Best of
Comix

2006

Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City


Will Eisner - 2006
    Henry." - Neil Gaiman With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction's greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as "tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself." From ancient buildings "barnacled with laughter and stained with tears" to the subways, "humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails," Will Eisner's New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished "out-takes" - treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible. Introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Locas II


Jaime Hernández - 2006
    Even though her love life remains as chaotic as ever, Hopey takes her first few steps toward responsible adulthoodwith a real job (as a teacher), while a demoralized, divorced Maggie ends up as the manager of a fleabagapartment building where she continues to wrestlewith the demons of her past most prominently in thestunning centerpiece of the volume, the graphic-novel-length Maggie serial, with its stunning, hallucinatorydream finale.Meanwhile, Ray still carries a major torch for Maggie, butfalls in with the Frogmouth, the volatile bombshell whoseties to local thugs cause him no small amount of grief.Of course, Maggie, Hopey, and Ray s paths continue tointersect in Hernandez s increasingly complex, intricate, and always vitally realized world.This omnibus volume compiles stories originally printed in the pages of the comics Penny Century, the one-shot special Maggie & Hopey Color Fun (presented here in black and white), and Love and Rockets Vol. II, and was formerly collected in the volumes Dicks and Deedees, Locas in Love, Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass.

Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons, 1978-2006


Roz Chast - 2006
    At last, the comprehensive book of cartoons from beloved New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast.

NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Vol. 1: This is What They Want


Warren Ellis - 2006
    (a subsidiary of the Beyond Corporation®) put NextWave together to fight Bizarre Weapons of Mass Destruction. When NextWave discovers that H.A.T.E. and Beyond are terrorist cells themselves, and that the BWMDs were intended to kill them, they are less than pleased. In fact, they are rather angry. So they make things explode. Lots of things. Starring Monica Rambeau (formerly Captain Marvel and Photon), Aaron Stack (Machine Man), Tabitha Smith (X-Force's Meltdown), monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone and the Captain! Guest-starring Fin Fang Foom!Collecting: NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E. 1-6

Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country


Robert Crumb - 2006
    Crumb's work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the "Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats," and "Pioneers of Country Music" trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, "Dock" Boggs, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist. A characteristically idiosyncratic tribute by an underground icon to the musical innovators who helped inspire him, "R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country" is a must-have collection for Crumb aficionados, comics fans, and music lovers alike.

Betelgeuse: L'intégrale


Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira (Leo) - 2006
    The first ship, with over 3,000 people onboard, arrived without incident and remained in orbit while a team of technicians went down to the surface to prepare for the colonists’ arrival. Soon afterwards, all communication with Earth mysteriously ceased. It took six years for Earth finally to send a rescue mission to Betelgeuse in order to find out what had happened a small mission, with a reduced crew of only three: two astronauts and young Kim, now 24, who had just finished her biology studies on Earth. Once more, she would be swept into a series of events, often tragic and extraordinary, that would eventually change her life forever. After the six months she would spend on Betelgeuse, world of green canyons, she would never be the same person again.

100 Bullets, Vol. 9: Strychnine Lives


Brian Azzarello - 2006
    With the Houses of the Trust warily circling each other, looking for the right angle to take in their impending war, the remaining Minutemen continue to pick their sides - and set up their own battle plans.

Krazy and Ignatz, 1937-1938: Shifting Sands Dusts Its Cheeks in Powdered Beauty


George Herriman - 2006
    The gorgeous evolution continues in the second color volume, which includes the Sunday strips from all of 1937 and 1938. The color format opens the floodgates for a massive amount of spectacular rare color art from series editor Bill Blackbeard and designer Chris Ware's files. Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationships of its three main characters. Each of the characters was ignorant of the others' true motivations, and this simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth and sweeping his readers up by the looping verbal rhythms of Krazy Co.'s unique dialogue.Most of these strips in this volume have not seen print since originally running in Hearst newspapers over 70 years ago. With a full 104 Sunday pages this time around, this particular book is jam packed with little room for extras, but we did squeeze in a half-dozen or so pages' worth of never-before-seen Herriman memorabilia (all in color), including a spectacular full-color New Year's card illustration done for a friend.

Hellboy Animated Volume 1: The Black Wedding


Jim Pascoe - 2006
    Hellboy Animated co-creator Tad Stones and Fabio Laguna (X-Men Unlimited) team up in "Pyramid of Death," in which radio hero Lobster Johnson inspires a young Hellboy to inflict some imaginary justice of his own.

The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume 1


Harvey Kurtzman - 2006
    Included are stories by Al Feldstein, Bill Gaines and others with art by legendary illustrators such as Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Orlando, Jack Kamen, Feldstein and others from the first six issues of this pivotal comic book title. Find out what made EC among the most influential comic book lines ever in this complete and newly re-colored collection. This volume reprints the first six complete issues (24 stories) of the comic book Weird Science, originally published in 1950, and features science fiction and fantasy stories, flying saucers, aliens, other worlds, space travel, similar to the first science fiction movies of the same period.

The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 1


Al FeldsteinMarie Severin - 2006
    Includes stories by William Gaines & Al Feldstein, with art by Jack Kamen, Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Graham Ingles, and Wally Wood. Featuring a foreword by Steven Spielberg this book looks back at some of the edgiest and best written stories in comic history.

The Complete Strangers In Paradise, Volume 3, Part 7


Terry Moore - 2006
    As Katchoo's art career blossoms and Francine settles into married life, David devises a plan to reunite them, with Mary Midnight at the center of the plot As things heat up between Francine and Katchoo, David receives news that nobody wants to hear. Could Tambi be his only hope?

The Fart Party, Vol. 2


Julia Wertz - 2006
    She returns to San Francisco to wisecrack her way through a mundane minimum wage job and learns to love being single. But when her neighborhood gets increasingly violent and she comes down with a serious case of wanderlust, she begins to pack her bag for Portland. At the last minute, she changes her mind and goes to Brooklyn instead. This collection includes Fart Party #4.5-#7, plus some never before seen comics. With a foreword by Nicholas Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship).

The Fart Party, Vol. 1


Julia Wertz - 2006
    The book includes the 80% of comics NOT posted online, interviews, funny fan letters and never before seen illustrations! It chronicles Wertz's first year of making comics, living in San Francisco, going to conventions, moving apartments, finishing college, the demise of a relationship, all that typical crap but nicely wrapped up into tiny little boxes on paper! Includes an introduction by Peter Bagge.

Ganges #1


Kevin Huizenga - 2006
    Ganges tries to decide what to do when confronted with "The Litterer"; gets into an argument with his wife Wendy about The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home"; indulges in some whimsical "Time Travelling" while on a walk around his neighborhood; and more! Huizenga's elegant neo-clear-line style brings a crispness and humor to these low-key slice-of-life stories, and the gray-blue duotone he has picked gives the art a new depth and complexity

Ninja


Brian Chippendale - 2006
    It functions as both a great fantasy story and a social allegory about an artist's struggle with money, gentrification, and city politics. Nearly every massive comics page is drawn in a different elaborate style somewhere between Darger, Panter and illuminated manuscript. In between each chapter of the story is a related section of fine art: from bright, exuberant paintings to visionary drawings to the posters for which Chippendale is internationally recognized.

Shadowland


Kim Deitch - 2006
    It was discovered by a seven-year-old boy named Al Ledicker, and the story that followed is one that veteran underground cartoonist Kim Deitch (Boulevard) has chronicled for the last 20 years in a series of interrelated stories that have appeared in a variety of magazines. Collected for the first time, Shadowland offers a narrative which ranges from the late 19th century to (more or less) the present day. Delineated in Deitch's charming, uniquely retro style, Shadowland is a tumble down the rabbit hole of sexy Hollywood starlets, little green (actually, gray) aliens, flying pigs and performing elephants, incest, murder, and eternal youth.

Cat and Girl Volume I


Dorothy Gambrell - 2006
    There is every Cat and Girl cartoon from 2003 to 2005, except for one. There are a few cartoons you haven't seen before, some cartoons so extensively reworked you will swear you have never seen them before, and a subject index.

Do Anything Volume 1


Warren Ellis - 2006
    Dick robot, which Mr. Ellis confesses to swiping off the back of a plane.) Take a look at the world of graphic storytelling through its hazy android eyes, a rattling ghost-train ride through the history of comics. David Bowie, the CIA, mad architects, Will Eisner, Frank Zappa, Tintin, the designer of Skylab, a train station in Paris, Arthur C. Clarke, the circus, the Black Panther Party, and William S. Burroughs: all of these things are connected by Jack Kirby, all part of the secret history of comics, and all illustrating the special nature of this exciting medium as the place where you can do anything.

The Magic Bottle: A Blab! Storybook


Camille Rose Garcia - 2006
    Nature has all but disappeared in her world, but no one notices because of the antidepressants they're on. Lulu (who never takes her medicine) feels an increasing sense of dread and despair, until her fate changes one cold day when she finds a magic bottle containing a map. Drawn by pirates long ago, this map shows the way to the lost world of the Peppermint Islands, sunk to the bottom of the sea 400 years ago in the great battle between the pirates and the capitalists. Suddenly, Lulu has the chance to save the last remaining wild animals on earth, but she'll have to battle the Peppermint Man and the Great Trading Company in order to defeat the capitalist machine out to ruin the natural world. With the help of her new octopus friend, Mr. Blue, they start their journey to save the Peppermint Islands from annihilation.This is the latest Blab! storybook, a series of graphic novels showcasing artists from Monte Beauchamp's annual BLAB! anthology, presented in a faux-children's book format, though aimed squarely at adults and young adults.

Doctor Strange: The Oath #1


Brian K. Vaughan - 2006
    Doctor Strange embarks on the most important investigation of his career, as he sets out to solve an attempted murder--his own! And with his best friend near death, Strange turns to an unexpected corner of the Marvel Universe to recruit a new ally.

Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969


Dan Nadel - 2006
    These artists, including Harry Grant Dart, Milt Gross, Charles M. Payne, Harry Hershfield and Charles Forbell, foreshadowed and influenced the comics medium of today.

Schizo #4


Ivan Brunetti - 2006
    Huysmans. And if that weren't enough, there are tributes to Charles Schulz and the Marx Brothers; a step-by-step guide on how to draw cartoons; and strips on misogyny, 9-11, suicidal ideation, and abortive crushes on waitresses!

Wolverine: Enemy of the State


Mark Millar - 2006
    It's Wolverine vs. the Marvel Universe as Logan shreds his way through the X-Men, Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., and more! How did Wolverine end up fighting to destroy everything he holds dear? Plus: Wolverine may be back in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, but at what cost? As the X-Men mourn their fallen teammate in a funeral befitting a hero, Hydra celebrates the coronation of a new leader. And the reign of terror continues, as the Hand picks off the meta-humans, one by one. Will Wolverine be deprogrammed in time to stop the carnage?Collecting: Wolverine 20-32

An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories


Ivan BrunettiPhoebe Gloeckner - 2006
    As with Chris Ware’s selections for his best-selling McSweeney’s anthology, Brunetti’s choices make for a highly personal book (“my criteria were simple: these are comics that I savor and often revisit”) that serves as a broad historical overview of the medium and a round-up of some of today’s best and most interesting North American comic artists. Included here are works from such well-known artists as Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, Ben Katchor, Charles Burns, Gary Panter, Seth, Phoebe Gloeckner, Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Joe Sacco, and Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, as well as many other pioneers whose names may be less familiar.Brunetti offers selections from the works of more than seventy-five avant-garde comic artists.  His selections are arranged by genre and grouped thematically. Luxuriously produced and printed in four-color throughout, the book is a must-have for collectors, aficionados, readers of comics, and those generally interested in cutting-edge art and literature.

Stanley Bagshaw and the Twenty Two Ton Whale


Bob Wilson - 2006
    More hilarious fun in the fourth book in this enduring series.

Flaming Carrot Volume 6 First Image Series


Bob Burden - 2006
    America's first surrealist superhero! Be it killing criminals with baloney guns, fighting eight-foot long chicken wings, or romancing bodacious sidekicks, Flaming Carrot is the everyman's kind of hero! From the creator of the cult-classic Mystery Men movie!

Pibgorn: The Girl in the Coffee Cup


Brooke McEldowney - 2006
    

Leonard Starr's Mary Perkins On Stage Volume 1


Leonard Starr - 2006
    The first 500 signed and numbered by Leonard Starr! The first three 'On Stage' Storylines: February 10, 1957 to January 11, 1958. Introduction by Walter Simonson, Marvel & DC Artist! "Leonard's World' The first in a series of articles on the Artist, the Strip and more! Copyright © 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

An Unlikely Prophet: A Metaphysical Memoir by the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman


Alvin Schwartz - 2006
    One of the individuals who contacted him was no ordinary fan, but a seven-foot Buddhist monk named Thongden, a tulpa or individual who was thought into being by a Tibetan mystic. Thongden put Alvin Schwartz on the path without form, an amazing journey he took in the company of Hawaiian kahunas, quantum physicists, and superheroes. Superman, as it turns out, is also a tulpa, a being created by thought that takes on a life of its own and, in Mr. Schwartz’s words, is an archetype expressing the sense of nonlocality that is always present in the back of our minds--that capacity to be everywhere instantly. Superman is one of the specific forms that embodies our reality when we’re at our highest point, when we’re truly impermeable, indestructible, totally concentrated, and living entirely in the now, a condition each of us actually attains from time to time.Alvin Schwartz’s story is a personal journey through a lifelong remembrance of synchrony, inspiration, accident, and magic. As it unfolds it puts into vivid clarity the saving grace that inhabits every moment of our lives. The author travels as a stranger in a strange land, whose greatest oddity is that this land is our own.

Spider-Girl (Marvel Age): Battles The Deadly Dragon King!


Tom DeFalco - 2006
    

Nog a Dod: Prehistoric Canadian Psychedoolia


Marc Bell - 2006
    Their loose, expressive and unpredictable work is akin to that of fellow "doodlers" Marcel Dzama and the Paper Rad collective--falling somewhere between children's book art, comics, psychedelia and fine art. Nog a Dod, the first book to document this vibrant scene, shows off nearly a decade of work and hundreds of unique mini-books by artists including Marc Bell, Peter Thompson, Jason McLean, Amy Lockhart, Owen Plummer, Keith Jones and Marc Connery.

The Jackson 500, Volume 2


Tim Biskup - 2006
    His career in animation led him to work on countless cartoons, including his own short for Nickelodeon, Freddy Seymore's Amazing Life. In September 2004, he opened an exclusive venue for his creative output.

Teen Titans Go!, Volume 4: Ready for Action!


J. Torres - 2006
    

Spider-Girl (Marvel Age): Fun 'N' Games with the Fantastic Five


Tom DeFalco - 2006
    

Dick Briefer's Frankenstein


Dick Briefer - 2006
    Briefer created a bizarre, twisted version of the classic Frankenstein that is legend among comic book aficionados. This large format book lovingly reproduces a monstrous number of stories from the original 1940s and '50s comic books. The stories are fascinatingly supplemented by an insightful introduction with rare photos of the artist, original art, letters from Dick Briefer, drawings by Alex Toth inspired by Briefer's Frankenstein, and much more! As with the entire line of Yoe Books, the reproduction techniques employed strive to preserve the look and feel of expensive vintage comics. Painstakingly remastered, enjoy the closest possible recreation of reading these comics when first released."Collects selected stories Prize Comics' Frankenstein by Dick Briefer.

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend: The Saturdays


Winsor McCay - 2006
    Presented in the enlarged format for the first time and printed 98% of their original size, totalling 190 cartoons in all.

Forty Cartoon Books of Interest


Seth - 2006
    

Spider-Girl (Marvel Age): Legacy... In Black and White


Tom DeFalco - 2006
    

Little White Mouse


Paul Sizer - 2006
    Her story of coming-of-age in a harsh and unyielding environment became a fan-favorite book around the world.The entire critically-acclaimed Little White Mouse series is collected into a 448 page Omnibus Edition, including a new 4 page framing story prequel by series creator PAUL SIZER, and artistic contributions from artistic legends GEOF DARROW (Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Shaolin Cowboy), DAVE JOHNSON (100 Bullets), LADRONN (Hip Flask), CHRIS SPROUSE (Tom Strong), JEFF MOY AND W.C. CARANI (Legion of Super Heroes), MARK CRILLEY (Akiko, Miki Falls), MARK PAULIK (Chumba webcomic), MATT FEAZELL (Cynicalman), KARL ALTSTAETTER (Deity), JANE IRWIN (Vogelein, Clockwork Game), PAM BLISS (Paradise Valley Comics), JASON HOWARD (Trees, Wolfman, Super Dinosaur) and many others, this is the definitive collection for long-time fans and first time readers. Little White Mouse is rated YOUTH (7 and up) and is recommended for ALL AGES.

Bernet


Manuel Auad - 2006
    This book showcases his work for the first time in the United States, and serves as a testament to the virtuosity of his art. For those familiar wwith Bernet's work, this compendium succinctly exemplifies his contributions and abilities within the world of comci art. Those unfamiliar will find this collection to be an eye-opening experience into the world of a comic master that will send them scouring the Internet to find additional works by Bernet.

Tundra Comics Presents: True North: Northern Exposure


Chad Carpenter - 2006
    Carpenter's Tundra comic strips appear in newspapers throughout Canada and Alaska, as well as in newspapers throughout the lower 48 states. It has been called (by those in the know) one of the fastest-growing newspaper comic strips in the business.

The Keep : the Graphic Novel


F. Paul Wilson - 2006
    Graphic novel.

The Art of S. Clay Wilson


S. Clay Wilson - 2006
    CLAY WILSON is the long-awaited career retrospective of the most extreme of the Zap cartoonists of the late 1960s. A self-described ""graphic agoraphobe,"" Wilson draws manically dense scenes of lurid mayhem that rank among the seminal works of underground, counterculture American art. It's all here, from the classic chronicles of the Checkered Demon to salacious stories about the pirates, prostitutes, and poets that inhabit Wilson's divinely depraved world.The definitive collection of the art of legendary Zap comic artist S. Clay Wilson.Features 200 full-color images, including new work and previously unpublished prints commissioned for private collections.Introduction by R. Crumb touts Wilson's role as one of the originators of underground comix."Wilson was the strongest, most original artist of my generation that I had yet met. . . . There was something very familiar about the drawings, yet something entirely new, never before seen! It looked like folk art, like old-time tattoos, like some high school hotrodder's notebook drawings. They were rough, crazy, coarse, deeply American."-from R. Crumb's introductionReviews"To hell with Capt. Jack Sparrow, when are they going to make a movie about Cap'n Pissgums and his Pervert Pirates?. . . Even the least of the prints throb with diabolical energy and are ornamented by the kind of hardboiled captions you wish could be turned into movie dialogue."-San Jose Metro". . . rather rude (but very welcome). . . it's mesmerizing work, and hugely influential as well."-PW Daily

Wigu: The Case of the Missile Crisis


Jeffrey J. Rowland - 2006
    

Cavalcade of Boys Complete Collection


Tim Fish - 2006
    This nearly 600 page set includes CAVALCADE stories created for other anthologies, and exclusive material as well. Acclaimed by comic critics, professionals, and fans as "real" and "honest," CAVALCADE chronicles the adventures of a group of gay men in and out of the bedroom. Volume 1 launches the series, and introduces lonely heart Tighe, high-energy Warren, starved-for-attention Navy boy Eddie and many more, as they compete for each other's attention, romance, and love.

In the Studio: Visits with Contemporary Cartoonists


Todd Hignite - 2006
    The artists, some of whom rarely grant interviews, offer insights into the creative process, their influences and personal sources of inspiration, and the history of comics. The interviews amount to private gallery tours, with the artists commenting, now thoughtfully, now passionately, on their own work as well as the works of others.The book is generously illustrated with full-color reproductions of the artists’ works, including some that have been published and others not originally intended for publication, such as sketchbooks and personal projects. Additional illustrations show behind-the-scenes working processes of the cartoonists and particular works by others that have influenced or inspired them. Through the eyes of these artists, we see with a new clarity the achievement of contemporary cartoonists and the extraordinary possibilities of comic art.Extensive interviews with: Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Robert Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Gary Panter, Seth, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware

The Krypton Companion


Michael Eury - 2006
    Writer/editor Michael Eury explores this classic comics era through all-new interviews with fan-favorite Superman writers and artists; previously unpublished and/or immortal artwork by Curt Swan, Neal Adams, Wayne Boring, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Adam Hughes, Nick Cardy, Jim Mooney and others; Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel's -lost- imaginary story -The Death of Clark Kent;- a roundtable discussion where today's comics pros -- including John Byrne, Alex Ross and Mark Waid -- discuss the Superman of yesteryear and other revealing features! Plus a (last-page) introduction by Bizarro No. 1 (abetted by Seinfeld writer David Mandel) and a super cover by Watchmen's Dave Gibbons!

Girly Volume 1


Josh Lesnick - 2006
    Follows the adventures of Otra and Winter, a romantic odd couple living in Cute-Town. When Otra isn't busy shooting people into space, she reluctantly acts as Winter's sidekick - completely against her will.