Underworld: From Hoboken to Hollywood


Book Description

This omnibus and retrospective collects the best of 23 years of cartoonist Kaz’s alt-weekly comic strip. Underworld: From Hoboken to Hollywood is the first-ever omnibus of the very best of the alternative weekly strip’s 23-year run, with annotations, photos, and other surprises from the author (along with a foreword by Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell). Kaz's strip hilariously depicts sordid doings in a surreal city, stuffed with almost-parodies of famous comic strip characters, a healthy dose of cigarette smoking cats, cute little saccharin-cuddly creatures, media-damaged kids, and much more ― all destined for a sardonic smashing.




Underworld


Book Description

"In addition to his career as an Emmy winning writer for animation (Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo, Disney's Phineas and Ferb, and Nickelodeon's SpongeBob Squarepants), Kaz has been unleashing his id and corrupting generations with his Harvey nominated weekly Underworld comic strip since 1992. Underworld hilariously depicts sordid doings in a surreal city, stuffed with almost-parodies of famous comic strip characters, a healthy dose of cigarette smoking cats, cute little saccharin-cuddly creatures, media-damaged kids and much more."--Publisher's description.




The Comics Journal #307


Book Description

This issue of the award-winning magazine of comics interviews, news, and criticism focuses on the relationship between animation and comics. Gary Groth interviews this issue’s cover artist Cathy Malkasian (Eartha), the PBS/Nickelodeon animation director (Curious George, The Wild Thornberrys) turned graphic novelist, about her first middle-grade GN, NoBody Likes You, Greta Grump. In addition to this issue’s featured interview with Cathy Malkasian, MLK graphic biographer Ho Che Anderson shares his animation storyboards, and Anya Davidson talks to Sally Cruikshank about how the underground comics movement influenced the latter’s aesthetic in a career that encompasses indie shorts and Flash animation, as well as work for feature film credits and Sesame Street. Other features include: an unpublished Ben Sears (Midnight Gospel) comic, and Jem and the Holograms cartoon creator Christy Marx talks about the behind-the-scenes advantages and disadvantages of both art forms. Plus! Sketchbook art by Vanesa Del Rey (Black Widow), an interview with Amazon warehouse worker-turned-cartoonist Ness Garza, Paul Karasik’s essay on an unseen gem, and much more. For more than 45 years, no magazine has chronicled the continuum of the comic arts with more rigor and passion than The Comics Journal.




We Told You So


Book Description

In 1976, a fledgling magazine held forth the the idea that comics could be art. In 2016, comics intended for an adult readership are reviewed favorably in the New York Times, enjoy panels devoted to them at Book Expo America, and sell in bookstores comparable to prose efforts of similar weight and intent. We Told You So: Comics as Art is an oral history about Fantagraphics Books’ key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored and fading expression of Americana. It includes appearances by Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Harlan Ellison, Stan Lee, Daniel Clowes, Frank Miller, and more.




Underworld


Book Description

In this series of stand-alone Naughty Bits collections, Gregory takes on pornography, shopping, yuppies, dating, menstru-ation, and much more. The lead character in most is Bitchy Bitch, the perma-nently PMS'd and PO'd embodiment of the female id, who also stars in her own series of cartoon shorts on the Oxygen Network's X-Chromosome animated series. The raunchiest collection, focusing on Bitchy's sexual excapades.




Hollywood Underworld


Book Description

Dani Foxx is a gorgeous, sexy and spirited Los Angeles private eye with spunk, guts and a take-no-prisoners attitude. She has brains, courage, beauty, and nothing gets in her way. Dani lives in the Woodland Hills section of the San Fernando Valley with her beautiful teen-age daughter Dale. Together, they survive and protect each other in the world's most glamorous and sin-filled city. Dani is a former actress and model, having appeared on the daytime television drama Paradise Beach. She is all too familiar with the pitfalls, dangers and perils that occur within the City of Angels. Being tremendously aware of the sordid underbelly of Los Angeles and the often fear-provoking events that can happen, she now uses her talents and aptitude to assist others who have found themselves in the many harrowing situations she is very acquainted with. Her partner, the dashing and charismatic A.J. Tarentella, was raised in a ruthless crime family. Being the son of a mob boss, he fought his way to the top with honor, loyalty and pride. He now is the proud owner of the Tarantella Agency, an immensely respected Private Investigation Company located in the heart of Beverly Hills. He used his father's work ethic, connections and family ties to build his powerful business empire, and now he is always there to help those in need. Together, A.J. and Dani maneuver through the puzzling and dangerous underworld of Los Angeles, finding themselves racing for survival. From the very beginning, they were destined to be a lethal and dynamic combination. To get through the frightening maze of her precarious life, Dani has got to take chances: risks that will test her strength, willpower, and her family. The famous and infamous will test her and tempt her with undeniable sexual charms, extreme power and enormous wealth, and thrust her forcefully into the wild side of Tinseltown-- where everybody has lethal secrets and ruthless ambition.




Dry Manhattan


Book Description

In 1919, the United States made its boldest attempt at social reform: Prohibition. This "noble experiment" was aggressively promoted, and spectacularly unsuccessful, in New York City. In the first major work on Prohibition in a quarter century, and the only full history of Prohibition in the era's most vibrant city, Lerner describes a battle between competing visions of the United States that encompassed much more than the freedom to drink.




The Upperworld and the Underworld


Book Description

From Damon Runyan's colorful tough guys in black shirts and white ties to recent media coverage of John Gotti, the `dapper don', public depictions of racketeers in the United States have drawn attention away from the true nature of organized crime and its extensive penetrations into mainstream business. The Upperworld and the Underworld: Case Studies of Racketeering and Business Infiltrations in the United States strips away the romantic patina and reveals the significant impact of racketeering on vital segments of American industry. In this informative study Robert Kelly explores two fundamental questions: `Why is organized crime a serious problem in some businesses and industries, and not in others?' and `What are the consequences of racketeering activities for labor organizations and businesses tainted by a criminal presence?' He examines the blurred demarcation between the legitimate and illegitimate sectors of society and explains the reasons for this occurrence. In the process, Kelly provides a distinct vantage point for understanding organized crime, not just as an `outlaw fringe' preying on society, but as a disturbingly integral element of our social and economic structure. Moreover, he confirms a widely held thesis that organized crime is not merely parasitic but an institutional component of American society. The Upperworld and the Underworld affords a fascinating view of the current state of organized crime in the United States and the rise of nontraditional criminal organizations in new immigrant communities. The volume is an essential resource for students and scholars concerned with issues of crime and its effects on the economy.




The Art of Nothing


Book Description

Timed for the 25th anniversary of the comic strip Mutts, The Art of Nothing celebrates the work of author and illustrator Patrick McDonnell Mooch, the curious cat, and Earl, the ever-trusting dog, are just two of the characters who inhabit the world of Mutts. In The Art of Nothing: 25 Years of Mutts and the Art of Patrick McDonnell, the award-winning author and illustrator’s beloved comic strip is celebrated as well as his bestselling children’s classics, including Me . . . Jane, The Gift of Nothing, South, Just Like Heaven, Hug Time, and Wag!, all shot from the original art. Also included are rare and never-before-seen artwork, proposals, outtakes, and developmental work, along with autobiographical commentary, a brand-new, career-spanning interview conducted by artist Lynda Barry, and an introduction by Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose).




The Underworld


Book Description