MESSIAHS, MESHUGGANAHS, MISANTHROPES AND MYSTERIES True Tales of Comics Conflict and Creativity

If you want to learn what really happened to Ghastly Ingels, or The Someday Funnies, or the "Keep On Truckin'" copyright -- if you dare to confront art that provoked criminal conviction and Senatorial investigation, and which led to a trashed art gallery, a vandalized museum, even a ban by the “Berkeley Barb” -- this book is for you. Bob Levin enters into and investigates the artistic sensibilities of cartoonists as disparate as Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Trina Robbins, Johnny Craig, Guy Colwell, Edward Gorey, Harvey Kurtzman, Frank Frazetta, Art Spiegelman, Alex Toth, and Dave Sim. For nearly four decades, Levin has been weaving strands of critical opinion, historical research, pop cultural analysis, journalism’s five Ws, biography, memoir, and the occasional tasty fiction into a never-before-seen-on-this-planet basket, which has made his writings on comics unique and indispensable. "Bob Levin focuses his attention on an assortment of fascinating figures from the history of comics and cartooning. Aided by his ability to sharply analyze the work of these figures, the result makes for compelling reading." - Chester Brown Praise for Bob's The Pirates and the Mouse: "Deeply troubling, sometimes hilarious, utterly devastating..." - Bandoppler Magazine