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By Raw DogReal Deal IS the real deal. There is no realer, better comic out there. This is high, high, high comics art. Each issue is a constantly escalating explosion of violence, violent sex, and hostile violence, but made beautiful through the drawings of the self-taught Lawrence "Raw Dog" Hubbard.Although the first issue came out in 1989, the seventh just came out this summer. When you look at Real Deal, it's clear that Raw Dog was about 20 years ahead of his time because modern cartoonists only started drawing stuff like Real Deal in the past five years. Raw Dog's drawings are crude and unorthodox, but really fucking good nonetheless. The abstract qualities of his drawings are beautiful. The lines and placement of fields of black, and especially his work with color, are genius-level good. His comics are also like the dirtiest, most offensive shit you ever saw.
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Raw Dog: I just started drawing on my own when I was about three. I started drawing school bus crashes with kids hanging out of the windows and the bus on fire. I started drawing in perspective when I was five. I love trains, and I remember my kindergarten teacher hung it on the wall because she was excited that I drew it going away in perspective when everyone else was drawing flat. I also loved Saturday morning cartoons, Mad magazine, and most all comic books. I've taken various art classes in school, but basically I'm self taught because I love to draw.Your stories in Real Deal are insane. Are any based in reality at all or are they just all fantasy?
Most all the Real Deal characters are based on real people me and my close friends have known throughout life. G. C. is based on a guy up in Oakland who my friends used to party with. One night he was drunk and high, and he threw a large potted plant through a picture window. Ace Brougham was based on a barber I knew, and the other characters are people we partied with and ran the streets with, just slightly exaggerated. Most of them were in and out of jail all the time and had lots of cool stories.
Funny you should mention that. An art teacher I had way back in high school said, "Lawrence, you have a good eye." I don't know—I just see it in my head and then put it down on paper, and I do it with art markers. Later on, I would like to get into oils and acrylics.
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Yes. There will be a companion hardcover book of all seven issues and other art I have done throughout the years that my manager Adam will be putting together. A while back I did four skateboard designs for Patsy's skateboards. I'm still waiting for those to come out. And we're working on a deal to have my art shown in a Tokyo Gallery. I've always wanted to get my work over in Japan.
By Simon Hanselmann, Pigeon PressWhen I try to turn non-comics readers onto comics I show them Megg, Mogg, and Owl. Simon Hanselmann is a master at telling funny stories that move quickly and are beautiful. Seriously, if you don't like Megg, Mogg, and Owl, then I hope you fucking die an idiot's death.
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By Chris McDonnell, Abrams BooksHooooooooooolyyyyyyy shhiiiiiitttttt! Yesssssssssssssss….If you're an Adventure Time fan this is now the most essential piece of Adventure Time merchandise. There was an Adventure Time book that came out a year or two ago that just contained information you would glean from watching the show, and it was fine, but it wasn't really what I, an adult-ish man, wanted. This book is what I wanted.
By Ed Piskor, Fantagraphics BooksEd Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree is back in another great big comic book that tells the history of hip-hop culture. The last two books were great, and this one is too. There are no major surprises or changes—just more goodness. HHFT is Ed Piskor's attempt at weaving together the history of hip-hop into one graphic narrative.
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By Lauren Monger, Space Face BooksLauren Monger makes comics that go up on this site every Monday. This book is like those comics, but longer. It's about a bunch of talking animal people who are punks. The main animal punk is a possum named Clementine. She and her mammal pals hang around the house and bust each other's chops before going to a music festival that leads them to a lame punk-house party. Despite so little actually happening, the comic is a totally satisfying read.Lauren Monger draws each person as a different animal and paints them with watercolor. Monger is masterful at pacing and her comics are hyper-readable. It's my philosophy that a comic panel shouldn't take much longer to read than it should to absorb the image. She knows how to tell a story visually where the reader can perceive what's happening, and then the next thing you know the characters are chiming in with their reactions. It really feels like you're one of the gang.
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By Johnny Ryan, Fantagraphics BooksFantagraphics made me pay full price for this book, those cheapskate motherfuckers.Anyway, this book collects all the great issues of Angry Youth Comics, from its hilarious first issue where Loady McGee creates a whorehouse of humanimals to the dark final issue where Boobs Pooter thoroughly ruins one man's life. All the memorable funny and hilarious and deeply upsetting stories like Hipler, Comic Book School, Blecky, Gags, and the Whorehouse of Dr. Moreau are bound up like a fancy man's book, and it only cost me $50.
By Sam Alden, Study Group Comic BooksSam's a hot young talent.
By Jed McGowan, The Secret HeadquartersControl Room is a digest-sized science-fiction comic without any dialogue, and we never see the characters' faces. The drawings and style feel borrowed from the late 70s, and it's done beautifully.
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by Evan Dorkin, Dark Horse ComicsThe Eltingville Club was a comic that appeared in Evan Dorkins's comic, Dork, and was about four awful high-school-aged nerds who were obsessed with sci-fi, fantasy, comics, cartoons, and toys. Each story about them would involve them all being mean to each other, swearing a lot, and inevitably ending up in the hospital or burning down a comic store or something. Looking back, it felt very Kevin Smith-inspired. It eventually got turned into an animated pilot for Adult Swim but sadly didn't get green-lit.
By Scott McCloud, First Second BooksI hated, hated, hated this book. I hate this book so much I'm shaking and frothing at the mouth. I don't know if I've ever hated a comic as much as I hate The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. But I couldn't stop reading it—it's like a car wreck, but even more tragic.
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