Heads Up: HARVEY PEKAR’S CLEVELAND, illustrated by Joseph Remnant

8 November 201111 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Coming soon from Top Shelf and Zip Comics:

Read all about it right here. Although the promotional image above says otherwise, the Amazon entry for Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland indicates that the book will be released in March 2012. Amazon also states that the completed graphic novel will be 128 pages in length and will be published in hardcover.

In an interview with Forbidden Planet International published online in January of this year, editor Jeff Newelt describes Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland as “1/3 history of Cleveland, 1/3 Pekar autobio, 1/3 biographical sketches of prominent Cleveland ‘characters.’ It was fully written before Harvey passed, and Joseph had already drawn 20 pages.” And the result? In his introduction, Alan Moore says that Cleveland is “[o]ne of the very greatest works by that unique and irreplaceable American voice, the truly splendorous Harvey Pekar… graced by the impeccable and poignant artistry of Joseph Remnant.”

To give you a more concrete idea of the type of artwork you can expect to find in Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland, here are links to seven previous collaborations between Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant, collaborations that were published as part of SMITH Magazine’s Pekar Project: 1) Autodidact; 2) Back in the Day; 3) Legendary Vienna; 4) Muncie, Indiana; 5) Muncie, Indiana Part II; 6) Reciprocity; and 7) Sweeping Problem. There’s also a 4-page preview of Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland on the SMITH Magazine site.

Now, it is a truth factionally acknowledged that the quality of Pekar’s comics tended to rise or fall according to the skillfulness or ineptitude of the artists that our man was able to attract or conscript to illustrate his scripts. But if you thought Pekar’s collaborations with R. Crumb were the best that American Splendor had to offer, I expect that you will be looking forward to Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland, illustrated by Joseph Remnant, as much as I am!

Heads Up: FRAZETTA – FUNNY STUFF, edited and designed by Craig Yoe

6 November 201111 August 2016 RC10 Comments

Coming in March 2012 from IDW:

Here’s the publisher’s description of the book, as it appears in the Amazon catalogue:

Frank Frazetta! He’s been rightfully called “The Grand Master of Fantasy Art”! But, it’s little known that Frazetta also conquered other worlds in the Golden Age of Comics, as shown in his Donald Duck-ish funny animal and hilarious hillbilly comic book stories. Even those aware of this wonderful Frazetta art don’t know the extent – this book is a whopping 256, large-format pages! Did we mention ferocious, terrifying wolves and swampland creatures in the plethora of animal stories illustrations as only Frazetta could draw them? There’s also lions and tigers and bears – oh my! – before Frazetta’s famous paintings captured the same subjects. But wait, there’s more! You’ll see the roots of the Frazetta Girl in the sexy Kathy teenage girl adventures and the hot Daisy Mae-look-alike, Clarabelle, in the hillbilly hi-jinks stories of her beau, Looey Lazybones (Holy Li’l Abner!). The introduction is by famed cartoon director Ralph Bakshi, who closely worked with Frazetta when they co-produced the animated feature film, Fire and Ice. Bakshi shares rare insights, anecdotes, photos, and Frazetta drawings, and created a special painting of Frazetta and himself as funny animals for this beautiful hardcover, full-color coffee table book! Frazetta – Funny Stuff is edited and designed by Eisner award-winner Craig Yoe.

The last substantial collection of Frazetta’s “funny animal” work was published by Kitchen Sink two decades ago under the title Small Wonders: The Funny Animal Art of Frank Frazetta, with an introduction by William Stout. You can view selections from Small Wonders courtesy of Clarke Snyder’s Inspiration Grab-Bag, in a post titled Frank Frazetta (Fritz) Funny Animal Comics-1940’s. However, since Small Wonders is only 80 pages in length — apparently it was book one of a two volume set, the second volume of which was never published — while Frazetta – Funny Stuff is, according to the publisher, “a whopping 256, large-format pages,” I think I can say with some certainty that even Frazetta fans who already own Small Wonders are going to want to add Frazetta – Funny Stuff to their collections.

Small Wonders, btw, had a terrific, art-centric cover that I like much better than the cover of the new collection, which is okay but which I would characterize as more design-centric; need I add that, where comics reprints and art books are concerned, I prefer art-centric covers:

The only down side of that cover is that the artwork is not by Frazetta but rather is a tribute to Frazetta’s funny animal comics by William Stout.

“I’m just a straight, ordinary guy. I truly wish the world was full of sweetness, flowers and happiness. But it’s not, and I do reveal that dark side in some of my work. I am known for my violent stuff. But the funny stuff is the real me.” —Frank Frazetta

BONUS LINKS:

Cartoon SNAP > More Frank Frazetta Funny Animal Comics – Bruno the Bear 1949, Frank Frazetta Funny Animals: Daffy and Dilly in “All At Sea” – Sept 1949, Frazetta Funny Animal Comic Book Scans from 1948: Dodger the Squirrel – Coo Coo Comics – all in colour.

ComiCrazys > Barney Rooster > Frank Frazetta – in black and white.

Shane Glines’ Cartoon Retro > Frank Frazetta: Barney Rooster, Frank Frazetta: Bruno, Frank Frazetta: Dodger, Frank Frazetta: Hucky Duck – all in colour.

TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC BONUS LINK:

Shane Glines’ Cartoon Retro > Frazetta as Model – now that is a great find!

Heads Up! · Hugo Pratt

Heads Up: CORTO MALTESE: THE BALLAD OF THE SALT SEA by Hugo Pratt

26 October 201111 August 2016 RC3 Comments

Coming in March 2012 from Universe/Rizzoli:

The publisher describes the book (paperback; ISBN-10: 0789324989; ISBN-13: 978-0789324986) as follows:

Treasure hunter, sailor, and adventurer, Corto Maltese remains one of the most popular characters from graphic literature in Europe and maintains a devoted cult following among American readers and creators. Originally published in 1967, Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea introduces our hero for the first time. The story begins with Corto Maltese adrift at sea in the Pacific during World War I. He is picked up by a Russian pirate/privateer named Rasputin. The graphic novel follows Corto and the adventure that ensues.

Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea is sure to appeal to fans of swashbuckling action-packed tales and sophisticated readers seeking elegant stories alike.

Earlier today, on the Comics Journal site, Fantagraphics publisher, Kim Thompson, offered the following assessment of Pratt:

I love CORTO MALTESE and would unhesitatingly place Pratt as the greatest Italian cartoonist ever and one of the top two European “realistic” (sorta)-slash-adventure cartoonists — really, it’s him and Giraud and then everybody else — but it is one of those series where, at least in my experience, you will reach your fill after a while and have enough of the wandering stories replete with wry, fatalistic dialogue bouncing off femmes fatales and scoundrels, set against minimalistic, evocative backgrounds with clever bits of genuine history woven in.

Finally, here are the first three pages of the story, followed by a grab bag of covers from previous editions:

UPDATE (19 March 2012):

Well, kids, the new English translation/publication of Corto Maltese is in stores, and the response has been mixed, to say the least. A number of Amazon reviewers seem to be very happy with the book, while others acknowledge certain problems with the format and the printing but seem willing to overlook the format in order to enjoy the story, which has been out of print in English for some time now — which would be fine, if that was the outer limit of dissatisfaction with the book. Unfortunately for Rizzoli, however, a growing number of Pratt fans who have seen the book have come to the conclusion that the new edition of Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea is nothing less than a botched job and what’s more, their frustrations are now boiling over in very negative online book reviews, blog posts, message-board discussions, and so on. See, for instance, the following:

The BEAT > Horrible production may have doomed Corto Maltese in the US yet again by Heidi MacDonald — — in which the author reprints, in its entirety, an open letter that retailers from Big Planet Comics have sent to the publisher, Rizzoli, protesting the matter.

Heads Up: THE MAKING OF by Brecht Evens

23 October 201111 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Coming in the spring of 2012 from Drawn & Quarterly, The Making Of —published this autumn, 2011, under the title De Liefhebbers in Belgium and Les Amateurs in France —is the new offering from Flemish cartoonist/visual artist/musician Brecht Evens, who shook the English-speaking comics world by the lapels last year with his gorgeously illustrated graphic novel, The Wrong Place (which regular readers will remember received a “Heads Up” and a capsule review here at RCN):

Via Amazon, here’s the publisher’s description of Evens’s new book (ISBN-10: 177046073X; ISBN-13: 978-1770460737):

The Making Of is the follow-up to international sensation Brecht Evens’s Eisner-nominated debut, The Wrong Place. With lush watercolors and his characteristic wit, Evens details the fumbling, amateurish foibles of the participants of a small art festival in the Flemish countryside. Pieterjan is invited to a small town as an honored guest. From the moment he arrives, things start going wrong, and since no one seems ready to step in, Pieterjan takes over the show. He decides to build a giant garden gnome as a symbol of Flemish identity, but the construction process brings buried tensions to the surface as the other artists become jealous of Pieterjan’s authority. In The Making Of, Evens delves deep into the petty tensions, small misunderstandings, and deadpan humor that pervade modern relationships. With a keen eye for the subtleties of body language, Evens’s The Making Of builds on the iconic visual style showcased in The Wrong Place, which was published around the world. Sweeping watercolors jump off the page, surrealist scenery intermingles with crowds of people, and small suburban plot homes have never looked so lovely.

For me, any painted graphic novel by Brecht Evens is a must buy! How about you?

Alfred Bester · Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Heads Up! · Howard Chaykin · Illustration Art · Look Here · Original art vs. printed page

Heads Up: THE ART OF HOWARD CHAYKIN

21 October 201111 August 2016 RC3 Comments

Coming in December from Dynamite Entertainment:

Written by Robert Greenberger, The Art of Howard Chaykin will include a foreword by Brian Michael Bendis and an afterword by Walter Simonson. The product description at Amazon reads as follows:

Legendary for what he has done on the page and infamous for what he has said off it, Howard Chaykin ranks among the superstars of modern comics. In The Art of Howard Chaykin, go behind the scenes with the creator whose pioneering works include American Flagg! and Black Kiss, and experience the stories of his life as only he can tell them. Filled with no-holds-barred perspective from his longtime friends and colleagues, and featuring an extensive selection of artwork from throughout his career, including many never-before-published pieces from Chaykin’s own archives, The Art of Howard Chaykin takes readers on an in-depth journey from the 1970s to today with one of the medium’s great storytellers.

Although we won’t know until The Art of Howard Chaykin is published what work will be reprinted, here’s a gallery of the kind of work that MIGHT appear:

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]

Actually, Howard Chaykin’s work has been in the spotlight a few times here at RCN. You can click here, for instance, to access a list of links to stories with art by Howard Chaykin and to read the story “Seven Moons’ Light Casts Complex Shadows” by Samuel R. Delany and Howard Chaykin, from Epic Illustrated #2 (June 1980). You can also click here to read “Gideon Faust” by Wein and Chaykin, from Star*Reach #5.

Heads Up! · Lorenzo Mattotti

Heads Up: THE CRACKLE OF THE FROST by Mattotti and Zentner

12 October 201111 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Originally published in 2003 by Seuil, and reprinted earlier this year by Casterman, Lorenzo Mattotti and Jorge Zentner’s Le Bruit du givre will be published in English in July 2012 (according to Amazon) by Fantagraphics under the title The Crackle of the Frost (ISBN-10: 160699543X; ISBN-13: 978-1606995433).

UPDATE (31 December 2011):

Today I added what seems to be the official English-language Fantagraphics cover for The Crackle of the Frost. This may be the first time the cover has been posted at this size on the Web. I won’t say how I managed to get such a scoop, but a scoop I think it is.

Art Spiegelman · Heads Up!

Heads Up: METAMAUS by Art Spiegelman

22 September 201111 August 2016 RC1 Comment

Coming in early October from Pantheon Books:

From the publisher: “In METAMAUS, Spiegelman employs prose, drawings, documents, and photographs to trace the intersecting paths of history, family, and comics that led to the creation, twenty-five years ago, of MAUS, his Pulitzer Prize winning comic book about the Holocaust.”

MetaMaus (Excerpt): Parshas Truma http://www.scribd.com/embeds/57476239/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-2dn3wywpiwi2ezqkeaq0(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Heads Up! · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones

Buy a limited-edition poster and support BETTER THINGS!

17 September 201111 August 2016 RC2 Comments

Maria Cabardo is still hard at work on her documentary film, Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones, but in order to complete the editing, additional money is needed. To that end, designer Mark Winn from BSSP, an ad agency based in Sausalito, CA, has created a lovely limited-edition 27 x 38 inch poster (see below), proceeds from the sale of which will be donated to the production budget of the film. Click here for details on how to order; and yes, PayPal is accepted.

UPDATE (19 September 2011):

Well, I don’t know what happened, but it appears that the page to order the limited-edition poster has disappeared from the MaCab Films site. My apologies to everyone who clicked the link above, expecting to be able to buy a poster and support Better Things. Maybe the order information will reappear at a later date; maybe not. One would have thought that if the poster had sold out, or has been delayed, or the deal fell through, or whatever, there would have been some explanation posted on the official website. But it’s their call on how to handle fund-raising and promotion for their documentary, not mine. Different strokes for different folks.

George Herriman · Heads Up!

Heads Up: KRAZY & IGNATZ: THE COMPLETE SUNDAY STRIPS 1916-1924

2 September 201111 August 2016 RC2 Comments

Coming in ~~November~~ December from Fantagraphics:

Fantagraphics doesn’t seem to be taking orders yet for this, the first* and final volume in their gorgeous, Chris Ware-designed, deluxe hardcover series of Krazy Kat reprints, but as soon as they do, they’ll have my money!

—–

*If you bought the other two volumes, you know what I’m talkin’ about! If you’re curious how the new volume fits into the cycle of Krazy Kat reprints from Fantagraphics, see my post in the comments section.

BONUS IMAGE AND HEADS UP:

BTW, if original art is your thing, and you’ve got US$23,750.00 burning a hole in your pocket, you would be well advised to trade your cash for this absolutely gorgeous, framed Krazy Kat page from the first year of the strip:

[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]

The seller is Lewis Wayne Gallery. I’ve purchased a number of pieces of original art from Lewis Wayne Gallery over the past few years, and I’ve never had a bad experience, though, of course, your mileage may vary…

Heads Up! · Rebecca Dart

Heads Up: BATTLE KITTENS by Rebecca Dart

1 August 201111 August 2016 RC2 Comments

Rebecca Dart, background artist on Mission Hill (TV Series 1999–2002) and character designer for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (TV Series 2010 – ongoing), has finally returned to the world of comics with her first solo publication since RabbitHead, the artist’s acclaimed “oversized comic for mature readers,” published by Indy Comics in 2004.

Offset-printed on high-quality paper, Battle Kittens: The Art of R. Dart is a 56-page comic-sized collection — in black and white, with 8 pages in glorious colour — of Rebecca’s amazing sketchbook/artblog drawings from the last three years.

Available for order right now is the limited, 1000-copy print run first edition. And don’t delay if you want a copy, because the publisher — Rebecca’s “partner in grime,” Robin Bougie — says that when they are gone, THEY ARE GONE!

Click here to place your order. PayPal is accepted.

BONUS LINK:

Bookslut > A Brief Interview with Rebecca Dart, creator of RabbitHead