Unlike 2009′s print edition, this digital version includes color strips, photos and illustrations and is 12 pages longer. This edition also includes Sean Wheeler’s half-hour documentary feature, I Must Be Important ’Cause I’m in a Documentary!! which tells the story of Cruse’s life and career.

“Howard Cruse is kind of a hero of mine,” says Northwest Press publisher Charles “Zan” Christensen. “When I dipped my toe back into comics after college, one of the first books I stumbled across was The Complete Wendel. It was a revelation that there was a whole world of cartooning by and for adults that dealt with real-world issues and showcased the lives of people I could relate to as a gay man. Howard and the other pioneers in queer cartooning paved the way for the vibrant LGBT comics community that we enjoy today, and it is fascinating to follow their journey through this book.”

“Bringing my gay life into my comics was hugely important to my development as a cartoonist,” says Cruse, “so it made sense for me to compile all of my gay stuff into a single book back in 2009. Seeing From Headrack to Claude re-imagined three years later for iPad adds fresh excitement to a project that was already personally fullfilling, since an eBook can reach readers in far-flung places so much faster and more effortlessly than a self-published, print-on-demand book can. Plus, my color comics can even be in color again!”

From Headrack to Claude is available exclusively on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch through iBooks. Readers can download a free preview before purchasing the book.

One of the early stories in Rainy Day Recess, by way of example, involves Steven taking in his sister’s two Indian dolls for show and tell; the dolls are stolen out of Steven’s desk and it’s a heartbreaking moment when Steven realizes that someone’s taken them. Even when they’re found, badly damaged, as a reader it’s hard to not feel great anger at the student who stole and broke the dolls, no doubt out of malice. But then Kelly gives us a glimpse into the life of the kid who took them, and suddenly nothing is quite so simple. What at first comes across as nothing but mean-spirited now feels like it’s part of something much larger and also much more depressing than just a broken doll. Since this is told entirely from Steven’s perspective, we never get the whole story, or in some ways even a proper conclusion to this other student’s story. Instead the reader, like Steven, is left to wonder and try and fill in the blanks themselves. It’s impressive how much emotion Kelly is able to wring out of his audience in just a few pages, and in a story that leaves so much hanging.

Check out the whole review of Rainy Day Recess at Read About Comics!

The bunny uses his drawing skills as a pick-up trick, meeting young guys, inviting them home to pose, art modeling digressing to sex. It’s odd seeing realistic-looking guys conversing with cartoon animals, even more unnerving seeing them inter-porking. It’s not sexy, but it’s hella funny.

Check out the whole review of A Waste of Time at Lambda Literary’s website!

These are a series of autobiographical comics that Kelly drew in the ‘90s. He does have some commentary about the comics, which helps place them in time and explains their sequence a little. They were originally published sporadically, and this collection has them all in the same place for the first time. While the stories are all self contained, you do follow Steven’s life. And because of that, it leaves you wanting more. You see Stephen struggling to figure out who he is and also what is going on in his very dysfunctional family. And then, the comic stops. This is a short collection that leaves you wanting more.

No Flying No Tights is a ”page devoted to graphic novel reviews specifically for those who read them the most—mainly teens—and for those who might be involved in distributing them to teens—namely teachers, librarians, and parents.”

The name of the site comes from the rules adopted by the creators of the Smallville TV show, which reinforced their desire to steer away from the “super” and toward the characters as people. Despite that, No Flying No Tights reviews the occasional superhero book when it merits a look.

Check out the whole review of Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics at No Flying No Tights!