Incoming Books: Early March

So, about a week ago, I got a box of books that I'd ordered about a week before that -- dates get vague when you're not keeping track and no one actually cares to begin with -- because my usual comics store was having a 50% off sale on some clearance stuff. So the books below are pretty random and tend to be older, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Here's what I did get, and expect to be reading sometime relatively soon:

Kyle Baker Cartoonist, Vol. 2 -- another one of the books Baker self-published back a decade or so ago, this one is mostly filled with strips and single-panel stuff about his then-young family. (I presume, like all of the rest of us, they're slightly older now.)

Gobler Toys: The Fun We Can't Remember by Steve Casino and Steve Fink -- I came across the website for Gobler Toys -- the toy company you don't remember because it never actually existed -- years ago, and have gone back to it now and then. At some point, I learned there was a book, too, and i finally found it. I have a weakness for fake history and fake non-fiction in all forms, so this is right up my alley.

Troop 142 by Mike Dawson -- Dawson is a fellow New Jerseyan, and he's been killing it with his short comics (mostly for The Nib) over the past year. (Many collected in Rules for Dating My Daughter, along with other stuff.) So that's enough to dig out this slightly older GN of his about a Boy Scout troop.

Hot Dog Taste Test -- a collection of comics by Lisa Hanawalt, mostly in the humorous vein. I have to admit that I keep mixing up Hanawalt with Gemma Correll for no good reason -- but I hope reading a concentrated dose of Hanawalt will clear my brain-cache and allow me to make the distinction in future.

The Collected Hutch Owen by Tom Hart -- Hart impressed me with Rosalie Lightning (as he's impressed every one who's seen that book), which overcame my past aversion to his often sketchy, big-nose style. This seems to have been his major work pre-Rosalie, so I wanted to check it out.

Sunny, Vol. 6 by Taiyo Matsumoto -- I think this is the last in the excellent series by the creator still best known for Tekkon Kinkreet. Great slice-of-life comics about orphans in 1970s Japan -- really particularly and psychologically real.

Sparky O'Hare by Mawil -- Mawil is a German cartoonist; I've seen two of his books, including this one. He's got a nice loose line, a knack for being funny, and is otherwise almost completely unknown to me. (I say "he" because of the male gaze of the stories and the usual cultural baggage -- I don't think I'm wrong there but I could be.)

Bizarro Heroes by Dan Piraro -- One of the many collections of Piraro's long-running Bizarro single-panel cartoon. This one came out from Last Gasp and focuses entirely on cartoons about people in long underwear, capes, and domino masks.

Paul Moves Out by Michel Rabagliati -- One in the long series of semi-autobiographical books by Quebecois cartoonist Rabagliati, this is a book I used to own (pre-flood) and now do again.

Schulz's Youth by Charles M. Schulz -- In the '50s and '60s Schulz did other stuff, before the ever-growing Peanuts licensing empire took over his life entirely. One of the major other pieces of that work was a series of single-panel gag cartoons about teenagers, and this book collects all of 'em.

Sweaterweather by Sara Varon -- This is a collection of short comics (and, I think, maybe other things, too) by the creator of Robot Dreams. She's got a nice picture-book style and manner, and it's interesting to see that deployed into somewhat more traditional comics formats.