Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel
Abrams

The steampunk vision of Boilerplate, by artist Paul Guinan and writer Anina Bennett (the Eisner Award–nominated science-fiction comics Heartbreakers), makes for one of the best “coffee table” books of the year. Using historical photos and original art, incredibly well-blended, it follows the history of the world’s first robot soldier created by one Professor Archibald Campion in 1893. See him in action around the world, alongside Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, on campaigns and journeys to the South Pole, in silent movies and “photo ops” with Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla. With a nod to Jules Verne (and Woody Allen’s Zelig, where that character pops up in history), Boilerplate is an inventive delight.

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics
Abrams

He illustrated and wrote landmark anti-war tales in E.C. Comics’ Two-Fisted Tales, launched the original Mad comic book with William Gains, and gave us Playboy’s Little Annie Fanny. Harvey Kurtzman is indeed one of the greatest creative spirits in panelology, and this hefty column follows his work, especially Mad, which he helmed for its first 23 issues and his other ’50s lifestyle and art parody magazines, Trump, Humbug and Help. In his amazing career, Kurtzman also discovered Robert Crumb (who’d become an underground comix legend), gave Gloria Steinem her first job in publishing as his assistant, and also mentored  Terry Gilliam in his pre-Monty Python days. Mad Genius of Comics captures his spirit and innovation.

Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix
Abrams

Follow the birth of the underground comix movement in the 1960s from creators such as Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton, as well as Trina Robbins, Kim Deitch, and S. Clay Wilson to next-gen storytellers like Art Spiegelman, Charles Burn, and 1980s writer-artists that include Drew Friedman and Howard Cruse. Their influences — Will Eisner (The Spirit), Harvey Kurtzman (the original Mad) and Will Elder (ditto) also contributed to the underground comix world. Underground Classics is fine primer on other-worlds of comix, as they came to be called for their adult language and themes.

Absolute Justice
DC Comics

Justice was originally a 12-part maxi-series from comics superstar painter-artist Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Marvels, JSA comic covers and more), co-written with Jim Krueger and illustrated with pencils by Doug Braithwaite. Basically, it’s somewhat of a serious take on, yet also a serious homage to, the Superfriends and the Legion of Doom, but don’t let that put you off. The plot is a bit flawed, but between the art and the story overall, it’s an eye-popping, smile-bringing wonder.  Ross’s realistic approach gives us a Superman clearly modeled on Christopher Reeve, a Batman that’s inspired in part by Michael Keaton in the role, and Wonder Woman is sort of Lynda Carter, sort of not. Green Lantern, the Flash and many others also appear — it’s ultimately a huge roster of heroes and villians.  Issued as three hardcovers then trade paperbacks, Absolute Justice puts it all in one mega-book, with plenty of extra materials, such as character bios, developmental sketches, pencil art, bonus covers, DC Direct gallery and much more! This one’s surely on my wish-list.

Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness
Abrams

This graphic-biography of “The Man in Black” draws from many true incidents in his life, with some additional embellishments. In Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness, Berlin-based writer-artist Reinhard Kleist traces Johnny Cash’s  journey from his years at Sun Records in the 1950s to his historical Folsom Prison concert in 1968, to his final chapters with Rick Rubin’s American recording, up to his death. Brilliant, compelling stuff here — the truth and the fiction.

Bette Davis: Larger than Life
Running Press

This may well be the ultimate mega-volume on one of film’s greatest grand ladies of all time. Bette Davis: Larger than Life looks at her life on and off-screen through numerous photos and pieces of text.  From Jezebel, Dark Victory, All About Eve, to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and more, her work in film made a mark, as she did in other areas of her art and life.

Led Zeppelin: Good Times, Bad Times: A Visual Biography of the Ultimate Band
Abrams

Led Zeppelin Good Times, Bad Times is an extensive look at one of rock’s most legendary bands on and off the stage, featuring more than 200 photos in chronological order from the band’s debut in Denmark in 1968 (as the new Yardbirds, by the way, not Led Zep) to a final reunion (with John Bonham long gone, of course) in London, 2007. It’s sex, drugs and mostly rock ‘n’ roll that did, at times, thunder and storm the heavens. This book is a must for a Zeppelin fan of any generation, as Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Bonham have touched several over the past forty-plus years.

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Free Press

Author Robin Kelley’s Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original is a detailed, probing look at a legend of jazz. From the New York jazz world of the 1940s through landmark recordings in the ‘50s and ’60s, Monk’s musical and life journey is chronicled as it’s never been before. Addressing the good and the bad, Kelley’s book is essential for those wishing to understand all that is Monk, along with his finest recordings, of course.