[comix] THIS MONTH AT TOP SHELF: BLANKETS
, UNLIKELY
, COMIC BOOK ARTIST
From Chris Staros:
Can you believe it!? After four years in the making, what may well be the most highly-anticipated graphic novel in years – Craig Thompson's BLANKETS – is here! Not only that, we also have Jeffrey Brown's all-new graphic novel, UNLIKELY, and the fantastic second issue of COMIC BOOK ARTIST – all being solicited in the current MAY Diamond PREVIEWS catalog for books shipping to stores in July.
Please note that all three of these titles will move very quickly, so if you want 'em, be sure to ask your local retailer to advance order them for you.
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BLANKETS
by Craig Thompson
Here's what's already being said about BLANKETS:
"I thought it was moving, tender, beautifully drawn, painfully honest, and probably the most important graphic novel since JIMMY CORRIGAN." – Neil Gaiman
"Blankets officially confirms Craig Thompson's place in the world of graphic novels as one of the true greats." – Brian Michael Bendis
"In this book, Craig Thompson emerges as a young comics master. In the purest narrative form he tells a highly charged personal story, crammed with pain, discovery, hi-jinx, penance, religious conviction and its loss . and along comes self-loathing. In this story of family and first love, that which goes awry in life, goes well as art. Mr. Thompson is slyly self-effacing as he bowls us over with his mix of skills. His expert blending of words and pictures and resonant silences makes for a transcendent kind of story-telling that grabs you as you read it and stays with you after you put it down. I'd call that literature. – Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize-Winner
"Craig has documented his youth in the most honest of ways. Not too warm and fuzzy nor too harsh and cold, showing us the insecurities of growing up in what is often a strange and sometimes painful world. The perfect marriage of words and pictures. It's as if Francois Truffaut had written and drawn his own comic with the artistry Will Eisner. His sense of timing is impeccable, always knowing when not to hit you with a heavy hand. It's the genuine article. – Bob Schreck, Group Editor, DC Comics
"Thompson's graphic novel debut, Good-bye, Chunky Rice, was a delicate parable of loss that garnered deserved acclaim. [This] eagerly awaited, follow-up to it is more ambitious, more accomplished, and more accessible... this is a genuine graphic novel, with a universal appeal.." – Gordon Flagg, Booklist, American Library Association
From the author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling graphic novel, GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE comes Craig Thompson's all-new masterpiece. Clocking in at 592 pages, BLANKETS may well be the single most anticipated graphic novel of the year. Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, BLANKETS explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith. A profound and utterly beautiful work.
-- $29.95 (US), 592 pages, 6 1/2" x 9 1/2", Deluxe Graphic Novel, ISBN 1-891830-43-0
"Blankets is one of the most ambitious original graphic novels ever produced in the medium . both universal and enlightening." – Peter
Siegel, www.artbomb.net
A preview of Blankets can be seen at artbomb.net:
http://www.artbomb.net/preview.jsp?t=blankets#
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UNLIKELY
by Jeffrey Brown
"Mr. Brown seems to understand perfectly the day-to-day rhythms of the modern 'young adult' relationship. UNLIKELY, like his first book CLUMSY, is pretty much impossible to put down." – Dan Clowes
"Something about the way Jeffrey Brown draws these stories makes the saddest, dirtiest, most humiliating things that can possibly happen to a person seem weirdly innocent. The scratchy simplicity of the drawings makes the people in them all seem guileless and sweet. You feel like you're reading about some very well-meaning children who also happen to have sex, smoke pot and drink. Maybe it's just that Jeffrey Brown is a very nice man, and he projects this niceness onto everyone around him, even people who aren't treating him so well. You can open to any page and find something unusually bare and honest about these stories. They're surprising, even though half the moments in the book are ones you've probably experienced yourself. Hard trick to pull off." – Ira Glass, This American Life, NPR
UNLIKELY, the follow-up to Jeffrey Brown's self-published debut hit, CLUMSY, continues to explore the nature of relationships in this story of how Jeffrey Brown lost his virginity. A full-length graphic novel of excruciating detail and intimacy, drawn in an awkward style that both disarms the reader and heightens the emotional impact of the work.
-- $14.95 (US), 256 pages, 5" x 7 3/4", Graphic Novel, ISBN 1-891830-41-4
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COMIC BOOK ARTIST (VOL 2) #2
Edited by Jon B. Cooke
Frank "The Monkey Boy" Cho speaks! We get the story behind Brandy, Oscar the wiener dog, Dean and the entire Liberty Meadows gang as one of the finest artists working today gets the CBA treatment when we examine his career in-depth with an exhaustive interview, sketchbook gallery, special color section, and Shanna the She-Devil preview! Plus comrade Chris Goss, creator of The Red Star, one of the hottest and most innovative titles today, explains how this unique comic book – one single-handedly resurrecting the Evil Soviet Empire – is produced by the Archangel Studio team of cutting-edge collaborators. In addition, Mike Friedrich details the history of Star*Reach, the first alternative publisher of "Groundlevel" comics in the '70s. We'll also out the truth from talented animator J.J. Sedelmaier about secrets behind his great Saturday Night Live cartoon series, The Ambiguously Gay Duo and The X-Presidents in a lively interview.
-- $7.50 (US), 100 pages, Magazine, Perfect Bound, Color Covers, B&W and Full Color Interiors
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Your friend thru comics,
Chris Staros
Top Shelf Productions
PO Box 1282
Marietta, GA 30061-1282
USA
http://www.topshelfcomix.com
(LOOK FOR OUR ALL-NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHING IN MAY)
Top Shelf Productions® and the top shelf logo are registered trademarks of Top Shelf Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Top Shelf publications are available (or can be ordered from) wherever graphic novels and books are sold, and are distributed to the book trade by Diamond Book Distributors, and to the direct market by Diamond Comic Distributors, Last Gasp, FM International, Cold Cut, Red Route, and Top Shelf Productions.
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