Kevin Looks At the May 2008 Previews, Part One.
There's a few changes happening this time around. The first being that I'm just going to skip Marvel and DC. There's a few reasons for this, the first being that I'm lazy, of course. Secondly, you've already seen the solicitations from the big two and have made up your mind. That's fine, I understand.
There's also the fact that Marvel and DC offer a slog through No Fun Central that, frankly, leaves me a bit discouraged for everything else. Suffice it to say there's a few trades worth getting (Invasion! and Ellis and Edginton's Counter-X material,) a couple of hardcovers (Heavy Liquid and Annihilation: Conquest Book 2,) and even a new Kathryn Immonen-written miniseries from Marvel with Hellcat, a character I have a strange, almost scans_dailian affection for.
With that out of the way, let's just dive into Dark Horse Comics, OK?
Holy shit there is enough Hellboy product here to choke the mythical whale that Jonah took an around-the-block trip in. T-shirts, making-of books, novelizations, magnets, superdeformed toys, undeformed toys, and even the occasional goddamn comic book. Frankly, good on Dark Horse and Mignola for managing to capitalize so well on the character and maintain control and creativity over their property, especially in light of the complete brute-force, idiotic defanging that is being applied to (the admittedly dunderheaded as it is, but still...) Wanted.
But back to the whole reason for this post. In Dark Horse's case, outside of the usual manga suspects, I'm only really interested in the webcomics they're putting into print. The Great Outdoor Fight (96 pages, hardcover, $14.95) is certainly the finest material produced yet by Chris Onstad, and the presentation is goddamn gorgeous. While Achewood is generally a strip that I find is best to leave alone for a few months and then wallow in like the proverbial pig; its rhythm and language are best enjoyed in doses of twenty strips or higher (it's only then that Onstad's surreal banter and outre plots make any real sense,) this is a very easily-accessible storyline and will hopefully propel more of the strip into the direct market instead of being confined to online venues and the occasional merchant willing to order directly from the creator.
More conventional in some ways is Jesse Reklaw's dream-interpretation strip Slow Wave, even if the content is more psychotropic. The Night Of Your Life (256 pages, hardcover, $15.95) collects a mess of his delightfully deadpan four-panel strips at a price that I can't imagine even the most miserly regular reader of his work turning down.
Even though I've not read Mitch Clem's Nothing Nice To Say (128 pages, softcover, $9.95) in aaaaages, I remember it being funny enough to recommend to others. I could recheck the archives, but a ten-buck softcover fits in my courier bag so much more nicely.
All of these, though, frankly pale in comparison to The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack (272 pages, hardcover, $24.95.) Nicholas Gurewitch's hip-check to the rest of the online (and quickly enough, newspaper) comics world deserves every bit of lavish praise I can muster for it and while he's ended it prematurely, it's good to see that it's going to be given the proper treatment. I'm eagerly anticipating his next step. My only complaint is that this book, I think, reproduces material found in The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, but that's certainly a minor bit of whining at this juncture, as an omnibus format benefits the readership much more.
Finally, if you're a retailer reading this, please make sure you order at least three or four copies of the Fray paperback as the character's appearing in the Buffy comic and those fans, even if you've told them that the future slayer comic has existed a half-dozen times before, they're going to suddenly decide that they must have it as it's real now because Joss told them in a dream or some shit. Just take their money and be happy.
Image Comics
It's largely business as usual for me and the house that Jim, Jim, Rob, Erik, Todd, Whilce, and Marc built: a little Jack Staff here, some Madman (with what will likely be my last issue, but more on that in a couple of lines) there. GØDLAND's Adam Archer shoes up in The Savage Dragon, but that'd involve me reading The Savage Dragon, so no.
If you want, you could check out the (largely disappointing) first few issues of Allred's slow decline into sophomoric philosophy with Madman Atomic Comics Volume 1 (208 pages, softcover, $19.99), but even the most rabid Allred fan of yore would be turned off by the Morrison-light psychobabble that inhabits this title since the relaunch. Good on Allred for following his muse, I suppose, but it's coming out as pure drivel, sort of like if Beach Blanket Bingo had suddenly turned into a sweded version of 8½. Sure, Madman has had its darker elements - Frank's mysterious past, the infamous eyeball-eating scene from very early in the series - but this is just drivel.
The biggest Image-related news is the prodigal son of comics reprint projects: American Flagg Volume 1 (440 pages, hardcover, $49.95,) a book that was originally solicited for November of 2004 from Dynamic Forces. Image is releasing this volume "in conjunction with" the people who offer slabbed variant covers of the latest hot books, which makes me suspect that someone got fed up and crept over in the dead of night, stole all the files, and left a note saying "Will give credit + $" in their place.
American Flagg, from the six or seven issues I've read, is a goddamn treasure of the medium, even if I'm certain that modern audiences are going to find certain sociological ruminations as arcane as extispicy. Chaykin's at the top of his game, creating a subversive, deeply funny world that pokes at everything that made America what it was in the 80s. The price tag is steep (Amazon offers a very steep pre-order discount), but the end product is near invaluable.
Tomorrow, we'll catch up with other companies that put out the funnybooks, including Avatar, Top Shelf, and Picturebox.
There's also the fact that Marvel and DC offer a slog through No Fun Central that, frankly, leaves me a bit discouraged for everything else. Suffice it to say there's a few trades worth getting (Invasion! and Ellis and Edginton's Counter-X material,) a couple of hardcovers (Heavy Liquid and Annihilation: Conquest Book 2,) and even a new Kathryn Immonen-written miniseries from Marvel with Hellcat, a character I have a strange, almost scans_dailian affection for.
With that out of the way, let's just dive into Dark Horse Comics, OK?
Holy shit there is enough Hellboy product here to choke the mythical whale that Jonah took an around-the-block trip in. T-shirts, making-of books, novelizations, magnets, superdeformed toys, undeformed toys, and even the occasional goddamn comic book. Frankly, good on Dark Horse and Mignola for managing to capitalize so well on the character and maintain control and creativity over their property, especially in light of the complete brute-force, idiotic defanging that is being applied to (the admittedly dunderheaded as it is, but still...) Wanted.
But back to the whole reason for this post. In Dark Horse's case, outside of the usual manga suspects, I'm only really interested in the webcomics they're putting into print. The Great Outdoor Fight (96 pages, hardcover, $14.95) is certainly the finest material produced yet by Chris Onstad, and the presentation is goddamn gorgeous. While Achewood is generally a strip that I find is best to leave alone for a few months and then wallow in like the proverbial pig; its rhythm and language are best enjoyed in doses of twenty strips or higher (it's only then that Onstad's surreal banter and outre plots make any real sense,) this is a very easily-accessible storyline and will hopefully propel more of the strip into the direct market instead of being confined to online venues and the occasional merchant willing to order directly from the creator.
More conventional in some ways is Jesse Reklaw's dream-interpretation strip Slow Wave, even if the content is more psychotropic. The Night Of Your Life (256 pages, hardcover, $15.95) collects a mess of his delightfully deadpan four-panel strips at a price that I can't imagine even the most miserly regular reader of his work turning down.
Even though I've not read Mitch Clem's Nothing Nice To Say (128 pages, softcover, $9.95) in aaaaages, I remember it being funny enough to recommend to others. I could recheck the archives, but a ten-buck softcover fits in my courier bag so much more nicely.
All of these, though, frankly pale in comparison to The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack (272 pages, hardcover, $24.95.) Nicholas Gurewitch's hip-check to the rest of the online (and quickly enough, newspaper) comics world deserves every bit of lavish praise I can muster for it and while he's ended it prematurely, it's good to see that it's going to be given the proper treatment. I'm eagerly anticipating his next step. My only complaint is that this book, I think, reproduces material found in The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, but that's certainly a minor bit of whining at this juncture, as an omnibus format benefits the readership much more.
Finally, if you're a retailer reading this, please make sure you order at least three or four copies of the Fray paperback as the character's appearing in the Buffy comic and those fans, even if you've told them that the future slayer comic has existed a half-dozen times before, they're going to suddenly decide that they must have it as it's real now because Joss told them in a dream or some shit. Just take their money and be happy.
Image Comics
It's largely business as usual for me and the house that Jim, Jim, Rob, Erik, Todd, Whilce, and Marc built: a little Jack Staff here, some Madman (with what will likely be my last issue, but more on that in a couple of lines) there. GØDLAND's Adam Archer shoes up in The Savage Dragon, but that'd involve me reading The Savage Dragon, so no.
If you want, you could check out the (largely disappointing) first few issues of Allred's slow decline into sophomoric philosophy with Madman Atomic Comics Volume 1 (208 pages, softcover, $19.99), but even the most rabid Allred fan of yore would be turned off by the Morrison-light psychobabble that inhabits this title since the relaunch. Good on Allred for following his muse, I suppose, but it's coming out as pure drivel, sort of like if Beach Blanket Bingo had suddenly turned into a sweded version of 8½. Sure, Madman has had its darker elements - Frank's mysterious past, the infamous eyeball-eating scene from very early in the series - but this is just drivel.
The biggest Image-related news is the prodigal son of comics reprint projects: American Flagg Volume 1 (440 pages, hardcover, $49.95,) a book that was originally solicited for November of 2004 from Dynamic Forces. Image is releasing this volume "in conjunction with" the people who offer slabbed variant covers of the latest hot books, which makes me suspect that someone got fed up and crept over in the dead of night, stole all the files, and left a note saying "Will give credit + $" in their place.
American Flagg, from the six or seven issues I've read, is a goddamn treasure of the medium, even if I'm certain that modern audiences are going to find certain sociological ruminations as arcane as extispicy. Chaykin's at the top of his game, creating a subversive, deeply funny world that pokes at everything that made America what it was in the 80s. The price tag is steep (Amazon offers a very steep pre-order discount), but the end product is near invaluable.
Tomorrow, we'll catch up with other companies that put out the funnybooks, including Avatar, Top Shelf, and Picturebox.
