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Urban radio from the inside – the third volume in Marcus Chapman's very detailed memoirs – covering his important late 90s years at Chicago's WGCI! Unlike other books of this nature, which are usually just history – and ancient history at that – Chapman's volume really digs deep, not just into specifics of life in the radio business, but in the music business in general – with many very personal stories, and a fair bit of editorializing as well! The detail that Chapman uses is wonderful – really recreating this key period in urban radio in ways we might not have expected – and usually with a level of class and consideration that goes way past the sexy image on the cover. 283 pages, softcover.

Over looked genius in American comics from the 40s to the 80s – a wonderful volume that features material we never would have seen otherwise! Some of the names here are legends, represented by obscure slices of their work – and others are talents that never got the respect they deserve – laid out lovingly by Dan Nadel, in a way that's similar to his previous collection, Art Out Of Time. Original comic pages are reproduced in full color, but with a nice yellowing effect to the pages – and black and white underground art comes through very vividly – in this huge volume that features work by Bill Everett, Matt Fox, Jesse Marsh, Mort Meskin, HG Peter, John Stanley, Pat Boyette, and others – plus great text and introductions from Nadel. 301 pages, hardcover, in color and black and white.

A great look at the never-ending genius of the legendary Steve Ditko – one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, and someone who's given us decades of enjoyment! This beautiful oversized book is a great companion to all the vintage Ditko material that's been reissued in recent years – and features a brilliantly-illustrated bio of Steve – with loads of images from his work at Marvel, Charlton, DC, Warren, and on his own – plus a key look at the influence of Ayn Rand on Ditko's images and ideas. A very hefty book, filled with color images – hardcover, and oversized!

Somebody's finally gone out and written a book about one subject we can really get behind – the Record Store – and not only that, they've done a beautiful job with the entire package too! The book takes a look at the importance of the record store – not just historically, but culturally as well – with an especially important focus on the need for stores in the digital age, as a way of keeping both the music, and interest in the music, alive and well for generations to come! As you might guess from the subtitle, authors Calamar and Gallo have a bit of an agenda in their portrait – but they really pave the way with some great recollections of record stores past, incredible bits not just from folks who owned and worked in stores, but also from famous shoppers, artists, and collectors too. And even cooler, the book is filled with lots of great photographs – wonderful images of old stores in color and black and white, plus lots of great sidebar bits that help draw a focus on key issues in record retail. If you, like us, get a bit of a rush every time you walk into a record store, then you'll be sure to get an equal rush from this book – a wonderful tome that's one we can send home to our parents, and finally show them we've got a career worth a bit of respect! 238 pages, hardcover, and really beautifully done.

Amazing images from the universe of Sun Ra – a mixture of rare photographs and mural images painted by Aye Aton – sometime percussionist with the Arkestra, and a heck of a great painter too! The book begins with these stunning full color photographs of Ra on the set of Space Is The Place – images from 1972 that echo the cover of the album of the same name, but which feature a costumed Ra in a number of different settings – including a few parking lot shots that make him look like a true visitor from the cosmos, briefly walking on our planet! The bigger second half of the book features photographs of murals painted by Aton (who's also known as Robert Underwood) – all of them spacey and trippy, and in a similar spirit to the Saturn Records album covers – except these were all painted on walls and ceilings, in very vivid colors. Aye painted many images in the Arkestra commune in Philly – and other paintings appear to be from the south side of Chicago – and all work here is seen by the wider public for the first time ever. Archivist John Corbett provides an essay with the book to situate the work – and the whole thing's a vivid visual treat for any fan of Sun Ra!

One of the first great adventure strips of the 30s – presented here in a beautiful oversize volume! Roy Crane's artwork on Captain Easy is tremendous – a magnificently thin line at times, yet full of rich feeling that's augmented by the coloring of the strip – often almost water-color like, with echoes of Frank King's Sunday strips – and set up in these really inventive panel breakdowns that really shift from the usual grid style of the time! The blend almost makes the whole thing feel like an action-based take on the Sunday page style of Gasoline Alley or Polly & Her Pals from the 20s – with all the wonderful images and over-the-top graphic quality that might imply. 128 pages, full color, and in these cool heavy cardboard covers!

One of the first great adventure strips of the 30s – presented here in a beautiful oversize volume! Roy Crane's artwork on Captain Easy is tremendous – a magnificently thin line at times, yet full of rich feeling that's augmented by the coloring of the strip – often almost water-color like, with echoes of Frank King's Sunday strips – and set up in these really inventive panel breakdowns that really shift from the usual grid style of the time! The blend almost makes the whole thing feel like an action-based take on the Sunday page style of Gasoline Alley or Polly & Her Pals from the 20s – with all the wonderful images and over-the-top graphic quality that might imply. 140 pages, full color, and in these cool heavy cardboard covers!