Graphic Lit: Vintage, Independent, Marvel, and DC
In what may be an expression of nostalgia, we carry a lot of the genius of newspaper-published graphic literature, a Golden Age that lasted from the 1930s to the departure of Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes. The two comic book behemoths, Marvel and DC, are included here. We don’t cover the “universes” of each company. Occasionally, however, they publish some strikingly original or quirky work that suits our inventory. On this page we feature all our adult graphic literature (some of which, of course, is perfectly appropriate for children); our Young Adult graphic literature has its own page under that name.
Content note: I have moved all of Neil Gaiman’s work (Sandman and others) to his page here.
Pogo volume 2: Bona Fide Balderdash
Pogo volume 2: Bona Fide Balderdash
2013 Eisner Award Winner: Best Archival Collection/Project — Strips
2013 Harvey Award Nominee: Best Domestic Reprint Project
New York Times Best Seller - Hardcover Graphic Books
Even though Pogo had been in syndication for less than two years as this volume begins, Walt Kelly's long professional experience (including seven years creating Pogo stories for comic books) had him at the peak of his powers, and this book features page after page of gorgeously drawn, hilarious vaudevillian dialogue and action among the swamp denizens, as well as Kelly's increasingly sharp-tongued political satire — especially on display during the 1952 election season.
Kelly was famous for his prolific creation of recurring characters, and by the end of this second volume, the count will already have topped over one hundred. New arrivals include Tammanany the Tiger, the voluble P.T. Bridgeport, the sinister Sarcophagus MacAbre (with his funereal speech balloons), Uncle Antler the bull moose... and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred, the adorable trio of bats.
The two years of daily strips in this volume (all the strips from 1951 and 1952) have been collected before but in now long out of print books; and even there they were not as meticulously restored and reproduced as in this new series.Bona Fide Balderdash also reprints, literally for the first time ever in full color, the two full years of Sunday pages, also carefully restored and color-corrected, shot from the finest copies available.
This second volume is once again edited and designed by the cartoonist’s daughter, Carolyn Kelly, who is also handling much of the restoration work. It includes a new introduction by the legendary author, recording artist, and satirist Stan Freberg, who was not only a friend of Kelly’s but the voice of Albert the Alligator in the I Go Pogo: Pogo for President movie. There are also more extensive annotations by comic strip historian and expert R.C. Harvey, as well as additional historical information from writer Mark Evanier.