Previews Rundown: January 2007

Comments Off | Posted: January 9th, 2007 | Filed under: Uncategorized

OK, so, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these and as both Marvel and DC dominate this industry and have enough ad revenue at any given moment to choke a particularly large donkey, I’m sticking with the smaller companies, which will include Image and Dark Horse just because they’re there. Are you ready? Do you have your copy of this month’s Previews at hand and a pen to demark suggestions I have that you feel contain an extra bit of merit?

Then let’s begin.

Dark Horse

New BPRD series, page 25. This is the one I’m moving to trades on, but I can still state that the series is well worth some consideration for the Hellboy fan who’s a bit lost between series.

There’s a new Aliens novel on page 28, written by Diane Carey, whose Star Trek books I devoured in my wayward youth. This one, titled Cauldron involves – get this – a spaceship adrift with those pesky Xenomorphs on board! And, in a shocking twist, things go horribly awry and those little buggers lay waste to everything they see. Seriously, would it kill anyone to write an Aliens story set at, I dunno, Laguna Beach? I would probably pay cash to read such a thing.

Following up on that is a $15 hardcover collecting the first three issues of Matt Wagner’s Grendel (page 29.) Ye gods – I understand how the work’s loved by all and deservedly praised, but how about we get a logically-numbered reprint series that lets those of us who only have a few Comico issues here and there get the series in softcover?

Page 39 features Space Pinchy. I do not know what Space Pinchy is, nor do I want to.

Image

After The Cape, on page 140, smacks of that old-school Bendis-when-he-drew-too vibe and there’s not a bit wrong with that. I’m going to wait for this to get a collection (and find out if it’s any good,) but it’s got pretty, high-contrast art and the previews I’ve seen indicate that the dialogue is good. I just worry about, y’know, the story.

For those of you who were waiting to pick up the two series I flogged the hardest in 2006, Phonogram and Casanova, there are trade paperbacks solicited on pages 149 and 148, respectively.

ADV
Page 213 has an ad for Gunslinger Girl, about preteen female robots trained as assassins in the depths of Italy’s ancient ruins. Despite the sheer overwhelming weight of similarity this has to many other comics, there’s something about this that appeals to me – is this manga any good? I’ve seen a trailer for the manga and that seemed to be up my alley, but I like to start with the source material first whenever possible.

(This attitude is what keeps me from seeing Mail on DVD until I’ve got at least two or three volumes under my belt.)

Amaze Ink and Slave Labor
Two early series by Gene Yang, whose American Born Chinese was given a justified nod for the National Book Award, are featured in trade paperback format on page 217. While I’m not the biggest fan of either Gordon Yamamoto And The King Of The Geeks or Loyola Chin And The San Peligran Order, it’s really interesting to see the quantitative leap in craft the author took.

BOOM! Studios
There’s two new series on page 236, both of which I’d most likely pay for if they weren’t sent to me anyway as appeasement. Hunter’s Moon is written by James L. White, who scripted the biopic Ray and sounds like the sort of thriller I appreciate – a man dealing with a terrible conundrum in a hostile community. There’s also Left On Mission by Chip Mosher and Francisco Francavilla, a spy story about a man forced back into service with a mission featuring a target he’d much rather miss.

Dynamite Entertainment
You know, they revive Savage Tales, launch a new zombie book called Raise the Dead, and I still don’t have my fucking American Flagg reprint collection that was solicited in 2004.

Just putting that out there.

[EDIT: I want to apologize for that. I was confusing Dynamite Entertainment with Dynamic Forces and though they share many things, editorial and having to work with another company on handling the American Flagg reprints is not one of them.]

Drawn & Quarterly
John Pocellino’s understated, possibly brilliant comic folk art gets a large collection with King Cat Classics, featured on page 272. Yes, it’s $30, but it’s also a hardcover 384-page tome that covers the span of his career so far. Possibly the book of the month.

Fantagraphics
Page 276, Gilbert Hernandez, original graphic novel, Chance In Hell. That’s all you need to know, really.

Griffin
Nick Bertozzi’s The Salon features Picasso, Gertrude Stein, and others attempting to solve a murder mystery in turn-of-the-century Paris. It’s on page 281 and it sounds like a ripping yarn worthy of some sort of look.

[Edit: Garth reminds me in comments that this is the book that was excerpted in the comic at the center of the Gordon Lee case, which refuses to die.]

Gullywasher
I’ve talked about how much I loved Danica Novgorodoff’s A Late Freeze in the past and now that it’s available through Diamond, you don’t have an excuse. It’s also on page 281, so make sure you tell your retailer that yes, you’d like that $6.50 piece of newcomer-smelling comics goodness.

That sounded pretty dirty. Sorry, Danica!

Hyperion
Out of the Center for Cartoon Studies comes page 283′s Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi (him again!). I’m a sucker for this sort of thing – Carter Beats The Devil is one of my favorite novels – and with the quality attached, I figure this is a no-brainer at $17.

IDW
I’m glad to see there’s a trade collecting the first Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse series, as Ben Templesmith has become much better than the Ashley Wood-a-like he started off as. I’ve heard from a few people that this is a good read, so I’ve made note of it on page 287.

However, a $75 slipcase that holds all of the “rarest covers from Transformers: Beast Wars: The Gathering” is worthy of so much scorn that I may have to go purchase a backup drive to keep track of it. That’s on page 289, if you care.

Oni Press
OK, so page 306′s Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen Of Alpha Squad 7 looks like a bit of a hoot, and it’s got lots of things going for it. There. I said it. I’ll probably even buy it.

Page 306 also features an intriguing-looking graphic novel called Wonton Soup by James Stokoe. My notes here from first glancing at it, read as follows: Future space chef vs space ninjas? O YS. So I’ll be getting that, I guess.

Yes, I was probably drunk when I made that note.

Pantheon
Alias The Cat (page 308) is Kim Deitch blowing the lid off the story of a mysterious masked crimefighter in early Hollywood who either took the persona of, or was a film and comic strip star. It sounds like a bit of a giggle.

Picturebox
The Trenton Doyle Handbook is artist Trenton Doyle Hancock’s take on a Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-style book featuring his characters and their complex mythology. Joe Rubenstein’s involved, too, which means that his money is where his mouth is – that man delineated so much of my youth.

Tokyopop
Page 319 has a new work by Brandon Graham, whose Elevator I couldn’t praise enough. King City is the titular locale, full of “spy gangs, alien porn, and reasonably priced diners,” and our lead Joe (who has a cat that become anything) tries to make his way in it. This is the first of three volumes and based on Graham’s earlier work, I’m saying this is a must-read.

Top Shelf
Page 336 features two books of note. Jeff Lemire’s Essex County Volume 1: Tales From The Farm is one of the best books I read last year and I’m glad to see that it’s finally coming out through a publisher that consistently brings interesting new talent to the fore. Lemire’s going to go places and I’m glad to get to watch him rise. (Yes, I am totally trying to become back-cover bait with that, but it’s legitimate praise. I think Lemire’s a bright star in a cloudy, possibly-too-arty firmament.)

Jeffrey Brown gets another $5 of my money with Feeble Attempts #1. As much as I enjoy his longer material, I think he really works best in confined spaces and this collects odds and sods from his work.

Very Dynamic Comics
Book with Pictures #2 comes out, continuing Sina Grace’s story of Melissa, a comic shop employee in Los Angeles and her trials and tribulations. This is on page 340 and from the previews I’ve seen, this manages to avoid being too inside baseball.

Viz
Pages 342 through 352 pass by as a high-cost blur of paper. Should I read Drifting Classroom? Signs point to “yes,” but I need a bit more justification.

Wow, that was pretty painless. Once I yank the big two out, it’s almost fun to write these posts. Maybe I’ll even do another next month.

---