Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Thief of Thieves #1

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, I’d start with Thief of Thieves #1 (Image/Skybound, $2.99). The gang at Skybound gave me an advance PDF of this issue, and I like it so much I want to hold the physical thing in my hands. Shawn Martinbrough really nails this first issue, and Nick Spencer really puts his Marvel work to shame with this story. Next up I’d get my favorite DC Book – Batwoman #6 (DC, $2.99) – and favorite Marvel book – Wolverine and The X-Men #5 ($3.99). I’d finish it all up with Northlanders #48 ($2.99). I’m not the biggest fan of Danijel Zezelj’s work, but I can’t let up now to see my long-running commitment to Northlanders falter at this point.

If I had $30, I’d dig into Richard Corben’s Murky World one-shot (Dark Horse, $3.50). Corben’s one of those “will-buy-no-matter-what” artists for me that Tom Spurgeon recently focused on, and this looks right up my alley. Next up I’d get Secret Avengers #22 (Marvel, $3.99) because Remender’s idea of robot descendents intrigues me, and then Wolverine and The X-Men: Alpha and Omega (Marvel, $3.99). I didn’t know what to expect from the first issue, and after reading it I still don’t know where this series is heading – but I like it so far. Finally, I’d get Haunt #21 (Image, $2.99). The combination of Joe Casey & Nathan Fox is like a secret code to open my wallet.

If I could splurge, I’d take the graphic novel Jinchalo (D+Q, $17.95) by Matthew Forsythe. I loved his previous book Ojingogo, and this looks to continue in that hit parade.

Berlin #18

JK Parkin

There’s a brand new issue of Jason Lutes’ Berlin ($4.95) hitting comic shops this week, which seems like a good way to spend the first third of my $15. According to Drawn & Quarterly, there are only about four issues of this excellent series left, which will give me a great reason to go back and read all the issues again in one sitting. Next on my list would be Thief of Thieves #1 ($2.99), the new Nick Spencer/Shawn Martinbrough/Robert Kirkman joint from Skybound. I’d also grab the new Conan series ($3.50), featuring the work of two of my favs, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. How cool is it to see the Demo team reuniting on something like Conan? Their Northlanders story rocked, so I’m looking forward to this. And speaking of which, Northlanders is coming to a close soon, so this is one of the last times I’ll be able to put it on my list here … so I’d spend my last few dollars on issue #48 ($2.99).

Based on the review Brigid gave it a few weeks ago, I’d spend all of my next $15 on Dotter of her Father’s Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot ($14.99)

For my splurge item this week, I dunno … The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde ($14.99) looks interesting, and there’s also the Fantastic Four Season One graphic novel that looks nice, but do I really need to spend $25 to yet again see how the FF become the FF? Probably not. No, instead I’d probably go with One Model Nation, by Dandy Warhols lead singer Courtney Taylor and artist Jim Rugg. Although I’m really hesitant to spend $25 on a graphic novel by a singer–Gerard Way notwithstanding, singers trying to write comics doesn’t always end well–the fact that Jim Rugg did the art is a great selling point for me. I missed it the first time it was published by Image, but I’d be willing to check out the new edition by Titan if, indeed, I had some splurge money to spend.

Memorial #3

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15 this week, I’d start with a book I’ve been curious about since its announcement: Conan The Barbarian #1 (Dark Horse, $3.50). I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Robert E. Howard’s fantasy hero, but the idea of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan handling the character gets me very interested indeed. I’d also grab the first issue of the Robert Kirkman/Nick Spencer collaboration Thief of Thieves #1 (Image, $2.99), about which I’ve heard a lot of good things, and Memorial #3 (IDW, $3.99), the latest of this apparently-underrated book that I am completely in love with currently.

If I had $30, I’d also grab Kevin Keller #1 (Archie, $2.99), Batman and Robin #6 (DC, $2.99 and the best of the Batbooks from my point of view; sorry, Scott Snyder and everyone else) and Wolverine and The X-Men #5 (Marvel, $3.99), easily the best X-Book that’s been around since the first Chris Claremont run. It’s all about the creature comforts, sometimes.

When it comes to splurging, though, it’s all about the new takes on old stories: I’d go for Fantastic Four: Season One Premiere HC (Marvel, $24.99), to see how Marvel’s new line pans out; I’m unconvinced by the core concept of “retelling the origins all over again,” but the creative line-ups and OGN format makes me want this to work out for the House of Ideas.

Dotter of Her Fathers Eyes

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, I’d spend it all on floppies, and I’m skewing young this week. Kevin Keller #1 ($2.99) from Archie is a must, of course. Up till now Kevin has been a bit too good to be true, and I’m hoping Dan Parent will at least get him into some scrapes now that he has his own series. Then I’ll take Princeless #4 ($3.99); I caught up with this series on Graphicly over the weekend because it was getting good buzz, and I like it a lot. The feisty-princess thing isn’t exactly new these days, but the creators get in some clever digs. Adventure Time #1 ($3.99) is another must-have, with the creative combo of Ryan North and artists Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline. It’s based on some Nick show–yeah, whatever. This team can do no wrong in my book. That leaves just enough for the first issue of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s Conan the Barbarian ($3.50) from Dark Horse, with change left over for some penny candy to munch on while I read.

If I had $30, I would add in Mary and Bryan Talbot’s Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, from Dark Horse. The price looks like a typo: $14.99 for the hardcover? It’s a great story (I have already read it), layering Mary Talbot’s childhood as the daughter of an eminent Joyce scholar with the story of Joyce’s daughters and her own struggles against her family and the mores of the time. Mary’s voice is pitch-perfect, and Talbot’s illustrations really capture the era. I know it’s only February, but I’m already putting this on my top ten list for 2012.

Splurge: There’s no huge $50 collection of vintage comics calling out to me this week, but the regular comics are so good I want more. I would like to see IDW’s Archie Treasury: The Best of Dan DeCarlo ($9.99), and the first volume of Vertical’s GTO: 14 Days in Shonan ($10.95) (the prequel to the classic manga series GTO) are both calling to me. And for some stylish girls’ comics, I’ll take issue 4 of PC Cast’s House of Night ($2.99) just for Joelle Jones’s illustrations, and vol. 6 of The Story of Saiunkoku ($9.99) because it’s an elegantly drawn, charmingly written shoujo manga, and I’m really enjoying reading it.

Jinchalo

Chris Mautner

If I had $15, the new volume of Bakuman is calling out to me. I just finished Vol. 8 and am eager for more breathless treatises on how the manga industry operates. On top of that I’d also grab the latest issue of Berlin, Jason Lutes’ ongoing historical saga. Part of me feels a bit foolish for not trade-waiting on these — I tend to think the story reads better in solid chunks than piecemeal — but I’m such an impatient soul.

If I had $30; I’ll read just about anything Bryan Talbot does, so I’m definitely interested in picking up Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes. I might put it all back, however, and pick up Jinchalo, the latest wordless comic from Matthew Forsythe, a sequel of sorts to his rather charming Ojingogo.

Splurge: Casual Robert Crumb fans might be interested in The Life and death of Fritz the Cat. Jack Kirby fans will definitely be interested in Young Romance, a collection of heartthrob tales from Simon and Kirby (see my review). Myself, I might well go for the fourth volume of Torpedo, Jordi Bernet’s grim and gritty (and blackly humorous) gangster series.

Batwoman #6

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d start with the two, female Bat-heroes, Batgirl #6 ($2.99) and Batwoman #6 ($3.99) and the tangential Bat-heroine, Huntress #5 ($2.99). Rounding out my must-reads is Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #6 ($2.99), but I’d also pick up Demon Knights #6 ($2.99), a comic that stays good enough to keep me interested if not overwhelmingly excited. The pin’s awfully close to the bubble on that one for me, but I’m still on board for now.

If I had $30, I’d add some more expensive comics starting with Conan the Barbarian #1 ($3.50). I switched to trade-waiting Dark Horse’s Conan comics a long time ago, but I’m as curious as everyone else about the Wood/Cloonan team on this. I’m also fascinated enough by Richard Corben’s work to want to try out his fantasy one-shot, Murky World ($3.50). I also have it on good authority (Diamond shipping list be damned) that the delayed Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #5 ($3.50) is also coming out this week, so that’s good news. And finally, I’ve enjoyed the few episodes of Adventure Time I’ve seen, so I’d also like to pick up Adventure Time #1 ($3.99) from Boom!.

My splurge this week is another item that hasn’t been verified by Diamond, but it’s shown up on my LCS’ invoice, so I expect Jason’s Athos in America ($24.99) to be on the shelf tomorrow. Jason’s stuff is always awesome and this sort-of prequel to The Last Musketeer should be no exception.

Brian Clevinger discusses the next Atomic Robo miniseries, Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific and it’s going to be a doozy.

She-Devils was supposed to be Volume 2. And then 3. Also 4 through 6. We kept finding reasons to push it back, but the truth was simply that we weren’t yet good enough to pull it off … Which means that, yes, a multi-generational time travel story that eschews traveling through time was a less intimidating story to us than She-Devils … [W]hat happens in it is hard as hell to pull off on a craft level. Moreover, I think Scott and I sensed that this had the potential to be one of those stories, a synthesis of everything that is an Atomic Robo tale. Hopefully we’re nearly good enough now that we won’t screw that up.

Click the link for his full comments as well as Scott Wegener’s thoughts and research on the She-Devils, pictured above.

The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist

It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. As usual, we’re focusing on graphic novels, collected volumes and first issues so that we don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “Batwoman is still awesome!” every month. And we’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

One cool change this month and for the foreseeable future: I’m joined by Graeme McMillan who’ll also be pointing out his favorites.

Finally, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell us what we missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.

Abrams Comicarts

The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist – I admit, I tend to run hot and cold on Clowes’ output, but I’m a sucker for coffee-table career retrospectives, so the idea of taking 224 pages to look back at his career to date (with, of course, the traditional little-seen artwork and commentary) seems like a must-look at the very least. [Graeme]

Abstract Studios

Rachel Rising, Volume 1: The Shadow of Death – Terry Moore’s latest series gets its first collection and I love the premise of a woman’s waking up in a shallow grave with no memory of how she got there and needing to figure out who tried to kill to her. [Michael]

Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom

Arcana

Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom – I don’t know enough about Lovecraft, but man I love me some undersea kingdoms. [Michael]

Archaia

Cow Boy – As much as I don’t want to stick writer Nate Cosby in an all-ages box, I’m eager to read his and Chris Eliopoulos’ story of a kid bounty hunter trying to bring in his family of outlaws. [Michael]

If nothing else, Nate Cosby’s Twitter feed made me curious about checking out his western collaboration with Eliopoulos, but finding out that Roger Langridge and Colleen Coover were also contributing pushed me over the edge. [Graeme]

I’m Not A Plastic Bag – Color me skeptical but hopeful about Rachel Hope Allison’s ecological debut, even if that title makes me a little nervous. [Graeme]

Archie

Archie #631 – Picks up on that story where Archie and Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats hook up. Look, Archie’s going nowhere with either Betty or Veronica, so I’m rooting for the furry. [Michael]

Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 #1 – At first, finding out that this comic was actually by Tony Blake and Alex Saviuk without Lee was a letdown; until I found out that the comic is actually about Stan Lee, which pushes it into the “This will either be horrendous or bizarrely enjoyable” category. [Graeme]

I’m not sure that I’ve ever unreservedly enjoyed a comic that Stan Lee wrote, much less just came up with the idea for, but I love his persona and putting him in the comic with some superheroes is so crazy it just might work. [Michael]

Crossed: Badlands #1

Avatar Press

Crossed: Badlands #1 and 2 – I’m definitely not a horror fan, but the idea of Garth Ennis’ writing an ongoing biweekly series feels like it’s as good a lure to get me to pick this up as anything else. (I think the plan is to have creators alternate on arcs, with Si Spurrier and David Lapham as part of the alternate writers on the book. That’s a pretty impressive line-up.) [Graeme]

Boom!

Exile on the Planet of the Apes #1 – I’m all for another Planet of the Apes comic from Boom!. [Michael]

More Apes by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman (art by Marc Laming)? This can only be a good thing. [Graeme]

Supurbia #1 – I feel like we’ve seen a few of these “what if superheroes and reality shows were mashed together?” series, but here’s the first of four issues of another one written by former Marvel staffer Grace Randolph. [Graeme]

Kitchen Sink Press: The First 25 Years – Remember what I said about being a sucker for coffee table retrospectives above? That goes double for this one, which has the added benefits of being both cheap (only $15!) and having contributions from Alan Moore and other creators from Denis Kitchen’s vast address book. [Graeme]

Dark Horse

BPRD: Hell on Earth – The Pickens County Horror #1 – I’m all for new BPRD comics, but it’s getting more and more difficult to keep track of everything. Still, I’ll buy a Scott Allie Mignolaverse story any day. [Michael]

Abe Sapien, Volume 2: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories

Abe Sapien, Volume 2: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories - Abe’s my favorite BPRD character, so I feel like this the way I do the previous item: grateful, but also a little saturated. [Michael]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Volume 1 – The first ten issues – or two trades, if that’s how your brain works – of the Joss Whedon-led series get an oversized hardcover edition. [Graeme]

Channel Zero – Brian Wood’s breakthrough book comes back into print with this collection of the original series, the Becky Cloonan-illustrated follow-up and material from the awesome Public Domain design book. Jonathan Hickman fans, you should really pick this up. [Graeme]

Manara Erotica, Vol. 1: Click! and Other Stories – Yes, it’s comic porn. But unlike Lost Girls, this is actually sexy comic porn. [Graeme]

Ragemoor #1 – If they hadn’t got me with Richard Corben, they certainly would have with “living castle nurtured on pagan blood.” [Michael]

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Volume 2 – The Promise, Part 2 – Yikes, what a title. I’m still missing Avatar: The Last Airbender though, so this is welcome. [Michael]

Empowered, Volume 7 – Why haven’t I started reading this critical darling yet? I do not know. [Michael]

DC

Batman: Death by Design - Chip Kidd’s writing a Batman book and it’s a real-live, honest-to-goodness superhero adventure. What’s more awesome is that the concept of design plays a large role in the story in the form of a massive reconstruction project in Gotham City. [Michael]

Saucer Country #1

Saucer Country #1 – Paul Cornell + Ryan Kelly + saucer aliens = SOLD. [Michael]

Fairest #1 – Bill Willingham launches a new series about the women of Fables and makes me even less interested in everyone else’s modern updates of fairy tales. [Michael]

New Deadwardians #1 – The solicit opens, “Another vampire/zombie comic? Really, Vertigo?” My sentiments exactly and yet, this one’s illustrated by INJ Culbard whose work I’ve loved on the Sherlock Holmes adaptations he’s done with Ian Edginton. [Michael]

Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1 – It would be redundant to mention that the cover to this is both “striking” and “by Rafael Grampá,” so I’ll just mention the concept, which is also eye-catching. It’s the story of a grad student who also happens to be heir to the Voodoo Queenship of the most haunted city in America, and someone is killing off the royal family. Vertigo was created for stuff like this. [Michael]

Dynamite

Bionic Woman #1 – I had the deepest crush on Jaime Sommers as an 11-year-old. My current crush on Paul Tobin’s writing is slightly less deep, but still significant enough to make me want to read this. [Michael]

I’ve been following Dynamite’s Bionic Man series and surprising myself by digging the hell out’ve it; seeing that this spin-off is being written by the insanely-underrated Paul Tobin was all I needed to convince me to read this. [Graeme]

George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 – For the fantasy fan (or HBO subscriber) in your life, here’s the first quarter of Dynamite’s adaptation of the not-so-cult-anymore novel. [Graeme]

Vampirella: The Red Room #1

Vampirella: The Red Room #1: On the one hand, it’s “monster vs. human cage matches.” On the other, it’s written by Dan Brereton, so it’s probably going to be good fun… [Graeme]

Fantagraphics

Angelman – I’ve not read much by Austrian cartoonist Nicolas Mahler, but I think I’m won over just by the idea of his new book, which satirizes not just superheroes, but the business behind them. [Graeme]

Interiorae – Lovely, lovely art by Gabriella Giandelli in this collection of his Ignatz series. (It’s also in full-color, unlike the original serialization, which is another win.) [Graeme]

I don’t know why it’s taken this long for Fantagraphics to collect the comics that got their cool Ignatz format a few years ago, but I’ll shut up and be grateful. I greatly enjoyed Giandelli’s creepy tale of an apartment building, its residents, the large rabbit who roams its halls, and the creature the rabbit seems to serve. What’s also exciting though is that this means Richard Sala’s Delphine will get a collection too. [Michael]

Humanoids

Monsieur Jean: The Singles Theory – So, so excited for this new book by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian, making its English language debut in this edition. [Graeme]

IDW

Berkeley Breathed’s Outland: The Complete Collection Sunday Comics, 1989-1995 – The star of this collection of Breathed’s Bloom County follow-up isn’t the title strip, but the reprints of his early, college-era work that’ll accompany them. [Graeme]

Funny Stuff

Funny Stuff By Frank Frazetta – It makes me a bad nerd to admit that I don’t think I’ve ever seen Frazetta’s legendary early comics work, so I’m pretty excited for this oversized hardcover collection, especially to see just how much he… homaged other, more famous strips. [Graeme]

Rocketeer Adventures 2 #1 – Featuring work by Stan Sakai, Bill Sienkiewicz, Marc Guggenheim, Peter David, and Sandy Plunkett. Plus covers and pin-ups by Dave Stevens, Darwyn Cooke, and Art Adams. [Michael]

The first series of anthology tributes to Dave Stevens and his retro creation worked so much more than I’d expected, so I’m definitely up for a second go-’round. [Graeme]

Smoke And Mirrors #1: Mike Costa’s been winning me over every month with his Cobra series, so I’m looking forward to this creator-owned book he’s co-writing about a stage magician who gets trapped in a world where magic has taken the place of science. [Graeme]

Star Trek, Volume 1 – Dear all fellow Trekkies/Trekkers/whatever you want to call yourselves: If you liked the original TV show and also the JJ Abrams movie reboot, you owe it to yourself to check out this monthly series, so grab this collection of the first issues and dig in. [Graeme]

Will Eisner’s The Spirit: Artist’s Edition – Of all the IDW “Artists Edition” books to date, this is the one that just feels like a must-have. Eisner’s Spirit pages as they appeared on his drafting table? I cannot wait to see these. [Graeme]

IDW probably explained the “Artist’s Edition” concept before and I just wasn’t paying attention, but I am now and I finally get why it’s cool to have COLOR scans of original-size black-and-white art so you can see blue pencils, art corrections, editorial notes, and stuff like that. Especially for someone as legendary as Will Eisner.  [Michael]

Saga

Image

Saga #1 – New Brian K. Vaughan. Does anything else need to be said? Oh, alright: FIona Staples on art. Seriously, you guys. [Graeme]

I’d buy a Fiona Staple fantasy epic anyway. That Brian K Vaughan is writing it makes me sigh like a Belieber. [Michael]

Hell Yeah #1: There’s something weirdly fitting about reading a series about the generation who’s grown up with super-heroes that’s created by someone like Joe Keatinge, who’s been around in comics for a long time, and Andre Szymanowicz’ art looks good as well… [Graeme]

The Manhattan Projects #1 – Jonathan Hickman returns to indie roots with the true story behind the atomic bomb. Turns out, Oppenheimer created this rocket ship, but forgot to shield it against cosmic rays… [Graeme]

Mad scientists! By Jonathan Hickman! [Michael]

’68, Volume 1: Better Run Through the Jungle – Mark Kidwell, Nat Jones, and Jay Fotos’ Vietnam War/zombie series is collected. [Michael]

The Walking Dead: Cutting Room Floor – I’m very, very curious about this collection of Robert Kirkman’s handwritten notes about the creation of his hit series. It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? But it could very well be awesome… [Graeme]

Marvel

Avengers Academy #27 – Guest-starring the Runaways, ya’ll! And Bruiser’s totally punching Mettle cross-eyed on the cover. [Michael]

Savage Beauty

Moonstone

Savage Beauty Limited Edition Hardcover – I’m really curious to see how Mike Bullock’s contemporary, political jungle-girl story turns out. [Michael]

Oni

The Coldest City - If Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy taught me anything, it’s that I’m really not done with Cold War spy stories just yet. This one’s set in Berlin, which is even cooler. [Michael]

I’ve already read this one in galley format, and it is really, really good for those who like the spy stuff (Queen and Country fans, it’s written by Antony Johnston, so you know that it’s great; the art by Sam Hart follows Steve Yeowell’s lead from his early Zenith days, and for those who know my love for that series, there are few higher compliments I can offer). [Graeme]

The Secret History of DB Cooper #1 – Beyond “colorful weirdness and conspiracy-laden Americana,” I have no idea what to expect from Brian Churilla’s new series, and that just makes me look forward to it all the more. [Graeme]

I can’t wait to find out once and for all if Mr James is Doobie Keebler. [Michael]

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures

Red 5

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #1 – Eep! An Atomic Robo anthology! Great news for a series whose back-up stories have always been just as entertaining as its lead feature. [Michael]

Atomic Robo returns with an all-new ongoing series?!? Surely this means that Christmas is either not over, or coming early or… well, you know what I mean. Good stuff. [Graeme]

Top Shelf

Blue – I’ve never heard of Pat Grant, the creator of this OGN, but Craig Thompson calls him “the Australian Mark Twain,” which is good enough for me. [Graeme]

Zenescope

The Jungle Book #1: Zenescope get around to “updating” the classic and well-loved story, which is more than likely going to mean adding more cleavage than you would’ve thought appropriate. Welcome to the year 20BOOB, everyone. [Graeme]

Clevinger writes, “It’s probably a sad statement about our business savvy that most creators can talk about their projects in terms of the movie deals they’re bound to get. Scott and I? Even before the first issue came out, all we wanted was a tabletop roleplaying game. Y’know, because comics just wasn’t niche enough.”

The game will use a variation on the FATE system, modified by game designer Mike Olson. MTV Geek offers a couple more details, stating that this is an early announcement and that the game is still in development. It will likely be released later this year or early in 2013.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

20th Century Boys, Volume 18

Chris Arrant

If I only had $15, I would only be buying one title this week: 20th Century Boys, Vol. 18 (Viz, $12.99). Sorry Americanos, but Naoki Urasawa is delivering a gripping, sprawling drama that most other books can’t live up to. Wait, I’m wrong – I’d buy two comics with a $15 budget this week; I’d snag the $1 The Strain #1 (Dark Horse, $1) for the price point and Mike Huddleston. I’ve read the novels, but for $1 I can’t miss sampling at least the first issue.

If I had $30, I’d be thankful to double-back and first get Uncanny X-Force #18 (Marvel, $3.99). This issue, the finale of the “Dark Angel Saga,” has been a long time coming and I’m excited for the writing, the art and the story itself; and I can’t forget colorist Dean White, sheesh he’s good. After that I’d pick up my usual Walking Dead #92 (Image, $2.99) and then try Ed McGuinness’ new work in Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (Marvel, $3.99). I’m a big fan of McG’s work, but also realize just how different he is than the standard Marvel (or mainstream super-hero) artist in general. I’ve loved his storytelling sense since Mr. Majestic, and will pick up most any of his work without knowing much about the book itself. Next up would be James Robinson & Cully Hamner’s The Shade #3 (DC, $2.99). I’m surprised DC hasn’t done more marketing for this book, especially considering it’s a character who’s never held a series before; they’ve done little-to-any marketing to define just who the character is, relying on his ties to a lesser-selling series that ended ten years ago (no matter how good it was). Getting off my soapbox: those that have been reading The Shade know it’s good. After that I’d round it off with the best looking comic on shelves, Batwoman #4 (DC, $2.99).

If I was to splurge, I’d double-up my J.H Williams 3 fix with the final volume of Absolute Promethea (DC/ABC, $99.99). Although I already own these issues in singles, getting it over-sized and in hardcover is a treat. I’m hoping it also includes some production art or process sketches – I’m a nut for that.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller

Graeme McMillan

If I just had $15 for comics this week, it’d be gone in one fell swoop, with Fables, Vol. 16: Super Team (DC/Vertigo, $14.99) filling that empty void in my heart I’ve had for the last few months as I’ve awaited the latest collection of Bill Willingham’s long-running series.

If I had $30, however, I’d be picking up The Shade #3, Batwoman #4 and Demon Knights #4 (All DC, $2.99) to continue some of my favorite reads from the New 52 set-up, and sampling the much-hyped Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (Marvel, $3.99) to see if the future of Marvel Comics looks significantly different from its recent past (I suspect that it won’t. Spoilers, as River Song would chide).

In the world of splurging, it really has to be Archaia’s Jim Henson’s The Storyteller hardcover for me ($19.95); with a creative line-up including Jeff Parker, Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Ton Fowler and more, this is pretty much an all-star must-read for me, and one I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.

A Tale of Sand

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, I’d stick to singles. Let’s start with Doctor Who #12 ($3.99), from IDW; it’s a Christmas story by Tony Lee. Sold! Next, issue #2 of P.C. Cast’s House of Night ($2.99), from Dark Horse. Yes, it’s vampires — oh, excuse me, “vampyres” — but Joelle Jones’s art kicks it up a notch, bringing in a sense of energy that pushes the story beyond the usual teen-vampire melodrama. Then just for fun I’ll take Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #4 ($3.50) and Roger Langridge’s Snarked #3 ($3.99). Now that’s a nice stack of comics.

If I had $30, though…the floppies would have to wait, because I’ll be buying A Tale of Sand from Archaia ($29.95). Based on an unproduced film script by Jim Henson, illustrated by Ramon Perez, this book has a lot going for it — the art alone looks fantastic — and I can’t wait to see it.

Splurge: I think I would find it hard to resist the first volume of the Hermes Press collection of My Favorite Martian ($49.99). I loved the show as a kid (although come to think of it, I don’t remember the comics), and I’m hearing good things about Hermes’s production values. And there has to be room in my splurge for vol. 18 of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, still one of the best manga being published in English.

The Sigh

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: In what must be one of the most notable “gets” in a long while, Archaia picked up the rights to Marjane Satrapi’s latest graphic novel, The Sigh, a seeming Persian-styled fairy tale about love and longing. I really don’t know much about this book other than it’s out, but I’m extremely curious to see what the author of Persepolis is up to now.

If I had $30: I still haven’t gotten the first volume, but new Tezuka is always cause for celebration, so let’s herald the arrival of the second volume of Princess Knight. This brick-sized book collects the remainder of the maestro’s gender-swapping tale of a girl who must pretend to be a boy in order to inherit the throne. I’d also pick up the latest issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle, because, hey, Michael Kupperman.

Splurge: 500 Portraits is a collection of drawings by the mighty Tony Millionaire of various people, some famous, some not so famous. I’m sure it all will be exquisitely rendered. If I was indeed splurging, this is what I’d go for.

Demon Knights #4

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d grab the latest issues to some series I’ve been enjoying. Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #4 ($2.99) is my easiest pick. I love that series and I’m even more eager to continue reading it having heard about what Jeff Lemire has planned for the future.  Avengers 1959 #4 ($2.99) puts us into the home stretch on that exciting series and like Chris A and Graeme, I’m very much enjoying The Shade, so #3 ($2.99) is another must-get. Demon Knights #4 ($2.99) also goes on the pile, because I’m growing fond of the characters. It also has a fun, high-concept battle going on; I just wish the story moved faster than it is. Since I’ve got $3 left in my pocket, I’ll give Batwoman #4 ($2.99) a shot to see why everyone loves it.

If I had $30, I’d add Moonstone’s Airboy Presents: Air Vixens #1 ($3.50), because I like Valkyrie (no, not that one; the other one) and Black Angel. The rest of my money would go to Marjane Satrapi’s The Sigh ($10.95), because she’s only ever surprised and delighted me.

There are a ton of items I’d love to splurge on, but I managed to narrow the list to three. I’m reading a lot of old Wonder Woman comics lately, so Showcase Presents Wonder Woman, Volume 4 ($19.99) is a welcome release. But I’d gladly wait on that to get either one of Archaia’s Jim Henson books coming out this week: Jim Henson’s The Storyteller ($19.95) or A Tale of Sand ($29.95). Both sound fantastic, but if forced to choose, I’d grab Storyteller first for its impressive line-up of its own storytellers. In addition to the ones Graeme mentioned above, I’m especially looking forward to stories by Roger Langridge, Marjorie Liu, Ron Marz, Francesco Francavilla, Chris Eliopoulos, Colleen Coover, and Janet Lee.

Hey, it’s Thanksgiving this week! Which means it’s “Black Friday” this week! Which means, if you’re anything like me, you’re going to spend Friday staying far away from the madding crowds crushing themselves to death or a worryingly-close equivalent in search of a great bargain. So why not spend the time reading some comics, instead? For once, here’re some digital comics I think you should download and read instead of leaving the house this Friday.

This isn’t any kind of “best of” selection; it’s literally just a list of things that you may have missed that jumped out at me while perusing Graphic.ly and ComiXology’s selections this weekend, many of which are favorites of mine for reasons both strong and entirely random.

Atomic Robo
What Is It? It’s just ridiculously fun, is what it is. Brian Clevinger, Scott Wagnener et al’s series offers up pulpy ridiculousness that fits the retro nature of the title but has the kind of self-awareness that stops it from being too over the top. Just big, loud, great comics.
Where’s It Available? Graphic.ly, Comixology

Buck Rogers
What Is It? Dynamite’s short-lived resurrection of the classic space hero, with Scott Beatty and Carlos Rafael giving it all they had. Not enough people read this the first time around, but I loved it.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

Comic Book Comics
What Is It? Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey lay the history of the comic book industry bare, and make it surprisingly readable even if you’re not the kind of wonk who finds this kind of stuff fascinating at the best of times.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

Dungeons and Dragons
What Is It? I’ve written about how much I love Jon Rogers’ monthly set in the world of the classic RPG before, but if you’ve not sampled how funny, fast-moving and (again) fun this is, here’s your chance.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

Gingerbread Girl
What Is It? One of the highlights of comic year 2011 for me, Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover’s witty, kind and lovelily human (even the pigeons) graphic novel is still a must-read, if you haven’t already.
Where’s It Available? Graphic.ly, Comixology

Lost At Sea
What Is It? Before there was Scott Pilgrim, there was this first graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and although it’s tonally very different from the series that made his name, it’s something that I found myself falling in love with the first time I read it.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

Skyscrapers of The Midwest
What Is It? If I said “Imagine Chip Kidd but with less formalism and more heart,” I’m not sure if you’d be able to imagine just what Josh Cotter gets up to in this amazing series, but try and imagine that anyway. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking and something to be treasured.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

The Unknown
What Is It? For those who like your mysteries to have a supernatural edge – and for those of you who like your Mark Waid comics to feature smart, snarky leads (Which should be everyone) – then, if you haven’t read this series already, you’re in for a treat.
Where’s It Available? Graphic.ly, Comixology

A Treasury of Victorian Murder
What Is It? Rick Geary is the Sarah Vowell of comics, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. He makes history come alive, which is ironic considering this series is all about murder… but, trust me: He’ll entertain the hell out’ve you with these stories. Or die trying.
Where’s It Available? Comixology

The War at Ellsmere
What Is It? If class warfare, boarding schools and things that go bump in the night aren’t enough to tempt you to try out this great little graphic novel, then buy it for the really kind of awesome art of Faith Erin Hicks, whose work never gets the attention it should; she’s pretty much the definition of “unfairly underrated.”
Where’s It Available? Comixology

Okay, so ten selections to keep you busy enough that you don’t have to even think about hitting the stores on Friday. Those big screen televisions are overrated, anyway.

Mudman

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

What’s that, you say? Paul Grist’s new Mudman series starts this week (#1, Image Comics, $3.50)? Well, that’s how I’m starting my $15 haul this week. While I’m at it, let’s add Avengers Origins: Luke Cage #1 (Marvel, $3.99) and Kirby Genesis: Captain Victory #1 (Dynamite, $3.99), before finishing up with the third issue of Wonder Woman (DC, $2.99) for a superheroic week that goes from the earth to the gods, with some blaxploitation and aliens thrown in the middle for flavor.

DC would dominate the other half of my budget if I had $30. I’d be grabbing the third issues of Green Lantern Corps, Justice League and Supergirl ($2.99 each, except Justice League for $3.99), but I’m surprising myself as much as anyone else by grabbing The Bionic Man #4 (Dynamite, $3.99) for my final pick – I read the first three issues in a bunch this weekend and really enjoyed the book to date much more than I’d been expecting.

If I were to splurge this week, my money would probably end up going to Dark Horse, because I’m kind of tempted by Drawing Down The Moon: The Art of Charles Vess ($29.99). I’ve liked Vess’ art ever since I first saw it, which was possibly in his Spider-Man graphic novel in the late 1980s…? Nonetheless, this is more than likely something I’ll end up loving the hell out of.

Chris Arrant

Wonder Woman #3

If I had $15, I’d grab (with both hands) Wonder Woman #3 (DC, $2.99). The only time I’ve bought three issues in a row of Wonder Woman was the Amazons Attack crossover Pete Woods drew years ago, but this team-up between Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang has been consistently amazing. Next up I’d go from amazons to vikings for Northlanders #46 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99); I’ve bought every issue of this in singles, but seeing artist Paul Azaceta’s arc on this re-invigorated my appreciation for the title. Getting my super-hero fix on, next I’d get Avengers #19 (Marvel, $3.99). I admit seeing Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers isn’t high on my list, but I’ve continually enjoyed what Bendis has done to varying degrees and seeing Daniel Acuna join the book is a big bonus in my book. Lastly, I’d be one of the zombie horde to buy Walking Dead #91 (Image, $2.99).

If I had $30, I’d thankfully double-back to get Greg Capullo’s ongoing return in Batman #3 (DC, $2.99) – seriously, I think Capullo is entrenching himself as a top artist in mainstream comics (again). Next up I’d get two Marvel joints – Thunderbolts #165 (Marvel, $2.99) and Venom #9 (Marvel, $2.99). After that, I’d get me weekly fix of Pilot Season with Seraph (Image/Top Cow, $3.99) then get Justice League #3 (DC, $3.99).

For splurging, there would be no question that I’d get the trade paperback edition of Drawing Down The Moon (Dark Horse, $29.99). I missed this when it came out in hardcover in 2009, so I’m glad to see it coming back into print. I seriously think Vess is one of the overlooked great in comics, but only because he hasn’t done a standard “run” on a title like seems to be needed to ingratiate yourself with the comic buying world at large. Regardless, Vess is a master and I’m glad to finally get my hands on this for a decent price.

Chris Mautner

Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker

If I had $15: It’s a quiet week for me for the most part, so I’d probably limit my initial purchases to the fifth issue of The Boys‘ spin-off Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker. For some reason I was under the delusion that it was a four-issue series and not six. Oh well.

If I had $30: A lot of people who’s opinions I respect really like the work of Golden Age artist Bob Powell, so I’d at least take a gander through Bob Powell’s Terror, a Craig Yoe-edited collection of ghoulish tales.

Splurge: That $150 one-volume anniversary edition of Bone would probably make a good Christmas present for somebody on my gift list. If I was splurging for myself though, I’d grab another Yoe-edited book, Felix the Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails, a collection of long-form stories done for Dell and Harvey back in the day by Otto Messmer, who did the original Felix comic strip as well.

Brigid Alverson

Saturn Apartments

If I had $15: I would end up leaving some of it on the table, because this is a good week for manga, and all the manga costs less than $15. Viz has three new volumes coming out this week, and my first choice among them is volume four of Saturn Apartments ($12.99), which I mentioned in What Are You Reading? this past weekend. It’s a lovely sci-fi story about a window washer in a space colony and the people he encounters. I’m hooked, and I’m ready for volume four.

If I had $30: I would add Tesoro, an anthology of short stories by Natsume Ono. Viz has been publishing a lot of Ono’s work lately, and it’s all beautiful. Her stories are more literary and romantic than your standard run of teenage manga, and she has a clean, linear style that is easy on the eyes. With the leftover money, I’d pick up Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #3, just for something different–and because I find Atomic Robo irresistible.

Splurge: Let’s start with the third Viz release of the week, vol. 10 of Real. It’s a splurge for me because it’s a bit of a risk–I haven’t been keeping up with the series, and I don’t know anything about basketball, let alone wheelchair basketball. But volume 1 was amazing, and I’d like to see more. And if I’m really binging, I’d add the first volume of Fantagraphics’ Pogo collection ($39.99) and Drawn & Quarterly’s The Adventures of Herge ($19.95), a graphic biography of the creator of Tintin, drawn in his own ligne claire style.

Michael May

If I had #15, I’d spend most of it on DC. Eventually, I’m going to have to cut back on the number of series I’m buying from them, but not this week. I’m still enjoying Batman ($2.99), Birds of Prey ($2.99), Supergirl ($2.99), and Wonder Woman ($2.99) and want the third issues of each of them. Finishing off my budget, I’d grab Fear Itself: The Fearless #3 ($2.99). I caught up on it last night and even though I didn’t read Fear Itself, I’m going to enjoy Valkyrie’s globe-trotting adventures tracking down a bunch of MacGuffiny weapons and fighting vampires and Avengers along the way.

If I had $30, I’d quickly add Planet of the Apes #8 ($3.99), Bonnie Lass #3 ($2.99), and Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #3 ($3.50). And like Graeme, I’d be sure to try out Paul Grist’s Mudman #1.

Splurge-wise, how unfair is the universe for making the color, one-volume Bone ($150.00) available on the same day as Fantagraphic’s Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 ($39.99)? And that’s on top of DC’s Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers collection ($49.99) and SLG’s Royal Historian of Oz ($14.95). Bone and Pogo are especially impossible to pick between, even with the massive price difference.

Reading Robo

There are several cool quotes in this post by Atomic Robo writer Brian Clevinger, especially in the letter from a mom whose 6-year-old son is now reading at a fifth-grade level thanks entirely to his love of comics, specifically Atomic Robo and other Red 5 comics. In fact, he loves them so much that he took an issue of Atomic Robo to school to read to his classmates. You can see whether they loved it from the photo.

The part that really got my attention, though, is in Clevinger’s comments at the end:

I would just like to point out that Volume 6, Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X, is the darkest story we’ve told. Yet it’s still appropriate for children.

It’s no secret there are still comics that are appropriate for kids. Marvel and DC are even making a couple themselves. But after a week or so of focusing on the comics that aren’t appropriate for children, it’s refreshing to see a story about one that’s not only kid-friendly, but as Clevinger points out, “universally praised by adults” as well.

Casanova: Avaritia

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

I’m very excited to read Casanova: Avaritia ($4.99), the first new Casanova storyline in what seems like a dog’s age. There’s something about this series that seems to bring out Fraction’s best, perhaps it’s the mere fact he’s working with Fabio Moon and (this time around) Gabriel Ba allows him to rise to the occasion. That and The Boys #58 ($3.99) will probably round out my initial purchases.

If I had $30:

I’m curious about Seymour Chwast’s adaptation of The Canterbury Tales ($20), given that his adaptation of Dante’s Inferno garnered some attention, but in reality, I’m saving my money to get Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot ($18.99), the latest Jacques Tardi book from Fantagraphics, another hard boiled (and ultra-violent) noir in the same vein as West Coast Blues, which is not terribly surprising considering its the same writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette.

I should also point out that the final volume of Mome is out this week and easily the best volume of an already excellent series, featuring stellar work by folks like Eleanor Davis, Josh Simmons, Chuck Forsam, Tim Hensley and more. A steal at $20.

Splurge:

My splurge of the week is easily Cats, Dogs, Men, Women & Clowns: The Lost Art of William Steig. Though he remains a popular children’s author, thanks largely to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Shrek, Steig is often overlooked by cartoonists, which is a mighty shame. This book collects over 450 never-before-published cartoons, along with anecdotes from Steig’s widow.

Graeme McMillan

Action Comics #1

If I had $15 this week, there would be no way I could avoid the New 52 hitting stores with its first full wave, picking up Action Comics #1, Batgirl #1 and Stormwatch #1 (Each DC Comics, $2.99) with something between eager anticipation and fear of disappointment. That would also describe my feelings about Casanova: Avaritia #1 (Marvel, $4.99), Matt Fraction’s return to the series that made me a fan, after many projects of his that have had the opposite effect.

If I had $30, the DC mania would continue with Animal Man #1 and OMAC #1 (Both DC Comics, $2.99), two reboots of one-time favorite series that have one creator getting me excited, and one making me nervous. More nervous-making than exciting, I find myself drawn toward Rich Veitch’s The Big Lie #1 (Image, $3.99), which is already finding itself described as a “truther” book, but… Veitch can be worth reading when he’s got his satirical hat on, so I’ll probably pick it up.

Splurgewise, my Kirby-love is mixing with the same love of gimmickry that makes the OMAC revival fascinating as soon as I see the hardcover collection of Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (Marvel Comics, $34.99), the Erik Larsen-led attempt to imagine how Kirby would’ve continued on the FF if he hadn’t left the book back in 1970 (Other artists include Bruce Timm, who does a mean Kirby homage, Keith Giffen, Bill Wray and Steve Rude). I’ve never read it, but the weirdness alone seems like a siren song, drawing me in…!

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d dig into some New 52 series that have my attention. I’m picking up Action Comics #1 ($3.99) to see if Grant Morrison really has something new to say about Superman: The Early Days, but I’ve seen that time period covered so often that I’m skeptical. He needs to grab me with this issue to get me to buy the next. I’m more excited about Batgirl #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99), series about two characters I know I like by writers I love. Finally, I’d add The Spider #2 ($3.99) from Moonstone because the first issue was awesome.

Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1

If I had $30, I’d add some issues that I’ll end up buying in collected editions anyway later on. Like Chris and Graeme, I’m excited for new Casanova with Avaritia #1 ($4.99). And of course I want the new Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1 ($3.50). I’d round off the pile with bear-riding cowboy Reed Gunther #4 ($2.99).

I’m waffling between three different splurge items this week. First Second’s Bake Sale ($16.99) looks wonderful (and delicious), but my son and I just started reading Amulet, Volume 1 and found it nearly impossible to put down, bedtime be damned. That makes Amulet, Volume 4: The Last Council ($10.99) very tempting even though we’ve got a couple of volumes to catch up on first. I think though that my mad money would go to the new edition of Astro City: Life in the Big City ($17.99), because I haven’t read that story since it came out in single issues and I’ve been wanting to reacquaint myself with Astro City for a few years now.

JK Parkin

New Avengers Annual #1

I was thinking it would be really easy just to say I was going to try all the relaunched DC titles coming out this week, but that would cost me more than $40, which is outside my spending limit. And besides, the first issue I’m most excited about this week isn’t even published by DC — it’s New Avengers Annual #1 ($4.99), featuring the stunning debut of the Revengers! This is sort of the perfect storm for me, as I’ve always loved Marvel’s annuals, I’ve got a soft spot for Wonder Man and I enjoy seeing old C- and D-grade characters get a makeover. That leaves me $10, which I’d spend on three of the new DC titles — Swamp Thing #1 ($2.99), Animal Man #1 ($2.99) and Static Shock #1 ($2.99).

If I had $30, I’d add a few more New 52 titles to the pile — Hawk and Dove #1 ($2.99), Batwing #1 ($2,99) and Stormwatch #1 ($2.99). I’d round it out with Punisher #3 ($2.99) and Morning Glories #12 ($2.99). Because, y’know, man can not live on relaunched titles alone …

There’s a lot to choose from this week, both on the comic front and the splurge front. For my splurge, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between Americus ($14.99) by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill, and The Hidden by Richard Sala ($19.99).

Firestorm from Brightest Day

Before the New 52 created the need for an all-new Firestorm, Atomic Robo-writer Brian Clevinger was going to pick up the character where Brightest Day had left him. At the Atomic Robo blog, Clevinger talks about being approached by DC and working with them to come up with an initial six-issue story outline. He extensively covers not only his approach to the character, but an issue-by-issue look at the outline.

I don’t mention this in a “Boo Hoo! Why couldn’t we have had this?!” kind of way. In fact. Clevinger expresses nothing but well-wishes for Firestorm’s new creative team of Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver and Yildiray Cinar. But it is a fascinating look at the creative process and a fun peek at what might have been.

[Ronnie and Jason] are two guys who share something incredible. Something that can help to make the world a better place. But it’s something that would never exist without both of them. And they don’t necessarily agree on how to use it. They didn’t grow up together, they didn’t come into this as friends, it was pure random chance that it takes these two guys to make something amazing happen. I mean, maybe this is just me turning every conversation into something about Robo, but this sounds a lot like Scott Wegener, me, and Atomic Robo.

(Image via It’s a Dan’s World)

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Spontaneous #1

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15 this week, the first thing I’d grab would be a complete nostalgia-buy: DC Retroactive: Justice League of America – The 70s #1 (DC, $4.99), because I am a complete and utter sucker for JLA stories, and grew up reading old back issues of the title I found at used bookstores. This would be worth it for the reprint at the back alone, never mind the new story by Cary Bates that looks like it’s playing around with the multiverse one more time. To accompany that, I’d also pick up the first two issues of Joe Harris and Brett Weldele’s Spontaneous (both $3.99), because – even though I missed the Free Comic Book Day release of the debut – I’m a fan of Harris’ Ghost Projekt and Weldele’s work on The Surrogates, and curious to see just where a book about spontaneous human combustion can actually go.

If I had $30 this week, I’d add Kirby: Genesis #2 (Dynamite, $3.99) and Captain America & Bucky #620 (Marvel, $2.99) to my pile, each one taking on Kirby characters in their own way – I really loved the first two issues of Kirby: Genesis, and Chris Samnee’s art alone makes Cap/Bucky a must-read. I’d also get another Dynamite book, the first issue of Terminator/Robocop: Kill Human ($3.99), because I’m hoping that Brit writer Rob Williams brings the 2000AD feel that the cyborg cop vs. killer robot high concept really deserves. Finally, I admit that I’m unable to resist Amazing Spider-Man #666 (Marvel, $3.99), just to see what Spider Island is like in person, as sad as I am that they didn’t go for the more obvious Spider-Manhattan pun for the title…

When it comes to splurging this week, I’m sticking with ol’ webhead: Essential Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 5 (Marvel, $19.99) collects all manner of classic issues from my youth, including the original Sin-Eater saga, and resisting that just isn’t going to happen anytime soon, I’m afraid. Make mine late 1980s Marvel!

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 3: Century #2 - 1969

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

Wow. It’s a really strong week. There’s a new issue of Glamourpuss ($3.99) out, so that’s probably my first buy. There’s also a new Smurfs book, The Astro-Smurf ($5.99) out as well, but I think I’ll hold off on that for now and go instead with the second chapter of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 3: Century ($9.95), which I’ve been rather anxiously anticipating.

If I had $30:

I love learning about classic Eurocomics, so my next purchase would be one of two new books from Fantagraphics: either Gil Jordan: Murder by High Tide ($18.99) or Sibyl-Anne Vs. Ratticus ($16.99). I know nothing about either book or the creators (M. Tillieux and R. Macherot, respectively) and am eager to be schooled.

Splurge:

Oh my goodness, where to begin? There’s the new Alex Toth collection, Setting the Standard ($39.00), also from Fanta. There’s also a fourth volume of Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby ($49.99) out. There’s a interesting looking collaboration between Lou Reed and Mattotti on Poe’s The Raven ($22.99), Rick Geary has a new Murder volume out, this time on Sacco and Vanzetti ($15.99), George O’Connor’s latest retelling of classic Greek myths, Hera ($9.99) arrives, Grant Morrison’s examination of the cape and cowl genre, Supergods ($28.00) is out and Gary Spencer Millidge’s biography of Alan Moore ($45.00) is here. I’ll take it all please.

Olympians, Volume 3: Hera - The Goddess and Her Glory

Brigid Alverson

So many choices! If I had $15, the first $10.99 of it would go to vol. 8 of Twin Spica. This is a great series about a girl who aspires to be an astronaut, and while it definitely favors human drama over sci-fi, there’s a bit of both. That leaves me four bucks, so I can buy one comic. I see a lot of temptations, but there’s no way I’m missing The Sixth Gun #13 ($3.99) so that gets the nod.

It doesn’t get any easier at the $30 level. I’m tempted by the newest volume in George O’Connor’s beautifully drawn Olympians series Hera: The Goddess and her Glory ($9.99), but an odd little comic called Seeds ($10.99) is pulling me away with the promise of family drama in a detached indy style. OK, I’ll go with that, and then add Spontaneous #1 ($3.99) to the pile, because who can resist a comic about spontaneous human combustion?

My splurge is all over the place. I’ll take the second issue of Spontaneous, for starters, as Oni seems to be releasing them simultaneously. Toss in Ape’s latest Richie Rich comic as well. The serious splurge begins with Abrams’ Krazy Kat and the Art of George Herriman: A Celebration ($29.95). As much as I love old comics, I love oddball memorabilia even more, and Craig Yoe always finds some interesting ephemera to add to his collections of classic comic strips. I’ll take that Olympians book now, and add the second volume of Defiance ($16.99), also from First Second, because I think the first volume was my favorite of last spring’s books and that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about First Second. And finally, because even splurges have their limits, Atomic Robo: The Deadly Art of Science, the fifth collection of this series and one of my favorites. There. Done. Hold my calls, I’m reading comics.

Flashpoint: Project Superman #2

Chris Arrant

If I only had $15, it would be a tough week for me; I count 14 titles I’d easily spend my money on. Narrowing it down to $15, I’d spend the bulk of it on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III: Century #2 (Top Shelf, $9.95). If anyone’s deserved my money sight unseen it’s Alan Moore, and that goes double after reading the first issue of this series. Second up would be Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips’ Criminal: Last of the Innocent #2. This one seems to recapture some of the first series’ magic after going a bit wild in subsequent installments.

If I had $30, I’d double back and get Flashpoint: Project Superman #2 (DC, $2.99) if for nothing else than to see more of Gene Ha. After his debacle with IDW and Bill Willingham, I’m glad to see him back on shelves – although I kind of wish he’d been given a more prominent series at Marvel or DC. Next up would be a trio of Marvel titles: X-Men Schism #2 (Marvel, $3.99), Uncanny X-Force #12 (Marvel, $3.99) and Secret Warriors #28 (Marvel, $2.99).

If I had money to splurge, I’d give it up for the second Metal Hurlant Collection (Humanoids, $29.95). I have some of these stories in their
original magazine format, but this would fill out my collection and let me give away those singles to someone deserving.

Atomic Robo, Volume 5: The Deadly Art of Science

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d load up on floppies, as usual, starting with a couple of series I’m following faithfully. Xombi got recent praise from both Jeff Lemire and Grant Morrison, so don’t take just my word for how good it is. Issue #5 ($2.99) of course makes my pile. Also, I just finished watching the live-action Planet of the Apes TV show and loved it, but watching the cartoon series that followed it is a real buzz-kill. I need some good Planet of the Apes again and the fourth issue of Boom’s series ($3.99) is just the ticket. Rounding off the pile are Image’s undersea-treasure-hunt-gone-horribly-wrong story The Vault #1 ($3.50) and IDW’s Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #5 ($3.99). I’m going to miss Phil Hester’s art on Godzilla, but am excited at the same time about Victor Santos’ (who takes over starting with this issue) work on it.

If I had $30, I’d trade-wait Godzilla and Planet of the Apes to save enough money for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III: Century #2 ($9.95) and Olympians, Volume 3: Hera – The Goddess and Her Glory ($9.99).

As some of the guys said above, it really is a busy week, so I’m also splurging like crazy on four different books. Like Brigid, I loved Carla Jablonski and Leland Purvis’ Resistance, Volume 1 and can’t wait for this new installment, Defiance ($16.99). I’m also looking forward to Keith Champagne and Shawn Moll’s league of extraordinary cowboys in Death Valley ($17.99), Phil Hester and David Marquez’ follow-up to Days Missing with Volume 2: Kestus ($24.95), and of course Atomic Robo, Volume 5: Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science ($19.95). It’s not even fair to call Atomic Robo a splurge item. Really more of a necessity.

Kodansha

Publishing | Kodansha Ltd., Japan’s largest publisher, will close its 48-year-old Kodansha International subsidiary by the end of April. The division is a separate company from the New York-based Kodansha USA, which Kodansha Ltd. established in 2008. Kodansha International specialized in English-language translations of Japanese books and original English-language books on Japanese topics, and published the occasional few manga-related title. At the February press conference at which incoming Kodansha Ltd. President Yoshinobu Noma announced the publisher’s 46.7 percent stake in Vertical Inc., he revealed the company would increase its focus on digital publishing and overseas markets. [The Japan Times, Anime News Network]

Publishing | Video game developer Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind World of Warcraft and Starcraft, is rumored to be ending its licensing agreements with troubled U.S. manga publisher Tokyopop. Although the report comes on the heels of Tokyopop’s latest round of layoffs — Troy Lewter edited many of the current Blizzard titles — the two events are apparently unrelated. [Lore Hound, via Joystiq]

Naruto, Vol. 50

Retailing | The 50th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto led BookScan’s February list of graphic novels sold in bookstores, a Top 20 dominated by manga and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim. DC’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne hardcover collection was No. 2. [ICv2.com]

Creators | Christopher Irving posts his lengthy profile of the late Dwayne McDuffie, accompanied by Seth Kushner’s portraits. “I look at the new Blue Beetle, which was really well done and really entertaining, even though it didn’t sell at all,” McDuffie said. “The new things in the [DC] universe are pretty much impossible, and new things out of the universe are pretty unlikely, because people won’t try new things. I hope I’m wrong and there’s some wonderful new thing. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Static will break, but I don’t think people will try it, or that people at comics stores will even care. That book should have come out in 2002 when it was the #2 cartoon on television, and not 2010 when it was in reruns on Disney XD.” [Graphic NYC]

Jonathan Hickman

Creators | Nicholas Slayton spotlights the work of writers Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and Scott Snyder. [Daily Trojan]

Creators | James Carbone briefly profiles Atomic Robo writer Brian Clevinger. [The Daily Anthenaeum]

Creators | Dean Haspiel analyzes a panel of Jack Kirby art from Devil Dinosaur #4. [Kirb Your Enthusiasm]

Comics | Berkeley Place wraps up a five-part retrospective of The Amazing Spider-Man. [Berkeley Place]

Crime | Police in Watsonville, Calif., have arrested a 16-year-old suspected of being one of five people who jumped out of a minivan Wednesday night and beat a man and stole his Superman sweater. [Santa Cruz Sentinel]

20th century Boys

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15,

I’d get volume 13 of 20th Century Boys. This series is fantastic, and I hear there’s a big reveal in this volume.

If I had $30,

I’d add some floppies to the mix. This is a good week for a lot of the series I have been following on and off: Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #4 ($3.50), Sixth Gun #9 ($3.99), Kill Shakespeare #9 ($3.99). Since I have a bit left over, I’ll throw in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #716 ($3.99), because I really have been enjoying that classic Disney.

Splurge

Dark Horse’s Giant Size Little Lulu, vol. 3, weighs in at over 700 pages, so for $24.99 it’s a splurge that brings value for the money. If I’m feeling particularly flush, I’d throw in Boom! Studios’ Muppet Sherlock Holmes ($9.99), just for laughs.

Chris Mautner

Godland #34

If I had $15:

It’s a quiet week for me, but the arrival of a new issue of Godland ($2.99) is always a good thing, and I’m in the need for some tongue-in-cheek Kirby riffs this week.

If I had $30:

The 13th volume of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys is my first and really only pick here this week ($12.99). Perhaps I’ll use the money I save to get some of the other volumes in the series I currently don’t have.

Splurge:

If you’re a fan of classic comics and have the scratch to feed your need, this is a pretty good week. Marvel has volume one of their Golden Age Mystic Comics series, featuring some nice pulp-style work by Alex Schomburg ($59.99). Meanwhile, Dark Horse has the sixth volume of their Eerie Archives out ($49.99), and the third volume of the Giant Sized Little Lulu collections ($24.99). Any of those books would offer a good day’s read.

Michael May

If I had $15:

Namor: The First Mutant #7

I’d start with Namor: The First Mutant #7 ($2.99). I jumped on board with issue #5 and like what Stuart Moore’s up to with a new (to me) supporting cast. He also seems to have hit a nice balance between Namor’s dickish and heroic natures. That’s crucial to what makes the character so fascinating. I’m not totally sold on the Hell plot, but there’s enough other stuff to keep me interested for now. Three other series I’m following also hit this week: Echoes #3 (3.99), Secret Avengers #10 ($3.99), and Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science ($3.50).

If I had $30:

I’d trade-wait all of those and pick up a couple of larger volumes instead. Muppet Sherlock Holmes ($9.99) combines two of my favorite things, so that’s an easy one. Also, I enjoyed the first volume of Outlaw Territory and want to read the second one ($19.99). There are a good number of weird westerns out lately, but as much as I enjoy those, it’s also nice to be able to get western stories with cowboys shooting other cowboys instead of ghosts and witches.

Splurge:

I’m having a difficult time deciding between Dark Horse’s collection of Marvel’s John Carter of Mars: Warlord of Mars ($39.99) and Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Mystic Comics, Volume 1 ($59.99). Thanks to a few blogs that have exposed me to them, I’ve grown very fond of Golden Age adventure stories and Mystic Comics includes several genres, including superheroes, space pulp, mythological fantasy, and jungle adventures. Also, as Chris mentioned: Alex Schomburg art.

That price tag is killing me though, so I’ll probably hope for an eventual paperback collection and go with Warlord of Mars for now. I have fond memories of those John Carter comics from when I was a kid and I’d love to revisit them.

Graeme McMillan

Action Comics #898

It’s a relatively slow week when it comes to trying out new books for me, it seems. If I had $15, I’d probably go with Action Comics #898 (DC, $2.99), because I’ve been really enjoying Paul Cornell’s take on Lex Luthor and found the previous issue to be the best yet by far; New York Five #2 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99), the follow-up to a debut for Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s Minx sequel that impressed the hell out’ve me, even though I was really looking forward to it; and Matt Fraction and Sal Larocca’s Invincible Iron Man #501 (Marvel, $3.99), which again gets a chance based on a more-impressive-than-I’d-been-expecting previous issue (The .1 issue, which I found so much more engaging than the last year or so of the book). Sure, that’s only $10 used, but that’s because…

…If I had $30, I’d use the “spare” $15 to go add DC’s Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 5 ($19.99). I’ve been loving this series, and have waited a long time for this collection, which includes the 100th issue of the series, complete with JSA and Seven Soldiers of Victory team-ups. I really, really love this stuff.

Splurgewise, I’d probably pick up the hardcover collection of Oni Press’ Ghost Projekt Vol. 1 ($19.99); I’ve heard really good things about Joe Harris and Steve Rolston’s supernatural thriller, and the early issues I read left me ready to read more.

Jk Parkin

Red 5 led with the best-sellers, making their top titles, Atomic Robo and Neozoic, available for the iPhone back when each issue was a separate app. And Ens says the comics are selling, with both revenues and the number of comics downloaded increasing every month. “In terms of total sales revenue, it’s still small but growing,” he says.

Earlier today, Mark Millar expressed some concern that creators would not make as much money from digital comics. Ens has a different take, and I’m going to quote his answer at length, because I think he nails it:

As I see it, the main advantages of companies creating their own stores are more money and more creative control. The publisher can avoid middleman percentages to Apple or the technology partner. Also, the publisher can avoid having works from other publishers vying for the reader’s attention. Unfortunately, these are advantages for the publisher and not for the reader.

The advantages of using digital distribution partners are numerous. The most obvious is that they specialize in creating and constantly improving a great user experience. Red 5 readers benefit from those improvements. For example, our comics launched on the iPhone, and are now available on the iPad, the Web, PSP and Android devices . . . all with a single purchase.

Similarly, if Red 5 made its own exclusive reader, then our readers would not have a choice if they prefer another approach. By being on multiple platforms, our readers can select the ecosystem they like best.

Finally, we think comic readers ultimately want their collection in one central place. They typically wouldn’t keep their Spider-Man [comics] in one room of the house, Superman in another room and Star Wars in another. Nor would they want to go to one store to buy Batman and a second store to buy Atomic Robo.

Some of the single-publisher apps that cooperate within a larger technology infrastructure have some merit. From a long-term reader perspective, an isolated ecosystem for a single publisher doesn’t seem very user friendly.

Red 5 doesn’t do same-day releases of digital and print comics; they like to give the print comics a bit of a head start. Once that is done, however, they are quite aggressive: Ens says the entire back catalog is available digitally, and the company plans to release all this year’s comics that way too. And they have announced a line of digital-first comics as well.

With regard to piracy, Ens points out that it isn’t much of a problem so far for digital comics. In fact, all the piracy he has encountered so far has been scans of printed comics. He draws two lessons from the music industry: If the demand exists, pirates will fill it, and some people will never pay for their media. In short, he concludes, “The best way to combat piracy is to supply our product in the format the consumers want to see it. Otherwise, their choices are to steal or ignore.”

Ens is pretty sanguine about the future of the direct market; he seems confident that digital and retail can co-exist, and he likes the idea of including some sort of unique code with print comics that would allow the purchaser to download a digital copy.

While creators like Millar may see digital as a step down from their ideal situation, for creative publishers like Ens (and the very media-savvy creators of Atomic Robo, it must be said), it is a step up to a much larger potential audience than the print channels can provide.

John Byrne's Next Men

Welcome once again to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy based on certain spending limits — $15, $30 to spend and if we had extra money to spend on what we call the “Splurge” item. Check out Diamond’s release list for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Michael May

If I had $15:

There are a lot of great periodicals coming out this week, so I’d have some hard choices to make. With only $15, I’d concentrate first on those with the cheapest prices: the first issue of Dark Horse’s new Mighty Samson ($3.50), Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #2 ($3.50), and Mouse Guard: Black Axe #1 ($3.50). I’m already a huge fan of both Atomic Robo and Mouse Guard and – based on its concept and vague memories of stories I read as a kid – hope to become one of Mighty Samson too. I’d spend the last of my money on Northern Guard #1, because I’m a sucker for Canadian superheroes.

If I had $30:

I’d add Doc Macabre #1 ($3.99), John Byrne’s Next Men #1 ($3.99), and Strange Tales 2 #3 ($4.99). “Doc Macabre” is an awesome name and I love Steve Niles’ pulp stuff, I’ve been waiting 16 years for that Next Men issue, and the Strange Tales book has a Kate Beaton story in which the Avengers go to a carnival. I’d pay five bucks just for Beaton’s deal, but it’s also got a Thing tale by Harvey Pekar (and yes, Harvey Pekar is in the story).

Splurge:

Speaking of Steve Niles pulp: the Mystery Society collection ($19.99) comes out this week, as does Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars ($17.99). Those should both be a lot of fun.

Graeme McMillan

Strange Tales II #3

I’m having the opposite reaction to Michael this week, with lots of more expensive items leaping out at me, but nothing seeming particularly urgent in the periodicals list. And so, if I had $15, I’d probably start with the second issue of IDW’s Dungeons & Dragons ($3.99) after loving the first so much, and then try out the debut of John Byrne’s reborn Next Men ($3.99), to see where his head’s at after all these years. I’d probably also pick up Marvel’s Strange Tales #3 ($4.99), because I’ve enjoyed enough of what’s come before, and really love Kate Beaton’s work… but that remaining $2.03…? That’ll remain up for grabs, I think.

If I had $30, I’d forget about Next Men #1 and put that money and some of the unused $2.03 towards Jason Little’s Motel Art Improvement Service hardcover from Dark Horse ($19.99). There’s something compelling about Little’s comics, which feel to me like a mix of Jessica Abel and Chris Ware, in some strange way. I only vaguely caught up with this as a webcomic, hoping to read it in print. And here it is!

As far as splurging goes, there’s an embarrassment of riches this week: Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s better-than-Earth-One-even-if-delays-in-original-release-killed-momentum Superman Secret Origin HC ($29.99)? The second volume of Judge Dredd Complete Case Files ($19.99)? A new Yotsuba! ($10.99)? But nostalgia wins me over again: I’d go for DC’s Tales of The Green Lantern Corps Vol. 3 ($19.99), which begins collecting Steve Englehart and Joe Staton’s “The Green Lantern Corps” run from the late ’80s that I loved so much. John Stewart was always my favorite back then. Followed by the kinder, gentler Kilowog.

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15…

Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #2

I have to confess, there aren’t too many books that leap out at me and demand my attention this week. One that I must see, however, is the second issue of Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science ($3.50). I really liked the first issue, and I want to see more. That leaves just enough for the ninth volume of Yotsuba&! ($10.99), and I’m grabbing that because it’s that rare book that is funny to adults as well as children.

If I had $30…

I don’t know too much about it, but NBM’s latest Nicolas de Crecy graphic novel, Salvatore: Transports of Love ($14.99) looks like the sort of thing I’d like. It’s a weird fantasy about a dog who works as an auto mechanic and moves his shop to a mountain peak… yeah. Well, it’s something to talk about at Christmas parties, anyway.

Splurge…

Two things, which together add up to less than 40 bucks: I liked Nathan Edmondson and Brett Weldele’s The Light, especially Weldele’s art, so I would like to pick up the trade ($16.99). And Fumi Yoshinaga’s Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! ($10.99) is sort of a foodie’s tour of Tokyo, with Yoshinaga and a friend sampling the signature dishes of various restaurants. I have no plans to go to Tokyo anytime soon, but the book looks like fun.

Chris Mautner

Big Questions #15

If I had $15:

The trade collection of Anders Nilsen’s Big Questions will be out next year, but I’m the impatient sort, so I’ll probably pick up the final issue, No. 15 ($7.95) this week. Nilsen earned his cred on books like Dogs & Water and Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow, but Questions, which he’s been doing seemingly since before Dogs debuted, may prove to be a defining work.

I’ll also pick up the fifth issue of Highland Laddie ($3.99) though the next time they do one of these Boys spin-offs I might opt to wait for the trade …

If I had $30:

… as I did with Strange Tales. I’m anxious to see the third issue, but in this instance I’m holding off. Instead, I’ll pick up the ninth volume of Yotsuba&!, a book that never fails to charm just about every member of my family.

Splurge:

I already have a copy, but if you’re a Steve Ditko fan then your splurge item for the week should be Unexplored Worlds, the second volume in Fantagraphics and editor Blake Bell’s ongoing attempt to collect his pre-Code and pre-Spider-Man material. My splurge, however, is a $30 hardcover collection of Jodorowsky and Moebius’ Madwoman of the Sacred Heart. I know next to nothing about this book, but c’mon, it’s Jodorowsky and Moebius! The same folks who brought The Incal! How could it not be awesome? (please don’t answer that)

Not necessarily Brian Clevinger

Brian Clevinger first came to my attention with Atomic Robo and I’ve been a big fan ever since. Anyone who writes dialogue like “I beat them with my violence” is aces with me.

Of course, by the time Atomic Robo came to town, Clevinger was already a familiar name to fans of his award-winning webcomic 8-Bit Theater. And he’s becoming known to even more folks with his Marvel work. He wrote the back-up stories for World War Hulks: Wolverine vs. Captain America as well as the mini-series that features a space trucker and the line, “Doom does not mop”: Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet. And starting next month, he’ll be writing the WWII adventures of Captain America in Captain America: The Fighting Avenger.

Let’s get to know him:

Q: Who’s your personal hero?

A: My grandfather is an obvious choice. My parents too. They’re good people.

Q: What’s your morning routine?

A: First Charlie wakes me up 10 seconds before my alarm goes off. It looks like this. Then my alarm goes off. Then I feed the damn cats, start some coffee, check my email, skim Twitter, poke at a couple websites, and get to work.

Captain America: The Fighting Avenger

Q: What’s your favorite item of clothing?

A: Right now I’m loving this new hoodie I got. There’s nothing special about it. No design, not even an interesting color. But it’s WARM. I’m a Florida boy what moved to Virginia in the middle of the coldest winter they’ve had in thirty years. And with Winter looming in the near future, me and that hoodie are gonna be good friends.

Q: What do you always have with you?

A: My fancy phone!

Q: What’s always in your refrigerator?

A: The basic ingredients for a great sandwich: smoked turkey, smoked ham, roast beef, some kinda cheese, locally grown hydroponic lettuce, and spicy mustard. Also Dr. Pepper. That doesn’t go on the sandwich though. Not on purpose anyway.

Q: What’s your favorite food?

A: Whatever’s on my plate. I never get tired of Chinese food though. Or tacos. Not together though. Not on purpose anyway.

Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne

Q: What’s your fitness routine?

A: I sit down writing comics all day.

Q: What superstitions do you have?

A: I wear Spider-Man boxers every time I travel.

Q: What do you do to procrastinate?

A: I kind of don’t. It’s weird. Y’know how in school you’d stay up all night to finish a big project or paper or whatever? Yeah, I don’t. ‘Cause I never did. I have this deadline paranoia that drives me to getting things done ahead of schedule. Usually WAAAAY ahead of schedule.

Q: What’s your biggest self-indulgence or guilty pleasure?

A: I play video games and faff around on the internet. If I’m feeling particularly saucy I’ll get a Twix bar.

World War Hulks: Captain America vs. Wolverine

Q: What gadget can’t you live without?

A: My fancy phone. WHAT IF SOMEONE EMAILED ME WHILE I WAS OUT AND IT TOOK LIKE AN HOUR TO GET IT AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Q: What’s your most prized possession?

A: My laptop. I do all my work on it, so this sees a lot of action. I loves it.

Q: What kind of vehicle do you drive?

A: 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Just paid it off earlier today!

Q: What’s your next big purchase going to be?

A: Kinda thinking about trading in the Eclipse for a Mini now that we live in a city with tiny roads and cramped parking.

Q: What’s your favorite place in your home?

A: The bed. But that’s entirely the fault of these new covers. They’re so comfortable I think there’s a solid case to be made they’re the work of the devil.

Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War

Q: What’s your greatest artistic strength?

A: I’m not too terrible with fun dialog.

Q: What’s your greatest artistic weakness?

A: I’m pretty terrible at everything else.

Q: Do you play a musical instrument?

A: Only insofar as Rock Band counts.

Q: What talent do you covet?

A: I secretly hate everyone who can draw. That’s xxxtreme coveting.

Q: What’s your best memento from your work?

A: The original art from Atomic Robo that Scott was kind enough to give me.

The Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet

Q: What household chore do you absolutely hate to do?

A: Unloading the dishwasher. Which is very odd because I don’t mind doing the dishes themselves. But unloading that thing? BAH!

Q: What obsolete item can you not part with?

A: Does my NeoGeo emulator count? It’s not even a recent version. Damn thing must be at least five years old by now, so it’s Obsolete x2.

Q: What’s the best recent gift you’ve received?

A: Got some swank pants for Christmas. There’s no story here. I just likes ‘em!

Q: What’s your retreat?

A: Soon as I take a day off I’ll let you know.

Q: Do you collect anything?

A: Historical esoterica. Which sounds a little like “historical erotica” but only occasionally is.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?

A: It’s strange, but I don’t know. I have a habit of turning my hobbies into my job. Like, I spent the other day going over Project: Orion. Again. Because I love Big Science stuff and Weird History, especially in the 20^th century. But it’s also for Atomic Robo. Was that hobby time or was that work time?

Bustin' makes me feel good.

Q: What movie have you seen more than any other?

A: The original Star Wars trilogy and Ghostbusters.

Q: What book have you read more than any other?

A: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Q: What are you always asked at parties?

A: After they ask me what I do, and after I tell them, “I write comics,” the very next thing they ask is if I do the art too. And then when I say “No” the very next thing they ask is if I write what happens in the panels and stuff. I’m assured by my artist friends that they go through a similar routine, but with “art” and “write” reversed.

Q: What’s your evening routine?

A: At some point I put the damn laptop away and then goof around in a video game or watch a movie with my special lady friend.

Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time

Q: What do you always have at your bedside?

A: My fancy phone so it can wake me up ten seconds after the cat does.

Q: What do you obsess over?

A: You may have noticed that “my work” features heavily in these answers.

Q: What’s your travel routine?

A: I try to pack up the night before so I can hit the road as early as possible. Also the Spider-Man boxers.

Q: What’s the worst thing about traveling?

A: The time it takes. Can someone explain to me how a three hour flight eats up about twenty hours of work time?

Q: Which historical figure would you most like to meet?

A: ANSWER OVERLOAD.

Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness

Q: What’s the greatest misconception about your life?

A: Most people I know with “real” jobs have no idea what working at home is like. I guess because they associate “home” with “relaxing” or with “getting away from it all” they think it’s getting paid to sit around in pajamas eating ice cream all day.

Which is just stupid. You’ve got to supplement that with cookies.

Q: What are you going to work on tomorrow?

A: Wrapped up my latest Captain America issue this evening, so tomorrow I’m moving on to outlining an unrelated Marvel one-shot I’ve got to write up next week.

The Royal Historian of Oz #1 Andy Hirsch’s expressive art really lights up this story of an L. Frank Baum wannabe who makes it to the real Land of Oz—and steals a bunch of their stuff. His hapless son, who has barely been keeping things together, is less than thrilled to learn that his house is now home to an assortment of (mostly living) Oz artifacts, and the ruler of Oz isn’t happy with the situation either. Writer Tommy Kovac makes the characters grounded and convincing despite the fantastic circumstances, and Hirsch does a great job of bringing Baum’s lesser-known creations to life, filling the panels with quirky details. It’s in glorious black and white, with a bit of an underground comics vibe, and at 99 cents (a penny less than the print edition!), it’s a solid bargain.

Atomic Robo: The Deadly Art of Science #1 Set in 1930, this is the first issue of a new story arc, and it starts out with a masked vigilante chasing a pair of gangsters while his daughter follows the action via video cameras and wiretaps. When the action shifts to New York, Atomic Robo gets mixed up in it and tags along after the vigilante, looking for the sort of adventures he has only read about in the pulps. The art is clean, the writing is funny, and the characters snap into place right away. Well worth the 99 cents.

The book is only so-so, but I love Darwyn Cooke's cover

Mirror, Mirror This graphic novel is your basic search-for-the-prize thriller with a fairy tale twist: Everyone is running after pieces of the mirror from Snow White, which has great, if somewhat vaguely defined, power. To prevent the mirror from being misused, Snow White smashed it and sent the pieces all over the world, and a secret society called The Huntsmen has been tasked with keeping them separate. Now the slacker son of two murdered archaeologists is racing to keep the last few shards away from the evil prince Mason, a descendant of Snow White’s evil stepmother. It’s a decent, if somewhat light, thriller; the problem is that the creators focus so tightly on the plot that everything seems pre-ordained—given the vaguest of directions (“Greece”), the main characters, Owen and Sally, arrive somewhere and immediately find what they are looking for, and Owen always makes the right guess to find the next clue. It’s all too neat, and the novel seems more like a series of capers than a coherent story, although some of this comes from a fairly complicated plot being compressed into an 85-page graphic novel. None of the ideas are exactly original—both the fairy-tales-are-real thing and the lost-relic thing have been done multiple times—and Lee Moder’s art follows the standard tropes—you can immediately tell what each character’s role will be, good or evil, by looking at them. So no new ground is broken here, but the book does provide a solid hour or so of fast-paced entertainment, and at $4.99, the digital version is a better deal than the print edition, which retails for $14.99. (Free preview here.)

Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 This was a bit of serendipity. I wasn’t reading comics in 1983, when Alan Moore took over this series and wrote a new origin story for the Swamp Thing, so I never would have found it if it hadn’t popped up on comiXology. It’s a throwback to the old EC horror stories, starting with an atmospheric scene (rain dripping on windows) and the revelation that the narrator has done something vague but terrible to another character. From there the story flashes back to the conflict between the two and the creation story of the Swamp Thing. It’s great stuff, imaginative and well executed. This is a good example of one of the strengths of digital—it’s nice to read this in pristine form onscreen (rather than on yellowing paper) and even nicer to be able to buy a copy within seconds of finding out it exists. Cheap at twice the price, and a real bargain at 99 cents.

Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1

Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if we only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.

Check out Diamond’s full release list if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Michael May

If I had $15:

As usual, I’d spend it on single issues. Starting with Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1 ($3.50), then picking up a couple of Moonstone books: Zeroids #2 ($3.99) and Return of the Originals: From the Vault – The Pulp Files ($1.99). I enjoyed the first issue of the genre-mashing Zeroids and have been looking forward to the next part of the story; From the Vault is sort of Moonstone’s version of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe or DC’s Who’s Who. I don’t know nearly as much about the classic pulp characters as I’d like, so I’m looking forward to the education. Next I’d check out IDW’s Dungeons & Dragons #1 ($3.99) to see if they’ve figured out how to do a good D&D comic. That brings me to $13.47.

If I had $30:

I’d put back The Pulp Files and D&D and grab the Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard hardcover ($19.95) instead. With Atomic Robo and Zeroids, that’s a total of $27.44.

Splurge:

My top choice of a splurge item is Fantagraphics first volume of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec ($24.99). I’ve been itching to read these stories since Luc Besson’s movie adaptation was first announced. I can’t resist a French, turn-of-the-century pterodactyl hunter. And as long as I’m splurging, I’d also add Bryan Talbot’s Grandville: Mon Amour ($19.99). I haven’t read the first volume yet, but it looks like exactly the kind of thing I’d enjoy.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

The Return Of Bruce Wayne #6

Dave Sim’s Glamourpuss remains a fascinating, if extremely uneven, read for me, so I’ll be picking up issue #16 ($3). I’ll also grab the sixth and final issue of Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne ($3.99), even though it hasn’t been one of my favorite Grant Morrison or Batman series. My final must nab will be the NBM’s new edition of Smurf King, one of the finest comics about little blue creatures that like to wear white caps and stockings ever made. That brings me to a total of $12.98

If I had $30:

I’m extremely curious about Fantagraphics’ new kids eurocomic line, which kicks off this week with the release of Stephane Blanquet’s Toys in the Basement ($14.99). I’m especially curious in this case as Blanquet isn’t up till this point an author known for his all-ages friendly material. In fact, it’s quite the opposite; his work is usually typified by ugly, sweaty people doing horrible, disturbing things. So, yeah, I want to see how he dials it down (if at all) for the kiddies.

Splurge:

Oh, I shall splurge a bit this week. Michael has already noted the release of Grandville Mon Amour and the Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec, two books I’ve been anticipating for awhile now. I’d also like to point out the arrival of Inkstuds ($20), a hefty collection of Robin McConnell’s radio interviews with notable cartoonists, fully transcribed onto paper for your reading pleasure. Lots of quality insights abound in there, no doubt.

Brigid Alverson

Twin Spica

If I had $15…

I’d start with volume 4 of Twin Spica ($10.95), Vertical’s space-opera manga about a spunky girl in astronaut school. Like any good series, this manga has pulled me in with good storytelling, a convincing world, and characters that seem grounded and real but don’t quite fit the standard stereotypes.

Then maybe I’ll keep the science fiction theme with Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #1 ($3.50), as that kicks off a new arc and looks like a nice read.

If I had $30…

I’d add Toys in the Basement, although at $14.99 for 32 pages, even in hardcover, it seems a bit skimpy. Still, I like the idea of a kid-friendly comic that isn’t afraid to be creepy, and this one—in which a boy dressed in a pink bunny suit stumbles into some weird French version of the Island of Misfit Toys—looks like a challenging read.

Splurge items

Being a complete pushover for Archie and for classic comics, I’m the natural target for Dark Horse’s Archie Firsts collection ($24.99), which groups together the stories in which each character makes his or her first appearance, plus the first stories from each comic in the line. How could I resist? And I’d also love to read Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics (Bloomsbury, $28.00); a hardcover biography certainly feels like a splurge to me.

Neonomicon #2

Retailing | Tallahassee, Fla., comics store Secret Headquarters has announced it is refusing to sell Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Neonomicon #2 “due to pornographic content,” and will no longer carry the Avatar Press series: “Secret Headquarters is deeply dismayed that Alan Moore continues to use his reputation as a quality comics author to promote his bizarre sexual philosophies.” [Bleeding Cool]

Comic-Con International | It’s that time of year again: Memberships for Comic-Con 2011 go on sale at 9 a.m. PST Nov. 1. Note, though, that four-day memberships with Preview Night sold out on the last day of this year’s convention. [Comic-Con International]

New York Comic Con | Brigid Alverson rounds up the kids’ comics news from last weekend’s convention, while Kai-Ming Cha tackles manga. [Publishers Weekly]

Superman #703

Retailing | Cincinnati-area retailer Kendall Swafford will finally get his store’s 900 copies of Superman #703 today. The Cincinnati suburb of Cheviot has declared today “Superman Day” in anticipation of the issue, which depicts the Man of Steel visiting the region during his cross-country walk. [WLWT.com]

Crime | A man who allegedly tried to steal a handful of vintage comics — among them was a copy of Whiz Comics #1, worth $11,000 — at New York Comic Con was stopped thanks to the intervention of retailer Matt Nelson. [New York Post]

Publishing | Douglas Wolk offers a brief history of Marvel’s Strange Tales titles, from 1951 to the present. [Techland]

Creators | Eva Volin posts video interviews with Atomic Robo collaborators Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener and cartoonists Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier, both from last weekend’s New York Comic Con. [Good Comics for Kids]

X-Men: Days of Future Past

I have a confession. I don’t usually like time-travel comics. Or time-travel stories in any medium really.

You’d think I would. I love awesome things and what’s more awesome than going back to dinosaur times or trying to assassinate baby Hitler? But I tend not to like messy stories and time travel is so freaking messy.

Take the X-Men for instance. How many alternate futures do those guys have? Someone’s always coming back from the future to change something in our present. They say that they’re doing it to make the future a better place, but it never really works out that way, does it? In X-Men comics, when you change something in the past, it doesn’t do a damn thing to your version of the future. It just creates a divergent timeline so that, yes, a better future does exist somewhere, but it’s still possible to visit the nasty, Sentinel–filled future that you came from. The result is infinite possible futures with infinite possible versions of yourself and your friends. That makes for some okay Events for a while until there are so many futures to keep track of that it becomes more migrainoid than amusing. That’s what I mean by messy.

There’s another way of doing it though. Time-travel will always be complex. Should always be complex. That’s part of its fun. But it doesn’t have to barf a zillion different futures all over you in the process.

An atomic example, after the break.

Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time

I just finished Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time. And while my point isn’t that Atomic Robo is fundamentally better than the X-Men (although, come on, it totally is), Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener do handle time-travel a lot more… well, I almost said “responsibly,” but that’s a strange word for a comic that features Nazi robots, diaper-wearing mummies, and giant ants. Then again, Atomic Robo (the series, not the character, though yeah, the character too) has a huge heart and yes, “responsibly” presents the robot’s WWII exploits in particular so that the real soldiers of that war are glorified and never undermined. For all its light-hearted joy, Atomic Robo is serious about its storytelling.

So, how does that apply to time-travel? I’m not trying to create any rules for Clevinger and Wegener. They haven’t stated that This Is the Way Time Travel Works in the Robo universe, so there’s lots of room for them to get all X-Meny in the future if they want to. I hope they don’t, but they’ve certainly left room for themselves to do whatever they want. In fact, you could even argue that The Shadow from Beyond Time isn’t truly a time-travel story at all. It’s about a Lovecraftian monster/god that exists outside of time, but intersects with our timeline in various places all at once so that he meets Atomic Robo in four different periods of his life: the ‘20s, the ‘50s, the ‘70s, and today.

But even though Robo’s not hopping between time periods, he does learn how to leave linear time and fight the creature in its own domain. And all four versions of himself team up to do it. Like I said: complicated. But you can get your mind around it and it stays internally consistent. Each time Robo meets himself, time doesn’t separate into two lines: one in which Robo met his future self and one in which he didn’t. I don’t want to say much more and give too much away, but Robo’s always met himself. He doesn’t alter time by moving around in it. Though the story structure is wickedly intricate – and so, fun – time itself isn’t. It’s constant and unchanging.

The Legion of Super-Heroes

I like this better because I don’t feel cheated or played with. When I read an X-Men comic (or any comic that treats time that way), I always feel like I’ve been had a little. “Yes, our entire story has been about trying to prevent this horrible future. We sort of prevented it, but not really because we might like to come back and use it again someday.” In contrast, Atomic Robo presents a cohesive story with a definite conclusion that – when reached – you can see the creators working towards the entire time. It’s more difficult, more intricate storytelling, but that’s exactly what makes it more worthwhile reading.

On the other hand…

It is kind of fun isn’t to have all of these possible futures to play around in. As impossible as it is to keep them all straight, every X-Men fan has a favorite future timeline that we like to see revisited on occasion. Right?

So I put it to you: which type of time-travel story do you prefer? Tightly woven or willy-nilly? And though I’ve used two examples to illustrate both sides, there are of course thousands of other time travel stories in comics that we could talk about. Legion of Super Heroes is full of them, for instance. What are best time travel stories you’ve read and why did you like them?