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This oversized hardcover edition collects the entire critic ... Read more

This oversized hardcover edition collects the entire critically acclaimed anthology series that reinvented the classic weekly newspaper comics section. It features 16-different stories starring the World's Greatest Super Heroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash, as well as lesser known characters including Metamorpho and Metal Men written and Illustrated by the comic industry's top talents including including Neil Gaiman (THE SANDMAN), Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN) Eduardo Risso (100 BULLETS), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK) and Paul Pope (BATMAN: YEAR ONE HUNDRED). The 11" x 17" trim size best approximates the oversized reading experience from the weekly periodical which was spearheaded by DCU Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello, whose past editing credits include BATMAN BLACK and WHITE, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER. The full list of featured stories and creators is as follows: BATMAN, by the Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS team of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso ADAM STRANGE, by writer/artist Paul Pope (BATMAN: YEAR 100) METAMORPHO, written by New York Times best-selling writer Neil Gaiman with Art by Eisner Award-winner Michael Allred (Madman) THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN, written by Walter Simonson (Thor, MANHUNTER) with Art by famed DC cover artist Brian Stelfreeze DEADMAN, written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, Art by Dave Bullock KAMANDI, written by Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN, GREEN LANTERN CORPS) with Art by Ryan Sook (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL) SUPERMAN, written by John Arcudi (The Mask) with Art by Lee Bermejo (JOKER) WONDER WOMAN, written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell (Dare Detectives) GREEN LANTERN, written by Kurt Busiek (TRINITY, ASTRO CITY) with Art by Joe Quiñones (TEEN TITANS GO!) TEEN TITANS, written by Eddie Berganza with Art by Sean Galloway SUPERGIRL, written by Jimmy Palmiotti (JONAH HEX) with Art by Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL) HAWKMAN, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker (PLASTIC MAN, Special Forces) SGT. ROCK, written by Adam Kubert (SUPERMAN: LAST SON), ilustrated by legendary comics artist Joe Kubert THE FLASH, written by Karl Kerschl (TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE, THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE) and Brenden Fletcher, illustrated by Karl Kerschl METAL MEN, written by Dan DiDio with Art by Ian Churchill (SUPERGIRL) Minimize

From Gary Larson's The Far Side to George Herriman's Krazy ... Read more

From Gary Larson's The Far Side to George Herriman's Krazy Kat, comic strips have two obvious defining features. They are visual narratives, using both words and pictures to tell stories, and they use word balloons to represent the speech and thought of depicted characters. Art historians have studied visual artifacts from every culture; cultural historians have recently paid close attention to movies. Yet the comic strip, an art form known to everyone, has not yet been much studied by aestheticians or art historians. This is the first full-length philosophical account of the comic strip.Distinguished philosopher David Carrier looks at popular American and Japanese comic strips to identify and solve the aesthetic problems posed by comic strips and to explain the relationship of this artistic genre to other forms of visual art. He traces the use of speech and thought balloons to early Renaissance art and claims that the speech balloon defines comics as neither a purely visual nor a strictly verbal art form, but as something radically new. Comics, he claims, are essentially a composite art that, when successful, seamlessly combine verbal and visual elements.Carrier looks at the way an audience interprets comics and contrasts the interpretation of comics and other mass-culture images to that of Old Master visual art. The meaning behind the comic can be immediately grasped by the average reader, whereas a piece of museum art can only be fully interpreted by scholars familiar with the history and the background behind the painting. Finally, Carrier relates comics to art history. Ultimately, Carrier s analysis of comics shows why this popular art is worthy of philosophical study and proves that a better understanding of comics will help us better understand the history of art. Minimize

Before there were 3-D movies there were 3-D comics! In the ... Read more

Before there were 3-D movies there were 3-D comics! In the mid-fifties comic book great Joe Kubert hit upon the idea of doing comics in 3-D, which resulted in some of the best-selling comics of all time, with print runs in the millions! Eisner Award winner Craig Yoe collects the best of these stories and samples by artists like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Bob Powell, Al Jaffee, Russ Heath, Milt Stein, Alex Toth, and many more! Carefully re-mastered and reproduced in large format so that every dynamic, eye-popping effect can be looked at in astonishment! The comics cover every genre: superhero, jungle adventures, horror comics, science fiction, funny animals, satire, western and romance! Features a fascinating, behind-the-scenes introduction by the mastermind behind 3-D comics himself, Mr. Joe Kubert! Rare art and ephemera as only Yoe Books does it! And, yes, of course, it comes with special FREE 3-D GLASSES! BUT WAIT! There's more! This must-have hardback book boasts a special linticular 3-D cover that puts the amazing in Amazing 3-D Comics! As with the entire line of Yoe Books, the reproduction techniques employed strive to preserve the look and feel of expensive vintage comics. Painstakingly remastered, enjoy the closest possible recreation of reading these comics when first released. Minimize

WILLIAM SCHOELL is the author of many books on pop culture, ... Read more

WILLIAM SCHOELL is the author of many books on pop culture, film and the performing arts, as well as biographies. His film and pop culture books include Comic Book Heroes of the Screen; The Nightmare Never Ends: The Official History of Freddy Kruger and the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' Films; Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies and Stay Out of the Shower, the first book to look at Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and its influence. His biographies include the natonal bestseller The Rat Pack: Neon Nights with the Kings of Cool; Martini Man: The Life of Dean Martin and The Sundance Kid: The Life of Robert Redford. as well as studies of such figures as Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Giuseppi Verdi, H. P. Lovecraft, Dorothy Dandridge, and Sammy Davis Jr. for young adults. His novels include Fatal Beauty, The Pact, The Dragon, Late at Night and Saurian. Schoell is a native New Yorker. Minimize

In 1992, seven artists shook the comic book industry when t ... Read more

In 1992, seven artists shook the comic book industry when they left their top-selling Marvel Comic titles to jointly form a new company named Image Comics. Out of the gate, millions of readers flocked to the energetic adventures by these creators, as together they ushered in the Image Age, where comics would sell in the millions, and a comic book artist could become a mass media celebrity. Image Comics: The Road to Independence is an unprecedented look at the history of this important comic book company, featuring interviews and art from popular Image founders Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. Also featured are many of finest creators who over the last 15 years have been a part of the Image family, offering behind-the-scenes details of the company's successes and failures. There's plenty of rare and unseen art, helping make this the most honest exploration ever taken of the controversial company whose success, influence and high production values changed the landscape of comics forever. Minimize

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most ... Read more

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon Minimize

In 1992, seven artists shook the comic book industry when t ... Read more

In 1992, seven artists shook the comic book industry when they left their top-selling Marvel Comic titles to jointly form a new company named Image Comics. Out of the gate, millions of readers flocked to the energetic adventures by these creators, as together they ushered in the Image Age, where comics would sell in the millions, and a comic book artist could become a mass media celebrity. Image Comics: The Road to Independence is an unprecedented look at the history of this important comic book company, featuring interviews and art from popular Image founders Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. Also featured are many of finest creators who over the last 15 years have been a part of the Image family, offering behind-the-scenes details of the company's successes and failures. There's plenty of rare and unseen art, helping make this the most honest exploration ever taken of the controversial company whose success, influence and high production values changed the landscape of comics forever. Minimize

When Mort Walker (b. 1923) was ten years old, he received a ... Read more

When Mort Walker (b. 1923) was ten years old, he received an inscribed Moon Mullins cartoon from its creator Frank Willard that read, "Say Morton, those drawings you sent me were swell-I'll bet you'll be a big shot cartoonist some day." By the time he was fifteen, Walker was a comic strip artist for a daily metropolitan newspaper. By the time he was eighteen, he was chief editor of Hallmark Cards. In 1950, King Features picked up his strip Beetle Bailey for syndication. Four years later, Walker created a spin-off of Beetle Bailey called Hi and Lois. Both strips continue to run daily, drawn and/or supervised by Walker, and Beetle Bailey is distributed to roughly 1,800 newspapers. Walker is one of the most widely read cartoonists in American history, and a legend in his own time. Mort Walker: Conversations collects interviews and articles that span from 1938 to 2004. His engagement with the Museum of Cartoon Art--which he founded--is discussed in these pieces, along with the politics involved in working with cartoonists' unions, artistic communities, and syndications. In these conversations Walker shows how he has managed to keep his art and stories fresh for over seventy years of production. Jason Whiton is an award-winning screenwriter, artist, and teacher based in Vermont. His work has been published in Rolling Stone, USA Weekend, Woman's World, Japan Times, and Photographer's Forum Annual. Minimize

Star Wars and sequential art share a long history: Star War ... Read more

Star Wars and sequential art share a long history: Star Wars debuted on the comic-book page in 1977, when Marvel Comics began publishing a six-part adaptation of the first film, which morphed into a monthly comic book. Now, more than three decades later, new series by Dark Horse Comics continue to expand the Star Wars galaxy.  The second book in the Star Wars Art series, Star Wars Art: Comics brings together the very best artwork from the entire history of Star Wars comics publishing, showcasing original art from the top comics artists working in the industry. Hand-selected and curated by George Lucas, the art featured in this volume includes interior pages and fully painted covers from artists such as Al Williamson, Howard Chaykin, Adam Hughes, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Dorman, and many more—as well as new work created exclusively for this book by over 20 renowned artists, including John Cassaday, Sam Kieth, Mike Mignola, Paul Pope, Frank Quitely, Jim Steranko, and other comics superstars. Star Wars Art: Comics is a tribute to sequential storytelling, a worthy and justly celebrated art form.Praise for Star Wars Art: Comics:“George Lucas has left no medium unused, as this visually arresting compendium proves.” —Entertainment Weekly Minimize

Comics are a natural for second language development. Their ... Read more

Comics are a natural for second language development. Their unique mix of abundant, comprehension-building visuals and authentic text readily engages learners, contextualizes language, and offers a window into the culture. Yet despite their obvious advantages, comics remain unfairly branded as inappropriate classroom reading material, misunderstood and woefully underutilized. No more. In Going Graphic teachers will find a comprehensive guide to embracing comics and effectively using them in any multilingual classroom. Building on the latest brain-based research, second language acquisition theory, and progressive literacy principles, Stephen Cary offers twenty-five proven activities for comics-based instruction in all classrooms, especially TESL/TEFL settings, and for all grade and English-proficiency levels. These activities help nonnative and native learners alike meet a broad range of content and English-language development standards. In fact, Cary has given you literally everything you need to start successfully integrating comics into your classroom tomorrow, including: an FAQ that dispels the myths about comics, tells you why they work, and answers your questions about using them field sketches from real classrooms that show you firsthand how to make comics an integral part of your multilingual teaching authentic examples of student work from a variety of grade levels and settings that reveal just how much students can do when given the opportunity to both learn from comics and create their own dozens of commercial samples to give you a sense of the remarkable breadth and depth of contemporary cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels copious resource lists, including material reviews, publications, comics in other languages, and categorized websites for locating and reading thousands of comics online. Thanks to Stephen Cary you'll have an exciting new way to improve the abilities of your second language students. Squeeze into your tights, adjust your cape, and prepare for some high-flying learning while Going Graphic. Minimize

HILARIOUS PARODIES OF CLASSIC LITERATURE REIMAGINED WITH CL ... Read more

HILARIOUS PARODIES OF CLASSIC LITERATURE REIMAGINED WITH CLASSIC COMICSMasterpiece Comics adapts a variety of classic literary works with the most iconic visual idioms of twentieth-century comics. Dense with exclamation marks and lurid colors, R. Sikoryak’s parodies remind us of the sensational excesses of the canon, or, if you prefer, of the economical expressiveness of classic comics from Batman to Garfield. In "Blond Eve,” Dagwood and Blondie are ejected from the Garden of Eden into their archetypal suburban home; Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray is reimagined as a foppish Little Nemo; and Camus’s Stranger becomes a brooding, chain-smoking Golden Age Superman. Other source material includes Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, bubblegum wrappers, superhero comics, kid cartoons, and more. Sikoryak’s classics have appeared in landmark anthologies such as RAW and Drawn & Quarterly, all of which are collected in Masterpiece Comics, along with brilliant new graphic literary satires. His drawings have appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as in The New Yorker, The Onion, Mad, and Nickelodeon Magazine. Minimize

Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created one of Walt Di ... Read more

Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created one of Walt Disney's most famous characters, Scrooge McDuck. Barks also produced more than 500 comic book stories. His work is ranked among the most widely circulated, best-loved, and most influential of all comic book art. Although the images he created are known virtually everywhere, Barks was an isolated storyteller, living in the desert of California and preferring to labor without public fanfare during most of his career. He created work of such exceptional quality that he was accorded the greatest autonomy of any Disney artist. He is the only comic book artist ever to receive a Disney Legends award. The influence of Barks's work on such filmmakers as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and on such artists as Gottfried Helnwein has extended Barks's significance far beyond the boundaries of comics. After Barks's death at the age of ninety-nine, Roy Disney praised him for his "brilliant artistic vision." Carl Barks: Conversations is the only comprehensive collection of Barks's interviews. It ranges chronologically from the very first one (with Malcolm Willits, the fan who uncovered Barks's identity) to the artist's final conversations with Donald Ault in the summer of 2000. In between are interviews conducted by J. Michael Barrier, Edward Summer, Bruce Hamilton, and others. Several of these interviews are published here for the first time. Ault's friendship with Barks, ranging over a period of thirty years, provides an unusually intimate resource not only for standard q&a interviews but also for casual conversations in informal settings. Carl Barks: Conversations reveals previously unknown information about the life, times, and opinions of one of the master storytellers of the twentieth century. Donald Ault, a professor of English at the University of Florida, is the author of Narrative Unbound: Re-Visioning William Blake's The Four Zoas and Visionary Physics: Blake's Response to Newton. His work has been published in Studies in Romanticism, The Wordsworth Circle, Modern Philology, and The Comics Journal. Minimize

Look! Up on the bookshelf! It’s the 100 most incredible, mo ... Read more

Look! Up on the bookshelf! It’s the 100 most incredible, most outrageous, and most bizarre comic book covers from the DC comics archive.   Better still, these poster-size masterpieces are all perforated and ready for display in your apartment, dorm room, or cubicle! From New Fun #1 and Batman #1 to lesser-known titles like Mister District Attorney, this oversized compilation features every major milestone in DC’s extraordinary history: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Girls’ Romance, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Sandman, Fables, 100 Bullets, and much more.   On the reverse of each poster are images of related covers and entertaining behind-the-scenes commentary, often with remarks from the cover artists themselves. Arriving just in time for DC Comics’ 75th anniversary—and complete with a foreword from longtime DC veteran Paul Levitz—this amazing anthology is a must-have for any comic book fan. Minimize

Designed by Mark Bagley. Sculpted by Dave Cortes. Display ... Read more

Designed by Mark Bagley. Sculpted by Dave Cortes. Display your copies of DC's hit weekly series Trinity between this unique three-piece bookend set! Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman form a triad, each with its own base. Superman and Wonder Woman anchor each side while Batman poses in a bonus third, center piece. Designed by superstar artist Mark Bagley, each character is an iconic representation of one of the tarot cards in the story. To further this concept, each of the bookends features a removable tarot card, which can be inserted into a slot in its base to provide a backdrop. Each piece of this limited-edition, cold-cast porcelain bookend set measures approximately 8.25" tall x 6.5" wide x 6" deep, includes a 4-color Certificate of Authenticity and is packaged in a 4-color box.Features include: •Trinity is the hit, 52-part weekly series written by Kurt Busiek & drawn by Mark Bagley that explores the importance of DC Comics' three leading heroes•This unique 3-part bookend features Superman and Wonder Woman on the ends, with Batman as a centerpiece•Designed by Mark Bagley, each piece features the hero with their tarot card, which can be inserted into the base to create a display background•Each piece is made of cold-cast porcelain and measures 8.25" x 6.5" x 6"•Window box packaging; comes with a Certificate of Authenticity Minimize

A massive collection of never-before-collected pre-Comics C ... Read more

A massive collection of never-before-collected pre-Comics Code horror comics of the 1950s.Of the myriad genres comic books ventured into during its golden age, none was as controversial as or came at a greater cost than horror; the public outrage it incited almost destroyed the entire industry. Yet before the watchdog groups and Congress could intercede, horror books were flying off the newsstands. During its peak period (1951-54) over fifty titles appeared each month. Apparently there was something perversely irresistible about these graphic excursions into our dark side, and Four Color Fear collects the finest of these into a single robust and affordable volume. EC is the comic book company most fans associate with horror; its complete line has been reprinted numerous times, and deservedly so. But to the average reader there remain unseen quite a batch of genuinely disturbing, compulsive, imaginative, at times even touching, horror stories presented from a variety of visions and perspectives, many of which at their best can stand toe to toe with EC. All of the better horror companies are represented: Ajax-Farrell, Atlas, Avon, Charlton, Comic Media, Fawcett, Fiction House, Gilmor, Harvey, Quality, Standard, St. John, Story, Superior, Trojan, and Youthful. Artist perennials Jack Cole, Steve Ditko, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Basil Wolverton, and Wallace Wood con- tribute both stories and covers, with many of the forty full-sized covers created by specialists Bernard Baily, L.B. Cole, William Eckgren, and Matt Fox. Editors Benson and Sadowski have sifted through hundreds of rare books to cherry-pick the most compelling scripts and art, and they provide extensive background notes on the artists, writers, and companies involved in their creation. Digital restoration has been performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comics, and to provide the reader the experience of finding in the attic a bound volume of the finest non-EC horror covers and stories of the pre-code era. 304 pages of color comics Minimize

Designed by Mark Bagley. Sculpted by Dave Cortes. Display ... Read more

Designed by Mark Bagley. Sculpted by Dave Cortes. Display your copies of DC's hit weekly series Trinity between this unique three-piece bookend set! Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman form a triad, each with its own base. Superman and Wonder Woman anchor each side while Batman poses in a bonus third, center piece. Designed by superstar artist Mark Bagley, each character is an iconic representation of one of the tarot cards in the story. To further this concept, each of the bookends features a removable tarot card, which can be inserted into a slot in its base to provide a backdrop. Each piece of this limited-edition, cold-cast porcelain bookend set measures approximately 8.25" tall x 6.5" wide x 6" deep, includes a 4-color Certificate of Authenticity and is packaged in a 4-color box.Features include: •Trinity is the hit, 52-part weekly series written by Kurt Busiek & drawn by Mark Bagley that explores the importance of DC Comics' three leading heroes•This unique 3-part bookend features Superman and Wonder Woman on the ends, with Batman as a centerpiece•Designed by Mark Bagley, each piece features the hero with their tarot card, which can be inserted into the base to create a display background•Each piece is made of cold-cast porcelain and measures 8.25" x 6.5" x 6"•Window box packaging; comes with a Certificate of Authenticity Minimize

 Listen. Laugh. Learn! Comic Vocab is a fun, clean way to: ... Read more

 Listen. Laugh. Learn! Comic Vocab is a fun, clean way to: Communicate intelligently Perform better on standardized exams Get excited about learning new words Students, parents and professionals will love it! What makes Comic Vocab different? We all know that having a strong vocabulary is important, but learning new words is frustrating, repetitive, and just plain boring. There has to be a better way. What if your favorite joke taught you the meaning of a word? Better yet, what if you had a joke for every word you wanted to learn? You'd laugh a lot and you'd improve your vocabulary without even knowing it. That, in a nutshell, is Comic Vocab. You'll listen, you'll laugh, and you'll learn. Why does Comic Vocab work? Comic Vocab is a highly effective vocabulary-building tool. Its success stems from the innovative use of clean comedy. Comedy has all of the great ingredients for learning vocabulary. It keeps your attention and it's memorable. Instead of forcing a connection between a word and its definition, comedy marries the two through ridiculous imagery, funny sounding characters, and a personal connection. What words will I learn? We carefully selected our words using a simple equation. Take the words that appear on standardized exams and those you find in publications. Subtract the words you already know and the words you'd never use. Here's a sample of the words you'll learn: cadge, prolix, zephyr, bedizen, hirsute, frowzy, bibulous, quaff, salubrious, argot, and many more! For more information, please visit us at http://www.comicvocab.com. Minimize

Collecting a cult favorite series from the late 1990s spotl ... Read more

Collecting a cult favorite series from the late 1990s spotlighting the amazing artwork of J.H. Williams III, CHASE stars Agent Cameron Chase. On field assignment for the Department of Extranormal Operations, a government agency with jurisdiction over superhuman activity, she’s looking for a missing boy whose pyrokinetic powers went wild in an Ohio school. But she’s about to encounter some unexpected surprises, as her own mysterious powers come into play – powers she doesn’t fully understand.This spectacular collection includes appearances by many DC heroes, including Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, The Suicide Squad, Teen Titans, the Justice Society of America and more. Minimize

In the small mid-western town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, we me ... Read more

In the small mid-western town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, we meet the Comic Evangelists, the world's first improv troupe on a mission from God. Three longtime friends learn they can use improv to spread the word of the Lord - Rick Stevenson, a control freak with a Messiah complex, Noah Fillobien, his dopey sidekick, and Nigel Karuthers, a theater geek with a secret. When Nigel suggests that Comic Evangelists enter the Toronto International Improv Festival, the group immediately leaps at the chance.Joining the trio are a motley but spirited cast of characters including Beth, a nurturing mother figure; Hillary, the group's naïve, guitar-toting minstrel; Boniva, a newcomer trying to find her place in the group; and the Gautiers, Sabrina and Jerry, a father and daughter dealing with some family issues. Along for the ride is the Gautier's neighbor, atheist divorcé Blane, who has no idea of the team's agenda for him.Despite Nigel's insistence that the group follow the festival rules and submit a formal application, team leader Rick decides to just "let them know we're coming" and assume they are welcome to perform. And the secular Toronto audience might not be ready for this group's particular brand of humor.COMIC EVANGELISTS will leave audiences roaring with laughter and praising the comedic powers that be.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. Minimize

In the small mid-western town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, we me ... Read more

In the small mid-western town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, we meet the Comic Evangelists, the world's first improv troupe on a mission from God. Three longtime friends learn they can use improv to spread the word of the Lord - Rick Stevenson, a control freak with a Messiah complex, Noah Fillobien, his dopey sidekick, and Nigel Karuthers, a theater geek with a secret. When Nigel suggests that Comic Evangelists enter the Toronto International Improv Festival, the group immediately leaps at the chance.Joining the trio are a motley but spirited cast of characters including Beth, a nurturing mother figure; Hillary, the group's naïve, guitar-toting minstrel; Boniva, a newcomer trying to find her place in the group; and the Gautiers, Sabrina and Jerry, a father and daughter dealing with some family issues. Along for the ride is the Gautier's neighbor, atheist divorcé Blane, who has no idea of the team's agenda for him.Despite Nigel's insistence that the group follow the festival rules and submit a formal application, team leader Rick decides to just "let them know we're coming" and assume they are welcome to perform. And the secular Toronto audience might not be ready for this group's particular brand of humor.COMIC EVANGELISTS will leave audiences roaring with laughter and praising the comedic powers that be.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. Minimize

Fantastic Four Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, ... Read more

Fantastic Four Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, Horatio Hornblower) has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, Nip/Tuck) in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, The Shield); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, Dark Angel, Sin City), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, Cellular). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation.Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, Fantastic Four is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of The Incredibles, but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while Fantastic Four is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, The Incredibles, that turned out to be a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of it. The Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. --David Horiuchi X-men: The Last Stand X-Men: The Last Stand is the third installment in the popular superhero franchise, and it's an exciting one with a splash of fresh new characters. When a scientist named Warren Worthington II announces a "cu Minimize

Revisit and relive every X-MEN comic book every printed cov ... Read more

Revisit and relive every X-MEN comic book every printed covering over 40 years from September 1963 through August 2005. Over 485 complete printable comics, that's over 17,500 pages including all annuals. Read every single page as they were originally published-all the letter pages, pin-ups, bullpen bulletins and every single advertisement. Beginning: The X-Men was founded by the paraplegic telepath Professor Charles Francis Xavier a.k.a. Professor X. Xavier gathered the X-Men under the cover of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at a large country estate at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, a small town in Westchester County, New York. The original X-Men consisted of five teenagers whom the professor taught to control their powers: Cyclops (Scott Summers), Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Angel (Warren Worthington III), Beast (Hank McCoy), and Iceman (Bobby Drake). Early X-Men issues introduced the team's arch nemesis Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants featuring Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mastermind and the Toad. Ironically, the cast of this comic book series, which would in decades hence become a vehicle for stories about prejudice and racism, was originally racially and ethnically homogeneous, seemingly comprised entirely of the WASP-type character that was the de facto model for most comic book heroes at that time. Furthermore, their arch nemesis was Magneto, a character later portrayed as a Jewish concentration camp survivor, whose key followers, son and daughter, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were Gypsies (Roma), an ethnic minority in Europe. Only one new X-Man was added, Mimic/Calvin Rankin, but was soon expelled by Xavier due to his arrogance. Minimize

Comic strips and comic books were among the most popular an ... Read more

Comic strips and comic books were among the most popular and influential forms of mass media in 20thcentury America. This fascinating book focuses on fifteen pioneering cartoonists—ranging from Winsor McCay to Chris Ware—who brought this genre to the highest level of artistic expression and who had the greatest impact on the development of the form.Organized chronologically, Masters of American Comics explores the rise of newspaper comic strips and comic books and considers their artistic development throughout the century. Presenting a wide selection of original drawings as well as progressive proofs, vintage printed Sunday pages, and comic books themselves, the authors also look at how the art of comics was transformed by artistic innovation as well as by changes in popular taste, economics, and printing conventions.First appearing in newspaper Sunday supplements, the comic strip became immediately successful and created the largest audience of any medium of its time. The comic book first began as a way to print existing newspaper comics, then subsequently established the mass popularity of superheroes in the 1940s and 1950s before it matured as a vehicle for independent personal expression in the underground comic books and graphic novels of the 1960s.Included in the book are insightful and entertaining essays on individual artists written by major figures in the fields of comics, narrative illustration, literature, popular culture, and art history. Masters of American Comics convincingly positions the genre of comics into the history of art and is destined to become a classic text for years to come. Minimize

From Gary Larson's The Far Side to George Herriman's Krazy ... Read more

From Gary Larson's The Far Side to George Herriman's Krazy Kat, comic strips have two obvious defining features. They are visual narratives, using both words and pictures to tell stories, and they use word balloons to represent the speech and thought of depicted characters. Art historians have studied visual artifacts from every culture; cultural historians have recently paid close attention to movies. Yet the comic strip, an art form known to everyone, has not yet been much studied by aestheticians or art historians. This is the first full-length philosophical account of the comic strip.Distinguished philosopher David Carrier looks at popular American and Japanese comic strips to identify and solve the aesthetic problems posed by comic strips and to explain the relationship of this artistic genre to other forms of visual art. He traces the use of speech and thought balloons to early Renaissance art and claims that the speech balloon defines comics as neither a purely visual nor a strictly verbal art form, but as something radically new. Comics, he claims, are essentially a composite art that, when successful, seamlessly combine verbal and visual elements.Carrier looks at the way an audience interprets comics and contrasts the interpretation of comics and other mass-culture images to that of Old Master visual art. The meaning behind the comic can be immediately grasped by the average reader, whereas a piece of museum art can only be fully interpreted by scholars familiar with the history and the background behind the painting. Finally, Carrier relates comics to art history. Ultimately, Carrier s analysis of comics shows why this popular art is worthy of philosophical study and proves that a better understanding of comics will help us better understand the history of art. Minimize

Superman continues his adventures in the comic book where h ... Read more

Superman continues his adventures in the comic book where he made his debut in 1938. Minimize

Frank Frazetta! He's been rightfully called "The Grand Mast ... Read more

Frank Frazetta! He's been rightfully called "The Grand Master of Fantasy Art"! But, it's little known that Frazetta also conquered other worlds in the Golden Age of Comics, as shown in his Donald Duck-ish funny animal and hilarious hillbilly comic book stories. Even those aware of this wonderful Frazetta art don't know the extent - this book is a whopping 256, large-format pages! Did we mention ferocious, terrifying wolves and swampland creatures in the plethora of animal stories illustrations as only Frazetta could draw them? There's also lions and tigers and bears - oh my! - before Frazetta's famous paintings captured the same subjects. But wait, there's more! You'll see the roots of the Frazetta Girl in the sexy Kathy teenage girl adventures and the hot Daisy Mae-look-alike, Clarabelle, in the hillbilly hi-jinks stories of her beau, Looey Lazybones (Holy Li'l Abner!). The introduction is by famed cartoon director Ralph Bakshi, who closely worked with Frazetta when they co-produced the animated feature film, Fire and Ice. Bakshi shares rare insights, anecdotes, photos, and Frazetta drawings, and created a special painting of Frazetta and himself as funny animals for this beautiful hardcover, full-color coffee table book! Frazetta - Funny Stuff is edited and designed by Eisner award-winner Craig Yoe. As with the entire line of Yoe Books, the reproduction techniques employed strive to preserve the look and feel of expensive vintage comics. Painstakingly remastered, enjoy the closest possible recreation of reading these comics when first released. Minimize

He''s been called "The Rembrandt of the Comic Strip" and th ... Read more

He''s been called "The Rembrandt of the Comic Strip" and the "Greatest Generation''s Cartoonist-in-Chief." No comics artist has so heavily influenced his medium and no cartoonist has seen more imitators than Milton Arthur Caniff, the creator of Terry and the Pirates, Male Call, and Steve Canyon. While these three classic newspaper strips have been reprinted, until now, the immense talent behind them has never been afforded a large-scale art monograph dedicated to his entire career. Produced with full access to Caniff''s extensive personal archives at The Ohio State University, and with the cooperation of the Caniff estate, this oversized book reproduces from the original artwork hundreds of comics, illustrations, pencil sketches, and drawings - including many not previously reprinted. In addition to the three famous comic strips, represented are his childhood drawings, the beginnings of his career as a newspaper cartoonist, his significant contributions to the 1940s war effort, as well as his continuing relationship with the Air Force, Boy Scouts, and other organizations. Minimize

Darker than its popular comic-book predecessor Spider-Man, ... Read more

Darker than its popular comic-book predecessor Spider-Man, the $80 million extravaganza Daredevil was packaged for maximum global appeal, its juvenile plot beginning when 12-year-old Matt Murdock is accidentally blinded shortly before his father is murdered. Later an adult attorney in New York's Hell's Kitchen, Murdock (Ben Affleck) uses his remaining, superenhanced senses to battle crime as Daredevil, the masked and vengeful "man without fear," pitted against dominant criminal Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and the psychotic Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who can turn almost anything into a deadly projectile. Daredevil is well matched with the dynamic Elektra (Jennifer Garner), but their teaming is as shallow as the movie itself, which is peppered with Marvel trivia and cameo appearances (creator Stan Lee, Clerks director and Daredevil devotee Kevin Smith) and enough computer-assisted stuntwork to give Spidey a run for his money. This is Hollywood product at its most lavishly vacuous; die-hard fans will argue its merits while its red-leathered hero swoops and zooms toward a sequel. --Jeff Shannon Minimize

British comics writer Alan Moore (b. 1953) has a reputation ... Read more

British comics writer Alan Moore (b. 1953) has a reputation for equal parts brilliance and eccentricity. Living hermit-like in the same Midlands town for his entire life, he supposedly refuses contact with the outside world while creating his strange, dense comics, fiction, and performance art. While Moore did declare himself a wizard on his fortieth birthday and claims to have communed with extradimensional beings, reticence and seclusion have never been among his eccentricities. On the contrary, for long stretches of his career Moore seemed to be willing to chat with all comers: fanzines, industry magazines, other artists, newspapers, magazines, and personal websites. Well over one hundred interviews in the past thirty years serve as testimony to Moore's willingness to be engaged in productive conversation.Alan Moore: Conversations includes ten substantial interviews, beginning with Moore's first published conversation, conducted by V for Vendetta cocreator David Lloyd in 1981. The remainder cover nearly all of his major works, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Marvelman, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, From Hell, Lost Girls, and the unfinished Big Numbers.While Moore's personal life and fraught business relations are discussed occasionally, the interviews chosen are principally devoted to Moore's creative practices and techniques, along with his shifting social, political, and philosophical beliefs. As such, Alan Moore: Conversations should add to any reader's enjoyment and understanding of Moore's work. Minimize