Spring-Summer 2014, part 4: rediscovered comic book classics

Since we're asking you to support our Spring-Summer 2014 season on Kickstarter (we're thisclose to our goal!), we thought we'd spotlight the books in question, a couple at a time. We've also put our season catalog online for you to browse. (Please note that all artwork, contents, prices, specs, and release dates are preliminary and subject to change.)

Young Romance 2 cover

Young Romance 2: The Early Simon & Kirby Romance Comics
by Joe SimonJack Kirby; edited by Michel Gagné

200-page full-color 7.75" x 10" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-732-1

From tears to soda fountains, from mobsters to pretty ingénues in freshly pressed dresses, the stories of love and betrayal herein will prompt you to grab a tissue box or swoon in delight. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's sensational romance comics continue in this sequel to 2012's acclaimed Young Romance. This volume covers 1947 through 1949 and includes stories about women from all walks of life — from French widows to released prisoners. Simon and Kirby invented the romance comics genre and explored all the flirtations, dalliances, and passions of the young men and women who populated their stories. Get swept away by the sheer delirium that these pages induced so long ago. These comics have been meticulously restored in order to produce one of the most striking and faithful reproductions of 1940s comics ever published. Edited by acclaimed animator and cartoonist Michel Gagné.

Henry Speaks for Himself prelim cover

Henry Speaks for Himself
by John Liney  

200-page full-color 7.75" x 10" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-732-1

What is it about odd-looking comic strip characters that catch the public's attention? Carl Anderson's classic comic strip character Henry was certainly not your average-looking youngster, with knobby knees, a pencil neck, and a bulbous, bald head, but for years, he entertained millions of readers worldwide with his pantomime pranks. He was also the subject of a long-running comic book series, with one significant difference from the newspaper strip — in the comic books, Henry spoke! Written and drawn by John Liney, who also handled art chores on the daily Henry strip, these stories were done in a Tintin-esque clean-line art style that made them attractive to the younger set, but with writing clever enough to cause the adults to chuckle while reading to their children. These 1940s-'50s stories have never before been reprinted, and this collection provides a long-overdue look at a forgotten "kid's comic" masterpiece.