Rex Mundi Volume 2: The River Underground (Rex Mundi)

Book Description

From a disgraced order of knights to the secrets of a neoclassic painter, Julien Sauniere follows a trail of conspiracy that extends all the way to the walls of Jerusalem during the first crusade. In a Europe where sorcerers stalk the streets and the Catholic Church reigns supreme, Julien pursues a truth that could change the world forever. Powerful forces have dedicated themselves to ensuring he does not succeed.

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

The second volume of Rex Mundi draws Julien deeper and deeper into dangerous territory. The Inquisition is watching him closely, and it is a matter of time before they do something.

He discovers more clues as to what is going on, and realises that there is a political movement at the heart of it, that wants power and war.

Series gets even better........2007-03-13

Arvid Nelson, Rex Mundi: The River Underground (Dark Horse, 2005)

It took two years after my library acquired the first volume of this series for them to get the second. I've been waiting on tenterhooks (whatever tenterhooks may be-- they're not too comfortable, though) the whole time. They finally got, it, and I snapped it up. Two years disappeared immediately, and I was right back into the story as if no time had passed at all. Nelson reveals a good deal more of where he's going with this plot in The River Underground, and while there were certain times when I smelled a distinct odor of Dan Brown, I'm more than willing to give Nelson the benefit of the doubt; his characters are much more believable, and they don't grind the plot to a halt to discourse endlessly on subject we all know about anyway. (Nelson makes use of the daily-newspaper convention for relating the background stuff, as well as injecting a few amusing moments now and then. References to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton sit alongside references to Opus Dei and Napoleon. How cool is that?)

I'm waiting for volume 3 now. My library swears it won't take them two years to get this one. Back onto my tenterhooks, I guess. *** ½

ex Mundi Volume 2: The River Underground (Rex Mundi).......2007-01-24

Very good script and will not let you sleep- you will want to finish.

Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature

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Wonderful Book

Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature
Charles Hatfield
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Arguing Comics: Literary Masters On A Popular Medium (Studies in Popular Culture)
The Language of Comics: Word and Image
The Aesthetics of Comics
Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art
Comics & Sequential Art

ASIN: 1578067197

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Book.......2007-07-26

Hatfield has written a very good account of the formal qualities of the comic art form. He deals with the interaction between visual and textual elements in comics at a theoretical level not previously broached. His work shows how these qualities play out in comics creating narratives and meaning for their readers. Having delineated these qualities he then sets about a formal reading of specific works in chapters 3 to 5. In these chapters he addresses both the cultural context of alternative comics and their formal aspects. His central argument is that comics need to be reconsidered in socio-historical and aesthetic terms. While acknowledging comics lowbrow origins he points to the emergence of alternative comics and shows that they offer new ways of understanding fiction and readers' engagement in constructing meaning.

Given that Hatfield is arguing for a greater complexity to the comic art form than is popularly ascribed, and that this requires an interpretative language and theory, his work is direct. Theory of this sort often drifts into abstract language and complex abstractions. Hatfield avoids this pitfall grounding his work in description of comics. Hatfield also addresses broader issues than the simple formal aspects of these comics, or what might in other works be called their literary quality giving a broader context to his work.

Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975

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The Inside Scoop

Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975
Patrick Rosenkranz
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Comix: The Underground Revolution
The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Counterculture
Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature
The Complete Crumb Comics : Happy Hippy Comix (volume 5) (Complete Crumb)
Comic Book Confidential

ASIN: 1560974648

Book Description

The first major historical work about the most influential artistic movement in America since the Beat Generation revolutionized literature.

A provocative chronicle of the guerrilla art movement that changed comics forever, this comprehensive book follows the movements of 50 artists from 1967 to 1972, the heyday of the underground comix movement. Through interviews with the participants and other materials, Rebel Visions is the most intimate look ever at the people and events that forged the phenomenon known as underground comix, from New York to San Francisco, from the corn belt to deep in the heart of Texas, beginning that day in 1968 when R. Crumb debuted Zap #1 from a baby carriage on Haight Ashbury Street. Rosenkranz has spent 20 years researching this book and acquiring the cooperation of every significant underground cartoonist who worked throughout this period, including Crumb, Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers), Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead), Art Spiegelman (Maus), Jack Jackson, S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, and many more. The book is illustrated with many never-before-seen drawings by all of the underground cartoonists, and exclusive photographs.

The book focuses on San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, where Crumb and the rest of his Zap cronies commingled with the rest of the city's counter-cultural scene, notably musicians like the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. The counterculture was omnipresent in San Francisco for those few years, with underground tabloids like Yellow Dog and Gothic Blimp Works steering the zeitgeist out-of-control, along with the music, political, and psychedelic drug scenes, all of which found a group of unlikely revolutionaries who drew cartoons right at the epicenter.

"It did feel like this must have been what the cubists were going through, like all the magic of being in Paris for the post-Impressionistic movement did feel somehow like being in San Francisco in the early 1970s." — Art Spiegelman, from Rebel Visions

"Like any utopian experiment, ideals were challenged and rewritten in the face of the daily grind. It was a harsh life lesson for me, but there were lots of laughs and some beautiful times, too..."— Justin Green, from Rebel Visions

"Underground comics were more like art and less like comics." — Gilbert Shelton, from Rebel Visions

Customer Reviews:

The Inside Scoop.......2004-01-02

If you don't know what a comix is, maybe you should go on e-bay and buy yourself a copy of ZAP. While you still can.

For those who are familiar with underground comic books, Patrick Rosenkranz has provided an amazing amount of background information about the creators and the times that produced what could be viewed as the trashiest and/or the most significant cultural artifacts of the second half of the 20th Century.

Unlike previous histories and articles that simply reprint the more or less shocking comic pages and regurgitate the same old information, misinformation and opinions about the hippies and their graphic art, Rebel Visions is based on Mr. Rosenkranz own interviews and correspondence with the first wave of underground comix creators. In lengthy footnoted quotes, the artist/writers are finally allowed to tell their own strange and wonderful stories. And by following the stories organized in yearly chapters, I cames to understand something of the birth, bloom and demise of a phenomena that never made the transition to mainstream product or the 1980s.

Rebel Visions also presents a significant amount of previously unpublished art for the connoisseur as well as an exhaustive index for the scholar.

Book Description

The subterranean world of zines uncovered in words and pictures Slug & Lettuce, Pathetic Life, I Hate Brenda, Dishwasher, Punk and Destroy, Sweet Jesus, Scrambled Eggs, Maximunrocknroll -- these are among the thousands of publications which circulate in a subterranean world rarely illu-minated by the searchlights of mainstream media commentary. In this multifarious underground, Pynchonesque misfits rant and rave, fans eulogize, hobbyists obsess. Together they form a low-tech publishing network of extraordinary richness and variety. Welcome to the realm of zines. In this, the first comprehensive study of zine publishing, Stephen Duncombe describes their origins in early-twentieth-century science fiction cults, their more proximate roots in 60s counter-culture and their rapid proliferation in the wake of punk rock. While Notes from Underground pays full due to the political importance of zines as a vital web of popular culture, it also notes the shortcomings of their utopian and escapist outlook in achieving fundamental social change. Packed with extracts and illustrations from a wide array of publications, past and present, Notes from Underground is the first book to explore the full range of zine culture and provides a definitive portrait of the contemporary underground in all its splendor and misery.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Introduction to the World of Zines.......2007-06-12

This book is a must-read for all art students and should also prove helpful to students of journalism and other fields. It offers an excellent insight into the whys and hows of zines while also maintaining a critical perspective. If you don't know what a zine is, you will find out. If you do know, you will get a deeper understanding of the history of zines and what they have morphed into since their heyday.

Zines refelct what happens when anyone can publish. Much as we might like to believe that this is the answer to corporate news and other canned information, zines turn out to me more personal expression and less a matter of getting you better news than the big agencies. But, that said, they offer just about every perspective conceivable. And, for those self-publishers who stick with them, they can be the beginnings of projects that allow them to find a productive, creative place in society. Of course, some will keep doing zines forever and a day. Whether zines or a "real job" become one's destiny, zines still serve as a forum for dissent and dissemination. And they and the people behind them are worth knowing about.

A poltical approach towards the underground scene.......2000-01-24

underground culture born out of opposition to the mainstream media of the comsumer culture and the alienation caused by the whole capitalist culture is analysed in Duncombe's book in great detail.

The making of it,the meaning of it and the paradoxes and drawbacks it has are all introduced.

pros and cons well defined.Duncombe also draw the limits of the underground scene.I agree with his pessimisim about fanzine writers doing nothing more than just being politics by themselves.[what i mean is fanzine writers dont need to take political action as making a fanzine is keeping them busy (mind and time)]

What is most successful about this book is he didnt just write about the world of fanzines but explored through the social/economic/political structure of the USA. As a political science student and a fanzine writer i share his views concerning the new world order as an everchanging,imposing and even assimilating fact.(is it new?)

Well, i really liked the book even though at times i felt like he is repeating all again well i guess this happens when explaining such complex things (as economic,olitical things not fanzines)

Elif Ozgen

enough with the academic analysis already.......1999-04-14

blah blah blah what is up with this. zines are rad and shut up with the sociopolitcoeconomico crap. who would want to read this when they could be reading something real?

The best book about zines yet written........1999-01-26

This is a sobering, inspiring book. Duncombe shows us the boundless potential of zines and zine culture. At the same time he diagnoses the failure of zines to reach out and become relevant to people outside our little "underground". All the effort and enthusiasm that we pour into zines is a small revolution, but if we all joined forces and poured that effort into a movement, we could truly change the system rather than just complaining and waging futile rebellion against it. This book should be required for any would-be revolutionaries, punks, zine creators, and thinking human beings.

he doesn't dumb it down.......1999-01-21

Disagreeing with a recent online review, this book is valuable for its sociological scholarly analysis. Essentially every other book currently existing on the topic of zines is nothing more than a very limited and stilted collection of samples from zines every zinester worth their salt has already heard of ad nauseum. While Duncombe is a little heavy on the utopic and overly optimistic naivete in regards to the ability of alternative media subcultures to change the dominant mainstream as we know it, it was very refreshing to read a book about zines that didn't seem to feel the necessity to "dumb it down" for the zine kids, many of whom are exceptionally bright. This is certainly worth checking out if you do a zine and are into thinking, instead of regurgitating the same old, same old, as far too many zines do.

Nasty Tales: Sex, Rugs, Rock 'N Roll & Violence in the British Underground (Primal-Spinal Comix History)

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Nasty Tales: Sex, Rugs, Rock 'N Roll & Violence in the British Underground (Primal-Spinal Comix History)
David Huxley
Manufacturer: Critical Vision
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 190048613X

Book Description

Though never on the scale of its American counterpart, there was indeed a comics underground in Great Britain. Many of these comics were obscure limited print run productions and few were financially successful. But with subject matter that was anarchic and sexually unrestrained, this 'political pornography' did indeed have an impact-and invariably caught the wary eye of the law, resulting in several landmark Obscenity cases.

From their origins in the 1960s, Nasty Tales covers the turbulent history of these comics and the cultural instability from which they emerged.

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Best collection & criticism of undergrounds to the 70s
Underground goes Above

A History of Underground Comics
Mark James Estren
Manufacturer: Ronin Publishing (CA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975
Comix: The Underground Revolution

ASIN: 091417164X

Amazon.com

Perched halfway between college humor magazines and National Lampoon, underground comics are an overlooked component of the history of humor in this country. At their best, they're also fun as hell to read--protopunk satire, so crazy, crass, and scatological that the stories nearly drip off the page. Mark James Estren's History of Underground Comics is an excellent survey of the art in the days before Crumb was a movie star and well-mannered alternative weeklies brought Matt Groening and Lynda Barry into every suburb. As such, I wouldn't buy it for the kids; after looking at the book, my mother remarked, "I don't remember them being so dirty." (Of course they were, but she was dirtier herself back then.) If you're a fan of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Trashman, Bobby London's Duck and Weevil--and you know if you are--buy this book. Even if you're from the Love and Rockets generation, take advantage of this primo guided tour.

Customer Reviews:

Best collection & criticism of undergrounds to the 70s.......2004-02-27

This has all the early Crumb, Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Stanley Mouse, & the great Robert Williams who later launched Lowbrow art & subculture, the glory days of Zap Comics. I don't know if this one is the updated edition -- mine stops circa 1980.

Underground goes Above.......2000-05-22

The history of Underground comix explores the weird and wonderful days when comix were made NOT for money but from the heart. Explore the history of alternative (back when the word meant something), experimental, emotial, drug-related, sexploitation, and random acts of comicness. Learn the tragic history of Mickey Rat. Keep on truckin with R. Crumb. It's all here man! 40 years of history and the worst is filtered out. expand your mind and rejoice that you will know more about this subject after this book than that jerk behind the comic counter. written in a cronological order with an easy to follow appendix. every corner is covered 4 times. An incredible book.

Average customer rating:

Mr. Natural would be pleased

Comix: The Underground Revolution
Dez Skinn
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975
Foul Play!: The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics!
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Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art
Comic Book Confidential

ASIN: 1560255722

Book Description

While mainstream comics have graced newsstands since the 1930s, there has long been an underground comics scene brewing deep beneath the surface. Underground comic books (which took the name “comix,” using the “x” to signify their adult nature) erupted in the 1960s as a reaction to ultraconservative and patriotic comics produced by the large corporations that featured characters like Captain America and Superman. Bored with moralistic tales, artists such as Robert Crumb, creator of Zap Comix and Fritz the Cat; and Gilbert Shelton, creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, produced a new and revolutionary style, freely attacking politicians, the war in Vietnam, and corporate America. Comix is an homage to both the motivation and the talent of the artists working then and now in the genre. Beautifully illustrated throughout with original artworks from the likes of R. Crumb, Denis Kitchen, and Gilbert Shelton, the book graphically expresses a range of attitudes on topics ranging from sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll to politics, big business, and women’s liberation. This is the first book to explore the artwork and countercultural legacy of comix, key events in the history of this medium, and biographies of its most influential artists and writers.

Customer Reviews:

Mr. Natural would be pleased.......2006-12-30

This book offers a simple straightforward history of underground Comics here, in Europe, and the UK. It's briskly written, nicely illustrated, and a good addition to a very small cadre of books. For all the attention the underground gets, there really aren't that many good books about the scene. This is one of them. And attention is paid to more obscure artists, not just the big wigs like Crumb, Moscoso, & Rick Griffiths. Nice stuff on the UK, most of that work is hard to find here or never came here at all.

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Great At Date of Publication, Prophetic in Retrospective
Wow
An epiphany in comic form
"Generica" the Beautiful
revolutionary comics

Channel zero
Brian Wood
Manufacturer: Image Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
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Channel Zero: Jennie One
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ASIN: 1582400822

Book Description

Special interest groups have bullied the government into passing the Clean Act, effectively killing freedom of speech and silencing the country into submission. TV and God become one and the same as America wages its own holy war against its citizens. Meet Jennie 2.5, media slut turned info-terrorist, out to save the country from itself, and restore free will and self expression. Hailed internationally as ground-breaking work in the field of sequential art, Channel Zero challenges and tests the limits, combining current events and no-future shock into a dark, paranoid, deep-ambient visual narrative.

Customer Reviews:

Great At Date of Publication, Prophetic in Retrospective.......2006-11-29

Channel Zero is the tale of a New York art student living in the midst of change for the worse in America. New laws and fears have brought about change in society and leave our bill of rights in bloody tatters on the ground. While many sit down and revel in their safety, protagonist Jennie 2.5 decides to do something about it. Through truly groundbreaking design/comic art, author/artist Brian Wood dumps us off with Jennie as she puts her propaganda plan to wake up the masses into full throttle, only to find out that she's probably in over her head and not necessarily as free of America's faults as she thinks she is.

In addition to Jennie, cameos of other people from other angles are shown throughout the book. Whether in one page bios introducing characters that would be used in future B. Wood comics, or in mini stories, such as that of the activist-assassinating "cleaner" that is only doing her job, Brian weaves a whole world for us to look into that, while primitive at times, is still real enough to scare the hell out of us.

The greatest part of Channel Zero, though, is not it's art, or even it's story. It is it's fallout. Published in comic form back in the 1990s, and in graphic novel for the first time in 2000, this book is a pre-9/11 look into the post-9/11 world. With an oppressive "Clean Act" that is terribly remniscent of the USA PATRIOT Act of the real world, it was as if Brian was trying to warn us of the coming socio-political onslaught.

It's never to late to start listening.

Wow.......2006-07-15

I've never read a book as ambitious as this before. There was every chance for Brian Wood to totally fall on his face, and he flew instead. This, and its prequel, Jennie One, make a FANTASTIC story. Get this NOW, before it's gone.

An epiphany in comic form.......2005-10-04

Seriously... you need to read this. I've been reading comics for years, but 99% of it has always been superhero stuff. The only time i've really read anything different is if it's written by Grant Morrison or BKV. Well let me tell you, I'm now a convert. Brain Wood is a master and this is seriously one of the most compelling reads I've ever had the pleasure of owning. The book will really challenge your mind and seriously make you think. Just do yourself a favor... buy it, read it, love it.

"Generica" the Beautiful.......2004-04-01

Brian Wood's, "Channel Zero," is a terse, taut, techno thriller on what happens when a facist, authoritarian governmental system replaces Democracy in present day America. The writing is quite exceptional in presenting a mostly believeable scenario (but still somewhat hard to believe that media/info outlets are so completely shut-down and filtered that everyday Americans no longer know what's happening in the rest of the world) on how citizens both cope with the new constraints and eventually rise up to fight back. From start to finish the grim paranoia is effectively conveyed by Wood's masterful black and white illustration interspersed with faux propaganda artwork.

At this price, this book is of great value and not to be missed at all.

revolutionary comics.......2004-03-28

Channel Zero is a graphic novel for people interested in anti-establishment revolutions and propoganda.
Channel Zero is a graphic novel for people who want to see graphic design given just as much importance if not more than illustration in comics.
Channel Zero is a graphic novel for people who want something to believe in.
Channel Zero is a graphic novel for people.

Class war comix: A brief history of the revolution

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Class war comix: A brief history of the revolution
Skip Williamson
Manufacturer: M. Johnson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006PAURC

Underground Railroad (Graphic History) (Graphic History)

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Underground Railroad (Graphic History) (Graphic History)

Manufacturer: Abdo & Daughters
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 160270080X

Product Description

United States, 1800s. Due to the need for manual labor, millions of African people were transported to and sold in the United States. These people were treated as property, and many felt this was wrong. These people helped thousands of slaves escape to the North where slavery was illegal. Follow the drinking gourd along the Underground Railroad in these daring graphic novels.

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