I'm sorry that the third part of Kevin Reads Previews: The Whole Damn Thing is late. Halloween and doing the weekly list interfered, and I nearly didn't make it into Diesel for the writing thing this morning thanks to some motherfucker smoking a cigarette that billowed out a cloud of Russian petroleum products of some kind. Asthma: it may be sexy, but it still sucks.
Adhouse Books
A fine indie company, Adhouse puts out high-quality product that manages to entertain as well as scratch my arty bone with their anthologies. Mort Grim by Doug Fraser looks to be something worthy of note, as it's a road story that's going to be really quite nice when it comes to the art. $5 for 32 pages does seem a bit steep, but I imagine it'll work out in the whole Cosmic Balance Sheet in the end.
Airwave Comics
Faith: Warrior Princess was created by an eight-year-old girl. Just remember that before you mock it on Newsarama, asshole.
Lucha Pop involves Mexican wrestlers. Mexican wrestlers are cool, therefore this comic is cool. Any questions?
AIT/Planet Lar
Larry Young may not have anything new in this issue Diamond's monthly catalog, but does that stop him from offering something really quite nice? Nope. There's a Charlie Adlard three-pack on offer that contains two books I really liked and one I was impressed with, if not necessarily crazy about. Joe Casey fans can come for Codeflesh and stick around for Nobody and White Death.. I would be a lot happier if there were more artists like Charlie Adlard and Guy Davis and less like, say, Michael Turner.
Alias Enterprises, LLC
All new Alias comics titles are now $3.50.
I just wanted to mention that.
Alternative Comics
Meathouse Volume 8: Headgames features work by Becky Cloonan, Farel Dalrymple, Scott Morse and Troy Nixey. I don't think you could pay me to miss this now that I know of such a thing. Volume Seven is also offered again, and it has some work by James Jean in it. All of you Fables and Green Arrow cover-lovers best learn to step up and show his sequential work some love, lest you get ... uh ... told to buy it again.
Amaze Ink / Slave Labor Wants To Be Near The Front
Peter Snejbjerg is a great artist, but we get to find out if he can write with Marlene, a new 48 page graphic novel he's doing about murder and the supernatural.
Avatar
Warren "The Machine" Ellis does zombies with Blackgas. I want it noted that I am going to point out that Max Fiumara does the art and that I am not going to make a Taco Bell joke. It has something like 63 covers, of course, but you only need to choose one as they're al at the same price point - $4. As it's Avatar and in color, his might be considered a bargain by some people.
Beyond Starlight
Not only does this company feature a completely dopey name that makes me think of Iain Banks more than, say, publishing, they're also hyping a book of dubious quality with this bit of turgid, meaningless copy:
Bongo Comics
Buy them all, keep Jason and Ren in shoes.
Oh, they're usually pretty darn good, too.
Boom! Studios
Ross Richie, he knows that I like: books by Giffen and DeMatteis. Yeah., maybe their schtick isn't for everyone, but getting to see them do a metafictional take on the Justice League with Planetary Brigade (set in the Hero Squared universe) makes me pretty darn happy. I have the feeling there's more to the book that the solicitation puts out there, for some reason.
If you like zombies and Steve Niles, then Fear The Dead has you squarely in its sights with a journal style that allows guys like Eric Powell, Guy Davis, and Kelley Jones to make with the full-on pinup horror.
City Cyclops
I've never heard of this imprint, but they're bringing one of my favorite indie titles of the 90's back with the first Truth Serum collection. Expanding the ouvre of the original stories substantially, this "painfully original" (so says Kevin Nowlan) book gives you bleak humor and superheroics in equal doses. If you like Arsenic Lullabye and Eightball, then you will probably like this. If not, there�s no hope for you.
Dynamite Entertainment
OK,whoever there is coming up with cute little names for the various variant covers needs to shut the fuck up right about now. "Relentless!" "Poised!" "Protective!" and "Deadly!" all add up to one thing to me: less content, more tits. I mean, I like me some tits, don't get me wrong, but this is more of a parody than an actual marketing technique anymore.
Drawn And Quarterly
While there's nothing this month that appeals to me outside of the next issue of Berlin (and I'm waiting for the collection on that one), everything is of superior quality and deserves a look. Thankfully, Chris Butcher put up the entire solicitation listing so you can ogle on your own. Thanks, Chris!
Fantagraphics
Not only do we get The Comics Journal Library Volume 6: The Writers (featuring interviews with tons of writers like Alan Moore, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, and Harlan Ellison,) we're also going to be the proud recipients of Kevin Huizenga's Ganges #1, Part of their new Ignatz line of regular sequentials, this is going to be a slightly oversized 32-pager that features the title character's life. Yeah, yeah, you've seen this sort of thing before, but Huizenga's clean lines and surprisingly casual depth made him one of my favorites instantly when I read Or Else #3.
This is exactly the sort of thing that certain writers for The New Yorker should be picking up on instead of the same six or seven titles that everyone else has covered.
Oh, and while they're at it. FB will need $4.50 for the next installement of Tales Designed To Thrizzle. Just hand it over and take your hilarious funnybook like a man, ok? Nobody makes trouble, nobody gets hurt.
IDW Publishing
In their solicitation for Transformers: Infiltrators #1, fans are urged to:
Jetpack Press
Despite a blurb from SilverBulletComicBooks.com praising Squarecat Comics, I'm going to say that Jennifer Omand�s work deserves a closer look. From what I've seen from her, the clean lines and witty storytelling will go down real nicely in a 128 page, $10 paperback.
Knockabout Comics
Collecting The Birth Caul, Snakes And Ladders and the interview that Eddie Campbell conducted with Alan Moore in Egomania, the A Disease Of Language collection will be pretty essential to Moore's more devoted followers. I'm not say I 100% "get" what Alan Moore's up to with these titles, but they're fascinating nonetheless.
Narwain Publishing
When not doing benefit books for Katrina victims (note how I am not being snarky about how little this will probably raise,) they're letting B Clay Moore (writer of the unfinished second Hawaiian Dick mini over at Image) do a pop-art take on superheroics with The Modern Man. What do you need to know about it? Cosmic record-store clerk.
Yeah, I thought so. I'll be getting it, too.
NBM
Rob Vollmar's Bluesman goes back into print and gets a second volume. As I've been meaning to pick up he and Pablo Callejo's book for some time, this allows me to make with the two-birded, single stone action.
Oni
Brian Woods and Ryan Kelly's Local visits another smaller city. This time Richmond, Virginia serves as the backdrop for a story of an indie rock band coming home and trying to adjust to civilian life again.
While I do tend to really like the novels that DeFillipis and Weird put out, Past Lies appeals to me not one bit. Maybe it's the eye-straining that artist Christopher Mitten's work on their The Tomb put me through that has me off this particular work.
Speakeasy
A ton of typo-riddled ads that repeat the later solicitation copy exactly make me wonder, you know? At least there's that Super Crazy TNT Blast to look forward to. Judging by the first issue, this comic's hitting my need for Generic Superhero Action pretty darn well.
Tokyopop
Jesus, guys. How much does an ad buy like this cost and is it effective in this particular venue? I wonder if dropping to the normal solictations except for new titles would save y'all a bit of cash.
Top Shelf
A new issue of The Surrogates. How nice of them to read my mind!.
Twomorrows Publishing
While the cover copy of "Grim, Great, And Gritty Post-Modern Comics" on the new book The Dark Age may make my eyebrow tick upward slightly, I think this may be required reading for me, as I have never completely understood the vigilante "hero" / collector's market two-headed beast of the 90s very well.
Udon Comics
How do you get Kevin to buy one of his most reviled subgenres, the video game comic? You get Corey (Reyyy) Lewis to draw it.
Bastards. I'll buy your Rival Schools, so you win this time.
Viper Comics
The Middleman: The Trade Paperback Imperative comes out, collecting the first fun and funky-fresh miniseries, which means you're now caught up for The Middleman Volume 2: The Entering Dragon Conundrum. In a bit of reverse logic, Javier Grillo-Marxuach's writing on this is making me inerested in his work on Lost, a series I've successfully avoided. Of course, live TV doesn't featuring the appealingly cartoonish art of Les McClaine, so I may just continue to ignore it.
That's it for the regular comics companies, so this is where I depart you for today. Outside of a How To Draw Panty Shots joke I've got scribbled down concerning How To Draw Manga Costume Encyclopedia Volume 2: Intimate Apparel and a bit of excitement concerning Godzilla: Final Wars and Battlestar Galactica: Season "2.0" getting a DVD release here, there's not that much else for me to write.
OK, wait. Who came up with the crappy copy on the ATHF Pod-I-Guards protectors for your portable digital music player? "Guard Your Self Expression?" Yes, because having a picture of Meatwad on my iPod makes me a special and unique goddamn snowflake. Whatever.
While I'm staying past my welcome, somebody buy me that 18-inch Muhammad Ali talking action figure. It's only $40 and it would make me happier than a very, very happy thing. Alternately, that Scrooge McDuck porcelain statue is a snip at $200, isn't it?
Not that you care, but this was the soundtrack for this particular entry, provided by my beloved Mother Box:
Adhouse Books
A fine indie company, Adhouse puts out high-quality product that manages to entertain as well as scratch my arty bone with their anthologies. Mort Grim by Doug Fraser looks to be something worthy of note, as it's a road story that's going to be really quite nice when it comes to the art. $5 for 32 pages does seem a bit steep, but I imagine it'll work out in the whole Cosmic Balance Sheet in the end.
Airwave ComicsFaith: Warrior Princess was created by an eight-year-old girl. Just remember that before you mock it on Newsarama, asshole.
Lucha Pop involves Mexican wrestlers. Mexican wrestlers are cool, therefore this comic is cool. Any questions?
AIT/Planet Lar
Larry Young may not have anything new in this issue Diamond's monthly catalog, but does that stop him from offering something really quite nice? Nope. There's a Charlie Adlard three-pack on offer that contains two books I really liked and one I was impressed with, if not necessarily crazy about. Joe Casey fans can come for Codeflesh and stick around for Nobody and White Death.. I would be a lot happier if there were more artists like Charlie Adlard and Guy Davis and less like, say, Michael Turner.
Alias Enterprises, LLC
All new Alias comics titles are now $3.50.
I just wanted to mention that.
Alternative Comics
Meathouse Volume 8: Headgames features work by Becky Cloonan, Farel Dalrymple, Scott Morse and Troy Nixey. I don't think you could pay me to miss this now that I know of such a thing. Volume Seven is also offered again, and it has some work by James Jean in it. All of you Fables and Green Arrow cover-lovers best learn to step up and show his sequential work some love, lest you get ... uh ... told to buy it again.
Amaze Ink / Slave Labor Wants To Be Near The Front
Peter Snejbjerg is a great artist, but we get to find out if he can write with Marlene, a new 48 page graphic novel he's doing about murder and the supernatural.
Avatar
Warren "The Machine" Ellis does zombies with Blackgas. I want it noted that I am going to point out that Max Fiumara does the art and that I am not going to make a Taco Bell joke. It has something like 63 covers, of course, but you only need to choose one as they're al at the same price point - $4. As it's Avatar and in color, his might be considered a bargain by some people.
Beyond Starlight
Not only does this company feature a completely dopey name that makes me think of Iain Banks more than, say, publishing, they're also hyping a book of dubious quality with this bit of turgid, meaningless copy:
This comic book with a global internet fan base now has also been gathering legions of fans at conventions from San Diego to SingaporeTo make a reference only Jim, Kitty, and Tangognat may get, "I DOUBT IT." Two dudes in Sierra Leone and a blogger based at Ice Station Zebra don't necessarily serve the prerequisites, guys.
Bongo Comics
Buy them all, keep Jason and Ren in shoes.
Oh, they're usually pretty darn good, too.
Boom! Studios
Ross Richie, he knows that I like: books by Giffen and DeMatteis. Yeah., maybe their schtick isn't for everyone, but getting to see them do a metafictional take on the Justice League with Planetary Brigade (set in the Hero Squared universe) makes me pretty darn happy. I have the feeling there's more to the book that the solicitation puts out there, for some reason.
If you like zombies and Steve Niles, then Fear The Dead has you squarely in its sights with a journal style that allows guys like Eric Powell, Guy Davis, and Kelley Jones to make with the full-on pinup horror.
City CyclopsI've never heard of this imprint, but they're bringing one of my favorite indie titles of the 90's back with the first Truth Serum collection. Expanding the ouvre of the original stories substantially, this "painfully original" (so says Kevin Nowlan) book gives you bleak humor and superheroics in equal doses. If you like Arsenic Lullabye and Eightball, then you will probably like this. If not, there�s no hope for you.
Dynamite Entertainment
OK,whoever there is coming up with cute little names for the various variant covers needs to shut the fuck up right about now. "Relentless!" "Poised!" "Protective!" and "Deadly!" all add up to one thing to me: less content, more tits. I mean, I like me some tits, don't get me wrong, but this is more of a parody than an actual marketing technique anymore.
Drawn And Quarterly
While there's nothing this month that appeals to me outside of the next issue of Berlin (and I'm waiting for the collection on that one), everything is of superior quality and deserves a look. Thankfully, Chris Butcher put up the entire solicitation listing so you can ogle on your own. Thanks, Chris!
Fantagraphics
Not only do we get The Comics Journal Library Volume 6: The Writers (featuring interviews with tons of writers like Alan Moore, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, and Harlan Ellison,) we're also going to be the proud recipients of Kevin Huizenga's Ganges #1, Part of their new Ignatz line of regular sequentials, this is going to be a slightly oversized 32-pager that features the title character's life. Yeah, yeah, you've seen this sort of thing before, but Huizenga's clean lines and surprisingly casual depth made him one of my favorites instantly when I read Or Else #3.
This is exactly the sort of thing that certain writers for The New Yorker should be picking up on instead of the same six or seven titles that everyone else has covered.
Oh, and while they're at it. FB will need $4.50 for the next installement of Tales Designed To Thrizzle. Just hand it over and take your hilarious funnybook like a man, ok? Nobody makes trouble, nobody gets hurt.
IDW Publishing
In their solicitation for Transformers: Infiltrators #1, fans are urged to:
- Ask your retailer how to get this Andrew Wildman variant cover
- Ask about the limited foil-stamp edition
- Ask your retailer how to get an original drawing by fan-favorite Guido Guidi
Jetpack Press
Despite a blurb from SilverBulletComicBooks.com praising Squarecat Comics, I'm going to say that Jennifer Omand�s work deserves a closer look. From what I've seen from her, the clean lines and witty storytelling will go down real nicely in a 128 page, $10 paperback.
Knockabout Comics
Collecting The Birth Caul, Snakes And Ladders and the interview that Eddie Campbell conducted with Alan Moore in Egomania, the A Disease Of Language collection will be pretty essential to Moore's more devoted followers. I'm not say I 100% "get" what Alan Moore's up to with these titles, but they're fascinating nonetheless.
Narwain PublishingWhen not doing benefit books for Katrina victims (note how I am not being snarky about how little this will probably raise,) they're letting B Clay Moore (writer of the unfinished second Hawaiian Dick mini over at Image) do a pop-art take on superheroics with The Modern Man. What do you need to know about it? Cosmic record-store clerk.
Yeah, I thought so. I'll be getting it, too.
NBM
Rob Vollmar's Bluesman goes back into print and gets a second volume. As I've been meaning to pick up he and Pablo Callejo's book for some time, this allows me to make with the two-birded, single stone action.
Oni
Brian Woods and Ryan Kelly's Local visits another smaller city. This time Richmond, Virginia serves as the backdrop for a story of an indie rock band coming home and trying to adjust to civilian life again.
While I do tend to really like the novels that DeFillipis and Weird put out, Past Lies appeals to me not one bit. Maybe it's the eye-straining that artist Christopher Mitten's work on their The Tomb put me through that has me off this particular work.
Speakeasy
A ton of typo-riddled ads that repeat the later solicitation copy exactly make me wonder, you know? At least there's that Super Crazy TNT Blast to look forward to. Judging by the first issue, this comic's hitting my need for Generic Superhero Action pretty darn well.
Tokyopop
Jesus, guys. How much does an ad buy like this cost and is it effective in this particular venue? I wonder if dropping to the normal solictations except for new titles would save y'all a bit of cash.
Top Shelf
A new issue of The Surrogates. How nice of them to read my mind!.
Twomorrows Publishing
While the cover copy of "Grim, Great, And Gritty Post-Modern Comics" on the new book The Dark Age may make my eyebrow tick upward slightly, I think this may be required reading for me, as I have never completely understood the vigilante "hero" / collector's market two-headed beast of the 90s very well.
Udon Comics
How do you get Kevin to buy one of his most reviled subgenres, the video game comic? You get Corey (Reyyy) Lewis to draw it.
Bastards. I'll buy your Rival Schools, so you win this time.
Viper Comics
The Middleman: The Trade Paperback Imperative comes out, collecting the first fun and funky-fresh miniseries, which means you're now caught up for The Middleman Volume 2: The Entering Dragon Conundrum. In a bit of reverse logic, Javier Grillo-Marxuach's writing on this is making me inerested in his work on Lost, a series I've successfully avoided. Of course, live TV doesn't featuring the appealingly cartoonish art of Les McClaine, so I may just continue to ignore it.
That's it for the regular comics companies, so this is where I depart you for today. Outside of a How To Draw Panty Shots joke I've got scribbled down concerning How To Draw Manga Costume Encyclopedia Volume 2: Intimate Apparel and a bit of excitement concerning Godzilla: Final Wars and Battlestar Galactica: Season "2.0" getting a DVD release here, there's not that much else for me to write.
OK, wait. Who came up with the crappy copy on the ATHF Pod-I-Guards protectors for your portable digital music player? "Guard Your Self Expression?" Yes, because having a picture of Meatwad on my iPod makes me a special and unique goddamn snowflake. Whatever.
While I'm staying past my welcome, somebody buy me that 18-inch Muhammad Ali talking action figure. It's only $40 and it would make me happier than a very, very happy thing. Alternately, that Scrooge McDuck porcelain statue is a snip at $200, isn't it?
Not that you care, but this was the soundtrack for this particular entry, provided by my beloved Mother Box:
- �World� (Perfecto Edit) // New Order
- �Rollin� Heights� (More Strings Attached) // Omni Trio
- �Will You Follow Me?� (Instrumental) // Rob Dougan
- "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix) // Everything But The Girl
- "Habebe" // Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman
- "Broken Promise" // New Order
- "Milleader" // Mouse On Mars
- "Papua New Guinea" (12" Original Mix) // Future Sound Of London
- "Pure Shores" // All Saints
- "Comes Love" // Billie Holiday
- "London" // The Smiths
- "Streamside" // The Album Leaf
- "All That I Need Is To Be Loved" (HOS Mix) // Moby
- "Hypnosystem" // A Positive Life
- "Outro" // DJ Shadow
- "Sextown USA" // Sparks
- "Ride" // The Kleptones
- "The Darg Frog" // Journeyman
- "Kid A" // Radiohead
- "Ess Gee" // Underworld
- "Beautiful Silence" // Resistance D.
