This is your official warning to bring your heavy duty bags and library book carts because here are our San Diego Comic Con graphic novel and comic debuts. Need a workout? Well, you're gonna get it by grasping our beautiful tomes to your chest as you happily leave, arms full from a fun time at Fantagraphics, booth #1718!
How to Be Happy is Eleanor Davis's first collection of graphic/literary short stories collecting the best stories she's drawn for Mome, Nobrow, and Lucky Peach, as well in her own self-published comics. Davis achieves a rare, subtle poignancy in her narratives that are at once compelling and elusive, pregnant with mystery and a deeply satisfying emotional resonance. Happy shows the full range of Davis's skills — sketchy drawing, polished pen-and-ink line work, and meticulously designed full-color painted panels — which are always in the service of a narrative that builds to a quietly devastating climax. In stores August, $24.99
An Age of License is Lucy Knisley's (French Milk, Relish) comics travel memoir recounting her charming (and romantic!) tour of Europe and Scandinavia. Featuring her hallmark mouth-watering drawings and descriptions of food, Knisley's experiences are colored by anxieties, introspective self-inquiries — about traveling alone in unfamiliar countries, and about her life — that many young adults will relate to. It's is an Eat, Pray, Love for the alternative comics fan. In Stores August, $19.99
Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Son of the Sun (The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1) by Don Rosa – The Richest Duck in the World is back — and so are noisy nephew Donald, wunderkinder Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and rascally richnik Flintheart Glomgold! We’re proud to present our first complete, chronological book of Duck adventures by contemporary fan favorite Don Rosa, who drew a whopping two decades’ worth of ripping Scrooge and Donald yarns! It's at a price even Scrooge would consider a bargain! In stores September, $29.99.
Heroes of the Comics: Portraits of the Legends of Comic Books by Drew Friedman – Featuring approximately 75 full-color portraits and essays lovingly rendered and chosen by Drew Friedman. Heroes includes the full spectrum of American comics pioneers and legends of the ‘30s to the ‘50s: publishers, editors, and artists like Stan Lee, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Bill Gaines, and more. It’s a Hall of Fame of comic book history from the man Boing Boing calls "America’s greatest living portrait artist!" In stores August, $34.99
Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2 by Ed Piskor – Book 2 covers the early years of 1981-1983, when Hip Hop makes its big transition from the parks and rec rooms to downtown clubs and vinyl records. While many performers use flamboyant personas to stand out from the audience, a young group called RUN-DMC comes on the scene to take things back to the streets. This volume introduces superstars like NWA, The Beastie Boys, Doug E Fresh, KRS One, ICE T, and early Public Enemy, with cameos by Dolemite, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG, and New Kids on the Block(?!)!
In stores August, $27.99.
Hip Hop Family Tree Box Set by Ed Piskor – To celebrate the critical success of the first two volumes of Piskor's unprecedented history of Hip Hop, we are offering the two books in a mind-blowingly colorful slipcase, drawn and designed by the artist, featuring exclusive all-new cover art on each volume. Also included is the box set exclusive 24-page comic Hip Hop Family Tree #300, Piskor’s elegant reflection on the ‘90s confluence of hip hop and comics, told in a perfect parody/pastiche/homage to that era’s Image comics. In stores November, $59.99.
Jim by Jim Woodring – Jim is a mind-bending collection of all of Woodring's best non-Frank creative work — comics stories, prose stories, drawings, and paintings all centered around Woodring's cartoon alter ego. This fictional doppelganger has for 30 years inhabited Woodring's alternate universe where shifting, phantasmagoric landscapes, abrupt, hallucinatory visual revelations, and unexpected eruptions of uninhibited verbal self-flagellation are commonplace. Collected here for the first time, Jim is a bounty of Woodring's inspired artistry. In stores late July, $29.99.
Love and Rockets Library (Palomar & Luba Book 4): Luba and Her Family by Gilbert Hernandez – Beto's characters bid "Farewell, My Palomar" as they exit the Eden of the Central American town in Volume 10 of the Love and Rockets Library. When an earthquake levels Palomar, ever-resourceful Luba and her clan are on the move once again. In the U.S., the lives of Maria's daughters — mayor and matriarch Luba, body-builder Petra, and therapist/film star Fritz — and their families become more and more intertwined. In stores now, $18.99.
Cosplayers 2 by Dash Shaw – The "Cosplayers" chronicle continues as Annie and Verti attend the 3-day anime convention "Tezukon." entering the competition as Princess Mononoke and the Devil May Cry Lady. During the convention they face off against a Street Fighter 2 Cammy, encounter two otaku boys who are obsessed with their youtube videos, and meet a manga scholar named Ben Baxter, who sleeps in a dumpster outside of the hotel and receives visions of the ending of Tezuka's unfinished "Phoenix" saga. "Cosplayers 2" is a sweet, funny, melancholic ode to the anime convention experience!
In stores now, $5.00.
Barnaby Vol. 2 by Crockett Johnson; edited by Eric Reynolds and Philip Nel – The long-lost comic strip masterpiece by Crockett Johnson, legendary children’s book author (Harold and the Purple Crayon), designed by graphic novelist and Barnaby superfan Daniel Clowes. Vol. 2 collects the years 1944-1945 of the series, as five-year-old Barnaby Baxter and his cigar-chomping, bumbling con-artist Fairy Godfather J.J. O’Malley encounter leprechauns, gnomes, ghosts, ermine hunters, soap salesmen, and more! In stores now, $39.99.
Bomb Run and Other Stories (The EC Comics Library) by John Severin – Combining the taut emotional and psychological insights of Stephen Crane with the gritty verisimilitude of eyewitness reportage, Harvey Kurtzman and John Severin, with inker and friend Will Elder, produced 34 war stories in just under three years. Emotionally draining and dramatically eloquent, this book collects epic settings: the Roman empire; the Revolutionary War; the American-Indian Wars; the Alamo; the Civil War; World War I (in trenches and in air); World War II ; and the Korean War. In stores now, $29.99.
DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood by Sergio Ponchione – An exquisite tribute to three of the most acclaimed comic book artists of all time: Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Wallace Wood! Acclaimed Italian cartoonist Sergio Ponchione pays tribute to this "holy trinity" in this wildly imaginative one-shot comic, split into three chapters, with each chapter drawn in a pitch-perfect homage to one of his idols.
In stores now, $4.99.
Wandering Son 7 by Shimura Takako – Takako's groundbreaking, critically acclaimed, and beloved Wandering Son continues to explore gender identity among its cast of middle school students in our 7th volume. Nitori-kun gets his first signs of acne. This may well be the end of the world – unless Anna-chan can help. Meanwhile, Nitori-kun and Chiba-san are scouted by the theater club, leading to friction with Takatsuki-san.
In stores August, $24.99.
Judgment Day and Other Stories (The EC Comics Library) illustrated by Joe Orlando – Judgment Day collects 23 of Joe Orlando’s best sci-fi comics, including Al Feldstein adaptations with classic O. Henry-style endings. With its blunt anti-racism message, the title story is one of EC’s most famous: after publisher Bill Gaines and Feldstein having fought the Comics Code to keep the story’s last panel (and thus its whole point) intact, “Judgment Day” became the last story in the last comic book EC published. Also included are outstanding Ray Bradbury adaptations and EC’s “Adam Link,” which was later adapted for The Outer Limits TV show featuring Leonard Nimoy. In stores now, $23.99.
Pirates in the Heartland: The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson Vol. 1 by S. Clay Wilson; edited by Patrick Rosenkranz – The first of a three-volume biography and retrospective, Pirates is the definitive account of the boldest and most audacious of the legendary underground cartoonists. Combining first person accounts from his peers with S. Clay Wilson’s own words, this book stands as a revealing portrait of a rebel who hid his shyness behind brash behavior and bluster.Pirates in the Heartland shows us an artist who truly lived his dreams and his nightmares. In stores now, $34.99.
Twelve Gems by Lane Milburn – The mysterious Dr. Z has enlisted three space heroes to search the galaxy for the fabled Twelve Gems of Power: the hulking alien-brawn Furz; the beautiful and deadly sabre-wielding Venus; and the soft-spoken canine technician, Dogstar. They meet many strange and storied characters on their journey, but none so strange or sinister as their dear benefactor himself. With a heavy dose of humor and wall-to-wall action, this sci-fi epic is one of the most action-packed and funny books of the year.
In stores now, $19.99
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 5: Outwits the Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson – Our latest book finds Mickey battling "Mighty Whalehunter" Pegleg Pete on the high seas, meeting a powerful genie, and taking on Disney’s greatest villain — the vile Phantom Blot! Lovingly restored from Disney's original proof sheets, this volume also includes more than 30 pages of extras: including rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and fascinating commentary by a most-wanted list of Disney scholars. In stores July, $34.99
witzend by Wallace Wood and various artists – When the formulaic constraints, censorious nature, and onerous lack of creators' rights in mainstream comics got to be too much for the brilliant cartoonist Wallace Wood in 1966, he struck out on his own with the self-published witzend. It became a haven for Wood and his fellow professional cartoonist friends where they could produce the kind of personal work that they wanted to do, without regard to commercial demands — and with friends like Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, Ralph Reese, Archie Goodwin, Angelo Torres, Steve Ditko, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Art Spiegelman, Don Martin, Vaughn Bodé, Jim Steranko, Jeff Jones, Howard Chaykin, Trina Robbins, Bernie Wrightson, and literally dozens more, it was bound to be a great ride! Now, Fantagraphics presents the complete run of witzend in this beautiful slipcased two-volume set with a special introduction by Bill Pearson and a history by Patrick Rosenkranz. In stores now, $125.00