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."

Wonton Soup Vol. 1


James Stokoe - 2007
    Women. Money. Fame. As one of the premiere chefs in the galaxy, Johnny's culinary skills could have made him a star. So with everything he ever dreamed of his for the taking, why would Johnny leave it all behind to become a space trucker? Not even Citrus Watts, the girl he left behind, knows for sure. With the sizzle of life in the kitchen behind him, things were going okay for Johnny. Now after years out of the catering scene, Johnny and his pal Deacon are about to find themselves in water hotter than anything they've ever seen before! Johnny will once again have to pick up the whisk and skillet, but will his eroded skills be enough to get them out of the craziest cook-off in the Universe? And what good is a spatula against space ninjas?

Prison Pit, Vol. 1


Johnny Ryan - 2009
    Prison Pit represents a marked departure from AYC or his Blecky Yuckerella weekly comic strip, combining his love for WWE wrestling, Gary Panter s Jimbo comics, and Kentaro Miura s Berserk manga into a brutal showcase of violence, survival and revenge. Imagine a blend of old-fashioned role playing fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons crossed with contemporary adult video games like Grand Theft Auto, filtered through Ryan s sense of humor. The book begins with C.F. (his full-name would be too horrifying to reveal here) being thrown into the Prison Pit, a barren negative-zone populated by intergalactic, violent monster criminals. In this first volume, C.F. gets into a bloody slorge war (a slorge is a giant slug that excretes a steroid-like drug called fecid that all the monster men are addicted to) with ultraprisoner Rottweiler Herpes and his henchmen Rabies Bloodbath and Assrat. The ensuing bloodbath is an over-the-top, hyperviolent yet hilarious farce worthy of Ryan s inspiration, Kentaro Miura.

Wimbledon Green: The Greatest Comic Collector in the World


Seth - 2005
    Comic-book retailers, auctioneers, and conventioneers from around North America, as well as Green's collecting rivals, weigh in on the man and his vast collection of comic books. Are Green's intentions honorable? Does he truly love comics or is he driven by the need to conquer? Lastly, is he really even Wimbledon Green?A charming and amusing caper where comic-book collecting is a world of intrigue and high finance. Part riotous chase, part whimsical character sketch, Wimbledon Green looks at the need to collect and the need to reinvent oneself.

They Can Talk: A Collection of Comics about Animals


Jimmy Craig - 2018
    Humor writer and artist Jimmy Craig offers 100 colorful comics, including the inner thoughts of creatures from across the animal kingdom--from misunderstood sharks and trouble making bears to the often complicated relationship between you and your pet cat. Get dating advice from raccoons, and learn what roosters think when the sun rises and why cats are always knocking things off of shelves. They Can Talk is the perfect quirky gift for any lover of animals, or for anyone who just loves to laugh.

Assorted FoxTrot


Bill Amend - 2000
    Fans of all ages can find something in creator Bill Amend's work with which they're familiar, from the outrageous sibling rivalries between ten-year-old Jason and his teenage siblings, Peter and Paige, to marital squabbles over golf between parents Roger and Andy.FoxTrot's appeal, in large part, comes from Amend's talent for finding humor in contemporary topics and issues. Readers enjoy a delightful ride as the Fox family members give their takes on the latest in pop culture. It's sometimes surprising and always entertaining to see just how different members of the same gene pool can be.Universal Press Syndicate newspaper feature:*FoxTrot

Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter


Darwyn Cooke - 2009
    Betrayed by the woman he loved and double-crossed by his partner in crime, Parker makes his way cross-country with only one thought burning in his mind - to coldly exact his revenge and reclaim what was taken from him! Richard (Donald Westlake) Stark's groundbreaking Parker books are adapted for the first time as a series of graphic novels by Darwyn Cooke. The initial graphic novel brings to life the first Parker book, The Hunter, which introduces readers to the dangerous anti-hero's cold and calculated world of criminals, thugs, and grifters.

Zen Pencils: Cartoon Quotes from Inspirational Folks


Gavin Aung Than - 2014
    From icons like Confucius, Marie Curie, and Henry David Thoreau, to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge, to contemporary notables like Ira Glass, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Neil Gaiman---their words are turned into sometimes heartwarming, sometimes sobering stories by cartoonist Gavin Aung Than. Be inspired, motivated, educated, and laugh as you read famous words as never before!

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.

Ed the Happy Clown (A Yummy Fur Book)


Chester Brown - 1989
    Within its pages, he serialized the groundbreaking Ed the Happy Clown, revealing a macabre universe of parallel dimensions. Thanks to its wholly original yet disturbing story lines, Ed set the stage for Brown to become a world-renowned cartoonist. Ed the Happy Clown is a hallucinatory tale that functions simultaneously as a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism. As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed escapes variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex. Brown leaves us wondering, with every twist of the plot, just how Ed will get out of this scrape. The intimate, tangled world of Ed the Happy Clown is definitively presented here, repackaged with a new foreword by the author and an extensive notes section, and is, like every Brown book, astonishingly perceptive about the zeitgeist of its time.

Adventure Time: Playing with Fire


Danielle Corsetto - 2013
    The hit Adventure Time comic continues with a brand new original graphic novel series!What Time Is It? Adventure Time! A full-length ADVENTURE TIME original graphic novel in the same popular format as Scott Pilgrim and your favorite manga! Join Finn as he goes on his most intense adventure yet…with his crush, the Flame Princess! Written by acclaimed web cartoonist Danielle Corsetto (Girls with Slingshots)!

Feeble Wanderings


Ross Campbell - 2004
    An all-new edition of the first book in Sophie Campbell's critically acclaimed original graphic novel series, WET MOON! With brand new covers designed by cartoonist Annie Mok (Screen Tests) and special extras in the back, this edition is perfect for longtime fans and new readers alike!

Amongst the Liberal Elite: The Road Trip Exploring Societal Inequities Solidified by Trump (Resist)


Elly Lonon - 2018
    It takes more than listening to NPR on our daily commutes and reading Jon Stewart's Twitter feed in bed while we sip craft beer from artisanal glassware made by at-risk women on another continent to make us global citizens. That won't stop this affable, endearing couple from trying, though.Based on the successful McSweeney's column, Amongst the Liberal Elite takes readers on a cross-country road trip with Alex and Michael, romantic partners whose voices will resonate with fans of shows such as Portlandia, Parks and Recreation, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver. The couple decides to use their tax refund to reconnect with their fellow Americans via a cross-country road trip and, more specifically, better understand how in the world Trump won the election. In a quest to visit The World's Largest Frying Pan--of which there are six in the U.S.-Alex and Michael embark on a journey marked with personal and societal realizations. Arguments about topics ranging from mom-shaming to misogyny related to their pet cat, unsuccessful attempts at yoga meditations in small spaces, and anticlimactic touristic attractions that deepen their gloom about the nation, bring Alex and Michael clarity about what it means to resist. Amongst the Liberal Elite is the political satire we've all been waiting for-the one that offers comic relief from ourselves.

Amy and Jordan


Mark Beyer - 2004
    Mark Beyer was breathing delirious, heartbreaking, otherworldly life into it by means of Amy and Jordan. Obviously, you weren’t reading New York Press. But I sure was. Voraciously. Back in 1989, when I discovered that Beyer’s strips were appearing regularly in this new “alternative weekly” paper, I quickly became hooked, and a thought seized me: I had to clip and save them–they were exquisite poems of urban despair, dreamy and nightmarish. I was already a fan of Beyer’s talent based on his book Agony (Pantheon, 1988), but these new strips revealed, week by week, a whole new dimension to his work–an ingenious reinvention of panel-design that redefined what a comic strip could be. As with Peanuts, it helps to try and picture these in the context which they first appeared in order to appreciate just how profoundly they emerged from anything else on the newspaper page. Even the “outré” NYP ads and listings which often ran alongside them were hopelessly dull by comparison. One of its most impressive aspects was the way Form served the Content–no matter how eccentric the layout got, it somehow never confused the narrative. And what narrative: it was as if Candide had been transported to the East Village and split in two like an amoeba and holed up in a squat on Avenue C. Along with giant bugs from outer space. So I did clip and save them, and put them into an envelope, which was then placed in a shoebox with a lot of other envelopes (receipts, receipts!), which was shoved to the back of the closet of my sixth-floor walk-up studio apartment, which I moved out of three years later and in the process I unwittingly threw them all away. Which frankly is just the sort of thing that Amy and Jordan would do. Drat. “Oh well,” I thought, once I’d realized it, “at some point someone will collect and publish them, and I’ll get them back that way.” And that was that. Fast forward more than ten years, to the spring of 2002. During a panel of cartoonists I was chairing in Philadelphia, a member of the audience asked what Mark was working on and where he was. No one seemed to know. The discussion was transcribed and published in The Comics Journal that summer, and in the fall Mark contacted me with the best possible news: He’d read the panel transcript and wanted to publish again. And the Amy and Jordan strips had never been comprehensively collected. So now, as an editor, I was able to grant my own wish. Amy and Jordan ran from 1988 through early 1996. After that, Beyer put cartooning aside to pursue other projects. This book signals his return to the realm of comics, which he says he wants to start making again. We can only hope he does. For now, I’m just thankful I finally have my Amy and Jordan collection back. –Chip Kidd, NYC, 10/03

Archie (2015-) #1


Mark Waid - 2015
    But is this a one-off or a sign of bigger changes awaiting for America's favorite teens -- and the entire town? Find out in this exciting and remarkable first issue!