What Am I Doing Here?


Abner Dean - 1947
    He used the elegant draftsmanship and single-panel format of the standard cartoons of the day, but turned them into more than just one-off jokes. With an inimitable mixture of wit, earnestness, and enigmatic surrealism, Dean uses this most ephemeral of forms to explore the deepest mysteries of human existence.What Am I Doing Here? depicts a world at once alien and familiar, in which everyone is naked but act like they’re clothed—a world of club-wielding commuters and byzantine inventions, secret fears, and perverse satisfactions. Through it all strolls (or crawls, or floats, or stumbles) Dean’s unclad Everyman, searching for love, happiness, and the answers to life’s biggest questions.

Wondermark, Vol. 1: Beards of Our Forefathers


David Malki - 2008
    One of the Internet's new generation of self-syndicated comic creators, Malki repurposes illustrations and engravings from 19th-Century books into hilarious, collage-style comic strips.

Angry Little Girls in Love


Lela Lee - 2008
    This book follows the promising first date of Kim and Bruce who hook up to have a dysfunctional boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Their friends offer help and advice along the way. Featuring vengeful, sarcastic, and hopeless love cartoons, anyone who has been in a relationship or is trying to find one for Valentine's Day will surely get a laugh out of this book.

Things Are Meaning Less


Al Burian - 2002
    You might know Al from his zines Burn Collector and Natural Disasters or from the band Milemarker or his so-true-it-kicks-your-face-off column in Punk Planet. This, however, is Al's collection of comics published in the late '90s by designer and fellow zinester Ian Lyman. From Portland to Providence, Al patrols his world with a dark, stoic humor. He's a Saul Bellow-ian everyman, up against the wall, suffering the blows, looking for love and loving the metal. Like Al's latest issue of Burn Collector, the comic-heavy #14, the drawing here is simple but it's the kind of simple that doesn't come with beginner's luck. The stuff here is the result of years of fighting and trouble-making, of mistakes made and a life scratched out among the sticks and stones. As says Al, "These are things drawn on napkins in airports, xeroxed illicitly during work." So goes the work and world of Al Burian.

Please Don't Step On My JNCO Jeans


Noah Van Sciver - 2020
    When do you know you're too old to trick-or-treat? What's the best way to effectively dispose of those teenage ode-filled journals? Where do cherished cereal box prizes go when you grow up? JNCO Jeans, mostly told through one-pagers, holds observations, reflections, and breakthroughs from one of the most prolific and inspirational cartoonists of his generation.

Simpsons Comics Shake-Up


Matt Groening - 2014
    Then, Dr. Nick's cosmetic quackery is called into question, but the "good" doctor may serve a purpose in the shaky medical establishment that few are willing to admit. And after winning a law license in a bar bet, Homer becomes the hottest lawyer in town, but it is not long before HE is fending off the FBI, only to find himself in a federal prison surrounded by former friends and foes and facing a shakedown.

Asterix & Friends: "Asterix the Gladiator", "Asterix in Switzerland", "Mansions of the Gods", "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath", "Obelix and Co."


René Goscinny - 1998
    

Savage Chickens: A Survival Kit for Life in the Coop


Doug Savage - 2011
    I never miss a meal."-Dan Piraro, cartoonist of Bizarro We've all been forced to endure jobs we don't like. We get up, go to work, go to bed, and do it again. No one knows these pains better than Doug Savage, whose dream of being a cartoonist was eclipsed by his ho- hum office job. That is, until he started doodling chicken cartoons on Post-its and turned them into one of the Internet's most popular cartoon blogs. "Savage Chickens" is a collection of cartoons starring Doug's beloved chickens and their officemates that will get a laugh out of even the most jaded number-crunching colleague. Doug blends cynicism, optimism, and interactive activities to create a portable pep talk for the overworked and underappreciated that will keep you sane-and amused- during the morning bus ride, the meeting-filled Monday, the tenth load of laundry, the bathroom break, or the red-eye to the coast.Watch a Video