New Library Comics: February 2010

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection in February :


Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888. Louisa May Alcott / Mount Horeb, Wis. : Eureka Productions, 2009.

ʻAlī, Nājī. A child in Palestine : the cartoons of Naji al-Ali / London ; New York : Verso Books, 2009.

Allbritton Taylor, C., 1967- One model nation / Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, c2009.

Apostolidès, Jean-Marie. The metamorphoses of Tintin, or, Tintin for adults / Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, c2010.

Azuma, Kiyohiko. Yotsuba&! v. 7 / New York, NY : Yen Press, 2009-

Baker, Kevin, 1958- Luna Park / New York : Vertigo/DC Comics, 2009.

Bashi, Parsua, 1966- Nylon road : a graphic memoir of coming of age in Iran / New York, N.Y. : St. Martin's Griffin, 2009.

Bell, Marc, 1971- Hot potatoe / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, c2009.

Brubaker, Ed. Criminal / New York : Marvel, 2009.

Buhle, Paul, 1944- Comics in Wisconsin / Madison, Wis. : Borderland Books, c2009.

Buzzati, Dino, 1906-1972. Poem strip / New York : New York Review Books, 2009.

Campbell, Eddie, 1955- Alec. "The years have pants" : (a life-sized omnibus) / Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Campbell, Ross. Wet moon v. 2 : unseen feet / Portland, Or. : Oni Press, 2004-

Campbell, Ross. Wet moon v. 4 / Portland, Or. : Oni Press, 2004-

Casper the friendly ghost 60th anniversary special. / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Churilla, Brian. The engineer : "konstrukt" / Los Angeles, CA : Archaia Entertainment LLC, 2009.

Comtois, Pierre. Marvel Comics in the 1960s : an issue-by-issue field guide to a pop culture phenomenon / Raleigh, North Carolina : Twomorrows Publishing, 2009.

Cotter, Joshua W. Driven by lemons / Richmond, VA : Adhouse Books, 2009.

Crumb, R. The complete Crumb v. 12. Working with people : co-evolution quarterly winds of change American splendor zap comics / Seattle : Fantagraphics Books, [1987?]-

Dany&Dany (Writers) Anima / Las Vegas, Nev. : Yaoi ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2008.

Dany&Dany (Writers) I.D.O.L. / [Las Vegas, Nev.] : Yaoi Press, [2007]

Dany&Dany (Writers) The lily and the rose / Las Vegas, Nev. : Yaoi ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2007.

Dany&Dany (Writers) Wishing for the moon / Las Vegas, Nev. : Yaoi Press, [2007]

Davis, Eleanor, 1983- Stinky : a toon book / New York : Toon Books, c2008.

Ditko, Steve. The art of Ditko / San Diego, Calif. : IDW ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Drooker, Eric, 1958- Blood song : a silent ballad / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Duncan, Randy, 1958- The power of comics : history, form, and culture / New York : Continuum, 2009.

Eagle annual : the best of the 1960s comic / London : Orion, 2009.

East, Oliver. Proper go well high / London : Blank Slate Books, 2008.

Ellis, Warren. Transmetropolitan v.4 The new scum / New York : DC Comics, c2009-

Gamache, Line, 1956- Poof! / Montréal : Conundrum Press, c2009.

Goddin, Philippe. The art of Hergé, inventor of Tintin v. 2. 1937-1949 / San Francisco, Ca. : Last Gasp, c2008-

Godwin, Frank, 1889-1959. Connie : battle for titan predators of polaria. / Long Beach, CA : Pacific Comics Club, 2009.

Godwin, Frank, 1889-1959. Connie : captives of the space pirates master of the Jovian moons. / Long Beach, CA : Pacific Comics Club, 2009.

Gould, Chester. The complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy v. 9. Dailies & Sundays, 1944-1945 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Publishing, 2006-

Gray, Harold, 1894-1968. The complete Little Orphan Annie v. 4. A house divided (or will fate trick Trixie?), dailies and color Sundays 1932-33 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Pub., 2008-

Green, Justin. Binky Brown meets the holy Virgin Mary / San Francisco : McSweeneys Books, 2009.

Grist, Paul. The eternal conflicts of the Cosmic Warrior. / Berkely, CA : Image Comics, Inc., 2009.

Hernandez, Gilbert. The troublemakers / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2009.

Huizenga, Kevin, 1977- Ganges no. 3 / Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics, c2006-

Katsumata, Susumu, 1943-2007. Red snow / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2009.

Keane, Bil, 1922- The family circus : [daily and Sunday comic 1960-61] / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Publishing, c2009.

Kibuishi, Kazu, 1978- Copper / New York : Graphix, 2010.

Langridge, Roger. The treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson. / Los Angeles, CA : Boom! Studios, 2010.

Linthout, Willy, 1953- Years of the elephant / [Tarragona, Spain] : Fanfare/Ponent Mon, c2009.

Mangin, Valrie. Scourge of the gods v.2 : the fall / New York : Marvel ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Mann, Marvin Perry. Some new kind of slaughter, or, Lost in the flood (and how we found home again) : diluvian myths from around the world / Chicago : Archaia, c2007.

Marder, Larry. Beanworld bk. 3. Remember here when you are there! / Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2009-

Matsumoto, Taiyo, 1967- Gogo monster / San Francisco, CA : Viz, [2009]

Mawil. Sparky O'Hare : master electrician / London : Blank Slate Books, 2008.

McKean, Dave. Pictures that tick. Book one / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2009.

McManus, George, 1884-1954. Bringing up father : "from sea to shining sea" : the cross-country tour of 1939-40 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, 2009.

Mills, Pat. Underground and over the top / London : Titan, 2009.

Moore, Alan, 1953- Saga of the Swamp Thing v. 2 / New York : DC Comics, 2009-

Morrison, Grant. All-star Superman v. 1 / New York, N.Y. : DC Comics, c2007-

Motter, Dean. Electropolis : the infernal machine : a Menlo Park mystery / Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2009.

Murray, Doug. The 'Nam. v. 1 / New York : Marvel, 2009.

MySpace Dark Horse presents v. 4 / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Books, 2008-

Noir : a collection of crime comics / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Nowlan, Philip Francis. Buck Rogers in the 25th century : the complete newspaper dailies vol. 3. 1932-1934 / Neshannock, Pa. : Hermes Press, c2008-

Parkin, Lance. Alan Moore / Harpenden, Herts : Pocket Essentials, 2009.

Perker, M. K., 1972- Insomnia café : a graphic novel / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Books, 2009.

Pink is for girls / [Cambridge] : Sweatdrop Studios, c2005.

Rall, Ted. The year of loving dangerously / New York : NBM Comics Lit ; London : Turnaround [distributor], 2010.

Raymond, Alex, 1909-1956. Rip Kirby : the first modern detective : complete comic strips 1946-1948. / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, 2009.

Rilly, Ethan. Pope Hats. no. 1 / Toronto : Ethan Rilly, c2007.

Rosenberg, Jonathan. The corndog imperative / New York : Del Rey/Ballantine Books, c2009.

Sacco, Joe. Footnotes in Gaza / New York : Metropolitan Books, 2009.

Sakabashira, Imiri, 1964- The box man / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, c2009.

Sakai, Stan. Usagi Yojimbo : Yokai / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Books, 2009.

Sally, Zak. Like a dog / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2009.

Sánchez Abulí, E. Torpedo. v. 1 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, 2010.

Schulz, Charles M. (Charles Monroe), 1922-2000. Celebrating Peanuts : 60 years / Kansas, Mo. : Andrews McMeel, 2009.

Scott, Jeremy R. PTA night / Berkeley, Calif. : Silverline Books/Image Comics, Inc., 2009.

Seth, 1962- George Sprott, 1894-1975 : a picture novella / Montreal : Drawn and Quarterly, 2009.

Shanower, Eric. Little adventures in Oz v.1. Enchanted apples of Oz ; The king of Oz. / San Diego, Calif. : IDW ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2010-

Shaw, Dash. The unclothed man in the 35th century A.D. / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics Books, 2009.

Stevens, Dave. The rocketeer : the complete adventures / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Publishing ; London : Diamond [distributor], c2009.

Swain, Carol. Crossing the empty quarter and other stories / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009.

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- InuYasha vols. 42-44 / San Francisco, CA : Viz, LLC, c2003-

Taniguchi, Jirō. A distant neighborhood v. 2 / Wisbech, England : Fanfare ; [Rasquera, Spain?] : Ponent Mon, c2009-

The great anti-war cartoons / Seattle : Fantagraphics ; [N.Y.] : distributed in the U.S. by W.W. Norton, c2009.

Urasawa, Naoki, 1960- Pluto : Urasawa x Tezuka v. 6 / San Francisco, CA : VIZ Media, c2008-

Usui, Yoshito, 1958-2009. Crayon Shinchan v. 10 / La Jolla, CA : CMX, c2008-

Veitch, Rick. Abraxas and the Earthman / West Townshend, VT : King Hell Press, c2006.

Wilson, Gahan. Gahan Wilson : 50 years of Playboy cartoons. / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics ; London : Turnaround [distributor], 2009.

Piraro Meets Larson

Bizarro is brought to you today by Sex, Violence, and Illegal Aliens.

Here is a completely true story that I don't believe I've ever mentioned in a public way before.

In 1981, I was 23 and working as a rookie ad designer for Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Tx. (Their headquarters, believe it or not.) I was drawing cartoons simply to entertain myself during downtime and my coworkers encouraged me to get them published. I hadn't seen a comics section of the newspaper in years and thought there was no place for anything more surreal than Marmaduke. But one of them brought in a cartoon from a newcomer, Gary Larson, called "The Far Side". I'd never seen his work before and was surprised that newspapers were, in fact, publishing the sort of cartoons that previously had only been seen in magazines. So I decided to submit my work.

I sent work to the 8 or 10 cartoon syndicates whose addresses I could find at the public library (NO INTERNET!!) and got encouraging responses, but no "takers". One day, I got a phone call from an editor at Chronicle Features in San Francisco, the same syndicate that gave Larson his start. He said he liked my work a lot but since they were selling Larson's work and it was only just then starting to catch on with editors, they didn't feel they had the resources to push another feature in the same category. But he wanted me to keep submitting new work so he could see how I was progressing.

We kept in touch and I sent in new work every month or so. A couple of years later, in 1984, I got a call from them saying that Larson had jumped to another syndicate and that now they had room for me. I was ecstatic. This began a several-month period of my submitting work, them editing it, giving suggestions, and generally grooming me for a daily gig.

During this grooming period, I happened to see an ad in the paper saying that Gary Larson would be appearing for a book signing at a local shopping mall bookstore. I was extremely shy with strangers back then, but decided to go meet him and see what he could tell me about the syndicate he had just left and I was about to join.

When I arrived, it was one of those small, narrow bookstores you see in the typical suburban mega-mall, and at the entrance of the shop was an average looking guy with round, wire frame glasses sitting by himself at a folding table with a stack of books. No one was speaking to him. I introduced myself by saying something like, "I'm Dan Piraro, I've been hired by (editor's name) to replace you at Chronicle Features." He smiled at this and said, "replace me, huh?"

He was a very nice, soft spoken, quiet sort of guy and he answered my questions about syndication. He vouched for Chronicle Features and their editors and said he'd had no complaints about them at all, but that he decided that now that his work was starting to gain some momentum, a bigger syndicate with a larger sales force seemed like a good business move. His words were something to the effect of, "I have no idea how long this is going to last so I figure I have to make as much as I can while I am able."

He fully expected his popularity to wane and wanted to make the most of it, which seemed logical at the time, neither of us knowing what an epic career lay ahead for him. I chatted with him for perhaps half an hour, during which time he signed and sold maybe three books. He hated that first book tour so much that I believe he never did another. I've sat at lonely tables in bookstores, too, and I don't blame him.

I saw Gary only once more, about ten years later, at the funeral of one of our mutual editors. Afterward, we smiled and reminisced about the bookstore meeting and it turned out the "replace you" line was what he remembered most. By this time, he lived in a huge, gated property outside Seattle with attack dogs roaming the grounds like Mr. Burns of "The Simpsons". I was still in a normal house in a normal neighborhood in Dallas, of course. I had a Papillon that roamed the yard from time to time, but it wasn't really the same.

I hadn't thought of that incident in years until it sprang into my head last night like a ninja from the past. Just thought you might enjoy it.

New Library Comics: January 2010

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection in January :


Flix. Der Swimmingpool des kleinen Mannes / Hamburg : Carlsen, 2009

Flix. Für dich - du bist süss : Cartoons von Flix / Hamburg : Carlsen, 2006.

Flix. Heldentage / Hamburg : Carlsen, c2007.

Flix. Mädchen / Hamburg : Carlsen, c2006.

Flix. Tut mir leid, aber Weihnachten fällt aus / Hamburg : Carlsen, c2009.

Flix. Verflixt! : Cartoons ; [und jetzt?] / Hamburg : Carlsen, c2005.

Flix. Verliebt! : das Glücksbuch / Hamburg : Carlsen, c2009.

Haque, Mohammad F. Applegeeks bk. 2. Weird science / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2009.

Kawachi, Izumi. Enchanter v. 2 / Gardena, CA : Digital Manga Pub., 2006-

Mariotte, Jeff. Barack Obama : The first 100 days. / San Diego, CA : IDW Pub., 2009.

Martell, Nevin. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes : the unconventional story of Bill Watterson and his revolutionary comic strip / New York ; London : Continuum, 2009.

Mihara, Mitsukazu, 1970- Shigeshōshi vols. 1-7 / Tokyō : Shōdensha, 2003-

Watase, Yuu. Ayashi no seresu vols. 1-10 / Tōkyō : Shōgakkan, 1997-2000.

Yuki, Kaori. Tenshi kinryō-ku vols. 1-15 / Tōkyō : Hakusensha, 1995-2001

Facing It

Bizarro is brought to you today by camouflage.

One of my father's-in-law and I were driving through Florida recently, saying things with our mouths and we came across this idea of having your eye teeth dilated. So I made a comic about it. I'm blessed with funny in-laws all around, so it's fun to visit CHNW's family.

I'm happy with the character who is speaking in this cartoon because he actually looks like he's thinking about the way his food tastes. Achieving the proper facial expression is important to me and is something that comes from experience. It's a difficult and subtle art, moving an eyelid up or down, or a mouth a fraction one way or another can completely change the character's expression. You just have to do it enough to develop an intuition about it.

Somebody who has tons of great opinions about character design is John K, the dude who did Ren and Stimpy. I spend lots of time on his blog, just because it's fascinating. No modern animator that I know of has John's amazing level of expertise and talent. I often wish I'd worked for him when I was young instead of getting into newspaper comics. But I've had a good run and have no complaints.

KOMEDY WITH A K

One more mention of the awesome comedy show I'm MCing in NYC this week. If you're in the area and you like funny things, this is the deal you want to see. All of our comics are headliners, you'll never see this many bigtime TV comics on the same stage again without having to wear a tuxedo. And ALL the money goes to rescued critters!

Dave Attel
Louis C.K.
Wyatt Cenac from The Daily Show
Lizz Winstead creator of The Daily Show
Gary Gulman
and ME.

Tickets, info, and more laughing pig pictures: http://woodstockfas.org/events.shtml

New Library Comics: December 2009

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection in November:


Ames, Jonathan. The alcoholic / New York : Vertigo/DC Comics, c2008

Asamiya, Kia, 1963- Silent möbius v. 1 / Chicago, Ill. : Udon ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2009

Baron, Mike. Nexus : space opera / Peoria, AZ : Rude Dude Productions, 2009

Black, Holly. Kin / New York : Graphix, [2009], c2008

Blain, Christophe. Dungeon. : the early years Vol. 2, Innocence lost / New York : NBM Pub., 2005-

Bleda, Sergio. Vampire dance / Milwaukie, Ore. : Dark Horse Comics, 2009.

Breathed, Berke. The Bloom County library. Volume one, 1980-1982 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, c2009.

The CBLDF presents : Liberty comics. / Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, p2008

Cooke, Darwyn. The Spirit v. 2 / New York, NY : DC Comics, c2008

Davis, Guy. The Marquis : inferno / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Books, 2009.

Dirge, Roman. Lenore. Noogies / London : Titan Books, c2009

Domo / Los Angeles, Calif. : Tokyopop, 2009

Gillen, Kieron. Phonogram v. 1. Rue Britannia / Berkeley, Calif. : Image Comics ; [London : Diamond, distributor], c2007-

Gould, Chester. The complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy v. 4. Dailies & Sundays, 1942-1944 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Publishing, 2006-

Hamilton, Tim. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 : the authorized adaptation / New York : Hill and Wang, 2009.

Hample, Stuart E. Dread & superficiality : Woody Allen as comic strip / New York : Abrams ComicArts, 2009.

Hornschemeier, Paul, 1977- All and sundry : uncollected work 2004-2009 / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics ; [New York] : Distributed in the U.S. by W.W. Norton, 2009.

Kindt, Matt. 3 story : the secret history of the giant man / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2009

Kleid, Neil. The big Kahn : a sequential drama / New York : NBM, c2009

Kochalka, James. Johnny Boo and the happy apples / Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf Productions, 2009.

Kurtzman, Harvey. Frontline combat v. 1 / York, PA : Gemstone, c2008.

Langridge, Roger. The Muppet Show comic book : meet the Muppets / Los Angeles, CA : Boom! Kids, 2009

Lee, Stan, 1922- Spider-Man newspaper strips. Vol. 1. January 3rd, 1977-January 28th, 1979 / New York : Marvel, 2009.

Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937. H. P. Lovecraft / Mount Horeb, Wis. : Eureka Productions, c2002.

Masamune, Shirow. The ghost in the shell. v. 1 / New York : Kodansha Comics, 2009.

Millionaire, Tony. The art of Tony Millionaire / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2009.

Moore, Alan, 1953- Tom Strong / La Jolla, CA : Wildstorm, c2009

Myhre, Lise. Nemi v. 3 / London : Titan, 2007.

Neufeld, Josh. A.D. : New Orleans after the deluge / New York : Pantheon Books, c2009.

Onstad, Chris. Worst song, played on ugliest guitar / Milwaukie, Ore. : Dark Horse Books, 2009.

Paley, Bruce, 1949- Giraffes in my hair : a rock 'n' roll life / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, c2009.

Pekar, Harvey. Studs Terkel's Working : a graphic adaptation / New York : New Press ; [Jackson, Tenn.] : Distributed by Perseus Distribution, c2009.

Porcellino, John. Map of my heart : the best of King-Cat comics & stories 1996-2002 / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2009.

Rickheit, Hans. The squirrel machine / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, c2009.

Russell, P. Craig. The scarlet letter / [New York] : Papercutz : Distributed by Macmillan, c2009.

Sala, Richard. Cat burglar black / New York : First Second, 2009

Stanley, John, 1914-1993. Nancy : from the comic strip by Ernie Bushmiller : collected from issue 146 to issue 150 of the Dell comic book series 1957-58 / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2009

Taniguchi, Jirō. A distant neighborhood v. 1 / Wisbech, England : Fanfare ; [Rasquera, Spain?] : Ponent Mon, c2009-

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Black Jack vols. 6-7 / New York : Vertical, c2008-

Tobe, Keiko. With the light : raising an autistic child v. 5 / New York : Yen Press, 2007-

Urosawa, Naoki, 1960- 20th century boys v. 4 / San Francisco, CA : Viz Media, 2009-

Usui, Yoshito, 1958- Crayon Shinchan v. 2 / La Jolla, CA : CMX, c2008-

Way, Gerard. The Umbrella Academy. Volume 2, Dallas / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2009.

Zimmerman, Dwight Jon. The Vietnam War : a graphic history / New York : Hill and Wang, 2009.

Bonus Giordano Monkey Cover

Sadly, legendary comic artist Dick Giordano passed away yesterday. Here's his cover to Konga #1 (1960):



Tom Spurgeon has a detailed remembrance of Giordano's long career.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Haven't you always wanted to see an ape fight a giant squid? Bab Larkin has you covered on Planet of the Apes #15 (1975).

(Standard disclaimer about underwater apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Gag Trance

(You want to view this bigger, you can click it)
Bizarro is brought to you today by Wedding Tragedy.

Here is a weird little idea that came from who-knows-where. I like this kind of gag because it is unconventional, affords some interesting visuals, touches on a modern social issue, and makes me smile. It's hard to write cartoons that do all of those things at once, so when I am blessed with one, I'm happy.

Writing cartoons is an odd activity. Since I don't have regular characters or story lines, I start with a completely blank page each time and nothing to build on. I search the web for pictures or info or ideas that spark something in me, then let my mind wander. To the casual observer, I'm doing nothing, just sitting at my desk staring into space like a cat. It resembles catalepsy. But inside my head, an entire road crew is shoveling, digging, hammering, rearranging, paving, destroying, building, and sweating like wrestlers in the hot sun.

On another topic, does anyone know how to build a disintegrator ray? There is a car parked across the street from my building whose car alarm has been going off every thirty minutes since last night. Nothing will wake you from a catatonic cartoon-writing state like a car alarm.

Stress Can Kill

Bizarro is brought to you today by Early Parasailing.

Here's my shot at advocating organ donation. When you die, you won't be using your organs anymore, why not donate them to a church whose choir is forced sing a cappella?

Speaking of potatoes, I like doing Mr. Potato Head gags, as do many other cartoonists, but I am troubled by the fact that this kind of gag requires me to draw the potatoes so enormous. Technically, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head should be the size of actual potatoes. It's quite a dilemma and causes me great anxiety.

This is what passes for work-related stress for me. Pretty sad.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (+2). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
3 (-2). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (+22). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
7 (-). Kick-Ass
8 (R). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
9 (R). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
10 (R). Scott Pilgrim, Vol 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
11 (R). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
12 (-6). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat
13 (-5). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
14 (+2). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #2: A Clan in Need
15 (N). Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour *
16 (-3). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5 *
17 (-6). Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology
18 (+1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
19 (-4). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
20 (N). Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn *
21 (N). Captain America: Reborn *
22 (-12). Hellboy Volume 9: The Wild Hunt
23 (-). V for Vendetta
24 (+24). The Boys Volume 6 SC *
25 (-1). The Complete Persepolis
26 (-16). Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1
27 (-13). Irredeemable Vol 2 *
28 (+2). Gunnerkrigg Court, Vol. 2: Research
29 (-17). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
30 (+6). Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
31 (-14). Watchmen
32 (N). I Kill Giants Titan Edition Signed & Numbered
33 (+10). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
34 (+7). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
35 (R). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
36 (-18). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
37 (-16). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
38 (R). Wolverine: Old Man Logan
39 (N). The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis *
40 (-18). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
41 (N). Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 2: 1982-1984 *
42 (N). xxxHOLiC 15
43 (-8). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
44 (-17). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
45 (N). The Losers: Book One (Vols. 1 & 2)
46 (R). Mercy Thompson: Homecoming
47 (-22). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
48 (+2). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
49 (-16). Batman: Year One
50 (-18). Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* The power of the Twilight manga proved to be no match for the power of the Wimpy Kid movie push. Twilight is at #42 on the overall chart, but two of the WK volumes pushed even higher (though not by much; The Last Straw is at #35 and Dog Days is at #39).

* Need more proof about the power of movies on Amazon comic sales? The trailer for Scott Pilgrim debuted on the Internet yesterday, causing an instant surge in demand for the SP comics. Will interest remain high until the film's release in August? Kick-Ass also remains strong just three weeks before its movie is released.

* And when the movie is just a memory? Check out Watchmen, which dips all the way down to #31...

Smart Apes

Bizarro is brought to you today by Ebony and Ivory.

Is there nothing to see here? Really?

One might have thought that there was nothing much left of racism in America until recently. Racism is a very primitive impulse, at one time in our distant past, it was beneficial to distrust those not from your "tribe." And while most of us have evolved to see the foolishness in that kind of thinking in modern society, there are still plenty of us who operate from the primitive parts of our brains. This kind of grunting, chest-beating throwback to our hairier ancestors rises and falls throughout history and so I suspect that this current wave, too, shall pass. Let's hope no serious casualties result in the meantime.

I often wish that "intelligent design" were true, so that our species might behave more intelligently.

This cartoon has nothing to do with racism, of course, it's just been on my mind lately. Tomorrow, a funnier post.

AMAZING COMEDY

One week from today, April 1st, I'll be appearing in a terrific comedy show in NYC benefiting Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. We have an amazing lineup (myself notwithstanding) and have just added Lizz Winstead, a true hero in the comedy world.

Lizz co-created The Daily Show, served as head writer, and hired such talents as Stephen Colbert and Lewis Black. She's also a well-known, national headlining comedian appearing on HBO, and in The Aspen Comedy Festival.

You won't get a lineup of headliners like this (myself notwithstanding) in any other single comedy show, I guarantee. And all the money goes to a great cause.

Get tickets here or suffer the consequences!

Robot's in TROUBLE!

Parrot Psychology

Bizarro is brought to you by The Life of the Artist.

Knowing how to ask for what you want in life is an important skill. Many people suffer through years of discomfort within a relationship because they don't know how to ask for what they want from their partner.

This includes everything from simple things like, "I'd like you to spend more time on the backs of my knees during our lovemaking," to more complex issues like, "I would feel more comfortable if you did not sleep in full combat gear."

After years of therapy, I recently asked CHNW if she would be more sensitive to my insecurities regarding my checkered past. Specifically, I'd like her to stop introducing me as her "former jailbird husband." She happily complied, she'd had no idea it bothered me. Why did I wait so long?

I encourage all of my readers to work on these areas, as our friend the parrot is doing today.

Craigslist

Bizarro is brought to you today by The Future of The Past.

One of my favorite sites on the Interwebs is You Suck at Craiglist. Notice I didn't link to the name just then? That's because if you go there, you'll be trapped for hours and won't get back to my blog. So there is a link at the bottom of this post for those of you who want to go there after you've read my own clever, daily musings. And for those of you who have already jumped to the bottom and clicked that link, I HATE YOU, YOU'RE UGLY AND STUPID AND MEAN!

Hey, here's some totally cool news. The iTunes site has picked my Bizarro phone app to put on their "New and Noteworthy" page. Thanks, Apple! I could use some sales!

The problem is that there are baziglions of apps on the market and more coming out every nanosecond, so to get noticed you have to be reviewed or featured on a bunch of different sites. It's hard.

Here's a pic of what it looks like on the iTunes site. Go there a buy my app, it's cheap and oh so cool to have! And it will get you that perfect soul mate you've been looking for, guaranteed!*






Here's the link to You Suck at Craigslist.

*Not an actual guarantee.

The Game or Life

Bizarro is brought to you today by Spirituality.

The seed for this cornstalk of a cartoon came from my good friend, Richard Cabeza. We call him "Dick," and sometimes translate his last name into English. But that's not the point.

The point is that I grew up in Oklahoma with fundamentalist Christians who believed that the popular Ouija Board game could be used by The Devil to control you. Grown adults at church would preach to other grown adults that they should not let their children play with this kind of "occult" toy and if they had one in the house, it should be burned. These were otherwise normally functioning adults capable of operating motor vehicles and holding down office jobs.

I'm guessing that in those households in which the Ouija Board had been removed, The Devil just switched to Scrabble. If you're even a moderately clever supernatural force of evil, I'm sure you can think of other ways to get bad ideas into kid's heads and damn their souls to eternal torment. TV news, movies, video games, rap music, the Old Testament, the world is full of violence, hatred and prejudice. Who needs board games?

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Gorilla body slam! on the cover to Human Defense Corps #2 (2003) by Clement Sauve Jr. & Juan Vlasco.

(Standard disclaimer about lab coat-wearing gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Socks that Kill

(TO VIEW THIS IMAGE LARGER, CLICK ON THE BRA)

Here is another stereotypical cartoon about the amazing powers of static electricity. Each year, several hundred people are killed in the U.S. alone by not using some form of anti-static device in the dryer. Usually, you just get a little crackle and pop when you pull the clothes out of the drum, but when conditions are just right, you could be in for a shock of up to 12,000 volts, which is nearly five times as much as is used in prison electric chairs! Beware, citizens, your next load of laundry could be your last!

This message brought to you by Dryer Balls. "Who doesn't want dryer balls?"

OMG!

Drawn!

I realized long ago that being featured on the illustration blog, Drawn, would be something special indeed. Im happy to say the day has come! A big thank you to John Martz and Joe Bluhm for the post and recommendation, respectfully. Both of these guys are HUGE talents, so I'm honored.


xo
-justin

I'm in a Comedy SHOW!

CLICK THIS IMAGE TO MAKE IT BIG SO YOU CAN READ IT!

I'm going to be in a terrific comedy show in NYC next week on April Fool's Day of this year, 2010. It's for charity, so bring your self, laugh your ass off and get a nice dose of good karma.

The links in this image don't work, so go here for more info and tickets!

Apatow Now

Bizarro is brought to you today by Lunch.

Here's a kooky crazy wacky fun idea from my good friend and colleague, cartoonist extraordinaire, Wayno. He donates ideas to me from time to time and I love this one. I almost regret not making the clown Seth Rogen instead, but it still works. When I use other people's suggestions, I often change them to better suit my style or facilitate the joke, but this one is pretty much exactly as Wayno conceived it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Hope you enjoyed this collaboration. For more of Wayno's dandy work, check him out here.

I've been blogging less often lately as I've been busy with some special and nifty projects. I'll fill you in on them later, for now, please forgive my occasional absence.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
4 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (+9). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat
7 (+3). Kick-Ass
8 (-1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
9 (R). Hellboy Volume 9: The Wild Hunt
10 (+31). Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1
11 (-3). Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology
12 (+18). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
13 (N). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5 *
14 (N). Irredeemable Vol 2 *
15 (R). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
16 (-7). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #2: A Clan in Need *
17 (-4). Watchmen
18 (-2). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
19 (-7). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
20 (-14). I am an alien. I have a question 01
21 (-2). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
22 (+18). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
23 (R). V for Vendetta
24 (+12). The Complete Persepolis
25 (-2). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
26 (-9). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
27 (-2). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
28 (R). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
29 (N). Complete Milt Gross Comic Book Stories
30 (N). Gunnerkrigg Court, Vol. 2: Research
31 (N). The Gashlycrumb Tinies
32 (N). Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities
33 (-11). Batman: Year One
34 (N). Irredeemable: Volume 1
35 (-21). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
36 (-25). Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
37 (R). Star Wars: Legacy Volume 8 - Tatooine
38 (R). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
39 (R). The Rocketeer: The Complete Deluxe Edition
40 (-12). Twelve Kingdoms, The - Hardcover Edition Volume 4: Skies of Dawn
41 (R). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
42 (-9). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
43 (-17). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
44 (-26). Batman: The Killing Joke
45 (N). Superman: New Krypton, Vol. 3
46 (R). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
47 (R). Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2
48 (N). The Boys Volume 6 SC *
49 (-28). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
50 (-30). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Amazon returned the sales link for comics from Diamond on Tuesday, so the sales chart has mostly returned to normal.

* The Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie comes out today. Not much chart action as the books still can't de-throne the newly released Twilight manga (#17 on the overall chart); although the recently announced but as-yet-untitled Wimpy Kid book 5 is the highest debut at #13 though it doesn't come out until November.

* I'm quite surprised to see the two Irredeemable volumes show up. Has there been some mainstream coverage that I'm not aware of?

* Speaking of unexpected, it's a nice surprise to see Jason Shiga's Meanwhile show up on the charts. This new color edition has wonderful production values to go along with Shiga's innovative comic.

Poo Rules

Check back in for new Mythfits cartoons. The comic continues...

Adam and Apple

Today's Bizarro cartoon is brought to you by Tampon Chandelier.

This cartoon was pretty popular with readers, as you might expect. Computers have become such an important part of virtually everyone's life in our society and the story of these two companies and their founders is fascinating. It's also interesting that the one with the better business sense but inferior design won the war in many ways. Apple is a huge and successful company, of course, but nothing like the size of Microsoft. It says a lot about life and the Utopian fantasy of meritocracy.

There are some cartoonists whose work is much more creative, clever, well-executed, and relevant than others, but who make a fraction of the money of less worthy products, too. I can't think of any right now, but I'm sure they exist.

A quick summary of last evening's graphic novels panel

The room was packed, with people sitting on the floor and standing in the back. Three great speakers, which meant that my duties as moderator basically consisted of introducing the speakers and then fielding questions at the end.

Eric Rabkin walked us through a close reading of the classic children's picture book Goodbye Moon, making the case for a visual language that can be every bit as complex as the written word and intuitively understood by young children.

Jim Ottaviani made the case for using comics to tell stories of science (which, he says, is more readily accepted by science people than comics people!) and demonstrated the creation of a scene from T-Minus, from research to writing to the final printed page.

Phoebe Gloecker talked about why she chooses to draw comics and how it is an emotional engagement for her. She talked some about her experiences traveling to Mexico for frist-hand research on her latest project, and about how the new generation of eBooks readers like the iPad may open new creative freedoms for comics creators.

A big thanks to the staff of the Shapiro library for putting the panel together and providing the space, and to our panelists who gave three very different by very engaging presentations.

(There was a video recording made of the panel, but I'm not sure if it will be made widely available...)

Dental Mortgage

Bizarro is brought to you today by Personal Health.

The Tooth Fairy is a fairly ghoulish character. She (Is it wrong to assume TF is female? ) collects human teeth, for starters, and wants them so badly she's willing to pay for them. What does she do with them? Does she make jewelry, dentures, puppets?

She is also cruelly inequitable. A friend of mine was getting a dollar a tooth while I was getting only a quarter. I had to lose four times as many teeth to keep up with him. I began life with both an inferiority complex and difficulty chewing my food.

This cartoon is retribution. Take that, Tooth Fairy.

This Evening!

Cover Songs Six

Now available on 8track.com: Cover Songs Six, a mix of twenty-four songs not by the original artists!



In this mix:

The Alice Band cover Blue Oyster Cult
The Bird and the Bee cover the Bee Gees
Bonerama cover Led Zeppelin
Clare and the Reasons cover Genesis
Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan cover Pink
Dianna Agron covers Dionne Warwick
Emm Gryner covers Def Leppard
Flunk cover The Kinks
Jonatha Brooke covers James Taylor
Kristin Chenoweth covers the Eagles
Leaves' Eyes cover Simon & Garfunkel
Marcilo Agro e il Duo Maravilha cover The Pet Shop Boys
Mindy Gledhill covers Joni Mitchell
Mindy Smith covers Fleetwood Mac
Nouvelle Vague cover Billy Idol
Petra Haden covers The Bellamy Brothers
Pomplamoose cover Beyonce
Rosa Chance Well cover Creedence Clearwater Revival
Selena Cross covers Men at Work
Serena Ryder & The Beauties cover Jordin Sparks
Shannon Butcher covers Tears for Fears
Sophie Barker covers John Denver
Speedway cover Christina Aguilera
Stimulator cover The Captain & Tennille

(If you're reading this somewhere the embedded player doesn't work, you'll need to use this link.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

What exactly is Sam looking at on Bob Oksner's cover to Angel and the Ape #3 (1969)?

(Standard disclaimer about detective apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Fame

How did I get so popular in Sweden?

http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1268578155528RA51

Happy V Day

A belated Valentine's message...

B-Bot-Boy

Imaginary Relationships

Since I plan to get back on track with my little comic strip narrative, I thought I'd post some of my developmental sketches. This is a loose relationship chart linking all the characters together. As you can see, I'm getting kinda' ambitious with this. I want to flesh out the whole universe of their warped little world. I'm a big fan of mythology and magical creatures and space aliens and robots, so I decided if I'm going to create a little world, it's going to involve all of my clashing fascinations. With a strip title like "Mythfits", I feel obliged to make opposites attract. I'm eager to induce all the meet and greets...even if it takes me a while.

Let's talk about feelings

Something smells funny...

Poo is back

Well, it was OBVIOUS that I had to continue the adventure of this little turd. He appeared earlier, but now he's going to have his own little story.

Little Ditties

A Doomed Relationship?

A Match Made In Heaven?

Dance

...Then a robot appeared.

Note: first panel best viewed while imagining Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra" (from 2001: A Space Odyssey) playing in your head.

Yeah, yeah...I know, that's a tired cinematic cliché, but it makes it all the more ridiculous.

In the beginning, there was a drunk unicorn...

I like unicorns that drink to kill the pain. :)

WOW! A Unicorn!

This was my first attempt creating a Mythfits strip. Obviously, the robot hasn't shown up yet. That turd might show up again later. I like him.

A New endeavor

As an Illustrator, I get told what to draw a lot (duh). It's not usually what I would sit around sketching at home, so lately I've been experimenting with character creation. For some reason these two little guys keep showing up in my doodles! I always loved unicorns. I always loved robots. Maybe I'll do a little cartoon with them.