Best of
Comic-Strips

2010

The Complete Peanuts, 1975-1978


Charles M. Schulz - 2010
    Schulz’s astounding half-century run on the greatest comic strip of all time. These years are especially fecund in terms of new canine characters, as Snoopy is joined by his wandering brother Spike(from Needles), his beloved sister Belle (from Kansas City), and... did you know he had a nephew? In other beagle news,Snoopy breaks his foot and spends six weeks in a cast, deals with his friend Woodstock’s case of the “the vapors,” and gets involved in a heated love triangle with Linus over the girl “Truffles.” The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 features several other long stories, including a rare “double track” sequence with two parallel narratives: Peppermint Patty and Snoopy travel to participate in the Powderpuff Derby, while Charlie Brown finally gets to meet his idol Joe Shlabotnik. And Peppermint Patty switches to a private school, but commits the mistake of allowing Snoopy to pick it for her; only after graduation does she realize something’s not quite right! Plus: A burglary at Peppermint Patty’s house is exacerbated by waterbed problems... Marcie acquires an unwanted suitor...Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty become desk partners... The talking school building collapses... Lots of tennis jokes...and gags starring Schroeder, Lucy, Franklin, Rerun, Sally, and that vicious cat next door. It’s another two years of Peanuts at its finest! Featuring an introduction by comedian Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Saturday Night Live).The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978:As the 1970s wind down, the last two recurring Peanuts characters have fallen into place: Snoopy’s brother Spike and the youngest Van Pelt sibling,Rerun. But that doesn’t mean Schulz’s creativity has diminished; in fact, this volume features an amazing profusion of hilariously distinctive new one- (or two-) shot characters! For instance, in an epic five-week sequence, when Charlie Brown, found guilty by the EPA of biting the Kite-Eating tree, he goes on the lam and ends up coaching the “Goose Eggs,” a group of diminutive baseball players,Austin, Ruby, Leland, and —did you know there was a second Black Peanuts character, aside from Franklin?—Milo. Also: a tennis-playing Snoopy ends up reluctantly teamed with the extreme Type “A” athlete Molly Volley... who then reappears later in the book, now facing off against her nemesis, “Crybaby” Boobie. (Honest!) Add in Sally’s new camp friend Eudora, the thuggish “caddymaster” who shoots down Peppermint Patty and Marcie’s new vocation, an entire hockey team, and a surprise repeat appearance by Linus’s sweetheart “Truffles” (creating a love triangle with Sally), all in addition to the usual cast of beloved characters(including the talking schoolhouse and the doghouse-jigsawing cat, who gets ahold of Linus’s blanket in this one), and you’ve got a veritable crowd of characters. Introduction by 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin.It’s another four years of the greatest comic strip of all time, full of laughs and surprises.

40: A Doonesbury Retrospective


G.B. Trudeau - 2010
    met his inept and geeky roommate, Mike Doonesbury. Over the months that followed, they were joined by campus radical “Megaphone Mark,” Boopsie, Zonker, and on and on. Fourteen thousand strips later, the world of Doonesbury has become a unique and remarkable creation, sustained by a vast and intricately woven web of relationships among 40 major characters, spanning three generations. While chronicling his characters’ entanglements and intimacies, G. B. Trudeau developed a keen satirical commentary that has ambitiously and relentlessly carved out an indelible record of four decades of American social and political history. The comic strip, like jazz and rock and roll, is an American form, and Trudeau has expanded it boldly and fearlessly, taking it into new realms. An epic unfolding, the Doonesbury saga constantly entices readers to keep up with its ever-evolving cast and endlessly inventive story lines. Trudeau remains fully engaged in the creation of his far-from-complete magnum opus. This massive yet elegant anniversary volume marks the strip’s fourth decade by examining in depth the characters and relationships that have given Doonesbury such vitality and resilience, and allowed it to constantly reinvigorate itself. The book opens with an in-depth introductory essay by G. B. Trudeau in which he surveys his sprawling creation as only he could, followed by brief word-and-picture portraits of all the principle players. The collection’s core consists of more than 1,800 beautifully displayed strips—dailies and Sundays—that chart key adventures and cast connections over the last four decades. Dropped in throughout this rolling narrative are 20 detailed essays in which Trudeau contemplates individual characters or bonded groups of characters, including portraits of ur-folk such as Duke and Honey, Zonker, Joanie, and Rev. Sloan, as well as those who have joined the cast more recently, such as Zipper, Alex, and Toggle. The centerpiece of the volume is a four-page foldout diagram that maps in great and annotated colorful detail the mind-boggling matrix of character relationships. A feast of storytelling and a clarifying overview, this celebratory tome offers a unique way to experience one of the greatest comic strips ever.Created by the team that brought you The Complete Far Side and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, this massive-yet-elegant celebratory anthology marks Doonesbury's 40th anniversary by examining in depth the characters that have given the strip such vitality. On October 26, 1970, college jock B.D. met his inept and geeky roommate, Mike. Fourteen thousand strips later, the world of Doonesbury has grown uniquely vast, sustained by an intricately woven web of relationships--over 40 major characters spanning three generations. This book opens with an in-depth essay in which G. B. Trudeau surveys his sprawling creation as only he could. The volume's 1,800 beautifully displayed strips chronicle the key adventures and path crossings of the ever-evolving cast, from ur-characters such as Zonker, Joanie, Duke, and Honey, to relative newcomers such as Zipper, Alex, and Toggle. Dropped in throughout are 18 detailed essays in which Trudeau contemplates individual characters and groups of characters.The book's literal centerpiece is a four-page foldout that maps in annotated detail the mind-boggling matrix of relationships. A feast of storytelling and a clarifying overview, 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective offers a unique way to experience one of the greatest comic strips ever.

The Best of FoxTrot


Bill Amend - 2010
    Via kids Peter, Paige, and Jason, along with parents Roger and Andy, Amend comments on the latest Hollywood fads, gaming fixations, and familial fascination with wry irreverence.Inside this special two paperback slipcased edition of FoxTrot, fans will find almost 1,600 of Amend's favorite and most notable strips. Essays and annotations by the cartoonist offer readers new insight into both the material and creative process behind it.As evidence of the strip's overwhelming popularity, FoxTrot boasts sales of more than 3.5 million books. The Best of FoxTrot is the book FoxTrot fans have been eagerly awaiting.

BBXX: Baby Blues: The First Two Decades


Rick Kirkman - 2010
     A comprehensive and commemorative edition of all things Baby Blues, creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott share personal reflections and never-before-published essays, drawings, and photographs, along with more than 1,000 of the best Baby Blues strips from the last two decades.Named Best Comic Strip of the Year in 2002, Baby Blues follows young parents Darryl and Wanda MacPherson as they raise children Zoe, Hammie, and Baby Wren.  From temper tantrums to toilet training, everyday experiences that all parents agonize over and laugh about serve as fertile comedic ground as Baby Blues: XX takes readers on a relevant and timeless journey through twenty years of Baby Blues. What results is a truthfully fulfilling romp through the daily aspects of family life as well as a carefully nuanced tug at the heartstrings.

Cul de Sac Golden Treasury: A Keepsake Garland of Classics


Richard Thompson - 2010
    Their adventures ring alarmingly true to parents of little ones, too. From doing projects in a cloud of glue and glitter to their nonstop chatter to trying to comprehend a completely incomprehensible world, Thompson's characters make Cul de Sac a must-read.

Krazy and Ignatz, 1919-1921: A Kind, Benevolent, and Amiable Brick


George Herriman - 2010
    Those were the days...!In the introductory essay, editor Bill Blackbeard chronicles Krazy Kat’s ascent from its earliest days as a tiny pendant for Herriman’s earlier strips “The Dingbat Family” and “The Family upstairs” to its own full feature. A second major article in this volume is Bob Callahan’s “Geo. Herriman’s Los Angeles,” a fascinating look at Herriman’s pre-Krazy Kat days as a journalist/illustrator, covering such things as a Mexican bullfight (Herriman was appalled), the opening of a new “bums’ jail” (Herriman’s sympathies were clearly with the vagrants), and UFO sightings—all accompanied by Herriman’s virtuoso cartoons, of course.As usual, the cover is designed by Chris Ware, featuring a striking two-color look that will set this latest volume apart from the previous eleven.

Treasury of the Lost Litter Box: A Get Fuzzy Treasury


Darby Conley - 2010
    The daily comic strip Get Fuzzy is cartoonist Darby Conley’s wry portrait of single life with pets. In Untitled Get Fuzzy Treasury, the gang’s back to endure the trials and tribulations typical of any family . . . more or less.The daily comic strip Get Fuzzy is cartoonist Darby Conley's wry portrait of single life with pets. In the Treasury of the Lost Litter Box, the gang is back to endure the trials and tribulations typical of any family . . . more or less. At the center of the mischief is Rob Wilco, a single, mild-mannered ad executive and the guardian of Bucky and Satchel. Bucky is a temperamental cat who clearly wears the pants in their eccentric household, while Satchel is a gentle, sensitive pooch who struggles to remain neutral, almost guaranteeing he'll wind up on the receiving end of whatever trouble Bucky has cooked up.Treasury of the Lost Litter Box is a compilation of the Get Fuzzy misadventures previously chronicled in Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky and Dumbheart. Treasury of the Lost Litter Box is perfect for fans of the comic strip and a hilarious, if not-so-gentle introduction for new fans.

Krazy and Ignatz, 1916-1918: Love in a Kestle or Love in a Hut


George Herriman - 2010
    But now, with that publisher long gone and their Krazy Kat collections fetching record prices (some over $100!) among collectors, it’s time to go back and get every one of these comic-strip masterpieces back into print—re-scanned and re-retouched from original tearsheets, using 21st century digital resources. Fantagraphics will be collecting these first nine years of Sundays into three volumes comprising three years apiece, starting with this volume: the very first Sundays from 1916 through 1918, and incorporating all the original articles and special features from the first edition, including rare art, series editor Bill Blackbeard’s definitive historical overview “The Kat’s Kreation,” and updated and expanded “DeBaffler” endnotes explaining some of the arcana behind the strip’s jokes.Krazy Kat, with its eternally beguiling love triangle of kat/dog/mouse, its fantastically inventive language, and its haunting, minimalist desert décor, has consistently been rated the best comic strip ever created, and Fantagraphics’ award-winning series one of the best classic comic-strip reprint series ever published. Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918, the 11th of a projected 13 volumes collecting the entirety of the Sundays, brings us within a brick’s throw of finishing “The Komplete Kat Sundays” once and for all!

Vengeance Tastes Tingly: Two Lumps Year Five


Mel Hynes - 2010
    It has since become a cult legend. Collected here in print, for the first time, are the strips from the fifth year of Two Lumps - complete with author and artist annotations.

Footrot Flats: The Dog Strips


Murray Ball - 2010
    Featuring more than 500 pages and almost 1500 comic strips, which have been selected and introduced by author and illustrator Murray Ball. Murray shares the inspiration and background of the characters, landscapes and activities that make up Footrot Flats.

We Were Here First: Baby Blues Looks at Couplehood with Kids


Rick Kirkman - 2010
    Baby Blues is a pitch-perfect and hilarious family-oriented comic strip that typifies modern parenting.We Were Here First, an entertaining collection of Baby Blues comic strips handpicked by cocreators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, focuses on the relationship between Darryl and Wanda MacPherson--before and after parenthood turns their life upside down.A love story set in the trenches of child rearing, We Were Here First follows the account of Darryl and Wanda earning their stripes as parents to their three children--the headstrong Zoe, easygoing Hammie, and baby Wren--all the while trying to make time for themselves, even if it's a mere 30 stolen seconds!An amusing story of a domestic romance caught in the middle of a fun-filled family feud, We Were Here First will delight both longtime fans of Baby Blues as well as readers of all ages new to this beloved comic strip.

Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics, Volume 1


Cliff Sterrett - 2010
    This volume reproduces every one of Sterrett's dynamic full-colour Sunday pages from 1925 to 1927 in a large format.

Literature: Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953


Dave Kellett - 2010
    From Seuss to Shakespeare, Twain to Tolkien...all your favorite literary subjects are skewered: It's the perfect book for book-lovers."I can not LIVE without books."- Thomas Jefferson(...a man who later died)

Drive: A Hero Rises


Dave Kellett - 2010
    But their mission ripples out in ways neither they nor the Emperor could imagine, to impact the fate of both warring races.This first DRIVE book collects the first year of the sci-fi strip...along with memos, letters, and historical reports from across the empire. There are even tidbits not seen online!

Made with 90% Recycled Art


Scott Meyer - 2010
    Learn such important skills as How to Talk to a New Parent, How to Engage in Prefight Smack Talk, How to Complain about Work, How to Properly Perform a High Five, and more!A former stand-up comedian, Meyer channels his extensive and varied wit into four panels of side-splitting culture commentary every other day or so and posts them to his website, basicinstructions.net. Dark Horse's second collection of those Basic Instructions, Made with 90% Recycled Art, will likely spend some time on the copy machine before certain pages find themselves on cubicle walls worldwide.