A month ago I decided that I was going to read the entire Love and Rockets catalog starting from the very beginning. I’ve already torn through Jamie’s side all the way up to the current series. I’m now working my way through Gilbert’s universe. Now I have to procure the rest of the new stories, all the Fritz B movie books, all issues of the current volume IV and the Psychodrama Illustrated series. It’s been a journey so far.

I first heard about Nate McDonough’s comic strip Long Boxes via an article on TCJ quite possibly linked via this subreddit.

It sounded right up my alley and I immediately hunted him down and followed his instagram where he generously shares his ongoing Long Boxes strip for free.

At the time it was being printed as part of his minicomic series Grixly and so importing each and every issue (to the UK where I live) was not affordable. I messaged him directly asking if it would ever be collected and he reassured me that it would. The wait was long and honestly I wasn’t sure if it would actually happen.

It arrived at my local comic shop recently and I was overjoyed to see it on the shelf. I think this is one of the best things out there right now. If you’re a comic nerd you’ll love Long Boxes and have mad respect for Nate. It’s a real gem. Go check it out!

@twonage on the stuff

Kind of interesting

The City of Krellton featuring the Private Eyes is currently in production. Hope to have it printed by December or January. Here is an opening page from the comic.

https://preview.redd.it/0ko1r4fyvi3e1.png?width=2100&format=png&auto=webp&s=2bd85d98f4ef2b71edaae4806a11c71f68755152

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What anthology comic books do you know of that attempt to showcase either the greatest comics of all time or the greatest comics of an era or genre? I'll list the ones I know of, but do you know any others?

The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics (1977): greatest newspaper comic strips

A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics (1981): greatest pre-Silver-Age comics

The New Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes (2004): greatest comics from around 1960 to around 2000

McSweeney's #13 (2004): like a snapshot of the world of altcomix of the early 2000s

An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories vol 1 (2006)

An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories vol 2 (2008)

A couple years ago, I know there used to be some regional papers of local comic artists work (Magic Bullet in DC, and Desert Island Comics in Brooklyn had one, but I think they shifted lanes with printing).

What is out there now?

I've been trying to get my 9yo niece into comics for several years. She likes art and reading.. She's read Babysitter's Club, Smile, and Drama. I bought her Nancy, but I don't think she's touched it. She did like Ivan Brunetti's kids series, but there's not much there. It would be cool if she was into Clowes/Woodring/etc (every other book in the altcomix realm) by the time she's in HS.. How do I get her there? Any book recs for that age that will push her into some really cool art/reading later. I'm also trying to pay her to make me some comics about her life.. we'll see.