This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
69-page full color 9" x 12" hardcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-614-0
"...arriving with a light touch while delivering a heavy, dark, and understandably angry message. Part of what makes the book unusual is that it does not go out of its way to be uplifting... Romberger and Van Cook's art is hyperactive, with splattery color that suggests the out-of-body acid-trip world of contradictory values and constantly shifting danger that Wojnarowicz lived in." –Publishers Weekly
"One of the most widely-admired (and unfairly obscure) releases from the ’90s Vertigo line sees new life…" –Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
176-page full-color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $24.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-615-7
"Tales Designed to Thrizzle Volume Two has its place in the construct. It is 'silver and exact' like Sylvia Plath's Mirror and reflects the 'terrible fish' that has become our understandings of the world." –Daniel Elkin, Comics Bulletin
"The stories serve as beautiful and brutal snapshots of a brilliant life lived too hard and extinguished too soon. It is not too much to say that we all owe a great cultural debt to Mr. Wojnarowicz…" –Matthew Rosenbery, Forbidden Planet's Daily Planet
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
128-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-0-93019-375-1
"...[S]ince I'm going off the deep end anyway, I'll add The Complete Crumb Comics, Vol. 3: Starring Fritz the Cat ($19.99), from Fantagraphics, so I can relive my wasted youth in full archival style." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
112-page full color 10.25" x 14" hardcover • $35.00 ISBN: 978-1-60699-588-4
"Any Hal Foster fan worth his or her salt should be snapping up Prince Valiant, Vol. 6, collecting Val's lengthy excursion to the New World (i.e. North America) in pursuit of the vikings that have kidnapped his wife. It's a great run, featuring Foster's usual exquisite eye for detail and backgrounds and storytelling skill." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"...[H]aving just read the Foster, I know that one is [beautiful]." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"Two blasts from the past down here, starting with Prince Valiant Vol. 6: 1947-1948, a Hal Foster collection that readily describes itself; $35.00. And then you can relive some early funny animal classics in The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 3: Starring Fritz the Cat, the storybook of choice for your inner child; $19.99." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
(Note that this includes some books that haven't been officially announced as shipping yet -- unless we missed it -- but we're pretty confident they've shipped over the last couple of weeks and we got tired of waiting to post the blurbs.)
128-page two-color (with some full color) 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $24.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-590-7
"I've wanted a collected edition of Sala's version of Snow White ever since it was released in Fantagraphics' great-looking, but difficult to store Ignatz format. And now I'm finally getting it. Merry Christmas to me." – Michael May, Robot 6
528-page black & white (with some color) 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $39.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-551-8
"A very early contender for manga release of 2013 arrives in the form of The Heart of Thomas, a 524-page all-in-one hardcover compilation of a mid-'70s landmark in Japanese comics-for-girls, Moto Hagio's epic of gnawing desire among sparkling schoolboys." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
240-page full-color 7.5" x 10.75" hardcover • $39.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-581-5
"Even older (and somewhat differently-themed) comics can be enjoyed in Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures: The Joe Kubert Archives Vol. 1, a 240-page, Bill Schelly-edited ‘best of' collection for pre-Code genre pieces by the late Kubert." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
364-page black & white 5.25" x 8" hardcover • $28.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-594-5
"And then you can just throw finished comics aside entirely in favor of Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012, a 5.25″ x 8″, 364-page collection of Moleskine pieces, 'much of it... too baffling to be harnessed for any practical use,' by the awesome Jim Woodring." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
136-page two-color 6.5" x 9.25" softcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-541-9
"...[T]here are a lot of good books out this week. The new Tom Kaczynski book Beta Testing the Apocalypse comes most immediately to mind..." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"Terror of the present, as Tom Kaczynski collects his excellent short stories of uneasy habitation into Beta Testing the Apocalypse, a 136-page softcover boasting substantial a new piece." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"Just read page 1 of Tom @unciv Kaczynski's Beta Testing the Apocalypse published by @fantagraphics Best thing I've read in ages! ONE PAGE!!!" – OK Comics
320-page black & white 7.5" x 10.25" hardcover • $35.00 ISBN: 978-1-60699-504-4
"Struggles of the past, as Texas history returns to print in Jack Jackson's American History Vol. 1: Los Tejanos & Lost Cause, the 320-page first of three hardcover volumes set to collect the entirety of the underground pioneer's nonfiction graphic novels." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
"Oh man, so much great stuff to splurge on this week. Let's start withSpacehawk, Basil Wolverton's fabulous, fantabulous astronaut superhero from the alleged Golden Age. Lots of bizarre aliens and shifty-eyed villains in this one. Then there's the second volume of Ernie Bushmiller'sNancy (which I praised... the other week), and the second volume of Walt Kelly's Pogo Possum, Bona Fide Balderdash." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"It's a great book...a perfect book. In an ideal world, this is what you'd find in hotel rooms instead of Gideon Bibles. This is far better than what the world deserves...well, I deserve it, at any rate — I'm not sure about the rest of you. But you should get a copy anyway." – Mike Sterling
664-page black & white/color 11.5" x 9.5" x 3" two-volume slipcased hardcover set • $69.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-629-4
"As is so often the case, my splurge would be from Fantagraphics: The second volume of Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, a steal at $39.99. I’m old enough to remember when Pogo ran in the Sunday paper, although I never understood it then. Later on, I picked up some of the paperbacks and really came to appreciate Walt Kelly’s sense of humor. I’d love to read them all." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
"Pogo certainly belongs on any informed list of the top 5 newspaper comic strips of all time. The artwork is stunning, the pacing is fast, the characters simply come alive on the page; the plot-lines are crazy and labyrinthine and above all hilarious. The dialog is pitch perfect – even the lettering ads to the strips characterizations and somehow, along the way, you will learn quite a bit about potent political satire especially as the specter of McCarthyism weighed down on life in 1950s America. The comics really are that good and Fantagraphics does the Kelly oeuvre proud with beautiful production values and insightful introductory material. Buy this book – or put it on your Christmas wish list." – Heroes Aren't Hard to Find "Staff Picks"
"Fans of lush cartooning and wordplay... — not really exclusive tribes there — can satiate themselves with Pogo - The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Vol. 2: "Bona Fide Balderdash", which I'm told ain't malarkey." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"I picked up Fantagraphics’ Spacehawk Halloween mini-comic this year and selfishly did not give it to a Trick or Treater, because I loved how strange and awesome Basil Wolverton’s pulpy space comic is. That’s why I’m splurging on the full Spacehawk collection ($39.99) this week." – Michael May, Robot 6
"All who hungered for an enormous 9.25" x 13" color softcover compiling the entirety of Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk will have their fill in this latecoming Best of 2012 Reprint Project, I'm not kidding." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
24-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" comic book • $3.95
"I do believe Castle Waiting Vol. II #18 wraps up the current storyline for Linda Medley’s long-running fantasy comic..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"If I had $15, I’d keep my purchases solely to Castle Waiting #18, the final issue in Volume 2 of Linda Medley’s slow-moving, but charming fantasy series. I don’t know if Medley is planning on a Vol. 3 or not — I hope so — her cast has grown on me and I want to continue to learn more about them." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
56-page three-color 5.75" x 5.75" hardcover • $9.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-624-9
"WOW, CHARLIE BROWN – a pair of ’60s holiday treats for Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day form the bulk of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Stocking, a 56-page, 5.75" x 5.75" seasonal fancy." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"I’m... eager for Charlie Brown’s Christmas Stocking." – Michael May, Robot 6
"I'm a fairly obsessive Peanuts reader, so I'll be glad to have this. It looks like it would be a nice little gift book." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
two 280-page black & white/color 10.5" x 8.75" hardcovers with slipcase • $49.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-576-1
"WOW, MICKEY MOUSE – Floyd Gottfredson & co. return for another 280 big gulp of vintage newspaper strips in Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Vol. 4: House of the Seven Haunts, which sees large birds running amok, ghosts spreading terror, and Goofy finally addressed by his proper Christian name." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"The publisher has pulled out all the stops on these wonderful collections.... Highly Recommended." – Bud Plant
"...[P]robably where my money will go is Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Volume 4: House of the Seven Haunts ($29.99). I’m heading to Disney World next week and that would be great reading on the plane." – Michael May, Robot 6
"More of that Floyd Gottfredson, inky goodness, now in the long stretch of its prime." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"Oh, dear, which volume of classic Disney material to get? Do I go with Vol. 4 of Floyd Gottfredson’s sublime daily Mickey Mouse strip, House of the Seven Haunts? Or do I choose the unparalleled genius of Carl Barks and get Donald Duck: A Christmas for Shacktown? The Donald Duck volume has the edge since it contains 'The Golden Helmet,' a favorite story of mine from childhood, but since I’m splurging I’ll just get both." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
240-page full-color 7.5" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-574-7
"WOW, DONALD DUCK – Carl Barks is in charge of 240 pages of re-colored comic book stories in Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: A Christmas for Shacktown, gathering up some fine early ’50s material." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"This is super-pretty work from a comics master and on my reading stand right now. ...[T]he comics here sure are a lot of fun, and read well today as kind of valentines mailed from the Land Of Narrative." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
116-page black & white 6.5" x 8.5" softcover • $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-591-4
"WOW, CANNIBAL FUCKFACE – motherfuckers are gonna get ripped to shit in Prison Pit Book Four, a 116-page continuation of Johnny Ryan’s raging flume of blood and cum, and a top-notch example of the manga influence on Comics for Everyone today." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"Johnny Ryan's -- I first wrote out 'Johnny Riot's,' which I think I may prefer -- manga-influenced fight comic pushes into the second half of its run with more of the same. It's one of the few series where more of the same is perfectly acceptable." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
128-page black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-587-7
"...Chris Wright’s oversize debut graphic novel [is] a bloody seafaring tale about a man determined to do what it takes to meet his dead wife in hell. Wright’s first book, the short story collection Inkweed, was a helluva thing and I’m really anxious to see how he handles a longer, more sustained narrative." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"I’ve heard a lot of good things about Blacklung by Chris Wright, which is out in comic shops this week from Fantagraphics. So that gets my extra cash." – John Parkin, Robot 6
"A number of things *might* show up, ranging from Mickey Mouse to Prison Pit, but what Diamond is promising is Blacklung, the debut graphic novel of artist Chris Wright (of the Sparkplug story collection Inkweed), a 12.25" x 9.25", 128-page account of a schoolteacher’s sojourn aboard a ship of thugs, rendered in a fascinating cartoon style I can just barely approximate as a ‘second-generation underground comics’ look, although you really should just see for yourself." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"...[M]y pick of the week is actually the Blacklung HC (Fantagraphics) from Chris Wright. This young upstart delivered the super interesting Inkweed from Sparkplug Comic Books a few years ago and I’ve anxiously been awaiting a big splashy follow up like this. It seems like Fantagraphics is noticeably starting to pluck ridiculous talent like this (paging Noah Van Sciver…) out of relative obscurity and give them a broader stage..." – Justin Giampaoli, Thirteen Minutes
"Finally, here's the reason we go to the comics shop: stand-alone work from talent with which we're either completely unfamiliar or not totally comfortable." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
"This is a super-strong week for the Seattle-based alt-comics mainstay publishing house. In fact, that would be a strong season for a lot of publishers." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
240-page black & white/color 7.25" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-545-7
"If I could splurge, I’d snatch up EC: Wally Wood – Came the Dawn and Other Stories. I’ve been aware of Wally Wood for a almost two decades now, but I tend to go through periods of simply floating around before I consume and learn more about him in short but voracious periods." – Chris Arrant, Robot 6
"...I feel like I haven’t read enough Kurtzman, so I’d like to read [Corpse on the Imjin]..." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
"I’m pretty excited for the new Fantagraphics EC books..." – Brian Hibbs (Comix Experience), The Savage Critics
"Fans of the old, influential genre stuff will enjoy Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories and Came the Dawn and Other Stories, two b&w collections of EC material focused on, respectively, Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"The EC books I'm looking forward to devouring on some rainy afternoon in the next three or four weeks. I find that work pleasurable, and I look forward to seeing if reading these comics arranged by author (mostly) changes my opinion about any of the artists in question." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"These @fantagraphics EC Libraries are slick!!" – Pulp Fiction
144-page black & white 10.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-596-9
"...I’ll first mention The Cartoon Utopia, a 144-page 'part sci-fi, part philosophy, part visual poetry, and part social manifesto' hardcover by the always-interesting Ron Regé, Jr." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"Ron Regé Jr. is one of those special cartoonists where I buy everything he does without asking questions first." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
200-page full-color 7" x 9" softcover • $22.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-597-6
"Poetic short fiction pieces from an artist Chicago is proud to call its own." – Quimby's Bookstore
"...Heads or Tails [is] a nice-looking collection of short stories by up-and-comer Lilli Carré (The Lagoon), most of which ran in the Mome anthology..." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"Lilli Carré returns after 2008′s The Lagoon with Heads or Tails, a 200-page collection of short stories..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"On the strength of this latest collection, with which I'm only about halfway done, Lilli Carré may join that group of [special] cartoonists [where I buy everything she does without asking questions first] much sooner than I thought possible, and I really liked her previous work. There's nothing about Heads or Tails that has to be processed through the 'promising cartoonist' filter, if that makes any sense." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
336-page full-color 8" x 10" softcover • $39.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-626-3
"Finally, The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 presents 336 pages of visual poetry to tickle your image/text fancy." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"I'm not even sure what Last Vispo Anthology is, but I'd look at it -- I assume it's the visual poetry thing that's been a big part of the lives of several people that have worked the last 20 years." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
192-page full-color 6.75" x 10.25" hardcover • $29.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-561-7
"Might as well start off with The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here: Images From the Graphic Novel, a 168-page hardcover suite of materials composed by artist Malcolm McNeill for an aborted ’70s book collaboration with William S. Burroughs... The Burroughs stuff will not be included in that book, although interested parties may nonetheless want to check out Observed While Falling: Bill Burroughs, Ah Pook, and Me, a new 192-page memoir by McNeill detailing their creative relationship." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"My splurge would be the one-two punch of The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here and Observed While Falling: Bill Burroughs, Ah Pook and Me by Malcolm McNeill. Ah Pook is a pseudo-comic that Burroughs and McNeill collaborated on but never finished back in the 1970s. The first book offers a look at McNeill’s elaborate paintings for the work, while in the second McNeill writes about his experiences working with the Naked Lunch author. I imagine both books would make for fascinating reading." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
96-page full-color 8.5" x 6.625" hardcover • $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-593-8
"...Ralph Azham, Volume 1: Why Would You Lie to Someone You Love [is] Lewis Trondheim’s new fantasy series about a town pariah that might have more going on than first glance would suggest. Trondheim has proved with his contributions to the ongoing Dungeon series that he’s quite comfy in the fantasy milieu, able to create intricate worlds and stories that blend free-spirited humor with emotional gravitas. I expect this will be more of the excellent same." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"...I like Trondheim and a six-volume fantasy series by him is something I’m ready to begin." – Michael May, Robot 6
"...Lewis Trondheim sees a new (est. 2011) French series released for English delectation with Ralph Azham Vol. 1: Why Would You Lie to Someone You Love?" – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"Lewis Trondheim is a wonderful, prolific and very mainstream-oriented cartoonist -- by the last I mean he has books in print that I can give to just about anybody on my Christmas shopping list, with everyone getting a different book. I liked this one quite a bit on the first read; the writing seemed way more measured than a lot of fantasies in comics form usually seem to me." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
128-page full-color 12" x 10.25" hardcover • $29.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-548-8
"... [In] the third and final volume of Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know trilogy, ...(I hope) we will finally discover what traumatized her father during World War II and haunted him for the rest of his life. Even if we don’t, Tyler’s superb storytelling makes this a book to read over and over again." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
"...I’d... grab the third volume of You’ll Never Know, Carol Tyler’s three part saga about her father and how his experiences during WWII shaped him and his family. Tyler is a great cartoonist and woefully under-appreciated, so here’s hoping this final volume gets her some of the recognition she so richly deserves." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"...Carol Tyler wraps up her hugely admired familial biography series with You’ll Never Know Vol. 3 (of 3): Soldier’s Heart." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
And finally, The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon on the Malcolm McNeill & C. Tyler books: "As much grief as my former employers sometimes get for things that it's perceived they don't do as well as publisher A, B or C, this week throws a spotlight on two of their great virtues through two top-of-post worthy works: providing a home for archival work of great interest, facilitating later-in-career work from masterful cartoonists of the underground and early-alternative generations. Good on them. Buy both books."
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following 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.
As TCJ.com's Joe McCulloch notes in his "Conflict of Interest Reservoir," "Oh wait, we’ve still got $100+ of good-looking Fantagraphics books to cover."
112-page full-color 7.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $22.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-623-2
"When it comes to splurging, I’m going to be topical: Steven Weissman’s surreal, alternate take on the life and times of our current president, Barack Hussein Obama (Fantagraphics, $22.99) just may contain an explanation for that sleepy debate performance last week, if nothing else." – Graeme McMillan, Robot 6
"I’ve heard a bunch about Steven Weissman’s Barack Hussein Obama, a cracked fantastic vision of the contemporary political scene, and now it’s time to witness its 112 pages on my own." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"This book advertises on this site, but there's no talent in comics exactly like Steve Weissman and this book is bound to hit at a key moment in history: Obama's win of a second term or his defeat at the polls." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"Set in a surreal, parallel universe, Barrack Hussein Obama's odd world is really no stranger than our own. In our world, politicians exist with the protective Beltway Bubble, but in BHO politicians are made to live in the world they create via their policies." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
228-page black & white/color 9.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00 ISBN: 978-1-60699-499-3
"If I had $30, I’d... steal $5 from somebody — anybody — to get my hands on Vol. 2 of Buz Sawyer: Sultry’s Tiger. Buz doesn’t have quite the same pep as Roy Crane’s Captain Easy, but the art is much more professional and lush and beautiful. Besides it’s Roy Crane, and even middle grade Crane is miles and miles better than just about any other cartoonist around." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"Roy Crane proffers 228 pages of vintage derring-do with Buz Sawyer Vol. 2: Sultry’s Tiger." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
"Roy Crane never cheats. Killer cover, too." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
166-page full-color 9" x 9" softcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-585-3
"Lou Reed & Lorenzo Mattotti rise again with a softcover edition of their collaborative The Raven." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
And wait, it's not on the official shipping list, but:
"...Robert Crumb inspires us all with a new paperback edition of selected dispatches in Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
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