Author: About Comics

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Analysis of Bone: a look at the Jeff Smith graphic novel masterpiece

Since it started being serialized in 1991, Jeff Smith’s masterwork Bone has drawn a huge number of readers, intrigued by its subtleties and complexities as the work evolved from a lighthearted romp to a dark fantasy with a richly-built world. It is a work worthy of scholarly attention, and that’s just what award-winning writer about comics Stephen Weiner set out to do. His essay on the work, its influences, and its place in the culture was first release in e-book form (as A Bone Companion) in 2015. The fine folks at Cartoon Books thought that it was a worthy analysis, and included in in their 2016 book Bone: Coda. But now that volume is out of print, and and About Comics has made the work under its own cover, and the title Analysis of Bone.
This volume contains not only Weiner’s text accompanied by Jeff Smith art from Bone, but also a seven page interview with Smith himself. The book has the same cover size as the Scholastic editions of Bone, so that it can sit nicely with your Bone collection on your shelf.

About the author: Stephen Weiner has been writing about comics since 1992, including writing for such periodicals as The Boston Globe, School Library Journal, and Booklist, and authoring or co-authoring such books as 100 Graphic Novels for Public Libraries, The Will Eisner Companion, and Hellboy: The Companion. A holder of master degrees in both Children’s Literature and Library Science, Weiner received the Comic Creators’ Guild Award in 2006

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 65 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996573
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996579
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.15 x 9 inches
  • Cover price: US$7.99

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The Wolf: Expanded Edition

This World War II classic is back!

“Along with the jeep, the robot bomb and Spam, the wolf in GI clothing will become one of the historical mementos of World War II.” —Life

When the attack on Pearl Harbor turned Golden Age comic book and advertising artist Leonard Sansone into Pvt. Sansone, he brought his art tools and sense of humor with him. The Wolf, his comics panel about a girl-crazed soldier went quickly from being in his local camp paper to appearing in thousands of service papers wherever Americans were stationed. Here, the original 1945 edition, out of print for most of a century, is not only brought back but expanded with seventy additional post-war cartoons. Look out, ladies! The Wolf’s uniform may be gone; his obsession remains.

“Sansone’s work is marked by cleverness and originality” — Tampa Tribune

”The best in GI cartoons” — Pic

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 177 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996557
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996555
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.45 x 8 inches

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Spot the Dog

Over a decade before George Booth brought his cartooning talent to the New Yorker, where his quirky style, wry sense of the world, and quirky view of dogs would get him recognized as one of America’s premiere cartoonists, he had a daily cartoon panel appearing in newspapers. That panel, Spot, about an aware, pipe-smoking starlet-chasing mutt and the family that loves him (well, puts up with him, more or less) has never before been collected. Here you have over 150 Spot cartoons, unseen for over sixty years.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 91 page
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996565
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996562
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.23 x 6 inches

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The Factor

There’s a hero. He saves the day. But what effect does he have on everyone else’s life?
This is the book where you never see the hero. It isn’t about him. These are the tales of the man on the street, the cop on the beat, the dreamers and schemers and even the kid playing with a doll of the hero. One person can change the world for so many…
This is a complete collection of the series that got Nat Gertler the first of his Eisner Award nominations. Over 20 short stories in all adding up to one full graphic novel, with a range of artists including Huntress co-creator Joe Staton, children’s book creator Adam Rex, mini-comics king Matt Feazell, crime novelist Alex Grecian, and Eisner- and LA Times Book Prize-winning graphic novelist Carla Speed McNeil.
Contents:

  • “Exposure”, art by Adam Rex & Paul Whitehead
  • “Arms and the Man”, art by Janine Johnston
  • “Protection”, art by Alex Grecian
  • “To Serve and Protect”, art by Jim Schumaker & Bradley Walton
  • “Da-Daba-Dumma-Dum-Da-Data”, art by Joe Staton
  • “Escalation”, art by Alex Grecian
  • “Telephone for the ‘90s”, art by Nat Gertler
  • “Commute”, art by Mike Vosburg
  • “Da Oudda-Towners”, art by Matt Feazell
  • “Disagreement”, art by John Drury
  • “In Need”, art by Tom Luth
  • “Clothes Making”, art by Carla Speed McNeil
  • “Essay”, art by Rich Johnston
  • “The Green Diamond Protocol”, art by Carlos Saldaña
  • “Dull Summer Day”, art by Paul Whitehead
  • “The Limits of the Lawyer”, art by Ted Slampyak
  • “Direction”, art by Mark Lewis
  • “Action”, art by Jim Schumaker & Bradley Walton
  • “I am the Factor”, art by Justine Shaw
  • “I am Too the Factor”, art by Rich Johnston
  • “I am the Factoy”, art by Rusty Haller
  • “News Carrier”, art by Jim Wheelock
  • “At Joe’s Lunch Stop”, art by Jason Whitley
  • “Friday Morning, 11:47 AM”, art by Justine Shaw

Product details:

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 127 pages, black and white
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 194999645X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996456
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.29 x 10 inches
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Wife Gets Smart, Makes Husband Happy: Supermarket Comic Strip Ads of World War II

Compiled & Annotated by Nat Gertler
Foreword by Dr. Vicki Howard

When a major American supermarket chain began including comic strips win their newspaper ads in 1941, they probably thought that it would just be a series of little tales that just reminded you to shop at their stores. But then America got pulled into the war, and the strip became an unintended chronicle of life on the homefront, with patriotism, shortages, rationing, fundraising, fears, hopes, and ultimately expectations of a better tomorrow. Here are the hundreds of strips that made up that campaign, which ran from 1941 to 1947. Plus, there’s dozens of examples of comic strips from ads for independent grocery stores from before and after the war, and as an added bonus, a healthy run of Glamorous Gloria, a hilarious strip advertising clothing stores.

“Nat Gertler’s Wife Gets Smart, Makes Husband Happy is a time capsule of comic strips that gives insight to an era in the United States where food rationing was enforced and families were encouraged to grow their own food so that more processed food was available for American soldiers. […] It’s a history book about mid-20th century America, a practical guide in using sequential art to quickly convey a message, and — if you happen to be a collector of grocery store memorabilia (yep, they exist) certain a book you’d want to have on your shelf. Grade: 5.0/5.0″ — RJ Carter, CriticalBlast.com

“The American comic industry has always had a space for small, independent publishers, and I’m glad, because it means you can sometimes stumble across something like this […] odd but strangely readable.” – Comics Worth Reading

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 175 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996417
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996418
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.44 x 6 inches

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The Jam: Urban Adventure: Beginnings

Gordon Kirby is one laid back individual… but when duty (or boredom) calls, he dons his homebrew hero outfit and patrols the streets and rooftops of Montreal as The Jammer!
Collected here for the first time is the original five-issue storyline of Bernie Mireault’s cult favorite alt hero series The Jam: Urban Adventure, newly remastered and enhanced by Mireault himself. As an added bonus, the book leads off with a series of shorter pieces that appeared in New Triumph Featuring Northguard and The Jam Special.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 167 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996433
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996432
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.38 x 10 inches

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How to Draw Cartoons

Clare Briggs was one of the titans of the comic strip in the early 20th century. In this 1926 volume, he explains how to build a career in comics, and how he found the humorous aspects of life that informed such classic strips as When a Feller Needs a Friend and The Days of Real Sport. With over fifty example cartoons, plus added advice from such key cartoonists as H. T. Webster (creator of The Timid Soul), F. Opper (Happy Hooligan), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Winsor McCay (Little Nemo), and more, this book proved inspirational. Charles Schulz cited this book as leading him down to the road to Peanuts.
Out of print for many decades, this collectors’ item is now available again in this complete paperback edition.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 223 pages (note: 40-some of these are blank pages behind pages of art)
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996425
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996425
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 0.56 x 10 inches

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Bootsie’s Big ’50s: a Dark Laughter collection

“Negro America’s Favorite Cartoonist” – that’s what Langston Hughes called Ollie Harrington, whose cartoons and comic strips were a staple of America’s Black newspapers for decades starting in the 1930s. In his single-panel series “Dark Laughter,” Harrington brought out the vibrancy of Harlem life in its day, while serving some cutting looks at the politics of the time.

At the heart of “Dark Laughter” is Bootsie, a cunning, conning, girl-chasing ne’er-do-well who is nonetheless beloved in his Harlem community… if often reluctantly. Bootsie is both the victim of the world’s troubles and a frequent cause of them for others.

Here’s a collection of prime cartoons from the mid-1950s, drawn with the detailed joy that only Ol Harrington (who also worked as Oliver W. Harrington) could bring, finally available to a larger audience.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 155 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996352
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996357
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.35 x 11 inches
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Bootsie’s War Years: a Dark Laughter collection

In the 1940s, the comics pages of America’s weekly Black newspapers were filled with characters both inspirational and aspirational. In addition to the life stories of great African Americans, there were fictional tales of Black reporters, Black detectives, Black government agents, Black aviators, Black people rising in the ranks of society, even Black superheroes, all to give their audiences the sense of the best that was possible.

Then there was Bootsie.

Bootsie was a liar, a womanizer, a layabout, a scammer, a cheat, and an all around disreputable dude. Among the denizens of Harlem he was scorned, threatened, detested… and yet nonetheless loved as a part of the community.

Collected in this book for the very first time are almost 150 “Dark Laughter” cartoons from 1941 through 1946, during which time Bootsie goes from being a draft evader to a draftee, an enlisted man, a serviceman on the ground in Europe, and ultimately to a veteran for the winning side. In these, cartoonist Ollie Harrington’s lively art captures the rich reality of Bootie’s world while telling tales that are sometimes joyous, sometimes very harsh, like the world itself.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 161 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996336
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996333
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.41 x 9 inches
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To Get Her

Years after hanging up his hero costume, The Jam star Gordon Kirby finds himself facing something more difficult than any villain that might stalk the streets of Montreal: the complexities of a mature relationship where the romance has faded.

Canadian Hall of Fame cartoonist Befnie Mireault brings all his skills and love of the comics form to this, his first original graphic novel. Originally self-published (with support from the Xeric Foundation) solely as a limited edition volume in 2012, To Get Her is now available in  unlimited editions for the first time.