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.

Bill Griffith: Lost and Found - Comics 1969-2003
by Bill Griffith

392-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-482-5

"My splurge this week would probably be Bill Griffith: Lost and Found, an 'odds and sodds' collection of work by the Zippy creator, mostly done prior to that strip’s creation. I’m not actually certain what’s included in this book, but a good deal of Griffith’s non-Zippy material is pretty great, even better than the strip in some cases." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

"Fresh from the comics oven, @fantagraphics's fab collection of Bill Griffith comics... love 'em" – Forbidden Planet International

"Recommended - Bill Griffith's Lost and Found - Beautifully drawn underground humor from the creator of Zippy!" – Danger Room Comics

"I've always enjoyed Bill Griffith's not-Zippy work whenever I've encountered it, and actively sought some out when some of his underground comics were praised by various cartoonists back in the Fantagraphics office in the mid-1990s. This volume is a welcome surprise, and I hope it's not totally buried in the forthcoming year's worth of archival work ahead. For this week at least, it's the belle of the new comics ball." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: I remember reading a Bill Griffith strip about Rory Hayes in the ’08 Hayes compilation Where Demented Wented and being really impressed by Griffith’s graphic style, something I’d only really had much exposure to in newspaper strip form via Zippy. Among its 392 pages, Bill Griffith: Lost And Found – Comics 1969-2003 aims to present many various comics, underground and otherwise, along with reflections from the artist and some added Zippy stuff, including an unfinished comics adaptation of Griffith’s screenplay to the never-produced movie of the character; $39.99."

UPDATE: Download an exclusive 5-page sneak peek at PREVIEWSworld!

Athos in America
by Jason

196-page full-color 6.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-478-8

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

Another all-original collection of full-color graphic novellas in the format of Low Moon, Athos in America takes its title from the lead story, a prequel of sorts to the graphic novel The Last Musketeer, in which the seemingly ageless swashbuckler turns up in a bar in 1920 New York and relates the tale of how he went to Hollywood to play himself in a film version of The Three Musketeers. Another tie-in with a previous Jason story occurs in “The Smiling Horse,” in which the characters from the story “&” in Low Moon attempt to kidnap a woman.

Also in this volume: “The Brain That Wouldn’t Virginia Woolf,” a mashup of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, told in reverse chronological order; the Bukowski pastiche “A Cat From Heaven” in which Jason works on his comic, has a reading in a comic book store, gets drunk and makes a fool of himself; the dialogue-free (all the text occurs in thought balloons) “Tom Waits on the Moon,” in which we follow four people (one of them a scientist working on a teleportation machine) until something goes wrong; and “So Long Mary Ann,” a prison-escape love-triangle story.

Download and read a PDF excerpt with 4 pages from each of 5 stories (2.3 MB). Read the first 5 pages of the title story at Robot 6.

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Exclusive Savings: Buy Athos in America together with Jason's previous collection of original short stories Low Moon and save 20% (that's 10 bucks!) off the combined cover prices! Click here to order.

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

Ships in: February 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.

By appropriating and subverting Tintin creator Hergé’s classic “clear line” style, Joost Swarte revitalized European alternative comics in the 1970s with a series of satirical, musically elegant, supremely beautifully drawn short stories — often featuring his innocent, magnificently-quiffed Jopo de Pojo, or his orotund scientist character, Anton Makassar.

Under Swarte’s own exacting supervision, Is That All There Is? will collect virtually all of his alternative comics work from 1972 to date, including the RAW magazine stories that brought him fame among American comics aficionados in the 1980s. Especially great pains will be taken to match Swarte’s superb coloring, which includes stories executed in watercolor, comics printed in retro duotones, fiendishly clever use of Zip-a-Tone screens, and much more. (There’s even a story about how to color comics art using those screens, with Makassar as the teacher.)

Other noteworthy stories include Swarte’s take on an episode from Hergé’s early days, a Fats Domino story, a tribute to the legendary “Upside-Downs” strip, and a story titled simply “Modern Art.”

“I’ve loved Joost Swarte’s perfect cartoons, drawings and designs for decades and it’s nothing short of ridiculous that a comprehensive edition of this brilliant artist’s work has never been available in America until now. Swarte is considered a national treasure in his native Holland, and if you open this book, you’ll understand why.” — Chris Ware

Download and read an 18-page PDF excerpt (4.3 MB).

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The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat
by Robert Crumb

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

“I can express something [with animals] that is different from what I put into my work about humans... I can put more nonsense, more satire and fantasy into the animals...” — R. Crumb

Created by an adolescent R. Crumb in the late 1950s, Fritz the Cat rose to fame — along with his creator — during the underground comix revolution of the 1960s, and remains Crumb’s most well-known character and an internationally recognized icon of 1960s culture.

Fritz is a feline, freewheeling chiseler who allowed Crumb to express some of his most acidic commentary on American culture. Tragicomedy, farce and satire all rolled into one, The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat chronicles the very best of Fritz's adventures from his early days as an idealistic college student to his ultimate fate as a jaded, burned-out superstar, including Crumb’s infamous send-off of the character in the wake of Ralph Bakshi’s animated feature film, an experience and project that completely dissatisfied Crumb.

Finally collected in a single volume, these Fritz stories are a funny, insightful, authentic record of a tumultuous period in American life, with humor and compassion by the most well-respected cartoonist of all time.

Download and read a 9-page PDF excerpt (1.4 MB).

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Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics
by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon; edited by Michel Gagné

208-page full-color 7.75" x 10" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-502-0

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

Together, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created such classic two-fisted comic series as Captain America, Boys' Ranch, The Newsboy Legion, and The Boy Commandos. But few people realize that one of their greatest successes — from 1947, when they singlehandedly created the genre, to the end of the 1950s — was... romance comics!

In such best-selling titles as Young Love and Real Western Romances, Simon and Kirby delighted a generation of girls and women (and probably a fair number of boys and men as well) with hundreds of charming and endlessly inventive stories of love and heartbreak.

And now, for the first time since their original publication in the 1940s and 1950s, 21 of these classics have been meticulously restored and are printed herein — in full, glorious color. So get out your handkerchiefs and enjoy the trials, tribulations, tragedies and triumphs of Suzi, Marjorie, Annaliese, Toni, Kathy, Sari... and 15 other star-crossed young lovers from half a century ago.

Download and read a 16-page PDF excerpt (3.6 MB) with the stories "Fraulein Sweetheart" and "Shame."

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Surprise! One more sneak peek for you today, this time from ComicsAlliance, who present 8 pages from Tony Millionaire's latest book 500 Portraits, with a panoply of cartoonists and comics-related subjects.

The last of Robot 6's trifecta of sneak peeks of our upcoming books is comprised of 5 pages from our long-awaited collection of Joost Swarte comics Is That All There Is? Thanks to the Robot 6 gang for having us participate in their anniversary festivities!

Next up in Robot 6's anniversary previews parade, Glitz-2-Go, compiling nearly 40 years of Diane Noomin's DiDi Glitz comics — the first time these underground essentials have ever been collected! Read 5 pages here.

As part of their anniversary celebrations on Sunday, Comic Book Resources' indispensable Robot 6 blog ran exclusive previews of 3 of our upcoming releases. First up, Athos in America, the new collection of short stories by Jason. See 5 pages from the title story here.

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

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

The 1939 creation of the Sub-Mariner for the first issue of Marvel Comics assures Bill Everett a place in history. Co-creating Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, for Marvel Comics in 1964 gave Everett a link to one of the most popular superheroes of the past 50 years. And producing over 400 additional pages of superhero-related work in the very early days of the Golden Age of Comics (1938-42) makes Bill Everett a legend.

This book collects over 200 pages of this never-before-reprinted work from titles such as Amazing Mystery Funnies (1938), Amazing-Man Comics (1939), Target Comics (1940), Heroic Comics (1940), and Blue Bolt Comics (1940). These titles feature an endless array of great vintage Everett characters such as Amazing-Man, Hydroman, Skyrocket Steele, Sub-Zero, The Chameleon, and many more, all produced by Everett’s shop Funnies, Inc. for such clients as Centaur, Novelty Press, and Eastern Color, and all displaying Everett’s brilliant cartooning and energetic storytelling.

Edited and compiled by best-selling author and comic-book historian Blake Bell (Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko), Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives is a stunning companion to Bell’s 2010 critically acclaimed Everett biography and art book, Fire and Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner and the Birth of Marvel Comics. This volume follows the format of Bell’s Steve Ditko Archives series (see page 54 of this catalog); never-before-reprinted, beautifully restored, full-color stories from one of comic books’ greatest visionaries and most accomplished artists. Also includes an introduction by Bell that delves even deeper into Everett’s life, fiery personality, and the history of the era. The resultant package enhances Everett’s place in history as one of the first and best comic-book creators of all time.

Download and read a 23-page PDF excerpt (7.6 MB) with three "Hydroman" stories.

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