Author: About Comics

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Breezy

Meet Breezy Biggins!

Breezy is a smart, playful, and ambitious lad with a typical teenage boy’s fascination with girls and an atypical obsessions with bicarbonate of soda. in the 1940s and ’50s, “Breezy”, created by Melvin Tapley (working under the name Tap Melvin or just T. Melvin) was a fixture in Black community newspapers across the United States, but it was never available in a book… until now!

Melvin Stanton Tapley (1919–2005) was such a prolific cartoonist that his work for the Black newspapers would often appear under several names on the same page, with his own name being used for editorial cartoons, the advertising strip The Brown Family and the adventure series Jim Steele; either “Tap Melvin” or just “T. Melvin” being used on the comedy strip Breezy; and “Stann Pat” being the signature on the instructive manners panel Do’s and Don’ts. Tapley was also an editor for New York’s Amsterdam News, a co-publisher and cover artist of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, and, for over a decade, the president of the Peekskill, New York chapter of the NAACP.

Selected as one of the “Best Books of 2022” by Panels & Prose.

  •  ‎100 pages, black and white, 8.5 x 6 inches.
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996409
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996401

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Brownsville: The Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.

“Jewish gangster” isn’t a term you hear much about these days, but when the Dodgers played in New York and licorice cost a penny a bag, Brooklyn corners were lousy with semitic young toughs looking for adventure and excitement – none more so than in Brownsville. The graphic novel Brownsville: the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc. by Neil Kleid and Jack Allen shows the intertwined lives of Allie Tannenbaum, Abe Reles and scores of hoods organized by Louis Lepke Buchalter into the deadliest hit operation in Mafia history, “Murder, Inc.”, as they escape mean streets and lonely tenements, making themselves into the most dangerous men in America, only to eventually send their best friends and closest allies up the river. This work is now available in a new edition just released by About Comics.

Previous editions published by NBM drew praise from the book field (Booklist called it “smart, absorbing” while Publishers Weekly said it was a “beautifully moody evocation of a bygone Brooklyn inhabited by Jewish gangsters”) as well as respected creators. Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Carla Speed McNeil says that the book covers organized crime history “with grace, style and power. This book carries history. Read it.” Harvey Pekar, writer of American Splendor, said “This taut and suspenseful drama takes people to an era that no longer exists. I’m not saying Jews are untainted by crime these days – but at least they’re not out knockin’ heads like they used to be!”
Brownsville: the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc., is written by Neil Kleid, the Orthodox Jewish graphic novelist acclaimed for his works Ninety Candles, The Big Kahn, and Nice Jewish Boys. Artist Jake Allen has been drawing comics for 30 years, and has brought his Joe Kubert School-trained abilities to his own barbarian comic Rengor (Outland Entertainment).

  • 6.5″x9″ black-and-white paperback
  • 208 pages
  • ISBN 978-1-949996-97-5

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Adventures of A-Girl!: Go-Go-Go!

Before queer comics went mainstream, there was A-Girl.

In 1993, animator and cartoonist Elizabeth Watasin began self-publishing a hand-xeroxed zine called Adventures of A-Girl! out of Burbank, California. It cost one dollar. It was traded through underground newsletter listings, mailed in envelopes, and passed hand to hand among people who needed it. In a pre-internet era when the word “asexual” barely existed in public discourse, when “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was national policy, and when the AIDS epidemic was devastating queer communities, A-Girl arrived as a beacon of irreverence, warmth, and defiant self-expression.

A-Girl is androgynous, cross-dressing, and proudly asexual — a short-haired young woman in a black suit and tie who stumbles into comic confrontations with a world that can’t quite categorize her and really wishes she’d stop. She gets punched. She runs away a lot. She says exactly what she thinks. She falls into philosophical conversations with strangers at ramen shops at 2 AM. She buys a Japanese schoolboy’s uniform by flinging money at a very angry old lady and sprinting. She is, in other words, a hero for the ages.

This collection brings together nearly the entire run of the series for the first time, including:

  • The original Adventures of A-Girl! issues, from A-Girl’s first gag strips challenging social norms to her full-length Tokyo adventures — navigating tour groups, matchmaking strangers, an obsessive quest for shojo manga in the Jimbocho book district, and a final sunset at Tokyo Tower
  • Further Adventures of A-Girl!, including A-Girl’s eccentric found-family household: landlady Miz Anita, vaudeville drag queens, born-again bisexual Lily, and exotic dancer Clea — all singing, arguing, and stumbling toward something like grace
  • Strips published in celebrated indie titles Strangers in Paradise and Action Girl Comics, showcasing a tighter, print-ready style alongside the raw spontaneity of the zine work
  • A selection of mini-cartoons, spot illustrations, and covers that appeared outside of the main A-Girl titles

Watasin drew all of the zine comics directly in ink — no pencils — over rough marker sketches on a light table, preserving an immediacy and warmth that leaps off the page. The result is cartooning that feels simultaneously rough and perfectly alive: expressive, funny, emotionally direct, and visually inventive.

Adventures of A-Girl! sits at the intersection of queer history, underground comics history, and personal mythology. It belongs on the shelf alongside Dykes to Watch Out For, Love and Rockets, and Fun Home — works that documented lives that weren’t being documented anywhere else, drawn by people who had no choice but to make the thing they needed to exist.

A-Girl never finished her adventures. She never had to. The point was always the looking — at Tokyo’s sparkling horizon, at the edge of what’s possible, at a world that keeps insisting you’re impossible and keeps being wrong.

A-Girl is back. She’s still wearing the suit.

  • Paperback
  • 172 pages, black-and-white
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996964
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1-949996-96-8
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.44″ x 9.69″

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Keith Laumer’s Retief!

Back in 1987, fresh of their acclaimed run on their original creation Dalgoda, Dennis Fujitake and Jan Strnad brought out another science fiction series, this one adapting Keith Laumer’s beloved Retief stories. These humorous tales focus on a Jame Retief, a dedicated member of the diplomatic corps who finds a way to success while navigating not only the strange habits and languages of alien species, but also the even stranger habits and language of bureaucracy. Wielding wit, charm, wisdom, and a strong right hook, Retief violates every rule in the book in his quest for peace and justice. Fujitake’s whimsical art creates a fully-realized version of not just Retief but the aliens and their habitats. The six issues that he drew, each adapting a single one of Laumer’s short stories were the first comics adaptation of these tales, and while others would come later, these are the ones that people remember. Now the full series is available in Keith Laumer’s Retief!. a new paperback edition just released by About Comics.
While the stories may be science fiction, its take on diplomatic bureaucracy is grounded very much in reality. Keith Laumer, who already had several years of US Air Force service under his belt, started his science fiction career while serving as a diplomat for the US Foreign Service, and brought his insider’s view of diplomacy, it’s struggles and its foibles. (Laumer would also create the influential Bolo and Imperium sagas—expansive futures exploring honor, duty, and the moral burdens of power.)
Fans of Fujitake’s art (and there are many) should take delight in the cover, a previously-unseen piece created during the original run of the series, intended for an issue that was never produced. Bedecked with a new logo designed by the mighty Steve Vance, it puts a strong front on a book of top-notch material. Following in the wake of last year’s release of The Dalgoda Omnibus, which was About Comics’ best-selling new book by a wide margin, expectations for this book run high.
This new edition has been produced under license from Sabrina Laumer and Dennis Fujitake,

  • 7″x10″ black-and-white, 188 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996913
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996913
  • Available through Amazon or your favorite online bookstore, or special-orderable through your favorite local book shop.
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Cuddles, an American Flapper at King Arthur’s Court

What happens when a Roaring ’20s party girl finds herself transported back in time to Camelot? Practically everything!
In this beautifully drawn comic strip series from 1929, Cuddles enchants King Arthur, teaches dance moves to Queen Guinevere, falls hard for Galahad, outmagics Merlin, and all in all sends the Round Table spinning. This series, featuring the earliest depictions of Camelot in American comics, is a hidden gem, never before collected and otherwise overlooked until now. Here are over 300 daily strips to amuse and astonish, filled with the fashion of the day and an imaginative take on medieval style. All this comes from the mind and pen of Charles H. Forbell, who did respected cartooning work in newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and animation.
Charles H. Forbell (cartoonist) created such strips as “Soosie the Shopper” and the acclaimed “Naughty Pete”. His single panel cartoons were regularly full-page features in Judge and Life magazines.
Nat Gertler (introduction) is an Eisner Award-winning writer on comics history.
  • 118 pages, black and white, 11″x8.5″
  • ISBN 978-1-949996-94-4
  • Not available from Amazon. Order at Lulu.com!
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Cross Word Craze: Classic Crosswords of the 1920

Compiled by Nat Gertler

This delightful book is filled with crossword puzzles from the 1920s, plus articles, cartoons, and more on the topic of crosswords from the newspapers of the day.

In the 1920s, crosswords were everywhere. At the start of the decade, the “cross-word puzzle” was an obscure feature to be found in a handful of America’s newspapers. By 1924, they were a craze, the fad of the moment that was celebrated by many and decried by scolds. They were a driving force for public events and fashion, a cause for skyrocketing dictionary sales, and a significant driver of newspapers subscriptions. The first crossword puzzle books were published, and there were novels, plays, and songs on the topic. The crossword earned its permanent place in the culture during this time, This book was crafted from the archives of over 100 newspapers, not just from the 48 states that were in the U.S. at that point, but also from the English-speaking world beyond. Enclosed you will find: 100 puzzles with solutions – not just the standard daily newspaper puzzles of the time, but puzzles created for contests, puzzles created in contests, advertising puzzles. There are puzzles ranging from little illustrated ones for children to a 32-by-32 square behemoth with hundreds of words. There are puzzles meant for everyone, and ones meant for such special audiences as the Latin student or the radio addict. 100 newspapers clippings – articles, cartoons, advertisements, and more from the time, all reflecting the crossword craze of the day.
Is this a puzzle book? Is it a history scrapbook? It’s both, with plenty for the history buff and the puzzle fan alike! A great gift for the puzzle fan in your life… even if that fan is yourself.

  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996891
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996890
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5  x 11 inches, 128 pages

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Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip

 

Written by Phil Evans, drawn by Tom Cook, space consulting by I. M. Levitt

It’s 1961, and as human beings are reaching space for the first time, Drift Marlo sets down in America’s newspapers. Billed as the first authentic space adventure series, it is not filled with tales of galactic princesses and brutish Martians, but with tales of a space program just a few years more advanced than where we were then, grounded in the science, the goals, and the politics of the times.
Drift Marlo is head of security for America’s space base, charged with protecting the brave astronauts, dedicated scientists, and vital mission. He handles situations from dealing with protestors to sniffing out saboteurs. But this detective is also a mystery, with a past so obscure that even he doesn’t know what it is.
Collected here for the first time are the first four Drift Marlo adventures, built up over hundreds of individual daily newspaper strips

  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996883
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996883
  • Format ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 6 inches, 124 pages, black and white.

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To Be Announced

In the mid-1980s, award-winning graphic novel writer Derek McCulloch (Stagger Lee, Gone to Amerikay) teamed with beloved cartoonist Mike Bannon (Oombah, Jungle Moon Man; “Old Paper”) to take on that most sacred of sacred cows: television! Decades later, we can now look back on the work that delivered the final, deadly blow to TV and saved generations from its influence.
This collects the stories from all seven issues of the original To Be Announced! comic book, including everything from Sesame Street Blues to the fundraising concert Lemon-Aid.

This book is being released as part of an effort to contact artist Mike Bannon, who has been out of touch with his comics pals and collaborators for well over a decade. Mike, if you’re out there, we want to hear from you!

2022 PopCult Gift Guide selection, Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette-Mail

  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996514
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996517
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7  x 10 inches, 160 pages, black and white

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Teddy Roosevelt: His Career in Cartoons

Teddy Roosevelt: His Career in Cartoons by Albert Shaw with Nat Gertler

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, is a larger-than-life figure. He wasn’t just a politician, he was also a warrior, an explorer, a naturalist, and a power broker. He also thrived during a period when editorial cartooning was a major, often front-page part of the political discussion. Now About Comics has released Teddy Roosevelt: His Career in Cartoons, a biography filled with over 600 relevant political cartoons from the era.
This volume uses as a base the 1910 book A Cartoon History of Roosevelt’s Career by professor-turned-journalist Albert Shaw, and then expands on it, adding over 50 additional cartoons chroncling the period after that original publication and Roosevelt’s 1919 death. The expansion’s cartoons were selected by Nat Gertler (an Eisner Award winner for his writing about comics), who also supplied additional text to tell the story of Roosevelt during this period and to give the cartoons context.
Roosevelt had been in the public eye well before he became President. He’d been a president of the New York City police board, governor of New York, an assistant secretary of the US Narvy, a Rough Rider, and a vice-president. The earliest cartoons in the book are from 1884, when he was a member of the New York State Assembly.
This volume includes cartoons from a wide array of sources, both in the US and abroad, making the book an effective depiction of the range of styles that cartoonists wielded. Perhaps more significantly, it demonstrates the many angles of interpretation; an editorial cartoon is not supposed to be neutral, and so the various artists get to show Roosevelt as a hero, a scoundrel, a madman, a statesman, an impediment, an inspiration, and so forth

  • 282 pages
  • black-and-white
  • gloss, 80# paper
  • 7.44 x 9.68 in
  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-949996-84-5
  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-949996-83-8

Not available through Amazon, but you can order the paperback or hardcover through Lulu.com!

(Note: This title does not mix-and-match with other titles for wholesale shipping deals.)

 

 

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An Altar Boy Named ‘Speck’: The Collection Compilation

Speck is a well-intentioned, spirited, energetic, and often all-too-human boy of the cloth, there to serve, to support, and when possible, to mooch your sweet snacks.

Tut LeBlanc was a talented cartoonist who created Speck for a single, local paper, not realizing at the time that his creation would go national and outlive him by decades. Begun in 1951 during the Catholic cartoon explosion, ‘Speck’ held a special place in a world otherwise filled with Sisters, Fathers, and Brothers.

This volume collects all the cartoons from both of the original two books of Tut LeBlanc’s work: An Altar Boy Named ‘Speck’ and ‘Speck’: More Cartoons. (Also available: Speck the Altar Boy: The Collection Compilation, collecting two books of cartoons by Margaret Ahern, who took over the series after LeBlanc’s early death.)

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996719
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996715
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5  x 8.5 inches

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