It’s come the time that Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid selects his favorite comix of the year. If this list seems somehow less cohesive than in the past, it’s testament to the creative and cultural diversity in current contemporary comix. That’s a good thing. These wonderful books, and many more amazing new titles that I absentmindedly overlooked here, can be found at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street in the heart of Seattle’s historic Georgetown arts community. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206-557-4910. 20. Book of Weirdo. This oral history…
Re/Read: Four Color Fear
Re/Read in a recurring column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid that examines backlist titles you may have missed or are worthy of another look. This time we’ll feature Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s. The sensational success of EC horror comics in midcentury America gave rise to a multitude of imitators. Four Color Fear collects the most compelling of these much-maligned comics. The book includes acknowledged masters of the medium, including Jack Cole, Basil Wolverton, Al Williamson, Wallace Wood, Reed Crandall, and Joe Kubert, but it’s the back bench artists and anonymous writers that make this anthology…