Robert R Crumb

Robert Crumb's first great character -- in fact, his second-best-known character next to Mr. Natural -- was Fritz the Cat, the horny, hip-talking feline whose success caused Crumb to kill him off. The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat, back in print as an inexpensive hardcover as a companion to The Book of Mr. Natural, contains all the Fritz stories from the earliest sketchbook-drawn tales ("Hey, Ol' Cat " and "Fritz Comes On Strong") to the wild adventure stories ("Special Agent for the C.I.A.") to the classic "peak" Fritz stories ("Fritz the No-Good") all the way to the despairing "Fritz the Cat, Superstar" with its infamous ice-pick ending.

This blowout issue not only includes work by all eight Zap artists (plus a collaboration with cartoonist Aline Kominsky), but also three double-page jams by the group. Plus: Zap s first-and-only color section, featuring comics by R. Crumb and Gilbert Shelton (his final Zap Wonder Wart-hog episode, no less). Paul Mavrides provides an alternately embellished version of Gilbert Shelton s and his Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers episode, Phineas Becomes a Suicide Bomber (originally inked in the Complete Zap by Shelton). Front cover by R. Crumb. Back cover by Moscoso."

Vol. 16 showcases a period that many critics consider to be amongst the richest of Crumb's career. Anchored by Crumb's contributions to his anthology Weirdo, this volume focuses on the years 1985-1987 and includes the seminal "Jelly Roll Morton's Voodoo Curse," from Raw magazine. Also featured is the "Pioneers of Country Music" color portrait series, and other Weirdo classics such as "The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick." Each volume is rounded out with original covers by Crumb.

"Cave Wimp" (Vol. 17) completes the 1980s and leads into the 1990s, a creatively fertile period for Crumb, who had given up the editorial reins of his own Weirdo magazine to get back to the proverbial drawing board. Included are Crumb's contributions to Weirdo from this period, as well as work from Whole Earth Review, Zap Comix, Premiere magazine, and many other rare gems. Featured are classics including the title story "Cave Wimp" -- the story of the first nerd -- and "A Short History of America," amongst others. This volume includes a new introduction by Crumb, full-color cover portfolio sections, and a brand new cover.

Continuing our ongoing commitment to keep this perennial, canonic series in print, we re-present the most often-demanded volumes in The Complete Crumb Comics series. Vol. 8: Starring Fritz the Cat features one of Crumbs most notorious comics, The Death of Fritz the Cat, as well as Whiteman Meets Bigfoot, the complete Big Ass #2 and Mr. Natural #2, wild jams and loads of photos This volume covers the years 1971-1972.

National Book Award nominee, critic and one of America 's least compromising satirists, Alexander Theroux takes a comprehensive look at the colorful language of pop lyrics and the realm of rock music in general in The Grammar of Rock silly song titles; maddening instrumentals; shrieking divas; clunker lines; the worst (and best) songs ever written; geniuses of the art; movie stars who should never have raised their voice in song but who were too shameless to refuse a mic; and the excesses of awful Christmas recordings. Praising (and critiquing) the gems of lyricists both highbrow and low, Theroux does due reverence to classic word-masters like Ira Gershwin, Jimmy Van Heusen, Cole Porter, and Sammy Cahn, lyricists as diverse as Hank Williams, Buck Ram, the Moody Blues, and Randy Newman, Dylan and the Beatles, of course, and more outr ones like the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Patti Smith, the Fall (even Ghostface Killa), but he considers stupid rhymes, as well nonsense lyrics, chop logic, the uses and abuses of irony, country music macho, verbal howlers, how voices sound alike and why, and much more. In a way that no one else has ever done, with his usual encyclopedic insights into the state of the modern lyric, Theroux focuses on the state of language the power of words and the nature of syntax in The Grammar of Rock. He analyzes its assaults on listeners impulses by investigating singers styles, pondering illogical lunacies in lyrics, and deconstructing the nature of diction and presentation in the language. This is that rare book of discernment and probing wit (and not exclusively one that is a critical defense of quality) that positively evaluates the very nature of a pop song, and why one over another has an effect on the listener.

Rumoured for years, Drawn Together finally charts the daily exploits and erotic craziness of this 'First Couple' of comics. Who could have imagined that in 1972 when Aline Kominsky, a Long Island escapee and bodaciously talented artist, broke her foot one rainy fall day, it would result in the most unique collaboration in comics history? Laid up in her house, she was persuaded by her nerdy, neurotic boyfriend that they pass the time drawing together a two-man comic. The result is a jaw-dropping, yet tender account. A must have for any comics devotee.

A fast-paced recap of the research history of LSD and other hallucinogens, and a look at what is now known, and what is still unknown, about the effects of psychedelics on brain chemistry.