Hey Kids! Comics! Winter Reading
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Below are some comic strip and cartoon books scheduled for December 2024 release (or so).
Images and links from a variety of publishers and outlets,
though ordering through your local comic shop or independent book store is a good idea.
COMICS REVUE PRESENTS December 2024 by various; cover by Jeremy MacPherson
America’s longest-running magazine of classic comics now has twice as many pages of strips as the earlier version- on better paper- and features 8 pages of full-color comic strips including Flash Gordon by Harry Harrison- Gasoline Alley by Dick Moores- Alley Oop by V. T. Hamlin- The Phantom by Lee Falk and Sy Barry- Steve Canyon by Milton Caniff- and Casey Ruggles by Warren Tufts- plus stories in black and white including Rick O’Shay by Stan Lynde- Mandrake the Magician by Lee Falk and Ray Moore- Krazy Kat by George Herriman- Buz Sawyer by Roy Crane- and more.
American Comic Book Chronicles: 1945-1949: Edited by Keith DALLAS and John WELLS
… this 1945-49 volume covers the comic book industry during the aftermath of World War II, when scores of writers and artists returned from foreign battlefields to resume their careers. It was a period when readers began turning away from the escapist entertainment offered by super-heroes in favor of other genres, like the grittier, more brutal crime comics. It was a time when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Young Romance, inaugurating a golden age of romance comics. And it was during this five-year period that Timely and National Comics capitalized on the popularity of Westerns, that Bill Gaines plotted a new course for EC Comics in the wake of his father’s death, and that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first sued for the rights to Superman. These are just a few of the events chronicled in this exhaustive, full-color hardcover…
Mendel the Mess-Up by Terry LaBan (author interview)
Ask anyone—twelve-year-old Mendel can’t do anything right. When he tries to herd goats, they get out. When he tries to chop wood, he breaks the ax. It’s embarrassing to be called “Mendel the Mess Up,” but it’s worse to be so clumsy that he can’t even stand to read aloud without destroying the classroom. Nobody expects Mendel to keep out of trouble… least of all himself.
But when the Cossacks invade Mendel’s remote Jewish village of Lintvint…
Cursed from birth, Mendel Schlotz is the unluckiest kid in his village.
He’s also the only one who can save it.
Cyanide & Happiness: Twenty Years Wasted by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, and Dave McElfatrick
A fresh collection of fan-favorite webcomics have made their way to print for the very first time, along with brand-new, never-before-seen strips. But this is no mere collection of comic strips! Cyanide & Happiness: Twenty Years Wasted (A Questionable Recollection Of The First Two Decades) also features the mostly-true history of Cyanide & Happiness as told by its creators – Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, and Dave McElfatrick. Reverently assembled with firsthand commentary, never-before-seen internal documents, insights into their creative process, and, yes, even incriminating photographs.
Dick Tracy Vol. 1 by Alex Segura and Michael Moreci and artist Geraldo Borges
A new era for the iconic detective starts here, from bestselling and acclaimed authors Alex Segura and Michael Moreci, as an all-new, noir-infused chapter in the Dick Tracy legacy kicks off with superstar artist Geraldo Borges.
In the aftermath of World War II, the country stands frozen–waiting for the next shoe to drop. In The City, a brutal murder draws the attention of rising star detective Dick Tracy, who soon discovers the bloodshed is just the beginning of a complicated web that threatens to ensnare everything he cares about.
Blending the classic elements of the Dick Tracy world (including his iconic villains, supporting cast, and unforgettable watch radio) with a hardboiled and realistic take, DICK TRACY VOL. 1 kicks off a fresh and modern take on the iconic detective that remains true to his rich history.
Horror Comics and Religion edited by Brandon R. Grafius and John W. Morehead
Since EC Comics of the 1950s, horror comics have performed theological work in ways that are sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, but frequently surprising and provocative.
This collection brings together essays covering the history of horror comics, from the 1950s to the present, with a focus on their engagement with religious and theological issues. Essays explore topics such as the morality of EC Comics, cosmic indifference in the works of Junji Ito, the reincarnated demons of the web-comic The Devil is a Handsome Man, religion and racial horror in comic voodoo, and much more.
The Cisco Kid Volume Seven by Rod Reed and Jose Luis Salinas (an appreciation of Jose Luis Salinas)
The seventh volume of a complete printing of The Cisco kid by Jose Luis Salina. Reprinting the Cisco Kid from February 24, 1964 to May 14, 1966.
This is the penultimate volume of the complete Cisco Kid.
Lauren Ipsum Under Cover by Charles Brubaker
Lauren Ipsum returns in her third book! Join her as she juggles mermaids, an egg-loving fox, bowling romance, fanfics, and more as she runs the St. Paws Library. 130 pages B&W
Chaos in the Box: Chronicles from Modern Football by David Squires (cartoonist’s introduction)
Taking us from 2018 to the 2024 Euro, Squires tackles some of the sport’s most pressing questions: Is Emo José Mourinho doing okay after his latest ride on the managerial carousel? How many more teams will be lucky enough to be bought by ‘benevolent’ billionaires? Will Manchester City ever let anyone else win the Premier League again? And how on earth does FIFA continue to be laughably inept in almost every way imaginable . . . ?
Drawn from the immensely popular Guardian cartoons, Chaos in the Box captures modern football’s most memorable – and ludicrous – moments.
The hilarious new collection from ‘the king of the football comic strip.’
Twice Baked Alaska by Jamie Smith (News-Miner article about the book)
Beloved Fairbanks cartoonist Jamie Smith said he had a good time drawing the feature cartoon “Baked Alaska” in the Alaska Cannabist, the marijuana magazine that the News-Miner published from 2018 to 2023. “I got to have a little bit more fun,” he said, comparing it to his weekly “Nuggets” feature in the Sunday’s section. “I got to be a little bit more off color, a little bit more pushing the envelope.”
A second edition revised & expanded of the best from the five year run of the “Baked Alaska” cartoon feature as it appeared in the pages of Alaska Cannabist magazine. Includes bonus unpublished panels, selected samples of process sketches and some watercolor variants.
Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack #25 by Jim Davis
America’s favorite cat is back with this new value-priced edition of three-in-one comic strips (contains: Garfield Road Pizza [#73], Garfield Home Cookin’ [#74], and Garfield Fully Caffeinated [#75]) together for the first time in color and super-sized!
When one Garfield isn’t enough—there’s only one thing better than a Garfield collection: three Garfield collections!
Peanuts for Everybody by Charles M. Schulz
This timeless classic comic strip is beloved by fans of all ages, and continues to find new fans alike.
The latest edition in Titan Comics hugely popular Peanuts Facsimile series sees the release of this, the 17th volume in the series. First published in 1974, it features 126 pages of classic Peanuts newspaper strips from the 1960s.
This facsimile edition features 122 classic comic strips from the 1960s…
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three by Chris Ware (Steven Heller interviews Chris Ware)
After over fifteen years deferral, delay and dawdling, the ink-and-paper cheerleader F. C. Ware finally succumbs to imaginary public pressure by concluding his tiresome experiment in reader trust with the third and final volume of secret notebooks and sketches spanning over thirty-seven years of bus rides, airport delays and telephone hold music.
Exquisitely crafted fine art doodles, hand-selected meanderings and artisanal rewritings of personal conflict are scattered throughout comic strips unconsciously revealing private hostilities and unflattering portraits of public transportation riders, the whole carefully cleansed of any impugnable or litigious tracery.
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volumes 1-3, Slipcase Edition by Chris Ware
All three Acme Novelty Datebooks are also available in a compacted and easily recyclable slipcase, the spine of which is punched through with a training timepiece for those caregivers who would like to adjust its miniature metal hands as a teaching aid to suit their own pedagogical exercise, private nostalgia or personal anxiety. As with the first two volumes, this third and, again, very final volume clocks in at 208 full color pages augmented by annotations, introduction and a professional apology, with paper boards and cloth spine of misleading demureness to conceal its native prurience.
2024 Original Art Exhibition Catalog from The Society of Illustrators
The Original Art is a showcase for the most outstanding children’s book illustration published within the U.S. each year. This year to celebrate the 44th anniversary of The Original Art over 249 books were selected to take part with the exhibit! This exclusive publication outlines the show crediting the artist, publisher, art director, editor and author.
This year’s catalog is with a perfect bound spine and 76 pages!
Alley Oop: The Ice Age by V. T. Hamlin
A picnic on Mars, Robot IO2 comes to Moo, and a mad doctor’s mind-altering brain serum mustn’t stop Alley Oop from preparing for the one foe that cannot be fought: the oncoming Ice Age!
Alley Oop and the Minotaur by Dave Graue and Jack Bender
Set sail with Theseus and Alley Oop to the classic Labyrinth of ancient Greece wherein waits the vicious Minotaur! Then Alley confronts the longbow army at the battle of Crecy in the Hundred Years War — in 1346. Plus Alley and a feisty lady in modern times are going fishing and get wrapped up in a car heist with armed robbers. A special Christmas story is also here, by Bender and his wife — “A Time-Traveling Christmas.” This special Christmas story was a traditional NEA syndicate offering since 1937.
Chris Aruffo continues to collection the complete Alley Oop.
Space Circus by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier
Once upon a time, kids used to dream of running away to join the circus and travel the world, but now that’s out of date.
Young Todd Cooper has a new dream: Run away and join the Doodah Brothers’ Astral Traveling Entertainment and Fun Brigade, traveling from planet to planet with its incredible cast of Greebles, Flurps, Bearded Plankton, and Klone-Klowns—and avoiding the deadly Sky-Pirates!
The hilarious sci-fi misadventure from multiple Eisner winners Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, with colors by Tom Luth, and award-winning lettering by Stan Sakai!
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: the Comic Strip by Anita Loos, Virginia Huget, Phil Cook
After Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became a best-selling novel but before any of the play adaptations reached Broadway or any of the film versions hit the big screen, Anita Loos brought her vapid, cunning, obsessed Lorelei Lee (and her friend Dorothy and their gentleman sponsors) to the daily paper, creating a comic strip that both adapted from and expanded on the novel. Now this long-overlooked treasure of the Jazz Age has been brought back to print, collected for the first time in this complete edition to celebrate the hundredth year of the novel. Over 100 strips are included, filled with humor and the fresh fashion of their time.
Macanudo: The Way of the Penguin by Liniers
The strips in this volume run from early 2020 into 2021, and the touches of real life that Liniers always mixes amongst his whimsy, fantasy and child characters occasionally reflect the time – POV cartoons of the awkwardness of zoom calls, witches frustrated at Netflix lag on their crystal balls – but the spirit of imagination and love of nature only becomes more heightened in the majority of strips. Children reading to cats, penguins imagining the impossibility of alien life not including them, imaginary friends romping in the forest, horror-movie characters looking for friends… Liniers mixes his repertory cast with one-offs to express whatever happens to be on his mind that day.
Handsome, landscape-format hardcovers with debossed covers showcase Liniers’ beautiful, full-color cartooning in the way it deserves.
feature image by Robert Crumb from Best Buy Comics
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