Steve Lafler’s Graphic Novels: Love Letters from a Journeyman Underground Cartoonist

Buy Direct from the Artist at a Friendly Discount

Cat-Head Comics started in 1983 with my comic book Dog Boy #1. I’ve gone on to publish comics with many imprints, notably Fantagraphics & Top Shelf, putting out upwards of 75 comic publications overall.

I rebooted Cat-Head in 2020, launching both new & back catalog graphic novel titles. Through some alchemy, here we are in my graphic novel shop! Here are my key books at a discount, as a courtesy to you.

These order links connect to my printer/wholesaler Ingram. They ship the high quality trade paper and/or hard cover books direct to you.

Death Plays a Mean Harmonica

Buy Death Plays a Mean Harmonica $10.99 Trade Paper Graphic Novel, 144 pages (2021)
Gertie and Rex get a wild hair and relocate to Oaxaca! Upon arrival in this cultural hub of southern Mexico, our intrepid migrants meet Eduardo, the crafty 1000-year-old Zapotec vampire who prefers chicken blood, El Rey Pelón (the skinny pot-bellied fungus who drives a taxi) and of course Death, who plays a mean harmonica.

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1956 Book One

Buy 1956 Book One $8.99 Trade Paper Graphic novella, 56 pages (2020)
Steve Lafler delivers readers to the bright lights and glamor of Manhattan in 1956 with Jack, Susie and Ramona. In the new GN 1956 Book One: Sweet Sweet little Ramona, they cut deals in the Garment District by day and haunt the legendary Jazz Clubs of 52nd St. by night.
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1956 Movie Star

Buy 1956 Movie Star $10.99 Trade Paper Graphic Novella, 72 pages (2021)
Meet Susie and Jack, wholesale buyers for the McCurdy’s chain of Department stores. These two are gunning for the same job: Chief Buyer. Of course the friendly rivals make the classic mistake: They hop in bed together!
Susie and Jack’s fates become entwined with a pair of talented young women, Ramona and Nikki.
Ramona is an aspiring trans model & actor. Nikki is writing a draft of her first novel. Both of these ambitious Latinas are making their move as they strive to leave the mean streets behind.
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BugHouse From the Top

Buy BugHouse From the Top $24.99 Hard cover graphic novel, 408 pages (2022)
Tenor saxophone maestro Jimmy Watts leads his talented band of bugs from the swing era into the uncharted maelstrom of Bebop. As he and his bandmates claw their way to the top of the jazz world, they must fight the temptation to be consumed by addiction to the substance known as “Bug Juice”.
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Dog Boy – Choice Cuts & Happy Endings

Buy Dog Boy Choice Cuts & Happy Endings $22.99
Oversize trade paper graphic novel, 328 pages (2023)
The 328-page oversize volume collects the best of Lafler’s pioneering 1980’s alternative comics magazine title Dog Boy, known for its undulating psychedelic twists, coupled with low-brow tropes that border on slapstick.
The date is 1983—early dawn in the alternative comics movement. Steve Lafler, bohemian cartoonist, taps into his unconscious mind and finds his inner Dog Boy: An unruly man-child equipped with a Golden Retriever head. 
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40 Hour Man By Stephen Beaupre, writer & Steve Lafler, art.
(Inspired by Harvey Pekar, Will Elder & Harvey Kurtzman)

Buy 40 Hour Man $16.99 Trade Paper Graphic Novel, 248 pages. (2021)
Is it a career, or a series of really lame jobs? Stephen Beaupre (author) and Steve Lafler (cartoonist) pose this timeless question in Forty Hour Man, a hilarious saga of one working stiff’s three-decade journey into the minimum wage heart of the American Dream. It’s all here – from scrubbing a steakhouse floor with a toothbrush to going bust in the Internet boom. Every bad boss. Every crazy co-worker. All the more shocking because it’s true! Stephen Beaupre is a writer, editor, and unrepentant amateur musician. He is best known to comic aficionados as the former co-publisher of the Cat-Head Comics imprint and editor of Buzzard, the 90’s preeminent comic anthology.
(WARNING: This is one of the funniest graphic novels ever published. Thank you, Mr. Beaupre. – S.L.)

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Cat Suit: Comix Stories by Steve Lafler

Buy Cat Suit $19.99 Hard Cover Graphic Novel, 144 pages (2022)
Steve Lafler collects a pair of graphic novellas tracking edgy romances, Cat Suit and El Vocho–we get hot cars, cute dresses, and snappy reparté. Lafler throws in his signature deconstruction of time and space, a peak under the hood of reality as we know it. Oh-and of course a cameo by the Devil himself in the short story El Diablito, originally published in Buzzard, the great Cat-Head Comics anthology edited by Cat-Head partner Stephen Beaupre.

Send me an email, I’d like to hear from you! -Steve Lafler

P.S. Ok, so maybe you want some T-SHIRTS?
Visit my Stevie Lafler Rebubble T-Shirt Shop here, if you please. Below is my FrankenJerry T-Shirt design, in which Frankenstein’s monster jams on Jerry Garcia’s guitar “Tiger” – scroll down to see my Elvis Zombie & Cactus Guitar designs. I have many more designs at the Redbubble link. You can get regular Ts, fitted Ts for women or men, Longsleeves, Hoodies and more, in the size & color of your choice.