A skillful if convoluted and at times aggravatingly obfuscatory account of the tumultuous inner sexual turmoil of an aging fanboy victim of "too much cheesecake too soon."  This is Sam Keith stretching himself to the limit in a manner somewhat akin to (if not as successful as) Bill Sienkiewicz's work in Stray Toasters.  Employing the language of comics – specifically his own bag of tricks – Keith bares his psyche and confesses, albeit in a very roundabout manner.  The graphic novel as purgatory.  An original if frustrating work that merits an analytical attention that it may very well fail to attract.

This work, the first full length graphic novel by Sarah Oleksyk, was years in the making – and it shows.  A rite of passage set in the high school years that has the look and feel of being a fictionalized memoir – akin to Craig Thompson's wildly popular Blankets – Ivy is a hard won work of lasting value. Yes:  sex, drugs, angst, body-issues, parental conflict, high school hatin' – it's all here; but there's more. The unfolding narrative demonstrates a rare understanding of the adolescent development of character through peer to peer interaction in the crucible of the quotidian; how character imperfections can be magnified, drawn out, examined, and, with diligent application – and a little luck – be alloyed to inner strengths to forge an enduring adult persona.  We'll stack this 218 page hardcover up against Blankets anyday.  Recommended!

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

Here's a coplete set of the oriignal black & white editions of Scott Pilgrim.  These copies are, technically, new, as they were from the shop, but some of the copies do have some "sunning" along the page edges.

Also, PLEASE NOTE:  Volume 3 is the hardcover edition.  Volumes 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 are softcovers.

ONE set only – GONE!

Xino is a 128 page, full color, softcover anthology of speculative fiction comics.  Engaging themes largely centered around where technology might take us in the near to distant future, but also containing homages to classic SF comics, Xino features computers, robots, gaming, space travel, aliens and all sorts of technologies that the future may bring, particularly those involving a computuer-human/animal interface.  In addition to the comics stories there are plenty of full page illustrations showcasing artistic talent galore. 

Contributor(s): Hester, Phil (Author) , Lapham, David (Author) , Lapham, Maria (Author) , Flores, Melissa (Author) , Segura, Alex (Author) , McDaid, Dan (Author) , Carl, Andrew (Author) , Condon, Chris (Author) , Hahn, David (Author) , Jordan, Justin (Author) , Palevski, Hagai (Author) , Sallah, Alissa (Author) , Thomas, Jordan (Author) , Vigneault, François (Author)  , Cannon, Zander (Illustrator) , Cagnetti, Nick (Illustrator) , Franz, Sophie (Illustrator) , Irizarri, Daniel (Illustrator) , Kane, Shaky (Illustrator) , Mendoza, Molly (Illustrator) , Takhanov, Artyom (Illustrator) , Thorn, Carson (Illustrator), more...                      

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