Cold Heat by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro => #1, #2, #3 & #4 now in stock!

¡NEW! - Cold Heat Specials
Cold Heat #1
by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro
(and lettered by Aaron Cometbus!)
PictureBox

As crazy as it may sound, this is the first issue of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series written and drawn by art comics favorites, Ben "Paper Rad" Jones and Frank "Storeyville" Santoro. Mightily manifesting the poignant praxis of pioneering publisher, Picturebox, Cold Heat is not necessarily stoned, but beautiful -- a hypnotically tranced-out, maximum-volume take on the action/adventure genre that stays out all night and doesn't come home until the party's over and it's time to crash. From it's super-slick full color covers, to its orange-juice-orange inside covers and through its 24-page interior printed entirely in magenta and sky blue, this is a comic book that stands out in a crowd, and about which we are entirely comfortable in saying, "there's nothing else remotely like it on the market." Feeling adventurous? Try this.

24 pages, 2-color

Cold Heat #2
by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro
Picking up where the first issue left off, Cold Heat #2 revs it up a few notches and takes us on a whirlwind ride through the dis-united states of the disturbed American psyche. Series artist, Frank Santoro once again refuses to play it safe. This time around he pulls out all the stops and takes the chances that most other artists wouldn't take even if they could. Leaping into the artistic no man's land between the well established borders of pre-existent genres, Santoro combines the propulsive narratives of mainstream American heroic adventure comics, the exaggerated expressiveness of Japanese manga, and the naivete of self-published autobiographical comics with his own experimental ideas to create a totally unique comics cocktail that will knock you for a loop (You don't have to take our word for it: Check out this double-page spread). Cold Heat takes the outside in and then brings the inside out -- demonstrating how our internalization of international affairs creates monsters in our minds that are every bit as dangerous as anything we'll meet on the street -- and by so doing helps us see our place in and find our way through the mess of our world.
retail price - $5.00 copacetic price - $4.00

Cold Heat #3
by BJ and Frank Santoro
The plot thickens, the mystery deepens, the pace is picked up and no holds are barred in this, the third issue of the most innovative comic book series in America. While other comic books tout their "new" plot twists and "new" characters and "new" concepts, the comics they produce are, formally, all the same, maintaining the tried and tired industry status quo. Cold Heat is authentically different. Creators, BJ and Santoro understand the conventions under girding the standard comic book format and deftly undercut them, subverting the implicit conservatism of these conventions by exogamously marrying them to an entirely different, diverse and far ranging array of techniques, tropes and teleologies. Fauvism, cubism, expressionism and pop art rub shoulders with an allusive montage of narrative codes including action/adventure, detective, horror, romance and more. And that's just what's going on beneath the surface. What you see, starting with the startlingly disorienting and surpassingly original cover image, is a powerful story indicting the wrongs of today that is powered by some of the most visionary artwork around. Delicate yet defiant and densely packed, Cold Heat #3 is a one of a kind comic book.

24 pages, 2-color

retail price - $5.00
copacetic price - $4.00

ordering info

Cold Heat #4
by BJ and Frank Santoro
How?! Cold Heat #4 is already in stock, and it's a doozy. Disparate and heretofore disconnected aspects of the storyline are joined together as some puzzling pieces of the plot are put into place. We don't want to give too much away here, but suffice it to say that some things have turned out -- surprise! -- not to be what they seemed. Lovers of cosmic mysteries and mighty metaphors will find plenty of food for thought this time around, and thrill seekers should find what they're looking for as the intensity is ramped up a notch or two. Santoro's art really shines this issue as he continues to bring a world beat of styles and perspectives to the mix while at the same time turning in some of his most polished art to date. To those of you who have been watching on the sidelines, uneasy about the ellipticality of Cold Heat's narrative, wondering what it's all about and where it's been leading, we say: Now's your chance -- this is the one you've been waiting for. This is the issue that puts the story into focus and brings the series up to speed, and to put our money where our mouth is, we are offering a special price on a set of the first four issues. SEE BELOW.
retail price - $5.00 copacetic price - $4.00

>>>NEW!!! We now have in stock a very limited quantity of a signed and numbered Cold Heat print by Frank Santoro. This print is standard comic book size -- 7" x 10" -- so it will fit right in with the Cold Heat comics if you would like to store it away as part of your collection, but we feel confident that you'll be putting this one on your wall. This is the image here on the right =>; you should know, however, that the colors -- at least on our copies -- are far more vibrant when viewed in person.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Chances are you've already heard, but, for the record, the Cold Heat comic book series has been re-imagined as a stand-alone graphic novel due to the harsh market realities facing this project. What that means is that there will be no further issues of the series, but instead, it will appear, in its entirety as a 200+ page graphic novel in late 2008.

Don't despair: it's still coming out and it's going to be great... and now there's this!

Cold Heat Special #1
by John Vermilyea
Cold Heat Secial #2 - The Chunky Gnars: A Chocolate Gun Tribute
by Chris Cornwell
Upon learning that the Cold Heat comic book seriers was going to be transformed into a stand-alone graphic novel to be released in late 2008, and as a result faced with the potential for a year long drought for Cold Heat fans after their being acculturated to a regular release schedule, CH creators BJ and Frank Santoro have commisioned several ancilliary Cold Heat books to tide readers over while they themselves toil away on the core text. The first two of these have now been released, and premiered at SPX. Each is 16 pages in length. Chunky Gnars is digest issue with cardstock cover while the Special is an 11" x 14" newspaper. Both focus on the music-as-spiritual-salvation aspect of the Cold Heat narrative, and do so with much graphic aplomb, but each has a very distinct approach to the task, with Vermilyea taking advantage of the grand page sizes to present an action packed adventure that doubles as a sweeping simile, while Cornwell's digest is densely packed with metaphor, analogue and allegory all of which are related to each other and, tangentially at least, to the Cold Heat narrative thus far. Even if you're not a follwer of the Cold Heat series, you should consider checking these out as each can and does stand on its own merits, as well as providing a window onto one of the most innovative comics works currently being produced.
copacetic price - $3.00@

Cold Heat Special #3
By Frank Santoro & Dash Shaw
While Santoro burns the midnight oil finishing up the Cold Heat graphic novel, he knows Cold Heat fans are jonesing, and so has commisioned an ongoing series of specials. These specials are all limited editions with very low print runs that won't be reprinted in the graphic novel, so don't miss out! CHS #3 is a collaboration with up and coming comics experimentalist, Dash Shaw (see the latest issue of MOME) that is built around a combination of early Italian renaissance imagery and contemporary urban cityscape. This time out we have a saddle-stapled 16-page horizontally formatted comic book with a wraparound two-color cover that blurs the line between waking and sleeping, dream and reality, drugged and straight, and yesterday and today, as well as between classical fine art and contemporary popular art.
copacetic price - $3.00

Learn more about Cold Heat at the new Official Cold Heat Comics Website. It's just up and still under constuction, so bookmark it and check back.