Fantagraphics Books

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Continuing Fantagraphics' project to reprint Marvel Comics' 1950s genre titles, this volume compiles the first of what became the industry's largest line of war books. Produced by veterans of WWII, the eight issues here feature future mainstream comics stalwarts such as Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, and more. Forged in the crucible of the Korean War, and produced by veterans of the Second World War, this volume's eight issues present the brutality and grimness of armed combat by some of Atlas' most notable war artists and future comics stars including Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Dave Berg, Jay Scott Pike, Mike Sekowsky, Vern Henkel, Allen Bellman, Pete Morisi and Norman Steinberg. Propaganda abounds from the very first story, published in War Comics #1 in September 1950: "Peril in Korea," a primer explaining why the U.S. joined the conflict. Other highlights include Colan's "The Chips are Down" and "Victory," Heath's "Alone" and "No Survivors," Maneely's "Stormy Weather," Henkel's "Total Destruction," and Berg's "The Infantry's War." Originally a trial spun off from the publisher's "Men's Adventure" publications, in the nine years to follow Atlas went on to produce 533 comic book issues with war content, across 34 different titles. War Comics is where it all began, unseen in decades, scanned from the original books, restored, and packaged as one large, beautiful hardcover volume.

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, Gene Colan, Bob Powell Before focusing on superheroes, Marvel published eleven crime-related titles including Justice Comics, Official True Crime Cases, All-True Crime, Crime Cases, Crime Can't Win, Crime Must Lose, and Crime Exposed. Of these, Fantagraphics has selected Police Action which features a run of noir-ish morality plays, pitting the police against the criminal element, and was produced by the cream of the Atlas freelance roster. Rounding the volume off is Police Badge #479, a snapshot of the industry's attempts to adapt to the new Comics Code.

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Pulp horror classics from the 1950s! Revenge, ghosts, locked rooms and killer ants, taken from early Marvel Comics series Men's Adventures and Amazing Detective Cases. The 1950s boom in horror comics saw Atlas Comics' entrée into the genre. Beginning in March 1952, Amazing Detective Cases began detailing cases where justice was served in supernatural fashion and beginning in May 1953, the adventures in Men's Adventures were taken over by ghosts, murderous revenge, and psychological terror. The cream of Atlas' artistic line-up - including recent EC stars and future Marvel staples - rose to the grisly challenge of the horror genre. Each issue is crammed with four condensed tales of creeping dread, ironic comeuppance, or startling twists, all from a different artist or team. Among the short, sharp shocks included in this volume are the mini masterpieces "The Eerie Escape" by B. Krigstein, "The Torture Master!" by Russ Heath, The Drowning Witch" by Reed Crandall and "The 3rd Corpse" by Bill Everett. Stories by Gene Colan, John Romita, Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Jim Mooney, Paul Reinman and George Tuska, all of whom remained through the shift to Marvel Comics, additionally fill out these issues, along with Atlas regulars Fred Kida, Mort Lawrence, Mike Sekowsky and Myron Fass. Notably included is the first appearance of "Gorilla Man" by Robert Q. Sale, a character brought back in Marvel's contemporary Agents of Atlas series, and part of their ongoing continuity. Collecting Amazing Detective Cases #11-14 and Men's Adventures #21-26, Shiver As You Read! is a perfect companion to Adventures Into Terror, Venus, and the other titles of the Atlas Comics Library.

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Discover the bawdy, swashbuckling life of one of the greatest painters in history through Milo Manara's passionate and personal tribute to his artistic idol. Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword Volume 1 is the first half of Milo Manara's two-volume epic biography of the hot-tempered Italian master painter. It depicts Caravaggio's early years in Rome as he struggles to capture truth on canvas, only to have his art condemned to be burned by the Church. He then is forced to flee the city when he kills a man in righteous fury over the death of a prostitute. The two volumes of Caravaggio mark the return of Manara to U.S. readers and the debut of Fantagraphics' new series, The Milo Manara Signature Edition, featuring affordable paperbacks of maestro Manara's internationally acclaimed work. (Volume 2 will follow in Spring 2025.) Discover the bawdy, swashbuckling life of one of the greatest painters in history through Manara's passionate, personal tribute to his artistic idol, Michelangelo Merisi, whom the world would come to know as Caravaggio.

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The bawdy, swashbuckling story of one of the greatest painters in history concludes, in Milo Manara's sumptuous, hot-tempered graphic biography of his artistic idol, Michelangelo Merisi. Milo Manara's Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword Book 2, the second half of Manara's epic two-volume biography of the hot-tempered Italian master painter, depicts the tragedy of his years on the run for killing a man in a duel in Rome. With a price on his head, Caravaggio flees to Naples, Malta, and Sicily - continuing to paint and desperately hoping his work will earn him a pardon from the pope. Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword Book 1 and Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword Book 2 - the latter available in English for the first time - mark the return of Milo Manara to U.S. readers and the debut of a new series of affordable graphic novels from Fantagraphics of maestro Manara's internationally acclaimed work. This second volume also includes an exquisite portfolio of Caravaggio's paintings from the 1600s, created during his exile from Rome.

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, Michael William Kaluta, Ralph Reese The legendary, creator-controlled horror magazine from 1969 collected at last! In 1969, a feisty new comics magazine emerged to rival the popular horror magazines Creepy and Eerie: Web of Horror. Conceived by a plucky, independent publisher, Web of Horror showcased instant classics of horror and science fiction by such rising stars of comic art as Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Bruce Jones, Ralph Reese, Frank Brunner, Roger Brand, and Wayne Howard, as well as seasoned veterans such as Syd Shores and Norman Nodel, illustrating stories written by Otto Binder, Nicola Cuti, and others. Now, over 50 years later, Fantagraphics presents the complete Web of Horror in one expertly edited and designed volume. In addition to all three published issues, this collection includes over a dozen stories intended for subsequent issues that have been rarely or never-before published, several long thought to be lost and recently unearthed. Among these "lost" stories is Wrightson's "The Monster Jar," lovingly restored by Frederic Manzano. The Complete Web of Horror also features a wealth of historical and contextual essays, including the Foreword by original Web of Horror editor and science fiction novelist Terry Bisson; an account of the magazine's origin by the late Clark Dimond; the history of the magazine's rise and baffling demise by collection editor Dana Marie Andra; reminiscences by fanzine publishers Robert Lewis and Robert Gerson; and an Afterword by Richard J. Arndt.

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Social justice, "woke" culture, social media, gender dynamics, and insouciance intersect in this pandemicinspired graphic novel about the repercussions of making mistakes. It's July 2020 in Seattle. Gussy struggles to keep his dog biscuit boutique afloat while a global pandemic rages unchecked. The loneliness of lockdown and social distancing drives his employee Rosie to betray her principles. Rosie's roommate Hissy is at a personal crossroads. A love triangle emerges as they find themselves tangled in a web of police brutality, protests, drugs, dating apps, and Covid chaos. Taking place over the course of just a few days, this is a snapshot of humanity - okay, animals - in crisis. Alex Graham's pandemic-inspired graphic novel was initially serialized six panels at a time on Instagram during the lockdowns of 2020 and became one of the most talked about comics of the year; this hardcover edition will remain a timeless work long after the pandemic ends.

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An awkward young man discovers that his quiet seaside Welsh town harbors Nazi horrors in its haunted cemeteries, making for a historical graphic novel thriller that reads like The Banshees of Inisherin meets Raiders of the Lost Ark. In Wales 1974, a fisherman inadvertently reels in a Nazi flag. Meanwhile, young Idris and his mother ride a train in the countryside. Idris's mother has a new housekeeping job awaiting her in the small town of Bothelli, by the sea. Her new employer, a wealthy man named Mr. Miller, is confined to a wheelchair and beginning immediately upon their arrival, Mr. Miller's unceasing demands as an employer leave the socially awkward Idris adrift in his new town, friendless. That is, until he meets the mysterious and profane Gwen in the local cemetery. When Idris shows Gwen a map that he found at Mr. Miller's, it sucks them into a web of mystery and unimagined horrors. As he did in his acclaimed 2018 graphic novel Dull Margaret, co-created with Jim Broadbent, Dix brings his world to life with his distinctive cartooning, weaving lumpy characters, earthy palettes, grim rumination, deadpan humor, supernatural elements, and a dreary countryside setting into one of the gnarliest graphic novels of the year.

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For horror fans of all ages, a spinetinglingly creepy and darkly comedic picture book. Fantagraphics' third release in English from Danish cult illustrator John Kenn Mortensen. Gruesome, spindly figures gather outside a house, then spirit away a dreaming youth, bed and all. The stage is set for 32 skin-crawling poems imagining various children's nightmares, all with sequential illustrations by Danish horror master Mortensen. His eerie visions fade to black at the edges, like a dreamer unable to shift their focus, and inspire delicious terror all by themselves. Similarly, the short poems each evoke a distinct sense of dread for the sleeping imagination to expand upon; together, the words and pictures conjure a nightmarish world tinged with pitch black humor. The sequences splay across double-page spreads, evoking Edward Gorey gone grand scale, and grand guignol. For those of a nervous disposition, read in bright sunlight. For those in search of a nervous disposition, take two before bed.

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Classic sports-themed strips from the most beloved newspaper comic of all time! Baseball, football, ice hockey and more, all from the pen of Charles M. Schulz, in a handsome box set of four hardcover compilations. Charlie Brown on the baseball mound. Lucy pulling away the football. Woodstock driving a Zamboni. Snoopy's side-hustle tennis career. Charles M. Schulz, creator of the most beloved comic strip of all time, saw sports as an essential part of American society, and an endless inspiration for both simple fun and opportunities to reveal and test character... just as they are in real life. The comic strips that resulted are some of the most iconic images in comics history! Gathered here in a gorgeous four-book hardcover box set are the best of Schulz's sporting-themed strips and sequences, compiled from over fifty years of daily Peanuts cartoons. Themed volumes compile the works pastime by pastime - baseball of course, but football, golf, tennis, basketball, ice skating and hockey are all represented among the four volumes. Team celebrations, personal struggles, solidarity in defeat, joy in play, and pure whimsy - the Peanuts cast of children (plus a dog and a bird) experience them across these 800 pages, more than a few of which ask that age old question: will Lucy ever let Charlie kick that football? The perfect gift set for the classic comics fan who loves sports, the sports fan who loves Peanuts... or who doesn't yet know that they do. Just in time for summer and Father's Day - play ball!

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, Zachary J. Pinson A revelatory biographical graphic novel chronicling the elusive life and tumultuous times of Maria Lani. On April 7, 1928, Maria Lani blew into Paris claiming to be a famous German actress and proceeded to seduce the cultural elite with her undeniable charisma and strangely enticing enigmatic aura. She persuaded fifty artists -Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges-Henri Rouault, Fernand Léger and Suzanne Valadon among them- to immortalize her in paintings and sculptures, which would appear as an important plot device in a forthcoming film. Unveiled as an exhibition in New York, the art works traveled to Chicago, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Paris. But, in 1931, as legend eventually had it, she and her husband Max Abramowicz vanished without a trace, and so did the art. The film was never made. The Woman With Fifty Faces is about uncovering as much of the truth about Maria Lani as possible. The images that cascade through the book are stunningly beautiful, deeply compassionate, and farcically grotesque, capturing the essence of Lani's life. From Poland's antisemitic pogroms to the vulgar glamour and decadence of 1920s Paris to the Nazi occupation of France in the '40s, the tumultuous Europe Lani traverses becomes nearly as much of a character as Lani herself. Jonathan Lackman spent two decades researching Lani's life and Zachary J. Pinson spent 5,000 hours putting pen to paper. The result is a masterful collaboration about identity and the power and limits of reinvention.

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John Kenn Mortensen's mordant, black-and-white inked images have taken you to The Nightmare Factory, scared you with The Bestiary, and given you Night Terrors - now in the internationally bestselling artist's debut graphic novel, you're going to fight like hell! Freestyle wrestler The Sledgehammer has never met defeat, not at the hands of Painkiller, Handsome Jens, Fezzik the Giant or the Angel of Death. But over the course of 80 pages, Danish illustrator John Kenn Mortensen's surreal black and white graphic novel will take Sledgehammer to the limits of reality, to show that he's motivated by far more than hubris-it's also love. Mortensen's first English-language graphic novel delivers on the promise that his delightfully macabre books of illustration had previously made to readers around the world. With his spidery black-ink style, reminiscent of Edward Gorey's gothic line, we're taken to a world in which heavy metal mixes with the WWE by way of The Seventh Seal and Faust.