99 Ways To Tell A Story - Exercises In Style
Matt Madden. Jonathan Cape, 2006. Matt Madden's Exercises in Style is a series of one-page comics that tell the same story in a variety of ways. Inspired by Raymond Queneau's 1947 work of the same title, which told a simple story in ninety-nine different styles and genres – haiku, sonnet, book-jacket blurb – Madden does the same but in different styles of comics – Marvel superhero, R. Crumb, Hergé, even as a map or the Bayeux Tapestry. Or he uses varying points of view, visual and verbal parodies, even radical reshuffling of the elements of the story. The result is funny, inspiring, and genuinely clever. 206 pages. Soft Cover Black & White 7½" x 9" (190mm x 229mm) ISBN: 0224079255

Our Price: £12.99 ($19.49) (€14,29)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Acme Novelty Library #18
Chris Ware. Drawn & Quarterly, 2007. In keeping with his athletic goal of issuing a volume of his occasionally lauded ACME series once every new autumn, volume 18 finds cartoonist Chris Ware abandoning the engaging serialization of his "Rusty Brown" and instead focusing upon his ongoing and more experimentally grim narrative, "Building Stories."

Collecting pages unseen except in obscure alternative weekly periodicals and sophisticated expensive coffee table magazines, The ACME Novelty Library #18 re-introduces the characters which New York Times readers found "dry" and "deeply depressing" when one chapter of the work (not included here) was presented in its pages during 2005 and 2006.

Set in a Chicago apartment building more or less in the year 2000, the stories move from the straightforward to the mnemonically complex, invading character's memories and personal ambitions with a text point size likely unreadable to human beings over the age of 45. Reformatted to accommodate this different material, readers will be pleased by the volume's vertical shape and tasteful design, which, unlike Ware's earlier volumes, should discreetly blend into any stack or shelf of real books. 56 pages. Hard Cover Full Colour 8½" x 10½" (215mm x 266mm) (ISBN-13: 9781897299173)

Our Price: £10.99 ($16.49) (€12,09)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Best Of American Splendor
Written by Harvey Pekar, illustrated by various artists. Titan Books, 2005. Posing the question, what's a file clerk from Cleveland doing with an Oscar nomination, this compilation of dark, gritty stories from author Harvey Pekar explains why. The story began in 1976, with a series of Underground style Comix exploring Pekar's autobiographical, downtrodden life. Dark Horse Comics stepped in, during the 1990's, which led to a movie adaptation & this best of edition, from the later series. Whilst the art is recognisably individual, from seventeen different artists, it retains an honesty to Pekar's personal vision. This classic, autobiographical, strip anthology come highly recommended. 332 pages. Soft Cover Black & White 8" x 11" (20cm x 28cm) ISBN: 1845760964

Our Price: £16.99 ($25.49) (€18,69)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Exit Wounds
Rutu Modan. Jonathan Cape, 2007. A profound richly textured graphic novel. "Rutu Modan is a deeply insightful writer and artist and this graphic novel places her in the top tier of cartoonists working today" - Joe Sacco. 172 pages. Hard Cover Full Colour 7" x 9" (178mm x 229mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224081665)

Our Price: £14.99 ($22.49) (€16,49)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Fluffy
Simone Lia. Jonathan Cape, 2007. Originally published by the author in four volumes, Fluffy is described by Simone Lia as 'a story of unanswerable questions, love, despair, adventure and happiness'. Fluffy is a baby rabbit who is being looked after by an anxious, single man called Michael Pulcino. Michael tries to make it clear to Fluffy that he is not his daddy, but Fluffy appears to be in denial. Michael is being pursued by Fluffy's nursery school teacher, and partly to escape her, he and Fluffy set off to visit his family in Sicily.

Will Michael escape her? Will Fluffy come to terms with the reality that he is not a human being? All is at least partly resolved in Simone Lia's utterly irresistible graphic novel. 192 pages. Hard Cover Black & White 7" x 6½" (178mm x 165mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224080484)

Our Price: £12.99 ($19.49) (€14,29)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Frank
Jim Woodring. Fantagraphics Books. Captivating and imaginative tales of an eerie cartoon world, including the complete, award-winning masterpiece "Frank in the River." Jim Woodring is one of the most amazing stylists of modern comics art (in both black and white and color), and this book, which collects all of the earliest “Frank” stories, is a hallucinatory magical mystery tour. It's entirely done in pantomime, but each drawing speaks volumes. A perennially popular book, and all-ages, too! 96 pages. Soft Cover Part Colour 9" x 11" (229mm x 279mm) ISBN: 1560971533

Our Price: £9.95 ($14.93) (€10,95)      

Click for larger cover picture!

You might also be interested in:

The Incredible Upside-Downs of Gustave Verbeek   more...	The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus   more...

Fun Home
Alison Bechdel. Jonathan Cape, 2006. Alison Bechdel first came to prominence with her cartoon strip Dykes To Watch Out For which was later collected as her first book. Fun Home is something of a step forward. It is a memoir telling the story of Alison's father a third generation funeral home director, English teacher, distant parent and closet homosexual who obsessively preserves and restores the family's Victorian home. The tragic-comic narrative follows both his relationships and Alison's yearning for her father as well as her own sexual awakening. Nick Hornby called it “As satisfying a literary experience as you're likely to get this year.” 240 pages. Soft Cover Part Colour 6" x 9" (152mm x 229mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224080514)

Our Price: £12.99 ($19.49) (€14,29)      

Click for larger cover picture!

He Done Her Wrong, The Great American Novel (with no words)
Created & illustrated by Milt Gross, introduction by Craig Yoe, an appreciation by Paul Karasik. Fantagraphics Books, 2004. He Done Her Wrong refers to the classic Keystone Cops and Charlie Chaplin movies and was created by Milt Gross in 1930 as a complete silent novel. It conveys hilarious slapstick, tragic heartbreak, heroism & villainy, without a written word, not even a footnote. The stars of this classic misadventure are a naïve frontiersman, a larcenous robber baron as nemesis, and a lusty widow. Whilst cantankerous salesmen, officious bureaucrats & others too numerous to mention appear as supporting cast. Classic storytelling of a unique kind. 256 pages. Soft Cover Black & White 7" x 7" (18cm x 18cm) ISBN: 1560976942 Recommended.

Our Price: £11.99 ($17.99) (€13,19)      

Click for larger cover picture!

It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
Seth. Jonathan Cape, 2007. In his first graphic novel, It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, Seth pays homage to the wit and sophistication of the magazine cartoon. Disaffected by the crassness of contemporary culture, Seth takes refuge in a quest to uncover the life and work of Kalo, a forgotten New Yorker cartoonist from the 1940s, but his obsession blinds him to his increasingly withdrawn lover and the quiet desperation of his family. Charming old-fashioned style characterizes this gently wry modern quest tale about longing, anxiety and the lessons of nostalgia. 196 pages. Soft Cover Black & White 6" x 9" (152mm x 229mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224079181)

Our Price: £14.99 ($22.49) (€16,49)      

Click for larger cover picture!

James Sturm's America: God, Gold, and Golems
James Sturm. Drawn & Quarterly, 2007. An American trilogy of religious fervour, greed, and entertainment through the eras. Focusing on less sensational times in U.S. history (non-war and pre-Depression) James Sturm's America draws a portrait of the people and their dreams that make up this country.

Comprised of three chapters -- The Revival, Hundreds of Feet Below Daylight, and The Golem's Mighty Swing -- the story grows as the country grows; from pioneers searching for a place to call home, to ghost towns gutted by greed and racism, to the distractions and fantasies of popular entertainment. 192 pages. Hard Cover Black & White 7½" x 10" (190mm x 254mm) (ISBN-13: 9781897299050)

Our Price: £16.99 ($25.49) (€18,69)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea
Guy Delisle. Jonathan Cape, 2007. The author is a French Canadian who has spent the last decade living in France. In that time he's published four graphic novels. His journey into the hidden state of North Korea came when he was asked to go there as an employee of a French animation company. Even while chaperoned by the usual translator and guide Guy finds himself discovering fascinating aspects of everyday life in this mysterious nation. Think of the film Lost In Translation or the wonderful Persepolis stories by Marjane Satrapi. 192 pages. Soft Cover Black & White 6" x 9" (152mm x 229mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224079907)

Our Price: £12.99 ($19.49) (€14,29)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Quimby The Mouse
Chris Ware. Jonathan Cape, 2003. Using a cleverly appropriated imagery from the 1920s & 30s, author/artist Chris Ware has created a masterpiece of modern angst & existentialism. The mouse Quimby is seen to suffer ignominiously at every turn, buoyed up by a hope that is always deferred but never quite extinguished. This is a new book, from the author of Jim Corrigan, which has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest graphic novels ever published. 68 pages. Hard Cover Black & White 11" x 14" (28cm x 36cm) Dust Jacket ISBN: 022407265X

Our Price: £16.99 ($25.49) (€18,69)      

Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China
Guy Delisle. Jonathan Cape, 2006. The author is a French Canadian who has spent the last decade living in France. In that time he's published four graphic novels. His journey to Southern China came when he was asked to go there as an employee of a French animation company as manager overseeing animation production. Even while chaperoned by the usual translator and guide Guy finds himself discovering fascinating aspects of everyday life in this strange city that is cut off by electric fences and border guards from the rest of China. Think of the film Lost In Translation or the wonderful Persepolis stories by Marjane Satrapi. 152 pages. Hard Cover Black & White 6" x 9" (152mm x 229mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224079914)

Our Price: £14.99 ($22.49) (€16,49)      

Click for larger cover picture!

Wimbledon Green
Seth. Jonathan Cape, 2006. Taking a break from the serialization of his saga Clyde Fans and the design of The Complete Peanuts, critically acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator Seth creates a farcical world of the people whose passion lies in the need to own comic books (and only in mint condition).

Meet Wimbledon Green, the self-proclaimed world's greatest comic book collector who brokered the biggest comic book deal in the history of collecting. Comic book retailers, auctioneers and conventioneers from around North America, as well as Green's collecting rivals, weigh in on the man and his vast collection of comic books. Are Green's intentions honourable? Does he truly love comics or is he driven by the need to conquer? Lastly, is he really even Wimbledon Green?

A charming and amusing caper where comic book collecting is a world of intrigue and high finance – part riotous chase, part whimsical character sketch, Wimbledon Green looks at the need to collect and the need to reinvent oneself. 128 pages. Hard Cover Black & White 6" x 8" (152mm x 203mm) (ISBN-13: 9780224079198)

Our Price: £14.99 ($22.49) (€16,49)      

Click for larger cover picture!