An assortment of graphic awesomeness.

This year I was blessed with quite a few comic-related gifts over the holidays.  Pictured you will see them scattered in as visually pleasing a manner as I could manage.  Having had the time to read through all of them except for the majority of the Popeye material (still working at it), I have to say that I’m immensely pleased to add them to ever-crowded bookshelves.  Here’s a break down of the titles:

Volume 1 and 2 of the Fantagraphics Popeye Collection.  Segar has always been something of an inspiration despite my unfamiliarity with a lot of his work.  Still, as a fellow native son of Illinois, I feel duty bound to discover more.

Set to Sea by Drew Weing.  Another piece put out by Fantagraphics, Set to Sea is an astounding visual piece with a simplistic narrative that avoids the saturated complexities of other graphic works.  I’ve been a long time fan of Weing’s, and highly recommend this title.

Last, but certainly not least, The-Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out by Adam Koford (or Aloysius Gamaliel Koford, if you buy into the comic’s mythical creation).  Another creator with a long time web presence, Koford displays a masterful ability of blending the often insipid memes of the Internet with the charm and style of early American comics.  In so mixing, Koford creates something entirely new and worthwhile.  Another must have.