Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of The New Comics

Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of The New Comics Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette (Donald I. Fine, $13.95) This scattershot anthology promises conversations with the inventors of self-published underground ''comix'' and delivers only half the goods. While elder statesman Robert Crumb's absence is the most glaring (the authors were unsuccessful in recruiting him), the omission of an entire generation of artists who launched the third wave of comix through RAW magazine in the '80s is incomprehensible, especially after an introduction that guarantees reports ''fresh from the front lines of the newest and greatest revolution.'' The editors added insult to injury by including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles perpetrators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who can hardly be called rebels. The book's focus on the business of self-publishing severely limits the breadth and appeal of this collection. To gain access to creative giants like Frank Miller and Will Eisner and talk to them about rights and royalties is criminal at worst and a missed opportunity at best. Fortunately, most of them digress. C+ -MM