Graphic Novels in Local Libraries - Petworth, Washington, DC (June 2022)

Give them an Excellent rating, as there's a very surprisingly good selection in NW DC. Some hard core porn too with Crepax. The Story of My Tits by Jennifer Hayden highlighted by facing out. Local publisher Lost Art Books on Matt Baker included too. Ben Katchor highlighted. Daniel Corsetto's boxed Girls with Slingshots complete set. Light on superheroes, but they're still included. Tell me what interested you in the comments!

Lost Art Books to publish Ray Willner book

D.C.-area publisher Lost Arts Books plans to release "The Lost Art of Ray Willner: The Adventures of Robin Hood" in time for the Small Press Expo in September. 

Here's what Joe Procopio of Lost Arts Books says on his Facebook page: "Scanning is finished, and art restoration is about a third of the way complete. Willner was a contemporary and oft-times partner with Reed Crandall, and their styles are remarkably similar. At this point--1956--in their respective careers, one could conceivably argue that Willner was the stronger artist! This Lost Art Book will collect every Robin Hood story drawn by Willner across the seven-issue run of the title in 1956, bringing together for the first time over 160 pages of never-before-reprinted material."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2013

Contact:

 

Joe Procopio, joseph.procopio@lostartbooks.com, (240) 643‐8714

Matt Baker’s

Canteen Kate collected for first time

in volume one of new series debuting at Small Press Expo 2013

Lost Art Books revives important African American artist’s seminal 1950s work

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND—Picture This Press, a publishing house devoted to the graphic arts, will release the first volume in a planned three book set devoted to golden age “good girl” artist

Matt Baker. As part of the ongoing Lost Art Books imprint, The Lost

Art of Matt Baker: The Complete Canteen Kate

will debut in paperback and hardcover formats at this year’s Small Press Expo on September 14-15 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Every Canteen Kate story ever published—22 in all—is collected for the first time in

The Lost Art of Matt Baker, Volume 1,

judiciously restored

and enlarged 20 percent over their original published size. A rich introduction by veteran comics writer Steven

Ringgenberg

provides insightful historical and biographical context, and a bonus gallery spotlights Baker’s skills as a cover artist.

Best of all, Baker and his good

-time gal bring you weapons‐grade guffaws as well as art that will leave you eager to see more from

this master draftsman.

Matt Baker is considered by comics historians and aficionados to be the preeminent “good girl” artist working in the medium during the 1940s and 1950s. But beyond his gift for drawing some of the most beautiful women in comics, Baker’s accomplishments include

two firsts: (1) he is the medium’s

first important African American comics artist, and (2) he drew in 1950 what has been argued was

the

first graphic novel, It Rhymes with Lust.

Baker honed his skills through the 1940s for several comics publishers, but his tremendous talents came to fruition at St. John Publications, where his realistic style was showcased in western, mystery, and especially romance comics. But regardless of the comics’ genre, one quality emerged in whatever Baker drew: his naturalistically gorgeous women. During this prolific period in his career, this master of "good girl" art latched onto one of St. John’s only recurring characters, Kate of

Canteen Kate. Baker drew every installment of the candid wartime cutie, from her premiere in

Fightin’ Marines (1951) to her final bow in Anchors Andrews (1953).

Unlike the jingoistic comics typically published during the Korean War,

Canteen Kate tales were designed to be morale‐boosting screwball fun. Without radically changing his style, Baker managed to make Kate equal parts comely and kooky in a series of stories that leaned heavily on silly hijinks in a military mess hall. Volume 2 in

 

The Lost Art of Matt Baker series will collect his entire output for the Wartime Romances comic, and Volume 3 will

provide a sampling of his best war, western, and suspense stories. Both of those volumes are slated for a 2014 release. Volume 1 of the series is available now for pre

 

‐order directly from the publisher (www.LostArtBooks.com) and from Amazon.com, and will ship

in mid

‐September immediately after the Small Press Expo.

Details

The Lost Art of Matt Baker, Vol. 1: The Complete Canteen Kate

160 pages • 8 ½ x 11” • full color • paperback and hardcover editions

ISBNs:

978‐0‐9829276‐6‐3 (hardcover), 978‐0‐9829276‐8‐7 (paperback)

About

Picture This Press

is dedicated to broadening the appreciation and awareness of artists who work in the fields of illustration,

cartooning, graphic arts, photography, and poster design. Picture This Press founder Joseph Procopio and co

‐publisher Ellen Levy

have a combined 35 years of publishing experience as writers, managing editors, and publications directors for a variety of

organizations.

Lost Art Books

the flagship series from Picture This Press, collects and preserves the works of illustrators and cartoonists from the

first half of the 20th century. Too many of these artists have gone underappreciated for too long, with much of their work uncollected or unexamined for decades, if at all. The Lost Art Books series aims to preserve this cultural heritage by re

‐introducing these artists to new generations of working artists, historians, and admirers of things beautiful.

Links

Pre-order and sample art page:

http://tinyurl.com/pegt8qz

Lost Art of Matt Baker

book trailer on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/lostartbooks/mattbaker

Home page:

www.LostArtBooks.com

Facebook group:

http://tiny.cc/2uw2i

Interview with the publisher in the
Washington City Paper: http://tiny.cc/47nl4

'Canteen Kate' is coming!

Joe Procopio, publisher of the D.C.-area Lost Art Books, has a new project that should be available at the Small Press Expo in a few weeks. The Lost Art of Matt Baker: Canteen Kate will collect all episodes of this light-humor military comic. Below is the cover-in-progress to Vol. 1 and a sample of Procopio's work in getting pages ready for print. 

Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in Library of Congress going out of print

Excuse my whipsawing you on this, but I'm going to remove Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress from sale in the next couple of days. For a good reason - Joe Procopio of Lost Art Books is going to do a professionally typeset and illustrated version instead. And I know which book I'd rather own...

So if you need the information sooner rather than later, or you're a completist, buy a copy in the next day or so. At the end of the weekend, I'm going to set it back to invisibility as a private project.

The two people who bought a copy should update the entry for John Celardo to read "died 2012". Mea culpa.

Seriously, Joe does nice work, as does Sara, so I'm looking forward to seeing the 'ultimate'* edition.

*except one could hope that some cartoonists in LoC's prints and photos collection, but not in the Swann collection could be added to a new edition which could have an even longer title...

Comics Comics on Lost Art Books's Zim

Dan Nadel of Comics Comics has reviewed Joe Procopio and Lost Art Books's Zim reprint.

Picture This Press' Lost Art Books get reviews

Joe Procopio's Picture This Press' Lost Art Books have begun getting reviews - from the Hooded Utilitarian on Zim's Cartoons and Caricatures, comic book creator Steve Bissette and Comics Worth Reading.

As someone who's interested in the history of cartooning, I applaud Joe's efforts. Here's the Washington City Paper interview with him.

Lost Art Books promo video online now

Lost Art Books promo video here. I bought all the books at SPX and am glad to have them (although they remain in a giant pile with everything else I bought there).;