Publications
Books, Magazines, Comics, Zines and more
Rhythm of the Seasons by Saki Obata
Measures 5 and 7/8 x 8.25 inches, paperback, 32 pages.
Follow along through beautiful and elegantly simple illustrations pages, telling the tale of the rhythm and feel of each season, a story in a year as depicted by Japanese illustrator and designer, Saki Obata.
Records of the Seasons 2 by Saki Obata
Measures 5 7/8 inches x 8.25 inches, paperback, 146 pages.
Follow along through beautiful and elegantly simple illustrations pages, a new iteration of the four seasons, a story in a year as depicted by Japanese illustrator and designer, Saki Obata.
20 km/h - Woshibai
Softcover, 376 pages, 5.3 x 7.1 inches.
A slow-motion drive-by view of a collapsing universe meant to sit in the palm of your hand
How fast can you go in a buggy drawn by the flap of a butterfly’s wings? How do you measure the speed of waking from a dream? Such abstract inquiries into the unrelenting absurdity of contemporary life make up this omnibus of meditative vignettes from one of mainland China’s most prolific and recognizable—yet anonymous—new underground cartoonists of the current generation.
Every story in 20 km/h toes the line between pun and poetry, and lands somewhere just short of a zen koan: come back to it as often as you like, it will never quite read the same way twice. A nondescript figure awakes from an assembly line of identically-fashioned companions and boards a rowboat destined for the unknown. A man holds the key to sleep in his hand and uses it to disappear into his mattress. The moon is plucked from the sky and fed into a vending machine for a can of soda.
Woshibai’s minimalist renderings are a startlingly delightful cocktail of existential dread and silent slapstick that arrest the mind’s eye with equal parts humor and grace.
New Fashion Illustration: Outfit Ideas for You
Softcover, 192 pages, 9.4 x 6.5 inches.
This is the second title of "Fashion Illustrations Series," which shows the latest trends in fashion illustration! Forty new artists have contributed a selection of their own special style of illustration, this time featuring twin styles. While the previous edition was all about women's fashion, this edition features a more diverse range of fashion illustrations, including men's, unisex, body-positive, and multinational styles. This title also focuses mainly on works by illustrators in their teens and twenties, guaranteeing a showcase of the very latest trends. As in the previous book, we have selected the paper quality for each page individually to maximize the appeal of the illustrations, making each turn of the page an exciting sensory and stylistic experience.
Written in Japanese.
Rakuda Laughs - Katsuya Terada
Softcover, black & white comic imagery, 112 pages, 8.2 x 6 inches.
Black & white comics with 16 pages in color, and two double-sided color foldout pin-ups.
Yakuza bad-boy Rakuda is framed for the murder of his gang-boss by an ambitious young white-collar criminal.
New father and troubled yakuza Rakuda gets a call from his colleagues tasking him to dispose of a random body. The job is fishy, but when you are a gangster sometimes you have to just do what you're told. But in this case, who gave him the job is the problem. A young hustler named Amazaki has tasked him to take care of a corpse without any info on who the body is and how to get rid of it. Turns out the body belongs to their gang lord... Now the gang and the cops are after Rakuda. And with danger around every corner, there are now very few moments for jokes in Rakuda's world.
Katsuya Terada (born in Okayama, Japan in 1963) is a rare comic artist who has amassed success and followers on both sides of the Pacific. A self-defined "doodler," Terada's art has been seen in some of the most recognizable works to come out of Japan in the last two decades. His international breakthrough was his designs for Blood: The Last Vampire. His collaborations with properties such as The Legend of Zelda, Iron Man, and Hellboy further cemented his place within an international audience.
The Art of yoco: For Eternity and a Second
Softcover, 152 pages, 8.25 x 5.75 inches.
yoco is an illustrator who is active mainly in the BL (boys’ love) genre and who is particularly known for her exquisite, painterly illustration style. Her dramatic compositions evoke pure scenes of longing, while also fulfilling a slightly voyeuristic desire to take a peek inside a beautiful, ephemeral world of pure and delicate boys and young men, rendered in pale colors and fine lines, but also with a hint of melancholy and shadow. The Art of yoco For Eternity and a Second is the long-awaited first collection of the artist’s illustrations and paintings that have appeared in many BL novels, along with newly drawn illustrations.
Smoke Signal #41 by Keiichi Tanaami
Tabloid newspaper, full color, measures 11 x 17 inches.
A unique, accessible way to enjoy Keiichi Tanaami's eye popping work. Desert Island Comics presents this Summer 2023 issue of Smoke Signal, working with 86-year-old master of Japanese psychedelic and pop art, Keiichi Tanaami. Forty pages of new work!
Listing is for a single issue. Due to the nature of newspaper printing, minor ink smudges and slight offsets are common.
Tiffany Le - "Just Add Cilantro & Scallions: Vol. 2" Zine
8 page full color zine.
Artwork measures 5.5 x 8.5 inches.
Sam Grinberg - "Pancake Jake" Comic
30 pg black and white comic.
Artwork measures 8.5 x 11 inches.
Mari Naomi - I Thought You Loved Me
This Gen-X memoir, which is told in prose, collage, and sequential art, explores queer culture, feminism, race, class, sex work, and the flawed nature of memory as Mari works to uncover a long-lost best friend that she can no longer remember but can’t let go.
Jodie was Mari’s best friend through their teens and twenties. As young Mari began to explore her identity as a bisexual, biracial outsider in a rich, white town, Jodie was her constant confidant, even kissing Mari out of the closet. The two were inseparable as they sought to gain a foothold in life and love as young feminists, Jodie an entrepreneurial sex worker, and Mari working in the boys’ club of video game development in the late ‘90s. Then, suddenly and mysteriously, Jodie ends their friendship. Years later, Mari is stunned when she discovers why.
Now much older, Mari is ready to forgive, but her memories of Jodie seem to have vanished. Through journal excerpts, letters, conversations with friends, and cross-country travel, she pieces together lost memories from a lost friendship, in an attempt at catharsis. The reader follows in real-time as the author unravels her own mystery, examining the expectations of friendship, the unreliability of memory, and the struggle to let go.
Barry McGee - Reproduction (Hand Customized)
Hardcover, 224 pages with 250 images, measures 8.5 x 11 inches. (T3)
This book is personally customized - See photos!
- An exterior silver spray paint job
- Stamped with Barry McGee designed stamps (in three places) These are his own personal stamps.
Barry McGee - Reproduction (Tagged with TWIST) - Tier 1
Hardcover, 224 pages with 250 images, measures 8.5 x 11 inches.
*Limit is 1 per customer, additional book purchases will be refunded back*
This book is personally customized - See photos!
Tier 1 includes:
- A hand done "TWIST" tag by McGee
- An exterior silver spray paint job sanded and buffed
- Stamped with Barry McGee's personal and designed stamps
View Tier 2 and Tier 3 options.
NOTE: Photos show examples of "TWIST" tag, they are all done by hand and will vary.
I'll Get to the Bottom of This! by Daniel Kwan (Illustrated by Sean Lewis)
Hardcover, 76 pages, 12 x 8.75 inches.
One of two new children's books from Everything Everywhere All at Once director Daniel Kwan, I'll Get to the Bottom of This! tells the story of a rhyming dog detective who sets out to discover who's to blame for a multi-car pileup that has drivers trapped in a tunnel.
Illustrated by Sean Lewis, this story of overcoming differences to find a common solution gets the Daniel Kwan treatment: the detective takes his line of questioning so far that he enters a suspect’s body to question her organs, her brain, and her electrons, before being spat out into the universe in order to question the origin of cosmic energy itself.
With a fun and lively rhyming story, and illustrations chock full of Easter eggs, kids and parents alike will love reading I'll Get to the Bottom of This! aloud and exploring its immersive world.
Sketch by Katsuya Terada
Soft cover, 512 pages.
A GIANT 512-page collection of Katsuya Terada’s RAKUGAKI sketches and illustrations.
The one and only legendary illustrator Katsuya Terada, a.k.a. RAKUGAKING (The Sketch King), well known as a pioneer who is always seeking new ideas and motifs for his drawings, has finally revealed his RAKUGAKI sketches and illustrations, long kept only in his sketch book.
Although most illustrations in this collection have appeared in Terada’s previous international exhibitions (e.g., Giant Robot in Los Angeles), never before has any book collected so many of his RAKUGAKI. This is the best and most comprehensive collection of Katsuya Terada’s pencil sketches, making it a must-have book for both his hardcore fans and also to illustrators in general.
Giant Robot - Issue #12
Giant Robot issue 12! Jet Li: New Legend of Shaolin.
Topics include: Magic Kingdom, Thug Life, Murder City, Kids on Coffee, Chinatown's not dead, Mob rules in Congo.
Giant Robot - Issue #9
Giant Robot issue 9! The Return of Maggie Cheung.
Topics include: Tokyo Shock Boys, WNBA Giant, Tuvan Throat Signing, Telephone psychic, Skatemonks, and Ultraman Museum!
Note: Keep in mind we're nearing vintage age, so magazines will not always be in perfect condition, though all the contents will be just as great as you remember.
Giant Robot - Issue #8
Giant Robot issue 8!
Topics include: Tsui Hark vs John Woo, Hello Kitty vs Godzilla, Margaret Cho vs Cibo Matto, Steve Caballero vs Asian Car Clubs, DJ Q!-Bert vs DJ Kid Koala, Nut Lifting vs Shoulin, Shonen Knife vs Sugarplant, Mishima vs Miran Kim, Sumo Psychiatrist vs you!
Note: Keep in mind we're nearing vintage age, so magazines will not always be in perfect condition, though all the contents will be just as great as you remember.