(W/A/CA) Gilbert Hernandez The first story collection in Gilbert Hernandez?s Palomar saga to take place after the events of 2010?s High Soft Lisp is torn from the pages of Love and Rockets: New Stories, Love and Rockets Vol. IV, and Psychodrama Illustrated?and expanded with 14 new pages! In Lovers and Haters, 50-year-old cult movie actress Fritz, in addition to her alcoholism and the ups and downs of her career, must also contend with a controlling lover, Danny; a jealous rival, Mila; a score of younger Fritz imitators, a sex cult; and mad scientists. Also in her orbit is her niece, Killer (sometimes literally, as seen in a Doctor Who-inspired TV show), a teen actress trying to launch a singing career while solving math problems. The specter of Fritz?s mother, Maria ? also a cult movie actress ? haunts them all with her beauty from beyond the grave.With a sprawling cast, Lovers and Haters is about mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, complex and often toxic relationships, artists and exploiters, personas and obsessions. It reads like an X-rated The Substance mixed with Mommy Dea

(W) Liniers The second volume in Fantagraphics' English-language collection of the internationally beloved newspaper strip. Elves, witches, forest monsters, unicorns, children, talking cats and penguins? plus zombies with fitbits, Stephen King's Christine working as an Uber, and office politics? The bounds of a daily comic strip don't restrict Macanudo's imagination or subjects. With the range of The Far Side, the whimsy of Mutts, and the heart of Calvin & Hobbes, artist Liniers brings his distinctive illustrative line and sensitive watercolors to whatever crosses his mind on a given day. Readers of the previous volume will recognize some recurring characters and stock players, but each book stands alone, and every strip builds its own world. Whether commenting on pop culture, society, or the environment, or celebrating art, nature, or the act of reading, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) expresses his thoughts with joy and beauty. Most of them are funny, too. Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Macanudo steadily gained popularity around the world, and has been appearing in US newspapers since

(W/A/CA) Liniers Children reading to cats, penguins imagining the impossibility of alien life not including them, imaginary friends romping in the forest, horror-movie characters looking for friends, cartoons experiencing the awkwardness of zoom calls, witches frustrated over a Netflix lag on their crystal balls? Liniers mixes his repertory cast of fantasy and child characters with one-offs to express whatever happens to be on his mind that day. While the touches of real life are always intermixed among his whimsical world, the spirit of imagination and love of nature only becomes more heightened in many of these strips which run from early 2020 into 2021.Handsome, landscape-format hardcovers with debossed covers showcase Liniers? beautiful, full-color cartooning in the way it deserves. The influence of Krazy Kat and Mutts extends beyond the tone, charm, and humanity of the content to formal playfulness, and these books are the best way to appreciate the full range of the work.

(W/A/CA) Liniers Fantagraphics is proud to present Argentine cartoonist Liniers' internationally-acclaimed newspaper comic strip in an Englishlanguage collection for the first time. In the spirit of Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Krazy Kat, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) uses a shifting cast of children, talking animals, imaginary monsters, sensitive robots, occasional elves, and anthropomorphized objects to perform gags, philosophize, muse on nature, and engage in surreal, artistic flights of fancy. With delicate, calligraphic pen work and understated watercolors, the comic skips lightly from style to style and subject to subject, as Liniers allows his imagination and observational humor free reign. Jokes about domestic life, imagined scenarios of historical figures, Cthulu showing up to Tinder dates, characters simply enjoying a pastoral sunset, the puncturing of pop-culture stalwarts: Macanudo is a boundless canvas for its author's humane and delightfully off-kilter view of the world, in a way few comic strips have ever even attempted. Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Macanudo steadily g

(W/A/CA) Milo Manara Young Giuseppe Bergman, thirsting for escape from the banal, soul-crushing boredom of his everyday life, answers a mysterious ad offering the adventure of a lifetime. But before he even gets a chance to understand what that means, he?s swept up in a headlong rush of outrageously convoluted danger and fast-paced action ? for which he is absolutely unprepared ? all at the behest of the enigmatic ?H.P.? and an unseen television audience. Artist/writer/creator Milo Manara skewers adventure comics, ?reality? TV, and narrative convention itself in this absurdist, sophisticated satire that launches the innocent Giuseppe into the first of many adventures to come. The Magnificent Adventure, complete in one volume.

(W) Mark Twain (A/CA) Seymour Chwast Written in 1910 in his 70th year, Mark Twain, having lived through 14 wars waged just by his own country on others, declined to publish this poetic despairing reproof against patriotism. His regular illustrator Daniel Beard even urged Twain to issue the piece, to which the author replied, No, I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead.It took 13 years after his passing for that prophecy to be fulfilled ? and now, another 102 years later, the legendary illustrator and graphic designer Seymour Chwast (himself 92 years young) has fulfilled Beard?s dream of enriching the fable with illustration.Chwast brings every aspect of his skills to this interpretation: drawing, design, typography, type design, pastel painting and computer color all sit alongside each other with Twain?s text in pages that expand and pace the original. With another century and a quarter of warfare passed since its writing, Chwast?s artwork echoes advances in technology but Twain?s message about the

(W/A) Paco Roca Spain's answer to Seinfeld, these observational, relatable autobio vignettes by Spanish cartoonist Paco Roca poke fun at the vexing tribulations of modern life. At 40, cartoonist Paco Roca has finally achieved his childhood dream - to spend all day at home in his pajamas! However, his blissful, loungewear-clad reverie is beset with a host of mundane problems: He dreads small talk with 'the world's biggest bore,' but his excuses and white lies are finally catching up with him. When a good friend breaks up, taking either side could lead to social disaster. The simple mission to change his train ticket descends into an impossibly complicated, Kafka-esque affair. And worst of all, his partner keeps hanging the toilet paper roll the wrong way! In the vein of sitcoms like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Roca's comic vignettes brilliantly satirize the pesky pitfalls of modern- day life. Like most of us, Roca's alter ego just wants to be liked and to do the right thing, but finds that through crippling indecision, cowardly behavior, and the absurd machinations of the univ

(W/A/CA) Tommi Parrish Tommi Parrish's sophomore graphic novel establishes them as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary literature. Eliza is a thirtysomething struggling single mother and poet. Sasha, a twentysomething yearning for direction in life, just moved back in with her parents and dabbles as a sex worker. The two strike up an unlikely friendship that, as it veers toward something more, becomes a deeply resonant exploration of how far people are willing to go to find intimacy in a society that is increasingly closed off. In Sasha and Eliza, Parrish has created two of the most fully realized characters in recent contemporary fiction. Parrish's gorgeously painted pages showcase a graceful understanding of body language and ear for dialogue, brilliantly using the medium of comics to depict the dissonance between the characters' interior and exterior experiences. Men I Trust is about not-always-healthy people attempting to make healthy connections in a disconnected world, and is one of the most moving and insightful works of literary fiction in any medium this year.

(W) Andrea Freccero, Alessandro Perina (A) Stefano Turconi (CA) Andrea Freccero Ernest Hemingway: Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, war hero, famed novelist, journalist, adventurer - and inspiration to Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and Goofy! The year: 1999. The place: Italy. Fan-favorite Venetian Disney cartoonist Giorgio Cavazzano dared a creative team to take its cues from Ernest Hemingway for a striking, cinematic, and occasionally silly new series of Duckburg tales! In this original Disney collection, Hemingway's 'The Battler' and 'The Killers' inspire new Mickey and Peg Leg Pete parodies while our title adventure, with Mickey meeting 'Ernest' in person! From Donald's bid for knighthood as 'The Duck Who Would Be King' to Peg Leg Pete's invasion of a diner in 'Bad Boys' and Uncle Scrooge's shark-wrangling in 'The Older Man and the Sea,' these epics range from direct pastiches to shorts loosely based on 'Papa' Hemingway's work - each paired with its authors' 'liner notes,' telling the fascinating tale of how and why they were inspired. Genova-born Andrea Freccero wa

(W) Francesco Artibani (A) Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Claudio Sciarrone It's Disney's 100th anniversary - but what would Duckburg and Mouseton be like another 100 years from now? In an epic collection of all-new comics adventures, we're finding out! Life is like a cyber-hurricane! From giant robots to wild Martian rovers, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pegleg Pete, and the Phantom Blot face futuristic thrills and chills in all-new comics epics - classic tales with a twist inspired by vintage cartoons, but taken in an unexpected, hi-tech direction! In 'Lonesome Ghosts in the Machine,' 'Thru the Metaverse,' and six more feature-length adventures set on earth, outer space, and cyberspace, fan-favorite writer Francesco Artibani ('Scrooge's Last Adventure') fronts an international creative team taking our Disney adventurers where no Mouse has gone before? in a lush variety of author-driven art styles! Francesco Artibani, born in Rome, Italy, has long worked for The Walt Disney Company Italia, where he has scripted many comics adventures for Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Duck Avenger, and the bel

(W/A/CA) Paul Murry In this collection of comics stories, Mickey and Goofy are trapped in cold and snow with a monster below! Adventure-seeking Mickey doesn't usually regret being Chief O'Hara's freelance detective - but all bets are off when the Chief pitchforks Mickey and Goofy into saving Cousin Frosty's winter resort from a monster! From snowballs to cliffside falls, deadly accidents have Sawtooth Mountain in an uproar ? and if a man-eating yeti isn't responsible, who is? And 'Sawtooth Mountain' is just the start! Mickey confronts mystical Hawaiian elves in 'Pineapple Poachers'? and is forced to reform the villainous Pegleg Pete in 'Mickey's Strange Mission!' A recreation of the stories' original Dell Comics color is icing on the cake.In the Disney Masters series, Fantagraphics unearths a treasure trove of hitherto untranslated work in the grand Walt Disney tradition, expanding the mythologies of fan favorites Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and bringing to American readers the work of the acclaimed foreign artists who popularized beloved Disney characters in their own countries. F

(W/A/CA) Romano Scarpa, John Lustig From Minnie to Horace to Mortimer Mouse, Mickey?s friends and fiends are bewitched by Dr. Wrayspray and his amazing health tonic. But Mickey smells a rat ? and the trail leads to Wrayspray?s headquarters on Brigaboom, an amazing island that only appears once every five years? where Peg Leg Pete is cooking up a diabolical new racket! Next, it?s Donald in deep duck trouble when he?s forced to battle an army of AI-controlled evil toys in ?Remotely Impossible? ? and his own unhinged cousin in ?The Unsinkable Kildare Coot!? Finally, Goofy?s royal love interest returns in ?The Famed Jumping Frog of Queen Zenobia?? with a criminal plot hot on her tail!

(W) Francesco Artibani (A/CA) Corrado Mastantuono Who sank Steamboat Willie? Mickey and Peg Leg Pete declare a truce to solve an ancient mystery?but an older enemy hopes they go down with the ship! How did Peg Leg Pete become Mickey?s archenemy? Sail into the past aboard that infamous riverboat Steamboat Willie? and see how a standoff between Mickey, Pete, and jewel thief Jeb Fishbone sank the ship?and lost Mouseton?s biggest gem in the roaring rapids! Can Mickey and Pete raise Steamboat Willie today? Or will they destroy each other trying?The adventures continue as Donald and Gyro Gearloose battle their brassy new neighbor, one-duck disaster area Boomer Buff, in ?The Case of the Amazing Brain.? And then Mickey is back for round two?and maybe three? ?when a ?Mouse in the Mirror? turns real, and Mickey faces off with Ricky Rodent, an evil twin who?s also a better detective!

(W/A/CA) Shungiku Uchida In this raunchy, moving, funny manga for adults, high school student Minami's girlfriend, Chiyomi, shrinks down to six inches tall - and moves in with him! Originally appearing in the underground/alternative manga magazine Garo in the 1980s and adapted for television several times, the Japanese pop culture sensation Minami's Lover is the story of two high schoolers' romantic relationship when one of them shrinks down to six inches tall.

(W/A/CA) Daniel Clowes This long-awaited new graphic novel from Daniel Clowes (Ghost World and Patience) is a genre-bending thriller from one of the most assured storytellers of all time. Monica is a series of interconnected narratives that collectively tell the life story - actually, stories - of its title character. Clowes calls upon a lifetime of inspiration to create the most complex and personal graphic novel of his distinguished career. Rich with visual detail, an impeccable ear for language and dialogue, and thrilling twists, Monica is a multilayered masterpiece in comics form that alludes to many of the genres that have defined the medium - war, romance, horror, crime, the supernatural, etc. - but in a mysterious, uncategorizable, and quintessentially Clowesian way that rewards multiple readings. Five years in the making, Monica marks the apex of creativity from one of the defining voices of the graphic novel boom over the past quarter-century. A new book from Clowes is always a huge event in comics and literary circles; Monica will be the biggest literary event of 2023. Dan

(W/A/CA) Kevin Fraser Mutch Mistreated for being mixed-race and forced into hard labor at a workhouse in West Hoboken, New Jersey, young Max and Molly are ordinary orphans — or so they think. That is, until a wise old man hears their last name: M’Chawi. Rattled by this realization, he sends them off on a journey that will uncover the secret behind their mystic lineage and give them purpose and power far from home — on the Moon! There, they encounter the Moon’s fantastic inhabitants: the Sky Pirates and their merciless Queen Melissa; the Groos, blue primates and genius mechanics — literal grease monkeys — and their robot protector, Moma Machina; and a kingdom of singing spiders giant enough to eat a man. Looks can be deceiving, and those who first appear frightening can turn out to be allies, and even friends. Take Prince Grakko, pampered heir-apparent to the Bat-People.The Moon is a land locked in constant battle. Races live in fear and ignorance of one another. To make matters worse, the siblings’ getaway isn’t as clean as they’d hoped, and the Earth Queen’s Grand Inquisitor is hot

(W) Wojtek Wawszczyk (A) Antonia Llyod-Jones In this electrifying graphic novel debut, Polish animator and cartoonist Wojtek Wawszczyk uses magical realism to tell a moving tale of finding light in a life full of darkness. Mirroring the world we live in, the protagonist of this graphic novel comes from a broken home. However, in this case, the term is quite literal. Due to freak accidents at the steelworks where his parents work, his mom snapped in half, and his dad flattened like a pancake. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, one day, he suffers his own life-changing experience: mistakenly swallowing molten metal gives him the strange power to radiate heat and light - like a lightbulb. As he grows up, evolving from Bulb Boy to Mr. Lightbulb, he finds that his unique abilities can be a curse and a blessing; while they alienate him from others, they also allow him to shine. At once surrealist, comedic, heartbreaking, bitterly sarcastic, and deeply sincere, Mr. Lightbulb is an essential work of comics autobio. With bold, expressive ink strokes and brilliant use of visual metaphor,

(W) Sybille De La Croix, Amazing Ameziane (A) Amazing Ameziane, Sybille De La Croix (CA) Sybille De La Croix, Amazing Ameziane In this follow-up to their NYT bestselling graphic biography of Muhammad Ali, the acclaimed French writer and artist duo tell the story of Black activist, professor, and prison abolitionist Angela Davis. In Ms Davis, the acclaimed French cartooning duo tell the story of this seminal, revolutionary 1960s icon through an accessible graphic novel narrative. Born in 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama, Angela Davis' family fought in the civil rights movement against racial segregation enforced by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1968, she joined the Black Communist Party and traveled to Cuba, a journey which left its mark on her forever. In 1971, Davis was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List because several Black prisoners whose causes she had championed used weapons she owned in a Marin County courtroom gunfight. She went to prison despite her protestations of innocence. The Black People in Defense of Angela Davis formed, and soon the entire world would know her story and ask fo

(W) Gipi This coming-of-age graphic memoir is a relentless and exhilarating journey to the depths of the human condition, rendered with precision and verve by one of the world's greatest living cartoonists. "You've always got to laugh at tragedy. That's why I laugh about my ailment. Ailments. About being a sexual spastic. About my perennial, cowardly, tantalizing desire to die. You can laugh about anything. Almost." Spoken by his self-depiction, these bitter words set the tone for Gipi's pitch-black humor in this unvarnished and uncompromising autobiographical tale. A young adult adrift in the world, Gipi's stand-in grapples with sexuality, insecurity, deception, depression, drug use, fading friendships, and the capricious cruelties of the world as he struggles to determine whether his life is worth living. Drawn in Gipi's signature elegantly scribbled ink style and punctuated by vivid watercolor splashes, My Badly Drawn Life weaves through the past and present, through narratives both real and imagined, to create an impressionistic account of his complex inner life. In this kale

(W) Robert Mailer Anderson (A/CA) Jon Sack Set in Liberal, Kansas, a teenager moves in with her gay, film geek Godfather and his partner who run the Starlite movie theater, a safe haven for their eccentricities and artistic yearnings. My Fairy Godfather tells a story about how music and film connect us to who we?ve loved, who we?ve been, and who we are becoming ? and that lying beneath the fa?ade of teenage cynicism is the profound desire to be understood and loved.

(W/A/CA) Emil Ferris Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ?60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two is the eagerly awaited conclusion to one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the past decade. Presented as the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold.In Book Two, dark mysteries past and present continue to abound in the tumultuous and violent Chicago summer of 1968. Young Karen attends a protest in Grant Park and finds herself swept up in a police stomping. Privately, she continues to investigate Anka?s recent death and discovers one last cassette tape that sheds light upon Anka's heroic activities in Nazi Germany. She wrestles with her own sexual identity, the death of her mother, and the secrets she suspects her brother Deez of hiding. Ferris?s exhilarating cast of characters experience revelations and epiphanies that both resolve and deepen the mysteries visite

(W) George Ryan (A/CA) Eve Gilbert Plucked from his workaday youth as an Irish-American kid from Brooklyn, Ryan?s military deployment to Vietnam begins in 1966 with shiftless excursions into women, booze, and reefer. As he wades ever deeper north, his cavorting is replaced by an unceasing violence. The amorality of war, and specifically this war, is laid bare. Eve Gilbert?s nakedly primitive drawing perfectly reflects Ryan?s own naivete, filled to the brim with acerbic commentary and pitch-black humor. Images overflow with blood and dissidence, dripping with rage for the injustice done to the young men made grist for the war machine. Ultimately, My Year in Vietnam is a story of triumph and humanity, of men rising against their country?s worst impulses. Ryan?s greatest act of resistance becomes his life, proving that the men who fought these wars can be more than weapons and fodder, but activists and paragons and fathers and grandfathers; thinking, feeling, beating hearts.

(W/A/CA) Justin Gradin Justin Gradin's stunning debut graphic novel Mystic Debris and its cast of quixotics exist in a comics continuum with Gary Panter's Jimbo, Mark Beyer's Amy and Jordan, and Marc Bell's Shrimpy and Paul. Whizbang is a metalhead whose band, Fascinator, has left him for stardom. His wife, Planchette, has left with their newborn baby. He leaves himself for a shimmy up the astral projector stripper pole, to hang with cosmic dust bunnies in a quest for enlightenment, or at least in a quest to avoid a job at the door factory.

(W) Peter Maresca, Brian Walker (A/CA) Ernie Buschmiller Ernie Bushmiller stated that hisNancywas created for ?the gum chewers? and not the ?caviar eaters.? He might be surprised to find his work honored in an important art exhibition. Nancy herself would believe she deserves nothing less! By scholars, collectors, and fans, the importance of Ernie Bushmiller?s work has been acknowledged in recent years as he takes his place among the great classic cartoonists. This book is a companion catalogue of artwork, memorabilia, and more from ?The Nancy Show? a 2024 exhibition honoring Bushmiller at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Included are high-quality images of over 100 pieces of Ernie Bushmiller original artwork, plus a biography by exhibition curator Brian Walker. A collector?s story by Tom Gammil gives insights on Nancy artwork and displays a gallery of dolls, toys, and other merchandise. The Nancy Show also features contributions by authors Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden (How To Read Nancy), as well as notes from Bill Griffith, Patrick McDonnell, Ivan Brunetti, and other

(W/A/CA) Ari Richter Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz is an act of self-discovery and the resuscitation of historical memory. At its heart is the intersection of a genocidal political moment in 20th century history and the author?s own family history. Told from the perspectives of four generations of the author?s family, spanning pre-war Germany to post-Trump America, it is both a celebration of Jewish cultural resilience and a warning of democracy?s fragility in the face of the seductive forces of authoritarianism. Part travelogue, part memoir, part historic retelling, author Ari Richter recreates his family?s journey leading up to and extending beyond the Holocaust.Relying on extensive genealogical research and his family?s archiving, Richter illustrates the lives of his grandparents while reflecting on the burden of a storyteller to carry on these legacies. It is a rare glimpse into the firsthand stories of both Holocaust survivors and their descendants, told as an intertwined tapestry of faith, grief, and ultimately, survival. Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz is an intimate

(W/A/CA) Richard Sala When Richard Sala passed away in 2020, he left behind a uniquely eldritch body of graphic novels and illustrations, fueled by macabre whimsy and a love of dark mysteries and vintage monsters. Like David Lynch, Sala was a painter who turned to a storytelling medium that allowed him to create inventive narratives inspired by such disparate influences as French crime fiction, the grim humor of Charles Addams, the surreal poetry of Jorge Luis Borges, and his own penchant for all things gleefully ghoulish and sinister.Originally self-published in an edition of 500 copies in 1984, Night Drive collects several short stories inspired directly by pulp magazines, film noir, and Andre Breton — sinister and creepy pieces heavy on the atmosphere and signaling the creative emergence of a singular talent finding his footing with the surety of an artist equipped with the innate mastery of his craft and vision. Night Drive directly led to Sala contributing to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Raw and the adaptation of Night Drive's “Invisible Hands” for MTV’s Liquid Televisio

(W/A/CA) John Kenn Mortensen Gruesome, spindly figures gather outside a house, then spirit away a dreaming youth, bed and all. The stage is set for 32 skin-crawling poems imagining various children?s nightmares, all with sequential illustrations by Danish horror master Mortensen.His eerie visions fade to black at the edges, like a dreamer unable to shift their focus, and inspire delicious terror all by themselves. Similarly, the short poems each evoke a distinct sense of dread for the sleeping imagination to expand upon; together, the words and pictures conjure a nightmarish world tinged with pitch black humor. The sequences splay across double-page spreads, evoking Edward Gorey gone grand scale, and grand guignol.For those of a nervous disposition, read in bright sunlight. For those in search of a nervous disposition, take two before bed.

(W/A/CA) Laura Perez ?The night does not belong to us. She harbors her own mysteries.? Nocturnos delves into the ethereal world of the night, when the mundane vibes of the day cede to a mysterious atmosphere in which anything seems possible. In the twilight hours, the darkness feels vast and untamable, the dead can intrude upon the land of the living, and the distance between imagination and reality seems closer than ever. Haunting narration connects a series of vignettes that capture glimpses of people?s lives as they navigate the nighttime. A traumatic collision while driving down a dimly lit road; a bedtime story that blurs the bounds of the imaginary, a walk through the woods that leads to strange symbols; this nighttime tour encompasses lush forests, dreamscapes, and the shadowy corners of private rooms. Along the way, these stories question the truths veiled in dreams, the nature of fear and loneliness, and the unknowable aura of the nocturnal world. In Nocturnos, her most masterful work to date, Spanish comics artist Laura P?rez explores the magic and melancholy we encounter

(W/A) Various (CA) Kayla E The multiple Eisner and Ignatz Award nominated comics anthology returns: with every issue publishing only selfcontained short stories from around the globe, NOW is the perfect primer of the very best of contemporary art and literary comics. In our latest issue, NOW #13, cartoonist Kayla E. (USA) returns with an all-new "Precious Rubbish" strip exploring childhood trauma through her darkly humorous lens; she also contributes this issue's cover. Nathan Gelgud (USA) makes his NOW debut with two strips adapting dialogue from interviews with filmmaker Paul Schrader, while indie humor phenom Josh Pettinger (UK) also appears for the first time. Anchoring the issue is Caitlin Skaalrud's (USA) inspiring and beautiful "How to Make Comics," a 40-page poetic howl about the need to make art and the sacrifices that come with that need ("LEARN THE COPPER TASTE OF HUNGER"). And NOW regulars Noah Van Sciver (USA), Roman Muradov (Armenia), Josh Simmons (USA), Cynthia Alfonso (Spain), Steven Weissman (USA), Emil Friis Ernst (Denmark), and Stacy Gougoulis (Australia) are back

(W) Jon Buller, Laura Buller (A) Laura Buller, Jon Buller (CA) Jon Buller Nudism Comes To Connecticut is a fascinating graphic memoir of optimism, debt, nakedness and real estate scheming in the early 1930s. Frank Mallett, inspired by cooperative colonies he had visited in Europe, returned home envisioning utopian communities of bohemian emigr?s and artistic intellectuals proliferating in sylvan harmony. With the crash of 1929 his already floundering enterprises seemed doomed - until he discovered a growing interest in healthy, wholesome nudism. Closely based on actual people and events, Nudism Comes to Connecticut exposes the conflict between the ecstasy of the 'exquisite naked plunge' and voyeurism, competitiveness, and greed by way of many period writings and letters. Although Frank's love of nature never falters, he learns that there is more to nudism than meets the eye. Nudism is veteran children's book authors Jon Buller and Susan Schade's first published graphic novel, lovingly rendered in delicate, indeed, enticing, pen lines.

(W) Jim Woodring Jim Woodring has been chronicling the adventures of his cartoon Everyman for almost 30 years. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form - both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank's travails but profoundly metaphysical at the same time. Not since George Herriman's Krazy Kat has the comics language been so exquisitely distilled into pure, revelatory aesthetic expression.

(W/A/CA) G. Davis Cathcart One Eight Hundred Ghosts is a graphic novella about the internal and external conflicts of a team of art thieves - the protagonist Cedric and a collection of peers that he assembles - who moonlight as astral projecting time travellers. They lead the typical life of eighties art going socialites on the scene - attending art shows, making appearances at fine dining institutions and artworld hangouts. They also undertake a fantastical heist by using otherworldly technology to enter the future and repurpose the intellectual property of a popular evil artist in order to change its cultural trajectory. The story's heroes realize that society will face a conundrum in the future that only they can rectify: accept the work of a sonic genius despite his abusive tendencies or release the masterpiece themselves, stripping the artist of his pivotal success that would later enable his power and crimes. Ultimately, the group of thieves seek to improve the artworld that they endorse by saving the decade's defining cultural touchstone? Michael Jackson's Thriller.

(W/A/CA) Justin Gradin Ponce Melee is a lonely clock-puncher working for Twin Labs in the cloning dept. When he uses a strand of hair to clone a companion; it’s successful, but she immediately leaves him for greener pastures. So, he clones another potential companion. And that one leaves. And again. And again. Soon, multiple clones begin causing confusion and havoc around town. Meanwhile, one of the errant clones makes a pact with the devil that goes awry and strands Satan in town, forcing him to get a job. Justin Gradin’s sophomore graphic novel (after 2023’s Mystic Debris) combines keen verbal and visual wit with a host of memorable characters — Mandrake the Soda Jerk, private investigator Butterfly Latté, pop superstar Attilla the Hunny, and many more—to create an anarchic, absurdist comedy about lonely souls and the lonely soulless. Pure comics, Gradin’s work has echoes of Gary Panter, Gary Leib, Marc Bell, and Mark Beyer (and even some other cartoonists who may or may not be named Gary or Mark) while remaining a singular, sui generis voice in contemporary comics.

A classic comics collection from 'The Tom of Finland of Japan,' now in paperback! The often violent, visceral, and always provocative style of Japanese manga legend Gengoroh Tagame, one of the originators of Japanese bear culture, comes to life like never before in The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, a new edition of the artist's first English-language collection. Known as 'The Tom of Finland of Japan,' Tagame is celebrated around the world for his groundbreaking work, masterful imagery, and craft, as well as an unbridled exploration of bondage, lust, passion, and romance. This first English paperback edition includes ten short stories dating from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, with an introduction by celebrated novelist and biographer Edmund White, as well as an essay and new jacket design by acclaimed novelist and graphic designer Chip Kidd. With its over-the-top explicitness, this intense collection of erotic stories depicting scenes of BDSM between hypermasculine men, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagameis a must-have for Tagame fans, as well as fans of bear cultures in general.

(W) Gengoroh Tagame, Graham Kolbeins, Anne Ishii, Chip Kidd (A/CA) Gengoroh Tagame The often violent, visceral, and always provocative style of Japanese manga legend Gengoroh Tagame, one of the originators of Japanese bear culture, comes to life like never before in our two volume The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame series ? the only English-language collections of Tagame?s erotic work, celebrated around the world for its groundbreaking subject matter, masterfully crafted imagery, and unbridled exploration of bondage, lust, passion, and romance.Vol. 1 includes ten short stories dating from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, with an introduction by celebrated novelist and biographer Edmund White, as well as an essay and jacket design by acclaimed novelist and graphic designer Chip Kidd. In Vol. 2, Tagame serves up what his fans love best: elaborate, sensational, beautifully rendered erotica and BDSM. Kings, monks, cops, athletes: no manly man is safe from the deliciously depraved fantasies within this treasure trove of long and short stories previously unpublished in English, accompanied

(W/A/CA) Miroslav Sekulic-Struja When Petar returns home to civilian life after his two-year conscription in the ex-Yugoslavian army, he finds himself adrift. Even amidst the most raucous, late-night parties, he feels detached from it all, like a ghost haunting the living. But a serendipitous encounter with Liza, a dancer with a joie de vivre about her, brings a flood of vibrant color into his gray life. Their lyrical romance forms an oasis in a bleak world, until his inner demons start to reveal themselves.A heartfelt character study, this graphic novel paints the portrait of a complex protagonist often at odds with himself. At times, Petar writes soulful, life-affirming poetry, while at others he falls into spells of depression and self-destruction. Petar & Liza is a work of meticulous expressionism that reflects Miroslav Sekulic-Struja?s vivid artistic vision. In dazzling gouache, Sekulic-Struja conjures an earthy, street-level view of humanity, bringing to life bohemian environs of dive bars, back rooms, and crowded cityscapes. He paints a world in darkness and turmoil, in which

(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

(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) 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.