<<•>>  edited by Charles Burns; series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden  <<•>>   Well, Crumb is a tough act to follow, but we'll give it a shot with this star-studded anthology filled with the best and the brightest from the last twelve months of comics, as judged by Charles Burns.  In a book like this, we feel that the contributor list says it best:  Doug Allen, Peter Bagge, Gabrielle Bell, Matt Broersma, Daniel Clowes, Al Columbia, Robert Dennis Crumb, Sammy Harkham, Tim Hensley, Gilbert Hernandez, Kevin Huizenga, Ben Katchor, Kaz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Michael Kupperman, Jason Lutes, Tony Millionaire, Jerry Moriarty, Anders Nilsen, Gary Panter, Laura Park, Mimi Pond, Ron Regé, David Sandlin, Koren Shadmi, Dash Shaw, Art Spiegelman, Ted Stearn, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, Adrian Tomine, Chris Ware, Dan Zettwoch.  'Nuff said.  Well, actually, we can't help but add that while the material contained in this anthology is absolutely fabulous, the quality of its reproduction is, mysteriously, not up to the same standard as the three previous volumes in this series, which were excellent in that department.  This shouldn't stop anyone from picking up this fine volume, but it is worrisome.  Let's hope that this was a one time aberration and that next year we'll find the fine folks at Houghton Mifflin have figured out what went wrong and put things in the production department back on track.

This One Summer is a finely nuanced portrait of pubescents at the dawning of their age of sexuality that will have readers slowing down if not stopping in their tracks to pause and soak up every line of stunningly good work.  The Tamaki cousins enter Hernandez brothers territory here, with their deftly characterized and deeply empathic portraits of each pen & ink participant in the drama that unfolds on these pages.  There are echoes, too, of Charles Burns’s Black Hole, in the presentation of the protagonists' stumbling upon detritus strewn outdoor settings that stand as a synecdoche for innocence’s discovering the mysteries of sexual fecundity, flesh, decay and death to come.  Innocence and its loss, the gaining of reproductive maturity and its consequences, the linkages between character formation and parental nurturing styles and much more besides are eloquently delineated in page after page of incisive story-telling powered by breathtakingly good illustration.  While the narrative is likely to particularly resonate with those readers in the demographic portrayed, we can unstintingly recommend This One Summer to all who appreciate fine comics:  it is a real stand out; miss at your own peril.  Also available in hardcover.

This One Summer is a finely nuanced portrait of pubescents at the dawning of their age of sexuality that will have readers slowing down if not stopping in their tracks to pause and soak up every line of this amazing work.  The Tamaki cousins enter Hernandez brothers territory here, with their deftly characterized and deeply empathic portraits of each pen & ink participant in the drama that unfolds on these pages.  There are echoes, too, of Charles Burns’s Black Hole, in the presentation of the protagonists' stumbling upon detritus strewn outdoor settings that stand as a synecdoche for innocence’s discovering the mysteries of sexual fecundity, flesh, decay and death to come.  Innocence and its loss, the gaining of reproductive maturity and its consequences, the linkages between character formation and parental nurturing styles and much more besides are eloquently delineated page after page of incisive story-telling powered by breathtakingly good illustration.  While the narrative is likely to particularly resonate with those readers in the demographic portrayed, we can unstintingly recommend This One Summer to all who appreciate fine comics:  it is a real stand out; miss at your own peril. Also available in softcover.

Mariko Tamaki is back at First Second with a new young adult graphic novel, this time around in tandem with Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, who delivers some well paced comics replete with a feeling of openness. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Mecreates a welcoming environment with a diverse and likeable cast of characters and puts them all together to tell a contemporary tale of young love, with a twist.