Blab Vol 16

For more than a decade, the anthology series " Blab! "has showcased--and incubated--the contemporary art movement called Lowbrow, which incorporates kitschy elements of punk rock, tiki decoration, folk art, comics, and other down-market phenomena. The latest edition includes work by such Lowbrow luminaries and " Blab! "regulars as Lou Brooks, Gary Baseman, David Sandlin, and the Clayton brothers. The strongest contributions are comic strips that recall " Blab!'"s origins as a zine devoted to underground and classic comics, including agitprop artist Sue Coe's harrowing view of hunting, Mark Landman's Fetal Elvis encountering God, children's book illustrator Marc Rosenthal's parodies of vintage newspaper strips, Laura Levine's account of 1940s movie legend Veronica Lake, and underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez's autobiographical story of 1950s Buffalo. Noncomics standouts are the Peter Hoey-Charles Paul Freund collaboration "Lost Liner Notes," a series of full-page profiles of bebop musicians, and Sergio Ruzzier's picture-book-style tale of a devil nearly drummed out of hell for being too nice. The elegantly packaged " Blab! "remains a leading venue for alternative cartoonists and cutting-edge graphics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

The preeminent anthology of painting and the illustration arts.

BLAB! is an annual coffee-table showcase of fine art, illustration, and comix, and a gold-standard in the work of the professional visual arts. This new volume features Geoffrey Grahn's The Man Who Saved the World, which tells the tale of Vasily Arkhipov, the Russian sub brigade commander, who, during the Cuban missile crisis, kept a cool head when his superior on the sub gave orders to begin firing nuclear torpedoes at the U.S., thereby saving the world from nuclear war.

Laura Levine's Veronica recounts the life of the beautiful, enigmatic and tragic 1940s movie star, Veronica Lake (she of the Peek-A-Boo hair). Peter and Maria Hoey present Lost Liner Notes, a story comprising six separate, interlocking pages, which examine the lives of jazz musicians who played in the be-bop era of the 1940s and early '50s. Tragic lives and truncated careers may have pushed their musical contributions to the margins, but this comic tells the story of Fats Navarro, Dodo Marmarosa, Serge Chaloff, Dick Twardzik, Wardell Gray, and Sonny Criss, all of whom made some of the greatest music you never heard.

This volume also features new work by Sue Coe, Judith Brody, Sergio Ruzzier, Mats!, Spain, Peter Kuper, Marc Rosenthal, Gary Baseman, The Clayton Brothers, Bob Staake and more. Covers by Tim Biskup.