Best of
Graphic-Novels-Comics

2002

Absolute Dark Knight


Frank Miller - 2002
    Miller has provided a new Introduction, cover and art for the slipcase. An excerpt from his original plot for Dark Knight Returns #4 is included.

Groovitude: A Get Fuzzy Treasury


Darby Conley - 2002
    Get Fuzzy has become a hit cartoon with its bitingly funny portrait of single life with pets.And why not? The laughs come fast and furious. Get Fuzzy features Rob Wilco, a single, mild-mannered advertising executive who's the so-called guardian of Bucky and Satchel, anthropomorphic scamps that still live by their animal instincts. Bucky, a temperamental cat who carries a boom box and goes on spending sprees, definitely calls the shots in this eclectic household, while Satchel is a kindly canine with a sensitive soul who tries to remain neutral, even though he bears the brunt of his feline companion's mischief.Between the three of them, the Wilco household faces a whole host of trials and tribulations that classify them as family. Satchel wants his boundaries respected. Bucky refuses to eat vegetables but insists on snarfing up Rob's plants. Rob tries to meet women, but his pets continually subvert his efforts. In every frame, Get Fuzzy depicts the hilarious war between the species, giving the animals an equal footing in hilarious one-upmanship.Get Fuzzy is the comic strip for everyone who loves their pets with an attitude. That said, Groovitude is Get Fuzzy at its finest.Contains cartoons from The Dog Is Not a Toy and Fuzzy Logic.

Y: The Last Man #1


Brian K. Vaughan - 2002
    Vaughan (Lost, EX MACHINA), this is the saga of Yorick Brown - the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome. Accompanied by his pet monkey, Yorick searches for his lost love...and the answer to why he's the last man on earth.

One Hundred Demons


Lynda Barry - 2002
    Name that Demon!!! Freaky boyfriends! Shouting Moms! Innocence betrayed! These are some of the pickled demons you'll meet as Lynda Barry mixes the true and the un-true into something she calls "autobificitionalography." From her nattering and intolerant/loving Filipina grandmother to the ex-boyfriend from hell who had lice, Lynda Barry's demons jump out of these pages and double-dare you to speak their names. Called by Time magazine "a work of art as well as literature," One Hundred Demons has been hailed for its shimmering watercolor images and unforgettable stories about life's little monsters.

Krazy and Ignatz, 1925-1926: There is a Heppy Land Furfur A-waay


George Herriman - 2002
    Each volume in this series reprints two full years of Sunday strips, or 104 full-page, black-and-white Sunday strips (Herriman did not incorporate color into the strip until 1935). Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on the relationship of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz Mouse hated Krazy Kat, the expression of which was in throwing bricks at Krazy's head. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought to protect "her" (Herriman always maintained that Krazy was genderless), mostly by throwing Ignatz in jail. Each of the characters was ignorant of the other's true motivations. This simple structure allowed Herriman to build entire worlds of meaning into the actions, building thematic depth that led critics like Gilbert Seldes and E. E. Cummings to recognize Herriman's genius almost immediately. Each of Fantagraphics' Krazy Ignatz volumes is designed by Chris Ware, creator of the wildly successful ACME Novelty Library series. This beautiful volume includes material never collected before.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 1


Brian Michael Bendis - 2002
    Compound these with intense personal tragedy and superhuman powers, and you can start to visualize the world of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 2


Brian Michael Bendis - 2002
    3: Double Trouble* Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 4: Legacy* Behind-the-Scenes MaterialIn the last year, teenager Peter Parker's grown more comfortable with his amazing abilities, but that's all about to change with the return of the maniacal Green Goblin. The Goblin has discovered Peter's secret identity -- and with the lives of the teenager's loved ones at stake, will Spider-Man be able to escape the Goblin's clutches?

Twentieth Century Eightball


Daniel Clowes - 2002
    Renowned for its gleefully incisive social satire and riotous absurdity, Entertainment Weekly proclaimed it "the year's best regularly published comic book" upon its debut in 1989. The Village Voice proclaimed it "brilliant," and Art Spiegelman called it "curdlingly good." Simpsons creator Matt Groening has repeatedly called it his favorite comic book.20th Century Eightball collects the very best humor strips from Eightball, written and drawn between 1988 and 1996. Included within are such seminal strips/rants as "I Hate You Deeply," "Sexual Frustration," "Ugly Girls," "Why I Hate Christians," "Message to the People of the Future," "Paranoid," "My Suicide," "Chicago," and over three dozen more. Other favorites include "Art School Confidential," one of Clowes' most popular strips of all-time: made into a motion picture with a screenplay by Ghost World's Clowes and Terry Zwigoff. Also included is Clowes' hilariously Freudian deconstruction of professional athletes, "On Sports," which caused a stir in San Antonio last year when reprinted in the city's most popular weekly paper, prompting an advertising boycott and demands for the paper to be destroyed by local sports fans. Noted comics historian Roger Sabin, author of Phaidon's Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, calls 20th Century Eightball a "corrosively satirical vision of an America cracking apart, and confirms Clowes as a worthy successor to the underground greats of the 1960s."

Batman: Hush, Vol. 1


Jeph Loeb - 2002
    What is she plotting? No one quite knows, but by manipulating both Batman and his enemies Killer Croc and Catwoman tensions are high and no one is to be trusted in Gotham City tonight!Originally published in BATMAN #608-612.

Achewood volume 1: A Momentary Diversion on the Road to the Grave


Chris Onstad - 2002
    Also includes a collection of interviews, recipes and a short story by Ray. 187 pages.[http://www.achewood.com]

100 Bullets, Vol. 4: A Foregone Tomorrow


Brian Azzarello - 2002
    But as these self-serving manipulations take place, pieces of the mystery of the Minutemen and the organization that created them start to come together, and we discover to the research and conspiracy theories of Mr. Branch. As more is revealed about the series' main characters, the true meaning and importance of the conflict between Graves and the Trust starts to emerge.

100 Bullets, Vol. 5: The Counterfifth Detective


Brian Azzarello - 2002
    After receiving an attach� case and the standard 100 bullets from the mysterious Graves, Milo Garret, a broken-down L.A. private detective learns that a recent mishap that left him scarred and without a face might not have been an accident. But as the mystery of his misfortune unravels, Milo must decide between having answers and having a future. SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS

Piled Higher and Deeper: A Graduate Student Comic Strip Collection


Jorge Cham - 2002
    "Piled Higher and Deeper" the comic strip is currently read by grad students from over 300 universities and from around the world.

After Eden


Arnold Arre - 2002
    A mall brawl and an automobile mishap bring them together, sparking the genesis of a romance that changes six lives.(from http://en.wikipilipinas.org/)

Blacksad: The Sketch Files


Juan Díaz Canales - 2002
    Exciting behind-the-scnes look at the creation of one of the hottest series in graphic novels today.

The Complete Strangers in Paradise, Volume 3, Part 4


Terry Moore - 2002
    Francine and Katchoo are high-school best friends who are reunited when Francine comes back to town after years away from her hometown. David is their new friend entangled in their complicated lives. From creepy ex-boyfriends and insensitive bosses to the reality of AIDS and underworld prostitution, you never know what will come up next - but you can always count on laughing and crying at the same time. This foil-stamped casebound hardcover with color dust jacket includes a special color cover art section, sketches, and more.

In All But Blood


Wendy Pini - 2002
    Other leaders and other advisors, yes. Other tribemates sharing adventures, certainly. Friends aplenty.But there is something much more to the bond that exists between Cutter and Skywise, between chief and stargazer. Something that rivals even the unstoppable force of elfin Recognition.Neither born of the same parents nor at the same time, what extraordinary trials have compelled these two to become "brothers in all but blood"?

Alias, Vol. 1


Brian Michael Bendis - 2002
    But not a very good one. Now a chain-smoking, self destructive alcoholic who is the owner and sole employee of a private investigations firm specialising in superhuman cases. When she exposes one hero's identity her life becomes expendable.

The Rabbi's Cat 2


Joann Sfar - 2002
    While the rabbi is away, his cat tags along with Malka of the Lions (the rabbi's enigmatic cousin), who roams the desert with his ferocious-on-demand lion. Some believe Malka to be a pious Jew, others think he's a shrewd womanizer, but the cat will be the one to discover the surprising truth.Back in Algiers, the rabbi's daughter, Zlabya, and her new husband fill the house with their fighting, while the city around them fills with a rising tide of anti-Semitism. On a whim, the rabbi's cat, the rabbi, a sheikh (also a cousin of the rabbi), and a very misplaced Russian painter set out on a fantastic journey (even encountering a young reporter named Tintin in the Congo) in search of an African Jerusalem. It turns out to be very fortuitous that the rabbi's cat is not just a talking cat, but a multilingual talking cat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Artobiography


Kevin Eastman - 2002
    From the modest beginnings to the merchandising, pop culture juggernaut, this collection of concept art, comics pages, and insider-behind-the-scenes notes-has been "sold out" and hard to find for years. But now it's back in print for a new generation of fans to enjoy.

The Rabbi's Cat


Joann Sfar - 2002
    To his master’s consternation, the cat immediately begins to tell lies (the first being that he didn’t eat the parrot). The rabbi vows to educate him in the ways of the Torah, while the cat insists on studying the kabbalah and having a Bar Mitzvah. They consult the rabbi’s rabbi, who maintains that a cat can’t be Jewish — but the cat, as always, knows better.Zlabya falls in love with a dashing young rabbi from Paris, and soon master and cat, having overcome their shared self-pity and jealousy, are accompanying the newlyweds to France to meet Zlabya’s cosmopolitan in-laws. Full of drama and adventure, their trip invites countless opportunities for the rabbi and his cat to grapple with all the important — and trivial — details of life.Rich with the colors, textures, and flavors of Algeria’s Jewish community, The Rabbi’s Cat brings a lost world vibrantly to life — a time and place where Jews and Arabs coexisted — and peoples it with endearing and thoroughly human characters, and one truly unforgettable cat.

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia


Greg Rucka - 2002
    When Wonder Woman partakes in an ancient ritual called the Hiketeia, she is honor bound to eternally protect and care for a young girl named Danielle Wellys. But when the Amazon Princess learns that Danielle has killed the drug dealers who murdered her sister, she suddenly finds herself in battle with Batman, who is searching for the female fugitive. Caught in a no-win situation, Wonder Woman must choose between breaking a sacred oath and turning her back on justice.

Cuckoo


Madison Clell - 2002
    Often funny, sometimes horrifying, but always bitingly honest, Clell's work shows us an amazing glimpse at how survival can often be the best revenge. --Graphic novel ; compilation of 13 comics issues of the original 'Cuckoo' series. --

Curbside Boys: The New York Years


Robert Kirby - 2002
    Kirby’s chronicle of sexual mishaps and bittersweet romance is syndicated widely in gay newspapers in the U.S.

Cat's Paw


Paul D. Storrie - 2002
    That sets off an every-villain-for-herself chase across Gotham's rooftops — and attracts the attention of both Batgirl and officer Renée Montoya, who reluctantly team up to join in the fray!

Scary Godmother: Ghoul's Out for Summer


Jill Thompson - 2002
    And Scary Godmother runs into her old schoolmate Tinkaree, only to wind up kidnapped and brainwashed!

In Search of Lost Time: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower


Stéphane Heuet - 2002
    

Six Hundred and Seventy Six Apparitions of Killoffer


Patrice Killoffer - 2002
    Charting Killoffer's violent odyssey through a world overflowing with his many selves, 676 Apparitions is a spectacularly ambitious attempt to roll back the constraints of autobiography and graphic narrative.Originally published in French by L'Association in 2002, this is widely recognised to be one of the most important European comics of past years, and was nominated along with Jimmy Corrigan and David Boring for Best Album at Angoulême in 2003.This edition has been completely relettered by the artist.

No Pasaran! Vol. 2


Vittorio Giardino - 2002
    Max Friedman approaches the front, posing as a photographer in a small group of foreign journalists. He flashes back to battles fought with his old comrade Guido Treves, who has gone missing and is the object of his mission. Amidst the ruin of war, Claire, the pretty Belgian reporter who got Max his press credentials, is developing a strong attraction to him, arousing the jealousy of her fellow reporter and would-be-boyfriend, Phil Lester. Caught in the middle of a retreat, Max and Claire get separated from the rest of their group. They have to cross a mountain pass and take shelter in a hut -- the romantic tension builds, but gets snuffed by the urgent need to press onward.

New Used BLAB!


Mark Mothersbaugh - 2002
    BLAB! is the annual forum for a diverse roster of the finest illustrators of our day to do essentially as they please, a publication that carries the proud tradition of unfettered graphic innovation into the future. The "used" side of this book brings together the finest of BLAB!, including the work of such luminaries as Gary Baseman, Peter Kuper, Blanquet, Christian Northeast, the Clayton Brothers, and more. The "new" side features never-before-seen work specially created for this book, with contributors including Haley Johnson, Sue Coe, Jonathon Rosen, Spain, and an introduction by neo-Dada pop star Mark Mothersbaugh. The many faces and voices of BLAB! are reproduced in a resplendent back-to-back package that provides multiple points of entry. A best-of collection, an art and design manifesto, and a new kind of visual art form in itself, New & Used BLAB! is the best survey of progressive illustration today.

Hey, Mister: The Fall Collection


Pete Sickman-Garner - 2002
    It includes "Behind The Green Door," "The Trouble With Jesus," "Eyes On The Prize," and "Dial 'M' for Mister." And, as a bonus, also includes Sickman-Garner's cartoon account of who he is and why he does what he does. Join Mister, Young Tim, Aunt Mary and the beloved Hideous Mutants as they hurtle headlong out of Eden and try to find redemption in a world where love is a four-letter word and even God gets lonely sometimes.

A Dose Of Laughter


R.K. Laxman - 2002
    Cartoons and jokes.

Batman in the Fifties


Bill Finger - 2002
    With Robin, Batwoman, Bat-Mite, and Ace the Bat-Hound by his side, the world's greatest detective faced off against a zany collection of foes that included giant fighting robots, kooky aliens and talking apes. Although the adventures may not have been deadly, they were, and still are, wildly entertaining.