Committed to producing work that was provocative, challenging and sexually explicit, Zap was one of the most controversial comics of the 1960s and 1970s and became the model on which the self-published comic book subculture was based. In this collection of interviews, illustrated with some examples of their work, its contributors discuss their inspiration and techniques and the culture in which they produced the comics.

For over 40 years, small handcrafted booklets – written, drawn, printed and collated by enthusiasts – have fuelled the alternative comic scene. Continuing to survey the history of these publications, this second volume begins with a tribute by Newaver Brad Foster and a look back at the sexually explicit ‘Tijuana Bibles’ of the 1930s before reproducing work by modern artists and writers including Fiona Smyth, Ethan Persoff and Trina Robbins.

This situational comedy from acclaimed cartoonist Peter Bagge features a team of misfit studio assistants desperately trying to maintain an abysmal comic strip while their boss formulates half-baked schemes to exploit it. Sweatshop was published over six issues by DC Comics in 2003 and features art by Johnny Ryan, Stephen deStefano, Stephanic Gladden and Bill Wray as well as Bagge himself.

Demonstrating Bagge’s talent for character-based comedy and social commentary, and featuring some adult content, this volume contains the complete ‘Lovey’ stories and ‘Shut-ins’ series, now in colour. Also included are many of his shorter stories and one-off pages from the 1990s Hate comics, and work created in collaboration with Daniel Clowes, Los Bros Hernandez and Dana Gould and the artists Johnny Ryan, R. Crumb and Adrian Tomine.

Following the publication of the original Heroes of the Comics, this volume features 100 more portraits by cartoonist Drew Friedman, each accompanied by a brief biography. Chosen for their contributions to the comic book industry over the last 50 years, the writers, artists, editors and publishers who are depicted include Curt Swan, whose version of Superman is said to have inspired the 1978 film; Marc Swayze, a scriptwriter for Captain Marvel; and George Tuska, who drew for DC Comics.

Following the life and creative struggles of Velázquez as he worked on Las Meninas, this graphic novel was critically acclaimed in its native Spanish. The narrative and its expressionistic drawings also explore the links between artists and patrons, institutions and audiences, and the legacy of the painting – considered to be the first to explore the relationship between the viewer and reality.

Off-mint.

Slightly off-mint

Slightly off-mint

Subverting the traditions of comic book art, the Hernandez brothers’ stories, set in a Central American village and among the Californian Mexican community, heralded a new alternative comic book style when Love and Rockets was launched in 1982. This portfolio reproduces the front and back covers of all 50 issues of Volume 1 (1982–96) as well as the collected edition covers plus original artwork and production ephemera. Slightly off-mint.