Mister Baker, perhaps the funniest cartoonist alive, steps out of his clown shoes and puts on his severest suit and tie to deliver this sermon of repression and defiance, violence and vengeance, and struggle and sacrifice, in this synecdochical story of slavery in these United States. Reading this book, in which the narrative is advanced almost entirely in images (pantomime style) interspersed with excerpts from The Confessions of Nat Turner, it is impossible not to marvel at the strength of Baker's storytelling. And, there is a method to the madness of attempting to relate so complex a tale entirely in images. It captures the forced...

This graphic memoir is one of the single most touching and heartfelt works ever produced in comics form. The story of the author's parents and, beginning about half way in, the author's own as well, Ethel & Ernest presents a beautiful miniature of a couple's life together that is at the same time a definitive tale of 20th Century working class Britain. Yes, the book is not free from sentimentality, but has anyone ever produced a work about one's own parents that is? and not only that, the sentiment in Ethel & Ernest is of the highest order. The only work produced in comics that is even remotely comparable to this is Will Eisner's...

Krazy Kat aficionados have long placed its creator, George Herriman at or near the center of the development of comics and cartooning. A prodigious talent, and true comics pioneer – possessed of an unquestionable genius – he produced comics of startling fluidity; words, images and design each blending seamlessly, eachreinforcing andsupporting the other to create works of lasting strength and beauty. The concept of the intelligent vocalizing cartoon animal –the “funny animal” – that gave rise to Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald and Daffy Ducks and countless others was more or less forged by Herriman, who in the process opened...

McNaught's contribution to the aforementioned A Graphic Cosmogony, "Pilgrims," was one of the real standouts, and his Birchfield Close is a masterpiece in miniature. There is a lot going on in this slim, 5" x 7" hardcover. First and foremost, there is a wholly successful evocation of the modern condition that reveals a heretofore unrecognized potential for visual poetry in suburban tract housing. This is no small achievement. It is accomplished through a highly disciplined use of the two-color palette in combination with a real tour de force in layout. Connoisseurs of the comics grid will find themselves returning to this work over and...

After Nothing Comes collects several of Ms. Koch's out-of-print, self-published zines. Koyama Press has striven to capture the look and feel of the originals within the limitations of a standard collection. The representation of each zine reproduces the tone of the original paper stock to provide readers with the next-best-thing to getting their hands on the zines themselves (which, at this point, would be no mean feat). Originally published between 2008 and 2014, these six works, taken together, provide an excellent introduction to her work. Koch is concerned with evoking specific states of mind and visually connecting / correlating them...

It's here! This year's comics message from Jaime and Beto, akaLove and Rockets: New Stories #6. As readers of this space are no doubt already aware, this year Fantagraphics is celebrating thirty years of publishing Love and Rockets (at this point it's actually 31 years, but the celebration shows no sign of letting up). This issuereflects (refracts?) a bit of this hurly burly in that in contains two dozen inter-related tales! The wait is over, now it's time to settle into an easy chair with a reading light and be transported to the Perfect Sphere of True Comics, with the Hernandez brothers as your guide. See you there!

Aptly referred to as "the B-SIde to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet", Ronald Wimberly's Prince of Cats pulls off quite a feat: successfully reimagining the world of Romeo and Juliet in an hepper-than-hep 1980s NYC where hip-hop and punk exist side-by-side andduels are settled with Samurai swords. The story here centers and pivots on the figure of Tybalt, with Romeo and Juliet as supporting cast. The art is dynamic, colorful and perfectly captures the mood while doing an amazing job of visually transcribing the throbbing soundtrack of the streets, train tracks, nightclubs, tenements, alleyways, nightclubs, bedrooms, offices, backrooms and...

back in print, at last! Originally published in 1994, City of Glass was ahead of the comics history curve in many respects, with its "serious" literary concerns and dazzling formal inventiveness. It was the most requested out-of-print volume in the history of the Copacetic Comics Company before being brought back in print in this 2004 edition. This edition remains faithful to the original, but has been updated with a new cover as well as a new introduction by Art Spiegelman (see above) that lays out the genesis of this particular work, helping to place it in the proper historical context. Recommended!

Bill Griffith, widlely heralded as a founding father of underground comics and late-20th century pop counter culture, primarily for his star creation, Zippy the Pinhead, but also for his pioneering editorial contributions to the important comix anthologiesYoung Lustand, with Art Spiegelman,Arcade,has here, in the pages of this200 page graphic memoir, told the story that he has been keeping to himself all these many decades. This one's got a title -- well, subtitle, anyway -- that pretty much doesn't hold back the punch line; what was the big surprise for the author isfait accomplifor all readers going in. The reason for this is that there...