Four-colour fall

>> Comics coming down the pipeline

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Here's some heads-uppage for funnybook freaks this autumn. Dark Horse has announced that its odd little anthology Scatterbrain is looking at a hardcover anthology come November. The comic, which has garnered an American Illustrator Award, has featured work by such luminaries as Mike "Hellboy" Mignola, Jim "what the hell is that floating thing and why do I want to bite its ass?" Woodring, Mad margin master Sergio Aragones and Dave "like Jim, only Canadian" Cooper. The best moments of the series are collected here.

Drawn & Quarterly will be busting out a new Julie Doucet book in a few weeks. It's called Long Time Relationship, and it's not new strips or even reprints. What's in there are scads of lino-cut prints, Doucet's current fancy, portraits of real and imagined people rendered in her own unique style. Also coming from D&Q is Vernacular Drawings, a scrapbook of illos by nostalgiac Seth.

Fantagraphics have announced that, finally, they're releasing a compendium of drawings, paintings and cartoons by Arnold Roth. The name's not familiar? Check old issues of Playboy, Time, Esquire or Harper's--you'll recognize his stuff instantly. The book, Arnold Roth: A Fifty-Year Retrospective, follows last year's exhibition of his work in Philly.

Also from Fantagraphics is Ghost World: A Screenplay, presenting the script that cartoonist Dan Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff created together for the film adaptation of Clowes's comic, a big left-field hit this past summer. Included are excised scenes, exclusive photos, drawings and ephemera and a new Enid and Rebecca strip, allowing the girls to muse on their newfound superstardom. Ghost-boosters will be happy to know, by the way, that the ultra-boss Enid doll from Japan is now on these shores, ready to look all pouty and pissed on your bookshelf.

Speaking of little comix-related household items, watch for the R. Crumb "Kitchen Kut-Outs" fridge magnets--your favourite condiments looking cute/frightening in Crumb's vintage Zap-era anthropomorphic style.