Coming Attractions: Fall 2012: Abrams

Michael Goodwin, Dan E. Burr, David Bach, Joel Bak…

September 2012

$19.95/$21.95 Can.

304 pages

280 black-and-white illustrations

Paperback / softback

Business & Economics / Economics

Author Bio: Michael Goodwin is a writer and editor with a degree in Chinese studies. He has lived in China, India, and now New York City. Dan E. Burr illustrated the classic graphic novel Kings in Disguise. He lives in Milwaukee.

Stimulus plans: good or bad? Free markets: How free are they? Jobs: Can we afford them? Occupy Wall Street . . . worldwide!

Everybody’s talking about the economy, but how can we, the people, understand what Wall Street or Washington knows-or say they know? Read Economix.

With clear, witty writing and quirky, accessible art, this important and timely graphic novel transforms “the dismal science” of economics into a fun, fact-filled story about human nature and our attempts to make the most of what we’ve got . . . and sometimes what our neighbors have got. Economix explains it all, from the beginning of Western economic thought, to markets free and otherwise, to economic failures, successes, limitations, and future possibilities. It’s the essential, accessible guide to understanding the economy and economic practices. A must-read for every citizen and every voter.

Frank M. Young, David Lasky

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$24.95/$27.95 Can.

192 pages

178 color illustrations

Hardback / Cloth over boards

Comics & Graphic Novels / General

Author Bio: Frank M. Young is a writer and editor who has contributed to newspapers and magazines across the country. Born in the Deep South, he now lives in Seattle. David Lasky has written and illustrated a number of highly acclaimed comic books. Originally from Virginia, David now makes his home in Seattle.

Summary: The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Songis a rich and compelling original graphic novel that tells the story of the Carter Family-the first superstar group of country music-who made hundreds of recordings and sold millions of records. Many of their hit songs, such as “Wildwood Flower” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” have influenced countless musicians and remain timeless country standards.The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is not only a unique illustrated biography, but a moving account that reveals the family’s rise to success, their struggles along the way, and their impact on contemporary music. Illustrated with exacting detail and written in the Southern dialect of the time, its dynamic narrative is pure Americana. It is also a story of success and failure, of poverty and wealth, of racism and tolerance, of creativity and business, and of the power of music and love.

Includes bonus CD with original Carter Family music.

The Topps Company, Len Brown, Zina Saunders

October 2012, Ship Date: September 5, 2012

$19.95/$21.95 Can.

224 pages

200 color and black-and-white illustrations

Hardback / With dust jacket

Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction

Author Bio: The Topps Company, Inc., founded in 1938, is the preeminent creator and brand marketer of sports cards, entertainment products, and distinctive confectionery. Len Brown, former creative director at Topps-where he worked for over 40 years-is the co-creator of Mars Attacks. He lives in Texas. Zina Saunders is an author, illustrator, and animator. She lives in New York.

Summary: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Mars Attacks, this comprehensive book is the first-ever compilation of the infamous science-fiction trading card series produced by Topps in 1962. Edgy, subversive, and darkly comedic, this over-the-top series depicting a Martian invasion of Earth has a loyal following and continues to win new generations of fans. For the first time, this book brings together high-quality reproductions of the entire original series, as well as the hard-to-find sequel from 1994, rare and never-before-seen sketches, concept art, and test market materials. Also included are an introduction by series co-creator Len Brown and an afterword by Zina Saunders, daughter of the original artist, providing an insider’s behind-the-scenes view of the bizarre and compelling world of Mars Attacks.

Includes four Mars Attacks trading cards.

Paula M. Block, Terry J. Erdmann, Ronald D. Moore

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$29.95/$32.95 Can.

744 pages

500 color and black-and-white illustrations

Hardback / Cloth over boards

Performing Arts / Television

Author Bio: Paula M. Block worked behind the scenes at Paramount Pictures for 19 years, and with publicist Terry J. Erdmann has written numerous books, including Star Trek: The Original Series 365 and Star Trek 101. They live in Oregon. Ronald D. Moore served as story editor and producer for Star Trek: The Next Generation, contributing scripts for 27 episodes, including the Hugo Award-winning finale, “All Good Things . . .” He lives in California.

Summary: With the launch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry somehow managed to recapture lightning in a bottle. This new incarnation of Star Trek was an instant hit, and its popularity inspired four films and three spin-off television series. To commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary, Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 provides a fresh, accessible overview of the entire series, including an authorized guide to all 178 episodes. Featuring rarely seen and now-classic photography and illustrations, this visual celebration of the voyages of Captain Picard, his crew, and the Enterprise-D offers a loving look back at the Emmy and Hugo Award-winning series.

LTD. Sanrio Company, Roger Gastman

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$35.00/$40.00 Can.

208 pages

208 color illustrations

Hardback / Cloth over boards

Art / Popular Culture

Author Bio: Sanrio®, best known for global icon Hello Kitty® and home to many endearing characters including Chococat®, My Melody®, and Keroppi®, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. The worldwide lifestyle brand was founded on the “small gift, big smile®” philosophy-that a small gift can bring a big smile to people of all ages. Today, over 50,000 Sanrio-branded items are sold in over 70 countries around the world. In the Western Hemisphere, Sanrio character-branded products are sold in upwards of 12,000 locations including department, specialty, national chain stores and over 100 Sanrio boutiques.

Summary: Hello Kitty, Hello Art! is a celebration of the iconic Hello Kitty character and other beloved Sanrio characters through the eyes of dozens of contemporary artists and Hello Kitty fans, including Gary Baseman, Ron English, Luke Chueh, CRASH, Anthony Lister, Eric Joyner, Camilla d’Errico, Amanda Visell, Colin Christian, Huck Gee, Luke Chueh, Deph, and Yosuke Ueno, among others. This hardcover collectible book features a variety of well-known international artists and their unique interpretations of Sanrio characters in various media, including canvas, spray paint, watercolor and ink, aerosol and acrylics on wood, mixed media, oil on panel, and silk screen. The pieces in the book reflect the many ways Hello Kitty and Sanrio have influenced and inspired so many artists around the world.

Vincent Berniere, Mariel Primois

October 2012, Ship Date: September 5, 2012

$40.00/$45.00 Can.

240 pages

160 color and black-and-white illustrations

Paperback / softback / Trade paperback (US)

Literary Collections / General

Author Bio: Vincent Bernière is a reporter for the French magazine Technikart. Mariel Primois has served as artistic director for magazines such as Globe, VSD, Actuel, Nova, and Fooding. Bernière and Primois are also the coauthors of the book Actuel, les belles histoires.

Summary: From 1965 to 1975, an array of journals, magazines, fanzines, and underground presses were the voice of a dramatic sexual revolution. In Europe and the United States, this “sex press” consisted of publications such as Other Scenes, Yellow Dog, Actuel, Suck, The Body, and Screw-some of which were fully dedicated to sex, while others also engaged with the time’s most riveting topical issues, including politics, human rights, war, women’s rights, and gay and lesbian rights. Showcasing art from the most revolutionary publications of the era, the book traces the exuberant sexual liberation of the 1960s and then moves into the mid-1970s, with its more codified form of pornography. Illustrated by a vivid collection of full-page facsimiles, Sex Press offers a compelling visual tour through an extraordinary period of experimentation, creativity, and sexual freedom.

Steven Heller, Howard Roffman

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$40.00/$45.00 Can.

176 pages

120 color illustrations

Hardback / With dust jacket

Art / Popular Culture

Author Bio: Steven Heller, co-chair MFA Design, School of Visual Arts, is the author and/or editor of more than 140 books, including Abrams’ Graphic Style: From Victorian to Digital and I Heart Design. He lives in New York City. Howard Roffman was president of Lucas Licensing for more than 20 years. In 1997, Roffman was selected as Entertainment Marketer of the Year by Brandweek. He lives in California.

Summary: The instant and massive success of Star Wars took Lucasfilm by surprise, but in 1978, an industry unto itself was born, consisting of books, trading cards, magazines, video games, and merchandise. The art created for these projects continues to expand the limits and celebrate the iconography of the Star Warsgalaxy.Now the third book in the Star Wars Art series, Illustration, collects the best of these artworks, as curated by George Lucas. Featuring previously unpublished, rarely seen, and fan-favorite art from Mark Chiarello, Dave Dorman, Hugh Fleming, Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Ralph McQuarrie, Jon J. Muth, Tsuneo Sanda, Drew Struzan, Jerry Vanderstelt, Christian Waggoner, and many others, Star Wars Art: Illustration explores the wide range of styles that illustrators have brought to bear on a galaxy far, far away . . .

Martha Fay, Jules Feiffer, Leonard S. Marcus

April 2013, Ship Date: January 2, 2013

$40.00/$45.00 Can.

224 pages

300 color and black-and-white illustrations

Hardback / With dust jacket

Author Bio: Martha Fay is an essayist and the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Mortal Condition and walking guides to New York City, Rome, and Tuscany. She lives in Brooklyn and Italy. Jules Feiffer (born 1929) is an award-winning writer, illustrator, screenwriter, playwright, children’s book author, and cartoonist. He lives in Southampton, New York. Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and their illustrations. His essays, interviews, and reviews appear in the New York Times Book Review, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn.

Summary: Everyone knows a Feiffer illustration when they see one. His characters leap across the page, each line belying humor and psychological insight. Over Feiffer’s prolific 70-year career, his nimble and singular imagination has given us new perspectives as well as biting satires on politics, love, marriage, and religion-alternating with stories imbued with the playful anarchy of a child. Feiffer’s varied output includes children’s books (The Phantom Tollbooth and Bark, George), plays (Little Murders), movies (Carnal Knowledge and Popeye), and comic strips (most notably in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice comic strip of 42 years). Out of Line: The Art of Jules Feiffer is the long-awaited illustrated retrospective of Feiffer’s celebrated career, providing a revealing glimpse into his creative process and his role as America’s foremost Renaissance man of the arts.

Kirk Hammett, Stefan Chirazi

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$29.95/$32.95 Can.

224 pages

300 color and black-and-white photographs

Hardback / Cloth over boards

Performing Arts / Film & Video

Author Bio: For more than 25 years, Kirk Hammett has been the lead guitarist for Metallica. With the band, he has sold 100 million albums worldwide, won nine Grammys, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He lives in San Francisco.

Summary: Not only is Kirk Hammett the lead guitarist for Metallica, one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, but he’s also the curator of one of the world’s finest collections of monster-movie memorabilia, a collection few people have ever seen. In Too Much Horror Business, Kirk finally unveils his near-mythical treasure trove of rare posters, props, costumes, and toys from the early silent classics to more modern fare. From Bela Lugosi’s annotated Dracula script to the creepy Donnie Darko bunny suit to cool model kits from the 1960s, Hammett has amassed hundreds of items over the years, including priceless international collectibles as well as the quirkier toys of his youth. Alongside scores of full-color, original photographs in this highly designed volume, Kirk offers up thoughts about his appreciation for all things scary and fantastic, shedding light on not only the collection of a lifetime, but the man himself.

Nathan Rabin, Al Yankovic

October 2012, Ship Date: September 12, 2012

$29.95/$32.95 Can.

208 pages

225 color and black-and-white photographs

Hardback / With dust jacket

Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts

Author Bio: Based in Chicago, Illinois, Nathan Rabin is a film and music critic and the head writer for The Onion‘s A.V. Club. Al Yankovic lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles.

Summary: The undisputed king of pop-culture parody, “Weird Al” Yankovic has sold more comedy recordings than any other artist in history, receiving three Grammy Awards (and 14 nominations) in the process. The man behind classics such as “Eat It,” “Amish Paradise,” and “White & Nerdy” performed in more than 100 cities throughout North America, Europe, and Australia in support of his latest (and, to date, highest-charting) album, Alpocalypse. At last the time has come for a comprehensive illustrated tribute to this icon of the American humor landscape. Covering more than three decades of hilarious songs, videos, concert performances, and his life story in words and pictures, and featuring an introduction, lists, tweets, and photo captions from Yankovic himself, Weird Al: The Book is the ultimate companion piece to an extraordinary career.

H. P. Lovecraft, Dan Lockwood

October 2012, Ship Date: September 26, 2012

$19.95/$21.95 Can.

128 pages

Color illustrations throughout

Paperback / softback / Trade paperback (US)

Comics & Graphic Novels / Horror

Author Bio: H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) was one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. Dan Lockwood lives in London, England. The various adaptors and artists are from the United States and Europe.

Summary: A graphic anthology of tales featuring collaborations between established writers and artists and debut contributors, The Lovecraft Anthology showcases Lovecraft’s talent for the macabre. From the insidious mutations of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” to the mindbending threat of “The Call of Cthulhu,” this collection explores themes of insanity, inherited guilt, and arcane ritual to startling effect.

Glyn Dillon

October 2012, Ship Date: August 29, 2012

$24.95/$27.95 Can.

208 pages

Color illustrations throughout

Hardback / With dust jacket

Comics & Graphic Novels / General

Author Bio: Glyn Dillon‘s comics illustrations have appeared in several works from Vertigo, including The Sandman. He has also worked as an artist, animator, and designer in film and television. He lives in London, England.

Summary: Twenty-eight-year-old Nao Brown, who’s hafu(half Japanese, half English), is not well. She’s suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and fighting violent urges to harm other people. But that’s not who she really wants to be. Nao has dreams. She wants to quiet her unruly mind; she wants to get her design and illustration career off the ground; and she wants to find love, perfect love.Nao’s life continues to seesaw. Her boyfriend dumps her; a toy deal falls through. But she also meets Gregory, an interesting washing-machine repairman, and Ray, an art teacher at the Buddhist Center. She begins to draw and meditate to ease her mind and open her heart-and in doing so comes to a big realization: Life isn’t black-and-white after all . . . it’s much more like brown.

Philippe Ôtié, Li Kunwu

September 2012

$27.50/$31.50 Can.

704 pages

Black-and-white illustrations throughout

Paperback / softback

Comics & Graphic Novels / Nonfiction

Author Bio: Li Kunwu has had more than 30 of his comics published in the three decades he’s worked as a state artist. He lives in Kunming, Yunnan, China. Philippe Ôtié is a French diplomat who lives in Wuhan, China.

Summary: A Chinese Lifeis an astonishing graphic novel set against the backdrop of the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This distinctively drawn work chronicles the rise and reign of Chairman Mao Zedong, and his sweeping, often cataclysmic vision for the most populated country on the planet.Though the storyline is epic, the storytelling is intimate, reflecting the real life of the book’s artist. Li Kunwu spent more than 30 years as a state artist for the Communist Party. He saw firsthand what was happening to his family, his neighbors, and his homeland during this extraordinary time. Working with Philippe Ôtié, the artist has created a memoir of self and state, a rich, very human account of a major historical moment with contemporary consequences. Mao said, “The masses are the real heroes,” but A Chinese Life shows those masses as real people.

Robert Sellers

January 2013, Ship Date: January 1, 2013

$22.95/$25.95 Can.

160 pages

Black-and-white illustrations throughout

Paperback / softback / Trade paperback (US)

Comics & Graphic Novels / General

Author Bio: Robert Sellers is the author of several celebrity biographies, including the original hardcover Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, and Oliver Reed, as well as books on Sting, Tom Cruise, and the film industry. He lives in St. Albans, England. JAKe is an artist whose work has appeared in Esquire and Time Out; he also worked for LucasFilm on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. He lives in London, England.

Nathan Hale

August 2012

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

$12.95/$13.95 Can.

128 pages

Two -color illustrations throughout

Hardback

Juvenile Nonfiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

Series: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales

Ctn Qty:44

Author Bio: Nathan Hale is the illustrator of the graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge, which was an Al Roker Book Club for Kids selection, an ALA Notable Book, and a YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens and earned three starred reviews. He is also the illustrator of several picture books. He lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife and their two children.

Nathan Hale, the author’s historical namesake, was America’s first spy, a Revolutionary War hero who famously said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” before being hanged by the British. In the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, author Nathan Hale channels his namesake to present history’s roughest, toughest, and craziest stories in the graphic novel format.

One Dead Spy tackles the story of Hale himself, who was an officer and spy for the American rebels during the Revolutionary War. Author Hale highlights the unusual, gruesome, and just plain unbelievable truth of historical Nathan Hale-from his early unlucky days at Yale to his later unlucky days as an officer-and America during the Revolutionary War.

Nathan Hale

August 2012

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

$12.95/$13.95 Can.

128 pages

Two-color illustrations

Hardback

Juvenile Nonfiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

Series: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales

Author Bio: Nathan Hale is the illustrator of the graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge, which was an Al Roker Book Club for Kids selection, an ALA Notable Book, and a YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens and earned three starred reviews. He is also the illustrator of several picture books. He lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife and their two children.

Each of the books in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales has elements of the strange but true and is presented in an engaging, funny format, highlighting the larger-than-life characters that pop up in real history. Big Bad Ironclad! covers the history of the amazing ironclad steam warships used in the Civil War.

From the ship’s inventor, who had a history of blowing things up and only 100 days to complete his project, to the mischievous William Cushing, who pranked his way through the whole war, this book is filled with surprisingly true facts and funny, brave characters that modern readers will easily relate to.