Joe's Bar is a waystation on the boulevard of broken dreams, a dark harbor for slowly sinking ships, a lost-and-found center for lost souls trying to find themselves in a violent world. The air is smoky and smells of Raymond Chandler's cigarettes, but there are no heroes here - only the heroism of frail lonely humans looking for a way out of the labyrinth of their own alienation, searching for affection, self-esteem, a way to survive twenty-four more hours. There's a profound sadness and tenderness in these stories of a haunting kind never seen in comics before. Munoz and Sampayo work like one brain with two bodies: Sampayo's stories are elliptical and subtle; Munoz's powerful expressionist drawings take dazzling risks. There are no cliches' here, only comics that dare you to look , think and feel. - Art Spiegelman.

Joe's Bar

José Muñoz

Carlos Sampayo

Catalan Communications

I Remember Heaven explores shared affinities in the work of the Pop art superstar Andy Warhol, and contemporary artist Jim Hodges. This cross-generational study looks at both artists' work within a continuum of art production that finds history in everyday artifacts and uses aesthetic representation as a means to understand visibility and invisibility, sexuality, selfhood, love and death. Essayist Jose Esteban Muñoz discusses the artists' work in relation to queer aesthetics before and after Stonewall. Susan E. Cahan examines the personal and social aspects of collective grief, a subject which preoccupied both artists. I Remember Heaven captures a sense of the America of the 60s as not so different from today: Once again, the American public is fiercely divided over social issues; once again, an unpopular war enters American homes via television; and once again, American culture is experiencing an explosion of information--this time spawned by the Internet.

I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol

Arts & Photography

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Billie Holiday was really fun! It was a 49 page graphic novel and a pretty quick read. It contained images from Billie's life, mostly about being a black woman in a racist country and her drug addiction. She often finds herself abused by sadistic whites. Meanwhile modern day Sinner (Sampayo/Munoz' main protagonist detective) reminisces about the few times that he actually met this legendary jazz singer. It's an good narrative, but the art really makes it awesome! Check out these pages of her time making movies in Hollywood. I always loved the look of Munoz's art. It's wild and messy while at the same time very strong and firm. He can draw faces that look like they belong in a 1930's Felix the Cat cartoon and yet fit into this gritty realistic world. He really knows how to compose a picture and his backgrounds are often awesome while keeping his main characters pretty loose and expressive. I've seen many really great comic artists since my introduction to Munoz but I still find his work some of the most exciting comics ever made

Billie Holiday

Humor & Entertainment

Fantagraphics Books

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Books by José Muñoz