We’re not going to let it go to our heads or anything, but our Fall catalog is pretty amazing: new books from Daniel Clowes, Ed Piskor, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, M.S. Harkness, and so many more! You can find the full catalog here (link), read on for some highlights.
Totem by Laura Pérez
Blurring the lines between the real and the spiritual, Spanish cartoonist Laura Pérez leads the reader through a dreamy journey from the Arizona desert to the land of the dead. The narrative slips through time and space, delicately drifting from reality to different states of consciousness. Like a vivid dream, this story is rendered through eerie settings and potent symbols, a spiritual puzzle inviting the reader to piece together.
Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comics edited by Trina Robbins & Peter Maresca
In the 1920s they were socialites and flappers. In the 1960s they were homemakers and heartthrobs. But from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, female stars of the newspaper comic strips were detectives, spies, soldiers of fortune, even superheroes. Accomplishing everything the male comics stars of the time achieved, except they did it in high-heels and flowing skirts. Follow the daring exploits of these smart, tough, independent AND sexy Dauntless Dames.
Monica by Daniel Clowes
Monica is a series of interconnected narratives that collectively tell the life story — actually, stories — of its title character. Clowes calls upon a lifetime of inspiration to create the most complex and per – sonal graphic novel of his distinguished career. Rich with visual detail, an impeccable ear for language and dialogue, and thrilling twists, Monica is a multilayered masterpiece in comics form that alludes to many of the genres that have defined the medium — war, romance, horror, crime, the supernatural, etc. — but in a mysterious, uncategorizable, and quintessentially Clowesian way that rewards multiple readings.
Five years in the making, Monica marks the apex of creativity from one of the defining voices of the graphic novel boom over the past quarter-century. A new book from Clowes is always a huge event in comics and literary circles; Monica will be the biggest literary event of 2023.
An Alchemical Journey Through the Major Arcana of the Tarot by Nina Bunjevac
Informed by Nina Bunjevac’s lifelong interest in psychoanalysis, dreamwork, and esoteric philosophy, this deck aims to help seekers reach a deeper understanding of their inner life. An accompanying guidebook breaks down each of the 22 Major Arcana, guiding the seeker through the meanings of the cards and their implication for one’s spiritual journey. At particular focus is the Alchemical journey, which invites the seeker to look inward, discover the essence of who they are, and work to manifest their truest self. An excellent guide to anybody wishing to learn Tarot reading and perform this soul-searching art solo or in a group.
Bill Ward: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition
Bill Ward’s glamour girls were the staples of countless men’s and humor magazines, where they shared the pages with cult models like Bettie Page, Tina Louise, and Julie Newmar, and cartoons by fellow “good girl” artists such as Archie’s Dan Decarlo and Playboy’s Jack Cole. Imagine if you will, an innocent but stunning young woman boasting wildly exaggeratedly Barbie-like proportions poured into a wisp of lingerie or clingy cocktail dress and adorned in diamond necklaces and opera-length gloves, all perched on top of a pair of dangerously high stiletto heels, and you’ve got the recipe for the quintessential Bill Ward glamour girl.
Hip Hop Family Tree: The Omnibus by Ed Piskor
Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree has been a global phenomenon and perennial bestseller since the first (of four) volumes was published in 2013, spawning multiple printings, fourteen comic books, and the author’s wildly popular YouTube comics channel, Cartoonist Kayfabe (with fellow cartoonist Jim Rugg). Yet the series has never been collected under one cover. Until now. This omnibus collection includes the original 360-page series with over 140 pages of extra material: a cover gallery of every HHFT book and comic book cover and back cover Piskor ever created, pages from the HHFT comic book series that have never been collected, new annotations of the entire series by Piskor, and much more.
Time Under Tension by M.S. Harkness
Time Under Tension is a smart, funny, no bullshit work of autobiography, a story of searching for dignity in a world that rarely affords it and taking agency of adulthood in the face of so many easy excuses not to. Harkness’s bold, precise black-and-white cartooning and eye for storytelling invites the reader in, while her sharp wit and naturalist ear as a writer takes it away from there. Never didactic, always real, Time Under Tension is a spirited and assured work of graphic memoir.
Love and Rockets: The Sketchbooks by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez
Behind the scenes of The Brothers Hernandez: 300 pages of sketches, inked drawings, early comics, and uninhibited graphic ephemera that never made it into the pages of Love and Rockets. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’s mastery of comics is seen on every page of the thousands of pages of Love and Rockets they’ve drawn over the last 40 years. Here, for the first time in three decades, see the work they put into becoming those artists.
A Doorway to Joe: The Art of Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman paints incredibly detailed portraits of sinners, saints, freaks, and personal friends that collectively present a dark history of America. Painting with a single-hair brush and a jeweler’s loupe, the artist states he only knows when the painting is done because he runs out of room on the canvas. With a body of work that spans five decades (including his early work as a comic book artist), Coleman’s work includes subjects such as Hank Williams, Ed Gein, Jayne Mansfield, and his wife and muse, Whitney Ward. Coleman not only captures his subject’s likeness, but his portraits also serve as ambitious narratives of the subject’s life. Told in lozenges scattered throughout the often-larger-than-life works, the portraits contain scenes from the subject’s life and words and phrases. Coleman is not afraid to explore the dark reaches of the human psyche, but also portrays a distinct humanity in his subjects and often includes a touch of humor.
A Doorway to Joe collects over 150 paintings and comprehensively illustrated sections and essays about Coleman’s fine art, comics art, music career (as front man of the ’70s punk band, the Steel Tips), performance art, and the artist’s “Odditorium,” a private museum where sideshow objects, wax figures, crime artifacts and works of religious devotion live together to form a dark mirror that reflects the alternative side of the American psyche.
Milky Way by Miguel Vila
Marco and Stella’s lukewarm, aspiring yuppie romance was already on the ropes when they meet Lulu, an older, working-class ice cream server with a kid and a shady past. But when Marco develops an interest in her that soon veers into obsession, it awakens in him a problematic and dormant sexuality. With a voyeuristic gaze, Miguel Vila lays his characters bare, observing them in their hypocrisies, insecurities, and unmentionable desires. Milky Way is a grotesque comedy, psychological character drama, and erotic thriller about erotic compulsion, inadequacy, and affection.
Reading Love and Rockets by Marc Sobel
A deep dive into the first 50 issues of the Hernandez Brothers’ acclaimed comic series, this scholarly book seeks to answer the question: What makes Love and Rockets such an enduring classic of the medium? Breaking down each issue in sequence, Sobel blends together his own sharp-eyed observations with analysis from a variety of scholars, critics, and fans to provide a well-rounded perspective on the series. Plus, explorations into topics as wide-ranging as magical realism, women’s wrestling, and the Southern California punk scene reveal the fascinating influences at the heart of these stories. Readers daring enough to embark on this illuminating journey through Palomar and Hoppers 13 will return with a richer appreciation for this masterpiece of graphic literature.
