by Michel Fiffe
This is it! The final issue of Michel Fiffe's sensational series. Dedicated fans need not despair, however, as Fiffe states in the closing comments at the back of the book: "Rest assured – Copra will return."
retail price - $5.00 copacetic price - $4.44

cp6

The Cartoon Picayune #6
edited by Josh Kramer
The theme of the latest issue of the only regularly published comics periodical solely devoted to journalism is – appropriately enough – "Small Worlds." It's 36 pages present two feature articles – "Reef" by Adrian Pijoan and "Fernando and the Furries" by Pittsburgh-based cartoonist, Bill Volk – as well as two news briefs – "Henry Darger and What Is Known as the Reals of Unreal" by JTW and "Goods Hands: A Chance Meeting Echoes" by Jackie Roche. Check it out!
retail price - $4.00 copacetic price - $4.00

KC74

King-Cat Comix and Stories #74
by John Porcellino
A diaristic essay, a series of one-pagers, one true story, a pictoral essay on "The Bridges of South Beloit," a comics portrait of a state, "Tennessee," and "Batty Batty Batty, Part II" – along with the regular features Cat Calls and King-Cat Top 40 – make up the contents of the latest from mini-comic founding father, John Porcellino.
retail price - $4.00 copacetic price - $4.00

Canteen Kate
by Matt Baker; introduction by Bob Burden
Long suffering Matt Baker fans are at last rewarded with this full color hardcover collection of the complete Canteen Kate. Featuring 160 pages of humorous hi-jinx from the early 1950s, the stories that make up this volume comprise a silly symphony of fighting man fantasies featuring the curvaceous Kate Revere, her comic foil and "everyman" marine, Private Al Smith and the bane of their respective existences, the ever angry Major Herringbone. Comics books like they used to be!
retail price - $28.99 copacetic price - $27.77

Items from our January 2014 listings may now be purchased online at our eCommerce site, HERE.

ordering info

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

4Q 2013: October - December, New Arrivals
3Q 2013: July - September, New Arrivals