Comic Book New Releases April 22

1st printing. Story and art by Michael DeForge. Razor-sharp short stories from the greatest contemporary comics stylist. In All the Cameras in My Room, Michael DeForge's hilarious and horny approach to comics fiction never disappoints. In Figure Skating, a star athletes impossible feats captivate the world, turning a simple skaters rotation into a catalyst for national paralysis. While in Holiday Special, a narrator tells us about his favorite Christian holiday special that bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain bald-headed-boy-and-his-dog classic. No matter the conceit, characters in All the Cameras in My Room stretch and flatten and spiral around each other and burrow deep into the folds of a readers brain. Hardcover, 9-in. x 6 1/2-in., 200 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $30.00.

1st printing. Art and cover by R. Crumb. Art & Beauty Magazine is at once a satirical take on aesthetics and a continued exploration of Crumbs subversion of sexuality and mainstream values. Drawings of women in positions ranging from lascivious to modest or mid-sport are accompanied by quotations from artists like Leonardo da Vinci, George Grosz, William de Kooning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Harvey Kurtzman. Mining his own obsessions and fantasies, Crumb reimagines the history of art, challenging notions of beauty, along with societys mores and expectations of propriety around the female form. The images appeal to a mostly erotic sensibility, which in turn is undercut by the inclusion of sometimes ironic and frequently philosophical prose. The images drag philosophy back down to earth, while the writing challenges the pure eroticism of Crumbs drawings. Presenting all three issues of the series in one book, Art & Beauty Magazine is arranged chronologically, from the earliest images in the 1990s to drawings completed in 2016. Paul Morris, longtime gallerist and supporter of Crumbs practice, writes an introduction that contextualizes this body of work and the artists career. Hardcover, 128 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $29.99.

1st printing. Story and art by Naono Yoshiko. Little Hiroshi, so embarrassed about the hand-knitted wool pants his grandmother forces him to wear. Sweet Mari, so jealous about her baby sister. Cute Sachiko, so worried about the iron she forgot to turn off before leaving on a family trip. Normal human feelings, understandable mistakes—leading to horrific disaster and scarring regret. If you assume childhood is golden for everyone, youre wrong…DEAD wrong! From the back pages of otherwise bright and sunny shojo magazines comes HIDE AND SEEK, a collection of twelve tales of trauma by Naono Yoshiko from the early 1970s. With an essay by the author narrating her unique career in manga and the stories behind her emotionally indelible comics, HIDE AND SEEK is the seventh volume of SMUDGE, a line of vintage horror, occult, and dark fantasy manga curated and translated by award-winning historian Ryan Holmberg and published by Living the Line. Softcover, 6-in. x 8-in., 248 pages, B&W. Teen+ Cover price $19.95.

Volume 6 - 1st printing. Story and art by Yasuhisa Hara. Translated by Nathan A. Collins. Xin and his small five-man unit of Qin infantry soldiers are finally in the thick of battle. Death surrounds these lowest-ranked fighters who are being used as cannon fodder against the kingdom of Weis heavily armed soldiers. Things go from dangerous to terrifying, however, when the kingdom of Weis infamous war chariots bear down on them. But staying true to his dreams, Xin refuses to back down, even if the rest of his unit is too scared…except for one very quiet and mysterious member of his unit—Qiang Lei. Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W. Teen Cover price $14.99.