Since 1970, when a small group of comic book lovers organized the first show, Comic-Con International has been the place to check out the latest comics creations and connect with legions of fans. Comic-Con documents this cultural phenomenon. Lavishly illustrated pages feature rarely seen photos and images from the Comic-Con archives. Quotes, anecdotes, and profiles of luminaries make for a veritable who's who of the entertainment world.

This illustrated mystery will appeal to comic book fans and anyone who appreciates an unconventional whodunit. Comic book artist Mike Mason arrives at San Diego Comic-Con, seeking sanctuary with other fans and creators—and maybe to reunite with his ex—but when his rival is found murdered, he becomes the prime suspect. To clear his name, Mike will have to navigate every corner of the con, from zombie obstacle courses and cosplay flash mobs to intrusive fans and obsessive collectors, in the process unraveling a dark secret behind one of the industry’s most legendary creators.

A tale of love, heartbreak and surfing from an important new voice in comics. In Waves is Craig Thompson's Blankets meets William Finnegan's Barbarian Days. In this visually arresting graphic novel, surfer and illustrator AJ Dungo remembers his late partner, her battle with cancer, and their shared love of surfing that brought them strength throughout their time together. With his passion for surfing uniting many narratives, he intertwines his own story with those of some of the great heroes of surf in a rare work of nonfiction that is as moving as it is fascinating.

Because Everything Looks Better with a Butt In Brian Cook’s debut collection of fun, offbeat illustrations, beers have rears, Tetris® becomes Butris and balloons bear backsides. Hot dog buns have buns of their own, and condiments are down-right cheeky. Shatter your assumptions about who and what can rock a rump because with a little imagination, anything is possible. Whether you’re seeking a good chuckle, are into unconventional art or are simply looking to get to the bottom of an eccentric curiosity, you won’t want to put this gem of a book down.

This is going to be Frank’s year. He’s going to do it all: find love, become a famous comedian, and responsibly parent his plants. But then, Giorgio gets hit by a bus. Self-assured and utterly entitled, Giorgio has always seemed like “Frank, but better.” Moving in with and caring for his estranged childhood friend quickly starts to chip away at Frank’s sense of self, as well as Giogio’s carefully curated online persona. Is Giorgio’s penchant for overindulgence truly aspirational? Or is it ultimately a red flag? The further Frank is pulled into Giorgio’s orbit, the quicker his existential dread blooms. Expectation and reality soon collide in a singular tale about trust and confidence. Luke Healy’s playful, hilarious third graphic novel uses crisp lines and physical comedy to portray an uneasy friendship between two young men on the cusp of adulting. Snippets from Frank’s middling stand-up routines are punctuated by the subtle farce of Healy’s mise-en-scène and the lively, at times scathingly pointed, banter of old friends. The Con Artists is a stylish character study that asks the question of who fools who once everyone is off-camera.

A step-by-step guide to all aspects of comic book creation--from conceptualization to early drafts to marketing and promotion--written by two of the industry's most seasoned and successful pros. Discover the Secrets of Your Favorite Comic Book Creators Do you want to break into the comics industry? There are many creative roles available—writer, penciller, inker, colorist, letterer, editor, and more. Each creator serves a vital function in the production of sequential art at companies such as DC, Marvel, Image, and Valiant. In Make Comics Like the Pros, veteran comics creators Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente team up with a who’s who of the modern comic book scene to lead you step-by-step through the development of a comic. With these two fan-favorite writers as your guides, you’ll learn everything from script formatting to the importance of artistic collaboration to the best strategies for promoting and selling your own sequential art masterpiece. Pak and Van Lente even put their lessons into practice inside the pages of the book—pairing with Eisner Award–winning cartoonist Colleen Coover (Bandette) to produce the swashbuckling, adventure comic Swordmaids, and giving you front row seats to their creative process. Make Comics Like the Pros provides all the answers you’ve been seeking to take your comic book–making dreams all the way to professional-level reality.

A New York Times Best Seller A full-color, lushly illustrated graphic novel that recounts the many-layered past and present of beer through dynamic pairings of pictures and meticulously researched insight into the history of the world's favorite brew. The History of Beer Comes to Life! We drink it. We love it. But how much do we really know about beer? Starting from around 7000 BC, beer has emerged as a major element driving humankind’s development, a role it has continued to play through today’s craft brewing explosion. With The Comic Book Story of Beer, the first-ever nonfiction graphic novel focused on this most favored beverage, you can follow along from the very beginning, as authors Jonathan Hennessey and Mike Smith team up with illustrator Aaron McConnell to present the key figures, events, and, yes, beers that shaped and frequently made history. No boring, old historical text here, McConnell’s versatile art style—moving from period-accurate renderings to cartoony diagrams to historical caricatures and back—finds an equal and effective partner in the pithy, informative text of Hennessey and Smith presented in captions and word balloons on each page. The end result is a filling mixture of words and pictures sure to please the beer aficionado and comics geek alike.

JUST IN TIME FOR CONVENTION SEASON the ultimate comic con crime tale! Comics won't just break your heart. Comics will kill you. Hal Crane should know, he's been around since practically the beginning. Stuck at an out-of-town convention, waiting to receive a lifetime achievement award, Hal's weekend takes us on a dark ride through the secret history of a medium that's always been haunted by crooks, swindlers, and desperate dreamers. BAD WEEKEND the story some are already calling the comic of the year from its serialization in CRIMINAL #2 and 3 has been expanded, with several new scenes added and remastered into a hardcover graphic novel, in the same format as BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS (KILL OR BE KILLED, FATALE, CRIMINAL) bestselling MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES. This gorgeous package is a must-have, an evergreen graphic novel every true comics fan will want to own. Collects CRIMINAL #2-3 with new expanded content

Imagination. Creativity. Art. All of these were alien concepts to science-minded thirteen-year-old Steve. So his parents sent Steve away from his boring suburban home of Beacon Pines to spend a fun-filled summer in the mid-Michigan town of River City with his Uncle Shameless. It would be a summer neither of them would ever forget.#xD;#xD;On what should have been a normal canoe trip down the Grand River, Steve and Uncle Shameless are instead whisked away to the magical -and wacky- fantasy world of Eyri. There, Steve discovers he is part of a prophecy to defeat the wicked Hawk-King and is destined to bring peace back to the zany world filled with humans, animal-people, and other fantastic creatures.#xD;#xD;Can a skinny kid from the suburbs make it in the rough and tumble fantasy world? Will Steve learn the importance of imagination? Why IS his uncle called Shameless?#xD;#xD;Find out in this madcap fantasy satire that blends thrilling action, comedy, and more oddball characters than your last family reunion.

Frank and Joe go undercover at a comic book convention! Someone is selling forged comic books art at a big comic book convention. The boys are on the case, but they've got to keep this one on the down low or there will be chaos among the legions of fanatical fans.