Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips (1956-66)
By Jules Feiffer

In 1956, a relatively unknown cartoonist by the name of Jules Feiffer started contributing a strip to the only alternative weekly published in the US, a small radical newspaper called The Village Voice. His strip tackled just about every issue, private and public, that affected the sentient American: relationships, sexuality, love, family, parents, children, psychoanalysis, neuroses, presidents, politicians, media, race, class, labor, religiion, foreign policy, war, and one or two other existential questions. It was the first time that the American public had been subjected to a weekly dose of comics that so uncompromisingly and wittily confronted individuals' private fears and society's public transgressions. Explainers is the first of four volumes collecting Feiffer's entire run of weekly strips from The Village Voice. This edition contains approximately 500 strips originally published between 1956 and 1966 in a brick-like landscape hardcover format.

568-page black & white 9.25" x 5.25" hardcover • $28.99
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Comic Arf
By various artists; edited by Craig Yoe

Another great Arf book for 2008, and it features one of the greatest comickers of all: Milt Gross! The Gross-ness starts off with a stunning cover painting done in the 1930s but, as they say, ripped from today’s headlines. It’s all about immigration: Uncle Sam grinds up a sea of immigrants and out come… classic comic strip characters!

Milt Gross drew a 1920s comic that left the last panel blank for aspiring cartoonists. Editor Craig Yoe drafted a who’s who of contemporary cartoonists to complete Gross’s unfinished masterpieces. Art Spiegelman, Seymour Chwast, Patrick McDonnell, Mort Walker, R. Crumb, Bil Keane, Johnny Ryan, Jaime Hernandez, Mike Mignola, Bill Griffith, Kaz, Gene Deitch, Joost Swarte and a dozen more cartooning celebrities contribute art especially done for this Arf Happening!

The Arf books are famed for unearthing unknown Old Skool cartoonist geniuses. Comic Arf showcases the brilliant Dudley Fisher who amazingly drew crowded scenes all from a bird’s eye view. And Arch Dale is another unsung genius getting his due with his Smurfs-meet-Dr. Seuss characters, the Doo-Dads, who populated Canadian comic strips 75 years ago.

Arf also highlights unusual work from recognized masters. Walt Kelly, famed for his Pogo strip, did a surreal nightmarish strip for children presented in all its glory in this latest Arf tome. Amongst all this fun, Comic Arf is also proud to present a hard-hitting chapter this volume entitled “The 15 Most Powerful Anti-War Cartoons of History,” drawing from every major conflict of the last 200 years.

All this and much more, from 1950s devilish horror comics to cartoonist portraits by Gary Panter and Mitch O’Connell.

120-page color/b&w 9" x 12" softcover • $19.99
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Our esteemed friends at Payseur & Schmidt are taking pre-orders on a fantastic-looking and sounding new book project by Paul DiFillipo and Jim Woodring. You can even read an excerpt at their site.

Buy this from Comic Art Collective. Steven's latest "Stinckers," only 20 bucks! You will treasure it, seriously.

Presenting a random flip through the pages of the new softcover edition of Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 by Patrick Rosenkranz, coming soon. We also have a gallery of detailed still photos you can browse or view as a slideshow on Flickr.

(We'd love to get your feedback on presenting sneak peeks in video format like this, so please leave a comment here if you have any thoughts. Thanks!) 

Todd DePastino will be participating in a Virtual Book Signing this Thursday night to promote his two new books about Bill Mauldin: A LIFE UP FRONT, and WILLIE & JOE: THE WWII YEARS.

This Thursday, May 8th, at 6:00 pm Central Time, Virtual Book Signing, in partnership with Jean Albano Gallery, presents the first full length biography of the great cartoonist of the World War II generation, the legendary Bill Mauldin. They will also offer the first edition of our fine two volume set of Mauldin's classic WWII cartoons, Willie and Joe. Order Signed Copies of these titles now for delivery after the event.

Bill Mauldin costs $27.95.
Willie and Joe costs $65.00.

To reserve your signed copies of these titles visit VirtualBookSigning.net
or call (312) 944-3085.

One of Mauldin's most famous cartoons, depicting the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial holding his head in his hands, appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The original printing plate of this historic sketch was saved from the waste basket by a Sun Times editor, and now is reproduced as a special limited edition of 650 prints:

Thanks to Jean Albano Gallery, Virtual Book Signing will feature that original printing block during the May 8th program with Todd DePastino.
The Limited Edition hand-pulled print, from that historic plate, measures 17.5 x 14 inches.

"Weeping Lincoln" costs $500.00 unframed, or $750.00 in conservation framing.

If you wish to order this special limited edition please use this order form, or call (312) 944-3085.  

Robin McConnell over at the Inkstuds blog has posted a letter that Dave Sim is sending out to anyone that wishes to correspond with him. He is requesting that if you want to correspond with him, you must agree that he is not a misogynist. This should go well. We're really not making this up:

Courtesy Lorna Miller:

It's Free Comic Book Day tomorrow, so head on down to your participating local comic shop (especially if it's the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery) and pick up a copy of our offering, I.G.N.A.T.Z. ("International Graphic Novels At Their Zenith")! This 32-pager contains exclusive, never-before-seen excerpts from upcoming installments in our premium Ignatz Series, plus a couple of other goodies, including Babel #3 by David B., Baobab #3 by Igort, Grotesque #2 by Sergio Ponchione, Sammy the Mouse #2 by Zak Sally, Niger #3 by Leila Marzocchi, Interiorae #3 by Gabriella Giandelli, Delphine #3 by Richard Sala, and Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga (who also provides a new cover ilustration), plus a gallery of unseen sketches from Reflections by Marco Corona!

To answer the inevitable question: this comic book is ONLY available at participating comic book stores; plans to make additional copies available via our website or otherwise are To Be Determined (and will not be influenced by begging -- we know how badly you want one). Future plans, if any, will be announced here on Flog, so stay tuned.