Literary/I Want My DVDs

DAYDREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Winsor McCay

This compilation of some guy from the early 1900s is profound, intelligent, incredibly well done, painstakingly detailed, and a fucking snooooooozefest. If you do comics for a living and carefully examine each nib before dipping it into the ink, pick this up. The other 99.9999999 percent of you can move on. This shit deserves to be in the past.

ROBERT L HUDSON

AMERICAN VIRGIN #1

Vertigo

There are two kinds of comics in the world: Good ones (deemed “alternative” in the press) and bad ones (deemed “superhero comics” by the good ones). Somehow Europe has managed to do realist drawings without being cursed by the “superhero” brush. Americans like DC Comics try to do the same yet always fail. Though this comic appears to have a neato Euro cover, it is the same old DC shit. Sorry, Vertigo, you are not one of us.

MOEBIOS MILO MANARA

THE SKULLZ PRESS COMPENDIUM

Mike “Giant” LeSage

Upper Playground /

Fifty 24SF Gallery

This is a compilation of basically everything Giant’s ever done. Him and Scott Campbell from Saved are the best sources for tattoo ideas in the whole world. There, I said it.

KATIA KARMANICHA

PRISONER OF X—20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine

Allan MacDonell

Feral House

This 300-page graphic novel is a rollicking comic-book journey by Dan Clowes that captures every aspect of Hustler’s history in exquisitely hilarious detail. Just kidding! Clowes only did the cover. It’s some autobio novel about a guy that worked at a porn mag. Too bad.

BOBATHAN FAIRDEXTLER

THE ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY— RUSTY BROWN

Chris Ware

Fantagraphics

Chris Ware is perfect, but maybe he’s too perfect. Can this nigga loosen up a bit and increase production please? How about a laugh or two, Chris? Somebody get this guy a blowjob. He needs to unwind.

NORVIS CRACKTADDLER

NIGHT FISHER

Kikuo Johnson

Fantagraphics

Fantagraphics finally seems to get the Drawn & Quarterly thing where drawing talent, narration, story line, consistency, and all that magical stuff come together to make a book so gripping you think you’re watching a movie. Night Fisher is about drug abuse in Hawaii but it’s drawn so beautifully by a Mensa nerd, you’d think it was about the history of romantic botany.

NAGATCHA HAKAMONI

MEOW BABY

Jason

Fantagraphics

Sorry, Europe, but you’re too clever for us sometimes. Comic nerds will enjoy Jason’s ability to make word-free gags that are morbid and funny at the same time, but big whup. If you really valued our time you’d give us a story we could hang our hat on.

BOB GOBBLER

MOME

Various Artists

Fantagraphics

This compilation features all the top names in the genre today. We recommended a bunch of them to guest editor Johnny Ryan for this issue and he said, “Fuck those people. They are all BORING!”

I guess Jonathan Bennett, Anders Nilsen, and Gabrielle Bell aren’t exactly great for one-page gags but for a sunny Sunday in the sunroom they’re pretty much ideal. Sorry to sound so gay but I’m a girl and I like compilations like this.

VERONICA CATCHEW