Graphic Books Best Sellers: Collections by Dave Stevens and Adrian Tomine

There are two newcomers to the graphic books hardcover best-seller list this week, and both shine a spotlight on artists - a trend worth supporting. “Dave Stevens' Stories and Covers,” at No. 6, takes a look at the cover work of Mr. Stevens, who created the Rocketeer and was also well known for his renderings of women in a '50s-pinup style. It is a 272-page retrospective that costs $49.99. Mr. Stevens died in 2008 at age 52. His work on the Rocketeer was lavishly reproduced in “The Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Artist's Edition” from IDW, which scanned its pages from the originals and printed them at a similar size. The smudges and blue pencil marks gave it a behind-the-scenes feel that was well worth the $100 price tag.

At No. 8 on the list is “New York Drawings” (176 pages, $29.95), which showcases the work of the cartoonist Adrian Tomine. The book collects his work from The New Yorker as well as some of his sketches and comics. I recently interviewed Mr. Tomine and wrote about the collected edition. Some of the work captures his feeling of being a man of two worlds: a California native now living in New York.

December will see the release of “The Art of Todd McFarlane: The Devil's in the Details” (Image Comics), which weighs in at 300 pages and costs $64.99. The book will feature reproductions of original pages, previously published sketches and commentary from Mr. McFarlane, who created the anti-hero Spawn and who also once illustrated Batman, Spider-Man and the Hulk.

As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.