Art Comic

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 256 pages. Harvey Kurtzman discovered Robert Crumb and gave Gloria Steinem her first job in publishing when he hired her as his assistant. Terry Gilliam also started at his side, met an unknown John Cleese in the process, and the genesis of Monty Python was formed. Art Spiegelman has stated on record that he owes his career to him. And he's one of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner's favorite artists.Harvey Kurtzman had a Midas touch for talent, but was himself an astonishingly talented and influential artist, writer, editor, and satirist. The creator of MAD and Playboy's "Little Annie Fanny" was called, "One of the most important figures in postwar America" by the New York Times. Kurtzman's groundbreaking "realistic" war comics of the early '50s and various satirical publications (MAD, Trump, Humbug, and Help!) had an immense impact on popular culture, inspiring a generation of underground cartoonists. Without Kurtzman, it's unlikely we'd have had Airplane, SNL, or National Lampoon.The Art of Harvey Kurtzman is the first and only authorized celebration of this "Master of American Comics." This definitive book includes hundreds of never-before-seen illustrations, paintings, pencil sketches, newly discovered lost E.C. Comics layouts, color compositions, illustrated correspondence, and vintage photos from the rich Kurtzman archives

Hardcover. Detroit MI, Stabur Press, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 144 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. With the illustrated paper covered slipcase. The full-color jacket art by him was done expressly for this publication. Includes a checklist of his works: comic books, humor magazines, other magazines (Playboy, Esquire, etc), books, advertising, misc. prints, etc. All quotes in the book are from interviews conducted by the author.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 224 pages. The Art of Joe Kubert is a deluxe, full-color coffee table book that honors this legendary creator with beautifully reproduced artwork from every phase of his career as well as critical commentary by the book's editor, comics historian and Kubert biographer Bill Schelly. Schelly's text parallels the visual evolution of the artist's work, tracing his life and career from his early days drawing Hawkman in the Golden Age, to his creation of Tor, his involvement in creating 3-D comics in the 1950s, his tour de force stints on DC's war comics - Sgt. Rock, The Unknown Soldier and the groundbreaking Enemy Ace - in the 1960s, to illustrating the adventures of Tarzan in the 1970s. And before finding a creative safe haven at DC Comics in the '50s, Kubert drew for many smaller and more obscure companies, including Holyoke, Quality, Fiction House, Harvey, St. John, and others - all of which are represented, including a 50-page section of comic-book stories in the horror, crime, and SF genres from the pre-Comics Code era, reprinted in full color for the first time.

Hardcover. Hermes Press, 1st, 2024, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 190 pages. When cartoonist Elzie Segar created Popeye, as a minor character ten years into the run of the Thimble Theatre strip in 1929, little did he know that the world's most famous sailor would still be around over ninety years later and still being offered as a Sunday feature.To celebrate Popeye, the character, the comic strip and his universe, a feature cartoonist Charles M. Schulz described as "perfect... consistent in drawing and humor," Hermes Press is publishing the definitive art monograph on the subject.This book features a comprehensive essay written by pop culture historian R.C. Harvey accompanied by over 350 illustrations of original strip and comic book art, animation art, illustrations, advertising art, products, the Robert Altman film, and everything Popeye. Every aspect of Popeye is explored, from Olive Oyl and Eugene the Jeep to Wimpy and Bluto. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Dark Horse Books, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 216 pages. For 15 years Preston has been photographing cartoonists in their natural habitats, the studios in which they work. Revealing the faces behind the familiar drawings, Preston aims his lenses at artists engaged in virtually every realm of cartooning, including superhero comics (Alex Ross, Todd McFarlane); newspaper strips (Cathy Guisewite, Berke Breathed); alternative and underground comics (R. Crumb, the Hernandez brothers); and animation (Chuck Jones, Joseph Barbera). The best portraits capture the spirit of the subjects' work. Mad mainstay Sergio Aragones is surrounded by toy figurines. Loopy caricaturist Arnold Roth's mug sports a wacky grin. Art Spiegelman, known for his formal mastery of the comics medium, looks dead serious. The studio of gritty urban realist Frank Miller looks out on a brick wall. Most welcome are valedictory portraits of titans in the comics field who have passed on since Preston photographed them, including Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Carl Barks. Fans of cartooning and of photographic portraiture should enjoy Preston's evocative images of these often-reclusive figures in their working sanctums.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards. 424 pages, color throughout. After becoming a professional comics artist in 1948 at the age of 17, by 21 Al Williamson was well-regarded enough as a Western and science-fiction illustrator to be recruited for the EC Comics staff roster - the absolute peak of the field in the 1950s, and a team rarely challenged since. After the Comics Code forced EC to reduce their business, Williamson found himself at the door of Atlas Comics, the largest employer of freelancers in the field.From 1955-60, Williamson would draw 99 stories for Atlas (both solo and with help by "Fleagle Gang" studio cohorts Angelo Torres and Roy Krenkel, plus Gray Morrow and Ralph Mayo) in mostly western and fantasy genres, with a smattering of war, romance and "jungle girl adventure". He flourished on Westerns, freely and loosely rendered four-page morality plays, many scripted economically by Stan Lee. With his extensive oeuvre subsequently based mostly in newspaper strips (including Flash Gordon, Secret Agent Corrigan, and the syndicated Star Wars, at George Lucas' own request), or working largely as an inker, his Atlas stories collectively are the largest single body of work Williamson would ever do as a primary creator for one company. Fantagraphics is proud to present this Al Williamson Artist Edition to finally showcase this distinct period of his remarkable career. Clean, bright copy. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial cloth, 212 pages. Atlas holds a special place among aficionados of the genre, producing more horror titles and issues by far, than anyone in the industry. While the quality of EC's six horror/sci-fi titles was unsurpassed with their elite cadre of talent, Atlas was the equivalent of the B-movies studio, churning out anywhere from 8 to 12 different horror titles a month, giving a wider array of artists, including some of the best craftsmen of the era, a chance to show off their talents: in addition to those already mentioned, future volumes will include Bill Everett, John Romita, Bernie Krigstein, Jerry Robinson, Harry Anderson, and Matt Fox. Stories from Marvel's Atlas line have barely been reprinted.The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library is the first attempt to publish a carefully curated line of Atlas titles. The first volume, Adventures Into Terror, includes a treasure trove of stories drawn by many of the most stylistically accomplished artists of the Golden Age including George Tuska, Carl Burgos, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Maneely, and Joe Sinnott. Highlights include Russ Heath's two-part story "The Brain" from issue #4 and "Return of the Brain" from issue #6; Basil Wolverton's classic "Where Monsters Dwell" from issue #7; Gene Colan's moody "House of Horror" in issue #3; and Don Rico's wild layouts are on display from #4's "The Torture Room." The stories are written firmly in the tradition of the pulpy, perverse, borderline deranged style that brought Fredric Wertham, the United States Senate Sub-Committee, and public opinion down like a sledgehammer on comics in the early '50s.Edited by Atlas scholar Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, scanned directly from the published comics, and meticulously restored by Allan Harvey, the first volume of the new Fantagraphics Atlas Library series is an event among comics lovers, collectors, and historians.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2024, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, Forged in the crucible of the Korean War, and produced by veterans of the Second World War, this volume's eight issues present the brutality and grimness of armed combat by some of Atlas' most notable war artists and future comics stars including Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Dave Berg, Jay Scott Pike, Mike Sekowsky, Vern Henkel, Allen Bellman, Pete Morisi and Norman Steinberg.Propaganda abounds from the very first story, published in War Comics #1 in September 1950: "Peril in Korea," a primer explaining why the USA joined the conflict. Other highlights include Colan's "The Chips are Down" and "Victory," Heath's "Alone" and "No Survivors," Maneely's "Stormy Weather," Henkel's "Total Destruction," and Berg's "The Infantry's War."Originally a trial spun off from the publisher's "Men's Adventure" publications, in the nine years to follow, Atlas went on to produce 533 comic book issues with war content, across 34 different titles. War Comics is where it all began - unseen in decades, scanned from the original books, restored and packaged as one large, beautiful hardcover volume. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 231 pages in color. Before focusing on tales of justice via superheroes under the Marvel banner, the publisher covered ground-level crime across a range of comics titles and true-crime magazines. Under the Timely imprint from 1947, and Atlas from 1951, up to eleven graphic series including Justice Comics, Official True Crime Cases, All-True Crime, Crime Cases, Crime Can't Win, Crime Must Lose, and Crime Exposed all muscled each other and competitors for space on the newsstands. For the first crime-themed volume in Fantagraphics' ongoing project to restore and resurrect pre-Marvel pulp classics, the Atlas Library has selected a book that debuted as the genre peaked, just before a Senate hearing and the institution of the Comics Code banned the use of the word "Crime" from even appearing in a comic's title. Escaping that fate, Police Action had a seven-issue run of violent and noir-ish morality plays, pitting the officers of the law against the forces of urban malevolence, and was produced by the cream of the Atlas freelance roster, including Joe Maneely, Robert Q. Sale, Gene Colan, Art Peddy, Mort Lawrence, Werner Roth and Bob Powell. Rounding the volume off, also presented is a post-Code one-shot, Police Badge #479, a snapshot of the industry's attempts to adapt to new strictures on the genre: here we view "our boys in blue" in the fight against rank corruption, highlighting the work of Don Heck and Joe Maneely. Clean, like new.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics , 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 287 pages illustrated in color. Pulp horror classics from the 1950s! Revenge, ghosts, locked rooms and killer ants, taken from early Marvel Comics series Men's Adventures and Amazing Detective Cases. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 397 pages illustrated in color. This new volume in Fantagraphics' and Marvel's collaborative Atlas Library presents Girl Comics #1-12, a long unseen subversion of romance comics beautifully designed for a new generation of readers!In 1950, Timely/Atlas/Marvel took a typical romance title called Girl Comics and turned it into a sister companion to its successful men's-adventure comics: an empowering girls'-adventure comic! Mystery, adventure and suspense was promised and delivered! At the hands of a stellar artistic line-up, including John Buscema, Mike Sekowsky, Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, Russ Heath, and Bernard Krigstein, Girl Comics evolved from heart-stricken love stories to hair-raising girl-power thrill rides like "The Death Plunge!," "The House of Shadows!," "I was a Murderer's Daughter!," "They Called me a Spy!," "The Dead Hands at the Controls," and "The Dark Hallway."This volume also features the story behind the stories, with editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo's essays on Marvel publisher Martin Goodman's enthusiastic relationship with romance comics and magazines at a time when the art form was cementing itself into American youth culture! Clean copy. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. NY, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt;, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 341 pages. Celebrating the best in graphic storytelling and literary comics, a cutting-edge collection, guest edited by the award-winning author of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, features excerpts from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Web, from R. and Aline Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Seth, Lynda Barry, Kim Deitch, Gilbert Hernandez, and others.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 324 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. This newest edition to the Best American Series--"A genuine salute to comics" (Houston Chronicle)--returns with a set of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Lynda Barry and and brand new series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden--acclaimed cartoonists in their own right-- have sought out the best stories culled from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Web to create this cutting-edge collection "perfect for newbies as well as fans"--The San Diego Union Tribune. This newest volume features luminaries like Chris Ware, Seth, and Alison Bechdel alongside Paul Pope's "Batman" and beloved daily cartoonists like Matt Groening.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 324 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. This newest edition to the Best American Series--"A genuine salute to comics" (Houston Chronicle)--returns with a set of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Lynda Barry and and brand new series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden--acclaimed cartoonists in their own right-- have sought out the best stories culled from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Web to create this cutting-edge collection "perfect for newbies as well as fans"--The San Diego Union Tribune. This newest volume features luminaries like Chris Ware, Seth, and Alison Bechdel alongside Paul Pope's "Batman" and beloved daily cartoonists like Matt Groening.

Hardcover. NY, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Hardcover, 400 pages. The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Jeff Smith--creator of the classic comic Bone, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville--has culled the best stories from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and web comics to create this cutting-edge collection.

Softcover. NY, Links Books, 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, First Printing. Softcover. Very Good in wraps, wraparound cover art by R. Crumb.. ; 13.0 X 10.1 X 1.7 inches; 160 pages. Nice introduction by Marty Pahls on the cartoonists featured with b&w photos. Small corner crease to front cover, small ink number inside letter B on front. Otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Annapolis MD, Dead Reckoning, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 221 pages in color. A collection of the best stories from the classic run of Don Winslow of the Navy, one of the most popular comic books running during and after World War II. Edited by Craig Yoe, the selected stories are digitally remastered and contextualized with Yoe's historical research. Preceding the full, colorful tales is a detailed introduction on the creation of the adventurous Don Winslow. The character served to foster recruitment and entertain Navy personnel and the general public alike during World War II and beyond. Winslow fights the Axis and supervillains like The Snake and the attractive, but deadly, Singapore Sal. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Annapolis MD, Dead Reckoning, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 221 pages in color. A collection of the best stories from the classic run of Don Winslow of the Navy, one of the most popular comic books running during and after World War II. Edited by Craig Yoe, the selected stories are digitally remastered and contextualized with Yoe's historical research. Preceding the full, colorful tales is a detailed introduction on the creation of the adventurous Don Winslow. The character served to foster recruitment and entertain Navy personnel and the general public alike during World War II and beyond. Winslow fights the Axis and supervillains like The Snake and the attractive, but deadly, Singapore Sal. Clean copy.

Hardcover. London, The Bodley Head, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a in a bright dust jacket except for a sliver of fading to fore-edge, oblong format, unpaginated, illustrated with 52 full color cartoons. Foreword by Mark Boxer. Small owner's stamp on front fly leaf with bottom corner clipped. Uncommon in hardcover.

Softcover. NY, Holt Rinhart Winston, 1st, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 190 pages. Cartoonist Al Capp presents 26 of his favorite sequences from his cartoon strip.

Softcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 2nd pr., 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 126 pages. Crumb's white-bearded sage-cum-charlatan lives again in this comprehensive collection which ranges from the charming early '70s stories to the controversial '90s stories from Hup!, co-starring Devil-Girl. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Last Gasp, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 288 pages. Illustrated with photographs and back and white illustrations. Introduction by Drew Friedman. Fantastic reference work on the history and back story of the creation of R. Crumb's legendary humor comics anthology.

Hardcover. Last Gasp, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 288 pages. The Book of Weirdo is the definitive - and hugely entertaining- examination of Weirdo magazine, renowned underground comix cartoonist Robert Crumb's legendary humor comics anthology, which was originally published throughout the 1980s. A "low-brow" counterpoint to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouley's rather high-faluttin' RAW comix publication, Weirdo influenced an entire generation of alternative and neo-underground artists, as well as creative refuge for the underground comix veterans, and this book features the complete story of the well-recalled comics magazine, along with testimonials from over 130 of the publication's contributors, including interviews with Weirdo's three editors - R. "Keep on Truckin'" Crumb, Peter "Hate" Bagge, and Aline "The Bunch" Kominsky-Crumb - and publisher "Baba Ron" Turner. As much a history of the alternative comics scene of the 1980s - from New York City punk to Seattle grunge - this exhaustive retrospective includes rare and unseen artwork from that era, as well as new comics from modern-day artists celebrating their love for the great oddball magazine. In its time, the periodical featured the finest work of many artists, particularly the best material by Robert Crumb himself, Weirdo's founder and best known for ZAP Comix, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural, and a man widely heralded as the greatest cartoonist of all time. We get photos of the various contributors, some samples of the work, more than a few brand-spanking-new artistic tributes to the magazine and the people who made it. And lots and lots of stories about what it was like to work for and with Robert Crumb.

Hardcover. Prion, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 230 pages. In terms of both words and images the world had never seen the like of the American comic book. They were bizarre, morbid, lurid, risque and bursting with subconscious desires of burgeoning youth culture. By the time 1954 arrived their were 500 different comics being published by 35 different companies, selling over 60 million copies a month between them. This is the history of the era and the art it produced. The book looks at the pioneers of the comic book and the comic's founding links with sleazy pulp magazines; the campaign for censorship; the fraught relationship between the comic book artists and their publishers; how what they did was rarely recognized as art at the time - and of course the comics themselves.