NEW STUFF ARCHIVES
New for September 2023
From the view here at Copacetic, it appears that Monica has received the highest profile debut of any book in Fantagraphics history talk about buzz! When was the last time that a graphic novel made the cover / lead review of the New York Times Book Review? (those with access can read it here) Then there's the pieces in the LA Times, The New Yorker, and a pair of reviews in The Guardian (first | second), and that's just for starters. In typical Clowesian fashion, Monica follows the titular character through one rabbit hole after another, as she searches for the meaning of her life which is shown to be very much connected to the story of her mother, Penny leading to many unexpected (and disorienting) twists and turns. This works to slowly but surely guide the reader behind Monica's eyes and into her head space. Once there, what emerges is more than just the story of one person. It is also a bleak, damning portrait of an era which neatly overlaps with the lifetime of one Daniel Clowes. Starting out on the cultural frontier that emerged in the fraught cultural ferment of the 1960s, and largely set in the west of the USA, the characters and events that constitute this portrait become gradually subsumed into the dominant cultural matrix of late-capitalism, devolving into a surreal atavistic tribalism that is grounded in illusion, leads to delusion and overwhelms any and all aspirations for meaning and individual redemption. Given the acclaim that it has received, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Monica has effectively embodied an integral facet of our current zeitgeist. Bummer.Monica
retail price - $30.00 copacetic price - $25.75
It's here! Five years in the making by the team that brought you the Certified Copacetic Classic, This One Summer Roaming is a triune portrait of youthful awakening into the dawning of adulthood. Over the course of its over 400 pages, the Tamakis weave layer upon layer of exuberence, curiosity and experience onto a ground of adolescent innocence. The entire tale takes place during a brief visit to New York City by the trio of Canadians at the center of this work (although there is a wonderful flashback shared by a pair of them that serves to illuminate the ground from which they are emerging). Roaming is an engaging and absorbing work filled with page after page of dynamic drawing and insightful cartooning, the takeaway from which will be very much dependent on the age of the reader but there's something for everyone here! For those who'd like to learn more, here's the TCJ review by Irene Velentzas, and here's a feature on the Tamakis' making of the work in The NY Times.
Roaming
retail price - $34.95 copacetic price - $29.75
NejishikiFinally! The third volume in Drawn & Quarterly's ongoing series collecting Tsuge Yoshiharu's classic Garo manga tales has at long last arrived, after several delays. Nejishiki contains seven tales originally published in the years 1968 - 1972. It also includes a lengthy (over 60 pages!), in-depth essay on "The Tsuge Revolution" that these works embody by the translator and co-editor of this series, Ryan Holmberg.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.75
My Picture Diaryby Fujiwara Maki; w/ Ryan Holmberg
Created in the early 1980s, My Picture Diary is not technically comics (or manga), but rather an illustrated journal. It records the day-to-day life of its creator, Fujiwara Maki, and the reality of her married life with Yoshihiro Tsuge, a major pioneer of literary manga (see above), but also a sufferer of depression. As such, it offers a fascinating counterpoint to Tsuge's work. Here's the TCJ review, by Hagai Palevsky, which focuses on the emotional tone of the work, with its notes of depression and frustration. And here's a PDF preview, courtesy D & Q, that will let you know what to expect.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.75
Starseeds 3Get ready to simultaneously dive in and blast off in this the third (and final?) volume of Charles Glaubitz's epic. Aficionados of "cosmic" Kirby (which was three decades in the making see next listing) will be able to get their groove on with the eye-popping, brain bending cosmic comics on hand here.
retail price - $34.99 copacetic price - $29.75
Jack Kirby's Starr WarriorsNow THIS is a comic book! Tom Scioli has taken one of Jack Kirby's earliest works, "Solar Legion," which originally appeared in the pages of the first three issues of Crash Comics way back in 1940 and "remixed" reformatted and redrew it to work for a contemporary readership in today's market and added his own ζsthetic burnishing touches including highlighting the strength of Kirby's original art by reproducing it in a black and red duotone and then printing it on the perfect heavy cream colored stock for maximum oomph! Don't miss it! Made in Pittsburgh.
retail price - $9.99 copacetic price - $9.99
I Am Stan And here's Tom Scioli again, with his follow up to his 2010 graphic biography, Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics. It is, naturally enough, I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee. As with Kirby, Lee is a figure with whom Scioli is intimately familiar with on many levels, having spent a lifetime immersed in reading their comics and absorbing their professional histories. Again, as with the Kirby book, he then researched the personal and other details of Lee's life and picked out the key threads to weave into a well knit tapestry of the key points of his personal life and professional career that creates a powerful and lasting portrait. Scioli worked successfully to differentiate the quality of Lee's life from that of Kirby's in his choices regarding the narrative form and visual presentation. The construction of the narrative of Lee's life is as is warranted more multileveled and fraught with ironies. The tone is set early on with the page featuring a nine-panel grid containing a sequence of Warholian head shots representing the stages of Lee's life, which is as particularly apt as it is memorable. Simultaneously released in both hardcover and softcover editions. Made in Pittsburgh!
hardcover edition retail price - $28.99 copacetic price - $25.00
softcover edition retail price - $22.99 copacetic price - $20.00
The Naked TreeAdapted from Park Wan-suh's acclaimed 1970 novel of the same name, The Naked Tree is the latest of Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's graphic novels personalizing traumatic wartime experiences on the Korean peninsula, following Grass and The Waiting; all translated by Janet Hong and published by D & Q. It is effective in providing a sense of life during wartime, particularly but not only for its young female protagonist. Interactions with American soldiers who are simultaneously protective defenders and alien occupiers also play an important role in the drama, which, ultimately, focuses on the effects of trauma as it moves through the stages of repression, cathexis and catharsis. Plus, D & Q has posted a six-page preview, HERE. And, this work has been reviewed from a medical point of view, with a focus on the nature of trauma and PTSD, at the website Graphic Medicine, HERE.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.75
A Guest in the House is an all new, original graphic novel excursion into the realm of gothic horror from a master of the form. Emily Carroll, creator of the now classic collection, Through the Woods and When I Arrived at the Castle stretches out here, creating her most sustained work to date. Once again, Carroll shows off her unique approach to scale and color here employing a mix of black and white, spot color and full color to highlight narrative events and tease out thematic contrasts. Anyone interested in learning some details of the plot and checking out a preview of the art can do both at the publisher's page devoted to this work, HERE.
A Guest in the House
retail price - $27.99 copacetic price - $24.75
These items and more may also be found at our eCommerce site, HERE.
New for August 2023
The amazing and simultaneously depressing thing about these cartoons is that, with the swapping of contemporary particulars and details, they could have all been penned today; as far as relationship between the classes are concerned, almost nothing has changed! Syd Hoff is widely known to older folks as the creator of children's books, most notably Danny the Dinosaur, which was published in 1958 and went on to sell millions of copies, but decades prior to that he was... a red! The Ruling Clawss was published in 1935 by The Daily Worker, the press organ of the Communist Party in America, and the cartoons were signed "A. Redfield." Communist remains one of the most contentious and controversial labels provoking many a heated argument, few of which shed any light on the subject so much so that this book is subtitled, "The Socialist Cartoons of Syd Hoff", when, in fact, they were considered communist when they were produced. Regardless of these distinctions, the cartoons themselves are spot-on observations of the absurdities and injustices of the class system, and Hoff/Redfield hits bullseye after bullseye. (We posted a handful on Instagram, HERE.) These cartoons are close to ninety years old, but so many feel shockingly contemporary that you can't help but wonder, "will anything ever change...?" But, perhaps it's more accurate to think that history moves in cycles, and that we are now as a society once again where we were then as it feels like the intervening years were not as dire... Much food for thought here in these pages, which get off to a good start with two introductory essays: the first, written in the present especially for this edition by Philip Nel; the second, penned in 1935 for the original edition by Robert Forsythe.The Ruling Clawss: The Socialist Cartoons of Syd Hoff
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price - $21.75
OkinawaA timely reminder of the violence, pain, horror and tragedy of war, along with the seismic changes war leaves in its wake, Okinawa is a 500+ page collection of short manga by the premiere Okinawan mangaka, Susumu Higa that primarily focus on the events of the Second World War (aka the War in the Pacific) and the following US occupation in recounting the story of Okinawa as it went from peaceful independent kingdom through Japanese occupation, WW II and the establishment of US military bases during the long occupation that followed the war as the United States and Japan transitioned from enemies to allies, determining the fate of the small island of Okinawa; all the while maintaining an engaging approach to the material presented that is not without a sense of humor. Translated from the original Japanese by Jocelyne Allen. Includes maps, a glossary and plenty of support material. Hardcover; in black and white with some color. Check out this review by Timothy O'Neill on AIPT for a more in-depth look along with a few sample pages.
retail price - $29.99 copacetic price - $26.75
Camille Jourdy's North American debut is a high-jinx, family drama cum romantic romp through small town France. Deliberately rendered to bring out the contrast to Parisian urbanity, it is filled with quirky, memorable characters all deliciously rendered in clean, spare lines filled out with delicate water colors. Juliette makes for a thoroughly engaging et trθs franηais read (yet may leaving you feeling wistful). Translated by Aleshia Jensen. Read Rachel Cooke's review in The Guardian UK to get a better idea of what's in store.
Juliette
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $26.75
Last Chance to Find DukeCreated by a Paris-based animator who grew up in China reading classic Japanese manga, and inspired by an episode in Patti Smith's M Train dealing with the gathering of a small, obscure (and mysterious) society, Last Chance to Find Duke relates the story of Insect Researcher No. 063, who has one last chance to find "Duke," a rare species of cricket whose sounds/songs evoke jazz syncopations. The fate of his funding through The Institute for Studying Extraordinary Creatures hangs in the balance... This 150mm x 210mm (roughly 6" x 8") French-flapped softcover volume reads right-to-left (manga style), is printed on heavy, cream colored stock, and runs 216 pages. Rendered throughout in shaded pencil drawings with subtle under-color. Nice!
retail price - $16.00 copacetic price - $15.25
Mother NatureAdapted from a script by Jamie Lee Curtis & Russell Goldman, Karl Stevens has created a filmic graphic novel of this occasionally grisly eco-horror tale. Set in the (fictional) town of Catch Creek, New Mexico, which exists largely to support the energy extractions of the (fictional) Cobalt Corporation, the plot centers on the lives of those working for Cobalt, along with several of these employee's high school age children, all of whom have, to varying degrees, been devastated by its corporate malfeasance, mendacity and hypocrisy. The effects of these corporate behaviors precipitate a drive for vengeance leading to a complex series of interactions that, in turn, result in cascading crises that invoke the latent supernatural forces of Mother Nature. Karl Stevens's photo-realistic-but-also-fantastic (especially in the word's original sense, as derived from fantasy) art goes the distance here to provide readers with a real sense of people and place and that also then provides a special payoff when things get weird... To get a more in depth view of this work, check out Henry Chamberlain's review on TCJ.
retail price - $29.95 copacetic intro special price - $21.75
Wasp Video RoadhouseWasp Video Roadhouse is the latest collection of Carlos Gonzalez's work published by Floating World Comics, who have this to say about it: "Welcome to the club. A comic book potpourri collecting over a decade of fever dreams, lost highways, and psycho-sexual noir. Wasp Video Roadhouse compiles a trove of hard to find zines and self published mini-comics that even the most die hard fans have never seen. Includes: Steam Walkway (2010), Micro Pitch (2012), Shit Town (2012), Lost Canyon (2013), Star Power (2014), Scab County (2015), The Toy Collector (2021) and a little bonus material. These stories range a variety genres outside of Gonzalezs science fiction comfort zone, such as romance, sports, political apocalypse, neo-noir, music biography, western. Follow the crooked journey of several lost souls as they navigate the borders of rationality within a curdled American gumbo." And then, Hagai Palevsky has even more to say about it, at TCJ, HERE.
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price - $21.75
Cat-Eyed Boy, Volume OneThe Cat-Eyed Boy is back (in print)! This 540 hardcover edition from Viz collects five classic tales from the pen of Kazuo Umezz: "The Immortal Man," "The Ugly Demon," "The Tsunami Brothers,"The One-Legged Demon of Oudai," and "The Band of One Hundred Monsters, Part One" (of course they leave you on a cliff-hanger). These tales were originally serialized in Shōnen Gaho over a half-century ago, during the turmoil of the late 1960s. Check out a 20 page preview HERE (scroll down slightly to click on the preview, then use the left arrow at the bottom of your keyboard to advance through the pages).
retail price - $34.99 copacetic price - $29.75
The Buildings Are BarkingLoss is universal and everyone dies, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier. In the last year or so, three of the giants of underground comics passed on: Justin Green, Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Diane Noomin, who is the subject of this heartfelt, introspective comic book by her partner of just shy of fifty years, Bill Griffith. It well conveys his sense of disorientation and melancholy experienced following the loss of his closest companion.
retail price - $7.00 copacetic price - $7.00
These items and more may also be found at our eCommerce site, HERE.
New for July 2023
It's here! This 264-page hardcover just released by Abrams ComicArts is sure to be the definitive comics biography of the one and only Ernie Bushmiller. Three Rocks digs deep and unearths some gems of insight (along with plenty of classic Nancy strips). A MUST for all Ernie Bushmiller and Bill Griffith fans! Three Rocks weaves together fact and fantasy along with history and speculation, as Griffith mixes research and his own artful musings with classic Bushmiller reprints. Uniquely and intriguingly, Griffith samples Bushmiller artwork individual panels along with isolated figures from the strips and remixes them for his own narrative ends (a little bit like a purposefully intentional version of Five Card Nancy), in most cases adding his own dialogue. A one-of-a-kind work!
Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price - $21.75
Social FictionAT LAST these classic works of speculative fiction in comics form by the trailblazing female comics creator, Chantal Montellier who created these works in the 1970s are finally appearing in English translation here in the United States, with Geoffrey Brock's translation from the original French doing the original text full justice (this volume also includes a short interview of Montellier by Brock, appended at the conclusion). Kudos to New York Review Comics for bringing these works to the attention of North American readers; it was long overdue. The second wave feminist outrage that animates many key moments in these works resonates loudly today. As the collection's title indicates, it features works focused on the issues that arise from humans living together in situations projected to arise from her observations of 1970s France. Montellier's artwork is a pleasure to peruse, and each of the three graphic novellas in the collection Wonder City, Shelter and 1996 show her to have developed a specific stylistic approach to match the theme of the narrative (with Shelter evidencing a strong sympathies with the style of her peer, Jaques Tardi who began his career at roughly the same time). To take a deeper dive into this work and see some preview pages, take a moment to check out Helen Chazan's insightful review at TCJ.
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price - $21.75
Offshore Lightning is an intriguing, 250-page, softcover collection of subtle and oblique short manga stories. Nazuna started out as an editorial illustrator and only shifted to fictional narratives in her forties, providing her with an atypical entry point and perspective to the form. All but the last two of these pieces were originally published in the early 1990s in Hanashi No Tokushu magazine, while the final two appeared in different collections in 2012 & 2015. This collection includes the informative essay, "Saito Nazuna: Living to Tell the Tale," by Mitsuhiro Asakawa. All the manga along with the essay are ably translated into English from the original Japanese by Alexa Frank; font and sound effects are by Rumi Hara.
Offshore Lightning
retail price - $29.95 copacetic price - $25.75
Boy's WeekendMattie Lubchansky will likely be best known to Copacetic customers for their work on The Nib. Here in the 228 pages of this deluxe, full color hardcover, they get the chance to bust out and tell an long form story and quite a story it is. It is a science fiction/fantasy/horror tale set in the near future. The narrative arc centers on a bachelor weekend at a sort of Las Vegas Island that functions as a kind of stand in for unbridled capitalism, free from government strictures. The first twist is that the protagonist, Sammie is a newly out trans. The second is that Sammie seems to be the only one who notices that something wicked this way comes...
retail price - $28.00 copacetic price - $23.75
Minami's Lover
Old CavesOld Caves shares the tale (employing plenty of black ink in the process) of man and woman alone in the wilderness. Tyler Landry heads out into the back woods via old school means and methods in search of meaning and mystery, and... the old caves.
retail price - $19.95 copacetic price - $17.75
Anais Nin: A Sea of LiesBischoff's intimate and sensual style pays homage to Nin's own literary style while presenting this crucial period in Nin's life that centers on her liaison with Henry Miller in this oversize, full color hardcover that runs close to 200 pages. Sex positive (but not without consequences). Translated fro the original French by Jenna Allen
retail price - $29.99 copacetic price - $26.75
Shakespeare in ComicsIt's here, straight from Italy via DHL courier, the long awaited deluxe edition of Gianni De Luca's masterful and unique comics takes on William Shakespeare. Here in the 140+ massively oversize 14 1/2" x 10 1/4" pages are de Luca's adaptations of The Tempest, Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. We hope to be able to say a bit more about these comics as they are quite desesrving of discussion but, for now we direct interested parties to Paul Gravett's elqouent piece on Deluca that he penned back in 2009.
copacetic price - $69.75
The He-Man EffectBox Brown Strikes Back! against the corporate forces that shaped his and the previous generation by manipulating their childhood innocence profit. While the fact of the book's premise may sound like somewhat of a statement of the obvious no surprises there the actual details can be informative, and perhaps by of aid to any in working on their own deprogramming from consumer culture. Will the truth set you free? Learn the details of what's in store and click the link below the cover for a solid preview HERE at the publisher's page. And, the fact that even a non-comics reviewer at Kirkus can easily get what Box is up to in the pages of The He-Man Effect provides testimony to the likely success of the work will have in reaching a mainstream (read, less clued-in than Copacetic customers) audience that could stand to benefit most from the insights provided in its pages.
retail price - $26.99 copacetic price - $23.75
The Little Red FishThe Little Red Fish collects the original five-issue series of the same name, gathering it all together in one place for a one-top (and non-stop) read. The script by James Moffitt poweres page after page of intriguingly beautiful, full color comics by Bizhan Khodabandeh that work to pull the reader in to a magical world made up almost entirely of air and water, populated by mystical birds and fish engaged in an epic struggle. The Little Red Fish provides an unexpected, allegorical retelling of the Iranian Revolution!
retail price - $19.95 copacetic price - $16.75
Copra: Round SevenHere in the 300 pages of Copra: Round Seven, readers will find: the never-before-collected Copra #25; the complete collection of the latest Copra story-arc that ran in issues #42 through #45; all five issues of the previously uncollected Copra Versus mini-series; and over 50 pages of (for the most part) never-before-seen bonus material, including a dozen pin-ups by a host of guest artists and three shorts stories by Tim Hamilton, Benjamin Marra and Deiter van Oegstraete. Quite a package for the price!
retail price - $24.95 copacetic price - $22.75
The Inner Ear of Don Zientara We didn't see this one coming, but were happy to get it in! Inner Ear Studios was THE recording studio of the DC punk/hardcore/alt music scene starting in the late 1970s, through the 1980s, and beyond, recording the who's who of DC area bands and, as its reputation grew, attracting musicians from around the country. The Inner Ear of Don Zientara celebrates the close to half a century in which Don Zientara piloted this institution. Taking the form of a hefty, 160 page, 11" x 10" hardcover, coffee-table book, it provides an oral history of the studio featuring testimonials from members of Fugazi, Scream, Fire Party, Shudder to Think, Jawbox, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dismemberment Plan, as well as musicians like Kathleen Hanna, Henry Rollins and others, along with roughly 250 photographs (including some cool Polaroids) in both color and black & white. A great gift for anyone who was part of that scene.
retail price - $35.00 copacetic price - $29.75
These items and more may also be found at our eCommerce site, HERE.
