Kevin Looks At the May 2008 Previews, Part Two.
AIT/PlanetLar | Page 205
Adam Beechen and Manny Bello's Hench is one of the very best comics put out by AiT and it remains strangely underappreciated still, despite writer Beechen's recent major-imprint work on titles such as Robin, Countdown (To Final Crisis), and Teen Titans and the book itself getting coverage in magazines like Entertainment Weekly. I'm curious to see if that magic comes back with the baseball (comedy? thriller? suspense comic? comedithrillipense comic?) Dugout (88 pages, softcover, $12.95,) which involves a jailed pitcher, a desperate manager, and an exhibition game that may serve as a smokescreen for a breakout attempt.
Antarctic Press | Page 212
Pal Dave has already pointed out how moronic a certain set of shirts offered by the publisher that brings you the pure dreck of Gold Digger and Warrior NunAreola Areala, but I felt the need to point out that not only is the "pirates versus ninja" meme (that no right-thinking person gets involved in, I hasten to add) deader than dirt, but anyone that is likely to wear a "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For..." shirt is most likely the sort that should be ponying up for one of these bad boys:
Atomic Book Company | Page 225
I've mentioned Julia Wertz's webcomics and minis here before, and that's why I'm pointing out that there's now a Fart Party collection (178pages, softcover, $13.95) that you can ask your favorite comics retailer to please order for you and maybe one or two for the shelf, too, because it's funny and stuff. Wertz is an exception in a field overstuffed with autobiographical comics creators who think their navel-gazing is worth your brain-cycles: she's funny while willing to make herself the butt of the joke, a less-annoying Sarah Silverman for comics.
Avatar | Page 226
Two Ellis books debut this month, with the more-interesting being follow-up graphic novella (no, let's not use that term again, ok?) in the same format as the supremely-entertaining Crêcy. While Aetheric Mechanics (48 pages, softcover, $6.99) has the slight eau du steampunk about it, there's a very pulpy feel about the solicitation, with lines like "The year is 1907, and Britain has entered into a terrifying war with Ruritania, whose strange metal planes darken the skies, and whose monstrous war engines cast looming shadows from across the channel. Doctor Robert Watcham, lately returned to London from the front, makes his homecoming to Dilke Street. There lives his old friend, and England's greatest amateur detective, Sax Raker. Even as his beloved city prepares for war, Raker is himself about to embark on the strangest (and, perhaps, the most important) investigation of his career: The case of the man who wasn't there," practically begging me to throw my seven dollars in the hat.
The second Ellis title that's debuting this month is No Hero, which gets one of those #0 issues that Avatar, Aspen, and certain other publishers continue to flog as if that joke was funny to begin with. Treading territory that's similar, if not identical to Black Summer with Juan Jose Ryp returning to provide more of the maniacally-detailed art that boggles even as it impresses, I'm not supremely worked up for this, but I ended up being quite taken by Black Summer, so maybe this will provide some of those thrills.
BOOM! | Page 241
The first issue of Challenger Deep, a four-part miniseries involving an underwater salvage crew getting in over their heads while retrieving an experimental nuclear submarine from the Marianas Trench. I'm a sucker for things like this, ever since seeing The Abyss back when I wasn't afraid to wear short pants and Hypercolor t-shirts. It's written by Andrew Cosby, who blah blah blah buy Cover Girl, the end.
Dynamite Entertainment | Page 264
The 10th anniversary reprint of Frank Miller and Simon Bisley's (justly?) forgotten Bad Boy (48 pages, hardcover, $14.99) gets resolicited. I never read this and presume that, since it's never spoken of, that it's not very good. Would I be incorrect and should thus ask my purveyor to include one in my order for the month? Please note that I continue to be a fan of Mr. Miller's comic work, despite the slide into insanity that he seems to have taken. I suspect that will one day be called a Sim Complex.
Devil's Due | Page 275
How to make me care even less about Hack Slash: get the controversial, overexposed, and increasingly-dreary Suicide Girls brand involved. I like looking at naked, tattooed, and pierced girls an awful lot, but they've managed to ensure that even in that niche, a uniformity of forced uniqueness is stamped onto each and every model with a carefully-considered distribution of barbells, ink, and studs. Apparently, one of the variant covers here is a Previews Exclusive, which means that those shops ordering Devil's Due books from the plethora of other distributors will be sadly left adrift.
Digital Manga Publishing | Pages 281-288
Holy shit, dude-on-dude action buys a lot of ad pages.
Drawn and Quarterly | Page 290
I've seen the name Raymond Briggs bandied about a lot by people who know their British comics better than I do (which is to say they know why they put the letter "u" in words like "color" and "behavior,") so I'm interested in his 1980 work Gentleman Jim (40 pages, hardcover, $14.95) as both a first read from the man and a look at an early example of the graphic novel.
Fantagraphics | Pages 298-302
Holy Mackerel. This is like some sort of holy grail, forcing me to switch the bullet-point format just so I can get through this without turning into a frothing madman who threatens to break fingers unless everything mentioned is ordered:
Harper Collins | Page 306
You know, in a month that includes the just-mentioned Humbug collection and American Flagg, it's hard to imagine that there's another reprint collection that could claim the top spot in my heart, but here it is: Zot! The Complete Black and White Stories 1987-1991 (576 pages, softcover, $22.95.) I've read just a few issues of this series and was smitten, but the collections have been out-of-print and impossible to find. In light of Bone and its success in multiple markets, the lack of a definitive edition became even more baffling. This looks to correct this error and manage to one-up my hopes by featuring "lots and lots of commentary," sketches, and ephemera related to the character. Hot damn, am I excited for this one.
My fingers are wearying, so we'll finish this up tomorrow, OK? OK.
Adam Beechen and Manny Bello's Hench is one of the very best comics put out by AiT and it remains strangely underappreciated still, despite writer Beechen's recent major-imprint work on titles such as Robin, Countdown (To Final Crisis), and Teen Titans and the book itself getting coverage in magazines like Entertainment Weekly. I'm curious to see if that magic comes back with the baseball (comedy? thriller? suspense comic? comedithrillipense comic?) Dugout (88 pages, softcover, $12.95,) which involves a jailed pitcher, a desperate manager, and an exhibition game that may serve as a smokescreen for a breakout attempt.
Antarctic Press | Page 212
Pal Dave has already pointed out how moronic a certain set of shirts offered by the publisher that brings you the pure dreck of Gold Digger and Warrior Nun
Atomic Book Company | Page 225
I've mentioned Julia Wertz's webcomics and minis here before, and that's why I'm pointing out that there's now a Fart Party collection (178pages, softcover, $13.95) that you can ask your favorite comics retailer to please order for you and maybe one or two for the shelf, too, because it's funny and stuff. Wertz is an exception in a field overstuffed with autobiographical comics creators who think their navel-gazing is worth your brain-cycles: she's funny while willing to make herself the butt of the joke, a less-annoying Sarah Silverman for comics.
Avatar | Page 226
Two Ellis books debut this month, with the more-interesting being follow-up graphic novella (no, let's not use that term again, ok?) in the same format as the supremely-entertaining Crêcy. While Aetheric Mechanics (48 pages, softcover, $6.99) has the slight eau du steampunk about it, there's a very pulpy feel about the solicitation, with lines like "The year is 1907, and Britain has entered into a terrifying war with Ruritania, whose strange metal planes darken the skies, and whose monstrous war engines cast looming shadows from across the channel. Doctor Robert Watcham, lately returned to London from the front, makes his homecoming to Dilke Street. There lives his old friend, and England's greatest amateur detective, Sax Raker. Even as his beloved city prepares for war, Raker is himself about to embark on the strangest (and, perhaps, the most important) investigation of his career: The case of the man who wasn't there," practically begging me to throw my seven dollars in the hat.
The second Ellis title that's debuting this month is No Hero, which gets one of those #0 issues that Avatar, Aspen, and certain other publishers continue to flog as if that joke was funny to begin with. Treading territory that's similar, if not identical to Black Summer with Juan Jose Ryp returning to provide more of the maniacally-detailed art that boggles even as it impresses, I'm not supremely worked up for this, but I ended up being quite taken by Black Summer, so maybe this will provide some of those thrills.
BOOM! | Page 241
The first issue of Challenger Deep, a four-part miniseries involving an underwater salvage crew getting in over their heads while retrieving an experimental nuclear submarine from the Marianas Trench. I'm a sucker for things like this, ever since seeing The Abyss back when I wasn't afraid to wear short pants and Hypercolor t-shirts. It's written by Andrew Cosby, who blah blah blah buy Cover Girl, the end.
Dynamite Entertainment | Page 264
The 10th anniversary reprint of Frank Miller and Simon Bisley's (justly?) forgotten Bad Boy (48 pages, hardcover, $14.99) gets resolicited. I never read this and presume that, since it's never spoken of, that it's not very good. Would I be incorrect and should thus ask my purveyor to include one in my order for the month? Please note that I continue to be a fan of Mr. Miller's comic work, despite the slide into insanity that he seems to have taken. I suspect that will one day be called a Sim Complex.
Devil's Due | Page 275
How to make me care even less about Hack Slash: get the controversial, overexposed, and increasingly-dreary Suicide Girls brand involved. I like looking at naked, tattooed, and pierced girls an awful lot, but they've managed to ensure that even in that niche, a uniformity of forced uniqueness is stamped onto each and every model with a carefully-considered distribution of barbells, ink, and studs. Apparently, one of the variant covers here is a Previews Exclusive, which means that those shops ordering Devil's Due books from the plethora of other distributors will be sadly left adrift.
Digital Manga Publishing | Pages 281-288
Holy shit, dude-on-dude action buys a lot of ad pages.
Drawn and Quarterly | Page 290
I've seen the name Raymond Briggs bandied about a lot by people who know their British comics better than I do (which is to say they know why they put the letter "u" in words like "color" and "behavior,") so I'm interested in his 1980 work Gentleman Jim (40 pages, hardcover, $14.95) as both a first read from the man and a look at an early example of the graphic novel.
Fantagraphics | Pages 298-302
Holy Mackerel. This is like some sort of holy grail, forcing me to switch the bullet-point format just so I can get through this without turning into a frothing madman who threatens to break fingers unless everything mentioned is ordered:
- Deitch's Pictorama (240 pages, softcover, $18.99) is a collection of Kim Deitch's shorts and "yarns," and I'm not exaggerating at all that when I say that each time I read his work, I walk away with a grin. Unlike Crumb,I don't feel Deitch's craft is overwhelmed by his legacy: he simply is that good.
- The Humbug collection (400 pages, hardcover/slipcased 2-volume set, $50.00) reprints the entirety of Harvey Kurtzman's too-briefly-lived, post-Mad humor magazine. I've never read any of this material, but considering that Kurtzman is responsible for Superduperman and at least million other laugh-out-loud moments in comics history, I figure this is going to be what that raving jackanape Jim Cramer would call a definite buy before slapping some noisemaker his producers had picked up from the discount bin at Staples.
- Los Bros Hernandez. An annually-produced 100+ page comic under the banner Love And Rockets: New Stories with a cover price of $14.99. That sound you heard was me sighing with positively phenethylaminic delight. A great format for creators that continue to hone their craft.
- Tales Designed To Thrizzle #4 is the first new issue of Michael Kupperman's hilarious comics magazine in far too long. I don't think anything has ever made me laugh so hard and with such consistency as the previous three issues of this comic. Get this, and if you've not, order the previous three issues. You'll thank me with your laughter.
Harper Collins | Page 306
You know, in a month that includes the just-mentioned Humbug collection and American Flagg, it's hard to imagine that there's another reprint collection that could claim the top spot in my heart, but here it is: Zot! The Complete Black and White Stories 1987-1991 (576 pages, softcover, $22.95.) I've read just a few issues of this series and was smitten, but the collections have been out-of-print and impossible to find. In light of Bone and its success in multiple markets, the lack of a definitive edition became even more baffling. This looks to correct this error and manage to one-up my hopes by featuring "lots and lots of commentary," sketches, and ephemera related to the character. Hot damn, am I excited for this one.
My fingers are wearying, so we'll finish this up tomorrow, OK? OK.
