FLOG! Entries for Mike Baehr - February 2012

Will the real Crustache please stand up?

mike

When I stumbled across "Crustache: The Mustache Sandwich Cutter by Fred & Friends" I immediately emailed Steven Weissman to contact his lawyer. He thinks it's cool though so he's letting it slide.

First Look: Popeye Vol. 6

mike

Delivered this morning: advance copies of Popeye Vol. 6: "Me Li'l Swee'Pea" — the final volume of our complete E.C. Segar Popeye collections. We're excited but also a little sad that the series is coming to an end. Stay tuned for more updates and more/better photos & previews, as always.

Daily OCD: 2/29/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Besides a particularly gleeful dark humour, this collection of short stories by Norweigan artist Jason [Athos in America] is tied together by a certain obsession with Hollywood genres: science-fiction and crime are the main targets, and Jason infuses them with both a slightly tweaked pathos and a taste for melancholy macabre. His drawing style is sparse and uncluttered, but that works something like keeping an even tone during a dry remark: his punchlines and gut-punches are that much sharper for having played it cool. All of these stories have an underlying sadness — something that seems to stem from the bleak futility of all our existence — but the best has to be 'Tom Waits on the Moon,' four seemingly unconnected vignettes that ruminate on various relationship troubles before tying up in [a] surprising and funny end. That’s not to discount any of these, though: this is just fantastic stuff for sad bastards and the people who love them." – David Berry, National Post

• Review: "I’m going to go out on a limb and assume anyone reading a review of comics is aware enough of Walt Kelly’s landmark Pogo series that they don’t need much in the way of description, but suffice to say that any strip artist worth their salt has taken serious cues from Kelly’s rich dialogue, playful illustration and at-times fierce politics. This first edition, which features for the first time full-colour Sunday strips, definitely leans towards the sweeter side, but there’s simply no denying Kelly’s mastery: he evokes full characters with nothing but a few choice words, and the sprightliness of his visual style is all fun here, laying the groundwork for what would become profoundly subversive later. The included essays, as is usually the case for Fantagraphics reissues, absolutely nail the context and import of the strip, too. I just don’t think you can say you love comics and not have this around." – David Berry, National Post

• Review: "[Action! Mystery! Thrills! Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age] is a fucking mind blower for me since it's just full-size reproductions of cover art of the most important comic book issues you never saw, printed on glossy paper with information about what makes them so special on the back.... The brain of the casual art looker or person who thinks comics are a genre and not a medium will look at this stuff and try to make it ironic or perverse. To appreciate the work in this book you have to turn off those parts of your cynicism and open whatever part of yourself receives beauty. America's golden-age comic books are some of the greatest art our country has produced." – Nick Gazin, VICE

• Interview: At Examiner.com, part 2 of Gillian Gaar's Q&A with Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 author Pat Thomas focuses on the accompanying soundtrack album

Leap Day Sale! 29% Off Everything!

mike

Take the plunge! What better way to spend your quadrennial extra day by loading up on comics! Today only (February 29, 2012), take 29% off every item in your order (including already-discounted items) by using the coupon code LEAPDAY at checkout on our website. (Or, just mention this offer if ordering by phone — 1-800-657-1100 or 206-524-1967 outside the U.S., 9 AM to 5 PM. Sorry, sale not in effect at Fantagraphics Bookstore.) Jump for joy and spread the word! Shop shop shop!

Daily OCD: 2/28/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Awards: Jaime Hernandez's Speedy Ortiz dør (the Danish edition of The Death of Speedy from Aben Maler) was named winner of the Ping Prisen for "Best International Comic in Danish"

• List: YALSA's blog The Hub spotlights their previously-announced Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten 2012: "Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son Volume 1 rounds out the Top Ten list for 2012 with a sensitive look at two fifth grade students struggling with gender identity: Shuichi Natori is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino Takatsuki is a girl who wants to be a boy. This is a complex and sensitive subject, but Takako handles it very gently, allowing the story to unfold in a way that is not only natural but sympathetic. Takako’s artwork is spare and evocative, supporting the story but never getting in the way of its telling. This one is for teens who like contemporary stories about real world problems."

• List: At LitReactor, Kelly Thompson runs down 10 Graphic Novels for the Literary Minded, with Castle Waiting Vol. 1 by Linda Medley recommended "for fans of fantasy": "Castle Waiting, a brutally funny book with a giant heart, has a new spin on fairy tales with a feminist bent that will draw you in and keep you reading from page one.... Medley’s world is expertly crafted and completely believable, while her black and white artwork is clean and highly detailed with an emphasis on character design and acting."

• Interview: At SF Weekly, J Poet talks to Pat Thomas about Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975: "As you can see from the scope of the book, there were hundreds of recordings connected to the Black Power movement. At Fred Hampton's funeral, they blasted The Supremes' 'Someday We'll Be Together' from loudspeakers. Huey Newton loved Bob Dylan's line, 'Something's happening and you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?' The movement was inspired by music and the movement inspired many people, especially jazz musicians, to refocus their sound and energy."

• Plug: Check out Ernest Hardy's review of the Listen, Whitey! companion album on Pop & Hiss: The L.A. Times Music Blog, which includes a mention of the book

• Plug: Denise Sullivan also digs into the Listen, Whitey! album at Blurt

• Roundtable (Audio): On the Inkstuds radio programme guests Joe McCulloch, Matt Seneca and Tucker Stone and host Robin McConnell discuss recent comics including Is That All There Is? by Joost Swarte and The Cabbie Vol. 1 by Martí as well as George Herriman's Krazy Kat

• Review: "Buddy Does Seattle collects the first 15 issues of Hate, in which the protagonist has relocated to the Pacific Northwest and become the consummate slacker.... First published when Seattle was exploding in popularity due to the rise of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and various grunge bands, Hate offered a decidedly un-romanticized take on a particular time and place. ...Bagge's artwork took the public's perception of '90s youth as angry and volatile and pushed it to hysterical levels. Heavily influenced by late-'60s counterculture cartoonists like Crumb, Bagge's drawings are fluid and grimy-looking, with frequent use of exaggerated facial expressions helping to cultivate an atmosphere of chaos. As a work of cultural commentary it's brash and invigorating, and remains so years later." – Phil Guie, Critical Mob

• Interview: Nick Thorburn's tour with his band Islands brings him to Seattle next week and the Seattle Weekly's Dave Lake asks him about his connections to the city: "...I had a comic strip in the last couple issues of Mome, which is a Fantagraphics anthology, which is a Seattle-based comics publisher. I love Fantagraphics. I got a check from them recently for being in those comics and it would have made the 13-year-old me die with joy, seeing a check with my name on it from Fantagraphics. That's beyond my wildest teenage fantasy."

Daily OCD: 2/27/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: Our own Eric Buckler talks to Wilfred Santiago at our own The Comics Journal: "Unlike working with someone else’s script, there’s no linear method when I work on my own. That is to say I write while I ‘toon, and I ‘toon while I write. So the most important step is editing–what’s left on the page before going to the printer and into the sweaty hands of readers. I do believe writing has improved my cartooning. I don’t think it’s an accident that some of the best cartoonists are writers. I’m not putting myself in that group but I strive for it."

• Review: "This is a wonderful collection of golden age material from Bill Everett, all never before reprinted.... For fans of golden age material or Bill Everett Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives, Vol. 1 is a must have look at early comics from lesser known publishers... At $40 it’s an investment into rarely seen material." – Scott VanderPloeg, Comic Book Daily

• Review: At Danish comics website Nummer9, Nikolaj Mangurten Rubin looks at Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now, calling it "A many-headed troll monster of a book" and giving it a 4 out of 5 rating

• Review: "Not many music writers warrant a biography. Lester Bangs was one. Maybe Tosches or Kent. But Everything Is an Afterthought, by Kevin Avery, is a singular piece of work, a hybrid bio and anthology. Nelson was the Orson Welles of rock letterdom, a man whose profiles of Springsteen and Zevon were masterpieces of the form. A slow stone-cutter of a writer, a cinephile and a noir buff (and an inveterate deadline-misser), he shot himself in the foot many times, but Avery’s book makes the reader misty-eyed for a time when music journalism was populated by hard-nosed evangelists, not suck-ups or career snarks." – Peter Murphy, "Blog of Revelations," Hot Press

• Review: As part of ComicsAlliance's series focusing on sex in comics, Douglas Wolk looks at Gilbert Hernandez's Birdland: "Birdland has been out of print for a while, which is a pity. It's witty, eccentric, bursting with joy, and utterly, cheerfully smutty.... And the whole thing is drawn in a style that's the erotic equivalent of Jack Kirby's fight scenes: grounded in the way actual bodies interact, but pumped up to an imaginative intensity way beyond anything the naked eye has ever seen. On top of that, Birdland is funny -- not corny-funny or nudge/wink-funny, but absurd and sly, with a terrific sense for what can make the overfamiliar language of pornography fresh again."

• Plug: "I’ve been waiting for No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics since I first heard about it last summer.... I can’t wait!" – Daniela Capistrano, Daniela's Lair

Video: Joe Sacco's Portland library presentation

mike

Writers Talking: Joe Sacco on Feb. 18, 2012 from Multnomah County Library on Vimeo.

If you weren't one of the lucky Portlanders who was able to attend Joe Sacco's talk at the Multnomah County Library main branch on Feb. 18 (or if you were and you would like to relive it), the library has now posted video of the entire presentation and Q&A session online (hat tip: Forbidden Planet International).

Daily OCD Extra: Pat Thomas & Listen, Whitey! media domination

mike

Pat Thomas has been all over the television and radio dial talking about Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. He was host Nancy Guppy's guest on Friday's episode of Art Zone on the Seattle Channel — the segment begins at the 8:00 mark in the video embedded above or available here [Edit: link updated to jump directly to the segment].

Florangela Davila of NPR station KPLU talked to Pat this morning; streaming audio and a recap of the segment are available here.

Pat's appearance last Wednesday on WNYC's Soundcheck is embedded below and archived here.

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Pat's guest spot on The Roadhouse with Greg Vandy on KEXP last Wednesday is available in the KEXP Streaming Archive through Wednesday of next week.

And if you prefer your interviews in good old text format Gillian Gaar has a Q&A with Pat at Examiner.com.

Meanwhile, the print press has been rolling in — here's a tremendous review by Mark Anthony Neal in the current issue of SPIN (click image to enlarge):

Ian Abarahams gives the book a 4-star review in Record Collector magazine:

Jon "Mojo" Mills reviews the book and album for Shindig!:

Another 4-star review, from Lois Wilson in Mojo magazine:

Weekend Webcomics for 2/24/12

mike

We've got our new Nicolas Mahler Angelman page for you! And in lieu of a new Up All Night strip Michael Kupperman has provided a classic from his vaults.

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Angelman by Nicolas Mahler (view at original size):

Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Daily OCD: 2/24/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Some of the most interesting travel books happen by accident. If Alexander Theroux’s wife had not gone to Estonia on a Fulbright Scholarship, it is unlikely that he would have spent an extended period in the tiny Baltic republic, an experience that impelled him to write this book [Estonia: A Ramble Through the Periphery].... Despite all [his] genuine delight in the quaint, not merely linguistic but extending also to Estonian architecture, what Mr. Theroux mostly shows us about the country and its people is exasperation, irritation, furious rage. To say that it — and they — get on his nerves is the mildest of understatements. He takes endless potshots at their food, admittedly an easy target, but by the time you get near the end of the book and find a section titled 'What did I hate about Estonia,' it’s no surprise." – Martin Rubin, The Washington Times

• Plug: "The premise of Pat Thomas's handsome book [Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975] is that this was an era in which revolutionaries such as Bobby Seale and Angela Davis were treated as pop cultural icons, while musicians became revolutionaries – meaning Gil Scott-Heron, the Last Poets, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and more." – Caspar Llewellyn Smith, The Guardian

Order Bushmiller's Nancy, get Brunetti's Nancy free!

mike

Oh hey! We (I) forgot to tell you when we (I) posted the previews to Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943-1945 by Ernie Bushmiller: when you order that book from us, you'll get The Nancy Auditions V.1, one of our FREE bonus FBI•MINI comics, containing Ivan Brunetti's legendary tryout strips when he auditioned (unsuccessfully) to take over the strip! Ivan made his best, sincere go of it in perfect Bushmiller style and this is the first "official" release of these strips!

Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943-1945 by Ernie Bushmiller - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies 1943-1945
by Ernie Bushmiller

336-page black & white 8.5" x 8.5" flexibound softcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-360-6

Ships in: March 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Order this book and receive this FBI�MINI comic shown at left as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last.

A funny thing happened on the way to comic-strip immortality.

For many years, Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy, with its odd-looking, squat heroine, nearly abstract art, and often super-corny gags, was perceived as the stodgiest, squarest comic strip in the world. Popular with newspaper read- ers, true — but definitely not a strip embraced by comic-strip connoisseurs, like Krazy Kat, Dick Tracy or Terry and the Pirates.

But then those connoisseurs took a closer look, and began to realize that Bushmiller’s art approached its own kind of cartoon perfection, and those corny gags often achieved a striking zen quality. In its own way, it turned out Nancy was in fact the most iconic comic strip of all. (The American Heritage Dictionary actually uses a Nancy strip to illustrate its entry on “comic strip.”)

Charter members of the Nancy revival include Art Spiegelman, who published Mark Newgarden’s famous “Love’s Savage Fury” (featuring Nancy and Bazooka Joe) in an early issue of RAW; Fletcher Hanks anthologist Paul Karasik; Zippy the Pinhead creator Bill Griffith; underground publisher Denis Kitchen, who released several volumes of Nancy collections in the 1980s; Understanding Comics’ Scott McCloud, who created the “Five-Card Nancy” card game; Joe Brainard, who produced an entire Nancy Book of paintings in 2008; and Andy Warhol, who produced a painting based on Nancy.

Beginning in the Winter of 2011, fans will be dancing with joy as Fantagraphics unveils an ongoing Nancy reprint project. Each volume will contain a whopping full three years of daily Nancy strips (a Sunday Nancy project looms in the future), collected in a fat, square (what else, for the “squarest” strip in the world?) package designed by Jacob (Popeye, Beasts!, Willie and Joe) Covey.

This first volume will collect every daily strip from 1943 to 1945. (Fantagraphics will eventually release Nancy’s first five years, 1938-1942, but given the scarcity of archival material for these years we are giving ourselves some extra time to collate it all.)

This first Nancy volume will feature an introduction by another stellar Bushmiller fan, Daniel Clowes (from whose collection most of the strips in this volume were scanned), a biography of the artist, and much more.

Download and read a 20-page PDF excerpt (2.2 MB).

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Daily OCD: 2/23/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: The Believer presents the fourth and concluding part of Ross Simonini's 2008 interview with Jim Woodring (which can be read in its entirety here): "I don’t believe in art like I used to. I believe in something beyond it, something that contains art and everything else. But I just don’t quite have the nerve to chuck drawing and painting. Part of it is that I enjoy IT too much, and part is that I don’t have the courage to renounce the world. I don’t want to move out of this nice neighborhood so that I can live in a shed and devote myself to meditating and touching something I can’t feel. I’m addicted to the fun of playing in the world."

• Review: "Fantagraphics is giving us another opportunity to revisit R. Crumb's iconic character in a hardcover edition of his collected adventures, called The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat.... Despite Fritz's demise 40 years ago, these stories maintain their wit, satirical edge, and their ability to offend and shock. The earlier stories are funny and bizarre..., and the later ones are funny and angry... Even the final story can be viewed as funny in an extraordinarily dark context, although it helps to be aware of Crumb's intentions. To read 'Fritz the Cat, Superstar' first, or without knowledge of Crumb, would feel a lot like confronting a knife-wielding lunatic in a dark alley.... Fantagraphics' new hardcover edition of the Fritz portfolio is unburdened by editorial commentary or contextual material of any kind. This encourages readers to experience the comics as if for the first time -- and find that the acid in Crumb's humor still stings." – Casey Burchby, SF Weekly

• Review: "Just released by Fantagraphics, [Action! Mystery! Thrills!] is one the best books yet done on Golden Age Comics! Sadowski is by far my favorite editor of compilations/retrospectives on comic book art!... A fascinating and important look at an exceptional period of American art! My highest recommendation to anyone interested in 20th Century illustration and of course the comics!" – Golden Age Comic Book Stories (via The Comics Reporter)

• Review: "[Athos in America]'s the usual collection of laconic oddness and outright weirdness.... Yes, it would be fair to say if you're looking for examples of dark humour in comics, Jason probably would be a very good place to start." – Jonathan Rigby, Page 45

• Review: "Mixing illustrated text pieces with short comic strips, Kupperman uses [an] oddball conceit [in Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010] to deliver a wacky, adventure-filled romp that sends you laughing your way through the twentieth century.... The thick, precise lines of Kupperman’s drawing style bring a much needed dead-pan expression to a book that might otherwise feel out of control. The text pieces are often well-used, giving Kupperman more room to play with Twain’s voice and toss in frequent verbal puns." – Matthew L. Moffett, No Flying No Tights

• Plug: "A pop art masterpiece! If you liked Little Annie Fanny then you will like [The Adventures of Jodelle]. I think this is going to be great. And, for reference, Peellaert did the cover to Bowie’s Diamond Dogs so he knows what he’s doing." – Lee, Comics And...Other Imaginary Tales

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 (Vol. 17) by Charles M. Schulz - Previews

mike

The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 (Vol. 17)
by Charles M. Schulz
Introduction by Leonard Maltin

344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-523-5

Ships in: March 2012 (subject to change)

As Peanuts reaches the mid-1980s, Charles Schulz is still creating and playing with new characters, and in this volume Snoopy’s deadpan, droopy-mustached brother Spike takes center stage: Surrounded by coyotes in the desert where he lives and who are attacking him with rubber bands, he sends a frantic message to Snoopy who launches an expedition to save him. Then, he makes the long trek back to Snoopy’s neck of the woods accompanied by his only friend (a cactus, of course)… and throughout the rest of the book, pops up in hilarious, Waiting for Godot-style vignettes set in his native Needles.

In romantic news, the Peppermint Patty-Marcie-Charlie Brown love triangle of overlapping unrequited love heats up (well, kind of), while Linus continues to vociferously deny that he is Sally’s “Sweet Babboo”; of course, Lucy’s unsuccessful pursuit of Schroeder remains unabated. Also, a romance blossoms between two of Snoopy’s “Beagle Scout” birds. (We will pass over Spike’s brief attraction to one of the coyotes.)

In what is probably his most baroque and hilarious baseball-involved humiliation yet, Charlie Brown agrees to join Peppermint Patty’s team the “Pelicans” only to discover that he’s wanted not as a player but as a mascot… Linus gives up his security blanket and forms a support group for other kids who are trying to do the same… and Peppermint Patty manages to be held back in school (leaving a “Snoring Ghost” to take her place in the rest of the class that has advanced) and yet get to go on a European trip with her dad, sending back periodic dispatches from the road. All this plus appearances from Franklin, Rerun, and the rest of the gang in these strips from a period of Peanuts that’s far less well-known than the endlessly-collected 1960s and 1970s eras…

Download and read a 17-page PDF excerpt (3.1 MB) with all the strips from January 1983.

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Daily OCD: 2/22/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Feature: The Stranger's Dave Segal talks to Pat Thomas about the creation of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 and says of the book, "Listen, Whitey! presents Black Power's volatile ups and downs with stunning imagery. Designed by Fantagraphics' Jacob Covey, the copiously illustrated Listen, Whitey! is a joy to behold as well as to read.... Ultimately, Thomas captures the revolutionary spirit of myriad vital strands of the movement and stokes your desire to hear these recordings."

• Review: "...Action! Mystery! Thrills! Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age 1933-1945 [is] wonderful. ...Sadowski offers up an incredibly diverse gallery of forgotten superheroes, pistol-toting gangsters, cartoonish Nazis, and talking animals. Each cover has been painstakingly restored to pristine condition, and is presented in full color on glossy paper. It’s as close to browsing the comics rack of a World War II-era drugstore as most of us will ever get.... Sadowski... is one of the most adept chroniclers of comic-book history working today. He offers succinct but informative notes on each cover, but his most notable achievement in this volume is his selection of covers. The notes are helpful and fun, but it’s the progression of images itself that is the most telling.... At a perfectly reasonable $29.99, it’s a must for any comic-book fan’s library." – April Snellings, Knoxville Metro Pulse

• Review: "Set to Sea is a book to read and contemplate on, a book to look at and think about, a book to read slowly and then to read again. It's a lovely graphic novel from a creator I hope to see a lot more from as the years go on, and I hope his own busy life affords him enough leisure and time to continue to make gemlike, poetic stories like this one." – Andrew Wheeler, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

• Analysis: Buz Sawyer administers a spanking (and a beatdown) and Robot 6’s Matt Seneca analyzes the action in an October 1944 Roy Crane strip

Half price H.O.P.P.E.R.S.

mike

Folks have been clamoring for The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S., the second trade paperback collection of Jaime Hernandez 's complete "Locas" stories from Love and Rockets Vol. 1, which is out of print (for now). We have a load of slightly damaged copies sitting in storage, so we're now making them available for our mailorder customers at half cover price! These aren't too torn up — just some light dings and scuffs from transit, storage and handling — so if you're not too concerned with the condition of the book and just want a readable copy, and/or you love bargains, it's your lucky day!

Gary Groth & R. Crumb's adventures at Comic Con India

mike

Some great reports have been flowing in about Gary Groth and Robert Crumb's appearance at Comic Con India in New Delhi this past weekend, both from individuals and press — here are a few that have come to our attention. Above and below, photos of Gary giving his presentation in front of the Jumbotron while Crumb listens in rapt attention from illustrator Samia Singh, who has more pics and a brief writeup on her blog.

Mohita Nagpal of Delhi English-language daily newspaper The Pioneer talked to Gary: "There is something here for everybody who loves comics. It’s a very nice intimate event. Haven’t been to something quite like this."

Vishad Sharma of music site NH7 wrote up the event, including a brief report on Gary's presentation: "What made the talk especially priceless for me was two things – the fact that Robert Crumb was sitting about two chairs away from me (glee!), who was extremely disappointed with the questions people were asking Groth and a lady sitting behind me who pointed to Groth and asked the man next to her, 'Does this man make comics? Why is he talking if he doesn’t?'"

Even The Hollywood Reporter was there, with Nyay Bhushan getting this soundbites: "'This is our first time in India and perhaps this could inspire us to create something based on our visit,' said Crumb. 'It is great to be here because this reminds me of the exciting times when comic conventions first started out in the sixties and seventies in the U.S.,' added Groth."

And last but not least, Chris Oliveros, "The Chief" over at our esteemed colleagues Drawn & Quarterly, posts his own first-hand account and some great photos, including Aline Kominsky-Crumb and hubby Robert at the opening ceremonies and Gary's on-stage interview with Crumb:

We're hoping to squeeze a first-person recap out of Gary when he gets back this afternoon, but chances are he'll be needing to put his nose right back to the grindstone. *WHIP-CRACK!*

New Comics Day 2/22/12: Everett, Bagge, Noomin, Swarte, Kolor Klimax, Listen Whitey

mike

Dear sweet mercy this week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following truckload of new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.

Is That All There Is?
by Joost Swarte

144-page full-color 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-510-5

"The semi-complete comics works of the remarkable Dutch cartoonist (and designer, and architect, and Tintin aficionado, and the guy who came up with the term 'ligne claire') Joost Swarte. Fantagraphics originally announced this project for 2007 (under the name Modern Swarte), and its scope has gradually expanded since then. There are, in fact, some deliberate omissions--this volume doesn't include his kids' book series 'Katoen en Pinbal,' and mail-order copies from Fantagraphics come with an extra 12-page minicomic of early material called 'Actually, That Wasn't All There Was.'" – Douglas Wolk, ComicsAlliance

"A whole lot of Fantagraphics books are dropping... this week — if you see a book of Joost Swarte: no, it’s not a mirage..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal

"The... long-anticipated collection of Joost Swarte's comics work... is one of those things you're grateful to see finally come out even if you can't afford to buy it right away." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now
by various artists; edited by Matthias Wivel

250-page full-color 8.5" x 10.75" flexi-bound softcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-520-4

"...Fantagraphics must have sat down and designated this Scandinavian Comics Week… Adding a touch of influential Denmark [sic] work for good measure. Besides Kolor Klimax... the publisher has also released the first English language translation from Dutch alternative comics master Joost Swarte, entitled Is That All There Is? ...[T]hat’s one company betting on a lot of 'love' from fans of European alternative work in the same week." – "Insideman's Pull List," Inveterate Media Junkies

"[This] is one of those anthologies with tons of cartoonists you've never heard of but probably wish you had." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975
by Pat Thomas

204-page full-color 10" x 10" hardcover • $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-507-5

"Not comics, by any stretch of the imagination; I'm listing it here because it's a Fantagraphics book and might be showing up in comics shops, and because it looks fantastic. This is Pat Thomas's long, extensively researched photo-and-essay book about where the Black Power movement intersected with the recording industry." – Douglas Wolk, ComicsAlliance

Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1
by Bill Everett; edited by Blake Bell

240-page full-color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • 39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-488-7

"I'm a huge fiend for Bill Everett, one of the romantic figures of 20th Century comic book making for the fact that when his comics hit on a certain popular notion they contributed to the general development of that form as much as anyone's comics ever did, but when they didn't quite conform to the most popular efforts they super stuck out." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Buddy Does Seattle: The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from "Hate" Comics Vol. 1 (1990-'94) — New 4th Printing
by Peter Bagge

340-page black & white 6" x 9" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-56097-623-3

"I think we all forget that the Buddy Bradley material is one of the great comics efforts, period." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Glitz-2-Go
by Diane Noomin

180-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-481-8

"It's wonderful that Diane Noomin has a new collection out. I'm reading it right now as the book I keep in the back seat of the car as I wait for people to leave buildings where I'm picking them up.... I hope this one doesn't get lost in the flood of new material out. We desperately need to come to grips with more of the underground comix work, if only because so much of it was deeply compelling. I liked the support material in here, too, particularly Noomin's walking us through her career." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"My splurge for the week would likely be one of the several books out from Fantagraphics. First up is Amazing Mysteries, a collection of early work by Bill Everett (reviewed here). Then there’s Glitz 2 Go, a collection of comics by underground-era cartoonist Diane Noomin, whom I simply don’t know enough about. The obvious choice though is the wittily titled Is That All There Is?, a kitchen-sink collection of the mighty Joost Swarte’s comic stories from the 1970s onward. You can never have enough Swarte." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: There’s a pretty enormous amount of Fantagraphics stuff out this week, with nothing more anticipated I suspect than Is That All There Is?, a 144-page collection of almost all of Joost Swarte’s work in alternative comics, including eye-catching bits from RAW, Heavy Metal and elsewhere; $35.00. Then you can keep up your international airs with Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now, a 250-page anthology of Scandinavian works edited by the Journal’s Matthias Wivel; $29.99. Editor Blake Bell returns with Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1, a 240-page collection of Golden Age superhero comics from the titular artist; $39.99. Diane Noomin (of the Twisted Sisters anthology, the second volume of which I attribute to changing my entire perception of how the comics form could work at a crucial age) gets a 180-page anthology of her various works with Glitz-2-Go; $19.99. And finally, in case comics are just too much for ya, Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 finds music producer and writer Pat Thomas tracking the recorded output of various black power groups of the designated time span, in glorious prose; $39.99." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal

Daily OCD: 2/21/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Athos in America is a tour de force that showcases Jason’s immense talents as both an artist and a storyteller. These haunting stories will stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Rating: 10 out of 10" – Edward Kaye, Newsarama

• Interview: Comic Book Resources' Shaun Manning gets the inside scoop about the I Killed Adolf Hitler film project from Jason ("I hope it will be good. Or really bad. One of those. The disappointment would be if it's a mediocre film") and screenwriter D.C. Walker ("I viewed 'IKAH' as a jewel like the french short film 'La Jetee.' All the key themes were in place, it was just a matter of expanding on them like they did in 12 Monkeys (the film 'IKAH' will most resemble).")

• Interview (Video): Johan Krarup, who is nominated for the 2012 Ping Prisen for Best Danish Comic for his story "Nostalgia" in Kolor Klimax, is interviewed for the awards organization by Felix Møder and his splendid shirt & tie

• Plug: "I gotta say I'm not a big fan of the illustration on this [Kolor Klimax] cover, but the design, color, and font choice made me stand up and take notice. I 'klimaxed' a little when I first saw it. Uggh, sorry, that was too much information." – Dave Johnson, Johnson's Cover Hi-lo

• Interview (Audio): Kevin Avery talks about Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson on the Radio Free Song Club podcast's "19th Nervous Hoedown" episode; Avery tells us "The segment with me is at about the 37:00 mark — but don't pass up the great music before and aft."

• Analysis: "At the fairly new website Weird Fiction Review, Edward Gauvin compares David B.’s Littlest Pirate King with the prose story that inspired it, Pierre Mac Orlan’s 'Roi Rose,'" reports Tim Hodler at The Comics Journal

Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez announced as guests for SPX 2012!

mike

The Small Press Expo announced officially today that Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez will be special guests at this year's show on September 15-16 in Bethesda, Maryland! This will be the Hernandez brothers' ONLY East Coast comics-fest appearance on their Love and Rockets 30th Anniversary itinerary, and, as the announcement points out:

"In addition to celebrating the anniversary of their works, this will mark the first time in the 21st century that previously announced guests Chris Ware and Dan Clowes will be at an event with Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez."

I don't think we need to tell you, in September Bethesda is going to be THE PLACE TO BE. Stay tuned for more news and announcements as the date approaches.