Volume 2 of Volume 2

Yesterday, I mentioned that Kramers Ergot 7 was so big it was on both sides of the family, but did I also not mention that Ivan Brunetti's Anthology of Graphic Fiction Volume 2 set a blizzard on fire and threw typhus in prison? Kerrang called it "SKULL SHRIVELING MAYHEM...(BRUNETTI) BLEW OFF MY FUCKING FACE TO A PRIME INTEGER." Gladys Merriwether at Good Housekeeping noted that it was "Easier to tote than Comic Book Tattoo...(Provides) endless source material for scrapbooking and decoupage."

Unfortunately, because I am in the book--full disclosure--and because the publicity department of Yale University Press may have indirectly requested blog entries, I suppose to create some sort of imaginary viral phenomenon, and because Mr. Brunetti himself may post on this blog, I may not be at liberty to tell you I find the book inspiring. Brunetti has a neurotic taxonomic associational sense that will draw a parallel between Naughty Pete and Ron Rege or between the washes of Ben Katchor and Frank Santoro. He's also able to parse a seriousness of purpose in Eugene Teal and Elinore Norflus. This is not 52 pickup, but a book I can imagine being taught in school, to which I can only exclaim, "Hooray!" and/or "Rats!"