He was the most popular cartoonist of his day, his sense of humor coming straight out of Mark Twain, who also balanced exaggerated tall tales and a perfect ear for everyday speech with dark themes that undercut his laugh-out-loud stories. The series will consist of six volumes released annual through 2011.In this first volume, covering 1928-1930, Popeye's initial courtship of Olive Oyl takes center stage while Olive's brother Castor Oyl discovers the mysterious Whiffle Hen. Also, the entire cast meets the Sea Hag for the first time in their pursuit of the "Mystery House" (Popeye's first extended daily narrative), and Castor Oyl attempts to turn Popeye into a boxing champion in a series of hilarious Sunday strips. These strips are masterpieces of comic invention. Popeye's omnipotence pre-figures the rise of superheroes in the 1930s and 1940s, though Popeye is a much more sympathetic character, and his very name announces his vibrant personality. His mangled English pulsated with the vital spirit of immigrant America, its rhythm poetic in its own vulgar way: "I yam what I yam and tha's all I yam."2007 Eisner Award nominee: Best Archival Collection/Project: Strips; and Best Publication Design (Jacob Covey); 2007 Harvey Award nominee: Best Domestic Reprint Project; Special Award for Excellence in Presentation; Winner: HOW Magazine Design Merit Awards: Covers

    A reformed criminal turned do-gooder, Plastic Man stretched the definition of the strong-jawed, straight-faced super-hero to its absolute limits. Pitted against an equally odd and colorful group of foes and paired with the indescribably strange sidekick Woozy Winks in the pages of Quality Publishing's Police Comics, "Plas" quickly gained in popularity and soon graduated to his own title. Collected here for the first time are the Plastic Man features from the third issue of Plastic Man Comics, and issues 41-49 of Police Comics, all written and drawn by Jack Cole, Plas's creator and one of the most highly regarded talents in the history of comics. This volume also includes an insightful foreword by international comics historian Andreas Knigge.

    America, 2031. TV star Reuben Flagg is drafted to protect the citizens of Chicago as a Plexus Ranger, having pretended to be one onscreen. The inexperienced Flagg must tackle an America blighted by a biased and oppressive media, dubious 'wars', widespread political corruption and environmental disaster...Never-before-collected, this bitingly prescient satirical series is an all-time classic. This debut volume features an introduction by Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys).

    Without a smattering of inside information, the baffled but hopelessly-bitten book buyer is drifting unarmed and unprepared into a minefield whose perilous complexities will usually only be made plain when an eagerly awaited parcel of dream volumes arrives and mangled contents are revealed in all their deceptive glory.... But all is not lost. Help is at hand! After a lifetime of avidly scanning the frequently poisonously-tinted pages of innumerable book catalogues, Ronald Searle has become expert in the art of decoding those esoteric, poetic and usually approximate, descriptions of literary come-ons. Now, licking his wounds, he publishes his hard-earned findings in this fully illustrated pioneer guide, designed to foil the devious machinations of scheming and wicked booksellers for ever more. No longer will the innocent book collector need to puzzle over the finer meaning of 'old half road', 'good working copy', blind tooled', or 'tail-edged shaved'. The unvarnished truth is here exposed at last, both in the shocking explicit drawings and in the devastatingly frank glossary whose revelations will startle even the most battle-scarred of bibliophiles. The result is one of the funniest, most entertaining books to have emerged from the brilliantly perceptive pen of the master. No book collector, and certainly no bookseller, can afford to be without it - even the wicked ones.

    Based on the hit Cartoon Network show that The Onion's A.V. Club calls "a revelation," The Amazing World of Gumball will delight readers of all ages. Collects issues #5-8.

    

    Until he gets a letter from the HR department insisting he use up his accrued vacation time, that is. In this humorous and heartfelt book from beloved illustrator Brian Rea, readers take a peek at Death's journal entries as he documents his mandatory sabbatical in the world of the living. From sky diving to online dating, Death is determined to try it all! Death Wins a Goldfish is an important reminder to the overstressed, overworked, and overwhelmed that everyone—even Death—deserves a break once in a while. If you enjoyed Brian Rea's work in Mary Karr's The Liars' Club: A Memoir or in the New York Times' popular Modern Love column you'll love his delightful illustrations of Death in this funny, heartfelt collection of works.This book is a great gift or self-purchase if you're looking for:Funny BooksFunny ComicsHumor Books

    With an ever increasing fan base, an expanding number of publications who regularly feature his work, one of the most popular and most visited web-logs (www.thismodernworld.com), the time is now for The Great Big Book of Tomorrow. This massive collection of Tomorrow's greatest hits, unseen gems and obscurities, new material and color section is the so far definitive collection of one of the most popular 'underground' cartoonists ever--a delight to long-time fans and new readers alike.

    Whether playing the online dating game, trying couples therapy, dealing with uncooperative children, discovering the melancholy of middle age, dreaming of a better life, or finally grasping the golden (or at least bronze) ring, these chickens encounter everyday troubles and triumphs as painfully recognizable as they are hilarious. Clever, charming, and endlessly entertaining, Going for the Bronze is a brilliant follow-up to a wholly unique bestseller.

    This commemorative issue features their creation, history and illustrious late creator, Prohias. Illustrations.

    Peter Bagge’s Other Stuff includes a few lesser-known Bagge characters, including the wacky modern party girl “Lovey” and the aging bobo “Shut-Ins” — not to mention the self-explanatory “Rock ’N’ Roll Dad” starring Murry Wilson and the Beach Boys. But many of the strips are one-off gags or short stories, often with a contemporary satirical slant, including on-site reportage like “So Much Comedy, So Little Time” (from a comedy festival) and more. Also: Dick Cheney, The Matrix, and Alien! Other Stuff also includes a series of Bagge=written stories drawn by other cartoonists, including “Life in these United States” with Daniel Clowes, “Shamrock Squid” with Adrian Tomine, and the one-two parody punch of “Caffy” (with art by R. Crumb) and “Dildobert” (with art by Prison Pit’s Johnny Ryan)... plus a highlight of the book, the hilarious, literate and intricate exposé of “Kool-Aid Man” written by Alan Moore and drawn by Bagge. (Other collaborators include the Hernandez Brothers and Danny Hellman.) Bagge is one of the funniest cartoonists of the century (20th or 21st), and this collection shows him at his most free-wheeling and craziest... 50 times over.

    The compendium includes many of Ryan's previously unpublished parodies.

    But back in the 1930s, Mickey gained fame as a rough-and-tumble, two-fisted epic hero — an adventurousscrapper matching wits with mobsters, kidnappers, spies, and even (gulp!) city slickers! And Mickey’s greatestfeats of derring-do took place in his daily comic strip, written and drawn by one of the greatest cartoonists of the 20thcentury — Floyd Gottfredson.For its first quarter-century, Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse was a rip-roaring serial: the most popular cartoon-basedcomic of its time, a trendsetting adventure continuity aimed at both kids and grown-ups, and the foundation on whichall later Disney comics grew — including the adventures of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge by Gottfredson’s Disneycolleague Carl Barks.Glimpses of Floyd Gottfredson’s masterpiece have been reprinted over the years, most famously in Bill Blackbeard’sclassic Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. But the whole strip has never been comprehensively collected inEnglish — until now! Fantagraphics Books is proud to bring this classic Disney creation to a 21st century audience inits entirety, starting from the strip’s 1930 launch. Relive Mickey’s race to a gold mine with Pegleg Pete hot on his heels;Mickey’s life on the lam after being framed for bank robbery; even Mickey’s ringside battle with a hulking heavyweightchamp! The premiere volume features a dozen different adventures starring Mickey, his gal Minnie and her uncle Mortimer,his pals Horace Horsecollar and Butch, the villainous Pegleg Pete, and the mysterious and shrouded Fox.Gottfredson’s vibrant visual storytelling has never been more beautifully reproduced; we promise the best reprintingthe strip has ever seen, with each daily lovingly restored from Disney’s original negatives and proof sheets. “DeathValley” also includes more than 50 pages of fascinating supplementary features, including rare behind-the-scenes art andvintage publicity material from the first two years of the strip. Critics, scholars, seasoned Disney archivists, and fellowcartoonists provide commentary and historical essays on the strip’s creation and execution.Walt Disney often said that his studio’s success “all started with a Mouse” — Walt himself wrote the Mickey Mousestrip before turning it over to the able hands of Gottfredson — and today Mickey is among the world’s most recognizableicons. Now it’s time to rediscover the wild, unforgettable personality behind the icon: Floyd Gottfredson’s MickeyMouse.

    His failed plan, a mere footnote in Jewish-American history, is the starting point for Ben Katchor's brilliantly imagined epic that unfolds on the streets of New York a few years later.A disgraced kosher slaughterer, an importer of religious articles and women's hosiery, a pilgrim peddling soil from the Holy Land, a latter-day Kabbalist, a man with plans to carbonate Lake Erie--these are just some of the characters who move through Katchor's universe, their lives interwoven in a common struggle to settle into the New World even as it erupts into a financial frenzy that could as easily leave them bankrupt as carry them into the future.

    Jim Woodring's captivating and enigmatic body of "Frank" stories is an astonishing work of imaginative splendor.Included in Volume 1 is the complete, award-winning masterpiece "Frank in the River" -- 32 pages of breathtaking painted color -- as well as 60 pages of crisply beguiling black-and-white pen-and-inkwork.