Passionella and Other Stories


Jules Feiffer - 1959
    For over 40 years he contributed strips to The Village Voice, and has long been a regular contributor to the London Observer and Playboy. An animated cartoon based on his story Munro received an Academy Award in 1961. In the '60s, he branched into theater, writing several plays now regarded as classics: Little Murders; Knock, Knock; The White House Murder Case; Elliot Loves; and The Grown-Ups, to name a few. Originally conceived for the stage, his Carnal Knowledge became one of the landmark films of the '70s. He has written two prose novels, Harry the Rat with Women and Ackroyd, as well as a cartoon novel, Tantrum. In the 1990s, Feiffer embarked on yet another career, this time as a children's book author. He has over a half-dozen to his credit, including modern classics like The Man and the Ceiling.Passionella and Other Stories collects Feiffer's finest extended graphic narratives of the late '50s and early '60s. It opens in full-color with "Excalibur and Rose," the fable of a village comedian who embarks on a crusade in search of his serious side, which he finds in spades when he encounters his true love, the pathologically depressed Rose. The volume's centerpiece, "Passionella," a retelling of Cinderella set in modern Hollywood, concerns a chimney sweep whose fairy godmother transforms her into the "mysterious exotic bewitching temptress"and movie starPassionella. Other stories include "The Lonely Machine," an account of one man's attempt to find the perfect relationship through robot love, and "Harold Swerg," the predicament of the world's greatest athlete who'd rather stay at his mundane job than compete against others, despite his country's desperate pleas to enter the Olympics. Three more classic graphic tales and several entertaining one-act plays round out this handsomely designed hardcover edition.

Archy's Life of Mehitabel


Don Marquis - 1938
    Don Marquis' creations have been constantly in print since 1934.

Bloom County: Loose Tails


Berke Breathed - 1983
    It's an acknowledged bit of wisdom that authors all learn at one time or another: Don't let your publisher write the promotional material. Words like "countless millions," "knee-slapping hilarious," and "cult following" are found peppering one's sacred book jacket like pigeon droppings on a statue of the Virgin Mary...which naturally is how I think of my work.The truth is that the only "cult following" my comic strip had when this book appeared consisted of my mother. Bless her heart, she still reads it daily. She'll hand the funny page to me, point to it, scrunch her eyes together and say, "Honey, what were you trying to say here?" If opus spits watermelon seeds at Milo, she'll say to me, "So this is a sort of comment on the watermelon industry?" So you see, to my publisher and to my mother, I remain a victim of unrealistic expectations.In the meantime, please accept my apologies for the way Opus is drawn within this volume. I had no experience drawing birds in 1982 and you will notice that his beak tends to randomly shrink or expand. To this day, my mother thinks it symbolically represented the changing fortunes of my bachelor love life. Maybe it did, Mom, and maybe it didn't.Berke BreathedAugust 1987

What's Michael?: Fatcat Collection Volume 1


Makoto Kobayashi - 2020
    Makoto Kobayashi's hilarious New York Library Award and Parents' Choice Award Winning Series returns in a set of oversized collections.What's Michael? FatCat Collection Volume 1 contains the out-of-print original What's Michael? Volumes 1 to 6. Over 500 pages of tumultuous fun, including the out-of-print volumes Michael's Album, Living Together, Off the Deep End, A Hard Day's Life, Michael's Favorite Spot, and Michael's Mambo.

Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 3


Tove Jansson - 1978
    It debuted in the London Evening News in 1954 and has become the fastest-selling D+Q series to date. Fifty years ago, Tove Jansson’s observations of everyday life—whimsical but with biting undertones—easily caught the attention of an international audience and still resonate today.This third volume returns to Moominvalley, where its beloved inhabitants get tangled up in five new stories. Moomin falls in love with a damsel in distress, an unseasonably warm spell turns the valley into a tropical rain forest, and a flying saucer crashes into Moominmamma’s garden. Moominpappa decides to live out his dream of occupying a lighthouse and writing a great seaside novel, only to discover that he hates the sea so close up and has no interest in writing about it, and a variety of curious clubs spring up in the valley. Moomin and Moominmamma do their level best to avoid the whole mess but, of course, get drawn into the muddle.

Enormously FoxTrot


Bill Amend - 1994
    A wild and witty compendium comprising the best-selling collections Bury My Heart at Fun-Fun Mountain and Say Hello to Cactus Flats, this colorful saga of the Fox family will inspire laughs and instant recognition.From the endurance test of together-time vacations to the always chaotic goings-on at work, home, and school, the Fox family exhibits the day-to-day lunacy that comes with family life--a life that includes the trials of dad Roger's computer ineptitude and mom Andy's culinary adventures. The Fox siblings--Peter, Paige, and Jason—display a recognizable, albeit quirky, look into the real world of growing up.Cartoonist Bill Amend, who was referred to by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the nation's best young cartoonists," bolsters this realistic portrayal by keeping his characters in the real world of Nintendo and Barney, Super Bowls and tofu casseroles, overdue book reports and overly painful trips to the mall. The personalities and humor of FoxTrot are timeless. We all know these people.FoxTrot reveals the humorous side of family trials and tribulations like no other comic strip in America. With Enormously FoxTrot, readers will be able to enjoy the engaging Fox family more than ever!

The Lives Behind the Lines: 20 Years of For Better or For Worse


Lynn Johnston - 1999
    Creator Lynn Johnston's commentary adds a behind-the-scenes element, as she describes some of her thoughts about the strip over the years.Author's web site: http://fbofw.com/

Tales Designed To Thrizzle, Volume Two


Michael Kupperman - 2013
    In the spirit of two-ness, Tales Designed to Thrizzle Book Two features two of Kupperman's recurring duos: America's favorite mustachioed physicist/writer double team of Twain and Einstein (solving new crimes and barreling through exciting new adventures), and the crime-fighting team of Snake and Bacon ("Sssssssssssss!") who make a special return just to star in Reservoir Dogs 2. Elsewhere in this volume the crusty Quincy, M.E. makes his comic book debut, struggling through the fantastic landscapes of his own dreams in "Quinception" (in which St. Peter also gets his own comic book). Also: The Jungle Princess battles rhino traders... A story of Broadway theatrics in "All About Drainage"... Slightly cursed merchandise... Cockney grave robbers... Cowboy Oscar Wilde... McArf the Crime Dog takes a bite out of scum... The origin of The Hamanimal... Plus a photocomic starring comedian Julie Klausner: "Voyage To Narnia."

The Tick Omnibus Vol. 1: Sunday Through Wednesday


Ben Edlund - 1995
    Collecting issues 1-6 of The Tick in one volume, with a few supplemental materials.

Westward Ha!


S.J. Perelman - 1948
    Perelman's companion is cartoonist Al Hirschfield, whose drawings capture the very essence of Perelmania.

Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip


Nevin Martell - 2009
    And then, on the last day of 1995, the strip ended. Its mercurial and reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, not only finished the strip but withdrew entirely from public life.In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, Nevin Martell sets out on a very personal odyssey to understand the life and career of the intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. Martell talks to a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson's closest friends and professional colleagues, and along the way reflects upon the nature of his own fandom and on the extraordinary legacy that Watterson left behind. This is as close as we're ever likely to get to one of America's most ingenious and intriguing figures - and it's the fascinating story of an intrepid author's search for him, too.

Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book


Harvey Kurtzman - 1959
    Written and illustrated by Kurtzman, Jungle Book inspired and influenced comics creators such as Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Gilbert Shelton, and Terry Gilliam. Back in print for the first time in over twenty-five years, this deluxe hardcover features an essay by comics archivist Denis Kitchen; a new introduction by Gilbert Shelton; a conversational afterword between Pete Poplaski and Robert Crumb; and and a selection of Kurtzman's photographs, correspondence, and artwork. The definitive edition of this graphic novel masterpiece is not to be missed!

Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants


Matthew Inman - 2013
    Classics from the website, including “Dear Sriracha Rooster Sauce,” “What It Means When You Say Literally,” and “What We Should Have Been Taught in Our Senior Year of High School,” are featured alongside never-before-seen works of epic hilarity that will delight veteran and newbie Oatmeal fans alike.Matthew Inman’s first collection of The Oatmeal.com spent six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold 200,000 copies. This pivotal and influential comic collection titled 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth introduced Samurai sword-wielding kittens and informed us on how to tell if a velociraptor is having pre-marital sex. Matthew's cat-themed collection How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You is a #1 New York Times bestseller and has sold over 350,000 copies. Now with Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants, Inman offers a delicious, tantalizing follow-up featuring all new material that has been posted on the site since the publication of the first book plus never-before-seen comics that have not appeared anywhere.  As with every Oatmeal collection, there is a pull-out poster at the back of the book.In this second collection of over 50 comics, you'll be treated to the hilarity of "The Crap We Put Up with Getting On and Off an Airplane," "Why Captain Higgins Is My Favorite Parasitic Flatworm," "This Is How I Feel about Buying Apps," "6 Things You Really Don't Need to Take a Photo of," and much more. Along with lambasting the latest culture crazes, Inman serves up recurrent themes such as foodstuffs, holidays, e-mail, as well as technological, news-of-the-day, and his snarky yet informative comics on grammar and usage. Online and in print, The Oatmeal delivers brilliant, irreverent comic hilarity.

Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo


Walt Kelly - 1959
    The official history and commemoration of Pogo's first decade...all wrapped up with a running commentary by Walt Kelly.

And the Pursuit of Happiness


Maira Kalman - 2010
    Energized and inspired by the 2008 elections, on inauguration day Kalman traveled to Washington, D.C., launching a national tour that would take her from a town hall meeting in Newfane, Vermont, to the inner chambers of the Supreme Court.As we follow Kalman's wholly idiosyncratic journey, we fall in love with Lincoln alongside her as she imagines making a home for herself in the center of his magisterial memorial; ponder Alexis de Tocqueville's America; witness the inner workings of a Bronx middle-school student council; take a high-speed lesson in great American women in the National Portrait Gallery; and consider the cost of war to the brave American service families of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The observations she makes as she travels charm and inform, and-as we have come to expect with Kalman-the route is always one of fascinating indirection.Kalman finds evidence of democracy at work all around us. And the cast of characters we meet along the way is rousing good company, featuring visits from Benjamin Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others. And the Pursuit of Happiness is a remarkable tribute to our history and a powerful reminder of the potential our future holds, from a true national treasure. Watch a Video