This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
Approximate Continuum Comics
by Lewis Trondheim
160-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" softcover • $18.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-410-8
"An earlier stab than Little Nothings at comics-as-diary from the prolific cartoonist (and constantly hilarious comics-diarist) Lewis Trondheim, who draws himself as a slightly ruffled bird." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"Lewis Trondheim’s Approximate Continuum Comics were some of the first autobiographical works to come out of France. This volume from Fantagraphics collects the first three chapters from The Nimrod (which were originally released in English as regular American floppies) as well as a bunch of previously untranslated stuff, plus a section at the back in which the real life characters pick fault with Trondheim’s depictions of themselves. David B. has got something to say, as does Trondheim’s Mum. How often does that happen?" – Gosh! Comics
"It’s a great little book, sharp and witty, and a good place for Trondheim newbies to dive in." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"On the graphic novel front, I am eager to read Approximate Continuum Comics, a new collection of Lewis Trondheim’s autobiographical pieces." – Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading
"International comics master Trondheim delivers an excellent collection of autobiographical comics. It's a look inside a cartoonist's life. And trust me, it's far more interesting than that may sound." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
"I greatly enjoyed this English-language edition of a key Trondheim work, a collection of four comic book-sized memoir comics that blend fantasy and reality in an attempt to capture the way the mega-successful cartoonist regarded his life on either side of 30 years old. I found particularly affecting just how funny and poignant its set-pieces were, and how they might connect with lives that have very little big-picture overlap with Trondheim's own." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
Take a Joke: Vol. 3 of the Collected Angry Youth Comix
by Johnny Ryan
128-page black & white/color 7" x 10" softcover • $18.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-464-1
"…Take a Joke! [is] the latest and arguable greatest (and also last) collection of material taken from Johnny Ryan’s finished-for-now series, Angry Youth Comix." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"There’s all manner of potty-mouthed things you’d expect from Johnny Ryan." – Gosh! Comics
"The master of the yuks that disturb, Johnny Ryan is back with a new collection of his hilarious Angry Youth Comix. You'll laugh a lot and feel weird about doing it. Genius!" – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
"Johnny Ryan is a very funny man." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
Yeah!
written by Peter Bagge; art by Gilbert Hernandez
224-page black & white 7" x 10.25" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-412-2
"…[C]ome on, if you found out that Robert Altman and Woody Allen had collaborated on a kids' TV show, you'd want to watch that too." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
"…Fantagraphics collects Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez's all-ages graphic novel Yeah! for the first time in a decade. This title was initially published on Wildstorm [Homage, actually – Ed.] and is about the foibles of an intergalactic Josie and the Pussycats-style girl group." – Cyriaque Lamar, io9
"…[T]he new Yeah! book… collect[s] the short-lived all ages series that Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez collaborated on, about an all-girl rock group that’s popular throughout the galaxy, but not at home…" – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"Back in 1999/2000 Peter Bagge (Hate) and Gilbert Hernandez (Love & Rockets) teamed up for Yeah! – a nine-issue all-ages series about an intergalactically famous girl group who were totally unknown on their home planet Earth." – Gosh! Comics
"I’m curious to see if this re-release… title finds a new audience from quite a different publisher, one more typical of the creators." – Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading
"The summer of Peter Bagge continues! Yeah! collects the comic series from years ago that was a collaboration between Bagge and Hernandez (Love & Rockets). The result is a rollicking intergalactic Josie & The Pussycats-esque all-ages yarn." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
"This… feels like a notably sturdy volume and seems priced more cheaply than anyone could be expected to find copies of the original funnybooks. It also and probably needed to be re-presented to its potential audience for folks to pay it any attention, in a format that many young readers now prefer. I'm happy to see these comics again." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
And as ever, Joe McCulloch at TCJ.com:
"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: Approximate Continuum Comics collects some nice autobiographical early work by Lewis Trondheim, previously seen in part in The Nimrod and Expo 2000... Take a Joke collects (among other things) the remainder of Johnny Ryan’s Angry Youth Comix, covering its fascinating lunge into increasingly horror-informed material… And Yeah! collects the entirety of a 1999-2000… outer space pop band series from writer Peter Bagge and artist Gilbert Hernandez, in b&w…"