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PG Previews:

August 2012

The summer is hotting up with first-rate new releases on the near horizon. Major new, or newly translated, graphic novels are drawing closer from Zeina Abirached, Gabrielle Bell, Jeff Lemire, Rutu Modan, David Prudhomme, Rich Tommaso and Steven Weissman. On the strip front, offerings span from Peanuts-precursor and simply one of the most poetic evocations of childhood in all of comics, Percy Crosby’s Skippy, through to the biting satire on the music world in Savage Pencil’s Trip or Squeek from The Wire magazine. There’s manga old and new in Tezuka’s Barbara gem and new Anglo-Japanese collaboration Ketsueki. Add to that two different takes on childhood in China, Little Death visiting from Austria, and a quartet of strong new British entries from Blank Slate, firing on four cylinders and not a blank among them. Rumpy-pumpy never goes out of fashion, so one prequel worth your attention is Howard Chaykin’s return to his celebration of sleaze and kinkiness in Black Kiss 2. It’s a comeback with some reason to exist, compared to the dreary rehashes I am saving you from, idea-starved, loveless products of the bored-rooms of America’s comatose copyright-hungry corporations, who want you to purchase nothing more exciting than such great-in-their-day but all-but-forgotten, big-chested Forties characters as Phantom Lady and Thund’a, or from the Sixties British TV’s ‘original Avengers’ alias Steed & Emma Peel, or Archie’s lame super-team The Crusaders, all over again. Avoid, avoid these rehashes please, and instead boldly step into some of these more life-enhancing titles out in two months, more or less. Wonders await you…
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A Chinese Life
by Philippe Ôti&eacute & Li Kunwu
SelfMadeHero
$27.50/£15.99

The publisher says:
A Chinese Life is an astonishing graphic novel set against the backdrop of the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This distinctively drawn work chronicles the rise and reign of Chairman Mao Zedong, and his sweeping, often cataclysmic vision for the most populated country on the planet. Though the storyline is epic, the storytelling is intimate, reflecting the real life of the book’s artist. Li Kunwu spent more than 30 years as a state artist for the Communist Party. He saw firsthand what was happening to his family, his neighbors, and his homeland during this extraordinary time. Working with French diplomat Philippe Ôti&eacute, the artist has created a memoir of self and state, a rich, very human account of a major historical moment with contemporary consequences. Mao said, “The masses are the real heroes,” but A Chinese Life shows those masses as real people.


A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return
by Zeina Abirached
Lerner Publishing Group
$9.95

The publisher says:
When Zeina was born, the civil war in Lebanon had been going on for six years, so it’s just a normal part of life for her and her parents and little brother. The city of Beirut is cut in two by bricks and sandbags, threatened by snipers and shelling. East Beirut is for Christians, and West Beirut is for Muslims. When Zeina’s parents don’t return from a visit to the other half of the city, and the bombing grows ever closer, the neighbors in her apartment house create a world indoors for Zeina and her brother, where they can share cooking lessons and games and gossip. Together they try to make it through a dramatic evening in the one place they hoped they would always be safe - home. Zeina Abirached, born into a Lebanese Christian family in 1981, has collected her childhood memories of Beirut in a warm story about the strength of family and community. Read my Article about her and a new 2-page comic by her here.



Barack Hussein Obama
by Steven Weissman
Fantagraphics
$19.99

The publisher says:
Politicians such as Newt Gingrich, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama are forced to live in the world they made in this satiric graphic novel. What does it mean to live in America today? If you know there’s no right answer to that question, you’ll want to read Barack Hussein Obama - a book about you; about your country, your family, your president. Barack Hussein Obama is not a graphic novel. It’s neither a biography nor an experiment, but a whole, fully realized parallel America, a dada-esque, surrealistic satirical vision that is no more cockeyed than the real thing, its weirdness no more weird, its vision of the world no more terrifying. The zombie-esque simulacra of Joe Biden and Hillary and Newt and Obama wander, if not exactly through the corridors of power, through an America they made and have to live in, like it or not. American cartoonist Steven Weissman takes from the lives of the leaders of the free world, his friends, his family, his sworn enemies, and gives them a new life that is both withering and oblique, devastating and contemplative, chaotic and pellucid. Before you lose your will to vote, read Barack Hussein Obama.



Barbara
by Osamu Tezuka
Digital Manga
$19.95

The publisher says:
Wandering the packed tunnels of Shinjuku Station, famous author Yosuke Mikura makes a strange discovery: a seemingly homeless drunk woman who can quote French poetry. Her name is Barbara. He takes her home for a bath and a drink, and before long Barbara has made herself into Mikura’s shadow, saving him from egotistical delusions and jealous enemies. But just as Mikura is no saint, Barbara is no benevolent guardian angel, and Mikura grows obsessed with discovering her secrets, tangling with thugs, sadists, magical curses and mythical beings - all the while wondering whether he himself is still sane. One volume complete in 440 pages.



Bicycle
by Ugo Gattoni
Nobrow
£15.00

The publisher says:
Inspired by the 2012 London Olympic Games, Ugo Gattoni intricately draws a gigantic cycle race through the streets of England’s capital. The latest in Nobrow’s ultra-popular Leporello series, Gattoni depicts the street race to end all street races with an astonishingly detailed illustration that totals over six feet in length. As the reader’s eyes travel alongside Bicycle‘s speeding cyclists, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary contest. Joining the elite athletes is a whole bunch of people including cycle couriers, commuters, bankers, delivery boys, moms with kids, youths on stolen mountain bikes, fashionistas, and hipsters riding their fixed gear bikes. Featuring an embossed wrap-around jacket, Bicycle has been expertly manufactured in the European Union to the highest standards. Beautifully printed, this specially designed, extra-large concertina title can be read as a book or displayed as an Olympic-sized work of art. In a brilliant alternative take on the biggest sporting event of 2012, Gattoni combines homage with humor in this two-wheeled free-for-all. With cycling only growing in popularity, both as a sport and a lifestyle, this book is an ideal gift for the bike-lover in your life. A recent graduate of one of Paris’ top art schools, Ugo Gattoni wowed the public with an incredible intricate pen drawing measuring approximately thirty-three feet by six feet. This Leporello project for Nobrow Press is his first publication.



Black Kiss II: #1 (of 8)
by Howard Chaykin
Image Comics
$2.99

The publisher says:
Sex, death, and the movies - what else really matters? Nearly twenty five years ago, Howard Chaykin brought the 80s to a close, and comics to the brink, with his landmark erotic thriller, Black Kiss. Now, after years of anticipation, he’s back with issue one of Black Kiss II, a six-part miniseries that tells the story behind that legendary story - like the original, in glorious black and white. And really, now - does it have to be so dirty?


Cherubs!
by Bryan Talbot & Mark Stafford
Dark Horse Comics
$19.99

The publisher says:
Falsely accused of heaven’s first homicide, five churlish cherubim escape to New York in pursuit of the renegade archangel Abbadon on the eve of the Apocalypse! Befriended by exotic-dancer Mary and chased by unstoppable Seraphim terminators, the Cherubs alone stand against hell’s hordes as Satan prepares to make war, not love! Bryan Talbot is an award-winning graphic-novel pioneer and innovator. Mark Stafford is one of the UK’s hottest indie artists. Features Cherubs!: Hell on Earth, a previously unpublished four-issue series. 192-page, black-and-white hardcover.



Comics About Cartoonists
edited by Craig Yoe
IDW
$29.99

The publisher says:
What’s cooler than comics about cartoonist? Nothing! This is mind-blowing, full-color hardback book collects rare comics about real and fictional cartoonists - created by the greatest cartoonists in the world! Read comics about cartoonists by the top illustrators and creators in the field: Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Jack Cole, Dick Briefer, Winsor McCay, Chester Gould, Sheldon Mayer, Milton Caniff, Ernie Bushmiller, Basil Wolverton, Siegel and Shuster, Will Eisner, Elzie Segar, and Harvey Kurtzman! Plus, more by Charles Schulz, George Herriman, and a 1940s comic about Walt Disney! It’s a veritable “Who’s Who” of great cartoonists, drawing superhero, horror, funny animal, funny people, war and romance comics… about cartoonists!



Comics Sketchbooks
by Steven Heller
Thames & Hudson
$44.95

The publisher says:
From political cartoons to offbeat graphic stories, from the “funnies” to underground comics: a contemporary look at comic art from around the world in a volume packed with vibrant visuals, deft texts, and arresting human observation. From cartoons to graphic novels, from humor to superheroes, comics are the world’s most popular form of illustration. And, as in all forms of illustration, artists and designers experiment with visual ideas, image-and-word play, narrative sequencing, and stylistic flourishes through sketching. What we rarely see is the creative thinking - the doodling - that leads to fully formed visual ideas and stories. Comics Sketchbooks presents the private notebooks of eighty-two of the world’s most inventive, innovative, and successful artists alongside new talents and emerging illustrators. The artists have been selected by the world’s leading critic and most knowledgeable source in the field of graphic design and illustration, Steven Heller, who has had personal access to some of the most private and unseen material. Although there have been several comic-book compilations over the years, none has the visual excitement, insight, and mind-blowing creativity - and fun - of this one. 750 illustrations in color and black and white.



Death & The Girls
by Donya Todd
Blank Slate
$8.99

The publisher says:
Donya Todd bursts onto the UK comics scene with this tale of debauchery, insanity and sexual escapades. Meet the Nubian sisters: Betsy, Bunny and Batstone. A hangover is the least of their problems after a tequila-fuelled night in the Mexican desert leads to Betsy having a threesome with an anthromorphic washing machine and Death himself. Riding ponies, hotwired donkeys and magic bikes across an hallucinogenic landscape, the girls find themselves face-to-face with a cast of freaky friends and foes, leaving a trail of destruction and exhausted lovers in their wake.



Hunch Parsons
by Warwick Johnson Cadwell
Blank Slate
$7.99

The publisher says:
It’s just another day at the Crash City Police Department when the radios begin going wild. Something big’s going down. All across the city, known bounty hunters are turning up dead: victims of an unseen assassin that have the police chiefs dumbfounded. Enter Hunch Parsons: the force’s foremost Lucha Libre mask-wearing, twin pistol-slinging supercop. Hunch arrives on the scene to kick ass first, take names later and hunt down the scumbags behind the escalating violence in the interim. Hunch Parsons is a loving wink to crime fiction of all varieties.



Ketsueki
by Richmond Clements & Inko
AAM Markosia
$15.99

The publisher says:
The Witch Queen Rorien and her demon hordes, led by the cruel Batsu, are overrunning the land, destroying everything in their path. The demons have besieged the Shogun’s castle. Hope lies with the Lady Tsuji, the Shogun’s champion - his daughter. She is a Sorceress, a warrior and wielder of the legendary sword, the Demon Killer - Ketsueki.

 



Little Death
by Thomas Kriebaum
Soaring Penguin
$14.99

The publisher says:
There’s a knock at the door. You fear the worst. It’s Little Death. But is he here for you - or your cat? Thomas Kriebaum’s little man in the black suit is the ultimate travelling salesman: all deals are final. His dissatisfaction with his vocation is the source of our amusement! See
some samples here.



Little White Duck: A Childhood in China
by Na Liu & Andrés Vera Marténez
Lerner Publishing Group
$9.95

The publisher says:
The world is changing for two girls in China in the 1970s. Da Qin - Big Piano - and her younger sister, Xiao Qin - Little Piano- live in the city of Wuhan with their parents. For decades, China’s government had kept the country separated from the rest of the world. When their country’s leader, Chairman Mao, dies, new opportunities begin to emerge. Da Qin and Xiao Qin soon learn that their childhood will be much different than the upbringing their parents experienced. Eight short stories - based on the author’s own life - give readers a unique look at what it was like to grow up in China during this important time in history. Andrés Vera Marténez was born in a small west Texas town called Lamesa, and grew up in Austin. He received a bachelor’s degree in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then a master’s degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts. Andrés has illustrated over twenty pieces for the The New York Times Op-ed Section. His first cartooning work was illustrating a children’s graphic novel, Babe Ruth: Before They Were Famous, for Simon & Schuster. He received a grant from the Brooklyn Historical Society to adapt a 17th century Dutch journal about Brooklyn into a comic book, which is titled Breuckelen 1679. His second graphic novel, Little White Duck: A Childhood in China, was co-written with his wife, Na Liu. The book is about her childhood experience in mainland China from the late ‘70s to early ‘80s. Andrés has received awards and recognition for his work from The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, and 3x3 Magazine.

 


Maya Makes A Mess
by Rutu Modan
Toon Books
$12.95

The publisher says:
In the midst of a family dinner with her scolding parents, Maya receives a very unexpected invitation to dine with the queen. Suddenly, her messy manners are put to the ultimate test and she begins to improvise her very own set of rules, with uproarious results. Filled with humor and exquisitely imagined detail, this book by Eisner Award-winner Rutu Modan is bound to turn every child into a voracious reader.

 


Once Upon A Time Machine
by various
Dark Horse Comics
$24.99

The publisher says:
Fairy tales have fueled our dreams and fired our imaginations for centuries. Step inside a time machine built by a collection of today’s finest storytellers, and enter a range of futures where familiar tales are reimagined in an astonishing variety of styles. Editors Andrew Carl and Chris Stevens bring you the next wave of leading writers and illustrators working alongside superstar creators like Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War), Ryan Ottley (Invincible), Khoi Pham (Daredevil), and Brandon Graham (King City) to deliver a reading experience that will delight generations young and old. Ageless stories become tales for a new age! Writers include: Lee Nordling, Jason Rodriguez, Tara Alexander. Artists include: Khoi Pham, Charles Fetherolf, Nelson Evergreen. Cover Artist: Farel Dalrymple. Full-colour, 432 pages.



Only Skin
by Sean Ford
Secret Acres
$21.95

The publisher says:
Only Skin is a grim exploration of the hallucinatory and tragic landscape of modern rural America, as seen through the eyes of a pair of orphaned siblings, searching for answers in a world filled with terrible, terrible questions. Sean Ford explains: “The first story arc of Only Skin will be collected by Secret Acres in 2012. The series will continue with new stories, featuring some new characters and maybe some old characters. I went to NYU for Studio Art and worked at DC Comics, then decided to leave New York for a while, so I went to Vermont and the Center for Cartoon Studies. Then I came back to work in New York again. Now I live in Fort Greene and work for a publisher designing books. And I make comics.”



Playing Out
by Jim Medway
Blank Slate
£6.99

The publisher says:
It’s the summer holidays in Manchester, and Kieran, Jamal and Connor are doing what any self-respecting kids do on a Saturday: killing time by walking around the city centre. Disgruntled shopkeepers distrust them on principle, off-duty teachers blow their minds by - shock! horror! - having a life outside of school, and local goths become the subject both of their ridicule and secret awe. A kid’s-eye perspective of life, Playing Out is for all who fondly remember weekends spent marauding with no money and precious few responsibilities.



Rebetiko
by David Prudhomme
SelfMadeHero
£14.99

The publisher says:
Athens, 1936. General Metaxas is cracking down on rebetis and their way of life. A small group of friends - Rebetiko musicians - wind their way through the Athenian backstreets, ouzeris and market squares dodging the police while settling disputes over hashish and women. With music at its heart, the narrative builds to a joyous party at its climax in this multi-award-winning graphic novel.



Savage Pencil Presents Trip Or Squeek
by Savage Pencil
Strange Attractor
£11.99

The publisher says:
The collected Trip or Squeek comics compiles for the first time over 100 strips, as featured for the past ten years in the respected music magazine The Wire. Savage Pencil (aka Edwin Pouncey) presents his acerbic, lysergic, razor-sharp observations on music, art and life. Trip or Squeek continues a tradition of satirical illustration dating back to at least the 18th century, albeit one that has been dosed up via the 1960s freak scene, and the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft. Musical guests appearing in the book include Mark E. Smith, Crass, Lou Reed, Kraftwerk and many more. Trip Or Squeek has been running in The Wire since 2002, and the book will include over 100 strips, plus an interview with Savage Pencil by The Wire’ Tony Herrington.

Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press says:
The book is presented in landscape format, Andy Capp style, with a single strip - and where relevant, accompanying notes - on each spread. It will have a hand-drawn foreword by New York artist Gary Panter. On a personal level, Edwin’s art and writing have been a continuous part of my cultural life since the late 1980s, when I was reading Sounds and buying 7-inch Shock Records featuring his cover art, and his Angel Dust biker music compilation on Blast First.



Skippy Volume 1: Complete Dailies 1925-1927
by Percy Crosby
IDW
$49.99

The publisher says:
“Percy Crosby caught lightning in a bottle and learned how to draw with it,” wrote Jules Feiffer in a 1978 appreciation. Milton Caniff marveled, “Boy, there’s nothing faster than watching Skippy run the way Crosby drew him.” Crosby was heralded as “the greatest apostle of motion in the field of art” by Edward Alden Jewell, art critic of the New York Times. His artwork has hung in the Louvre in Paris, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, and the Tate Gallery in London, among other venues, but it’s his work as a cartoonist, as the creator of Skippy - the philosopher man-child - for which he’s best known. Skippy debuted as a daily newspaper strip in 1925 and as a Sunday the following year. and soon became a sensation, published in 28 countries and 14 languages. Crosby continued writing and drawing the feature until 1945. Today we see Skippy as the spiritual ancestor to Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, among many other kid strips. Percy Crosby influenced cartoonists from Charles Schulz to Walt Kelly to Garry Trudeau. This series, produced in cooperation with Skippy Inc. and the Crosby estate, reprints the complete legendary series for the first time. Our premiere volume includes every daily strip from the beginning - June 22, 1925 through the end of 1927 - s well as the start of an extensive, ongoing biography of Percy Crosby by Jared Gardner, and is illustrated with a great many photographs and rare artwork from the collection of the cartoonist’s daughter, Joan Crosby Tibbetts. Hardcover with dustjacket and index.



The Cavalier Mr. Thompson
by Rich Tommaso
Fantagraphics
$16.99

The publisher says:
Historical fiction about a Texan who wants to be a detective: Jim Thompson’s work inspired this graphic novel. In this, his first crime graphic novel in 15 years, veteran cartoonist Rich Tommaso brings you a story that’s one part crime and one part American History. Set in a small oil town of in the ‘20s in Big Spring, Texas, this book follows the trials and tribulations of aspiring detective Sam Hill… and family. Loosely based on the works of real-life crime writer Jim Thompson, we begin at his old stomping grounds of West Texas, featuring a cast of characters made up of greedy oil barons, crooked lawmen, city-slick con men, broken-down detectives, drunken reprobates, and obsessive gamblers - very much in the flavor of Thompson’s crime novels. Yet, at the same time, The Cavalier Mr. Thompson is very much Tommaso’s own story. The story’s plot, the cast of characters, their family histories (heavily based on Tommaso’s history with his father), their motivations, likenesses, personalities - are specifically all of his own creation. 144 pages



The Shadow’s Treasure
by Alejandro Jodorowsky & François Boucq
Humanoids Inc
$69.95

The publisher says:
Before the creative duo of Alexandro Jodorowsky and François Boucq would bring us their gritty Western series Bouncer, they collaborated and playfully challenged each other in this stunning publication of simple and seductive beauty where the thoughts of one guide the hand of the other. Published in English for the first time.



The Suitcase
by Dan Berry
Blank Slate
£6.99

The publisher says:
Dan Berry uncovers the lurking insanity beneath suburban life in this gloriously twisted story following the travels of an inconspicuous suitcase across town. When an elderly woman tasked with looking after her neighbours’ pets returns to find the family dog dead, she has no idea how to transport the body to the vets. The only solution she can think of is to pack the dog inside a suitcase and take a bus. United in a chaotic whole, The Suitcase‘s stories of domestic madness demonstrate rising star Dan Berry’s talent for cartooning and comedy.



The Underwater Welder
by Jeff Lemire
Top Shelf Productions
$19.95

The publisher says:
Pressure. As an underwater welder on an oilrig off the coast of Nova Scotia, Jack Joseph is used to the immense pressures of deep-sea work. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the pressures of impending fatherhood. As Jack dives deeper and deeper, he seems to pull further and further away from his young wife and their unborn son. But then, something happens deep on the ocean floor. Jack has a strange and mind-bending encounter that will change the course of his life forever! Equal parts blue-collar character study and mind-bending science fiction epic, The Underwater Welder explores fathers and sons, birth and death, memory and truth, and the treasures we all bury deep down inside.



The Voyeurs
by Gabrielle Bell
Uncivilized Books
$24.95

The publisher says:
The Voyeurs is a real-time memoir of a turbulent five years in the life of renowned cartoonist, diarist, and filmmaker Gabrielle Bell. It collects episodes from her award-winning series Lucky, in which she travels to Tokyo, Paris, the South of France, and all over the United States, but remains anchored by her beloved Brooklyn, where sidekick Tony provides ongoing insight, offbeat humor, and enduring friendship. Gabrielle Bell’s work has been selected for the 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Houghton-Mifflin Best American Comics and the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, and has been featured in McSweeney’s, The Believer, and Vice magazines. Cecil and Jordan In New York, the title story of her most recent book, was adapted for the screen by Bell and director Michel Gondry in the film anthology Tokyo! She lives in Brooklyn, New York. 160-page, full-colour hardback. Find out more here.

Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library, says:
The Voyeurs is the work of a mature writer, if not one of the most sincere voices of her literary generation. It’s a fun, honest read that spans continents, relationships and life decisions. I loved it.

Alison Bechdel, Fun Home, says:
As she watches other people living life, and watches herself watching them, Bell’s pen becomes a kind of laser, first illuminating the surface distractions of the world, then scorching them away to reveal a deeper reality that is almost too painful and too beautiful to bear.”

Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, says:
A master of the exquisite detail, Bell provides a welcome peephole into our lives.

Posted: June 10, 2012

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Comics Unmasked by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning from The British Library



Comics Art by Paul Gravett from Tate Publishing

1001 Comics  You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett