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

2009 Eisner Award Nominee: Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

Download an EXCLUSIVE 25-page PDF preview (972 KB), which includes strips from October 24, 1956 (the debut strip) to March 13, 1957! Plus, click here to read Gary Groth's introduction in its entirety, with a preview slideshow of 11 strips selected by Groth.

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

"The modern, non-editorial-page cartoon of social and political commentary was pretty much invented by Jules Feiffer." – Booklist

"One of the sharpest political commentators there has ever been in the comics form." – Neil Gaiman

More Online Reviews:
The Stranger
Chris McLaren
Art Blog by Bob
The Oregonian

2008 Critics' Lists:
• Robert Boyd, "The Best Comics of 2008"
• Rob Clough, "My Top 50 Comics of the Year" (#37)
• Joe Matt at The Daily Cross Hatch (#3)
• Chris Mautner, The Patriot-Ledger, "Moxie Awards: Best Collection of Previously Published Material" (runner-up)
• Newsarama, "Top 5: Best Archival Comics, 2008" (#3)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Best Books of 2008: Graphic Literature"

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