Beasts Volume 2 HC

By Various Artists; edited by Jacob Covey

In the spirit of 2007's acclaimed Beasts! , editor/designer Jacob Covey has assembled an entirely new line-up of over 90 artists who did not appear in the first Beasts! volume. Like the first book, the deluxe collection includes a Who's Who of the contemporary art world, collectively crafting a menagerie of mythological creatures, monsters, beasts and things that go bump in the night, superbly laid out in breathtaking two-page spreads per beast. Featuring all-new work by over 90 artists including Blex Bolex, Brian Chippendale, Craig Thompson, Dan Zettwoch, Dash Shaw, David B., Eleanor Davis, Ellen Forney, Femke Hiemstra, Gene Deitch, Jaime Hernandez, Travis Louie, Thomas Allen, Jon Vermilyea, Kim Deitch, Lilli Carré, Mark Todd, Olivier Schrauwen, Paul Hornschemeier, Peter Bagge, Ray Fenwick, Stephan Blanquet, Taylor McKimens, Tom Neely, Tomer Hanuka, Yuko Shimizu and dozens more.

Humbug HC

By Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, & Arnold Roth
Harvey Kurtzman changed the face of American humor when he created the legendary MAD comic. As editor and chief writer from its inception in 1952, through its transformation into a slick magazine, and until he left MAD in 1956, he influenced an entire generation of cartoonists, comedians, and filmmakers. In 1962, he co-created the long-running Little Annie Fanny with his long-time artistic partner Will Elder for Playboy , which he continued to produce until his virtual retirement in 1988.

Between MAD and Annie Fanny , Kurtzman's biographical summaries will note that he created and edited three other magazines, Trump , Humbug , and Help! , but, whereas his MAD and Annie Fanny are readily available in reprint form, his major satirical work in the interim period is virtually unknown. Humbug , which had poor distribution, may be the least known, but to those who treasure the rare original copies, it equals or even exceeds MAD in displaying Kurtzman's creative genius. Humbug was unique in that it was actually published by the artists who created it: Kurtzman and his cohorts from MAD Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Al Jaffee, were joined by universally acclaimed cartoonist Arnold Roth. With no publisher above them to rein them in, this little band of creators produced some of the most trenchant and engaging satire of American culture ever to appear on American newsstands. At last, the entire run of 11 issues of Humbug is being reprinted in a deluxe format, much of it reproduced from the original art, allowing even owners of the original cheaply-printed issues to experience the full impact for the first time

Grenuord TP

By Miss Lasko-Gross

A troubled teen encounters the pitfalls of adolescence. Miss Lasko-Gross' semiautobiographical follow-up A Mess of Everything picks up where her debut Escape from "Special" left off: nonconformist Melissa is now in high school, coping with an anxiety-induced drug habit and an anorexic best friend. Even when the situation is not life-and-death, Melissa must negotiate the everyday problems that face young adults. By the end of the graphic novel, Melissa faces the choice that we all do at some point: whether to pursue her ambitions or settle for a more secure routine. As Melissa has grown, so has Miss Lasko-Gross' craftsmanship: A Mess of Everything retains the moodiness of her debut, but there's a new clarity to the art and characters' expressions and body language are more nuanced. Coupled with the unsentimental truthfulness that is the hallmark of Lasko-Gross' work, this intense book has appeal for anyone who is now navigating, or whose life has ever been touched by, these issues. .

You'll Never Know TP

By C. Tyler

Premiere and author appearance at 2009 MoCCA Comic Art Festival in NYC - 2007's I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets won an Eisner Award (for Best Archival Collection) and sold over 15,000 copies in four printings - Viral promotion and distribution of multimedia assets (video previews, book page and photo galleries) via online social networks (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.) and the Fantagraphics.com website .

Grenuord TP

By Francesca Pastil

This original full-length graphic novel by Italian comics superstar Francesca ("The Wipeout," "Pastil," "Pop. 666" in Zero Zero ) Ghermandi combines her trademark surreal graphics (executed in stunningly subtle pencil tones this time) with a hardboiled Kiss-Me-Deadly style paranoid thriller. Fleeing his previous life as a factory worker, buffeted by his miserable job, his cruel co-workers, and his overbearing girlfriend, our hapless protagonist, George Henderson, has just arrived in a new city to start over: Grenuord. But Grenuord, rocked by terrorist attacks and therefore in full police-state alert mode, does nothing to assuage George's paranoia—especially as strange occurrences begin to accumulate, including a sinister man who, under the guise of checking George's stove, discovers (and absconds with) a toxic glow-in-the-dark substance from his basement, an abusive neighbor, and a beautiful but elusive hitchhiker with a mysterious past—oh, and did we mention that George is actually dead from page one? Twists and turns abound in this stunningly unique graphic novel.

Mome 13 - Spring 2009 TP

By Various Artists; edited by Jacob Covey

The latest issue of the 2008 Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz Award-nominee features the first chapter (of three) of an all-new graphic novel by superstar Freak Brothers creator Gilbert Shelton! Thomas Ott ( The Number ), Josh Simmons ( House ), David Greenberger ( Duplex Planet ) and rising minicomics star Laura Park all make their MOME debuts. Bottomless Belly Button creator Dash Shaw delivers an all-new story, "Satellite CMYK", and creates this issue's covers. Also featured: Tim Hensley, Kurt Wolfgang, Nate Neal, Sara Edward-Corbett and Derek Van Gieson. .

B. Krigstein Volume 2 TP

By Greg Sadowski

Five years after his Eisner and Harvey Award-winning B. Krigstein Vol. I , Greg Sadowski completes the biography with a comprehensive look at the final 35 years of this comic-book pioneer, illustrator, teacher, and painter. Given full access to the artist's estate, the author displays over 500 examples from Krigstein's considerable output, and frames his narrative with the recollections of colleagues, students, friends, and family. Many of Krigstein's own writings are unearthed, including an unfinished treatise on the art of picture making. A revealing 1978 interview with John Benson is printed for the first time, as is the transcript of a young Art Spiegelman reading his 1969 college paper, An Examination of "Master Race," to the mounting irritation of the cantankerous Krigstein.

B. Krigstein Vol. II begins with the artist's last group of comics, 29 short stories for Atlas editor Stan Lee that Krigstein used to explore the innate flexibility of the comics form. "I was really writing messages and sending them to sea in a bottle, there. Those stories were my attempt at carrying out an object lesson of how comic stories could be broken down." Six of his best Atlas stories have been lovingly recolored for this edition by veteran colorist Marie Severin, and a checklist of Krigstein's complete comic-book work is provided.

The artist's five stormy years in commercial illustration are thoroughly examined, from his early advertising art, LP covers for Columbia Records, book interiors and jackets (notably The Manchurian Candidate and the novels of Joyce Cary), to his final work for American Heritage, Boy's Life, The New York Times , and The Saturday Evening Post . Disillusioned with illustration, Krigstein attempted to return to comics by proposing several full-length adaptations of classic works of literature, including The Red Badge of Courage, Treasure Island , and War and Peace . The rejection of these avant-garde attempts at a graphic novel convinced him to leave the commercial field for good; in 1964 he joined the faculty of New York City's High School of Art & Design. Finally settled into a secure vocation, he opened a Manhattan studio and set about creating a prodigious amount of oils, watercolors, pastels, and drawings until shortly before his death in January 1990. .

Comics As Art (we told you so) TP

By Tom Spurgeon, Jacob Covey

In 1976, a group of young men and women coalesced around a fledgling magazine and the idea that comics could be art.

In 2006, comics intended for an adult readership are reviewed favorably in the New York Times , enjoy panels devoted to them at Book Expo America, and sell in bookstores comparable to prose efforts of similar weight and intent.

Comics As Art: We Told You So tells of Fantagraphics Books' key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored and fading expression of Americana the way insiders share the saga with one another other: in anecdotal form, in the words of the people who lived it and saw it happen. Comics historian and critic Tom Spurgeon ( Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book ) and designer Jacob Covey ( The Complete Dennis the Menace ) assemble an all-star cast of industry figures, critics, cartoonists, art objects, curios and groundbreaking publications to bring you a detailed account of Fantagraphics' first thirty years.

It's the story of fans who looked at the objects of their affection and demanded something more. It's a saga of scratched-together office spaces, mounting debts, public feuds, lawsuits, acrimony, office pranks and last-minute fundraisers. It's a description of how a fanzine becomes a magazine becomes a movement becomes a touchstone. It's a detailed catalog of the look of a cultural awakening. It's a story that includes appearances by Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Harlan Ellison, Jim Shooter, Stan Lee, Dan Clowes, Frank Miller, Peter Bagge, Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Dave Sim, Steve Geppi, Todd McFarlane and every other major figure in the arts or business end of modern comics.

More than a corporate history or a fond look back, Comics As Art: We Told You So makes the warts-and-all case for Fantagraphics Books' position near the heart of the modern reclamation of the comics art form. .