Written by Jason Green Sunday, 30 April 2006 12:00
But I Like It, Love as a Foreign Language, and Stagger Lee
But I Like It (Fantagraphics; 120 pgs partial color; $24.95)
(W/A: Joe Sacco)
The one and only comics journalist Joe Sacco (Palestine) peers into the soul of rock n’ roll. The main story follows the punk band the Miracle Workers as they trek across Europe on tour, but Sacco turns his keen eye on every tenet of the rock industry in this collection, which includes work never before published in America and a CD of the Miracle Workers live show to see what all the fuss is about.
Love As a Foreign Language Omnibus Vol. 1 (Oni Press; 200 pgs B&W; $11.95)
(W: J. Torres; A: Eric Kim)
Joel is kicking himself for agreeing to teach English in Korea for a year, but just as his tour of duty wraps up he meets Hana and falls head over heels in love. Is the romance worth the suffering? Find out in this special collection of the first three volumes of this sweet fish-out-of-water love story.
Stagger Lee (Image Comics; 205 pgs B&W; $17.99)
(W: Derek McCulloch; A: Shepherd Hendrix)
In a St. Louis barroom on Christmas Eve, 1895, "Stagger" Lee Sheldon shot and killed Billy Lyons, a murder that would go down in history and spawn dozens of songs from the likes of Wilson Pickett and the Grateful Dead. This graphic novel, lushly illustrated in stark black and white, begins with the murder tells the story of what happened next. | Jason Green