Pickup Truck Extension Ladder Rack - 2005-1

This new anthology highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of a new generation of alternative comics artists. Today's art comics scene seems to offer a variety of unusual, nuanced drawing styles on the one hand, but a lesser variety of wan, hyper-quirky narratives on the other. The comics in this volume can be engaging, but they can also be too opaque for clear meaning or just elegantly aimless. Anders Nilson's genially surreal story "The Beast," in which a faceless cartoon figure roughly...

Daft Punk titled their hits compilation with an indicator ( Vol. 1 ) that more would be forthcoming, and it's easy to believe that in a dozen years, another dozen singles could be collected with no drop in quality. Unlike their contemporaries coming of age during the rise of electronica, Messrs. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo structured their tracks with drop-dead hooks, peerless beats that were perfect for the dancefloor or the living room, and an innovative production sense. Although Musique, Vol...

Wheeler (Uncles and Antlers, reviewed Sept. 27) introduces Farmer Dale, a neighborly sheepdog hauling a load of hay in the back of his red truck. Along the way, the hero accommodates a hitchhiking, imperious cow. But when he goes on to pick up a dapper sheep wearing a straw boater, a pig on roller skates and an accordion-playing nanny goat (each resents the presence of the others) the poor old pickup spits, sputters, coughs, wheezes, hiccups and finally peters out: "The truck bounced up. ...