New Arrivals: Week of July 1st

Little by little the Schulz Library is always expanding its collection.

Thanks to generous donations from publishers, artists, and collectors the world over, our collection is abundant and unique. From our selection of contemporary graphic novels, to our out-of-print and rare collections of gag cartoons and classic newspaper strips, the Schulz Library is a dream come true for the cartoonist bibliophile.

Have a look at some of this week’s newest arrivals!

Surf, Skate and Rock Art of Jim Phillips – Jim Phillips

Beginning in 1975,  Jim Phillips served as the long-time art director for Santa Cruz Skateboards. There he created thousands of skateboard deck, T-shirt, sticker, and ad designs, some of which became some of skateboarding history’s most recognizable and iconic graphics. This retrospective of Jim Phillips’ skateboard art presents the reader with a panoply of colorful decks, logos, ad art, ad layouts, photos, and stickers so as to experience his legacy.

By following Phillips’ career, Surf, Skate and Rock Art of Jim Phillips illustrates the history of skateboarding, from the urethane revolution to the present. Assembling over fifty years of creativity this book documents the graphic power of the skateboard movement in America.

Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio During World War II.  – Richard Shale 

This book, published in 1982 by UMI Research Press, chronicles the war effort made by the studio and the tremendous cost the war had on the studio.

Whether it was producing war time comedy animated shorts to keep up public morale or educational films to teach soldiers how to operate weapons or avoid disease, the Walt Disney Studio worked overtime to do their part.

You see, during World War II, Walt Disney Studios weren’t just about entertainment. The studio was deeply entrenched in the affairs of designing  propaganda to educate Americans about their enemies. Disney’s animators were even employed to make insignia for military units and equipment.

Filled with beautiful color photos that document this intense period in the studio’s history, this is a wonderful book for the Disneyphile, or WW2 junkie.

Zora and the Hibernauts – Fernando Fernandez

Fernando Fernandez’s Zora and the Hibernauts is a touchstone of sensual European 1980s science fiction that explores a spectacularly colorful and scantily clad future for the human race.  Zora and the Hibernauts was published in 1980 in Spain, it would later be reprinted in the U.S. in the Heavy Metal. Fernandez worked on ‘Zora’ from 1980 to 1982 with writer Nicola Cuti to produce the series for the Spanish magazine 1984.

This series was subsequently collected into this volume in 1984 by Catalan Communications as an English-language graphic novel. Nowadays, those rare used copies of the ‘Zora’ graphic novel come up for sale at eBay go for quite a bit of money, so the Schulz library is delighted to have a copy!

Little Orphan Annie –  Volume 1 – Harold Gray

Since 2008 IDW Publishing has been collecting Harold Gray‘s Little Orphan Annie. The Schulz library is overjoyed to now possess this collection of the first three years of Harold Gray’s pioneering girl’s adventure. If your only exposure to Annie is the musical, picking up this collection is sure to be a real treat!

This first volume of The Complete Orphan Annie contains more than 1,000 daily comics in nine complete stories, from the very first strip in August 1924 through October 1927. In addition to the comics, this collection contains an invaluable biographical essay by Jeet Heer. The plot of these early strips follows the wide-ranging adventures of Annie, her dog Sandy, and her benefactor Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks. The three are surrounded by a vibrant supporting cast.

In its heyday, the strip’s spunky redheaded heroine, plucked from a Dickensian orphanage, proved irresistible to mainstream America and attracted adult readers overnight due to its political commentary. Gray’s strips directly targeted organized labor, the New Deal and communism. Although much of the strips’ allure was Gray’s political voice, these early and arguably crude strips have a predominantly humorous tone.

The Original Art of Basil Wolverton – Basil Wolverton

It’s been argued that, Basil Wolverton was perhaps the most distinctively eccentric artist ever to work in mainstream American comic books. This collection of illustrations now at the Schulz library will allow you to decide for yourself!

Wolverton, a unique cartoonist from the 1940s to the 1960s, was best known for his depiction of human and otherworldly creatures rendered with smoothly sculpted features, spaghetti-like hair, and extremely detailed crosshatching.

The bizarre spaghetti-and-meatball style caricature art of Basil Wolverton has been a huge influence on art luminaries of the 20th century such as Robert Crumb, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Robert Williams, and Drew Freidman! This is the first time that the work of one of comicdom’s major legacies has been presented in a fine art tome.

Take a dip into the wacky world of Wolverton, whydontcha?

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