Not many of us make it into the dictionary as an adjective. But then again, Rube Goldberg was no ordinary noun. He was a cartoonist, humorist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, and in a 72-year career he wrote and illustrated nearly 50,000 cartoons. Goldberg (1883-1970) was the most famous cartoonist of his time, best known for his comical inventions, which were syndicated in daily newspapers throughout the world. Author Jennifer George celebrates all aspects of her grandfather's career, from his very first published drawings in his high school newspaper and college yearbook to his iconic inventions, his comic strips and advertising work, and his later sculpture and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoons. Also included are essays by noted comics historians, rare photographs, letters, memorabilia, and patents, many reproduced here for the first time. Brilliantly designed and packaged to capture the inventiveness of Rube Goldberg's work, The Art of Rube Goldberg is a coffee table book the whole family can enjoy. From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: Rube Gold*berg. adjective \rub-?g?l(d)-?b?rg\: accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply ; also: characterized by such complex means. also: Rube Gold*berg*i*an "Goldberg's cartoons touch the edge of modern art." -Adam Gopnik, from his introduction

This book calls for an investigation of the "borderlands of narrativity" the complex and culturally productive area where the symbolic form of narrative meets other symbolic logics, such as data(base), play, spectacle, or ritual. It opens up a conversation about the "beyond" of narrative, about the myriad constellations in which narrativity interlaces with, rubs against, or morphs into the principles of other forms. To conceptualise these borderlands, the book introduces the notion of "narrative liminality", which the 16 articles utilize to engage literature, popular culture, digital technology, historical artifacts, and other kinds of texts from a time span of close to 200 years.

In Fantagraphics ceaseless effort to rediscover every world-class cartoonist in the history of the medium, we turn your attention to a neglected part of the art form sports cartooning and to its greatest practitioner Willard Mullin. The years 1930-1970 were the Golden Age of both American sports and American comic strips, when giants strode their respective fields Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Hank Aaron in one, George (Krazy Kat) Herriman, Milton (Steve Canyon) Caniff, Walt (Pogo) Kelly in the other and Mullin was there, straddling both fields, recording every major player and event in the mid-20th-century history of baseball. Mullin was to baseball players what Bill Mauldin was to soldiers: advocate and critic, investing them with personality, humanity, dignity, and poignancy; Mauldin had Willie & Joe and Mullin had the Brooklyn Bum, his affectionate 1939 character representing the bedraggled figure of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Willard Mullin s Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972 collects for the first time Mullin s best drawings devoted to baseball depictions of players like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, and Sandy Koufax, legendary managers like Casey Stengel and George Steinbrenner, and events like Lou Gehrig s emotional retirement speech on July 4, 1939, for which Mullin not only drew a portrait but composed a poem (which he often incorporated into his cartoons). Mullin s fluid line and delicate but vigorous brushwork are shown to beautiful effect, with many drawings reproduced from original art. See why millions of baseball fans from the 30s to the 70s looked forward to Mullin s cartoons in their daily paper. Mullins was voted Sports Cartoonist of the Century upon his retirement by his peers, and his legacy has been summed up by New Yorker cartoonist Bob Staake, who wrote, Mullin defined the modern sports cartoon by combining representative portraiture, cartoonish doodlery, and editorial commentary part news account, part personal observation, his cartoons celebrated sport for its entertainment, cultural, and artistic value. "

Filled with colourful illustrations and step-by-step explanations, How to Draw an Object is a foolproof introduction to the art of sketching. Equal parts inspiration and tutorial, the delightful drawings are sure to have even the shyest artists reaching for a sketchbook. The book begins with simple explanations of drawing fundamentals - how to use perspective and draw basic shapes like cubes, cylinders, and cones. From there newly minted sketch artists will learn how to transform those simple components into realistic drawings. A cylinder becomes a many layered wedding cake festooned with frosting while a cone is transformed into a martini, a butterfly net, or a sea shell. Soon readers will see that even the most complicated drawing is really only a collection of basic shapes. The book also includes a range of more specific tips and tricks, such as how to mimic the drape of fabric when drawing clothes or add texture. How to Draw an Object will give anyone who's ever wanted to learn to draw the confidence to pick up a pencil and begin!

Superhero comics reckon with issues of corporeal control. And while they commonly deal in characters of exceptional or superhuman ability, they have also shown an increasing attention and sensitivity to diverse forms of disability, both physical and cognitive. The essays in this collection reveal how the superhero genre, in fusing fantasy with realism, provides a visual forum for engaging with issues of disability and intersectional identity (race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality) and helps to imagine different ways of being in the world. Working from the premise that the theoretical mode of the uncanny, with its interest in what is simultaneously known and unknown, ordinary and extraordinary, opens new ways to think about categories and markers of identity, Uncanny Bodies explores how continuums of ability in superhero comics can reflect, resist, or reevaluate broader cultural conceptions about disability. The chapters focus on lesser-known characters-such as Echo, Omega the Unknown, and the Silver Scorpion-as well as the famous Barbara Gordon and the protagonist of the acclaimed series Hawkeye, whose superheroic uncanniness provides a counterpoint to constructs of normalcy. Several essays explore how superhero comics can provide a vocabulary and discourse for conceptualizing disability more broadly. Thoughtful and challenging, this eye-opening examination of superhero comics breaks new ground in disability studies and scholarship in popular culture. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Sarah Bowden, Charlie Christie, Sarah Gibbons, Andrew Godfrey-Meers, Marit Hanson, Charles Hatfield, Naja Later, Lauren O'Connor, Daniel J. O'Rourke, Daniel Pinti, Lauranne Poharec, and Deleasa Randall-Griffiths.

'Blab World' defies description - neither book nor magazine, it is simply a work of art. Over the last decade, 'Blab ' has accrued countless design awards and honours. Founded in 1986 by acclaimed Chicago-based graphic designer and art director Monte Beauchamp, it has evolved from a comic into a printed keepsake.

'Problematic' offers readers a unique tour of the inner world of Jim Woodring through a series of unfiltered sketches straight from the mind of the artist.

500 Portraits collects for the first time over two decades of portrait work by the beloved and award-winning creator of Drinky Crow s Maakies, Sock Monkey and Billy Hazelnuts. Tony Millionaire s gorgeous fountain pen illustrations, which mingle naturalistic detail with strong doses of the fanciful and grotesque, include the famous (Bob Dylan), the infamous (Abu Ghraib soldier/model Lynndie England), the fictional (Yoda), the animal kingdom (a cockroach), and everything in between. Literary figures (Hemingway), literary characters (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza), Hollywood legends (Steven Spielberg), comics icons (Herge) and historical figures (Hitler) also figure prominently. Millionaire s impeccable linework resembles that of Johnny Gruelle (creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy), whom he cites as one of his main sources of inspiration along with Ernest Shepard and all those freaks from the 20s and 30s who did the newspaper strips. Many of these 500 portraits were created for The Believer, the magazine founded by Dave Eggers that Millionaire has helped define visually with his signature portraits of interview subjects in every issue since the magazine started. But it also includes dozens if not hundreds of illustrations from various other publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Ephemera Press Historical Maps, The Wall Street Journal, and others.

From the influential work of Los Bros Hernandez in Love & Rockets, to comic strips and political cartoons, to traditional superheroes made nontraditional by means of racial and sexual identity (e.g., Miles Morales/Spider-Man), comics have become a vibrant medium to express Latino identity and culture. Indeed, Latino fiction and nonfiction narratives are rapidly proliferating in graphic media as diverse and varied in form and content as is the whole of Latino culture today. Graphic Borders presents the most thorough exploration of comics by and about Latinos currently available. Thirteen essays and one interview by eminent and rising scholars of comics bring to life this exciting graphic genre that conveys the distinctive and wide-ranging experiences of Latinos in the United States. The contributors' exhilarating excavations delve into the following areas: comics created by Latinos that push the boundaries of generic conventions; Latino comic book author-artists who complicate issues of race and gender through their careful reconfigurations of the body; comic strips; Latino superheroes in mainstream comics; and the complex ways that Latino superheroes are created and consumed within larger popular cultural trends. Taken as a whole, the book unveils the resplendent riches of comics by and about Latinos and proves that there are no limits to the ways in which Latinos can be represented and imagined in the world of comics.

A complete guide to the comics work of the writer Alan Moore, this book helps readers explore one of the genre's most important, compelling and subversive writers. In an accessible and easy-to-navigate format, the book covers: * Moore's comics career - from his early work in 2000AD to his breakthrough graphic novels and his later battles with the industry * Moore's major works - including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Saga of the Swamp Thing and Promethea * Key themes and contexts - from Moore's subversion of the superhero genre and metafictional techniques to his creative collaborations and battles with the industry for creator control * Critical approaches to Moore's work The book includes a bibliography of critical work on Moore and discussion questions for classroom use.

The emergence of Turkish nationalism prior to World War I opened the way for various ethnic, religious, and cultural stereotypes to link the notion of the Other to the concept of national identity. The founding elite took up a massive project of social engineering that now required the amplification of Turkishness as the founding concept of the new nation-state. This concept was shaped by the construction of various Others as a backdrop, and for Turkey in many ways, the Arab in his keffiyeh and traditional garb constituted the ultimate Other. In this nuanced and richly detailed study, Ilkim Buke Okyar examines the development of Turkish national identity from the 1908 constitutional revolution to the inclusion of Alexandretta in 1939, using the lens of contemporary political cartoons. Okyar brings the everyday production of nationalist discourse into the mainstream political and historical narrative of modern Turkey. In doing so, Okyar shows how the cartoon press became one of the most important agents in the construction, maintenance, and mobilization of Turkish nationalism, reinforcing a perceived image of the Arab that was haunted forever by its ethnic and religious origins.

"I Am Not of This Planet" is a series of drawings and paintings from an early figure in the underground comix scene, Gary Arlington. Contains works of art made during the early 1970s as well as recent creations. Ninety pages jam packed with eye popping art and photos of Gary. Contains snippets of pages from his unpublished diaries. Gary Arlington, 72, has spent his entire life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He opened the first comic book shop in America in San Francisco in the 1960s. His shop became a meeting place for young artists and helped inspire and launch the careers of many famous figures in underground comix.

Over the years, the companies have deployed an arsenal of schemes in an attempt to outmaneuver the competition, whether it be stealing ideas, poaching employees, planting spies, ripping off characters or launching price wars. Sometimes the feud has been vicious, at other times, more cordial. But it has never completely disappeared, and it simmers on a low boil to this day. This is the story of the greatest corporate rivalry never told. Other books have revealed elements of the Marvel-DC battle, but this will be the first one to put it all together into a single, juicy narrative. It will also serve as an alternate history of the superhero, told through the lens of these two publishers.

"Story hook, tragic moment, poster, or outrageous character, the covers lured us in." - Paul Levitz, president of DC Comics 2002-2009 From the trailblazing works of Bob Kane, to the photorealistic stylings of Adam Hughes and quirky humour of Amanda Conner, DC Comics Cover Art is a collection of the most iconic covers in DC's history. Stunning artwork is accompanied by expert commentary exploring the significance of each cover, while artist profiles shed light on their creators. Discover the most striking covers from more than 85 years of DC Comics. All DC characters and elements (c) & (TM) DC Comics. (s20)

Using images from a wide variety of international wartime magazines, newspapers, books, postcards, posters and prints Mark Bryant tells the history of World War I from both sides of the conflict in an immediate and refreshing manner that brings history alive. The book contains more than 300 cartoons and caricatures, in colour and black and white, many of which are published here in book form for the first time. Artists featured include such famous names as Bruce Bairnsfather, H.M.Bateman, F.H.Townshend, Alfred Leete, E.J. Sullivan, Lucien Metivet and Louis Raemaekers, with drawings from the Bystander, London Opinion, Daily Graphic, Punch, Le Rire, Simplicissimus and Kladderadatsch amongst many others.