ATTITUDE 2 is at the printer and Amazon is ready to take your pre-orders! Order now and you’ll get the book as soon as it comes out, on or about February 1, 2004. (Ordering from Amazon seems like a “leap of faith,” in the words of one correspondent–they forgot the “2” from ATTITUDE 2 in the listing–but this is the correct title. Price is $13.95.)
Alternatively you can order directly from NBM Publishing (scroll down a couple of pages), which managed to get all the information correct. It’s up to you; I have no idea which way will get your copy into your hands sooner.
A sequel to the ATTITUDE anthology from 2002 with 21 totally different cartoonists, ATTITUDE 2 did benefit from my experience editing the first one. My interviews with the cartoonists, which suffered a little from formattic difficulties in the first book, are much tighter and focused. There are more follow-up questions; the ebb and flow of the dialogue is more natural. I still love the first book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in good cartooning, but you do learn as you go in this business.
A new anthology of brilliant cartoonists whose work appears in alternative weekly newspapers, ATTITUDE 2: THE NEW SUBVERSIVE SOCIAL COMMENTARY CARTOONISTS presents incisive interviews, personal photos and ephemera and of course lots of cartoons by 21 more of America’s funniest and smartest cartoonists! Comics fans will doubtless be familiar and enjoy this book’s unique insight into the work of well-known artists like Aaron McGruder, who draws the daily comic strip “Boondocks,” Max Cannon (“Red Meat,” which you’ll find in The Onion), Shannon Wheeler (“Too Much Coffee Man”), Marian Henley (“Maxine!”), David Rees (“Get Your War On,” which appears in Rolling Stone) and Alison Bechdel (“Dykes to Watch Out For”). As with the first ATTITUDE, the real treat of ATTITUDE 2 is its spotlighting of cartoonists whose work is so good that it deserves much more attention. Other cartoonists featured include Jennifer Berman (“Berman”), Barry Deutsch (“Ampersand”), Emily S. Flake (“Lulu Eightball”), Justin Jones (Soda-Pong”), Keith Knight (“The K Chronicles), Tim Kreider (“The Pain—When Will It End?”), Kevin Moore (“In Contempt Comics”), Stephen Notley (“Bob the Angry Flower”), Eric Orner (“The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green”), Greg Peters (“Suspect Device”), Mikhaela B. Reid (“The Boiling Point”), Neil Swaab (“Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles”), Brian Sendelbach (“Smell of Steve, Inc.”), Tak Toyoshima (“Secret Asian Man”) and Jason Yungbluth (“Deep Fried”)
The first ATTITUDE, which came out in 2002, focused on alternative cartooning with a political bent. Though ATTITUDE 2 doesn’t eschew politics, its main target is those cartoonists out to make us laugh using novel approaches to humor and the comics medium.
