Pre-reviews: The Week of November 29, 2006.
My picks, below.
Dark Horse Comics
AUG060036 GOON WICKED INCLINATIONS VOL 5 TPB (MR) $14.95I love The Goon. The idea of a working-class Hellboy appeals to me on a basic, perhaps genetic level. It doesn't hurt that I think Powell's one of the best artists doing sequential work right now and Frankie is my Platonic ideal of a sidekick.
DC Comics
SEP060191 BATMAN #659 $2.99Not by Morrison. Ostrander and Mandrake, though? That's an acceptable substitute.
SEP060190 BATMAN THE SPIRIT $4.99I will buy this and love it, despite my suspicions that Jeph Loeb's writing will make my head explode. That Darwyn Cooke/J. Bone art is just too lovely.
SEP060228 GUY GARDNER COLLATERAL DAMAGE #1 (OF 2) $5.99Chaykin, Gardner, G'nort. Questions?
JUL060188 RUSH CITY #3 (OF 6) $2.99Included only so I can link to this review.
Image Comics
MAR061821 ART OF BRIAN BOLLAND HC $49.99I really want this. Just putting that out there.
Also: it's very late, isn't it? Or was it solicited early?
Marvel Comics
SEP062179 AVENGERS GALACTIC STORM VOL 2 TP $29.99I enjoyed the first one thoroughly because it managed to tell a coherent story featuring superheroes having huge adventures (in space, even!) without insulting me too badly. This Marvel story has an element that is seemingly difficult for the publisher to replicate now: entertainment value.
SEP062186 ESSENTIAL MAN-THING VOL 1 TP $16.99I kind of hope I didn't order this because it's turning out to be one of those weeks.
SEP062119 NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #10 $2.99I saw the ending of this comic coming by page 4 or 5. That did not stop me from having my head explode with glee over the entire thing. Forbush Man's powers, when used, allow Immonen get to stretch his artistic wings a bit. The Captain Marvel section in particular is done a lovely style I'd like to see him use again.
SEP062129 ONSLAUGHT REBORN #1 (OF 5) $2.99I looked at the preview copy of this in the shop. There was one panel that showed Ben Grimm's back that I said "isn't that bad - reminds me a bit of Wieringo." I was roundly (and rightly) mocked for even trying to praise the art that much.
SEP062183 PUNISHER MAX VOL 6 BARRACUDA TP (MR) $15.99I'm really eager to get into this, as a lot of people I know that read the monthly said this was one of Ennis's stronger stories in a series that's well-regarded, even if there's a medically dodgy bit. (SPOILERS!)
Other Companies
AUG063267 ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY VOL 17 HC (MR) $16.95Oof. I'm sure it'll be worth it, as the last one was just a thing of utter beauty, but $17 is a bit something, innit?
OCT063401 ACTION PHILOSOPHERS VOL 1 GIANT SIZED THING TP (O/A) $6.95If you've not, do.
SEP063296 CASTLE WAITING VOL II #3 $3.95Don't get me wrong - I'm buying and really enjoying this in issue form, but I just want the second damned hardcover now.
SEP063869 LED ZEPPELIN IV HC $16.95I'd rather undergo knee surgery without anesthetics than listen to this record, but this sounds like the perfect gift for some lucky classic rock fan:
The music contained in Led Zeppelin IV is part of the soundtrack to a generation. Released in 1971, it rocks, stomps, glides, and shimmers as it covers all the bases the band had mastered: heavy blues, barroom rock and roll, mandolin-driven folk, epic Tolkien-infused mysticism, acoustic Americana, and more. Certified gold one week after its release, the album went to #2 on the U.S. charts and #1 in the U.K. It remained on U.S. charts for 259 weeks. To this day there is confusion about what is the actual title of the album and the use of the mysterious symbols. Barney Hoskyns pierces those veils and more as he tells the fascinating story of the evocative set that cemented Led Zeppelin's standing as the biggest, baddest, loudest band in the world-and that remains today the apex of their art.Why this is listed with the comics is beyond me, because Hoskyns, as far as I know, is only a writer and no artist is mentioned anywhere. There's also Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs by Jan Reid, which tells the Derek and the Dominos story.
SEP063340 PERFECT STORM #1 $2.99[INSERT GEORGE CLOONEY / MARK WAHLBERG JOKE HERE]
AUG063139 TALENT #4 (OF 4) $3.99You know, I get freebies of this from the publisher and I'm going to still end up buying it because, dammit, I want to know what happens tout suite.
