MORE THAN COMPLETE ACTION PHILOSOPHERS TP
EVIL TWIN COMICS
 

Written by Fred Van Lente

Art by Ryan Dunlavey

The best-selling, award-winning comic book series that tells the lives and thoughts of history’s A-list brain trust in hip and hilarious fashion has been collected into a single volume! The stories from the original nine-issue run, plus four all-new stories only in this volume, have been placed in chronological order, making this the most complete comics history of ideas ever put on paper, beginning with the Pre-Socratics and ending with Jacques Derrida!

Soft Cover, 312 pages, B&W, ISBN 978097783293

Cover Price $24.95 USD  -  Your Price $22.39 CDN

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Great introduction to the works of the giants of Philosophy. Stories are fun and short and do a great job introducing the student to each philosopher’s arguments.    – Walter

Gender slant  – philosophy fans of both genders

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AGE OF BRONZE TP VOL 01: A THOUSAND SHIPS
IMAGE COMICS

Written by Eric Shanower
Art & cover by Eric Shanower

The Trojan War has been the greatest of Greek myths for more than 2500 years, and now ERIC SHANOWER presents his unique version of the story, gathered from extensive sources and drawn with historical fidelity. In this volume, Helen’s triumphant entry into Troy is marred by Kassandra’s wild prophecies of doom. Meanwhile, a massive army approaches from across the sea, but a disastrous battle forces the High King Agamemnon to make a fateful decision. Will he command the death of his daughter to satisfy the gods? Or will he give up his dream of conquering Troy?

Soft Cover, 224 pages, B&W, ISBN 1582402000

Cover Price $19.99 USD  - Your Price $17.59 CDN

Recommended ages 16+

There are 3 volumes of Age of Bronze - please click the link below for summaries of Volumes 2 and 3

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – All 3 volumes are well written and well drawn but not necessarily something students readily sign out on their own. It’s a great intro to the whole Trojan War mythology and could be effective if used for the study of the period.   – Peter

Gender slant  - young readers of both genders with an interest in history and epic storytelling 

Reviewed by: Publishers Weekly

Shanower won 2001′s Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best Writer/Artist for this extraordinary project: the first part of a seven-volume graphic novel about the Trojan War. He has researched every imaginable source about the war, from ancient legends to medieval romances to contemporary scholarship, and synthesized them into a fantastically rich narrative. He’s also delved deep into the architectural history of Mycenaean Greece, so that the dress and settings in the book look like Bronze Age artifacts, rather than the Classical Greek styles normally associated with the story. The book begins with the story of Paris, the milk-white bull and the kidnapping of Helen, and goes up to the start of the war. Shanower still has a ways to travel before touching the material of the Iliad. He treats the material as historical fiction rather than mythology, as a tale of people, not of gods, though the supernatural aspects of the story are worked in through dreams and visions. Shanower subtly alters his visual style for every flashback sequence: when Priam relates the story of Herakles, the images are cartoonish and the characters larger than life. His dialogue is formal but not florid, and the narrative flow is clear and simple. But the story also has many amazing scenes for an artist: the erotic entanglement of Achilles and Deidamia, the feigned madness of Odysseus, the launching of the thousand ships to rescue Helen and lay waste to Troy and Shanower makes the most of them, with a fine-lined style in black and white drawings evoking woodcuts and classical paintings.

Link to summaries of Age of Bronze Volumes 2 and 3
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BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP
DC COMICS

Written by Jeph Loeb
Art and cover by Tim Sale
This volume collects the acclaimed first Batman work by the Loeb/Sale team! Taking place during Batman’s early days of crime fighting, this collection tells the story of a mysterious killer who murders his prey only on holidays.

Soft Cover, 368 pages, Color, ISBN 9781563894695

Cover Price $19.99 USD  -  Your Price $17.59 CDN

Recommended for Ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are a very popular creative team and their work on this Batman story arc is very popular with young male readers.  – Jill

Gender slant – Batman is traditionally popular with male readers

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BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC
DC COMICS

Written by Frank Miller
Art David Mazucchelli
A new softcover edition of one of the most important and critically acclaimed Batman adventures eve!  In addition to telling the entire dramatic story of Batman’s first year fighting crime, this collection includes loads of reproductions of original pencils, script pages, promotional art, unseen Mazzucchelli Batman art and more!

Soft Cover, 144 pages, Color, ISBN 9781401207526

Cover Price $16.99 CDN  -  Your Price $13.59 CDN

Recommended for Ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Frank Miller’s retelling of the Batman origin is one of the seminal events in comics. Year One belongs right alongside The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen in terms of its impact. This is story telling at its best and the male high school reader will not be able to put it down. Dark themes so it’s recommended for grades 11 and 12.   – Walter

Gender slant – Batman is traditionally popular with male readers

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COMPLETE ESSEX COUNTY TP
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

By Jeff Lemire

THE COMPLETE ESSEX COUNTY collects Jeff Lemire’s critically-acclaimed and award-winning trilogy — TALES FROM THE FARM, GHOST STORIES, and THE COUNTRY NURSE — into one deluxe softcover volume. Also included are over 50 pages of previously unpublished material (including two new stories). . Set in an imaginary version of Jeff Lemire’s hometown, ESSEX COUNTY is an intimate study of an eccentric farming community, and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation. With the lush, expressive inking of a cartoonist at the height of his powers, Lemire draws us in and sets us free.

Soft Cover, 512 pages, B&W, ISBN 9781603090384

Cover Price $29.95 USD  -  Your Price $26.39

Stories set in South Western Ontario by Canadian creator Jeff Lemire

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Canadian Jeff Lemire’s story is set in the London area of South Western Ontario. Essex County has won a Joe Shuster Award and the American Library Association’s Alex Award.   – Peter

Gender slant  – great reading for both genders

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Heavy Liquid

Vertigo Comics

By Paul Pope

In a future where New York has evolved into a sci-fi metropolis, “S,” a man addicted to “heavy liquid,” a substance that is both a drug and an art form, finds himself trapped in a mystery littered with love and drugs. This Eisner Award-nominated tale follows S’s journey across two continents as he searches for the one artist skilled enough to render heavy liquid into a perfect sculpture. If he can survive these physical and mental trials, S just may discover the shocking secret of heavy liquid and a love he thought lost forever.

Softcover, 256 Pages, Color, ISBN 978-1401220075

Cover Price $24.99 USD  -  Your Price $22.39 CDN

Recommended for Ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – this sci-fi noir in the vein of Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Scanner Darkly) explores the concepts of art and addiction while building a futuristic world that seems at both alien and familiar.  Paul Pope’s work has the same effect on his audience as the Wachowski brothers’ “Matrix,” creating an exciting new visual experience that you have to scramble to keep up with. With an exciting art style and complex storyline Heavy Liquid gives off a darker, more complex and mature story for those looking for something a little different from their comics. Mature themes make this material more suitable for grades 11 and 12.  – Peter

Gender slant  – skewed towards male readers

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KING SPECIAL EDITION HC
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

By Ho Che Anderson

Ho Che Anderson has spent over 10 years researching, writing, and drawing King, a monumental graphic biography that liberates Martin Luther King Jr. from the saintly, one-dimensional, hagiographic image so prevalent in pop culture. Here is King -father, husband, politician, deal broker, idealist, pragmatist, inspiration to millions- brought to vivid, flesh-and-blood life.
Out of print since 2006, King is our most-requested reprint. In recognition of the advances made in American social equality that has made it possible to elect America’s first black President, and in time to celebrate Martin Luther King Day (January 26, 2010), Fantagraphics Books is publishing King: the special Edition, a newly designed volume that
includes the original 240-page graphic biography, as well as nearly a hundred additional pages of “extras.
Anderson’s biography traces King’s life from his childhood in Atlanta and his education at Booker T. Washington High School, and his subsequent centrality to the civil rights movement when, in 1955, he organized the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott; his founding of the Southern Christian leadership Conference in 1957; his Nobel Prize in
1964; his help in organizing the 1966 March on Washington and his “I Have a Dream” speech; and the tragic moment on April 4, 1968 when he was shot dead on the balcony of the Loraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Anderson’s expressionistic visual style is wrought with dramatic energy; panels evoke a painterly attention to detail but whose juxtapositions propel King’s story with cinematic momentum.

Anderson’s successful use of the comics form to tell a major work of nonfiction has drawn favorable comparisons to Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A survivor’s Tale and Joe Sacco’s safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995. King won a 1995 Parents’ Choice Award.

Hard Cover, 288 pages, Color, ISBN 9781606993101

Cover Price $39.99 CDN  -  Your Price $31.99

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – A good summary of MLK’s life and times. Anderson’s successful use of the comics form to tell a major work of nonfiction has drawn favorable comparisons to Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A survivor’s Tale. King won a 1995 Parents’ Choice Award.   - Walter

Gender slant  – excellent starting point for both genders

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MAUS SURVIVORS TALE COMPLETE HC
RAW BOOKS AND GRAPHICS

By Art Spiegelman
This hardcover edition was produced to coincide with the Tenth Anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Maus, presenting the entire saga together in one book, as originally envisioned by the author – Volumes I and II of “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust.” ~Wall Street Journal.

Hard Cover, 240 pages, B&W, ISBN 9782080675347

Cover Price $35.00 USD  -  Your Price $31.19 CDN

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Maus is a must for every high school library. Won a special Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  – Walter

Gender slant  – mature content that is a must read for both genders

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PRIDE OF BAGHDAD SC
DC COMICS

Written by Brian K. Vaughn
Art by Niko Henrichon

In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escapes from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad in a desperate struggle for their lives. In documenting the plight of the lions, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD raises questions about the true meaning of liberation – can it be given, or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live in captivity?

Soft Cover, 136 pages, Color, ISBN 9871401203153

Cover Price $12.99 USD  -  Your Price $11.99 CDN

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – We recommend this book, it’s powerful and engaging. Fictional story about lions on the run after the Baghdad Zoo is destroyer by the American invasion. There is course language and a scene suggesting lions having sex.   - Laura

Gender slant  – both genders

Praise for Pride of Baghdad:

“Simple, lavishly drawn, and devastating.”  -  Publishers Weekly

“… has the potential to become a crossover discovery for readers unfamiliar with or unconvinced of the graphic novel’s literary capabilities.”  -  Booklist

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VISITATIONS GN
ONI PRESS INC.

By Scott Morse

The classic Scott Morse (Soulwind) graphic novel finally returns to print! When a woman having a crisis of conscience enters a church seeking guidance, a kindly priest uses a newspaper to show her examples of a divine hand guiding our lives.

Soft Cover, 96 pages, sepia tone, ISBN 9781929998340

Cover Price $8.99 USD  -  Your Price $7.99 CDN

Recommended ages 16+

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Not a lot here to read but the book carries a very powerful message of faith. We recommend it for Catholic schools escpecially.   – Walter

Gender slant  – both genders

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WATCHMEN TP
DC COMICS

Written by Alan Moore; Art by Dave Gibbons
It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet! Following two generations of masked superheroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story – the story of The Watchmen.

 

Soft Cover, 416 pages, Color, ISBN 9780930289232

Cover Price $19.99 USD - Your Price $17.59 CDN

 

 

Recommended for Ages 16+

 

 

Big B Comics’ notes to educators – Probably the most important graphic novel ever published. This work showed just how advanced plotting and storytelling could be taken in the comic medium. The Watchmen was the catalyst that drew ever more talented writers, artists and storytellers into the comic book medium. A must read for older teens.   – Peter

 

Gender slant  – more skewed toward male readers but can be thoroughly enjoyed by both.

 

Review – “A work of ruthless psychological realism, it’s a landmark in the graphic novel medium. It would be a masterpiece in any.”
–TIME, TIME MAGAZINE’s 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present

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