From Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #6

When Editor Scott Allie told Comic Book Resources that Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 would take Buffy’s story “back to human issues … some of the biggest issues anyone can face,” fans knew he was alluding to her mysterious pregnancy. But with Issue 6, in stores today, the Slayer deals with her new situation head on, answering a question readers have been debating since last issue’s big revelation.

Spoiler warning: The following addresses a major plot point from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #6.

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #6

Following some serious soul-searching, Buffy confides to Spike that she’s decided to have an abortion, a subject creator Joss Whedon assures will be treated with respect in the Dark Horse series.

“It’s not something we would ever take lightly, because you can’t. You don’t,” Whedon, executive producer of Season 9, tells USA Today. “It’s not an easy thing for anyone.”

Abortion is a very personal decision, continuing the shift in focus from what Allie has described as “the more cosmic craziness of Season 8” to the more human elements of Season 9. That move has been emphasized by the deliberate paring-down of Buffy’s supporting cast, leaving her with just one person to confide in: popular vampire anti-hero, sometimes-romantic partner Spike.

“Given the specifics of Buffy’s life at this point in the season — facing a new kind of vampire threat, barely able to keep a job — it seemed like it would be dishonest for Buffy to not at least entertain the question of whether she should keep or end the pregnancy,” writer Andrew Chambliss tells the newspaper.

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.

The ‘emo’ thing is both really funny and really annoying. All my books have been called ‘emo’ at one point or another, since Demo in 2003. Even Northlanders was called ‘emo’. Clearly its a meaningless insult, issued by lazy people who don’t have the proper words to describe something that is even a little bit less than 100% macho and straightforward. So Becky draws a sketch of Conan with a smile on his face, and only reaction available is to call it ‘emo’. It’s absurd. The funny part of it is these same people don’t even know what ‘emo’ is, what the word really means. A fun variation on this, something I spotted on some forum, was “Conan looks like a barista!”. I almost emailed Becky to ask her to sketch Conan working at Starbucks for the fun of it.

Brian Wood, talking to MTV Geek about his new Conan series, which launches this week, and the critique on some message boards that his character was too “emo.”

As funny as it is to imagine an emo Conan (paging Kate Beaton!), what I like about this quote in particular is Wood’s healthy attitude about criticism of his work. It’s not easy to put things out there and have them critiqued by the world at large, but dealing with it is a part of the job. Wood talks a little later about the passion of serious Conan fans and remarks that creators really should stay away from forums that discuss their work, saying, “I think readers should have the privacy and feel free to talk openly about a book without the writer or artist lurking over their shoulder, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice. It’s a little creepy, really.”

Diamond Comic Distributors

Publishing | John Jackson Miller profiles Diamond Comic Distributors to mark its 30th anniversary, offering a timeline of major events in the company’s history. [Comichron]

Conventions | Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai and AdHouse Publisher Chris Pitzer both report on their experiences at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. [Angoulême]

Retailing | Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson will give the keynote address at this week’s ComicsPRO Annual Membership Meeting. [NewsOK]

Retailing | Hypno Comics will open Saturday in Ventura, California. [Ventura County Star]

Wolverine: The Best There Is #3

Comics | David Brothers explains why Wolverine: The Best There Is is indeed the best Wolverine story of 2011: “Rather than being a story where Wolverine is the absolute best there is at what he does, and what he does is tear through anyone and everyone with ease, we get a story where Wolverine is forced to slow down, change his tactics, and think things through before really getting loose (because we have expectations for Wolverine stories, of course).” [4thletter!]

Commentary | Kristy Valenti looks at Habibi and Paying for It, two brown-covered graphic novels about male sexual obsession, a genre she dubs “dick lit.” [comiXology]

Creators | Zippy creator Bill Griffith is the guest on the video interview show Mr. Media Radio. [Mr. Media Radio Interviews]

Suicide Squad #6

Creators | Writer Adam Glass talks about the new story arc in DC Comics’ Suicide Squad that focuses on Harley Quinn. [USA Today]

Analysis | Nicolas Labarre looks at a particularly interesting six-panel sequence from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher. [Comics and the U.S. South]

Digital | The Vietnamese Communist Party may think they can censor provocative comics like Killer With a Festering Head, but tech-savvy teens know better. [The Washington Post]

Comics | John Parker looks at Spawn through the lens of history: “For those read the comic during its initial publication, the Spawn Compendium is a virtual time machine, whooshing us back to the joy and confusion of our teens. For entirely new readers it must be like studying artifacts. Spawn is the quintessential ’90s comic, inseparable from the trends and events that lead to its creation, and its subsequent impact on the industry.” [ComicsAlliance]

Comics | William Cardini discusses his work on Rub the Blood, the ’90s Image tribute project edited by Ian Harker and Pat Aulisio. [The Daily Texan]

Comics | KC Carlson talks about the long-in-development The Judas Coin by Walt Simonson, which he got a sneak preview of when trapped at the Simonson house during an ice storm. [Comics Worth Reading]

And now it’s coming to print: Dark Horse announced yesterday that they are collecting the story into a print edition, with volume 1 due on July 4. That’s pretty much it for details, but as Norton says, “When I first made the Battlepug T-shirt, people kept asking when the comic was coming out. So, I put out the webcomic and now everybody wants to know when the book is coming out! I guess now people will want to know when the movie is happening?” Not soon enough, Mike. Not soon enough.

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

John Romita's The Amazing Spider-man: Artist's Edition

Graeme McMillan

Congratulations, Dark Horse: You pretty much own my first $15 for the week, with Dark Horse Presents #8 ($7.99) and Star Wars: Dawn of The Jedi #0 ($3.50) both being my go-to new releases for the week. DHP has the new Brian Wood/Kristian Donaldson series The Massive launching, as well as more Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson and new Skeleton Key by Andi Watson, which is a pretty spectacular line-up, and the new Star Wars book coincides with the latest flare up of my irregular longing to check up on that whole universe’s goings-on. Apparently, I’m keeping it local this week, who knew?

If I had $30, I’d add Action Comics #6 (DC Comics, $3.99) and OMAC #6 (DC Comics, $2.99) to that pile — I’m particularly treasuring the latter before it goes away, although I have to admit that the time-jumping nature of these Action fill-ins has gotten me more excited than I should ‘fess up to — as well as a couple of Ed Brubaker books, Winter Soldier #1 (Marvel, $2.99) and Fatale #2 (Image Comics, $3.50). I wasn’t bowled over by Fatale‘s debut, but it intrigued me enough to want to give it another go, while the noir + super spy sales pitch for the new Marvel series pretty much guarantees my checking the first issue out at the very least.

When it comes to splurging, there is nothing I would buy – were I rich enough — more quickly than IDW’s John Romita Sr. Amazing Spider-Man Artist Edition HC ($100), because … well, it’s classic Romita as the pages originally looked on his drawing board. How anyone can resist that (other than the price point), I don’t know.

Action! Mystery! Thrills!

Chris Mautner

There’s not much I’m interested in at the $15 level this week, so I’ll likely keep it to the issue #63 of The Boys.

If I had $30, I’d put that issue of The Boys back on the shelf and pick up Action! Mystery! Thrills!, a colorful collection of comic book covers from the Golden Age edited by Greg Sadowski. It’s not as insightful as some of Sadowski’s other books like Supermen!, but it’s still a clever pop-candy tour through comics’ yesteryear.

Almost defining the term splurge this week is the Madman 20th Anniversary Monster, a $100 tribute to Mike Allred’s creation featuring new work by folks like Kyle Baker, Peter Milligan, Peter Bagge, Dave Cooper, Dean Haspiel, Paul Pope, Craig Thompson and many more. And a new Madman story from Allred. I doubt in reality I have the cash to justify this sort of purchase, but hey, I’m splurging, right?

Cross Game, Volume 6

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, all but a penny of it would go to one book, vol. 6 of Cross Game ($14.99). Viz is releasing this baseball/drama series in delicious, double-sized volumes and the sweet story and easy-to-digest artwork make it one of my favorites.

If I had $30, I’d mix it up a bit with a stack of floppies: Ice Age: Iced In ($3.99), a lighthearted, all-ages comic from KaBoom; Sergio Aragones Funnies #7 ($3.50), because someone was just commenting on how funny Aragones is; Terry Moore’s Rachel Rising #5 ($3.99); and with what I have left, I’ll try out Dynamite’s Lone Ranger #2 ($3.99), which looks kind of cool. That’s a little over budget, but maybe I’ll get a deal on one of these.

Usually the splurge category is where I go for thick, colorful books of classic comics, and while that fourth volume of Dark Horse’s Archie Archives is calling out to me, this looks like a Fantagraphics week, with two compilations that span opposite ends of the love spectrum: Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics ($29.99), and The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat ($19.99). That’s a whole lotta reading for $50.

Magic: The Gathering #1

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d start with a series I’m following that has a new issue this week, Fear Itself: The Fearless #8 ($2.99) and then I’d add some new things I want to try. I’ve said before that Winter Soldier #1 ($2.99) is the closest thing we’re going to get to a Black Widow series for a while, so — while that’s sad — I’ll take it. I’m also cautiously curious about Image’s nasty-sounding Alpha Girl #1 ($2.99) and Zenescope’s Jurassic Strike Force 5 #1 ($2.99). I don’t have a lot of confidence in Zenescope’s brand, but dino-soldiers from space need looking into.

If I had $30, I’d add some more expensive comics to that pile, starting with Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #4 ($3.99). I’m also looking forward to seeing if IDW can do the same thing with Magic: The Gathering #1 ($3.99) that they did with their Dungeons & Dragons comics (ie make it really good). Then I’d circle back to the Boom rack for Ice Age: Iced In ($3.99) – because my son loves those movies and will love that comic – and check out Dynamite’s John Carter/Gullivar Jones mash-up, Warriors of Mars #1 ($3.99).

If I’m able to splurge, I’m always interested in the new Dark Horse Presents ($7.99), but especially when it has new BPRD and Beasts of Burden stories. And since that’s not a huge splurge, I’d also grab the Xombi collection ($14.99), which coincidentally comes out the same day as Static Shock #6.

San Diego Convention Center

Conventions | San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved the basic funding plan for the proposed $500 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, home to Comic-Con International. At the center of the financing scheme is an assessment district that adds between between 1 cents and 3 cents per dollar to room taxes of 224 hotels with more than 30 rooms. Those hotels closest to the convention center would be assessed an extra 3 cents per dollar, and those farthest away could be charged an extra penny per dollar.

The expansion plan has a ticking clock, as Comic-Con has signed a deal to remain in San Diego through 2015, but larger venues in Las Vegas and Anaheim have been lobbying organizers to look elsewhere. [NBC San Diego]

The Last of the Greats #1

Piracy | I Vampire and The Last of the Greats writer Joshua Hale Fialkov wades into the ongoing digital piracy discussion, declaring, “You can’t be an asshole anymore”: “Up until a few years ago, there was still enough of an audience to make up for the percentage of you who are stealing. But, not anymore. Now, everybody steals, or, at least a higher percentage of the total audience than those that pay. The comic market consists of about 200,000 people, on the high end. Now, certainly, you’ll have your Justice Leagues and Batmans and Flash’s that do amazing sales and are generating profits. But almost every other book that isn’t up there in the top 25 or so titles is almost certainly losing money. So, if I’m Warner Bros or Disney, or, in the case of Last of the Greats, ME, and I see that we’re busting our asses monthly on something that’s not only not profitable but is actually losing money, what other choice do I have but to shut it down?”

David Brothers takes issue with virtually all of Fialkov’s comments, particularly his assertion that pirates are “singly responsible for ruining the comic book industry”: “To put forth the idea that piracy on the part of consumers is ‘singly responsible’ for anything, especially when piracy by its very nature is impossible to nail down in terms of concrete numbers and cause & effect is dishonest. Bootlegs have always existed, whether in barbershops or art galleries. They’ve been here, and they aren’t going away. Do they cause harm? Any idiot knows the answer to that question is ‘yes.’ But for my money, the thing that killed comic books is ‘everything else.’ We’re living in an all-new status quo, and I keep seeing people, especially comics people, acting like piracy is the sole cause of all their ills. When no, that isn’t true, and a half glance at the world will tell you so.” [Joshua Hale Fialkov, 4thLetter!]

Stan Lee

Creators | Stan Lee reflects on his 70-year career and discusses the way comics have changed in his lifetime, breaking with the Comics Code, and how to create strong characters: “One of the keys is, and it may sound funny, talking about characters with super powers, but one of the keys is to make your characters as realistic and believable as possible. Even if they have super powers, you say to yourself, ‘Well, if somebody had a super power like this, what would his life be like? Wouldn’t he still maybe have to go to the dentist or wouldn’t he have to worry about making a living? What about his love life?’ You’ve got to make characters that your reader can believe exists or might exist.” [IGN]

Creators | Brian Wood continues to make the rounds about his newest projects, The Massive and Conan, as well as the two ending at Vertigo, Northlanders and DMZ. [The Weekly Crisis]

Comics | Stumptown Trade Review lists seven things “independent comics did first,” including the graphic novel, the omnibus and Web-direct distribution to consumers. [Stumptown Trade Review]

Comics | Cyriaque Lamar looks back at the half-man, half-woman villain He-She, “the most cunning, the most vicious, the most fiendish killer of all time.” [io9]

Digital comics | Johanna Draper Carlson looks at Marvel’s digital offerings (via its app and comiXology) and isn’t impressed with the price or the presentation. [Comics Worth Reading]

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

Fantastic Life

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, I’d try something new first with the Xeric-winning Fantastic Life GN (Big If, $9.95) by Kevin Mutch. I’ll always give Xeric winners a second look, and this looks built for me: slackers, punk rock, zombies. Next up I’d get the ongoing adventures of Butcher Baker – the Image one – with Butcher Baker Righteous Maker #8 ($2.99). I’ll admit that the series went off a little bit around #5, but I’m still holding on for hopes it’ll right itself or I’ll figure out what I’d been missing. Lastly, I’d get Secret Avengers #21.1 (Marvel, $2.99). Seriously, is Rick Remender becoming the writer of all-things secret in the Marvel U? I’m not complaining though, as he’s bringing his Uncanny X-Force mojo and, from what it looks like, a lot of new cast members.

If I had $30, I’d get my usual pull of The Walking Dead #93 (Image, $2.99) and a Hickman two-fer, Fantastic Four #602 (Marvel, $2.99) and FF #14 (Marvel, $2.99). If you would have told me two years ago I’d be seeing two Fantastic Four titles (and two I’d be reading, no less) I would have been gobsmacked. Hickman does it again. And that’s it.

What, you say I didn’t spend my full $30? It’s a light week for me, so I’d spending the remaining on bags and boards or, *gasp*, food as it says in the title. Tijuana Flats, Taco Tuesday, be there.

Coming back if I could splurge, and I’d put down my tacos and pick up the ADD HC (Vertigo, $24.99) by Douglas Rushkoff, Goran Sudzuka and Jose Marzan Jr. From the outside it looks like The Hunger Games meets Ender’s Game, and Rushkoff looks to be just the one to make that mash-up more than, well, a mash-up.

The Silence of Our Friends

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, I’d get Avatar: The Last Airbender: Vol. 1: The Promise, Part 1 ($10.99), despite the staggering title, because it is written by Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and I’m a fan. The art looks nice and clean, and this looks like a book I could enjoy, at least until my nieces and nephews snatch it away from me. And then I’d pick up the latest issue of The Sixth Gun ($3.99), because how could I miss out on that?

If I had $30, I’d have to put The Sixth Gun back on the shelf for a little while, or borrow two dollars from someone, because The Silence of Our Friends ($16.99) is the must-have book this week. Writer Mark Long based it in part on his father’s experiences as a white reporter covering the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, and Nate Powell’s atmospheric art really brings the era to life. It’s deep without being preachy, with characters that are good but flawed, and while politics shape the plot, the true story is about the interior reality, the clumsiness and missteps that occur even among people of good will. It’s a truly stunning graphic novel and the standout choice for this week.

The splurge choices are pretty good this week, but this former reporter is not going to even try to resist the first volume of Hermes Press’s collection of Brenda Starr, Reporter, even at a stiff $60. On the off chance that a bit of extra dough comes my way, though, my next choice would be the trade of Spontaneous, a smart and beautifully illustrated comic about the mystery of spontaneous human combustion. Since it features a more modern woman reporter, I’m sure Brenda would approve.

Manara, Volume 2

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: I haven’t read The Bulletproof Coffin yet, but I know a number of folks who thought it was pretty nifty, and I do like what little of Shaky Kane and David Hine’s work I’ve read before. So I’d probably be willing to flip through the first issue of The Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred, the first issue of the six-part sequel.

If I had $30, I’d grab Wally Wood’s Strange Worlds of Science Fiction, a hardcover collection of sci-fi stories Wood did for publishers during the 1950s that were not EC. Wood’s one of those classic comic artists I’d really like to learn more about and this seems like as good a place to go as any.

Splurge: More Milo Manara goodness awaits with the release of The Manara Library Vol. 2, which contains El Gaucho, the second of his collaborations with Hugo Pratt, and Trial By Jury, a collection of shorts never released in the U.S. before now.

The Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15 this week, I’d apparently be most interested in some sequels; like Chris M, I’d go for Hine and Kane’s Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #1 (Image, $3.99) – because I like my comics meta and slightly disturbing, apparently – and I’d follow that up with the debut of IDW’s new cross-continuity crossover Infestation 2 #1 ($3.99), which replaces zombies with Lovecraftian monsters as the threat du jour, something else that feels more than a little meta for some reason. As far as I know, Rick Remender and Patrick Zircher are staying entirely un-meta for Secret Avengers #21.1 (Marvel, $2.99), but as I’ve been reading a lot of Captain Britain and Excalibur lately, I’m picking this up to get a jump on the Brian Braddock era for the title.

If I had $30, I’d continue a recent Warren Ellis run and pick up the reissue of Atmospherics (Avatar, $7.99), to see what his Avatar crime work is like. Sticking with big name creators and indie companies, Kirby Genesis #5 (Dynamite, $3.99) is finally out this week, so I’d grab that as well, and then finish everything off with the latest issue of Peter Milligan’s Justice League Dark (#5, DC, $2.99).

When it comes to slurging, there’s a lot to choose from this week. I’m tempted by the Spontaneous HC (Oni, $24.99), Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 1 HC (Marvel, $19.99) and Catwoman Vol. 1 (DC, $29.99), but I’ve already read those books in their original serialized format, so I think I’d probably go for the Strikeforce Morituri collection from Marvel ($34.99); I vaguely remember the series past its early issues way back when, and I’d be interested to see if it holds up to my memories…

Polly and the Pirates, Volume 2: The Mystery of the Dragonfish

Michael May

I usually spend my $15 allowance on single issues, but this week I’m making a beeline for Polly and the Pirates, Volume 2: The Mystery of the Dragonfish ($11.99), a comic I’ve been waiting five years for. I’m so excited I don’t even care that Ted Naifeh didn’t draw it, especially since Robbi Rodriguez’ art looks so great. My remaining three bucks would of course go to Alpha Flight #8 ($2.99), an issue I’m both looking forward to (because it resolves the excellent story that Van Lente, Pak, and Eaglesham have been telling) and dreading (because there’s no more after it).

If I had $30, I’d circle back for my monthly series: Aquaman #5 ($2.99), Superman #5 ($2.99), X-Men Legacy #261 ($2.99), and All-Star Western #5 ($3.99).

My splurge item this week is the Daredevil By Mark Waid, Volume 1 hardcover ($$19.99). I’ve been looking forward to reading it anyway, but it made so many year-end lists that now my mouth is watering about it.

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]

Never have I so wished I lived in Oregon. Dark Horse has teamed up with Trackers Earth – an outdoor lore and education organization in Portland – to create a BPRD Training Camp. Unfortunately, it’s only for ages 9-17, but if you have kids to send, maybe they’ll bring you back pictures.

Find out if you have what it takes to join an elite team of paranormal investigators combating the forces of darkness from all across the globe. We immerse you in tactical training of all forms, including survival skills in any environment (both earthly and non), martial arts and self-defense specific to praeternatural entities, hand to hand weaponry (we train foam swords, bows and more) and forensic investigation. All these are key skills that every agent must have, plus you are steeped in the history of our Bureau and legacy of paranormal research.

Recruits get actual field time during the entire camp. Learning is hands-on with essential survival skills such as shelter building, stealth and tactical and martial arts training.

There are three different age categories and the camp’s organizers have even created a fictionalized legend based on local history so that recruits can search for a lost cemetery and solve a 150-year-old mystery involving Bigfoot.

(via Movie Viral)

Jennifer de Guzman

Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman announced that, after 10 years, she has left her position as editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing: “My decade SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere. I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)” [Possible Impossibilities]

Retailing | Chris Powell, current general manager and chief relationship officer for Texas-based comic chain Lone Star Comics, has accepted the newly created position of executive director of business development for Diamond Comic Distributors. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund board member will start his new position in March. [ICv2]

Miles Morales

Publishing | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso answers questions about Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe: “When a little boy or girl looks at Spiderman, they do not see race. They do not see anything but the bright colors and the human shape. I think it is very easy for them to project themselves into that suit and to imagine themselves in that suit. Part of the thrill for me is knowing that there are little boys who will now pick up a Spiderman comic and see that after the adventure and the mask is peeled back he will look like them. As a Hispanic, it is nice to see Spiderman’s [...]  last name resemble the last name of my son.” [Fox News Latino]

Publishing | SanJose.com profiles SLG Publisher Dan Vado, who talks about why he started working in comics: “I think comics decided for me; I don’t think I really had any choice. There was never any point where I said, ‘This is what I’m gonna do.’ Comics was always something I was going to do while I’d figure out what it I was gonna do, and I guess I never really figured it out.” [SanJose.com]

Kate Beaton

Publishing | The Beat names its comics industry People of the Year. [The Beat]

Creators | Brian Wood chats about his upcoming Dark Horse series The Massive: “The world it inhabits is sort of a minefield of current events, of divisive politics (global warming, regime change, corporate bad-behavior, etc) but all that has sort of come to pass by the time the story opens. The damage has been done, and so its less about why/how things got so bad and more about, okay, what do we do now? Powerful social themes, but not political in the same way DMZ is.” [Suvudu]

Creators | Comics writer and filmmaker Kevin Smith answers questions about women and comic shops as he touts his new TV reality series Comic Book Men: “This is a show about these four dudes who work in this store. There are no women [in the store] yet…There should be a Comic Book Women, and good willing, there’ll be a spinoff Comic Book Women, and I’ll make shit ton of money.” [ThinkProgress]

Super Pro K.O., Vol. 1

Creators | Jarrett Williams discusses his work on the Oni Press graphic novel series Super Pro K.O. [Spandexless]

Creators | Writer Kyle Higgins looks at what’s ahead for DC’s Nightwing. [USA Today]

Comic art | The collaborative art blog Relaunched puts out the call for contributors to “Watchmen Too,” a Watchmen 2 theme month. [Calamity Jon, Save Us]

Commentary | Don MacPherson looks back at some of his favorites of the previous year. [Eye on Comics]

Fandom | When asked during a 60 Minutes interview whether his company was thin-skinned, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason popped his claws: “We’re like Wolverine and our skin has been melted off, and we’ve had Adamantium fused onto our bones.” [Nerd Reactor]

Conan the Barbarian meets his dumber alter ego in April when Dark Horse presents a four-issue Conan/Groo the Wanderer crossover. While Conan is clearly the brainier of the two mighty warriors, Groo creators Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier are scripting the comic, so Groo will have the home-team advantage. Thomas Yeates is handling the art and Tom Luth the colors. Yeates has penciled other Conan comics as well as Dark Horse’s adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Outlaw Prince.

While April 1 would be a logical release date for a book like this, the chances are that no one would believe it, so it’s due out on April 18.

Conan #1

Dark Horse starts a new Conan series next month with Conan #1, by Channel Zero and Demo collaborators Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. Based on Robert E. Howard’s “Queen of the Black Coast,” the comic will weave new adventures into Conan’s two-year journey with the notorious female pirate Bêlit, a period barely touched on in the original short story. Comic Book Resources has a preview of the first issue.

I spoke with Wood and Cloonan about their plans for the series, using the classic Howard tale as their framework, and the dynamic between the young Conan and Bêlit.

ROBOT 6: How did each of you first encounter Conan — in the novels, the movie, or the older comics?

Wood: I’m sure it was the Arnold movie that was my first exposure, but not in a really meaningful way. I was 10 when it came out, so I wouldn’t have seen it, but we all played it at recess anyway. Later on, as I started to become more aware of comics, I became aware of Conan as he was drawn by masters like BWS and Frazetta.  Funnily enough, the novels came last.

How has writing about him and drawing him forced you to reexamine your initial impressions?

Wood: Well, it was more of an education than a reexamination. I knew, rationally, what Conan was as he appeared in the novels, and I knew that had nothing to do with the 1982 film. When I got this job, I read a few of the novels — not just the one I’m adapting but some others as well. In a way I think all this is helping me. … I don’t have this powerful preconception of the character getting in the way of my writing.

Brian, I’m astonished that you will be building a 25-issue series about a period that is barely touched on in the original story. How did you come up with ideas, and what guidelines did you set for yourself?

Wood: Yeah, it’s simultaneously a great thing and a really difficult challenge. Looking at the original story and breaking it into three parts, I have Conan and Bêlit meeting up in the first three issues of my 25-issue run, and the end of the story will likely take up the last six issues. So that leaves me 16 issues of adventures to basically invent. Five story arcs.  

In coming up with the stories, I had two things helping me out:  mining the original story for any clues I could find, anything I could extrapolate out, any character quirks that might suggest a story or at the very least a scene I could build a story around. And then there’s Northlanders, my Viking series that was, in part, an incredible exercise in constantly generating new ideas out of thin air.  In the space of 50 issues, I created 14 discreet, unconnected stories.  I became good at it, so I used that for Conan.  I have my characters, my world, a few concepts and rules guiding me … but beyond that the sky’s the limit.

From Conan #1

Becky, your visualization of Conan is a bit different from what has gone before. How much comes from the original source material, and how much did you draw on secondary sources (the comics and the movie) for this new version?

Cloonan: One of the biggest things I try to keep in mind while drawing Conan is the world-building! We are doing something completely new so none of it is informed by the film adaptations — I’m going by descriptions in Howard’s original stories, and filling in most of the blanks by looking back at historical costumes and settings that correspond to the maps of Hyboria!

How much did the two of you collaborate on the visual details of the characters and the setting?

Wood: I have to leave most of that up to Becky, for the most part.  She and I are both reading the same original story for reference.  I think I did send over some notes, basic stuff, on ships and weapons and maps and architecture, holdovers from my time on Northlanders, but beyond that its all been Becky.  And its a tough task … the world of Conan is fully realized and established, and I’m determined to make the environments and cities be as detailed and real as possible in this series.

Cloonan: Brian gives me some notes on stuff like setting and costumes, ships and and weapons — it’s really helpful! Through the design process he pretty much let me run wild with them. We’ve worked together so many times in the past that I’d guess by now if Brian asks me to draw something, he probably has a good idea of how it’s gonna turn out!

Conan is usually a strong protagonist, but in Bêlit he seems to meet his match, or maybe his complement. Do you see the balance of power shifting in this story, compared to the previous incarnations — will it be more of a team story?

Cloonan: Bêlit is a lot of fun to draw — from the books she basically spends her time running around topless, which could easily become just more cheesecake to add on to the dessert cart. I try hard to make her not just sexy, but dangerous, calculating and enigmatic — Bêlit is very much a character that has a lot of layers, and I try to bring as much of that as I can to her.

Wood: Conan is young here, so while he has strength, he is not the seasoned man he will later become. He’s a guy in his early 20s who is, in some significant ways, in way over his head with Bêlit.  She is his match, and he’s totally in love with her. Maybe she has the advantage? We’ll see. But with them its not about power, or teaming up or anything like that. They are lovers, partners in crime … compliments like you said.

 One of the great things about writing a young Conan is this chance to show him acting unsure, making mistakes, losing fights, acting dumb at times. It’s all part and parcel of coming of age, and can only make him more likable, more real, more relatable. An infallible Conan who gets every girl and wins every fight is a boring Conan.

From Conan #1

Will there be any continuity with the previous Conan comics?

Wood: My story picks up literally seconds after the arc that’s currently being published, so readers of that will be able to seamlessly transition, but one of the points of bringing me and Becky onto the book, starting with a #1, and adapting this classic story is to create a jumping on point for anyone, so new readers will not needs to know anything.  I made sure of that.

But as far as continuity in the superhero universe sense … only in that the novel is a chapter in the overall life of Conan, and so this series will be as well. It’s really an amazingly well crafted timeline, what Robert E. Howard created.

Brian, back when the big digital discussion was going on, a few weeks ago, you mentioned trying to add some features to the print comics to make them “luxury items” that are worth the higher price. Do you have any plans to do this with Conan, or to put extras in the single issues that won’t be in the eventual trade?

Wood: I honestly couldn’t say … that would be Dark Horse’s call. My comments were more for my creator-owned projects, where I have more leeway to make decisions like that.

Finally, just from looking at forums, I would say that you will be bringing in new readers who are fans of your work but may not be familiar with the world of Conan. What will you be doing to make this comic friendly to new readers?

Cloonan: I have no idea what percentage of Conan readers are women, but I can say that I think girls will really like this series. Not only because it’s a great point to jump on, but the story is romantic, exciting and character-driven — and it doesn’t hurt that I try to draw Conan really cute!

On the Dark Horse blog, editor Dave Marshall shares the cover process for Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Promise Part 1, from writer Gene Luen Yang’s rough ideas to art duo Gurihiru’s cover sketches to Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko’s notes to the final product.

The 80-page graphic novel, the first in a series of digests continuing the adventures of Aang and his friends, arrives Jan. 25.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic-War

Over the past several years, writer John Jackson Miller has built a loyal base of Star Wars comic book readers, through his work on Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics line. This Wednesday, January 11, marks the release of the first issue in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic-War five-issue miniseries (a project which teams Miller with artist Andrea Mutti). While I had Miller’s attention in this email interview, I also opted to pick his brain about the realm of circulation and its related implications. Once you’ve read the interview, please be sure to peruse Dark Horse’s preview of the first issue.

Tim O’Shea: What’s the most enjoyable aspect of returning to the Knights of the Old Republic world?

John Jackson Miller: Zayne Carrick is a fun character to write. He was the Jedi student that didn’t make the grade, but who became a hero in spite of those low expectations. Zayne starred in the fifty-issue Knights of the Old Republic series — available in digital and nine TPB collections — and it’s fun to return to him here, where, once again, he’s completely out of his depth. This time, he’s been drafted into the Republic’s war against the armored Mandalorians. Not good — especially if, like Zayne, you’re against killing under any circumstances. That, too, makes it fun to return to telling Zayne stories — he has to think his way out of situations. Brute force is rarely an option for him.

It’s also a nice change of pace from writing about Sith. I’ve been writing the Star Wars: Knight Errant comics and novel for the last couple of years — and also the Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith prose collection due out from Del Rey this July — and while it’s fun to come up with new and interesting ways to depict Sith evil in those series, the Sith aren’t the main enemy in the Knights of the Old Republic-War period. The Mandalorians differ in a lot of ways but most importantly, they’re not evil — they just have a different philosophy that is having serious trouble coexisting with the Republic’s. So that makes for an interesting difference.

I should note that we’ve crafted War so that you don’t have to have read the previous Knights comics — Zayne starts out all on his own, and we learn about the galaxy as he does. We will have some treats for readers of the previous series, but the aim is to make a jumping-on point here.

O’Shea: While the Knights of the Old Republic saga plays out several thousand years before the movies, would you say there are certain elements of the characters and the universe that are still able to tap into the appeal of the movies?

Miller: Oh, sure. Humor is one; Zayne’s master once said he was walking proof that the Force had a sense of humor. Zayne isn’t in a funny situation, at all, but his outlook is such that he’s fun to follow. He’s not intense, like Anakin Skywalker or Kerra Holt (from Knight Errant) — and I think his perpetual underdog status and earnestness recalls a young Luke Skywalker in a lot of ways.

And here again I think we try to convey events of galactic scope, as the movies did. War begins with a battle to try to stop the Mandalorians’ advance on the Republic — but as we’ll see as the story goes on, there’s a much bigger game afoot. So we have that drama playing out as well.

O’Shea: How excited are you that the book is being released digitally as well as in traditional print, allowing your potential audience to seemingly broaden to a wider range?

Miller: I think it’s a good thing. The reach of the comics expanded dramatically during the last decade, with trade paperbacks giving everything a second life; I think the expectation is that digital will become another leg of the table in this decade. Personally, I’m very much committed to the print format — where some house-hunters look for workshop space, I look for a good place for my library. But I think having the additional option for readers is the right thing to do.

O’Shea: You’ve dabbled in the Star Wars universe for a number of years, but still it clearly is a set of characters and worlds you love exploring. Why is that?

Miller: It’s because it’s open-ended, with a lot of opportunities to tell different types of stories. Knight Errant, for example, has given me the chance to explore life under totalitarian rule, and resistance against it. The Lost Tribe of the Sith stories are very nearly a sociological experiment, seeing how a group of Sith stranded on a planet with no technology survives generations without imploding. And Knights of the Old Republic has given us a chance to deal with the Republic more or less intact, but under threat from a different kind of external enemy. So the playing fields are very different and allow for very different kinds of stories to be told.

That said, it’s all Star Wars, whenever it’s set. The big themes of good and evil are always there, they’re just interpreted though different lenses.

O’Shea: I’m impressed with your restraint as a writer, in that you construct a series of pages full of action, but no dialogue or thought balloons of substance. Is that something you would have been comfortable trying earlier in your career–and how good did it feel to be able to do that with this issue?

Miller: I’m a big fan of old comics, but I always thought it was crazy to have long debates raging in the middle of a fight scene between combatants. There’s a place for repartee in a fight scene — we see it a lot certainly in Star Wars, during the escape from the Death Star — but Zayne is very much on his own for a lot of this first issue, so I wanted to let the action flow without getting in the way.

That said, something I did with War that I haven’t done in previous KOTOR comics is that Zayne is our narrator. I made a conscious decision in the previous series not to use a narrator during long stretches, because there were many characters in the story who weren’t what they appeared to be, and I didn’t want an omniscient narrator telling people what was true. But here, Zayne is on his own, and while there are definitely many surprises in the series, we’re discovering them just as Zayne does. So I give the microphone over to him.

O’Shea: Speaking of the art, how quickly were you and artist Andrea Mutti establish a narrative rhythm/rapport? Also, I was really struck by the coloring work of Michael Atiyeh–how satisfying is it when a story fires on all production cylinders (art, inking, color and lettering)?

Miller: Andrea’s work has been great. With any artist it’s just a matter of studying their work and then crafting pages that will play to their strengths. Every artist specializes in different things — the more you can match the story’s staging to an artist’s approach, the better.

And I’m glad you mentioned Michael Atiyeh, who really was a huge part of the success of the Knights of the Old Republic and Knight Errant series — as well as the Mass Effect books we worked on. Colorists are important in helping to maintain a consistent look on a title that has more than one artist, true — but they do so much more. Michael adds to the drama of scenes with his choices, and I try to work in a lot of opportunities in the script where lighting makes a difference. Another Michael, letterer Michael Heisler, is also aboard — he’s lettered just about everything I’ve ever done at Dark Horse, and always adds a lot to the package. And series editor Dave Marshall managed KOTOR and Mass Effect — so this really is a veteran team working together on this.

O’Shea: It’s interesting that the first issue of this project publishes letters about your Knight Errant work. Was it important to you and Dark Horse to reassure fans, in a sense: “I am starting this miniseries, but I am not turning my back on Knight Errant!”

Miller: Yes, I think so. There’s a five-months-on, five-months-off dynamic with some of the series, and in this case we scheduled Knights of the Old Republic – War exactly into the Knight Errant gap. War fits into the slot between Knight Errant-Deluge, just ended, and Knight Errant-Escape, which ships in June and is our best, most impactful story let in that line. So this is a logical place to put those letters.

O’Shea: You are a circulation expert, no doubt, but I am curious do you monitor the numbers on your sales or do you avoid looking at them–and just not worry about month by month sales too much?

Miller: One of the things that I preach on The Comics Chronicles is that while the month-by-month numbers of books that Diamond Comic Distributors ships are interesting, they aren’t the whole picture. And so while I certainly look at the monthly figures, I’m also aware of their limitations: first-month orders are impacted by the shipping calendar, time of year, and the volume of other releases just to name a few. But many more things go into the circulation of a comics story. In the years since the first issue of the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series came out, for example, that story has now sold in more trade paperbacks than it did comic books — and the number of comic books is a lot larger than the initial number, too, due to reorders and reprintings. Something else we never see in the Diamond charts is the multiple foreign licensed magazines these stories appear in — and then, of course, there’s digital. So it’s a definite patchwork. I clearly think the monthly numbers are important, given my research work, but I tell people to put a lot more focus on what they say about the market in aggregate. The reach of any individual comics story is a lot farther than current sales charts can capture.

O’Shea: Which characters are you most pleased to get to develop and explore in this new Knights of the Old Republic–War story?

Miller: Dorjander Kace, the Jedi Master who’s volunteered to join the Republic in its war against the Mandalorians, is a character we’ll be seeing a lot more of. One of the big events of this era involves the Jedi renegade Revan rejecting Jedi neutrality and going to war against the Mandalorians; we saw that moment in the original series, and of course the character plays a big role in the later video games and in the just-released Revan novel. Kace is the highest ranking Jedi to go rogue and go to war against the Mandalorians — but as we’ll see, he comes at it from a unique angle.

I also have fun with Zayne’s superior officer, Republic Captain Dallan Morvis, who we introduced back in the original series as a secondary character — rich, entitled, arrogant, and thoroughly unlikable, Morvis hates Zayne’s guts. Which makes him an interesting foil for Zayne. It’s easy to tell a story where the allies like each other; this amps up the conflict.

O’Shea: Is there anything you’d like to discuss (that I neglected to ask you about) or thoughts you’d like to leave with Robot 6 readers?

Miller: I think the intent with the whole Star Wars line is to tell good stories — I think new readers will find that there aren’t many continuity demands in War. Yes, there’s a rich tapestry that we’ve all been working on developing — readers will find lots of moments in the original series that point to things we’re doing here. But we also tell a complete story here that stands on its own. Hopefully, it’s a first step into a wider world, as Obi-Wan once said!

Readers can find out more about the series at the official Dark Horse site and also my own website, where I maintain a behind-the-scenes page for every comic book I’ve ever done. There’s a lot of fun background there. Readers can also follow me on Twitter and catch my comics history work.

3 Story: The Secret Files of the Giant Man

Matt Kindt of 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, Super Spy, Revolver and My Greatest Adventure fame, announced on his blog today that Dark Horse is compiling several of his “Giant Man” stories from their anthology Dark Horse Presents into one volume, which will be released in April.

“These are short stories that take place during the same time period as Part 2 and 3 of my book 3 Story,” he said. 3 Story told the life story of Craig Pressgang, a man with a medical condition that caused him to grow into a giant.

In addition, the collection will include a sneak preview of a new ongoing series by Kindt called Mind Mgmt, which is set to kick off from the publisher in May. A profile by the Webster-Kirkland Times described it as a sci-fi/espionage series. Expect more details on it soon.

Peter Bagge's Reset

In the tradition of one-word titles like Yeah! and Hate, Dark Horse Comics announced a new project from creator Peter Bagge, Reset.

The press release from Dark Horse describes the book as: “If you could relive major events in your life, would you take a stab at making things better—and would your best attempts only make things worse? Or would you use your second chance to put your most twisted, perverted fantasies in motion? These are questions washed-up actor and comedian Guy Krause asks himself after he signs up to be the main research subject for a virtual-reality experiment.”

The first issue of the four-issue series comes out in April and features a variant cover from Matt Kindt, which you can see after the jump.

*****

Matt Kindt variant cover

The mythic world of Steve Horton and Michael Dialynas’s Amala’s Blade is divided into two warring groups: Modifiers, who use technology to improve their bodies and eliminate defects, and Purifiers, who eschew such modification. Amala, a young girl, is chosen to become the new leader of their country and to bring the two tribes together, but when strangers arrive at her house to bring the news, she flees into the night and joins a band of assassins instead.

Amala’s Blade will run as a three-part series in Dark Horse Presents, starting with issue #9 (on sale in February). The series kicks off with a battle of wits and weapons between Amala and a pirate captain. I was intrigued by the premise, so I asked Horton and Dialynas to explain where they got the idea for Amala and where they are hoping to take it; Dialynas also shared some of the concept art.

Robot 6: Let’s start with the elevator pitch: What is Amala’s Blade about, and how is it different from all other adventure/steampunk comics?

Steve: Amala’s Blade is about a girl picked at age 8 as a spiritual leader, raised by the state to stop civil war between two halves of the same country. She runs away instead, is kidnapped, and ignites 20 years of war. Recruited into a sword orphan cult instead, she’s trained as an assassin, and now she’s the sole surviving member. Making her way as a killer for the unscrupulous Vizier, her past is catching up with her in a hurry. To be honest, there aren’t a whole lot of adventure/steampunk books out there, and there’s certainly nothing at all like Amala. I wanted to do it because it was different, fun, and had exactly the right artist in Michael Dialynas.
 
Robot 6: Steve, what is your inspiration for this story? Are you a longtime steampunk/sci fi fan?

Steve: Michael and I are mashing together our favorite influences like a mash-up album and what’s coming out is entirely new. Our influences here are Moebius and Miyazaki, which can be seen in the two warring factions: the Miyazaki-influenced Purifiers, who eschew technology in favor of what they can build themselves, and the Moebius-influenced Modifiers, who implant bulky but high-tech implants throughout their bodies. Other than the overt influences, though, Amala’s Blade strives to be as original as possible, and I think we’ve succeeded.
 
Robot 6: The contrast between modifiers and the purifiers is an interesting commentary on environmentalism and technology. Where did you get the idea for that?

Steve: The original inspiration for Amala was reading an article on the Dalai Lama and how a new one was picked. Then, I thought about how a futuristic civil war would look like where such a leader would be needed. A division over technology seemed like the next logical step.
 
Robot 6: Michael, what were your visual inspirations?

Michael: Well Miyazaki and Moebius have been the visual compass on Amala; I remember when Steve mentioned what he would like the comic to look like in one of our first emails and I can say there was a moment where I high-fived the screen. I have a nice section in my nearest bookcase with all the Incal and Nausicaa which have been out on my desk since we first started.

But yeah, I used a lot of Moebius with the cyber-punk Modifiers and also a hint of the Mega-Drive game “Zero Wing” (famous for the “All your base are belong to us” quote) with the cybernetic over the top enhancements. As you can see with the concepts ive given you, there are a lot of wires and screws on those pirates! 
 
Robot 6: How did the characters evolve from original conception to final form?

Steve: Michael pretty much designed them whole cloth from my character bible. However, we have a fully-finished prequel which landed us the gig at Dark Horse. Due to the structure of Dark Horse Presents, we decided not to use the prequel and instead present a new, present-day story in three parts. The character of Amala’s father, present in the prequel but an inner voice/ghost in the Dark Horse version, has been redesigned in the process. If we get to use the prequel in print somewhere, Michael wants to redraw the whole thing.
 
Michael: As Steve mentioned, I do want to redraw the prequel if the chance arises. The characters have evolved on their own as they tend to do the more you draw them. The very first drawing of Amala had an oriental feel to her and her colour scheme was in hues of purple but when the DHP story came around and Steve told me that we are doing pirates, I knew I had to give her a costume change to fit the occasion. So now she has tints of green and more steampunk elements on her plus a scale-plate shoulder piece which I have always wanted to use!
 
Robot 6: You sent me a prologue and a first chapter—will those appear together or in separate issues of Dark Horse Presents?

Steve: The three chapters of Amala’s Blade: Skull & Crossbows will appear in Dark Horse Presents #9-11, beginning February 22. We’re not sure about the prequel—at the least, it’ll be redrawn and possibly rewritten. We’re hoping to get to do more Amala in the near future, after the DHP run concludes, and the prequel will likely appear at that point.

I should note that the DHP version is a self-contained story about Amala’s assassination attempt on the captain of the largest Modifier pirate ship in the world.
 
Robot 6: It seems like there is a lot of story here—do you envision this as the first part of a longer comic? If so, what are your plans for it?
 
Steve: We’d love to do a miniseries next. Actually, I think there’s enough here to do a really long ongoing series, but a mini would still be awesome.
 
Michael: Yeah, I would really like to draw these characters again and watch them evolve in new stories and adventures! Amala’s witty little smile has really grown on me.

Concept art:

Initial designs for Amala

from Matthew Petz

It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re winding down here at Robot 6 to go spend time with family and friends. Before heading off to celebrate, though, you’ll find a collection of holiday-themed links after the jump, along with this year’s collection of holiday cards we received.

On behalf of all of Robot 6, have a great holiday and stay safe. We’ll see you next week.

(Above: a Christmas showdown by Matthew Petz)

*****

Stories | Cullen Bunn offers a four-part Sixth Gun Christmas tale on his website.

Stories | J.M. DeMatteis shares a Christmas tale, “The Truth about Santa Claus.”

Webcomics | Mike Maihack presents one final Batgirl/Supergirl comic, this one with a holiday theme.

Webcomics | Jon Adams has a Santa comic only he could offer.

Webcomics | Mike Hawthorne’s Raising Crazy has several holiday-themed comics up right now.

Classics remixed | Medium Large offers some alternate takes on A Christmas Carol.

Classics remixed | John Martz and Graham Roumieu update various Christmas specials for the modern era.

Nightmare style | Dan Hipp pits Tintin against Jack Skellington.

Faux comics | Chris Sims and Kerry Callen give us a glimpse at a comic that never was–The Santa Squad.

Holiday art | Anthony Vukojevich redraws the Glory and Friends Christmas Special cover from back in the day.

Holiday art | Brendan Tobin corners Christmas Spider-Man.

Good cause | Ross Campbell shares a Shadoweyes drawing he did for a multi-artist snowball fight for Comic Creators For Freedom.

Podcasts | Timothy Callahan and Chad Nevett’s Splash Page returns for a special holiday episode.

Music | Fred has the yearly Venture Bros. holiday single available for download.

Holiday cards:

from DC Comics

from James Turner

from Dark Horse Comics

from Tyler James

from Archaia (outside)

from Archaia (inside)

from Ilias Kyriaszis

from Dean Haspiel

from Devastator

from Arcana

from Kevin Colden

from Broken Frontier

from Neil Kleid

You can find more cards out on the web, from Atomic Robo, the Perhapanauts team, Jeff Lemire and a whole bunch of Marvel-themed cards from Agent M.

Here’s a video holiday greeting from Akira the Don:

Have a great holiday!

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

Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes

Graeme McMillan

As we head into Christmas, I’m saving my pennies for last-minute presents. That said, if I had $15 to spend, I’d run towards Memorial #1 (IDW, $3.99), the debut of the new fantasy series by Chris Roberson and Rich Ellis. I admit to having sneaked a peak at this particular present, and I really enjoyed the tone, which is somewhere between Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who and some of Neil Gaiman’s work. I’d also grab Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1 (DC, $6.99), the collection of what was supposed to be the final issues of Grant Morrison’s run on the Batman, Inc. series before the relaunch; I’d enjoyed Batman Incorporated a lot, and am ready for more of the weird, retro-but-somehow-off series again, especially with lovely Cameron Stewart and Chris Burnham artwork.

If I had $30, I’d also grab Fantagraphics’ Jason Conquers America ($4.99), a collection of some of the cartoonist’s work that’s so far gone unseen in the US, along with pin-up tributes from fans like Mike Allred and Rich Tommaso. My nostalgia would then compel me to grab Defenders: Coming of the Defenders #1 (Marvel, $5.99), a reprint of the original stories that launched the fondly remembered (and just relaunched) non-team. Hulk groove on old comics.

Were I to ask Santa for something to splurge on, I might go completely left-field and ask for John Byrne’s much-maligned Spider-Man: Chapter One TP (Marvel, $34.99), which I’ve never actually read, but have a strange fascination with. Would that make me naughty or nice?

Jason Conquers America

Chris Mautner

If I had $15, I’d pick up the sixth and final issue of the Boys spin-off, Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker, and the Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes one-shot Graeme mentioned. I’m particularly interested in seeing how Morrison wraps up the Leviathan storyline, as up to the DC relaunch it was promising to be one of the better arcs in Morrision’s lengthy run with the caped crusader.

If I had $30: Following Graeme’s lead I’d pick up that Jason Conquers America book, as I’m trying to be as much of a Jason completist as possible. I’d also nab the latest issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Michael Kupperman’s ongoing, frequently hilarious comic. This one features a riff on Inception and Quincy. Lots and lots of Quincy.

Splurge: I don’t know if I’d actually buy it, but I’d at least peruse Blondie Vol. 2, the second collection of Chic Young’s seminal strip. The first volume was interesting because it was so different from what the strip turned into, what with Blondie being a ditzy flapper and Dagwood being a wealthy (if slightly goofy) man about town. By the time the second volume picks up, the pair have started to settle into middle-class domesticity, with lots of jokes about bad bosses, henpecked husbands and giant sandwiches. Those elements have becomes so ubiquitous that I fear even the early strips may seem trite and cliched, but, on the other hand, I said the same thing about the early Family Circus strips and I ended up really digging those.

Nelson

JK Parkin

If I had $15, I’d start with Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1 ($6.99), which finishes off the “first season” of the pre-New 52 Batman Incorporated. It’s sort of odd yet comforting to see the pre-relaunch Batman and gang again, and per Grant Morrison this will be the “last hurrah” of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl. I’d follow it up with something from the complete other end of the spectrum, the Jason Conquers America one-shot ($4.99), which features previously unpublished Jason strips and artwork, interviews and a tribute gallery by various artists. Finally, I’d finish off my shopping list with Daredevil #7 ($2.99). Because, you know, Daredevil.

If I had $30, I’d also get a couple of New 52 titles I’ve been enjoying — Wonder Woman #4 and DC Universe Presents #4 ($2.99 each), and two more Marvel books, New Mutants #35 and Fantastic Four #601 (also $2.99 each). Technically I only have $3 left, but ho-ho-hopefully Santa would lend me an extra 50 cents so I could grab the first issue of The Activity by Nathan Edmundson and Mitch Gerards ($3.50). Edmondson did some really nice stuff with Who Is Jake Ellis?, so I’m looking forward to checking this out.

There’s a lot of potential last-minute Christmas gifts coming out this Wednesday, which means there’s a lot to choose from for my splurge purchase. Image Comics is collecting Doug TenNapel’s Ratfist, ($19.99) which ran as a webcomic and they’re also releasing the first four issues of The Infinite as a $9.99 trade. The thing that probably intrigues me the most is the high-concept Nelson anthology ($24.99) by Blank Slate Books. Here’s the description from their site: “London, 1968. A daughter is born to Jim and Rita Baker. Her name is Nel. This is her story, told in yearly snapshots. Each chapter records the events of a single day, weaving one continuous ribbon of pictures and text that takes us on a 43- year journey from Nel Baker’s birth to 2011.” It features work by Roger Langridge, Paul Grist, Philip Bond, D’Israeli, Andi Watson and many, many more, and I really want it.

Dark Horse Presents #7

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, I’d grab up Dark Horse Presents #7 (Dark Horse, $.7.99). It’s carried on the tradition of its original series by showcasing new work by legends such as Mike Mignola, Howard Chaykin and Neal Adams, while also bringing in new blood like Andi Watson and long-lost favorites like Ricardo Delgado’s Age of Reptiles. The last issue was my favorite of the run so far, so #7 has a lot to live up to. Next up I’d get my two favorite Marvel ongoings: Daredevil #7 (Marvel, $2.99) and Uncanny X-Force #19 (Marvel, $3.99). Very different books, but using the same formula of A-List writer & A-List artist it’s easy to see why they’re succeeding.

If I had $30, I’d spent a good portion of it at Image with Invincible #86 (Image, $2.99) and Last Battle (Image, $7.99). Seeing Cory Walker reunite with Robert Kirkman is always invigorating, and I could honestly read a whole separate series chronicling the ongoing adventures of Allen the Alien. For Last Battle, it’s a book I’ve been waiting to get since it first came out in in 2005 – in Italy. Lastly, I’d next get the back-to-basics Wolverine & X-Men #3 (Marvel, $3.99), showing there’s new ways to use the old formula of school for superhumans.

If Jonah Claus were to allow me to splurge, I’d get the unique graphic novel Nelson (Blank Slate, $24.99). Robot 6 did a write-up earlier this year about the book, and like the aforementioned Dark Horse Presents it hits me right between the eyes with my love of anthologies.

Dark Shadows, Volume 3

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, all but a nickel of it would go to vol. 2 of The Drops of God, the manga series about a wine rookie who has to prevail in a wine-tasting contest in order to gain his rightful inheritance. I love a good soap opera, and I love reading books that help me learn about a specialized subject, so this is a winner on both counts.

If I had $30, I’d add in Louis: Red Letter Day, the fantasy graphic novel by the team known as Metaphrog. I have seen some bits of their work before, and it looks gorgeous.

There’s a lot of splurge material on this week’s list. I’ll start with Nelson, which looks fantastic and brings together an impressive array of artists. Being a total pushover for old newspaper comics, I’m all in for Drawn and Quarterly’s Walt and Skeezix, even if it is volume 5, and the second volume of IDW’s Blondie collection–I loved the first book. And I am seriously lusting after vol. 3 of the Dark Shadows collection from Hermes Press. Finally, I can’t not mention Quality Companion, a look back at the Golden Age publisher that gave us Plastic Man. Big, fat, colorful books of old-time comics–that’s what I want to see this Christmas!

Strange Girl Omnibus

Michael May

If I had $15, it would all go to series that I’m already enjoying.  Supergirl #4 ($2.99) and Wonder Woman #4 ($2.99) continue two of my favorite New 52 books and I consistently like Birds of Prey ($2.99) more than I thought possible without Gail Simone’s writing it. I’m also digging Fear Itself: The Fearless, so #5 ($2.99) goes on the stack and finally, I’ve been checking out (and liking) New Mutants lately, so I’ll get #35 ($2.99) too.

If I had $30, I’d grab some more expensive comics like Planet of the Apes #9 ($3.99), the next issue in my favorite new series of the year. I’d give Justice League #4 ($3.99) a chance too, though the expense of that comic has it on the surface of a fragile bubble for me. I’d also try Memorial #1 ($3.99) if for no other reason than Graeme’s comparing it to Moffat and Gaiman. Lastly, I want to check out some of DC’s female-hero books that I’ve previously passed up. I’ll be writing more about this later for the blog, but Catwoman #4 ($2.99) comes out this week and I’d like to judge for myself whether it deserves the reputation it got with that first issue.

There’s lots to splurge on this week – and that Nelson anthology does sound awesome – but I’ll pick something that hasn’t been mentioned yet, Rick Remender and Eric Nguyen’s Strange Girl Omnibus ($59.99). I loved the early issues of that series, but decided to trade-wait it and was sadly distracted by the time the collected versions came out. This’ll be a perfect way to catch up.