Drinking at the Movies


Julia Wertz - 2010
    Don’t worry—this isn’t the typical redemptive coming-of-age tale of a young woman and her glorious triumph over tragedy or any such nonsense. It’s simply a hilarious—occasionally poignant—book filled with interesting art, absurd humor and plenty of amusing self-deprecation. Box by box, Wertz chronicles four sketchy apartments, seven terrible jobs, family drama, traveling fiascos, and too many whiskey bottles to count.

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams


Kim Deitch - 2002
    The setting: the Fontaine Talking Fables animation studio. Teddy Mishkin–definitely alcoholic, possibly insane–is hard at work on the latest cartoon short for Waldo the Cat, the "star" of Fontaine's stable of animated characters. But little does anyone (except Teddy) realize that Waldo is real–and that he is Teddy's insidiously helpful assistant.From the Hardcover edition.

The Batman Adventures: Mad Love


Paul Dini - 1993
    Then along came the animated Batman series. The visual style was totally unique: clean, sharp, and bold. Batman Adventures: Mad Love is an original comics story drawn in the style of the popular animated series. It's even put together by Paul Dini, a major force behind the animated show. This particular story involves Batman's old foe, the Joker, and Joker's cute but deadly sidekick, Harley Quinn. Actor Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame, who plays the voice of the Joker in the animated series, claims that this is one of his all-time favorite comics, calling it "bold, lusty, gleefully demented."

Sabrina


Nick Drnaso - 2018
    Rate your stress level from 1 to 5, 5 being severe. Are you experiencing depression or thoughts of suicide? Is there anything in your personal life that is affecting your duty?When Sabrina disappears, an airman in the U.S. Air Force is drawn into a web of suppositions, wild theories, and outright lies. He reports to work every night in a bare, sterile fortress that serves as no protection from a situation that threatens the sanity of Teddy, his childhood friend and the boyfriend of the missing woman. Sabrina’s grieving sister, Sandra, struggles to fill her days as she waits in purgatory. After a videotape surfaces, we see devastation shown through a cinematic lens, as true tragedy is distorted when fringe thinkers and conspiracy theorists begin to interpret events to fit their own narratives.The follow-up to Nick Drnaso’s Beverly, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Sabrina depicts a modern world devoid of personal interaction and responsibility, where relationships are stripped of intimacy through glowing computer screens. Presenting an indictment of our modern state, Drnaso contemplates the dangers of a fake-news climate. Timely and articulate, Sabrina leaves you gutted, searching for meaning in the aftermath of disaster.

Neonomicon


Alan Moore - 2010
     From their interrogation of Sax (where he spoke exclusively in inhuman tongues) to a related drug raid on a seedy rock club rife with arcane symbols and otherworldly lyrics, they suspect that they are on the trail of something awful… but nothing can prepare them for the creeping insanity and unspeakable terrors they will face in the small harbor town of Innsmouth.  NEONOMICON collects Alan Moore’s 2010 comic book series for the first time in its entirety – including his original story, THE COURTYARD, which chronicled Aldo Sax’s tragic encounter with the (somewhat) mortal agents of the Old Ones!

Invincible, Vol. 1: Family Matters


Robert KirkmanJohn Rauch - 2003
    The only major difference being that his dad is the most powerful superhero on the planet! And, Mark seems to be inheriting his father's powers! See Mark thwart super-villains, alien invasions and all sorts of craziness, as he gets the hang of all this super-heroing stuff.

Suicide Squad, Volume 1: Kicked in the Teeth


Adam Glass - 2012
    Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot and company must make it out alive without revealing who's pulling the strings behind their illegal operations. Who will be the first to crack under the pressure? More importantly will they make it all out alive?Collect: Suicide Squad 1-7

iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World


Chris Roberson - 2010
    Once a month she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person – until she eats her next brain. She sets out to fulfill the dead person’s last request, solve a crime or right a wrong.Our zombie girl detective is joined by a radical supporting cast: her best friend Eleanor, who happens to be a swinging ’60s ghost, a posse of paintball blasting vampires, a smitten were-dog and a hot but demented mummy.Collects issues #1-5

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power


Ryan North - 2015
    Wolverine, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, Thanos: There's one hero that's beaten them all-and now she's got her own ongoing series! (Not that she's bragging.) That's right, you asked for it, you got it, it's SQUIRREL GIRL! (She's also starting college this semester.) It's the start of a brand-new set of adventures starring the nuttiest and most upbeat super hero in the world!COLLECTING: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 1-4

The Flintstones, Vol. 2


Mark Russell - 2017
    Shining a light on humanity’s ancient customs and institutions in a funny origin story of human civilization, Mark Russell (PREZ) blends modern interpretations with Hanna-Barbera’s classic characters, bringing a breath of fresh stone-age air.Hanna-Barbera has created some of the most recognizable animated characters of all time. As part of DC Comics’ reimagination of cartoons like SCOOBY-DOO, JOHNNY QUEST, SPACE GHOST and WACKY RACERS, these new series are infused with modern and contemporary concepts while keeping the heart and soul of the classic animation.Collects THE FLINSTONES #7-12.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs


Ed Brubaker - 2005
    Written by Ed Brubaker Art by Doug Mahnke, Patrick Zircher, Aaron Sowd and Steve Bird Cover by Mahnke Witness Batman's first encounter with The Joker in this hardcover volume collecting the graphic novel BATMAN: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke! This collection also includes DETECTIVE COMICS #784-786, a murder-mystery tale guest-starring Green Lantern Alan Scott!

The Worrier's Guide to Life


Gemma Correll - 2015
    For all you fellow agonizers, fretters, and nervous wrecks, this book is for you. Read it and weep...with laughter

Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street


Warren Ellis - 1998
    Working as an investigative reporter for the newspaper The Word, Spider attacks the injustices of his surreal 23rd Century surroundings. Combining black humor, life-threatening situations, and moral ambiguity, this book is the first look into the mind of an outlaw journalist and the world he seeks to destroy.

The Book of Leviathan


Peter Blegvad - 2000
    In a dazzling work of graphic fiction, a surreal journey through a wonderland eerily like real life, The Book of Leviathan chronicles an infant's investigations into life's great mysteries. Endowed with a preternatural interest in metaphysics and philosophy, yet as confused as any innocent by the vagaries of adult behavior, little Levi bears the added burden of living in a world that can literally change at the stroke of a pen.Aided by a wise pet ("Cat") and a favorite toy ("Bunny"), Levi encounters a frothing ectoplasmic Hegel and a woefully off-the-mark Freud. In less heady adventures, Levi contemplates why his parents disappear at night (and whether he is wholeheartedly pleased when they return each morning); the regrettable liberties taken with the English language; and the relationship between Bennetton and Pablo Neruda.Peter Blegvad's Book of Leviathan assembles the cream from Levi and Cat's adventures, published in The Independent on Sunday newspaper in the twilight years of the old Millennium. Blegvad's darkly humorous work has been described by Matt Groening as "one of the weirdest things I've ever stared at". Quirky and referential, dark and droll by turn, it follows the faceless baby Levi's journeys into and out of the world. They are escapes, but as some sage once observed, only a jailer would consider the term "escapist" pejorative.

Footnotes in Gaza


Joe Sacco - 2009
    Raw concrete buildings front trash-strewn alleys. The narrow streets are crowded with young children and unemployed men. On the border with Egypt, swaths of Rafah have been bulldozed to rubble. Rafah is today and has always been a notorious flashpoint in this bitterest of conflicts. Buried deep in the archives is one bloody incident in 1956, that left 111 Palestinians dead, shot by Israeli soldiers. Seemingly a footnote to a long history of killing, that day in Rafah—cold-blooded massacre or dreadful mistake—reveals the competing truths that have come to define an intractable war. In a quest to get to the heart of what happened, Joe Sacco immerses himself in daily life of Rafah and the neighboring town of Khan Younis, uncovering Gaza past and present. Spanning fifty years, moving fluidly between one war and the next, alive with the voices of fugitives and schoolchildren, widows and sheikhs, Footnotes in Gaza captures the essence of a tragedy. As in Palestine and Safe Area Goražde, Sacco’s unique visual journalism has rendered a contested landscape in brilliant, meticulous detail. Footnotes in Gaza, his most ambitious work to date, transforms a critical conflict of our age into an intimate and immediate experience.