Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

It’s a slow week, this week; if I had $15, I’d use it to catch up on some recent enjoyments like Action Comics #3 (DC, $3.99) and OMAC #3 (DC, $2.99), two of my favorite titles from the New 52 relaunch–OMAC in particular has been a really weird and wonderful joy–as well as the final issue of Marvel’s great and sadly underrated Mystic revival (#4, $2.99). I’d also see if the parody-tastic Shame Itself #1 (Marvel, $3.99) lives up to its potential, because “Wyatt Cenac + Colleen Coover” sounds pretty promising to these ears.

That said, if I had $30, I’d put Shame Itself back on the shelf and pick up Tharg’s Terror Tales: Necronauts & A Love Like Blood (Rebellion, $19.99) instead, a collection of two 2000AD horror serials illustrated by Frazer Irving (One of which is written by John Smith, a favorite writer of mine from the days when I was reading 2000AD regularly). It’s early work from the artist, but what little I’ve seen of both makes it look well worth buying.

When it comes to splurging, I have to admit that the Joe The Barbarian Deluxe Hardcover (DC, $29.99), but I think if I had extra money, I’d just pick up some more individual issues: BOOM!’s Peanuts #0 ($1) and Betrayal of The Planet of The Apes #1 ($3.99) and Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men #1 ($3.99) and Villains For Hire #0.1($2.99), amongst others.

Brigid Alverson

No Longer Human

If I had $15: For the second week in a row, Vertical gets first dibs on my money; last week it was Drops of God, and this time I’m lured by the first volume of Usamaru Furuya’s No Longer Human. This book is a personal favorite of Vertical marketing director (and former blogger) Ed Chavez, and Ed’s picks are always stunning. Based on a semi-autobiographical novel, No Longer Human is the story of a young man who cannot shake his own alienation from the rest of the world. It’s supposedly a great work but also depressing, so to shake off the blues, I’ll spend my last $3.99 on issue #2 of Roger Langridge’s Snarked. His charming rascals-and-the-princess story is sure to bring a smile back to my face.

If I had $30: I’d go for a little more silliness with James Kochalka’s Dragon Puncher #2 ($9.95), the followup to his eminently silly Dragon Puncher #1. Kochalka does silly with an edge of surreal that makes it absolutely delightful. I’ll cut that up with American Vampire #20 ($2.99), and wind up with the first issue of the Peanuts ongoing comic, which is priced at a recession-friendly $1.

Splurge: There are a lot of temptations on this week’s list, but I’m leaning heavily toward Abrams, which has some interesting collections out this week. Government Issue: Comics for the People 1940-2000s is a collection of government-issued comics by the great (Will Eisner, Walt Kelly) and the obscure. It looks like a steal at $29.95. Somewhat pricier at $55 is The Someday Funnies, a collection of the Rolling Stone’s comics section that features a different set of iconic creators–Art Spiegelman, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman. Also a must have for me. And finally, I’ll stagger over to the Dark Horse section and grab the original graphic novel Hellboy: House of the Living Dead ($14.95), which sends our eponymous hero south of the border for a fight with a Frankenstein monster–a perfect post-Halloween treat.

Chris Mautner

Ganges

If I had $15: I managed to pick up a copy ahead of time, but Ganges #4 seems to me to be the obvious choice for the $15 and under crowd, continuing everyman Glenn Ganges’ attempts to get some shuteye. This time he attempts to find a really dull book and the results are hugely entertaining.

I’d also at least peruse through John Marz’s Heaven All Day, about a lonely factory worker and an abandoned robot whose lives intertwine, which looks interesting.

If I had $30: I’d get Usumaru Furuya’s No Longer Human, for all the reasons Brigid mentioned. I’m really happy to see Furuya get some love on these shores, as I’ve admired his work since the Secret Comics Japan anthology came out from Blast Books all those years ago.

Splurge: That Joe the Barbarian anthology is certainly on my Amazon wish list, and that Abrams anthology of government-issue comics looks intriguing as well, but my splurge money this week would have to be spent on Color Engineering, Yuichi Yokoyama’s neon-pop colored collection of short comic adventures, and Someday Funnies, a mind-boggling anthology, literally decades in the making, featuring contributions from just about every major cartoonist of the 1970s, like Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby, Moebius, Rene Goscinny, and on and on and on and on. This could well be the great lost treasure of the ages. Or not. I can’t wait to find out, though.

Michael May

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #1

If I had $15, I’d go back for a couple of series I’m enjoying and try three new ones. Action Comics continues to exceed my expectations (especially in comparison to the gloominess of Superman), so #3 ($3.99) is an easy decision in spite of the price. I’m also enjoying Avengers 1959, a series that Howard Chaykin is especially perfect for, to I’ll grab the third issue ($2.99) of that as well. I guess I missed the first issue of Fear Itself: The Fearless so I’ll need to find some money for that, but #2 ($2.99) is definitely going home with me this week. I didn’t read Fear Itself, but I’m fond enough of some of the characters in The Fearless that I’m going to want to at least check this out. Finally a couple of new titles from BOOM! have caught my eye. I love their Planet of the Apes ongoing, so I’m eager to see if they can nail it again with Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #1 ($3.99). And having just watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on Monday, I’m also excited about Peanuts #0 ($1). A big part of me just wants to read the Fantagraphics collection again, but for a buck I’m happy to see what cartoonists Ron Zorman and Vicki Scott have in mind.

With $30, I’d add another new BOOM! series (they’ve got a lot of cool stuff this week), 7 Warriors #1 ($3.99) because I love comics about ass-kicking women. IDW’s Jack Avarice is the Courier #1 ($3.99) kicks off what sounds like a fun, weekly comic for the month of November, so that’s mine too. Then I’d top off the pile with a couple of X-Men books because X-Men: Regenesis reminded me that I’ve been wanting to learn more about the Dani Moonstar character. She’s in New Mutants #33 ($3.99) and–according to Regenesis–will also be on Cyclops’ team in Uncanny X-Men #1 ($3.99).

There’s a lot to splurge on this week. Dragon Puncher, Volume 2 ($9.95) sounds fun (and inexpensive). 30 Days of Night: Night Again ($17.99) pairs Joe Lansdale with Sam Keith on a horror comic and that’s a combination I’d want to read with or without a recognizable brand in the title. Nordguard, Volume 1 ($19.95) is about a team of anthropomorphic sled dogs, and that also sounds cool. My top pick though is influenced by my recent mainlining of the last three BPRD books. I’m all about the Mignolaverse right now, so the Hellboy vs Frankenstein’s Monster story in Hellboy: House of the Living Dead ($14.99) is what I’m craving.

Chris Arrant

Fear Agent #32

If I had $15, I’d spend the first little bit on the bittersweet finale of Fear Agent, #32 (Dark Horse, $3.50). This long-running series was made longer by the delays in the final arc as the creators were pulled away for work at Marvel, so I’m glad this Wednesday to finally get it all. I’m just as excited to find out the ending as I am to have a complete collection to re-read over the weekend. Next up would be another creator-owned book, Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley’s Invincible #84 (Image, $2.99); I’m still not sure about the Viltrumite-living-on-Earth vibe (I never liked Alien Nation), but I’m willing to give this duo the benefit of the doubt for a while longer. Finally would be a double-shot of DC’s New 52, Action Comics #3 (DC, $3.99) and Animal Man #3 (DC, $2.99).

If I had $30, I’d snag a third DC book–Swamp Thing #3 (DC, $2.99)–before buying the auspicious new #1 of Uncanny X-Men (Marvel, $3.99). Count me in the camp as one who things the renumbering is ill-advised, and factor than in with the nonplussed nature of Greg Land’s current work and yet I’m still buying this just to see what Kieron does with it. His finale of Uncanny X-Men caught me off-guard with how good it was, so he’s got my money here. Last up would be Kevin Huzienga’s Gagnes #4 (Fantagraphics, $7.95). I’ve been waiting for this one awhile, and glad to see it. $7.95 might seem like a lot for a 32 page book, but Huzienga’s craft really makes it worth it. It’d also be an ideal palette cleanser in case I read some unexpectedly bad books.

If I had the cash to splurge, I’d go for DC’s Joe The Barbarian Deluxe Edition(DC/Vertigo, $29.99). Yes I have it in singles, but I’m the type that’d re-buy things like this in a more lasting edition because it looks good and so I have an excuse to give away my singles to someone who might dig the series.

JK Parkin

Six Guns #1

If I had $15, Ganges #4 ($7.95) would be at the top of my stack. I think the third issue of Kevin Huizenga’s series was either at the top of my list of favorite comics of last year, or at least very near the top, so this is one of my most anticipated releases not just for this week, but probably this year. I’d also get Andy Diggle and Davide Gianfelice Six Guns #1 (Marvel, $2.99); the Daredevil: Reborn team reimagines several of marvel’s Western heroes in a modern setting, and based on their track record I’m looking forward to it. I’d round it out with Animal Man #3 (DC Comics, $2.99).

If I had $30,. I’d add a bunch of my regular ongoing favorites: Swamp Thing #3 ($2.99), Boys #60 ($3.99) and New Mutants #33 ($2.99), and would then add the Our Love Is Real one-shot ($3.99) if I didn’t already have it in digital form. But what the hell, we’re assuming I live in a hypothetical world where I can only spend $30 on comics anyway, so let’s pretend I didn’t have the money to download it previously. Can we also pretend I’m a viking?

Splurgewise, my peers have mentioned a lot of nice stuff, so I’ll just point out the second volume of Super Pro K.O. ($11.99), the follow-up to what proved to be a fun first volume by Jarrett Williams.

If you were to list the five most important cartoonists in the history of comics, the chances are good Robert Crumb would be on the list. If you were to list the five most important editor/publishers in the history of comics, the chances are good Gary Groth of Fantagraphics would be on that list. For a lot of people, they’d each be at the top. So if you are a comics reader and you can think of a better way to spend your afternoon than reading a 13,000 word interview with Crumb by Groth for The Comics Journal, then please, become my personal planner, because your life must be freaking awesome.

The thing is damn near solid gold, but a highlight reel might run as follows:

• The opening letter from Crumb, explaining his decision not to attend a Sydney, Australia arts festival following what appears to have been a really naked act of anti-Crumb yellow journalism by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Telegraph

• Groth and Crumb playing an all-pessimism version of “can you top this?” when it comes to their outlook on the political future of the civilized world

• Crumb revealing that he and his son Jesse are no longer on speaking terms, and his feelings on his daughter Sophie’s drug use

• Crumb on how pot and LSD made him a lousier artist in the early ’70s

• Guest questions from cartoonists Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Tony Millionaire, Megan Kelso, Drew Friedman, Gilbert Shelton, Jim Woodring, Lewis Trondheim, Kim Dietch, Bill Griffith, Arnold Roth, and Crumb’s longtime nemesis Trina Robbins

• A relatively lengthy debate over whether President Barack Obama has rolled over to corporate interests (Groth’s position) or legitimately fought against them and simply been bested by their power (Crumb’s take)

• Crumb characterizing his late-’60s turn toward raunchy and offensive content as a deliberate attempt to make himself less popular

• Why Crumb’s sexy women seldom find themselves in “serious” stories as opposed to satirical or scatological ones

• Pens vs. brushes

• Early vs. late Janis Joplin

• Whether spending all that time drawing The Book of Genesis was worth it

• The reason he’s not drawing nearly as much as he used to

Depressing, elating, and hilarious in equal measure, it’s your must-read of the day.

Youngblood

Creators | With the announcement that Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back in business, former Extreme Studios employee and current Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson reflects on his time with the studio. “From 1992-1998, Extreme Studios was more or less my life. Youngblood, Supreme, Brigade, Bloodstrike, Team Youngblood, New Men, Prophet, Youngblood: Strikefile, Bloodpool, Glory… We put out a lot of comics, and for the most part everyone involved was incredibly young. Rob and I were amongst the oldest at 25. So many of the artists involved in various aspects of production were just out of their teens, and that made the work as frustrating as it was fun. But looking back, the main thing I remember about that time is Rob wanted to share his success with people who loved comics and wanted to make a living in the business as much as he had.” [It Sparkles!]

Webcomics | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who began serializing the comic online in 2009, notes “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” She also shares advice she received when she started the endeavor that hasn’t worked for her. [A Distant Soil]

Tom Morello

Creators | Orchid writer and musician Tom Morello shares his thoughts on his new book, politics and social issues in comics, and the story in Action Comics #900 that featured Superman renouncing his citizenship, among other topics. [Vulture]

Creators | Speaking of politics in comics, Marzena Sowa talks to Hero Complex about her upcoming Vertigo graphic novel Marzi: “When I started to write Marzi, the first stories concerned my daily life in Poland: I wrote about my family, my neighbors. Then, progressively, political questions started to appear and I realized that the politics had so much space in my childhood life I hadn’t even imagined. Marzi is getting bigger, and her curiosity and will to understand the world is getting bigger too. She feels concerned by the world and she tries to understand it — understand why it doesn’t work correctly. At a certain point she starts to speak, she is not only a mute witness of what is happening in her country. She starts also to claim her own freedom; but for instance she is maybe too small to be heard by her parents, but she won’t give it up.” [Hero Complex]

Creators | The New York Times profiles the husband-and-wife cartooning duo Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. [The New York Times]

Creators | Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau discuss their work on Dynamite’s Bionic Man comic book. [TFAW]

Creators | Mark Waid talks about his work on Marvel’s recent revival of the CrossGen title Ruse. [Mulholland Books]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes talks about re-release of “The Death Ray” and his “drift toward more sympathetic figures” in his work: “I decided at a certain point that one of my goals is to find a way to connect with the characters no matter how awful they may seem or how hard they are to be around, to try to look at their humanity and find a way to love them by the end.” [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Jonathan Liu catches up with Anya’s Ghost creator Vera Brosgol after sitting on a panel with her at Portland, Oregon’s Wordstock. [Wired]

Creators | Underground comics legend Robert Crumb shares his other “passion” — early 20th-century popular music. [BlogCritics]

Creators | Robin Furth discusses adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the comics medium, collaborating with Peter David, and Stephen King’s thoughts and involvement. [Biff Bam Pop! - part 1, part 2]

Comics | Saladin Ahmed looks at four of comics legend Jack Kirby’s “most ethnically adventurous creations” — The Thing, the Howling Commandos, Black Panther and The Black Racer. [tor.com]

Black Hood

Comics | The Beast Must Die at the Mindless Ones blog looks back at Mark Wheatley and Rick Burchett’s covers for Black Hood, from DC’s early 1990s !mpact line [Mindless Ones]

Commentary | Robot 6′s own Sean T. Collins reviews Brian Ralph’s Daybreak. [The Comics Journal]

Fandom | Looking for a Halloween costume? Found Item Clothing details 34 pop culture costumes you can make on your own, including Wonder Woman and Charlie Brown. [Found Item Clothing]

Robots | The Calgary Sun spotlights Phil Allen, who created a giant robot he hopes to sell to help pay for his wife’s liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis. “Science fiction has been talking about robots for 70 years and now I know why there aren’t any … It’s a huge undertaking when you decide to build one.” [Calgary Sun]

Robert Crumb

Creators | Robert Crumb pens a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald, explaining why he pulled out of the Graphic 2011 festival: “I was quite alarmed when I read the article in the Sunday Telegraph. I showed it to my wife, Aline, who said, ‘That’s it, you’re not going.’ She got a very bad feeling from the article. She feared I might be attacked physically by some angry, outraged person who simply saw red at the mention of child molesters. She remarked she’d never seen any article about me as nasty as this one.” Sunday Telegraph staff writer Claire Harvey, meanwhile, responds to Crumb’s comments and criticisms lobbed at the newspaper: “Crumb seems to be living in fear of the reaction he once sought to provoke. It seems a sad place for any artist to be.” [The Sydney Morning Herald]

Passings | Kim Thompson eulogizes Argentina cartoonist Francisco Solano López, who passed away on Friday. [The Comics Journal]

Conventions | Reporting from this weekend’s Wizard World Chicago, the Chicago Tribune talks to former comic shop owner Gary Colabuono, who displayed rare ashcan editions of comics from the 1930s and 1940s featuring Superman, Superwoman, Superboy and Supergirl at the show. Blogger Matthew J. Brady has pictures of the ashcans, as well as a report from the show. [Chicago Tribune]

Comics | The Portland Press Herald profiles Renae de Liz, who’s coordinating the Womanthology charity anthology. Dan Nadel, meanwhile, calls the project “the most expensive comics anthology I’ve ever heard of.” [Portland Press Herald]

Creators | Brian Truitt talks to Michael Coulthard, a.k.a. Shaky Kane, about the November re-release of his “graphic road movie,” Monster Truck, by Image Comics. [USA Today]

Watchmen

Comics | NPR revealed the results from their Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey, which saw 60,000 people vote. Watchmen and Sandman made the list, coming in at No. 15 and No. 29 respectively, while several of Neil Gaiman’s prose books also made the list. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien topped the list. [NPR]

Comics | John Parker looks back at Peter David’s long run on The Incredible Hulk. [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | Paul Gravett posts an appreciation of Marjane Satrapi, whose first book, Persepolis, was inspired in part by Art Spiegelman’s Maus: “I realised that comics is not a genre, it is just a way of telling a story where I could feel exactly what was going on. Drawing is much closer to a human being than a photo, because you create the world in your own image, it’s very personal, it’s an international language. Before humans started talking, first they started drawing.”. [Paul Gravett]

Manga | Manga bloggers are celebrating Fumi Yoshinaga in this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, a sort of bloggers’ round robin, and David Welsh kicks things off with a review of a yaoi manga that avoids most of the pitfalls of the genre, Yoshnaga’s Ichigenme: The First Course Is Civil Law. [The Manga Curmudgeon]

Publishing | Bikya Masr profiles Marwan Imam and Division Publishing, “the Middle East’s first true comic book publisher.” [Bikya Masr]

Reviews | J.L. Bell reviews Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes, 1936-1941, which takes a look at the dead branches on the evolutionary tree of comics, superheroes who for one reason or another didn’t make it. [Oz and Ends]

Analysis | Daniel BT looks at cases where artists have reused the same scene in different panels, not cut-and-pasted but completely redrawn. [Sunday Comics Debt]

Events | Montpelier, Vermont’s City Hall will host a 24-Hour Comics Day event Oct. 1. [Times Argus]

Conventions | Perhaps as a result of the March earthquake, attendance at this year’s summer Comic Market (Comiket) was down by 20,000 compared to last year. [Anime News Network]

Fandom | “Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of …  hey, get off my lawn!” [Eye on Comics]

Robert Crumb

Creators | Robert Crumb has decided not to attend Graphic 2011, an arts festival scheduled for Aug. 20-21 at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Crumb told The Australian he withdrew from his headline appearance because of an article in the Australian newspaper The Telegraph that called him “a self-confessed sex pervert.”

“It’s a very, very disappointing situation,” Graphic co-curator Jordan Verzar wrote on the show’s Facebook page. “There were a legion of people eagerly anticipating his visit and the Graphic team and Sydney Opera House had been working for months to pull together the shows he was involved with and to supply an enjoyable first visit to Australia for him. I sincerely doubt that he will ever make it to Australia now. It’s a very sad day, but I’m still excited and looking forward to the rest of the great shows happening at Graphic next weekend.” [The Australian]

Retailers | Birmingham, England comics shop Nostalgia and Comics was damaged during the riots of the past few days; no one was injured, but the windows were broken. [The Forbidden Planet blog]

Comic strips | For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston has posted her entire foreword for Fantagraphics’ The Complete Peanuts (1981-1982) on her site. [For Better or For Worse, via Flog]

Creators | Batman annotator David Uzumeri interviews Grant Morrison about, well, Batman, as well as Action Comics, Multiversity and more. [ComicsAlliance]

"Saga," from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Creators | Nathan Wilson interviews Fiona Staples, one of the creators who was name-checked a lot during last week’s women-in-DC-comics discussions. Don’t get your hopes up, though: Staples would rather be drawing horror comics. “You’re limited by a lot of things when dealing with superheroes. There are constraints from the fans, the publishers, and the companies who own the characters. There are the decades of history that bind the characters. It’s possible to be innovative with them, but it’s a struggle.” [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Creators | In a pair of interviews, J.H. Williams III discusses his career and the long-anticipated debut of Batwoman: “I’ve always handled female characters, dating back to my time as co-creator on Chase, then Promethea, and then Desolation Jones, to show how strong they are.  I’m not interested in drawing sexy vixens, but rather realistic women.  I find this much more attractive and beautiful.  This allows them to be fully formed characters, and not just fantasy objects.  It allows you to get involved with them.” [ComicsBlog, Multiversity]

Creators | We all know about musicians who make comics; Josh Flanagan takes a look at comics creators who make music, from Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley to Joe Quesada (seen filling in on guitar with Kirby Krackle). Rock on! [iFanboy]

Crawl to Me #1

Creators | Alex Dueben talks with Alan Robert about Crawl to Me, his new horror miniseries from IDW Publishing. [Suicide Girls]

Creators | Steve Bennett takes a look back at Carleton Waugh and his comic strip Hank, the story of a serviceman returning to civilian life after World War II: “Hank had also lost a leg in the war and he just one of a number of wounded servicemen being targeted by a group of leftover isolationists to ferment discontent and spread racist, anti-Semitic propaganda. The politics were extremely progressive and according to Waugh the strip was ‘a deliberate attempt to work in the field of social usefulness’.” From an artistic point of view, Waugh did some interesting experimentation with lettering, but alas, most of the strips have disappeared. [Super I.T.C.H.]

Commentary | Call this “Caleb reads the comments so you don’t have to”: Robot 6 contributor J. Caleb Mozzocco provides a quick roundup, with links, at the big comics controversies of the past week or so, in case you were too busy living your own life to follow them closely. [Every Day Is Like Wednesday]

Reviews | Rob Clough reviews Jason’s Isle of 100,000 Graves. [The Comics Journal]

Reviews | Richard Bruton dives into the latest Alan Moore opus, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen—Century 1969. [The Forbidden Planet blog]

Craft | Gerry Giovinco meditates on how hard it actually was to draw a straight line (let alone a curved one) before we had computers to do it for us. [CO2 Comics]

One of the most influential comics ever published, the first two issues of Zap were created entirely by Robert Crumb, who then invited other artists to contribute, including Spain Rodriguez, the late Rick Griffin, S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Gilbert Shelton and Robert Williams. The series quickly not only catapulted Crumb and the other artists to stardom (or a relative stardom at any rate), it quickly became seen as one of the more prominent symbols of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, along with LSD, rock music and head shops (where issues were usually sold). While it was not the first underground comic, it was viewed by many both inside and outside the counterculture movement as the lodestone for the underground comics scene, and its existence and influence directly led to the development of the alternative comics scene in the 1980s and 1990s.

Fantagraphics was kind enough to share today’s revelation with Robot 6 prior to the start of the San Diego con, and we took the opportunity to talk to publisher Gary Groth about the project, its origins and the comic’s significance.

Q: How did this come about? What was the impetus for this project?

Zap #0 (which came out after #1)

A: I know all the Zap artists. I’ve interviewed most of them for The Comics Journal. And we’ve published a lot of them in their own individual books: Robert Crumb, Victor Moscoso, Spain. Victor is sort of the honcho at Zap. He’s the one who keeps it organized and yells at all the other artists about their deadlines and keeps the Zap machine running.

We published a book of his a few years ago and at some point one of us mentioned the possibility of doing a Zap collection, I forget whom. It might have been me or it might have been him, I’m not sure. Anyway, we’ve been talking about it on and off for at least a few years now. Just talking about what format to use, when the best timing would be, etc. He was always receptive to the idea; he wanted to do it, it was just a matter of him corralling all of the artists and getting them all together to agree to do it, because all of the Zap artists have to sign off on everything. Which is the way it should be.

So that took awhile, as you might imagine. My impression is it was like herding cats. Finally we just hammered out the agreement and signed it recently. No big mystery about it.

Q: So it’s going to be every issue of Zap Comix thus far, correct?

A: That is correct. It would be about 16 issues. It’s approximately 515 pages. I haven’t written any of this down yet, we haven’t gotten to that stage of production. I think it’s about 550 pages of material. Some of the issues were about 32 pages, most of the issues were 48 pages.

We’re going to reproduce it in a facsimile form, the book will have the covers interspersed throughout, so it will be each issue of the comic chronologically published in the same format as the comic itself, but simply in book form. We’re going to be printing it a little larger than the comic, I don’t know the exact dimensions. It will be oversize, a little larger than the comic itself. The covers will be reproduced in full color, as they were in the original comics. There was a small jam comic that they published called Zam that was approximately 6 and a half by 5. It was published in 1974 and we’ll be including that. And the book will include an oral history of Zap.

Q: You’re going to be talking to all the surviving artists for that?

A: That’s correct. We have a tremendous amount of conversations by the artists already on tape. All of the artists living are willing to talk some more so we’ll put together an oral history of Zap from their individual points of view. That should be an amusing Rashomon-like feature.

What else can I tell you? It will be a hardcover, two volumes in a slipcase.

Q: Similar to the Humbug collection?

A: Yes, similar to Humbug, Willie and Joe or the Gahan Wilson collection. That kind of thing. We’ll be designing it. The artists will be watching us closely.

Q: Are you spearheading this project? Are you going to be the main editor on this?

A: Yeah, I am.

Crumb's 'Keep on Truckin', from Zap

Q: Are there any other undiscovered rarities or things that fans would be eager to see?

A: Well, the oral history. I think all the artists will be happy to give us whatever they may have in their archive, so I assume [the oral history] will be sprinkled in with photographs and whatever archival material they might have. I’m sure they have some great photos from as early as the late ‘60s. The book will probably have a little bit more Crumb material. Crumb will be featured a little bit more because he did the first two issues by himself. And we all know what a cultural landmark it was.

One additional fact is we’re scanning everything from the original negatives. That’s as close as you can get to the original art. Victor is an amazing archivist. He saved all of that stuff. [The negatives] were in his safekeeping. The reproduction should be better than it’s ever been reproduced before. We’ll reproduce it better than it was in the comic book.

Q: It’s funny, you were saying how the Zap collective is an ongoing entity and I think for most people, even though I knew they were publishing into the ‘90s, a lot of people weren’t aware they were still working together and still active.

A: Yeah, they’ve slowed down obviously, but they’re working on the next issue. I think there will be another issue as long as Victor’s alive and lashes the whip. They’re devoted to it. I think they like the institutional nature of it, the fact that they started so long ago and have maintained a friendship and continue this artistic synergy.

Q: Obviously it’s an important piece of comics history. Do you feel like the work is still vibrant? Does it still have the ability to draw in modern readers?

A: I think so. It’s hard for me to say having read it since the early ‘70s. All the artists that are alive and still working are still doing vital work. We’re publishing a new collection by Spain in four to five months. I think the work is not only historically significant but contains its vitality. Each of these artists was distinctively their own man. One of the strengths of the comic is that no one artist overrode another or overshadowed another. They all equally had their own vision and their own distinctive voice. I think it retains its relevance and vitality.

Q: I realize as we’re having this conversation we’re making the assumption that readers are going to know the importance of Zap Comix. Can you talk a little bit about the significance of the series?

A: Right. I suspect it’s one of the most significant comic series ever published and for an unusual reason. Because not only is it a cultural landmark like Superman or Batman or Spider-Man but also based purely on its artistic merits it’s a significant comic series. It’s a comic series that is most identified with the beginning of the underground comics revolution, whose significance cannot be overstated relative to where we are today. And then just based on pure aesthetic merits, as I said earlier, each artist had his own vision and held his own. That was true of all the best underground stuff. It was a comic that spearheaded the underground comics movement. It wasn’t the first underground comic but it was the one most identified with underground comics. And it has maintained its vitality and the artists have maintained their vision, which is a tough thing to do in this world. I think it’s got to be one of the most significant comics titles ever published.

Zap #11

Q: The thing about Zap is that it defined a movement, which not even icons like Superman can say. It became as much a part of the counterculture ‘60s movement as love beads and rock and roll and LSD did. There were comics that were more popular or more prevalent in the cultural consciousness but not that were a symbol of a particular time and place in American society.

A: I think that’s true and the artists inside really reflected the spectrum of underground work being done too. You had Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin doing work that was more psychedelic, quintessentially ‘60s counter-culture, you had Crumb taking from funny animal comics from the ‘30s and ‘40s and re-imagining that in his own style. You had Spain with more politically aggressive comics. You had Wilson who was so out there that he inspired Crumb to be more out there. Wilson was probably doing the most audacious work of the entire group. And even visually they were all completely different from each other. They really represented the best of what underground comics were about.
So I think that’s true. I think the title symbolized underground comics in the best possible way. You look at other important comics like Superman or Batman or whatever and they’re important for vague cultural or sociological reasons, but the work was mostly crap. But I think the important thing about Zap is the work itself was so inspiring. It inspired another generation of artists that came up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Zap was a model – a business model as well in the sense that all the artists owned their own work. And the artists regarded themselves as artists, which was a break from how most comic book artists saw themselves. The underground comic artists asserted their artistic persona, which even great artists in the past like John Stanley tended to suppress.

Q: What is your hope with this book? Do you feel like Zap is due for a critical re-evaluation?

A: Well I think that will be a benefit of putting out the book. I’m not sure it’s specifically a goal, but I think it will be a side benefit. I think all the work all in one place is going to be so impressive it’s going to knock people out. I think it’s going to get a tremendous reception. I’d like it to be reappraised in the public mind. Like you said, a lot of people probably aren’t even aware that Zap is still being published because it’s only coming out every four years.

Q: Yeah, I know what I’m anticipating is looking at the later issues, because I’m familiar with the first couple, especially those two all-Crumb issues that are so iconic.

A: It might open people’s minds. There was that recent issue where they had that famous Rashomon-like jam where they were all talking about the next Zap and Victor Moscoso slugged Crumb.

Q: That’s one where Crumb refused to do Zap anymore and then Paul Mavrides did the parody of the Death of Fritz the Cat.

A: Exactly. I don’t know why that came to mind, but I guess there’s a sense where they’re all still in there slugging away, literally as well as figuratively.

I think a big collection like this will draw a lot more attention than the periodical which is as you know in a coma. I’m hoping that this book will reach a much wider audience — those readers that grew up reading Zap as well as other who find it a pain in the ass to buy back copies, most of which are out of print at this point.

Q: I was going to say I wasn’t sure how many are out of print. I know Last Gasp keeps them in stock.

A: Well I think a lot of Last Gasp’s issues are out of print, which might have to do with financial considerations because it’s harder and harder to keep a periodical in print.

Q: Do you know when the publication date is?

A: We’re going to try for the end of next year but I can’t guarantee that. We have eight different artists, all of whom have to be consulted along the way.

Q: I wonder if it will lead to a re-evaluation of artists like Griffin and Moscoco because – I don’t want to say they’ve been ignored but certainly in the comics world they get overshadowed by people like Crumb and Spain.

A: I think it’s going to get a tremendous amount of attention. It wouldn’t surprise me if it led to more attention not only to Zap but to the underground comic artists in general, like Kim Deitch or Bill Griffith or Jack Jackson. Many of whose work will be available. We’ll be publishing a 400-page collection of Bill Griffith’s work in five months. And we’re reprinting all of Jack Jackson’s work. The first volume will combine Los Tejanos with Lost Cause. That is scheduled for spring of next year. We’re publishing a complete collection of Diane Noomin’s work. This [Zap] doesn’t represent any change. We’ve printed these guys work for some time now.

Dark Horse Presents #1

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, the first pick this week would be the relaunched Dark Horse Presents #1 (Dark Horse, $7.99). As a reader of the title in all its previous incarnations, I have a love for the format but also a desire to see them improve on it; editor Mike Richardson seems to have the right mix of big names and up-and-comers to make this work. Second up would be DMZ #64 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99), and this issue is the final issue in the “Free States Rising” arc and the first real sit-down between Matty and Zee in ages. Third would be Rick Remender’s covert ops squad Uncanny X-Force #8 (Marvel, $3.99). At first glance I question why I like this so much, but when I think about it, it becomes easy: I enjoy Remender’s storytelling, the artists they’ve had and the fearless nature to dig up some classic concepts from early 90s X-Men comics and general Marvel U stuff.

If I found $30 in my pocket instead of $15, I’d double back and pick up a pair of Invincibles: Invincible #79 (Image, $2.99) and Invincible Iron Man #503 (Marvel, $3.99). I really enjoy what these two teams are doing: carving out long expanding story-arcs that can only happen with long-term teams like these two have been fortunate enough to have. Third would be Jason Aaron and Daniel Acuna’s Wolverine #8 (Marvel, $3.99); although Daniel Acuna is known as a more glossy artist akin to Ed McGuinness meets Alex Ross, I think he really bucks that with the story arc he’s working on here. Lastly would be Avengers #12 (Marvel, $3.99) -– it really blows my mind that Bendis and Romita can do such a throw-back classic Avengers story and still keep the high sales going. I’m not complaining -– I love these stories as much as I love Avengers comics of lore, but they never sold this well.

For my splurge, I’d get the 2000 AD Pack Mar 2011 ($25). These are originally sold weekly in the UK, but for U.S. distribution Diamond has them sold in monthly bundles like this. I’m not a regular reader of the progs, but I like to drop in from time to time and… well, this is one of those times.

Graeme McMillan

Legion of the Damned

Weirdly enough, if I had $15 this week, I still wouldn’t be able to get the two comics I really want this week. Let’s make that happen by stealing a dollar from the Schroedinger’s Cat me that has $30 for a second so that I can grab both Dark Horse Presents #1 (Dark Horse, $7.99), the new take on the classic anthology, and DC Comics Presents Legion Of Super-Heroes: Legion Of The Damned #1 (DC, $7.99), the collection of the “Zombies In Future Space!” storyline from a few years ago that launched the Abnett/Lanning/Oliver Coipel-era of the franchise; I read the latter part of that run, but have always been curious about the never-before-collected opening. Now is my chance!

If I had $30, I’d wonder why another me stole a dollar earlier on, but I’d move on and pick up the first issue of Matt Sturges’ new Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (IDW, $3.99) to get myself in the mood for this weekend’s return of the show to BBC America (Seriously, I cannot wait) and a couple of Marvel oddities: Spectacular Spider-Man #1000 (Marvel, $4.99) — a home for unused inventory stories, perhaps, but I like Spider-Man and anniversary issues, even fake ones like this — and the Marvel Backlist Reading Chronology #1 (Marvel, $1.99), in which Marvel apparently admits that its backlist needs a score card to keep straight.

Splurgewise, there’s some good material out there (Martian Confederacy Vol. 2? The new Dan Clowes, “Mister Wonderful”?), but my heart belongs to the new Astro City collection, Shining Stars (DC, $24.99). I was a latecomer to Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s love letter to superheroes and superhero comics, but that doesn’t mean I love the series any the less. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Chris Mautner

Tubby

If I had $15:

I’d also grab a dollar from Graeme’s alternate universe self and pick up a copy of Tubby Vol. 3: The Frog Boy ($15.99). Taking money from a theoretical version of Mr. McMillan may seem unfair, but I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to getting my hands on some John Stanley.

If I had $30:

Dan Clowes’ Mister Wonderful ($19.99), the collected version of the lovelorn misanthrope story he did for The New York Times, looks pretty nifty and was the talk of MoCCA, so that would probably be my first pick. I’d also at least flip through the latest volume of 20th Century Boys ($12.99), The Klondike, Zach Worton’s debut graphic novel about the Yukon gold rush back in the early part of the 20th century ($24.95), and Girl and Gorilla ($10.99), Maddy Flores’ book about … well, it’s there in the title, isn’t it? Actually, I’d probably just nab more cash from Earth-2 Graeme, since he’s apparently rather flush with cash in that universe.

Splurge:

It’s not a splurge for me since I already own them, but if you want to dip your toe into Robert Crumb waters, Fantagraphics has new editions of Vol. 13 and 15 ($19.99 each) in their Complete Crumb line. Both feature some really great works by the master. As for myself, I normally wouldn’t splurge on something like Archie: Seven Decades of America’s Favorite Teenager ($49.99), but since Graeme’s footing the bill, I’ll indulge.

JK Parkin

Fables #104

Unfortunately I have some bad news for Earth-1 and Earth-2 Graeme, assuming they were both interested in Legion Of Super-Heroes: Legion Of The Damned #1 … per an email this morning from one of the retailers where I get my comics, apparently the chapters were printed in the wrong order and it won’t be out until May 11.

With my own $15 I’d first grab the new Robert Kirkman/Jason Howard all ages title about a boy genius and his best friend, Super Dinosaur #1 ($2.99). I’d follow it up with Fables #104 ($2.99), which continues the Super Fables storyline. Greg Pak is having a lot of fun with the de-powered Silver Surfer, and I’m having fun reading it, so I’d grab issue #3 ($2.99). And lastly, two current favorites, Legion of Super-Heroes #12 and Zatanna #12, both $2.99, would round it out, leaving me just a few pennies to donate to Earth-2 Graeme, who likely could use some financial help after all the money that’s “disappeared” from his wallet lately.

If I had $30, I’d also get Amity Blamity ($10.95), the new graphic novel by Mike White. That leaves room for one more book, so I figure why not try out 68 #1, the new zombie comic from Mark Kidwell and Jay Fotos.

Splurgewise, there’s lots to choose from; I’d probably get both The Martian Confederacy: From Mars With Love ($15) and the Mr. Wonderful collection ($19.95).

Michael May

Sigil #2

If I had $15:

I’d start with the Marvel Backlist Reading Chronology ($1.99) because it’s cheap, because I’m the kind of nerd who enjoys reading things in order (though I suppose that describes most of us), and because when I switched from periodical issues to collected editions, I did so haphazardly without a real plan. That means that I’ve missed a lot of stuff I’d like to read and appreciate Marvel’s coming up with an aid to help me correct that. It would be nicer if it was free, since it’s essentially a catalog, but I’m not going to gripe about paying $2 for almost 100 pages of reading suggestions.

Next I’d get Sigil #2 ($2.99), which re-introduces El Cazador to comics readers and Skaar: King of the Savage Land #2 ($2.99) for obvious reasons. Switching over to Image, I’d also add Super Dinosaur #1 ($2.99) to see if it’s more than just a fun concept and ’68 #1 ($3.99) because I enjoyed the Viet Nam/Night of the Living Dead-prequel one-shot and think there’s enough there to explore that world some more.

If I had $30:

I’d add Amity Blamity, Volume 1 ($10.95) because it’s about a little girl who – with her pet pig – has to save her moonshining uncle from genetic mutation at the hands of “strange forest critters.” It’s probably wrong that the most attractive part of the story for me is the idea of the girl and her pig as ‘shine-runners. I’d read it just for that. Lurkers in the woods are bonus.

Splurge:

Like Graeme and Chris, I’m looking forward to Dark Horse Presents #1 ($7.99), but the price tag makes it a splurge item for me. I don’t think it’s over-priced – $8 for 80 pages is a good deal – but the extra pages and color print aren’t necessary. I’d rather have the old format. Still, that’s an impressive line-up of creators and the DHP name sets a high bar for expectations of quality, so I imagine that I’ll regret it if I leave the store without this.

Courtesy of Comics Alliance comes this short video of that R. Crumb figurine I mentioned last week. And hey, it does come with a big-boned female fantasy figure! And Fritz the Cat too! How about that.

The eyes ... they follow me wherever I go ...

For the past eight years, Seattle-based artist Michael Leavitt has created a series of sculpted figures of famous artists and entertainers like Andy Warhol, David Byrne, David Lynch and so forth. Now he’s made one of comics legend and Bible adapter Robert Crumb:

This fully articulated wood-carved sculpture was commissioned by an out-of-state collector. Before it ships off to the private collection, the piece will be put on public display at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery for one night only during the reception for Gahan Wilson on Saturday, February 13. If you can’t make it then, you can view Leavitt’s recent work, including collaborations with Fantagraphics friend Charles Krafft, at Stolen Space Gallery in London May 13 through May 30.

Click on the link to see another shot of the statue hawking his wares at a table. Large-bottomed Amazonian sexual fantasy figure is presumably not included.

Humbug

Like a train eager to meet its next destination, What Are You Reading chugs along into the new year without ever once looking back. Our guest this week is the ridiculously prolific cartoonist, critic and blogger Shaenon Garrity (who can also be found here). In addition to her latest comic Skin Horse, you can read her regular reviews at The Comics Journal and she has a regular column over at Comixology.

But if you want to know what Shaenon’s reading this week, you’ll have to click on the link below.

Token

Brigid Alverson: I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: DC folded Minx too soon. The series was really hitting its stride in its second season, with solid books aimed at slightly older readers and a more authentic voice. Token is like that. As the mother of teenagers, I actually found it a bit hard to read — but that’s the point. They aren’t writing for me. Token is set in Miami’s South Beach in 1987, and the authors have just the right amount of setting—it’s not crazy-glitzy, it’s comfortable and a bit down-at-the-heels. Our protagonist, Shira, lost her mother as a child and lives in a hotel with her grandmother and her father; her best friend is a foul-mouthed, cigarette-smoking former movie actress. Shira’s heart is in the right place, and she loves her family, but things start spinning out of control for her. Her father starts dating his secretary, who is a lovely woman, but all Shira can see is that he isn’t paying as much attention to her. On an impulse she shoplifts a ring, and soon shoplifting is a habit for her. Complicating all this is a mysterious young man from Spain who seems to materialize a lot; when he catches her shoplifting, the two team up. Of course it all ends in a big disaster, but what I like about it is that this is not a straight moral tale; there’s a bit of ambiguity to it, and the sense that even though the ending isn’t entirely happy — the last page features a picture of Shira glaring at her father’s wedding — that everyone will get through it in their own way.

I picked up the first volume of Inio Asano’s What a Wonderful World recently, and if nothing else, it made me appreciate the joys of being over 30. This volume is a collection of stories about young people — middle school through early 20s—who are plodding through a gray, depressing world, hemmed in by a rigid school-work system that makes no allowance for individual quirks. Not that it would make much difference for Asano’s characters, because they don’t have any quirks; their defining characteristic is their dissatisfaction. Each story briefly sketches a turning point, a decision that must be made, and each character does show a spark of life at that moment. Aside from that one moment, though, they spend most of their time either complaining or quietly enduring. Most of the characters appear in several stories, so you get to see more than one facet of them, but it’s like a Cubist painting in that the different sides never seem to quite fit together. Still, I liked the book better the second time I read it, when I started to see the interrelationships between the stories.

Captain America: Bicentennial Battles

Tom Bondurant: When I went out of town for Christmas, I took with me the final two collections of Jack Kirby’s mid-’70s return to Captain America. I had read these stories previously, but my expectations were colored both by Kirby’s DC work and by his more cosmic efforts for Marvel like Eternals and 2001. This time I let go of all that and found a lot to appreciate in these two books. Bicentennial Battles contains the oversized “treasury” issue which features Cap bouncing around through American history, as well as a monthly storyline about asylum escapees living in another dimension. The Swine finds Cap battling a cruel prison warden in the South American jungles, before being waylaid and blinded by the combined villainy of Arnim Zola and the Red Skull. So yeah, it did seem rather familiar in light of recent Cap developments. However, Kirby uses Cap not just for square-jawed heroics — and there are a lot of those — but truly as the living embodiment of the American spirit. Obviously this comes through most clearly in the “Bicentennial Battles” story, because who can badmouth Captain America surrounded by eager, optimistic kids? It carries through, though, to the end of Kirby’s monthly involvement, where a blind Cap fights a determined assassin. Since OMAC started as Kirby’s take on a future Captain America, I may have to re-read it next.

Staying in the ’70s, I’ve been reading Showcase Presents The Warlord Volume 1, written and drawn by Mike Grell (with some inks by Vince Colletta). It starts off a bit awkwardly — opening narration talks about the timelessness of the story and then establishes a specific date — and it never really justifies its pulp-adventure conventions (everyone speaks English, and ancient texts look like modern tech manuals). Wardrobes are skimpy, of course, and every few issues Grell describes how our hero Travis Morgan sheds his veneer of civilization to become a savage. Grell’s figures, and his use of perspective, are sometimes jarring as well. Still, it’s pretty dynamic stuff, mixing sword-and-sorcery elements with some sci-fi, and
tied together by Morgan’s nominal charm. The earliest stories are around 17 pages, and Grell tends to keep the immediate cast pretty small, so although he’s establishing a lot of mythology, it’s all in manageable bites.

Last night I finally got around to reading all four issues of Beasts Of Burden (written by Evan Dorkin, drawn by Jill Thompson) in one big chunk. I’d read the first issue and bought the next three, but never found the time to follow up. Boy, am I sorry I waited. This is a beautifully written, exquisitely drawn series which (as if I needed to tell you) concerns a group of dogs and cats who fight demons. From the giant frog to the puppies’ spirits, from the teenage boy to the rat king, each issue worked as a self-contained story while simultaneously setting up a much larger plot. I presume that will be addressed in a follow-up miniseries, but for now I have to visit the BoB stories online at darkhorse.com.

Finally, thanks to the very generous folks at W.W. Norton, I got a big box of graphic novels a couple of days ago, including R. Crumb’s The Book Of Genesis Illustrated. Now, I have read the original a few times, and it is pretty much the closest thing the Bible has to a soap opera, so I can’t wait to see how Crumb handles the various family dramas. At the moment, though, I have only read the first few chapters of Crumb’s adaptation, with Adam and Eve being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. It’s as good as I was expecting, although Crumb sticks pretty close to a conventional grid. Maybe I was expecting something more like Kirby….

Superman #695

Tim O’Shea: I don’t know if James Robinson’s ear for dialogue has degraded in recent years or my standards have been elevated. But as much as I enjoy the general plot direction of Superman 695 in terms of Mon-El’s arc, it is supremely undermined by Robinson’s penchant for starting bits of Mon-El’s dialogue with “‘K” (as in OK [as in Mon-El is a 13-year old]).

I’m hard pressed to single out my favorite part of Fantastic Four 574, the Franklin surprise birthday party with a reveal via his mom making all the partygoers visible; the party itself; the Spider-Man cameo (complete with Peter/Johnny banter) or the letters column. Jonathan Hickman continues to deliver an engagingly fun version of the Fantastic Four.

Fred Van Lente really surprised me in Spider-Man 616 with the Sandman character development/fix he’s constructed to explain how he could have once been a villain and once been a hero. I could actually see a series of some kind build out of this. I doubt Marvel could get Javier Pulido on a monthly, but man the scenarios he came up with for Sandy were outstanding. I was sad that it was not more than a two-parter honestly, but like it’s often said: “Leave ‘em asking for more.”

Back to Mr. Hickman, he gave me back Dum Dum Dugan (heroes with bowlers need to increase in 2010)–and for that alone (and Nick Fury of course) I continue to love, love, love Secret Warriors. Though I assume the book will end once Siege plays out to its conclusion.

PunisherMax #1

Matt Maxwell: As a Kindle was my big present this year, I’ve been mostly reading stuff on that.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF HORROR, Noel Carroll
Wherein Mr. Carroll presents a unified theory of what makes horror tick in literature and film and other popular media. There’s some interesting stuff to chew on in here, but part of me wonders “why?” For me horror is pretty much whatever horrifies, and worrying whether or not ALIEN is or is not horror (it is) and strict genre definitions aren’t at the forefront. However Mr. Carroll is presenting some interesting tools with which to dissect this group of aesthetic experiences. Still working my way through this one.

THE COMPLETE CONAN, Robert E. Howard
The granddaddy of them all. Only read a handful of these, and I’m finding the prose less…lusty and gusto-filled than I expected it. Perhaps Mr. Howard really hits his stride later on. Just picking at this stuff in my (hahahaha) spare time.

THE CALL OF CTHULHU, H.P. Lovecraft
Grabbed a couple collections of Mr. Lovecraft’s work as well, just to have something to chew on. I still remain un-frightened by these stories, no matter how provocative they are or how influential they have been to writers (including myself, though I can’t imagine two prose styles and outlooks that are more opposed than mine and his).

PUNISHERMAX, Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon
Jason Aaron’s take on Wilson Fisk? He’s a hard man. Calculating, remorseless, and yes, he has a loving wife and son, but somehow I feel like it’s all an act. I’m interested to see where this first arc goes and if I’ll continue my monthly purchase of these or wait on trades. There’s a whole lot of potential here and I’m betting that the creative team can deliver on the promise of these first couple of issues.

The Bloody Crown of Conan

Sean Collins: Well what have we here, a rare WAYR appearance by yours truly! As I think I’ve said around here before, there’s usually not much of a point to me letting y’all know what I’m reading, because in the event that you’re interested, you’ll find out soon enough in the thrice-weekly comics reviews I post on my main blog. But right now I’ve got enough of a review backlog that I finally have a little time to indulge in some prose. And on cold winter nights like this, nothing warms me up more than watching Conan slice and dice his way across Hyboria in The Bloody Crown of Conan. This is the second of three volumes collecting all of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories in chronological order. The imagination on display, the white-knuckle pacing and visceral violence, are as impressive as all get-out. But what really gets me is the underlying idea that the world is beset by forces so cruelly irrational and horrible that the only way to get through it all is to be a bit of a barbarian.

The Summit of the Gods

Chris Mautner: At SPX this past fall, I entered a drawing Fanfare/Ponent Mon was holding on a whim and, surprisingly enough, won a couple of books, including the first volume of Summit of the Gods, by Jiro Taniguchi and Yumemakura Baku. This is another of Taniguchi’s wilderness manga, similar in themes and settings to The Ice Wanderer and Quest for the Missing Girl (though that was admittedly more of a standard mystery/thriller with mountain climbing extras). I haven’t cared for a lot of the recent Taniguchi stuff Fanfare has been translating — he’s a stellar craftsman but the stories themselves are rather tepid, middlebrow affairs, but I found myself engrossed in Summit’s tale. It starts out about a photographer who thinks he may have found Sir Edmund Hillary’s lost camera, but then the plot turns 90 degrees to tell the story of this young, rather brusque climber, who is determined to make a name for himself and brave the most treacherous peaks regardless of work, friends or manners. It doesn’t sound like the most fascinating tale, I know, but Taniguchi and Baku managed to weave an engrossing tale, enough so that I’m eager for Vol. 2.

Michael May: Outlaw Entertainment’s WE THE PEOPLE is about the descendants of Sinbad, Zorro, and Robin Hood banding together to fight injustice in the modern world. I’d hoped it would be something along the lines of MAGE with the heroes coming to terms with their identities and exploring what those characters meant to the world, but unfortunately it’s generic superhero stuff without the superpowers.

Unless you count “destiny” as a superpower, I guess. That’s the only explanation for the heroes’ getting together and Robyn’s knowing how to shoot an arrow without ever having picked up a bow. But destiny isn’t even used in an interesting way. It’s a cheat to get the characters where they need to be and into costume and then it’s discarded. Other than that, this could be about any three people taking up arms against a cartoonish, unbelievably corrupt government. Very disappointing.

Acme Novelty Library #19

Shaenon Garrity: I just finished Acme Novelty Library #19. I know it came out a year ago, but it’s not like I’ve missed any other Acme Novelty Libraries in the interim. Anyway, it’s pretty good. It’s about Fisher-Price people who are sad. This time they’re sad IN SPACE. So, yeah, good if you like being sad.

What else? I got the new two-volume hardcover collection of Humbug for Christmas. I love Harvey Kurtzman’s failed magazine projects. They don’t quite succeed at what they’re trying to do, but they’re trying hard, and the contributors are absurdly gifted artists. Kurtzman never had much success in all his long career, but he had a talent for making smart people want to give him a hand. Humbug is the magazine Kurtzman set up as a collective project, with revenues to be split between the contributors, and when there were no revenues everyone lost a ton of money on it. Except Jack Davis, who demanded payment up front. Smart guy. Anyway, fun stuff. It’s got a lot of work by Arnold Roth, whom I love.

I’m following a bunch of Viz’s SigIkki titles, on the website and in print. Children of the Sea is great; somehow the art captures the damp chill of a northern seaside, and the characters look appropriately wrung-out. Both the Natsume Ono titles, not simple and House of Five Leaves, are fascinating, not in the least for how different they are from each other. I’m looking forward to the print edition of Tokyo Flow Chart, possibly the least-loved title in the sigikki.com lineup. I’m sorry, I think it’s funny. It reminds me of Jason Shiga’s work, only loose and rambling.

Oh, and I reread Understanding Comics over the holidays. What most struck me this time is that cartoon Scott McCloud smiles a LOT. He does all the smiling for the people in Acme Novelty Library.

The Complete Crumb Vol. 4

Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.

With everyone and their uncle sounding off about his new adaptation of the Book of Genesis, I thought it might be a good time to look at the work and career of Robert Crumb, and offer an introductory entryway for those who up till now have been hesitant to dip their toes in his water (so to speak).

Why he’s important

Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 14

Do I really need to spell this out? How many other cartoonists can you think of that single-handedly started a movement? Sure, there were other underground comics before Crumb came along with that first issue of Zap Comics in 1967, but it was Crumb’s work that became the voice of the counterculture movement (whether he wanted it to or not), kickstarted the underground comix scene and inspired legions of like-minded cartoonists to ditch the daily newspaper and comic book world and attempt to create more thoughtful, self-expressive work.

But beyond his historical importance, Crumb’s comics, at their best, are daring not just for their taboo-breaking, but because of the way they provide a window into his own psyche and viewpoint. What ultimately makes them work, however, is his own self-awareness. What critics of Crumb don’t seem to understand is he’s just as horrified at his fantasies — both sexual and otherwise — as everyone else is. It’s that tension that makes his comics so fascinating and, yes, entertaining.

Plus, the guy’s an amazing artist. Great chops, really.

Where to start

The R. Crumb Handbook

Both the R. Crumb Handbook and The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book (from the late, lamented Kitchen Sink) are designed to serve as introductory guides to the artist and his work, which makes them as good a place to start as any. Both sadly, are out of print, and the Handbook seems to be selling at rather high prices, but I don’t think either are impossible to track down at this point. Of the two, I’d say go with the Art Book, even though I’m not crazy about the coloring job they did on some of Crumb’s black and white stories.

Another good starting place, believe it or not, is Crumb, the documentary, directed by the artist’s good friend and Ghost World director Terry Zwigoff. Of all the movies and books written about Crumb (and there have been more than you think) this is probably the most revealing and artful. You should know by the end of that movie if you want to explore Crumb’s world further or not.

From there you should read

Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 17

If you do decide to keep digging, the next and most obvious place to go to is Fantagraphics’ Complete Crumb Comics series, which collects just about all of the artists work from his early teen-age years to about 1990 in 17 volumes. Volumes 4-6 collect his seminal ’60s material from the 1960s with Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, etc., but his best work can honestly be found in the later volumes, namely No. 14-17. It was during this period, while staring up the Weirdo anthology that he put out some of his most interesting and revealing work, like “Patton,” “My Troubles with Women,” “Where Has It Gone, the Music of Our Grandparents?” and his adaptation of Boswell’s London journals. Those are the books I’d head to next. After that, you can start filling in the rest of the Complete Crumb series (although you should save the first two volumes for last last — see my notes at the bottom of the post). Warning: Not all the volumes are in print, and some can be quite costly — Vol. 13 is selling for $65 used.

Further reading

Self-Loathing Comics #1

Unfortunately, some of Crumb’s best material from the late 80s and early 90s, especially all four issues of his stellar Hup! series and the last few issues of Weirdo, remains uncollected, the Complete Crumb series having seemingly ground to a complete halt for the foreseeable future. You’ll have to comb through back issue bins and contact collectors to try and locate those comics (and they are worth tracking down).

Luckily, a lot of his mid-to-late 90s comics — Mystic Funnies, Self-Loathing Comics and Art & Beauty — are still easily available. This stuff has its detractors, some folks feel Mystic is just Crumb running in place and that Self-Loathing has too much shoe-gazing (and too much work from his wife, fellow cartoonist Aline Kominsky Crumb), but they remain miles ahead in terms of craft and storytelling

Ancillary material

There are very few cartoonists — at least modern cartoonists at any rate — whose sketchbooks measure up to their “for print” material and Crumb is one of them. Fantagraphics has released nine volumes of sketchbook material so far, both in hardcover and paperback editions, that go up to about 1973. As with the Complete Crumb series, it’s hard to tell if this series will be continued down the road.

You can also try to track down Crumb’s Waiting for Food series, which consists of sketches the artist did on restaurant placemats while … well, you get the idea. They’re all out of print, but available in various places like Amazon.

R. Crumb Sketchbook Vol. 5

Before he decided to take on the Bible, Crumb attempted to adapt the works of Franz Kafka in the mid-90s as part of the “Introducing …” line of books. Fantagraphics recently republished that book as simply Kafka. It remains a fascinating attempt by one artist to understand and decipher another, though it’s far from essential.

Also inessential, though entertaining, is The Big Yum Yum Book, a lengthy, early story Crumb did before he got married (or dropped acid), when he was still slaving away for American Greetings in Ohio. It’s terribly naive and wears its heart on its sleeve to an almost embarrassing degree, but it’s still an interesting look at what Crumb’s work was like before he had his big revelation. It’s also noteworthy as the book that inspired Harvey Pekar to try his hand at comics (sort of).

If you’re interested in learning more about the man behind the comics, then I’d suggest picking up a copy of Vol. 3 of The Comics Journal Library. This oversized book features a number of great interviews with the author, many of them more revealing and introspective than Zwigoff’s documentary. You can also check out R. Crumb: Conversations from the University of Mississippi Press.

Finally, if you find you prefer Crumb’s craftsmanship to his down and dirty stories, then the Sweeter Side of R. Crumb, which collects some of his illustrations and considerably less raunchy one-page strips.

Oh, and there’s also that Genesis book everyone is talking about.

Avoid

The first two volumes of Complete Crumb consist of early work from his teen-age years and early ’20s, and thus are for serious fans who want to see how far he’s progressed. It’s awkward, juvenile material (though occasionally witty and self-knowing) and like Yum Yum, over-earnest to a fault, and really not the place for neophytes to start. Wait until you get a feel for his later work and personality before diving into these books.

Likewise, Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me, which is a collection of early letters to friends, is a portrait of the artist as a young, somewhat desperate, man, and is interesting more for revealing Crumb’s early state of mind than anything else.

Next month: Neil Gaiman

Papercraft dolls seem to be all the rage these days, a supposition the great Toy-A-Day blog upholds by creating this great Mr. Natural papercraft doll that you can download as a .pdf and put together yourself. Can Devil Girl and Snoid dolls be far behind? (via)

It looks so comfy

Looking for a good snowboarding jacket? Want to wear something that shows your reverence for the underground comics movement? Or at least for Mr. Natural? Then behold: Burton has just the thing for you:

Check out the print by cartoonist Robert Crumb. A prominent figure in the 60s and 70s counter culture, Crumb is world-renowned for his subversive voice and controversial artwork. We’re only producing 500 pieces in this print, and shipping it in a black bag so you can look sketchy when taking it to the register. Beyond that, the Burton Restricted Dyer Jacket keeps riders like Mikey Rencz and Mark Sollors dry and warm when rooping around the British Columbian backcountry with the help of a hopped up DRYRIDE Durashell™ 2L fabric and strategically placed expedition weight Thermacore™ insulation.

I have no idea what that last sentence means, but I assume it translates as “keeps you warm.” The whole thing costs between $250-$270, depending on how much Thermacore you stuff it with I suppose (found via Mike Lynch).

Crumb's The Book of Genesis

The Book of Genesis Illustrated
by Robert Crumb
WW Norton, 224 pages $24.95.

It’s a pretty safe bet that whatever book you pictured in your feverish little brain when you heard the phrase “Robert Crumb adapts Genesis” will never match, or perhaps even compare to, the actual product. When surrounded by as much anticipation and hype as this book has been, (virtually every blogger on the block has declared this the de facto “book of the year,” or at least the “book they’re most looking forward to”) there is bound to be some disappointment.

That’s especially true if what you were expecting was anything more than the all-too-literal, note-for note interpretation that Crumb has ultimately produced (indeed, except for a phrase here and there, he seems to have left the sacred text intact). If you were hoping to see some sort of sly, satirical take on the Bible, sorry, but that’s not here. If you were expecting googly eyes and big feet, go elsewhere. There is the occasional bit of flop sweat, but otherwise, Crumb keeps his cartoony vibe in check. There’s not so much as an ounce of irony to be found.

That even extends to depicting the level of sex and brutal violence that these stories are so well known for. Surprisingly, for the guy who created the incestuous “Joe Blow,” he stays well within an R rating, avoiding any explicit, full-on depictions of genitalia or coitus. He’s not afraid to show naked bodies entwined or swords splitting heads, but he refuses to become too explicit, even when the text calls for it — his depiction of Onan masturbating is shown from the side, with no spurting penis to be found. I suspect that Crumb’s reasons for this have less to do with an attempt to cater to the religious audience or even the mainstream market place (they’re going to be turned off by the blood and breasts anyway) than Crumb’s refusal to pander. The overall tone here is one of respect, not towards the Christian or Jewish religion, but instead to the people and cultures and civilizations that inspired these stories.

The result a rich, introspective, at times frustrating, but ultimately rewarding book, that warrants repeated readings and forces the reader to re-examine their take on the first book of the Bible, as well as their attitude towards the artist himself.

There’s a danger here in adopting such a straightforward tone. The book could have easily, without the author’s intent, slipped toward the reverential, or ended up as some sort of stiff, Classics Illustrated-style adaptation that added nothing to the original work. And indeed some of the early “Creation” chapters have this “Picture Stories from the Bible” feel. But Crumb’s ultimately too good an illustrator and storyteller for any of that nonsense. Even though he holds himself strictly to a mostly nine-panel grid and hardly ever breaks out into one of those full-page or even half-page spreads he’s so good at, Genesis remains a compelling, dramatic account.

What Crumb ultimately seems to draw Crumb to these stories is the various inherent dichotomies of the text — chaos versus order, barbarism versus civilization, secular versus spiritual and, in particular, men versus women. Anyone who’s read any version of Genesis knows that despite being a patriarchal text, the women of Genesis play a large and important role. Crumb highlights and emphasizes this role through his art. It may surprise and even frustrate those who continually write Crumb off as a misogynist, but his Genesis offers a decidedly feminist spin. His sympathy is clearly with Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and the other wives in this saga (although he still portrays them in that gap-toothed, voluptuous, taut nippled style he’s so clearly enamored of) .

Indeed, in his lengthy (and very insightful) notes, Crumb, in trying to explain some odd or contradictory passages, suggests that many of the notable women in Genesis, like Sarah, might have been priestesses, or come from matriarchal societies. Indeed, he posits that many of the Genesis stories could be myths from a matriarchal society rewritten and reshaped for a new, patriarchal paradigm.

Whether or not that is the case, I do think that these women’s stories underline the limited but important role women played in these early societies. My wife has a saying that she likes to use when she’s feeling rather irate or put-upon by the rest of the household: “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” That’s a phrase that could easily see Sarah or Rebekah sputtering out in rage. Reduced to the role of childbearer, their sole importance centered on providing a male heir, it doesn’t seem that surprising that these omwen would exert their influence whenever possible, as Sarah does in forcing the banishment of her handmaid Haggar, or in Rachel and her sister Leah’s squabbles over their husband, Jacob.

As I suggested before, there’s little interplay between the images and text. What the narration describes is usually what you see. If there’s any subversion to be found in this book, however, it’s in the characters body posture or facial expressions. Crumb is very subtle here, but his it’s the minor details that make this book as striking as it ultimately is. If you get a chance to look at the book, notice the eyes of the character, what they’re looking at and how. Note the disgust on Joseph’s expression when he says “I’m not God am I?” Or how Dinah reacts when she’s led out of the House of Shechem after her brothers have slaughtered everyone inside. Or the terror on Rebekah’s face when she fears Esau may try to slay Jacob (and Isaac’s henpecked look in the following panel, as Rebekah rails at him). It’s in moments like these that Crumb is able to convey these character’s inner humanity. They no longer seem like unrecognizable archetypes, but real flesh-and blood humans.

The story I found myself the most drawn to is that of Joseph, the boy with the coat of many colors, who is sold into slavery by his brothers only to rise above them all through his cleverness and guile. I found myself surprisingly moved by Crumb’s depiction of this lost soul. His anger and pain upon rediscovering his treacherous brothers feels real and honest. The world Crumb portrays in Genesis seems like a harsh and unforgiving one, full of inky darkness and sweat and flesh, where brothers battle brothers, fathers battle sons and life, especially female life, isn’t worth much unless you have cattle, grain and water and lots of people to do your bidding. Still, it is not a place devoid of nobility or honor, or perhaps even love, though that last one seems to perhaps the hardest to find.

This is a book that is going to frustrate and annoy many. It frustrated me at times. Crumb is striving for something much subtler here than he’s attempted before and coming to it with a certain set of expectations is only going to lead to disappointment. Many critics will no doubt decry the book for going with obvious choices, like making God a big white guy with a long, flowing beard.

But Crumb doesn’t seem as interested in completely rejiggering our perception of the text or playing against traditional norms as much as he is in skewing our perspective ever so slightly. There are insights to be gained in this adaptation. But it’s all in the eyes.

Now that's a lineup of talent

If you don’t have a Facebook account (and I don’t necessarily blame you if you don’t) you’ve been missing the wonderful photos that Carol Hernandez — wife of Gilbert Hernandez — has been posting of the Los Bros. on the Love and Rockets Fan Page. It’s full of great blow-your-mind yesteryear pics like the one above, (from left) Sergio Aragones, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Gilbert Hernandez and Robert Crumb at the Anglouleme festival in France, circa 1990. Also included: pics of Michelle Shocked, Russ Myer and Dennis the Menace creator Hank Ketcham.

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Well bust my buttons, if it isn’t time for another round of What Are You Reading, where we talk about all the comics, books and other reading matter we’re currently engrossed in. Our guest this week is High Moon co-creator and writer David Gallaher, who’s been blogging with us at Robot 6 all this past week.

David has quite a list of titles to pour over, so let’s get to it. Click on the link below to get started.

Spider-Man 2099

Tom Bondurant: I’ve been re-reading Spider-Man 2099, but now I have a strange compulsion to pick up “Hush”….

So far I’ve gotten through the first twelve issues of Spider-Man 2099, all of which which were written by Peter David, pencilled by Rick Leonardi, and inked by Al Williamson. For a book designed to launch an entire imprint, build a new Marvel future, and piggyback on the considerable goodwill of Marvel’s best-known character, it stands on its own quite well. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel like Spider-Man, because there’s enough humor and swashbuckling to make Miguel O’Hara a credible Spider-successor. It’s a handsome package too, with Williamson’s inks complementing Leonardi’s pencils nicely. David also juggles a growing cast efficiently, for example using villains like Venture and the 2099 Vulture for world-building. He’s just introduced the Net Prophet on the last issue of #12, and I know the NP is supposed to be a familiar Marvel character, but I can’t remember who — and don’t tell me, I want to see if I can figure it out!

Man, I’m writing about Donna Troy a lot these days! I even watched bits of “Cougar Town” (during “Glee’s” commercial breaks) to test my theory about her and Courteney Cox. Anyway, Blackest Night: Titans #2 is probably the most tasteless superhero comic I’ve read in a while, as well as one of the more ridiculous. Written by J.T. Krul and drawn by Ed Benes (with some inks from Scott Williams), its centerpiece is Donna’s confrontation with the Black Lantern versions of her late husband and infant son (who were killed off-panel over ten years ago). What’s tasteless is having baby Robbie half-decomposed. What’s ridiculously over-the-top is having baby Robbie fly around attacking Donna. Sure it’s horrific, and sure that’s the point, but baby Robbie didn’t have to look so … dead. (In fact, Black Lantern Jade looked pretty healthy.) Blackest Night can get along fine without a dead baby, so it could have either made Robbie look more presentable, or hidden him in the shadows with his condition implied. It’s too bad, because as it happens, Benes’ work here is some of his best. It’s moody and scary when it needs to be, and dynamic where appropriate. Terra’s hinder still gets some undue attention, but at this point that’s to be expected.

Finally, I did like this week’s Justice League of America 80-Page Giant, a clever riff on the venerable JLA format which finds our heroes paired up and cast randomly through time. It’s by a veritable horde of writers and artists, so some chapters come off better than others. Basically, each pair of Leaguers teams up with a classic DC character from the particular time period. I liked Green Arrow and Firestorm teaming up with the Bride to fight Ra’s Al Ghul in World War II, as well as Steel and Wonder Woman as pirates fighting Starro. Sadly, I get the feeling that these kinds of stories only get done in these special-format issues because they’re too “retro” and throwbacky for the cool kids who read the regular JLA book. That’s a
shame, because (as I get tired of saying) the regular JLA book could use a little structure, retro though it may be.

Batman and the Outsiders

Tim O’Shea: I bought/read/own the original Batman and the Outsiders when they were published back in the early 1980s. But I still could not resist the urge to snag a used Showcase edition that collects the first 19 issues of the series (plus a few crossovers here and there). Why? Because it’s nice to see Jim Aparo’s art in pure black and white. For me, I think Aparo will always be my favorite Batman artist. Also, this was an era in Batman comics where the tragic bastard actually smiled once and a rare while.

Chris Mautner: WW Norton was kind enough to send me a copy of Crumb’s Genesis adaptation. I only got it in the mail yesterday, so I haven’t had much of a chance to delve into it yet. It looks beautiful though. I hope to have a proper review of the book up soon.

I spent most of the past week or so reading an advance copy of I Will Not Write an Uncensored, Unauthorized History of the Simpsons by John Ortved. As the title so coyly suggests, it’s a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the popular animated show, and apparently there was a lot more bad blood amongst the creators and writers than one would initially imagine. The book is especially harsh towards producer James L. Brooks, who comes off as selfish and cruel at times, and Matt Groening, whose contribution to the show seems to have started and stopped with those initial Tracy Ullman shorts. It’s one of those “oral history” type books, and Groening and a few significant others don’t really contribute directly to Ortved’s history (apart from the occasional old magazine interview). Still, for Simpsons fans, those of us that still have fond memories of the show anyway, it’s probably a must read. It should be out in stores in a week or so.

Matt Maxwell: FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONARIES: JOHN BYRNE v.1
Someone reminded me of these in a twitter conversation recently and I was inspired to revisit these.  While they’re not written in a fashion that we’re used to today, they’re as good as I remembered them.  And it’s pretty amazing to know that John Byrne not only pencilled these stories, but wrote them and inked them, all on a monthly schedule like clockwork.  The stories themselves don’t show it, either.  They’re all engaging, and remarkably solid and dense.  Most of them are actually one-shots, where everything is wrapped up in 22 pages, which makes for a satisfying read.  Sure, by our standards, they’re overwritten, but they’re filled with imagination as well.  It may not be the Lee/Kirby FF, but it is an entertaining read nonetheless.

BLOOM COUNTY ARCHIVES v.1
I couldn’t resist, as this was one of three comics I was able to follow from beginning to end.  And as Berkeley Breathed was right there signing them at the IDW booth, I took the opportunity and ran with it.  Though i suppose this is cheating, as it’s “What I’m About to Read”, not really what I’m reading.  Just yet anyways.

Domo

Brigid Alverson: I had pretty low expectations for Domo: The Manga. I never found the character very appealing — he’s one-dimensional and lacks the quirkiness of a lot of Japanese cartoon mascots. But Tokyopop played this one pretty well. Domo is the mascot for Japan’s NHK network and stars in a series of 30-second animated shorts there. Writer Clint Bickham chose a similar format for the book, with a series of very short stories, every one of which could be summed up as: Domo finds something cool and gets carried away, to the annoyance of his friends. The storytelling is almost wordless, which means the art has to be very good, and it is; Tokyopop picked some veteran global manga artists to illustrate the book. There’s not much depth to it, but it’s simple, bright, and funny, very good for what it is—a kids’ book.

I wish I could find Meg Cabot and Jinky Coronado’s Avalon High manga trilogy as likable. The problem with this set, the latest volume of which just came out, is that the manga are based on a set of prose novels with a fairly complicated back story (American teenagers are reincarnations of King Arthur and his court), so the whole first volume is recap. Coronado’s drawing style is a bit heavy-handed — her figures all seem very solid and fleshy—which also weighs the books down a bit.

Red Plains, on the other hand, is a comic for grownups. It’s a western, something I don’t see a lot of, and the first story arc is about ranchers vs. settlers, a classic theme. I really enjoy Noel Tuazon’s loose, brushy inking style in the first arc, Range War, and I like Larry Watts’s tighter work in the later arcs as well. I’m still getting a feel for the story, and Tuazon’s art is so loose that it’s hard to tell the characters apart, but Caryn Tate’s solid, spare writing is keeping me hooked.

New Warriors Classic, Vol. 1

David Gallaher: On the print side of things, I’ve spent most of the last three weeks reading all of the back issues from The Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition. I’ve always been a Marvel handbook junkie and I love having the opportunity to go back and re-visit all of these characters. Among my favorites, of course, are the old BOOK OF THE DEAD volumes. As much as I like reading the newer Marvel handbooks, for my money, these are still the best

Besides refreshing my old Marvel Lore, I’ve been really enjoying the trade of NEW WARRIORS CLASSIC Vol 1 – and I can’t wait for VOL 2! Almost twenty years later, Fabian Nicieza’s writing is still crisp as ever and Mark Bagley’s pencils are dynamic, interesting, and engaging.

Speaking of the New Warriors, NOVA always tops my reading list. Several folks have often cited that Nova is a rip-off of GREEN LANTERN, but that’s not a connection I tend to make [as I see far more of Doc Smith's LENSMAN in NOVA]. Richard Rider is simply one guy trying to do his best with the situation life has handed him. Over the course of the last ten years, Nova has gone from being a a bit of a joke – to being one of Marvel’s stellar heroes. Abnett and Lanning are doing amazing things with this book. Pick up a copy of the series – and I think you’ll agree. [Also, as a totally geeky aside, if my calculations are correct, NOVA will be approaching his 100th cumulative issue in about 17 more issues - which is around the time of his 35th anniversary as a character!]

Webcomics-wise, I’ve found myself really enjoying Cameron Stewart’s award-winning series Sin Titulo. It’s a moody, semi-autobiographical thriller — and Cameron’s storytelling is really at its peak here. And if you aren’t familiar with any of the other comics on Transmission X, you are really missing out on some extremely well-crafted comics!

Also, I following the work of my peers on Zuda. This week, in particular, I’ve found myself reading or re-reading Ilias Kyriazis’ MELODY, Andy Belanger’s BOTTLE OF AWESOME, and Kevin Colden’s I RULE THE NIGHT.

And, finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how Brad Guigar’s EVIL INC. series always manages to keep me entertained.

The destruction of Sodom, from Crumb's Genesis

What more need be said really? Six pages of one of the most hotly anticipated books of the decade available online for your perusal. The New Yorker preview left me a little cold, but looking at these pages, man, I’m gettin’ excited all over again.

Crumb's The Book of Genesis

As Tom Spurgeon reported on Friday, WW Norton is offering a limited edition slipcase of Robert Crumb’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Book of Genesis that comes with a signed print. The cost? A mere $500. Amazon.com has the book listed for only $315, a relative bargain by any standard (it also seems to be the cheapest price on the Net right now based on my admittedly quick perusal). There will only be 250 copies of this edition available, so order yours now. You are going to be ordering one right? C’mon, confess, who among you is going say ‘heck with fixing the washer and dryer’ and pick one of these up instead?

Dig those unfinished pages man

The New Yorker, or at least its Web site, has quickly become the go-to place for those eager to learn about Robert Crumb’s upcoming and much-anticipated adaptation of the Book of Genesis. Blogger Leigh Stein’s latest revelation comes courtesy of Crumb neighbor and fellow artist Peter Poplanski, who talks about how he helped Crumb do research for the book by taking photos of Biblical-themed movies:

“Robert would go over and over the costume folds, how the robes fit, the drapery. Once you know the gravity of fabric, you also have to light it, so the fabric has weight,” Poplaski said.

He scoured flea markets and discount bins for copies of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1923 and 1956), William Wyler’s “Ben Hur” (1959), and a made for TV Samson and Delilah starring Dennis Hopper as a Philistine general. He also turned to some less predictable Hollywood sources—Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Sheltering Sky” (1990), Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1998), and Stephen Sommers’s “The Mummy “(1999) and “The Mummy Returns” (2001).

Update: I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but apparently the latest issue of the New Yorker contains an 11-page excerpt from the book. So be sure to run out to your local newsstand dealer post-haste.

Muppets Rawk!

This has been making the rounds lately: A mash-up by Marc Palm of the Muppets and Robert Crumb’s famous Cheap Thrills record cover. Be sure to click on the link to see all the notes and YouTube links to the songs referenced.