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.
248-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" softcover • $18.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-449-8
"Yes, I hear people say, Jaime Hernandez, I keep hearing about how great he is and everything, but there are like a million books, how do I know which are the good ones? Here's a tip: try this paperback. It includes, I believe, the contents of Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass, both of which are stone cold incredible; not sure if it includes 'La Maggie La Loca' or not [Nope – Ed.], but for 19 bucks you are not going to go too wrong. (It's true that you'll be showing up for the Maggie-and-Hopey sequence of stories rather late. You'll pick it up in no time, though.)" – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"Splurgewise, I’m unsure whether I’ve actually read the stories in the Esperanza collection of Jaime Hernandez’ Love & Rockets stories (Fantagraphics, $18.99) – I tend to lose track of the material between the first L&R run and the new one, for some reason – but if I haven’t, then that, for sure." – Graeme McMillan, Robot 6
"Two of Jaime's most popular Love & Rockets characters find themselves, as so many of us do these days, somewhat older, slightly more settled and still wrestling with personal demons." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
"...of course any Hernandez release deserves a mention, this time out Jaime Hernandez gets the spotlight as Esperanza (Fantagraphics) reprints material after the Penny Century collection." – Dave's Comics
216-page duotone 5.75" x 7.75" softcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-56097-959-3
"...[I]f it’s softcore smut you’re looking for, there’s the Pin-Up Art of Humorama, which features gag cartoons by folks like Dave Berg and Brad 'Marmaduke' Anderson about buxom secretaries being chased around their desks by portly, lustful employers and whatnot." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
128-page full-color 9.5" x 13" softcover • $28.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-399-6
"This is the kind of book that people are going to be saying 'oh cool!' about when they discover it on your bookshelf a couple of decades from now: a collection of pre-1940 ads (compiled by Rick Marschall and Warren Bernard) that incorporated cartoons, and particularly cartoons by significant cartoonists. Did you know that Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff collaborated on a series of 'Mr. Coffee-Nerves' strips advertising Postum? Or that Dr. Seuss drew ads for insecticide?" – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"...[M]y love of all things retro is going to lead me to Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising from Fantagraphics..." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
"An informative historical look at the cartoonists and characters that have been used, and how they've been used, for advertising and the products they advertised." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
640-page black & white/color 6.75" x 8.5" softcover • $30.00 ISBN: 978-1-60699-291-3
"I’ve already got a copy, but let me recommend plunking down your entire $30 on the 301st issue of The Comics Journal. This brick of a … magazine? book? journal? features some great essays and interviews, most notably Tim Kreider’s lengthy analysis of Cerebus, and an extensive roundtable on R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, including a thoughtful interview with Crumb hisself." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"After a year of publishing material on their website, The Comics Journal #301 (Fantagraphics) weighs in at an enormous 600+ pages with discussions of Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis, Jim Woodring's sketches, Al Jaffee and Michael Kupperman in dialogue and you're barely half way through." – Dave's Comics
"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: Well, it’s been a few weeks now since it hit some East Coast stores, but Diamond is now announcing the imminent and full arrival of the very essence of the Conflict of Interest Reservoir, The Comics Journal #301, now at 640 pages and featuring chats with Robert Crumb and Joe Sacco, Al Jaffee & Michael Kupperman in conversation, perspectives on Cerebus and The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb, and multifarious species of collegiate smart-arsery AS YOU LIKE IT; $30.00. Also be on the lookout for Esperanza, another thick Love and Rockets collection taking the Jaime material up to the start of the present (vol. 3) series; $18.99. Alex Chun has his latest girlie cartooning showcase, The Pin-Up Art of Humorama, promising spicy drawings by Marmaduke creator Brad Anderson, among other suspects; $19.99. And Rick Marschall & Warren Bernard present Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising 1870s-1940s, archiving Mr. Coffee Nerves and other early comics-based adverts for generations to come; $28.99."
Our good friends and colleagues over at Rosebud Archives have announced the forthcoming publication of Bully!, a collection of vintage political cartoons featuring Theodore Roosevelt (and not our Little Stuffed Bull pal), edited by Rick Marschall. What a great idea for a book, and it's sure to be produced with Rosebud's signature attention to quality and detail.
(Don't forget, we offer a full range of Rosebud Archives products here on our website!)
UPDATE: Rick Marschall contacted us with a correction: while Rosebud did production on the book and is selling ancilliary merchandise (prints and framed art of the book's vintage cartoons, etc.), the book is being published by Regnery History of Washington DC. See the link for more info and a sneak peek!
• Review: "...[T]he cartoons in Willie & Joe: Back Home capture Mauldin at a low ebb personally, and ferociously inspired professionally.... The material in Back Home is bitter but witty, and remarkable for its courage. Given the platform of a major syndicate, Mauldin used his moral authority — as a firsthand observer of atrocity, venality, and want — to try and make his complacent countrymen feel a little shame. Where his wartime cartoons had said, 'I am one of you' to grunts in the trenches, his post-war work said, 'What the hell happened to you?' to the people who stayed home. At the time, the public rejected Mauldin’s lectures. Today they’re a blistering reminder that life after WWII wasn’t all suburban bliss and baby boom." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "Told with humor and a great depth of sensitivity, these comics offer a human lens to an epic more often expressed in grandiose terms. Over the past couple of years Fantagraphics has amazed me consistently with its archival releases of seminal cartoonists' work, and Willie and Joe: The WWII Years is yet another fine example." – David Gutowski, Largehearted Boy
• Review: "Toth brought clarity and drama to the page — the equivalent of a top Hollywood director elevating rote material through elegant framing and camera moves.... Nearly every drawing in this book is purposeful and exciting, and they flow together to tell stories so clearly that the words are often superfluous. Setting the Standard is a treasure trove..." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "...Jacques Tardi is certainly in Toth’s league when it comes to rendering seamy genre fare with real artistry. Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot ... is a wonderfully wicked piece of work, tracking a hitman as he tries to sever all ties with his past and retire with his childhood sweetheart. The story’s a familiar one... but Manchette’s approach is especially violent and gory, with a tough twist ending. And Tardi picks up on the sadness underlying the brutality, sketching a black-and-white world where the choice to go to the dark side is irrevocable, no matter how hard characters work to wrest control of their fates." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "...Belgian artist Olivier Schrauwen does a fine job of approximating the high weirdness of early-20th-century newspaper comics in The Man Who Grew His Beard, a collection of seven deeply strange short stories.... Schrauwen mixes ink and paint in ways that blur the distinctions between comics and fine art, and he brings back certain themes — instruction and erotica, primarily — that suggest how men try and fail to place parameters on the primal. But The Man Who Grew His Beard isn’t meant to be 'understood' so much as it is to be entered and experienced, in all its wildness." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "Kevin Huizenga’s Ganges #4 continues the artist’s increasingly masterful hybrid of direct storytelling and experimental abstraction.... The story suits Huizenga’s style, since he can document both the familiar minutiae of daily life and the sense of unreality that takes hold whenever someone is up half the night. Huizenga works in visual motifs of endlessly branching possibilities and spiraling shapes, showing how becoming 'lost in thought' can be terrifying. In short: This is another terrific installment of a series that’s fast becoming a classic." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "Mr. Twee Deedle, Raggedy Ann’s Sprightly Cousin: The Forgotten Fantasy Masterpieces of Johnny Gruelle... collects the strip that illustrator Gruelle created to fill the void left by Little Nemo when Winsor McKay departed The New York Herald. Though not as imaginative as McKay, Gruelle’s Mr. Twee Deedle was every bit as colorful and lavishly rendered, telling gentle fairy stories that explore a rich fantasy world existing in tandem with our own, like children having elaborate playtimes mere feet away from their parents’ more prosaic lives." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club (NOTE: This review was based on samples of the strip provided to the reviewer; the book itself is incomplete and still in production.)
• Review: "...Drawing Power... brings together an eclectic set of examples of comics being used to sell products. The pages are fun to look at — from Mickey Mouse pitching Post Toasties to Dr. Seuss illustrating ads for Esso Marine Products — but the topic is a little too large for a 120-page book, especially one so loosely organized. Then again, maybe that’s the point: to create a reading experience as chaotic and laced with odd beauty as cartooning itself." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• Review: "I have long admired Woodring’s brilliant, hallucinatory, and bizarre Frank comics. But his work has taken a leap forward with last year’s Weathercraft and this year’s Congress of the Animals. The Frank world is one the reader benefits by being immersed in. What might seem a bit incomprehensible in a short strip blossoms into a dark Dionysian dream in these two graphic novels.... If I keep mention them together, it is because I believe they beg to be read together. They show different but complimentary sides of Woodring’s vision. And also because these two books combine to form, I believe, one of the greatest achievements in recent comics. If you are a fan of the strange, the uncanny, the bizarre, the hallucinatory, and the fantastic, I can’t recommend them enough." – Lincoln Michel, The Faster Times
• Review: For Magnet, Marc Bianchi of the band Her Space Holiday (they're good!) pens an appreciation of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, adding "A good place to rediscover the Peanuts is through the retrospective that Fantagraphics started releasing in 2004. They are complete and total masterpieces, from the elegant layouts provided by famed comic-book artist Seth to the wonderful guest introductions each volume has... If you are ever in a shop that carries these books, I highly suggest thumbing through one of them. Especially the earliest works (1950-1952 or 1953-1954). You are guaranteed to find something that in one panel can tear your heart apart and, in the next, put it back together again."
• Review: "To say that Wandering Son isn't a manga for everyone is perhaps stating the obvious, but despite the potential to make light of its cross-dressing, coming of age tale it proves itself to be an impressively subtle and considered take on growing up within this opening volume. ...[G]ive it time and you'll find an impressive, character-driven series beneath its simplistic surface that will both charm and fascinate you, leaving you rooting for its characters and wanting to follow them through to (you hope) eventual happiness." – Andy Hanley, UK Anime Network
• Review: "Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes, 1936-1941 promises to fill gaps in 'the origins and early development of superheroes and the comic book form.' Editor Greg Sadwoski has assembled an eye-catching collection of stories, magazine covers, and house ads showing unfamiliar faces from the first years of American adventures comics. ...Supermen! is most interesting for what didn’t lead anywhere.... Seeing what didn’t work or become the norm can be as illuminating as seeing what did." – J.L. Bell, Oz and Ends (via Robot 6)
• Plug: "...[D]espite his undeniable gift for crafting elegant and vibrant storytelling that transcends all genres, sadly there has never before been a comprehensive, affordably priced reprinting of Carl Barks' Disney work…until now. Fantagraphics Books recently announced that it will begin reprinting the entire catalog of the master’s Disney material, beginning with the release of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: 'Lost in the Andes' by Carl Barks in October, 2011." – Bill Baker, The Morton Report
• Interview (Audio): The hosts of Comics Alliance's "War Rocket Ajax" podcast talk to Michael Kupperman about his new book Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, crafting his brand of humor and sundry other topics (such as bleu cheese): "It's about things taking the turn that you don't expect, the ball taking the bounce you don't expect. That for me is an example of trying to make the sentence end up in a place that's different from where it started."
• Interview (Audio): Enjoy a lengthy conversation between Baobab creator/Ignatz Series editor Igort and Inkstuds host Robin McConnell
• Tribute: At The Comics Journal, Kim Thompson's obituary of Francisco Solano López: "Argentina’s Francisco Solano López was a titan of South American comics, on a level with the great Alberto Breccia, the temporary honorary Argentinean (during the 1950s) Hugo Pratt, and the hugely influential writer Hector Oesterheld (who collaborated with all three)." (Excerpt courtesy TCJ's Tim Hodler)
The history of the genre known as Cartoon Advertising is addressed for the first time in the oversized, full-color, 128-page, fully illustrated book Drawing Power. “There are many obscure masterpieces to be found lingering at the intersection of American Commerce and Comic Art,” says co-editor Rick Marschall. Drawing Power covers the years from the Gilded Age and the pioneer illustrated magazines of the 1870s to the 1940s, just before American entry into World War II.
This landmark volume features the work of iconic cartoonists doing work that mostly has been lost to history, by the nature of its in-the-moment splashes. There are examples by Thomas Nast, Joseph Keppler, F Opper, Bud Fisher, George Herriman, John Held, Jr., Charles Dana Gibson, Percy Crosby, Peter Arno, Gluyas Williams, Milton Caniff and over 60 other cartoonists. Generous portfolios are devoted to the substantial work in the genre by R F Outcault, Dr Seuss, cartoon sheet music, and more.
Many famous products and many famous campaigns and slogans – but also forgotten gadgets and outrageous claims – are found in Drawing Power. Dr Scott’s Electric Cigarettes from the 1880s… Yellow Kid cigars… the Campbell Soup Kids… Rose O’Neill’s Jello-O ads… Snap, Crackle, and Pop… Little Orphan Annie’s Ovaltine… Mr Coffee Nerves… they are all here! Other “pitchmen” include Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Barney Google, Walt & Skeezix, and more!
But Drawing Power is not just a fascinating stroll down memory lane. It is a serious look at a significant category of American culture… one that has not been anthologized nor analyzed until now. Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising is guaranteed not to shrink, even after repeated washings. Smooth, satisfying, easy on the throat. No longer will your friends notice your dishpan hands, once you have read Drawing Power! Buy two today!
Fantagraphics is puttin' the "comics" back in Comic-Con as we head to San Diego this week with a slew of scintillating signings, almost two-dozen dynamite debuts, and a collection of comics sure to please any comics fan... and fill those enormous free tote bags they give away at the door.
All the action awaits you at our usual spot, Booth #1718!
And don't miss our amazing PANELS! I won't get into all the details, because Mike did so earlier here on the FLOG, so click on the date to see our previously posted full rundown on each panel!
Friday, July 22nd: • 10:30-11:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #5: Critical Approaches to Comics: An Introduction to Theories and Methods— Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan with panelist, Andrei Molotiu. [Room 26AB] • 1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #6: Wordless Comicswith Andrei Molotiu. [Room 26AB] • 12:00-1:00 CBLDF Master Session 3: Jaime Hernandez [Room 30CDE] • 1:00-2:00 Publishing Queer: Producing LGBT Comics and Graphic Novels with moderator Justin Hall [Room 9] • 1:00-2:30 The Golden Age of the Fanzine moderated by Bill Schelly. [Room 24ABC] • 10:30-11:30 Cartoon Network Comedy: Regular Show/The Problem Solverz and More! The Problem Solverz talent includes Ben Jones, John Pham, and Jon Vermilyea. [Room 6A]
Saturday, July 23rd: • 10:00-11:30 50 Years of Comic Fandom: The Founders with Bill Schelly [Room 24ABC] • 11:30-12:30 Bill Blackbeard: The Man Who Saved Comics with Trina Robbins [Room 24ABC] • 12:30-1:30 Fantagraphics 35th Anniversary [Room 24ABC] • 1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Anders Nilsen [Room 4] • 2:30-3:30 The Art of the Graphic Novel with Joyce Farmer (Special Exits, A Memoir) [Room 24ABC]
PHEW! And, can you believe it? This is only the beginning! Stay tuned to the Fantagraphics FLOG, Twitter and Facebook for important (we mean it!) Comic-Con announcements all week long!
• Review: "...[F]eisty art-comics publisher Fantagraphics, for its new multivolume hardcover series devoted to Gottfredson’s rarely seen comic-strip work [Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse ], has gone back to the beginning, lavishing upon the cartoonist’s marvelously fluid, thrillingly kinetic serial adventures the same loving attention the company has brought to its benchmark Complete Peanuts library. Given that Fantagraphics is an adult-oriented press, production and restoration values are superlative, as are the more than 60 pages of historical essays and archival features that accompany these peerless black-and-white strips.... Anyone who ventures into this gorgeous 288-page tome will come away with a fresh appreciation for just what made Mickey an all-American comic-strip hero." – Steve Smith, Time Out New York
• Review: "Fantagraphics fucking whip ass at knowing what a beautiful book is.... The Mickey Mouse in this collection is a dynamic teenager with a whole lot of strong feelings, and it's both awesome and foreign to see him get mad or feel suicidal.... Fantagraphics are masters at collecting and presenting old comics.... This volume not only presents comics that you probably haven't seen before, but it places them in the proper context with about eight[y] pages of supplementary writing, images, and in-depth explanations that could merit their own little volume." – Nick Gazin, Vice
• Interview: Gazin follows up his Vice review of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 with a brief chat with series co-editor David Gerstein: "Floyd's greatest achievement... was his portrayal of Mickey himself. Instead of seeing the Mouse as a kind of dull, smiley-faced everyman — the way a lot of people seem to envision him — Floyd portrayed Mickey as what he called 'a mouse against the world.' He was a stubbornly optimistic, imperfect but determined youth trying to prove himself in a competitive, scary, adventurous place. Floyd gave Mickey length and depth."
• Review: "It’s often argued that the key element to any successful manga is a relatable protagonist. Shimura has crafted hers so meticulously and is revealing their natures so carefully that it’s virtually impossible not to be deeply invested in them. In part, it’s the actual portrayal in this volume [of Wandering Son], but it’s also the tremendous potential they have. I want to see them age and mature, struggle and succeed, and find their ways to lives that give them happiness and peace. I don’t think there’s any more a reasonable person could ask of a story like this." – David Welsh, The Manga Curmudgeon
• Review: "...[Wandering Son] is an elegantly-crafted, character-driven story that lets us into its characters’ private worlds with both candor and delicacy. We are brought into their lives completely, and though we’re privy to their some of their most private thoughts and fears, there is never a sense that we’re observing them as 'subjects' or invading their privacy—something I often feel when experiencing 'issue'-focused fiction." – Melinda Beasi, Manga Bookshelf
• Review: "[Mattotti's] enigmatic, brooding scenes [in The Raven] harness the terror and beauty of the texts which span three centuries. They're uncompromising — and that's a quality that has always been applicable to the force that is Lou Reed." – Dean Mayo Davies, AnOther
• Review: "Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising... is 124 pages of some of the best advertisements from the 1870s to the 1940s. Starring both cartoonists and cartoon characters, the book surveys an immense collection of cartoon advertising, focusing on the commercial roots of the comic strip and the fantastic artwork that came from cartoonists' freelance work in advertising. There are surprising and also familiar examples of products, ad campaigns, widely known catch-phrases, and cartoon figures.... Lovers of vintage advertisements and classic cartoons, you're in for a walk down memory lane..." – Nicole Torres, Print
• Review: "Love from the Shadows is somewhat inappropriately titled, as it sounds like a romance, but is really a sci-fi sex mash-up, with a big dash of David Lynch-ian 'what the fuck just happened here?' It’s definitely no chick flick, despite its strong female lead." – Rod Lott, Bookgasm
• Review: "Congress of the Animals... [is] Woodring’s second book-length Frank story. Not so overtly horrific as last year’s Weathercraft, but somehow more unsettling to me. Perhaps I’m just traumatized by the destruction of Frank’s house. Fantastic wordless storytelling, as always." – M. Ace, Irregular Orbit
• Plug: "You may think of Flannery O’Connor as a writer of the sorts of books that are all words, but in her younger days she yearned to be a cartoonist—and she wasn’t half bad. Fantagraphics will publish Flannery O’Connor: The Cartoons in December..." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
• Plug: "Finally got my hands on Jim Woodring’s Congress of the Animals hardcover... and it’s just as beautifully-dreamlike and nightmarish as much of Woodring’s work." – Mike Sterling, Progressive Ruin
128-page full-color 9.5" x 13" softcover • $28.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-399-6
Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now
The history of the genre known as Cartoon Advertising is addressed for the first time in the oversized, full-color, 128-page, fully illustrated book Drawing Power. “There are many obscure masterpieces to be found lingering at the intersection of American Commerce and Comic Art,” says co-editor Rick Marschall. Drawing Power covers the years from the Gilded Age and the pioneer illustrated magazines of the 1870s to the 1940s, just before American entry into World War II.
This landmark volume features the work of iconic cartoonists doing work that mostly has been lost to history, by the nature of its in-the-moment splashes. There are examples by Thomas Nast, Joseph Keppler, F Opper, Bud Fisher, George Herriman, John Held, Jr., Charles Dana Gibson, Percy Crosby, Peter Arno, Gluyas Williams, Milton Caniff and over 60 other cartoonists. Generous portfolios are devoted to the substantial work in the genre by R F Outcault, Dr Seuss, cartoon sheet music, and more.
Many famous products and many famous campaigns and slogans – but also forgotten gadgets and outrageous claims – are found in Drawing Power. Dr Scott’s Electric Cigarettes from the 1880s… Yellow Kid cigars… the Campbell Soup Kids… Rose O’Neill’s Jello-O ads… Snap, Crackle, and Pop… Little Orphan Annie’s Ovaltine… Mr Coffee Nerves… they are all here! Other “pitchmen” include Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Barney Google, Walt & Skeezix, and more!
But Drawing Power is not just a fascinating stroll down memory lane. It is a serious look at a significant category of American culture… one that has not been anthologized nor analyzed until now. Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising is guaranteed not to shrink, even after repeated washings. Smooth, satisfying, easy on the throat. No longer will your friends notice your dishpan hands, once you have read Drawing Power! Buy two today!
Download and read an 11-page PDF excerpt (4.8 MB).
Here's your first look at the final cover design for Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising edited by Rick Marschall & Warren Bernard, which is heading to the printer soon for a July release date. The book represents a couple of firsts for us: it's the first release from our Marschall Books imprint, and it's the first design job under salary from the newest member of our Art Department, Tony Ong, formerly at Dark Horse. (As a freelancer, Tony designed the cover for the second printing of Four Color Fear.) That's Tony's beautiful hand-lettering, too.
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