Checker, Part 1
If nothing else, you’ve gotta respect Checker Book Publishing Group. From high-profile licenses (Star Trek, X-Files, Hellraiser), to obscure stuff most graphic novel readers have never heard of, Checker likes to cover the gambit.
I first heard of Checker when I discovered their Gold Key Star Trek collections. But it’s with their recent announcement of a Yellow Kid collection that I decide to feature their product line in a blog entry or two.
For those unfamiliar, The Yellow Kid - introduced in the late 1800s - is arguably the first American comic strip to see a mass audience. And from it, an early collection of the strip is arguably the first graphic novel to see production.
(Arguably, because it’s all a matter of how you define “graphic novel”. The GNA’s definition is described here.)
Yellow Kid is comic history. It’s graphic novel history. That Checker is publishing such a collection deserves recognition.
Sure, there’s money to be made. Checker is a business, after all.
But I can’t help but wonder if the Checker collective - sitting in their Ohio offices day after day - aren’t also graphic novel fanboys (and fangirls) in their own right. Not just fans of the “Whiz,bang,pow” variety, but actual fans of the medium itself. Publishing not only what will sell by name and recognition, or what is already known - but also what deserves to be known, if only for it’s development of the artform, the storytelling, and it’s relevance in comic and graphic novel history.
That’d be cool.
Read on for a list of Checker published graphic novels.
Alien Legion: Force Nomad TPB
Trade Paperback- $24.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Alien Legion: Force Nomad collects the first eleven issues of this critically acclaimed comic book series, originally published by Marvel Comics’ Epic Comics imprint, which ran from 1987 to 1993. Long out of print and hard to find at comics dealers, Alien Legion demonstrates Checker Book Publishing’s mission which is to “rescue” worthy comic book properties that were published before the graphic novel format took hold and make these works available to a whole new generation of readers. A galaxy-hopping mercenary force, ala the French Foreign Legion, called Force Nomad, is MIA and presumed dead. Only Major Saringer has any hope that there are survivors and he sets off across galaxies to learn their true fates. It is non-stop action with explosive art all the way in this never-before collected series. - Amazon.com
Alien Legion: Piecemaker TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The spectacular follow-up to Alien Legion: Force Nomad, Piecemaker collects seven more issues in the Alien Legion saga. In stunning full color, Force Nomad resumes duty in a series of far-flung combat zones. The volatile Jugger Grimrod confronts his violent past while Tamara faces a surprising future – amid the always perilous present that is the daily bread of Force Nomad of the Alien Legion. - Amazon.com
Alien Legion: Footsloggers TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Checker returns to publishing Alien Legion with this, its third volume. - Amazon.com
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Collected Best Volume 1 TPB
Trade Paperback- $22.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Neil Gaiman and Alex Ross are among the heavyweights who contributed to this landmark comicbook anthology based on the horror classic, Hellraiser, which ran from 1989 to 1993. Featuring short stories in the Hellraiser millieu written and illustrated by the leading lights in the comic book industry, this series shocked and entertained millions of comics and Clive Barker fans. Checker Book Publishing collects for the first time the best of these short stories into a single full-color trade paperback collection. A must have for Hellraiser, Clive Barker and quality comics fans - Amazon.com
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Collected Best Volume 2 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Comics’ greatest talent (Wachowski, Bolton, McDuffie, Dorman, Conrad, Nutman, Villagran, Van Fleet) unleashed with the graphic potential of Barker’s horrifying world of warring order and chaos. The second Hellraiser collection from CheckerBPG features nearly 200 pages in jaw-dropping full color. The stories include: Razing Hell (Parts 1-3), Sheddim, The Pleasures of Deception, Of Love, Cats, and Curiosity, Songs of Metal and Flesh, Old Wives Tale, The Blood of a Poet, Canons of Pain, Cenobite, Fury. - Amazon.com
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Collected Best Volume 3 TPB
Trade Paperback- $26.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Comics’ greatest talent unleashed on Barker’s horrifying world of warring order and chaos. The third Hellraiser collection features over 320 pages (14 stories) in jaw-dropping full color, including the complete poster art galleries from the original publications. Stories include: “In These Blue Depths Lie Hell” by Lurene Haines & Ray Lago; “The Sweet Science” by Erik Saltzgaber, Mike Zeck, and Phil Zimelman; “Later” by C.J. Henderson, Vincent Cecolini, and Colleen Doran; “Lingerings” by James Robert Smith & Jamie Tolagson, “Firetrap” by James Robert Smith & Mike Hoffman; “Birth Rite”; “Angels to Some, Demons to Others” by John Bolton; “Closets” by Matrix co-creator Larry Wachowski and Miran Kim; “Under the Knife”; “I in the Pyramid”; “Glitter and Go” by Ron Wolfe & Dan Spiegle; “The Tontine” by Scott Hampton & John Van Fleet; and “To Prepare a Face” by Jan Strnad & Mark Chiarello. - Amazon.com
Clive Barker’s Tapping the Vein TPB
Trade Paperback- $24.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
This Eisner-nominated anthology mini-series brings the best of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood short stories to the comics medium. Barker’s work is brought to a stunning visual realization by comics’ greatest artistic talent: John Bolton, P. Craig Russell, Klaus Janson, Tim Conrad, Bo Hampton, Stan Woch, Hector Gomez, and more. Collected here are such horror classics as “Skins of the Fathers”, “Human Remains”, “In the Hills, In the Cities”, “Down Satan”, “How Spoilers Bleed”, “The Madonna”, “Pig Blood Blues”, and “The Midnight Meat Train” . . . just to name a few. - Amazon.com
Supreme: The Story of the Year TPB
Trade Paperback- $26.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
No one understands superheroes better than Moore. This collection won him the 1997 Eisner Award for Best Writer, and shows he can still find fresh things to say about the nature of comic book superheroes. Supreme began life as an exceptionally violent Superman rip-off. Moore took over in 1996, jettisoning everything except Supreme’s blond, muscular good looks and turning a copycat into an ingenious homage to the Superman archetype. This clever work retells the history of superhero comic books as reflected through Moore’s retro drawings and superheroes modeled on characters and narrative styles from the 1930s to today. Suffering from amnesia, Supreme has returned to Earth, but must also return to his roots-his smalltown family, allies and bombastic enemies-to discover his origins. In his everyday identity, he’s a mild-mannered comic book artist who draws a line of violent superheroes. As Supreme investigates his past, readers are treated to a delightful series of tongue-in-cheek flashbacks to revised versions of the Golden and Silver eras of comics. Supreme grows up in Little Haven, rather than Smallville; lives in Omegapolis, instead of Metropolis; and convenes meetings of the Allied Supermen, rather than the Justice League of America. Moore weaves a complex plot that leads to a startling, ingenious climax. He also offers his characters and readers moments of poignant self-discovery. In his superhero masterpiece Watchmen, Moore stressed the dangers of identifying with comic book heroes. This work is a much kinder look at the form, done with wit, intelligence and love. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. - Amazon.com
Supreme: The Return TPB
Trade Paperback- $24.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Alan Moore follows his Eisner Award-winning “The Story of the Year” supreme script with “The Return,” presented here in its entirety for the first time. Featuring the art of Chris Sprouse (Tom Strong) and ingenious flash-back sequences by Rick Veitch. Plus, cameos by Gil Kane and Jim Starlin. - Amazon.com
Judgment Day TPB
Trade Paperback- $16.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Alan Moore gives readers more treatment of the Awesome universe of characters. Featuring artwork by Rob Liefield and comics legend Gil Kane. Following the success of his run on Supreme, acclaimed comics writer Alan Moore (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell) was given the opportunity to write a mini-series featuring an entire super-hero universe. The results were just as unpredictable, and ingenious as his work on his landmark work, Watchmen. - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1947 TPB
Trade Paperback- $14.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The entire first year of the great Milton Caniff’s landmark action and adventure strip featuring All-American flyboy Steve Canyon and a menagerie of faithful comrades and diabolical rogues. Recurring sidekicks and villains like Copper Calhoon and Happy Easter appear are introduced in four great stories: “Copperhead”, “Delta,” “Easter’s Oil,” and “Jewels of Africa.” - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1948 TPB
Trade Paperback- $18.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Year two on Steve Canyon sees comics master Milton Caniff truly hit his stride. Gorgeously rendered exotic locales, breathlessly paced adventure, and beautiful women as only Caniff could draw await in four story arcs: “Medical Sabotage,” “The Nine Maid,” “Convoy,” “Plantation Sabotage,” and “Puppy Love.” - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1949 TPB
Trade Paperback- $15.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The third installment in Checker’s ambitious year-by-year reprinting of the Milton Caniff classic, these action-packed strips circa 1949 are among the best Caniff ever produced. - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1950 TPB
Trade Paperback- $17.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Checker releases its fourth volume of this classic Caniff strip! Steve Canyon 1950 collects strips from January 29 to October 7, 1950 and includes the stories “Missionary,” “Mechanical Brain,” “Rallying Point” and “Serge Blu.” Join Steve and his crew as they dodge corrupt government agents, are captured by music-loving Russian bandits and otherwise narrowly escape all sorts of trouble! - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1951 TPB
Trade Paperback- $17.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s legendary comic strip finds a new home in these Checker collections. Steve Canyon 1951 collects strips from January 1951 to spring 1952, which includes the stories “The Mysterious Monsieur Gros,” “Operation Foo-Ling,” “The Duchess of Denver” and “Operation Eel Island.” - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1952 TPB
Trade Paperback- $17.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s legendary comic strip finds a new home. Featuring the storylines from 1952 “Crisis on Campus,” “Operation Stray” and “Deep Woods.” - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1953 TPB
Trade Paperback- $17.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Featuring the stories whic ran throughout the seventh year of the adventure strip: “Indian Cafe,” “The Princess and the Doctor” and “The Halls.” - Amazon.com
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon: 1954 TPB
Trade Paperback- $17.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Steve Canyon flies again in these adventures from 1954. Featuring the stories “Evangeline,” “Overreaching” and “In Formosa’s Dire straits”. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 1 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
A comprehensive, fully re-mastered collection of turn-of-the-century rarities from cartooning and animation pioneer, Winsor McCay: “Tales of the Jungle Imps,” “Little Sammy Sneeze,” “Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend,” and “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Best known for Little Nemo in Slumberland, and the seminal animated feature Gertie the Dinosaur, McCay puts his artistic talent and whimsical humor on full display here. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 2 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
More “Tales of the Rarebit Fiend” and “Little Sammy Sneeze,” plus “Centaurs,” “Hungry Henrietta,” and dozens of McCay’s editorial illustrations. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 3 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
More “Tales of the Rarebit Fiend” (1907 strips), “Little Sammy Sneeze,” “A Pilgrim’s Progress,” (1907 strips) and dozens of McCay’s editorial illustrations from his New York period. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 4 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The fourth installment in Checker’s eleven-volume treasury focuses on McCay’s strip work of early 1908, and continues to present his editorial cartoons, spot illustrations and other works for the New York papers. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 5 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Volume 5 of Checker’s landmark collection of McCay’s output other than Little Nemo in Slumeberland. Includes late 1908 strip work and editorial cartoons from the New York American. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 6 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works, Volume 6 will feature a selection of McCay?s first continuous comic strip, Mr. Goodenough, which ran from January 1904 to March 1905 in the Evening Telegram. The six-panel strip features a millionaire (Mr. Goodenough) who continuously tries to improve his life by becoming more active, the result of which inevitably leads to injury or discomfort for the hapless gentleman. In the last panel of every strip, the reader finds that Mr. Goodenough has once again resigned himself to living in sumptuous lethargy. This marks McCay?s first foray into a working formula that he would use again and again; since the last panel is the same every time, the buildup becomes the most important part. McCay used this formula for plot cohesiveness within many of his strips ? Little Sammy Sneeze, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, and Little Nemo in Slumberland all featured last-panel repetition. Volume 6 also includes Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, A Pilgrim?s Progress, and a selection of New York American editorial cartoons. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 7 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
McCay’s cartooning style, although decades ahead of its time, was popular during his lifetime. With the advent of motion pictures, McCay leveraged his public popularity as a cartoonist to introduce what he would become most famous for - animation! Hailed as the Father of Animation, McCay’s static cartoons are no less vibrant and unique. Volume 7 features McCay’s lavish, detailed illustrations from his New York editorial period, as well as a collection of comic strips. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 8 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
McCay’s enthusiasm and energy for his vocation infected every panel he drew. With an unflagging work ethic, he drew thousands of cartoons and illustrations that appeared in newspapers around the country and gained him nationwide fame. As popular as McCay was, his work was poorly preserved, and later generations have been unable learn about this cartooning legend. Checker is proud to bring McCay’s work back into the public eye. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: Early Works Volume 9 TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
McCay’s enthusiasm and energy for his vocation infected every panel he drew. With an unflagging work ethic, he drew thousands of cartoons and illustrations that appeared in newspapers around the country and gained him nationwide fame. As popular as McCay was, his work was poorly preserved and later generations have been unable learn about this cartooning legend. Checker is proud to bring McCay’s work back into the public eye. - Amazon.com
Winsor McCay: The Editorial Works HC
Hardcover- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
Checker collects a new portion of McCay’s career in these oversized Flash Gordon format collections of his editorial artwork. This edition focuses on editorials that appeared from 1913-1917 as the United States saw an escalation of violence in Europe as a build up to World War I. - Amazon.com
Little Nemo In Slumberland Volume 1 HC
Hardcover- $49.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The most comprehensive collection of the landmark comic strip by the legendary Winsor McCay. The first in a full color oversized collection of the signature strip from America’s greatest comic illustrator of all time. It includes rare Nemo promo art, the series that featured many of Nemo’s characters first ” Tales of The Jungle Imp” in color, and that wonderful New strip from 1905-1909. - Amazon.com
Little Nemo In Slumberland Volume 2 HC
Hardcover- $49.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The second volume of a two volume set which collects the groundbreaking comic strip series from the genius illustrator Winsor McCay. Features full color and black and white collection of adventures of Nemo in Slumberland from 1910-1915, and 1926. The two volumes provide the most comprehensive collection of the series ever produced. Presented in a wonderful limited edition hardcover format. - Amazon.com
Dream Of The Rarebit Fiend: The Saturdays TPB
Trade Paperback- $19.95 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
This oversized edition collects Winsor McCay’s Saturday Dream of the Rarebit Fiend strips from 1904-1911. Presented in the enlarged format for the first time and printed 98% of their original size, totalling 190 cartoons in all. - Amazon.com
R. F. Outcault’s Yellow Kid with Pore Lil Mose HC
Hardcover- $49.99 (suggested retail)
Check for availability and discount pricing from Amazon.com
The Comic strip that started it all: America’s first comic strip laid the groundwork for an art form. This precocious kid from the barrios of New York City took the country by storm in the late 1800’s and coined the term “yellow journalism.” Collected here is the entire run along with dozens of never before collected images by Outcault. Also included is the extraordinarily rare strip “Pore Lil Mose,” also by Outcault. - Amazon.com
Watch for Checker, Part 2, coming soon.