FROM THE ARCHIVES

A run of nine consecutive volumes of Ranma 1/2 by one and only Rumiko Takahashi. Ranma 1/2 is a true classic manga series, whose influence on subsequent shoojo manga is hard to overstate. It also offers a wealth of humorous observations on gender norms and gender construction, to boot!

We came across this run in the archives; all new and unread. If there's anyone who picked up the first volume and is ready to read more, this is a perfect opportunity to do so!

WIth Halcyon: Hermeneutics, or "The New Cartoon Utopia, Ron Rege, Jr. channels the Skibber Bee Bye vibe into a hybridic (schizophrenic?) enhanced/virtual reality // back to nature future via the hyper-connected computer/gaming saturated present and in the process continues to build his unique brand of visionary comics. This foray into the fantastic realms takes the physical form of a 112 page, giant-size (10+" x 12+"), full (flat) color, laminated hardcover volume. Angels and devils (who may be one and the same?) and other celestial beings of the spirit realm dash and dart about the cosmos, both inner and outer – and while doing so,...

Unreal City is D.J. Bryant's first solo book (that we are aware of). Some Copacetic customers willbe familiar with the secondstory in this collection, as it originally appeared in MOME #19. This 21 pagestory, "Evelyn Dalton-Hoyt", is his brutally brilliant re-envisionment of "Driven to Destruction" by Steve Ditko (which, for all you comics collectors and scholars out there, isin the February 1972 [V.2#4]issue ofHaunted, from Charlton),in which an explicit (very) sexual subtext for the characters is supplied by Bryant's vivid imagination and conveyed through hishigh octane pencilling and inking, the combination of which may generate a...

edited by Ivan Brunetti It's too early to say for certain, but this follow-up to Brunetti's already classic 2006 anthology, also published by Yale University Press, might just be even better than its precursor. One thing's for certain: Brunetti has held onto -- and further refined -- his editorial vision of arranging the work contained in this volume in an organic sequence, deftly managing to map out the similarities between artists so that each piece flows smoothly into into the other, creating an amazing sense of an innate connectivity between all areas of comics here on display. This book is a powerful ally in the struggle to bring the...

The second issue of the latest incarnation of The World's Greatest Comics Magazinehas arrived!

Well, instead of the long awaited Maria M., Book Two, we get... Maria M., the compete, all-in-one, single-volume hardcover edition. So, sorry to all those who bought Book One and now have to get it again in this complete volume... but, this one – containing both Books One and Two – is priced only seven dollars more* than Book Two alone was priced (before it was cancelled and replaced with this single volume). Such are the exigencies of publishing.

All that said, Maria M. is a a book of multiple layers. To anyone simply picking it up and reading it, Maria M. will be 232 pages of rock 'em, sock 'em comics pulp fiction, loaded with the sex...

The definitive account of the early jazz scene -- and so much more...

An unforgettable reading experience that opens new perspectives on American history and cultural life.

Now, at last, back in print from New York Review Books!

RECOMMENDED

Hot House has at long last arrived here at Copacetic! The publisher, Fieldmouse Press, has produced a very nice, heavy-duty, oversize (9" x 11"), Smyth-sewn hardcover edition that runs 100 pages; in black & white, of course.

A notably multidisciplinary artist, John Hankiewicz is best known among Copacetic customers for his comics work, which features a labored, detailed pen & ink drawing style that has gradually evolved over his quarter century of comics making. His comics work is also especially notable for its highly successful translations of verbal/textual poetic principles such as meter, foot and rhyme into their visual/comics...

Picking up where the first issue left off, Cold Heat #2 revs it up a few notches and takes us on a whirlwind ride through the dis-united states of the disturbed American psyche. Series artist, Frank Santoro once again refuses to play it safe. This time around he pulls out all the stops and takes the chances that most other artists wouldn't take even if they could. Leaping into the artistic no man's land between the well established borders of pre-existent genres, Santoro combines the propulsive narratives of mainstream American heroic adventure comics, the exaggerated expressiveness of Japanese manga, and the naivete of self-published...

Hypericum is the latest graphic novel from the amazing Manuele Fior. This 144-page, oversize (9" x 12"), full color hardcover is a wonder to behold. Two tales run on parallel tracks, grounded in 1990s Berlin where Italian insomniac, Teresa Guerrero finds herself after being selected as a "scientific assistant to prepare an upcoming exhibit on Tutankhamen's Treasure" being held there. The story connects to – and is bracketed by – the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's ("King Tut") tomb by the British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard Carter – one of the most momentous and substantial archeological finds of modern times – via the device of...