Get ready for a 474 page graphic novel that entirely transpires on the one single day of the title. Move over Virginia Woolf, step aside Marcel Proust, get back James Joyce, Olivier Schrauwen is here to dilate time and fill it with consciousness, comics-style! Schrauwen's choice of imagery and manner of drawing it adds dimension and perspective to the stream of consciousness, creating meanings otherwise invisible – and in the process puts the comic in comic book. In addition to being a masterpiece, this is a very funny book.

Schrauwen knows how to leverage the innate strengths of comics like few others. If you want to know what ...

From the view here at Copacetic, it appears that Monica has received the highest profile debut of any book in Fantagraphics history – talk about buzz! When was the last time that a graphic novel made the cover / lead review of the New York Times Book Review? (those with access can read it here) Then there's the Washington Post (ditto, about access) Then there's the pieces in the LA Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and a pair of reviews in The Guardian (first | second), and that's just for starters.

In typical Clowesian fashion, Monica follows the titular character through one rabbit hole after another, as she searches for the meaning of...

In this boldly printed, oversize (8 1/4" x 11 1/2") edition of Plaza, Yuichi Yokoyama has managed to translate the frenetic phantasmagoria of hyperconnected late capitalism into page after page after page of manic manga possessed of a relentless rhythmicity that will leave readers reeling in stupefaction. This edition includes a brief interview with and afterword by Yokoyama, conducted by Ryan Holmberg, who also edited and translated this edition.

Here's what a couple of fave Copacetic creators have to say about this work:

Art and literature historians of the future will be flabbergasted that Yokoyama Yuichi existed in our time. He is a...

The plot thickens, the mystery deepens, the pace is picked up and no holds are barred in this, the third issue of the most innovative comic book series in America. While other comic books tout their "new" plot twists and "new" characters and "new" concepts, the comics they produce are, formally, all the same, maintaining the tried and tired industry status quo. Cold Heat is authentically different. Creators, BJ and Santoro understand the conventions under girding the standard comic book format and deftly undercut them, subverting the implicit conservatism of these conventions by exogamously marrying them to an entirely different, diverse...

The tale Blankets tells is in most respects a classic coming of age story, but the place -- emotional as well as geographical -- that it is coming from may not be familiar territory for many readers: an abnegating Christianity built on self-denial ensconced in the harsh northern environs of Wisconsin and Michigan. Yet there can be no doubt that the core questions and values dealt with in Blankets are certainly universal ones. Craig Thompson has clearly devoted himself to a serious study of Will Eisner's late work -- from A Contract With God to the present -- and this study has really paid off here. The pacing, the placement of blacks,...

It's here – the graphic novel edition of Craig Thompson's epic memoir that centers on his personal relationship with ginseng, Ginseng Roots! While it starts out specifically focusing on his family roots in ginseng cultivation, it gradually spreads out into an in-depth historical biography of the humble plant itself, one that reveals the many unexpected ways in which ginseng's roots are deeply entangled in the history of America – both before and after 1492 – and that in the process touches on international cultures, war, world trade – specifically that between East Asia and the US – Christianity, family values, work ethics and much more....

The cover image with whichthe collectedArt Comicfirst greets the eye,in juxtaposing Yves Klein’s “Leap into the Void” with Jeff Koon’s “Balloon Dog,” sends a strong, clear signal of what is in store for the reader, once they crack the cover. The protagonist’s leap here is made with an expression mixing equal parts of hope,fear and anxiety (with, perhaps, a hint of aggression), likely matchingThurber’s own feelings regarding the work’s central concern: the contemporary, NYC-centered, fine art world, and his experiences therein and thereof.

The story begins from the perspective of youthful idealism embodied by students attending Thurber’s...

Whether the point of this novel is to show us the adult that lies latent in the child or to reveal to us the child that the adult never manages to quite fully outgrow is a question that is difficult if not fruitless to answer. What is certain, however, is that the novel Edwin Mullhouse is brilliantly conceived. It is also shockingly well written, replete with uncannily accurate descriptions of childhood perceptions that can at times be overwhelmingly sympathetic. It is at turns funny, sad, insightful, and even profound; but above all else, it is deeply creepy: It reveals -- almost imperceptibly at first, but then slowly, incrementally, the...

Fielder #3 is the comic book as meaning making machine. It is, literally, cover-to-cover comics –38 pages worth – and, not only that, there are two front covers; so, in one sense, it is actually two comics that meet in the middle.

There is so much COMICS here. It could also be said to be a comic book about what a comic book can be. Like, “look at all these different ways to approach the medium: you can do this, and that – and this, and that; and if you combine this you can do that –and if you add that you can do this. And you could draw it this way, or that way, or a combination of the two… and/or…"

There are six distinct sections plus an...

Quite a lot can –and will – be said about the comics that make up Milk White Steed, Michael Kennedy’s first book length collection published in North America. Composed of eight short to medium length stories along with a pair of interstitial two-pagers, it is filled with comics that are artistically grounded, visually stimulating, historically informed, and intellectually challenging, and that together make for a dis- / re-orienting reading experience that, while at times unsettling, is ultimately invigorating and highly rewarding.

A core component of the stories that make up Milk White Steed is their conveyance of the Black British...