Over the past 20 years, as Peter Bagge worked on his 'Buddy Bradley' stories and other graphic novels, he also cranked out dozens of shorter stories, which are now collected here. Included are one-off gags and short stories as well as a series of Bagge-written stories drawn by other cartoonists, such as Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine, R. Crumb, Johnny Ryan, the Hernandez Brothers and Danny Hellman plus the hilarious 'Kool-Aid Man' written by Alan Moore and drawn by Bagge. This collection shows Bagge at his most free-wheeling and craziest... 50 times over.

(W/A/CA) John Kerschbaum John Kerschbaum's Petey and Pussy return, and so does their unique brand of animal neuroses. Imagine a Secret Life of Pets where the animals hang out in dive bars. Petey is a compulsive dog that values his unchecked freedom and Pussy is a self-absorbed cat with a gambling problem. Their darkly hilarious stories all intertwine at an oddly surreal breakneck pace, making Kerschbaum's tales of balding domestic animals read as if Larry David wrote an R-rated Tom and Jerry for Adult Swim.

(W/A/CA) Attilio Micheluzzi Set during World War I and originally published in serial format from 1977?1982, Petra Ch?rie follows the adventures of Petra De Karlowitz, ?Ch?rie? to creator Attilio Micheluzzi, who addresses her throughout the book. Born to a Polish businessman and the most beautiful woman in Paris, raised in Canton, China, and now based in neutral Holland, she is a spy who answers only to herself. Evoking but cleverly eschewing stereotypes of the femme fatale, Petra is equally at home in the cockpit of an airplane and behind the wheel of a motorcar. More than that, she is an endlessly fascinating enigma and one of the most iconic characters in Italian comics.In short, thrilling tales across sky, sea, and land, zipping from Northern Europe to Mitteleuropa, from the Balkans to the Bosphorus to the nascent Soviet Union, Micheluzzi grapples with an era when Europe?s borders were in flux and battle lines were often blurred. Petra steps in where national allegiances come into conflict with our common humanity.Attilio Micheluzzi, an architect by training who grew up between

(W/A/CA) Moto Hagio This groundbreaking young adult vampire series was created by a pioneer of the shojo/shonen-ai manga genres and one of the world's most influential cartoonists. In our concluding second volume, an amnesia-stricken Edgar is found alone on a snowy night in England. Separated from his 'vampirnella' clan, who feed on the energy of the living and while away the centuries in a village of roses, he struggles to remember his own name. Will Edgar regain his memory and be reunited with them? In stories like 'Piccadilly, Seven O'Clock,' 'Edith,' and 'The Last Will and Testament of Oswald Owens,' there are murders, mysteries, seances, and obsessions - and generations of humans whose lives are profoundly affected by a boy who does not age, Edgar, and his embraced companions: his little sister, Marybelle, and Alan Twilight, a 14-year-old from the 1800s. Fantagraphics is proud to present the second and concluding volume of this best-selling manga, which has been adapted into various media, and is published here in English for the first time. Please note: This book is a traditio

Following the best selling Pogo Volume 1, this new volume finds Walt Kelly at the peak of his powers and features page after page of gorgeously drawn vaudevillian dialogue and action whilst introducing a host of new characters to the swamp. Created during the 1952 political season, Bona Fide Balderdash also features Kelly's acidic political satire and reprints, for the first time ever in full color, two full years of Sunday pages plus extensive historical annotation by comic strip historian R.C. Harvey and an introduction by Stan Freberg.

(W/A/CA) Walt Kelly WALT KELLY TURNS UP THE POLITICAL HEAT IN VOLUME THREE OF THE COMPLETE POGO It's in this volume (featuring another two years' worth of Pogo strips) that we meet one of Walt Kelly's boldest political caricatures. Folks across America had little trouble equating the insidious wildcat Simple J. Malarkey with the ascendant anti-Communist senator, Joseph McCarthy. The subject was sensitive enough that by the following year a Providence, Rhode Island newspaper threatened to drop the strip if Malarkey's face were to appear in it again. Kelly's response? He had Malarkey appear again but put a bag over the character's head for his next appearance. Ergo, his face did not appear. (Typical of Kelly's layers of verbal wit, the character Malarkey was hiding from was a 'Rhode Island Red' hen, referencing both the source of his need to conceal Malarkey and the underlying political controversy.) The entirety of these sequences can be found in this book. But the Malarkey storyline is only a tiny portion of those rich, eventful two years, which include such classic sequences as con

(W/A/CA) Walt Kelly Volume 6 presents all 104 Sunday Pogo strips from 1959-1960 in full-color for the first time since their original appearance. Albert Alligator and Beauregard Bugleboy fend off a man-from-Mars, and Howland Owl investigates Communist espionage in the postal system. Then, its election time and Okefenokee Swamp gets a new presidential candidate, Fremount the Bugboy, sparking a political debate about just who can be president - maybe even a woman! With an introduction by Jim 'Garfield' Davis and supplementary features by comics historians R.C. Harvey, Maggie Thompson, and Mark Evanier.

(W/A/CA) Walt Kelly Collects the years 1963 and 1964 of the classic newspaper strip whose political satire feels more timely than ever. Using the platform of Pogo, Walt Kelly tackled many of the sociopolitical issues of his day: the Red Scare, civil rights, the environment, consumerism. But the strip is also a joyous, poignant, beautifully drawn, and occasionally profound work of 20th-century popular culture. Each volume contains two full years of restored black-and-white daily strips plus all 104 Sundays from the same period. For the first time since their original appearance more than 50 years ago, the Sundays are in full, glorious color.

(W/A/CA) Walt Kelly In addition to presenting all of 1957 and 1958's daily Pogo strips complete in order for the first time, Pogo: The Syndicated Comic Strips Vol. 5 also contains all 104 Sunday strips from these two years, in lush full color for the first time in 60 years! Pogo Vol. 5 also includes a foreword by lifelong Pogo fan and CNN anchor Jake Tapper plus the usual in-depth 'Swamp Talk' annotations by R.C. Harvey, spectacular samples of Kelly's work scanned from original art, and a whole lot more!

(W/A) Walt Kelly This series represents the first time Pogo has been collected complete and in chronological order anywhere, presented in lush full color for the first time since their original appearance in Sunday newspaper section, as well as gorgeous black-and-white reproductions of Kelly's elegant dailies. This volume includes a pig with an ominous resemblance to Nikita Khrushchev and a scruffy goat who looks exactly like Fidel Castro. Both assure Okefenokeeans that a one-party system is the way to go; all will be well economically, they explain, because 'the shortage will be divided amongst the peasants.' Other storylines spotlight Kelly's remarkable cast: Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Howland Owl, 'Churchy' LaFemme, Beauregard Bugleboy, Porky Pine, Miz Ma'm'selle Hepzibah, Deacon Mushrat, and so many others. All 104 Sunday strips from those two years are included, with supplementary features (including comprehensive annotations and index) by comics historians R.C. Harvey, Maggie Thompson, and Mark Evanier.

Foreword by Jimmy Breslin Our first volume (of 12) collects approximately the first two years of Pogo dailies and, for the first time, full-color Sundays. First created in the 1940's, Pogo blended nonsense language, poetry, and socio-political satire, presaging later strips such as Doonesbury and The Boondocks. Special features in this premiere volume include a biographical introduction, an extensive glossary by comics historian R.C. Harvey and a foreword by legendary columnist Jimmy Breslin.

(W/A/CA) E. C. Segar Well, blow me down! This new four-volume series collects the complete run of the original Popeye Sunday newspaper page adventures in an accessible and affordable paperback format! Part slapstick, tongue-twisting comedy, part escapist, Depression-era fantasy, part tenderhearted yet tumultuous romance, Elsie Crisler Segar's newspaper comic strip captivated readers of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. And Popeye, the sailor man, was the unlikely start of the show. Fantagraphics is thrilled to bring Segar's whimsical world back into print, reviving the origins of the beloved spinach-eating American icon for a whole new readership. The E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays series collects the complete Popeye Sunday stories in four gorgeous full-color volumes, each packaged in a deluxe slipcase. Volume one highlights Popeye's riotous romance with his sweet patootie - Olive Oyl. As he courts Olive in comically clumsy fashion, she proves that her sharp wit runs rings around his muddled brain! Next, he becomes a prizefighter and must contend with a series of fearsome opponents, from

(W/A/CA) E. C. Segar In the third volume of the E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays, Popeye and company embark on a gothic adventure on the high seas! Volume three centers around the epic Popeye adventure, 'Plunder Island,' in which our endearing cast of characters takes to the high seas in search of buried treasure - but must contend with the ruthless Sea Hag and her strange sidekick, Alice the Goon. Steeped in shadow and gothic imagery, this tale is an atmospheric and suspenseful departure from the typical Popeye aesthetic - with a little screwball comedy thrown in for good measure. Also in this volume, Popeye proves to be a one-man wrecking crew on the gridiron, Wimpy tries his unsteady hand at duck shooting (uh-oh!), and the crew ride out to the Wild West town of Slither Creek on a rip-roaring gold-hunting expedition. Plus, contemporary Filipino cartoonist Bong Redila pens a lighthearted comic homage to the iconic, eerie duo headlining this volume. An irresistible alchemy of slapstick humor, tender romance, and rags-to-riches fantasy, Elsie Crisler Segar's newspaper comic strip, starring

(W/A/CA) E. C. Segar This dynamic concluding volume introduces a curious creature from the fourth dimension ? Eugene the Jeep! The minute this mysterious marvel with the power of teleportation arrives on the scene, the strip is infused with an oddball, otherworldly quality. Elsewhere, Wimpy continues his befuddling antics; the wily orphan Swee?Pea and the patriarch Poopdeck Pappy cause domestic hijinks; and Popeye does battle with the big bad Man from Mars! Plus, contemporary artist Kayla E. pens a comic homage to the topsy-turvy character headlining this volume.An irresistible alchemy of screwball comedy, tender romance, and rags-to-riches fantasy, Elsie Crisler Segar?s newspaper comic strip, starring Popeye the sailor man, captivated readers of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. Fantagraphics is thrilled to bring Segar?s whimsical world back into print, collecting the complete Popeye Sunday stories in four gorgeous full-color volumes, each packaged in a die-cut vertical slipcase.

(W/A/CA) E. C. Segar In the second volume of Fantagraphics' spectacularly packaged E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays, the incorrigible Wimpy takes center stage! An irresistible alchemy of screwball comedy, tender romance, and rags-to-riches fantasy, Elsie Crisler Segar's newspaper comic strip, starring Popeye the sailor man, captivated readers of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. Fantagraphics is thrilled to bring Segar's whimsical world back into print, collecting the complete Popeye Sunday stories in four gorgeous full-color volumes, each packaged in a deluxe vertical slipcase. Volume one highlighted the mercurial relationship between Popeye and Olive Oyl, while volume two shifts the focus to an even more dynamic connection, between that of J. Wellington Wimpy and his one true object of desire: a delectable hamburger. A notorious chiseler without a penny to his name, Wimpy is forever scheming new ways to bamboozle the local diner out of a mouth-watering morsel of his favorite meal. And the audacious chicaneries Wimpy employs in pursuit of his greatest love are as riotous today as they were

(W) Florent Ruppert & Various Guy is a mediocre mariner, able enough, but also a lazy, thieving, lying drunkard. All of which makes him more real than the swashbuckling Hollywood heroes that grace most pirate narratives. This tour de force of sea-faring gallows humor is also an international event in modern comics, teaming for the first time three titans of the field: Belgian comics master Olivier Schrauwen (Parallel Lives, Arsene Schrauwen) and the acclaimed French duo, Ruppert & Mulot (The Perineum Technique).

(W/A/CA) Kayla E. “If an exorcism can ever be slow and quiet, then every panel I’ve finished has felt something like an exorcism. The gutters give me space to make sense of things: to connect dots and close gaps. To remember.” Kayla E.’s Precious Rubbish is an experimental graphic memoir drawn in a style that references the aesthetics of mid-century children’s comics and tells the story of a childhood shaped by maternal emotional dysregulation, rural poverty, and incest. The author’s childhood is portrayed as a collection of short-form comics and gag panels punctuated by interactive elements like paper dolls, satirical advertisements, games, and puzzles.While the work is concerned with violence and a particularly Texan brand of Pentecostal fanaticism, it is presented in a playful visual language with a deadpan humor that elevates the material beyond mere graphic memoir. Precious Rubbish is a landmark work of comics storytelling and graphic medicine.The debut graphic novel from artist Kayla E., Precious Rubbish asks the reader to do the extratextual work of filling out narrative gaps,

(W/A/CA) Ana Galvan Like a candy-colored Black Mirror episode, Spanish cartoonist Ana Galvan's English language debut utilizes florescent colors to create a series of short stories that intertwine and explore the dehumanizing effects of contemporary society. Galvan's characters navigate a world where Government departments brutalize the people, information is mined like gold and suicide is a tool to manage overpopulation. Galvan's future is a logical extension of the present, where the malice of large corporations manifests itself in everyday ways.

(W/A/CA) Harold Foster In the second volume of the definitive edition of Foster's masterpiece, Valiant helps his father reclaim his throne in the kingdom of Thule, fights alongside King Arthur, and is made a knight of the Round Table - just for starters.

(W/A/CA) Harold Foster In the second volume of the definitive edition of Foster's masterpiece, Valiant helps his father reclaim his throne in the kingdom of Thule, fights alongside King Arthur, and is made a knight of the Round Table - just for starters.

(W/A/CA) Hal Foster In the eleventh volume of Fantagraphics award-winning series, Prince Valiant leaves Cornwall and returns to Aleta, after which the two are summoned to Camelot. Val then begins searching for Gawain, thus commencing another adventure. Presented in full, glorious, restored color and including Foster's rare advertising art from the 1920s, this is the finest reproduction of this enthralling, romantic adventure serial ever published.

(W/A/CA) Hal Foster Traveling the North Atlantic Ocean leads Prince Arn and his crew to the New World. Arn's Vikings team up with the Algonquins, leading to the discovery of the St. Lawrence seaway. Meanwhile, Mordrid plots his revenge, Aleta suffers a case of mistaken identity and Prince Valiant goes on a mission to find a missing heir. This volume also includes a feature on Bob Fujitani's Prince Valiant stories in the Dell comic books, and a gallery of Valiant covers from books and comics.

(W/A/CA) Hal Foster In volume 17, is back in Britain, where he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between Saxon settlers and violent Viking raiders. Gawain's return journey to Camelot is fraught with romantic misadventure and Young Galan goes on a hunt to capture the fabled unicorn. Meanwhile, Arn is enslaved and held for ransom. This volume also includes a supplementary section of rarities and extras, curated by Foster historian Brian M. Kane.

(W) Hal Foster, John Cullen Murphy (A/CA) Hal Foster In Vol. 19, Prince Valiant is sent to defend the borders against invading barbarians, but it is young Arn who takes center stage as he travels to his homeland and loses his heart to Lydia, daughter of Haakon. In Vol. 20, Aleta defeats a wizard, then Aleta?s younger sister Helene is gambled away by her husband to a Corsair mercenary, drawing Val and his Singing Sword into a deadly duel. In Vol. 21, it's election time for the King of Minstrels. Arn and Court Jester Sir Dinadan travel to France to set things right, while Val accompanies the headstrong Gunther of Germany on his quest to recover stolen holy relics and claim a wife in Jerusalem. The mercenary army of a Persian warlord sweeps across the Middle East, forcing Queen Aleta to seek refuge in a hidden utopian city ruled by women. Val competes in tournaments in Marseille and Camelot and reunites with Sir Lancelot, but a tragic death impacts a member of Val's family. Also in this set: Hal Foster?s complete comic-strip adaptation of Franz Werfel?s ?The Song of Bernadette? and bea

(W/A) Hal Foster The latest volume to collect the greatest adventure comic strip in history in full-color. Galan begins the journey to knighthood, bringing both shame and honor upon himself. Val is enslaved in the Berber salt mines while a death watch has begun for King Arthur, and Mordred plots to usurp the throne. Also: a tour of Prince Valiant's England by Cullen Murphy, son of John Cullen Murphy and Todd Goldberg further examines of the historical reality behind the Prince Valiant strip.

(W) Cullen Murphy (A/CA) John Cullen Murphy Arn takes his wedding vows in a milestone Prince Valiant strip The most visually opulent comic strip in the history of the medium celebrates its 50th anniversary with the marriage of Prince Valiant's son. Val goes in search of a northern spice route, which leads him into adventures among the Balts, the Greeks, the Lapps, and the Chinese. A Trojan Horse deception in reverse nearly wipes out Val's expedition, and a dreamlike encounter north of Cathay involves Yeti and other strange creatures. Back in Britain, Arn's bride strikes a blow against chauvinism and liberates the women of the village of Orr to exercise their true potential. Our series of special slipcased gift sets continues with Vols. 13-15 (1961-1966). Prince Valiant creator Hal Foster (1892-1982) is still considered one of the greatest illustrators to ever grace the newspaper page. John Cullen Murphy (1919-2004) became Foster's hand-picked successor on the strip. Cullen Murphy, editor at Vanity Fair and The Atlantic, scripted the strips drawn by his father.

(W) Hal Foster & Various The action never lets up in the newest volume of Hal Foster's masterpiece as Val embarks upon a questin in Cathay, encounters a mechincal dragon, Mordred escapes imprisonment and Val wrestles with a tusked whale off the coast of Greenland! Plus an introduction by Turkish/German artist Ertugrul Edrine and scences of heavy-metal interpreation of Prince Valiant.

(W/A/CA) Hal Foster, John Cullen Murphy, Cullen Murphy On a quest in the Asian lands of Cathay, Prince Valiant encounters a fire-breathing mechanical dragon and the legendary adventurer Prester John. Armies converge, mountains crumble, and a father and son are reunited. Mordred escapes imprisonment and treacherously stabs Arn, who learns that Maeve is soon to give birth. Val discovers a lost colony and wrestles with a tusked whale off the coast of Greenland, but a spell overcomes the expedition on the Isle of Lost Youth. Plus, an introduction by Turkish/German artist Ertugrul Edirne and behind the scenes of a heavy-metal interpretation of Prince Valiant.Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Starring a daring and gallant young hero, the series features epic swordfights, elaborate scenes of pomp and pageantry, and breathless plotting that always leaves the reader wanting more. Fantagraphics? deluxe editions, each collecting two years? worth of Sunday st

(W) Hal Foster, Cullen Murphy, John Cullen Murphy (A) Hal Foster, Cullen Murphy, John Cullen Murphy (CA) Hal Foster The wedding of Karen and Vanni! The adventures of three queens and a princess! Val and Sir Gawain in North Africa! A traitor in control of Aleta?s Misty Isles! Siege on top of siege! Val?s quest for the truth-compelling Shield of Achilles! Plus,?Prince Valiant scholar and translator Dr. Uwe Baumann on Prince Valiant in the early 1990s.Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Starring a daring and gallant young hero, the series features epic sword fights, elaborate scenes of pomp and pageantry, and breathless plotting that always leaves the reader wanting more. Fantagraphics? deluxe editions, each collecting two years? worth of Sunday strips, boast superbly restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster?s art.

(W) Hal Foster, John Cullen Murphy, Cullen Murphy (A/CA) Hal Foster Premonitions of the future inform and confound Prince Valiant and his son Nathan. An earthquake rocks the Misty Isles. Val encounters danger among the Mayans in Guatemala. A druid civil war breaks out in Hibernia. Val arrives in Utopia and discovers a dark secret.Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Starring a daring and gallant young hero, the series features epic sword fights, elaborate scenes of pomp and pageantry, and breathless plotting that always leaves the reader wanting more. Fantagraphics? deluxe editions, each collecting two years? worth of Sunday strips, boast superbly restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster?s art.

(W/A/CA) Johnny Ryan This gory space Odyssey ends the only way it can, with a final fight that pits our antihero against the system that shaped him but couldn't break him. Johnny Ryan's filthy, satirical graphic novel series, which has been adapted into animation, turned into action figures and skate decks and translated into multiple languages around the world, finally concludes! This extra-length final volume is four years in the making and delivers on every front!

Problematic is a rare peek into the Moleskine sketchbooks that award-winning cartoonist Jim Woodring has filled monthly since 2004. Featuring quick concept sketches, figure studies, self-challenges, finished drawings, revenge portraits and caricatures, Problematic is a rollicking, magical dose of raw Woodring.

(W/A/CA) Gilbert Hernandez Proof That the Devil Loves You is the latest in a series of graphic novels featuring Gilbert Hernandez's character Fritz, a B-movie actress (and half-sister to his iconic Love and Rockets character, Luba) whose hourglass figure has earned her a cult following. While Gilbert often explores Fritz's troubled life off-screen in Love and Rockets, for years he has also been 'adapting' her exploitation films in various forms, including a series of standalone graphic novels that include Chance in Hell, The Troublemakers, Garden of the Flesh, Maria M., and Hypnotwist/Scarlet By Starlight.

(W) Shabazz Palaces (A) Joshua Ray Stephens Simultaneous with the release of the new album by Shabazz Palaces, Fantagraphics in conjunction with Sub Pop are making available a full-color, hand-numbered, 32-page book illustrated by Joshua Ray Stephens who worked directly with Shabazz Palaces to interpret the album track-by-track, creating a cohesive whole that synchronizes music and image. This limited edition art piece further expands the ambitious universe of Quazarz and Shabazz Palaces. A download code for the full album will also be included.

(W/A/CA) Yudori Amélie is a brilliant woman trapped in the restricting social mores of high Dutch society in the mid-16th century. Her marriage to Hans, a swashbuckling merchant, is a terrible match. While he charms the townsfolk, at home he is her intellectual inferior and treats her with cruelty and sexual violence. Expected to be a devoted housewife, Amélie can only be her true, free-spirited self when Hans travels away on business — when she can explore the town alone, lose herself in literature, and study winged animals to learn about the mechanics of flight. She looks to the skies and dreams of flying far away. Her life changes when Hans returns from his journey with Sahara, a slave mistress from a distant land. The two women are drawn to each other — each recognizing their confinement in a world dominated by men — and work together to seek their freedom.Told as a fiercely feminist story and spectacularly illustrated, Raging Clouds is the dazzling graphic novel debut of Korean comic book artist Yudori. In her lush manga style, Yudori imagines the period in rich detail with care

(W/A/CA) Briana Loewinsohn Set in the author?s own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of selfworth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships.Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana?s firstperson class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations

The debut of a hilarious, epic fantasy series from the acclaimed co-author of Dungeon. Witty and fleet-footed like all of Trondheim's work, madly inventive in terms of characters, creatures, and events, Ralph Azham is scheduled to run for at least six volumes and is presented in a distinctive 'landscape' format.

(W) Marc Sobel (A/CA) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez Love and Rockets by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez is one of the greatest comic series ever created. However, running consistently for 40 years and encompassing a diverse array of characters, settings, and cultural influences, this literary universe can be daunting to explore. With Reading Love and Rockets, writer Marc Sobel offers an accessible entry point into L&R, an invaluable resource to both new readers and fans who want to deepen their understanding of the series.Reading Love and Rockets hones in on the first 50 issues of the series, tracking the evolution of the characters and storylines, as well as the Hernandez Brothers? growth as artists and writers across this 15-year span of creation. Breaking down each issue in sequence, Sobel blends together his own sharp-eyed observations with analysis from a variety of scholars, critics, and fans to provide a well-rounded perspective on the series. Plus, explorations into topics as wide-ranging as magical realism, women?s wrestling, and the Southern California punk scene

(W/A/CA) Anna Haifisch Dogs in colorful sweatshirts, the glowing signs of a Vietnamese restaurant, solitary palm trees above the pavement: Ready America takes us on a ride through a both strangely familiar and quite alien Los Angeles. Packaging inscriptions, neon signs, and billboards fuse into an appealing typographic montage while familiar American icons peek out between stores and offices, clinics, and morgues. With her unmistakable wit, Anna Haifisch highlights the idiosyncrasies of a country in which catastrophes seem just as ordinary as the sight of a coyote in the Hollywood Hills.

Founded by Paul Krassner, The Realist (1958-2001) was a legendary satirical magazine that featured an amazing stable of contributing writers and cartoonists whose mission was to assault flabby American culture, using humor and ridicule as their weapons of choice. The Realist Cartoons collects for the first time the best, wittiest, and most provocative drawings that appeared throughout the magazine's history, including work by R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, S. Clay Wilson, Jay Lynch, Trina Robbins, Mort Gerberg, Jay Kinney, Richard Guindon, Nicole Hollander, Skip Williamson, and many others.