I wouldn’t want to spend a hot summer day in any other hotel and convention center, than the North Bethesda Marriott and Convention Center, because that means it’s time for the premiere Small Press Expo (SPX)! We’re kicking off our month-long lead up to SPX with our Debut Books, because they’re the reason we have these comic conventions in the first place.
American Blood – Ben Marra
Born from the crucible of 1980s trash culture and exploitation entertainment and focused like a laser through the prism of Marra’s brain comes this nasty brew of revenge, power, and passion. It is a reflection of the things that America celebrates and for which it is scorned, and often blurs the lines between the two. This is the definitive assembling of Marra’s most underground work.
Band for Life – Anya Davidson
The story of a noise rock band and their community of friends and acquaintances based in an alternate reality version of Chicago. Band for Life is a work of dark humor, but also infused with genuine affection for its cast; in many ways it is a love letter to creative people compelled to create, with no hope of financial reward.
Black is the Color – Julia Gfrörer
Back in stock! Black is the Color begins with a 17th century sailor abandoned at sea by his shipmates, and as it progresses he endures, and eventually succumbs to, both his lingering death sentence and the advances of a cruel and amorous mermaid. Julia Gfrörer’s delicate drawing style perfectly complements the period era ofBlack Is the Color, bringing the lyricism and romanticism of Gfrörer’s prose to the fore. Black Is the Color is a book as seductive as the sirens it depicts.
Laid Waste – Julia Gfrörer
In a plague-ravaged medieval city, survival is a harsher fate than death. As corpses accumulate around her, Agnès, a young widow possessed of supernatural strength, must weigh her obligations to the dead and dying against her desire to protect what little remains. Laid Waste is a graphic novella about love and kindness among vermin in the putrid miasma at the end of the world.
The Moolah Tree – Ted Stearn
Pluck, an irritable and featherless rooster, and his best pal, the awkwardly unsocialized but lovable teddy bear known as Fuzz, met long ago in a garbage truck. A tenuous if decidedly co-dependent friendship between Fuzz & Pluck followed, sending them on a series of not-so-heroic adventures. But now, we find them on a ramshackle barge, slowly drifting out to sea. How did they get there? How will they escape? The answer lies in the book’s title, but the true fun is in the Picaresque and often Swiftian adbsurdities that our heroes find themselves in along the way.
More Heroes of the Comics – Drew Friedman
Featuring approximately 75 full-color portraits of the pioneering legends of American comic books, including publishers, editors, and artists from the industry’s birth through the brilliant artists and writers who fueled the industry’s first few decades, all lovingly rendered and chosen by Drew Friedman, a cartooning legend in his own right.
My Favorite Thing is Monsters – Emil Ferris
From debut graphic novelist, Emil Ferris: Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) calls is an “eye-popping magnum opus”.
Toward a Hot Jew – Miriam Libicki
In her first collection of graphic essays, Miriam Libicki investigates what it means globally and culturally to be Jewish, dating from her time in the Israeli military to her tenure as an art professor. Toward a Hot Jew is a new high watermark in autobiographical comics and shows Miriam Libicki as a powerful witness to history in the tradition of Martjane Satrapi and Joe Sacco.
Weathercraft – Jim Woodring
Back in stock! Fantagraphics is proud to present a new edition of this timeless classic tale that follows Woodring’s pathetic, brutish everyman (or everyhog), Manhog as he embarks upon a transformative journey to attain enlightenment. Thwarted at almost every turn within the lush landscape of the Unifactor, can Manhog save the world from the evil Whim?
Wuvable Oaf: Blood & Metal – Ed Luce
Still the same wuvable Bay Area bear searching for love in the big city, Blood & Metal collects a number of Oaf short stories focusing on his involvement in the local metal and wrestling scenes. Luce celebrates his love of all things wrestling/metal/queercore with his celebration of his cast of characters that create an immersive environment recalling Scott Pilgrim, Love and Rockets, and Archie. Also featuring tales of Oaf ’s formative childhood years, and much more!