30 Comic Books Making Their Debut At Cake This Weekend

Birth of Kitaro
by Shigeru Mizuki
Published by Drawn and Quarterly

The Birth of Kitaro collects seven of Shigeru Mizuki's early, and beloved, Kitaro stories, making them available for the first time in English, in an all-new, kid-friendly format. These stories are from the golden era of the late 1960s, when Gegege no Kitaro truly hit its stride as an all-ages supernatural series. Mizuki's Kitaro stories are both timelessly relevant and undeniably influential, inspiring a decades-long boom in stories about yokai, Japanese ghosts, and monsters.

"Kitaro's Birthday" reveals the origin story of the yokai boy Kitaro and his tiny eyeball father, Medama Oyaji. "Neko Musume versus Nezumi Otoko" is the first of Mizuki's stories to feature the popular recurring character Neko Musume, a little girl who transforms into a cat when she gets angry or hungry. Other stories in The Birth of Kitaro draw heavily from Japanese folklore, with Kitaro taking on legendary Japanese yokai like the Nopperabo and Makura Gaeshi, and fighting the monstrous recurring villain Gyuki.

With more than 150 pages of spooky and often funny comics about the titular half-yokai boy, The Birth of Kitaro is the perfect introduction to the award-winning author Mizuki's most popular series, seminal comics that have won the hearts of Japanese children and adults for more than half a century.

Tables 31 & 32

Coin-Op #6: The Last Great Time
by Peter + Maria Hoey
Published by Coin-Op

"The Last Great Time" is our brand new 36 page multistory collection. Printed in full color, this book dives deep into narrative and abstraction. A visual feast.
Table 57a

Corpus Distorta
by Grant Reynolds

This first issue of Corpus Distorta explores the fluid power dynamics of gender & sex, as well as darker themes of disempowerment & victimization. The dreamlike imagery and unsettling fictional narratives hold a resonance that is both deeply personal and culturally relevant. It is also my first book drawn with a brush, rather than a Micron.
Table 88a

Did You Ever Have A Nightmare…
Hannah Chavez

This two-book set was inspired by the shared dreams and experiences of the artist and her identical twin. They were offset printed using two colors per book, and compliment one another through haunting imagery and the intimacy of twinship.
Table 88a

DINO CORPSE
John Vestevich

I asked the 9-year-old me to storyboard a nature documentary about dinosaurs, then I stole it and am now claiming credit.
Table 25b

Eat Me
by Megan Rose Gedris
Published by Rosalarian

After a chemical spill, shy Rhonda is transported to a world where everyone is made of food, and she's very hungry. It's cute, it's trippy, it's literal food porn! 172 page paperback in full color.
Table 13a

Handbook
by Kevin Budnik

Handbook is a graphic memoir drawn from writing and experience from Kevin's time in therapy for disordered eating, juxtaposed with life post-recovery. It's an account of personal guilt and stress as well as a story about relationships and moving on.
Table 70a

hello'
Jon Drawdoer

hello' is a psychedelic, full color, POV adventure comic. It transports the reader to a shifting landscape of unusual scale and queer transformation. Wind. Gravity. Allergic reactions. Slime. Hope you like it!
Table 38b

High Dive
by Jon Marchione

High Dive is a short mini-comic about a girl overcoming her fear of heights. It is risograph printed by Perfectly Acceptable press!
Table 50b

Hip Hop Family Tree 1983-1985 Gift Box Set
by Ed Piskor
Published by Fantagraphics Books

We are releasing our gift box set of Books 3 and 4, in time for the holidays. Exclusive with this box set is Piskor's crash course comic, Understanding Hip Hop and Comics, a documentation of how the two media have intersected over the past 40 years, spanning graffiti, to album covers, and to actual comics collaborations between cartoonists and rappers.
Tables 7 & 8

Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 4
by Ed Piskor
Published by Fantagraphics Books

Book 4 of the best selling series showcases: The rise of Def Jam records! The birth of Dr. Dre's record career leading to Straight Outta Compton! Introducing new branches on the tree such as Will Smith, Salt N Pepa, Rakim, and Biz Markie. Hollywood also takes notice and releases loads of films like Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Beat Street, Krush Groove and more, all highlighted within this jam packed edition.
Tables 7 & 8

Honey
by Corinne Halbert

A mini-comic version of my weekly webstrip HONEY will debut at CAKE 2016. HONEY is a dark look into the mundanity of domestic life. With a corpse for a wife a seemingly humdrum husband goes through the banal motions of living in a small suburban town. Nihilism and dark humor collide to paint a world rich with the despair of existence.
Table
Table 22a

Hot Dog Taste Test
by Lisa Hanawalt
Published by Drawn and Quarterly

Hot Dog Taste Test serves up Lisa Hanawalt's devastatingly funny comics, saliva-stimulating art, and deliciously screwball lists as she skewers the pomposities of foodie subculture. From the James Beard Award-winning cartoonist and production designer/producer of Bojack Horseman, Hot Dog Taste Test dishes out five-star laughs as Hanawalt keenly muses on pop culture, relationships, and the animal in all of us.
Tables 31 & 32

i shut to
by Emily Hutchings

"i shut to" is a collection of visual explanations of things that you already know, through illustrations of how it is. this is an exercise in translation between medium, form, and dimension; if all are held in equal consideration, a fuller picture of what is being explained will occur. i need to talk this way to try to get you to get it. you do not need to get it the way that i do. full color book; 22 pgs.
Table 59a

KUTIKUTI Feminist Issue
by Multiple authors from the Femicomix Finland collective
Published by KUTIKUTI

KUTI is a quarterly 4-colour tabloid focusing on comics and their authors. The newest issue is all about feminist comics. The magazine has a vide variety of artists with diverse styles and stories. The main reader group of the magazine are culturally active young adults.
Table 11a

Mouthgate/Tombstom Split
by Tom Toye
Published by Illogical Comics

A split cassette release between the experimental Tombstom and the mysterious Mouthgate that comes with a screen printed 12 page comic which illustrates the meeting of two different evil forces, and the subsequent descent into madness that takes place.
Table 43

Namifezi
by Hanna-Pirita Lehkonen, Apila Pepita Miettinen, Niko-Petteri Niva, Petra Rintala, Nadia Ojajärvi, Taina Hakala, Henna Räsänen, Jon Kuitunen, Aino Sutinen, Miia Vistilä, Tuomas Tiainen
Published by Femicomix Finland

Namifezi is a collection of queer feminist comics from Finnish comic artists. The zine has comics about things like gendered bathrooms, diet culture, fatphobia, veganism, media representation and many more. The zine is in full colors.
Table 11a

Short Works: Drawings and Comics by John Vestevich
John Vestevich

A collection of my favorite short comics and drawings from recent years.
Table 25b

Springtime in Chicago
Cathy Hannah

Daily journal comics about boys, cats, and napping from March to May 2016
Table 22b

Stockholm is Sauceome
by Sarah Becan

A food-centric travelogue of Stockholm, Sweden
Table 98b

Teaching Comics: Volume 1
by Alex Nall

Teaching Comics collects the stories inspired by cartoonist Alex Nall's experiences as a teaching artist in Chicago.
Table 69b

Time Clock
by Leslie Stein
Published by Fantagraphics Books

Leslie Stein returns with the third volume of her series Eye of the Majestic Creature appropriately titled "Time Clock." A semi-autobiographical and fantasy-based comic series that combines dry humor, psychedelia, and emotion to show the viewpoint of one persons world internally and externally. The story follows a young girl, Larrybear, and her talking acoustic guitar Marshmallow on their adventures, including a pie-making business, a sand-counting convention, a hurricane and a drinking problem. Leslie's completely unique stylized art combined with elements of the real and the fantastic make this newest journey a fully realized reading experience.
Tables 7 & 8

Upgrade Soul Vol 2
by Ezra Claytan Daniels

The long-awaited second volume of the critically acclaimed science fiction series by Ezra Claytan Daniels, hailed by Mat Johnson, author of Incognegro and Loving Day, as "one of the best comics I've read in years. Truly brilliant". As Henry recovers, he finds a kindred spirit in Kallose's impressionable sister, Lina. Meanwhile, Kallose and Garth begin to unravel the mystery of the "doppelgänger syndrome" that threatens to kill all the subjects. 88 Pages
Table 76b

Victus #4
by Tyrell Cannon

Tyrell Cannon's Victus continues with issue #4! Victus is an adventure in the metaphysics of human relationships, featuring exciting foot-chases, strange technology, exotic animals, and thought-provoking philosophy. Each book is presented as a precious object for readers to experience intimately and engage with emotionally. Issue #4 finds Isaac inside the mysterious communication machine, exploring the corners of his mind and soul. Additionally, there will be an exclusive alternate cover to Victus #4 available CAKE in very limited quantity.
Table 78

We All Wish for Deadly Force
by Leela Corman
Published by Retrofit Comics / Big Planet Comics

We All Wish for Deadly Force is a collection of Leela Corman's short stories. 88 pages.
Table 84

Wrinkles
by Paco Roca
Published by Fantagraphics Books

Retired bank manager Emilio, suffering from Alzheimer's, is taken to an assisted living home by his son. While for some residents, the home is a place to wind down their lives, for Emilio and Miguel it becomes, in a quirky way, a new beginning. With echoes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Cocoon, Paco Roca squarely addresses the fears of growing old and isolated in a work infused with remarkable humor, humanity, and sensitivity.
Tables 7 & 8

Bad Dog!!/Good Kitty!
by Isabella Rotman and Mike Freiheit

Bad Dog!!/Good Kitty! is a double sided flip comic collaboration between Isabella Rotman and Mike Freiheit. Good Kitty! Illustrated common interactions Mike has had with his cats that would never fly with a human woman and probably lead to prison or life long loneliness. Bad Dog!! illustrates common interactions Isabella has with stranger's dogs that were 100% NOT OKAY when strange men had the same interactions with her.

Tables 79A (Isabella) and 52A (Mike)