Hitch is a smart-mouthed, egotistical 8-year-old kid, whose dad is a brilliant, but whacky, scientist who thinks Earth will soon be destroyed by a giant comet. Hitch’s dad builds a rocket to send his beloved son safely to a distant planet, but the rocket ends up opening a dimensional rift in space and crashes Hitch on a planet inhabited by intelligent monkeys. Not only that, but the comet also ends up missing Earth. On this monkey-world, Hitch discovers that when he eats bananas, he gains amazing super powers, such as flight and super strength. As it turns out, the dimensional rift that his rocket created is also allowing monsters from other dimensions to the monkey-planet. Hitch strikes a deal with the monkey-government to fight the monsters while their scientists help find a way to get him back home. He takes on the super-hero name of Alpha Monkey but when not fighting monsters and crime, disguises himself as an ordinary monkey-kid (wearing a cheap plastic Halloween mask).

Angry little girls! is a weekly comic strip about girls who are disenchanted, crazy, gloomy, fresh and all around angry. Visit weekly for their adventures in an angering world!

Professional comic artists interpret scripts every day as they successfully transform the written word into the visual form. However, rarely do we get to examine the process that is unique to each artist. Unlike any other "how-to" book, Working Methods puts the minds of comic artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies of the creative process step by step. For this book, three short scripts are each interpreted in different ways by professional comic artists to illustrate the varied ways in which they "see" and "solve" the problem of making a script succeed in comic form. Working Methods documents the creative and technical choices MARK SCHULTZ, TIM LEVINS, JIM MAHFOOD, SCOTT HAMPTON, KELSEY SHANNON, CHRIS BRUNNER, SEAN MURPHY, and PAT QUINN make as they tell a story, thus allowing comic fans, artists, instructors, and students into a world rarely explored. Hundreds of illustrated examples document the artists’ processes, and interviews clarify their individual approaches regarding storytelling and layout choices. In Working Methods, the exercise may be simple, but the results are profoundly complex.

COMICS GONE APE!

WORKING METHODS

BRUSHSTROKES WITH GREATNESS: THE LIFE & ART OF JOE SINNOTT

Each minus strip is painted on a 15×20" piece of Illustration board. With this comic I am pretending I am making a comic strip for a newspaper in the early 20th century. A special newspaper that lets me use as much color as I want. I’m not much for comic strips so I don’t know how long I’ll be doing this one, so enjoy it while it lasts, I guess? It’ll be updating every thursday until I suddenly stop! Making comics on giant paper is pretty neat though. Yeah. (Ryan Armand)

With an off-beat sense of humor that makes learning fun, Jay Stephens shows kids how to draw a wide range of marvelous mechanical creatures complete with hardwired heads, bionic bodies, and lots of electrical extras. Budding cartoonists will be pleased to meet and illustrate such unique characters as Automa Tom, the cyborg Cyborella, Astralux, and Gokin 9. The design data Stephens wittily lays out include everything from wheels and transforming parts to jets, dials, levers, and weapon systems, all of which children can use to “build” their own creations. Kids get to decide whether their robots will have armor, be able to slide into small spaces, have the ability to shoot projectiles, or anything else their imaginations can dream up!

Comic Book Artist finally returns with a blast of Bagge as we celebrate the captivating life and hilarious work of renowned cartoonist Peter Bagge (of Hate and Neat Stuff fame), with a career-spanning interview and eye-popping collection of rarely-seen and unpublished art. This comprehensive feature covers it all: Peter’s dysfunctional (and typically all-American) suburban middle-class upbringing; his time in New York City as Punk magazine cartoonist; the Seattle days of struggle while producing Neat Stuff; the Hate-filled success of his most celebrated creations, Buddy Bradley and Co.; and his current work on Apocalypse Nerd. Also in this issue: Weirdo magazine gets the CBA treatment, with an exclusive interviews with cartoonist genius Robert Crumb (who created the legendary 1980s/90s humor rag), the aforementioned Mr. Bagge (Crumb’s editorial successor), and Aline Kominsky-Crumb (Crumb spouse and editor of Weirdo’s final run). Also included is a tribute to the late, great historian, Dr. Jerry Bails, the father of comics fandom. Plus a delighful gallery of the great Will Eisner’s handmade Valentines drawn for his wife, the debut of a slew of new columnists, and the return of our regular contributors, all showcased in the mag’s newly expanded format.

Kids love comic strips…and now they can devise their own imaginative illustrations and stories with the help of a professional artist who designs for the Cartoon Network. He provides advice on the basic tools and materials; demonstrates how to construct bodies and faces; explains how to come up with appealing characters and build an ensemble cast; and provides ideas for fine-tuning the finished work with proper inking techniques, shading, and color use. There are loads of practical tips and hands-on activities to hone technique, along with tutorials on writing jokes. Plus, Roche gives the low-down on the big business of comic strips, including suggestions for getting published. To top it off, readers watch as the author produces a brand-new strip, from start to finish.