{"id":613,"date":"2009-02-23T18:09:40","date_gmt":"2009-02-23T18:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/02\/23\/books-received-22309-the-fantagraphics-edition\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:19:29","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:19:29","slug":"books-received-22309-the-fantagraphics-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/02\/23\/books-received-22309-the-fantagraphics-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Books received 2\/23\/09– The Fantagraphics edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. <\/p>\n

An amazing trio of sensational Fantagraphics titles this time!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Humbug<\/span><\/a> by Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, and Arnold Roth<\/span> <\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n

Harvey Kurtzman changed the face of American humor when he created the legendary MAD<\/span> comic. As editor and chief writer from its inception in 1952, through its transformation into a slick magazine, and until he left MAD<\/span> in 1956, he influenced an entire generation of cartoonists, comedians, and filmmakers. In 1962, he co-created the long-running Little Annie Fanny<\/span> with his long-time artistic partner Will Elder for Playboy<\/span>, which he continued to produce until his virtual retirement in 1988.<\/p>\n

Between MAD<\/span> and Annie Fanny<\/span>, Kurtzman\u2019s biographical summaries will note that he created and edited three other magazines, Trump<\/span>, Humbug<\/span>, and Help!<\/span>, but, whereas his MAD<\/span> and Annie Fanny<\/span> are readily available in reprint form, his major satirical work in the interim period is virtually unknown. Humbug<\/span>, which had poor distribution, may be the least known, but to those who treasure the rare original copies, it equals or even exceeds MAD<\/span> in displaying Kurtzman\u2019s creative genius. Humbug was unique in that it was actually published by the artists who created it: Kurtzman and his cohorts from MAD Will Elder<\/span>, Jack Davis, and Al Jaffee, were joined by universally acclaimed cartoonist Arnold Roth. With no publisher above them to rein them in, this little band of creators produced some of the most trenchant and engaging satire of American culture ever to appear on American newsstands. At last, the entire run of 11 issues of Humbug<\/span> is being reprinted in a deluxe format, much of it reproduced from the original art, allowing even owners of the original cheaply-printed issues to experience the full impact for the first time.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n

You’ve met Fletcher Hanks<\/a>. Now meet Boody Rogers! Fans of Boody Rogers’ Golden age comic-book stories span generations of cartoonists, from Robert Williams to Art Spiegelman to Johnny Ryan. Spiegelman printed Rogers’ work in RAW<\/span> magazine and recently it also appeared in the anthology book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries<\/a><\/span> (Abrams). Here at last is a single book – Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers<\/span> – devoted to this cult comics hero, collecting Roger’s best Sparky Watts , Babe and Dudley stories, as well as much more. This beautifully designed tome also has tons of vintage photos and unpublished art (including art from the first modern newsstand comic book that Rogers did in 1935). It all begins with a career spanning fun and fascinating interview with the late Rogers, by editor Craig Yoe (Arf<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n

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Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941<\/span><\/a> Edited by Greg Sadowski Foreword by Jonathan Lethem<\/span><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n

The enduring cultural phenomenon of comic book heroes was invented in the late 1930s by a talented and hungry group of artists and writers barely out of their teens, flying by the seat of their pants to create something new, exciting, and above all profitable. The iconography and mythology they created flourishes to this day in comic books, video, movies, fine art, advertising, and practically all other media. Supermen!<\/span> collects the best and the brightest of this first generation, including Jack Cole, Will Eisner, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Fletcher Hanks, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Basil Wolverton. If the reader is expecting to find an All-American group of altruistic do-gooders, he in for quite a jolt. As Jonathan Lethem writes in his Foreword, \u201cA collection like Supermen!<\/span> works like a reverse-neutron bomb to assumptions about the birth of the superhero image: it tears down the orderly structures of theory and history and leaves the figures standing in full view, staring back at us in all their defiant disorienting particularity, their blazing strangeness.\u201d Beautifully designed and produced in full color, Supermen!<\/span> contains twenty full-length stories, ten full-sized covers, a generous selection of vintage promotional ads, and comprehensive end notations by editor Greg Sadowski, making it indispensable to anyone interested in the origins of superheroes and the history of the comic book form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. An amazing trio of sensational Fantagraphics titles this time! Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, and Arnold Roth Promo … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n