The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story by Craig Yoe is my choice for book of the year.
Being obsessed with cartoons most of my life, I've often had dreams about finding wonderful cartoon books that never existed. I imagine Craig has had those dreams too, and he's now doing us all a huge favor by making them a reality.
When I first discovered Milt Gross at Spumco almost 20 years ago, I went on an obsessive search for all of Milt Gross' comic book stories, digging through dusty boxes at comic conventions and bookstores. His stories were usually well hidden in the backs of obscure old humor comics, and I had to open a lot of taped comic bags to search the contents, enduring the withering stares of the snotty dealers. When I found a new Gross story it was a real thrill, and I would then take them to work and enlarge them on the WB color copier, and put them into sleeves and binders in my first attempts to make my own cartoon books for myself and friends. Craig has saved you all that trouble and produced the ultimate Milt Gross book. He even found some stories I've never seen before.
I'm not going to go into the comics themselves- you either love Milt Gross or don't get it, but the book itself looks, feels, and even smells great. It really is a treat to hold. The reproduction, binding, layout and supplemental materials are all PERFECT. And I can't believe how cheap it is- $39.99, or $29.19 at Amazon.
Thanks, Craig!