Technically yesterday was New Comic Book Day, but technically I was crushed under the weight of our post-election world and spending all day an twitter was just a little too much too soon. But time marches on, and losing yourself in the world of a book helps, even if it’s just for a few hours.
So here are your new comics this week, enjoyable now and always:
Looking for America’s Dog by Steven Weissman
(This book should go down as one of the most touching looks at politicians ever) Vice President Joe Biden left the gate open at the White House and America’s Dog (Bo) has gone missing. Mom is mad and Dad is busy, so now it’s up to the kids to find him. A sequel to Steven Weissman’s 2012 meditation on the challenges of modern adulthood, Barack Hussein Obama, Looking For America’s Dog focuses instead on Generation Z. Teenagers Sasha and Malia navigate an increasingly strange and hostile world in search of their lost dog. But is a lost dog ever really just a lost dog? Like, what if it’s not America’s Dog that’s lost but America itself? Did you ever think of that? Drawn in a masterfully spare style, combining metaphysical and political realities, Looking For America’s Dog is proof that Steven Weissman is one of the most innovative and experimental cartoonists working today.
The Gaze of Drifting Skies: A Treasury of Bird’s Eye Cartoon Views by Jonathan Barli
If any ol’ picture is worth a thousand words, then a panoramic bird’s eye view should be worth a million! Depicting the bustling crowds of humanity from magisterial heights was once a popular visual genre among artists and the public, regularly appearing in mass-market newspapers and magazines. Whether it was carnivals and circuses or cook-outs and baseball games; bustling city streets and train stations or parades and epic battle scenes … artists depicted the everyday life of urban and country settings where communities gathered for fun and revelry. Adults and children alike could spend hours delighting in the details of these marvelously orchestrated scenes of human bustle. This coffee table collection showcases the remarkable beauty and breadth of these forgotten American classics.
More Heroes of the Comics: Portraits of the Legends of Comic Books by Drew Friedman
Featuring approximately 75 full-color portraits of the pioneering legends of American comic books, including publishers, editors, and artists from the industry’s birth through the brilliant artists and writers who fueled the industry’s first few decades, all lovingly rendered and chosen by Drew Friedman, a cartooning legend in his own right. Featuring subjects popular and obscure, men and women, as well as several pioneering artists of color. Each subject features a short essay by Friedman, including Otto Binder, Gene Colan, Mickey Spillane, Don Heck, James Warren, Curt Swan, Patricia Highsmith, Jules Feiffer, H. G. Peter, Robert Kanigher, Audrey Blum, Nick Cardy, Ben Oda, Vince Colletta, Dan DeCarlo, John Romita, John Buscema, Kurt Shaffenberger, Mort Weisinger, Gladys Parker, Frank Robbins, Larry Lieber, and many more!
Voodoo Vengeance and Other Stories by Al Feldstein and Johnny Craig
With his eerily crisp, contemporary graphic style, Johnny Craig was the “Mr. Clean” of EC horror comics. (“Cleanest horror stories you ever saw!” said his colleague, artist Wallace Wood.) Eschewing outright blood and gore, Craig imbued his stories with his signature brand of terror, foreshadowing the inevitable shock to come by meticulously building mood, character, and suspense. He presents disarmingly sophisticated and elegant vampires, werewolves, and creatures of the night, each perfectly presentable in polite society — right up until that last moment. And when it comes to crime comics, Craig takes a back seat to no one, portraying criminals and victims with a smooth surface that barely hides the seething rage, jealousy, and avarice that is just about to erupt. This collection of 25 Craig favorites includes such shockers as “Horror House!,” “Werewolf Concerto,” “Terror on the Moors,” and the title story, “Voodoo Vengeance” — along with seven Craig crime classics, including Craig’s own personal favorite, “The Sewer!” (“A masterpiece of visual technique,” says Max Allan Collins). Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC Artists’ Library, Voodoo Vengeance and Other Stories also features essays and notes by EC experts on these superbly crafted, classic masterpieces.
The Comics Journal Library Volume 10: The EC Artists Part 2 by Gary Groth
No comics publisher has had a greater impact — or generated more controversy — than the immensely influential EC Comics. The second and concluding volume of conversations with the creators behind the EC war/horror/science fiction/suspense line brings The Comics Journal’s definitive interviews together with several never-before-published sessions, including a new interview with the legendary Jack Davis conducted by Gary Groth