Kafka


David Zane Mairowitz - 1994
    Crumb's Kafka is a vibrant biography that examines this Czech writer and his works in a way that a bland texbook never could! R. Crumb's Kafka goes far beyond being explication or popularization or survey. It's a work of art in its own right, a very rare example of what happens when one very idiosyncratic artist absorbs another into his worldview without obliterating the individuality of the absorbed one. Crumb's art is filled with Kafka's insurmountable neuroses. They are all there: Gregor Samsa's sister, the luscious Milena Jesenska, the Advacate's "nurse" Leni, Olda and Frieda, and the ravishing Dora Diamant-drawn in that mixture of self-commandtantalizing knowingness, and sly sexuality, that amazonian randines and thick-limbed physicality that is Crumb.Crumb's idiosyncratic illustrations add a new dimension to the already idiosyncratic world of Kafka. Includes adaptations of "The Judgment," "The Trial," "The Castle," "A Hunger Artist," and "The Metamorphosis."

A History of Violence


John Wagner - 1997
    When Tom gives them more than they bargained for, he and his family are thrust into the kind of white-hot media spotlight that attracts a lot of attention - and questions about Tom's past. ls he really an easygoing small town guy, or is there something more?

Wake: Fire and Ash


Jean-David Morvan - 1998
    A French graphic novel saga features Navee--a beautiful human girl living alone on a lush, post-nuclear Earth--and her adventures in a universe of varied forms of intelligent life.

Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures


Yvan Alagbé - 1995
    In the stories gathered in Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures—drawn between 1994 and 2011, and never before available in English—he uses stark, endlessly inventive black-and-white brushwork to explore love and race, oppression and escape. It is both an extraordinary experiment in visual storytelling and an essential, deeply personal political statement.With unsettling power, the title story depicts the lives of undocumented migrant workers in Paris. Alain, a Beninese immigrant, struggles to protect his family and his white girlfriend, Claire, while engaged in a strange, tragic dance of obsession and repulsion with Mario, a retired French Algerian policeman. It is already a classic of alternative comics, and, like the other stories in this collection, becomes more urgent every day.

32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics


Adrian Tomine - 1995
    Consisting of three xeroxed sheets of paper, and with a print run of twenty-five, it was a less-than-auspicious, largely unnoticed debut. In the following three years, though, Optic Nerve developed at a startlingly rapid pace: the artwork and writing evolved with each story, production quality improved, page counts increased, and by issue seven, sales had reached 6,000. In 1994, Drawn & Quarterly took over the publishing duties of Optic Nerve, and the original seven issues sold out and were left out of print. 32 stories presents these rare, early editions, collected for the first time in a single volume.

Chicken with Plums


Marjane Satrapi - 2004
    His beloved tar has been broken. But no matter what tar he tries, none of them sound right. Brokenhearted, Nasser Ali Khan decides that life is no longer worth living. He takes to his bed, renouncing the world and all of its pleasures. This is the story of the eight days he spends preparing to surrender his soul.

Gemma Bovery


Posy Simmonds - 1999
    A sudden windfall and Gemma's distaste for London take them across the Channel to Normandy, where the charms of French country living soon wear off.Gemma's neighbor, the intellectual baker Joubert, is consumed by fascination for her. Denying voyeurism but nonetheless noting every change in the fit of Gemma's jeans, every addition to her wardrobe, all of her love bites and lovers, Joubert -- with the help of the heroine's diaries -- follows her path toward ruin.Adultery and its consequences. Disappointment and deception. Fat and slim. Then and now. Familiar ingredients of the novel are given new life in Gemma Bovery's unique graphic form.From the Hardcover edition.

Conan, Vol. 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories


Kurt Busiek - 2005
    Now Conan's earliest adventures are collected in a handsome 192-page collection. Catch all the action and savagery as he wars with the murderous Vanir, meets the Frost Giant's Daughter, and is taken as a slave by the ancient sorcerers of Hyperborea! This top-selling new series faithfully expands on original author Robert E. Howard's literary creation. Collecting issues #0-#6 and fourteen pages from issue #7 of the ongoing series.• "Writer Kurt Busiek treats him with the dignified respect due one of the towering figures in fantasy literature ... it feels like historians unearthed a vibrant, bloody tapestry. These are, once again, the days of high adventure."-Entertainment Weekly

The Walking Man


Jirō Taniguchi - 1990
    Every corporate American should have a copy on their desk and, in times of stress, take two chapters, twice a day. Take a little stress out of your life and relax with The Walking Man, a little step every day. Lovingly reversed in collaboration with the creator to read left to right.

Hicksville


Dylan Horrocks - 1998
    But behind his rapid rise to success, there lies a dark and terrible secret, as biographer Leonard Batts discovers when he visits Burger's hometown in remote New Zealand. For Hicksville is no ordinary small town. In Hicksville sheep-farmers and fishermen argue the relative merits of early newspaper strips, while in the local bookshop & lending library, obscure Mongolian minicomics share the shelves with a complete run of ACTION COMICS. But why does everyone there seem to hate Dick Burger? And what is the secret of the lighthouse? HICKSVILLE collects the main storyline from the ignatz-award nominated comic book PICKLE, and includes some 40 or so pages of new or revised material.

Wolverine: Weapon X


Barry Windsor-Smith - 1988
    weapon. And weapons kill people. They found that out well enough. Find out just how much "X" can cover in this prequel to recent revelations of the murderous mysteries that have mesmerized our favorite mutant! Collects Marvel Comics Presents #72-84

Jamilti and Other Stories


Rutu Modan - 2008
    Jamilti and Other Stories collects the cartoonist’s short works, which lead the reader through unexpected turns of plot and unusual character portraits. Some are darkly fantastical and unsettling, such as the unraveling of a serial-killer murder mystery, or her accounts of an infatuated plastic surgeon and his sanitarium, and a mother back from the dead with dubious healing powers. Others are more attuned to surprising discoveries that shape personal identity, as in the story of a tragic past that lies within a family’s theme hotel, or that of a struggling musician who hopes an upcoming gig will be his big break. In “Jamilti,” Modan addresses political violence with a suicide bombing that shakes up a day in the lives of a young couple.

The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo


Joe Sacco - 2003
    He begins by returning us to the dying days of Balkan conflict and introduces us to his own fixer; a man looking to squeeze the last bit of profit from Bosnia before the reconstruction begins. Thanks to a complex relationship with the fixer Joe discovers the crimes of opportunistic warlords and gangsters who run the countryside in times of war. But the west is interested in a different spin on the stories coming out of Bosnia. Almost ten years later, Joe meets up with his fixer and sees how the new Bosnian government has "dealt" with these criminals and Joe ponders who is holding the reins of power these days...

Unnatural, Vol. 1: Awakening


Mirka Andolfo - 2016
    Blair is a normal pig girl, she loves sushi and she is trapped in a job that she hates. She lives with Trish, her best friend. In her world, which is full of anthropomorphic creatures, with a totalitarian government that interferes in the personal lives of its citizens, up to the point of allowing only relationships between individuals of the same race. The transgressors are punished. They are accused of being... unnatural!Leslie dreams of something different for herself. But these dreams are becoming dangerous, especially because they feature a mysterious wolf. And, when she wakes up, she thinks that she is being watched... And, as if that were not enough, on the day of her twenty-fifth birthday, Leslie receive an email that she would never have wanted to receive. But she still does not know it's just the beginning ...The hit Italian comic, a fantasy, erotica, romantic suspense series by MIRKA ANDOLFO (Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, DC Comics Bombshells) will bring you in a colorful but terrible world, where personal freedoms are superfluous. Follow Leslie on a breathtaking plot, between thriller and fantasy with a touch of sensuality.Collects issues #1-4.

Baking With Kafka


Tom Gauld - 2017
    Noted as a "book-lover's cartoonist," Gauld's weekly strips in The Guardian, Britain's most well-regarded newspaper, stitch together the worlds of literary criticism and pop culture to create brilliantly executed, concise comics. Simultaneously silly and serious, Gauld adds an undeniable lightness to traditionally highbrow themes. From sarcastic panels about the health hazards of being a best-selling writer to a list of magical items for fantasy writers (such as the Amulet of Attraction, which summons mainstream acceptance, Hollywood money, and fresh coffee), Gauld's cartoons are timely and droll--his trademark British humour, impeccable timing, and distinctive visual style sets him apart from the rest.Lauded both for his frequent contributions to New Scientist, The Guardian and The New York Times, and his Eisner-nominated graphic novels, Tom Gauld is one of the most celebrated cartoonists working today. In Baking with Kafka, he proves this with one witty, sly, ridiculous comic after another.