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]

Although it originated on the television air waves, Star Trek has boldy gone to a number of mediums, including comics. But this new voyage is taking it in a more harrowing — and humorous — direction.

Writer Kevin Church and artist Ming Doyle recently kicked off a Star Trek parody webcomic titled Boldly Gone, centers on a lesser-known Starfleet vessel, the U.S.S Mandela, during the time of the original Star Trek series. Following up from their previous series The Loneliest Astronauts, Church and Doyle’s new work sees Captain Paul Meredith writhing and griping in the shadow of the illustrious James T. Kirk. Remember how Shatner vamped so much during the TV show? Imagine how other captains would feel about that. Here’s a sample:

The duo tentatively plan to release new strips biweekly.

It’s big news, but in an insider-baseball sort of way. Readers who are already riding on the digital comics bandwagon won’t notice a difference. IDW started putting its comics on the comiXology digital comics service a few months ago, and when I checked iVerse’s Comics + app this morning, the IDW comics hadn’t disappeared. That isn’t surprising: IDW has spread its nets wide, putting comics on everything from the Kindle to the manga site eManga. So the headline on the press release is really just a change in the back end. What is really significant is that comiXology now has nearly a complete collection, providing digital distribution and branded apps for almost every major publisher except Dark Horse (which has its own app) and Archie (which puts their comics on comiXology’s Comics app but has iVerse run their branded app).

IDW also announced that it will be releasing all of its comics simultaneously in digital and print, with the digital cover price the same as print. That is consistent with the general trend and, in general, same-day digital publication is a good idea (given that it is happening illegally anyway, so the publishers might as well get in on the game). Pricing digital the same as print ignores the general perception that digital comics are worth less than print editions. I’m not sure ignoring that perception is a good idea, but it’s early days yet, and it will be interesting to see what the prevailing model is a year from now.

Angel & Faith

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

I have to say, this is an amazingly slow week for me in terms of new releases. If I had $15, I’d pick up the fourth issue of Dark Horse’s Angel & Faith series ($3.50), which has surprised me by turning out to be my favorite by far of the new Buffy series (due, in large part, to Rebekah Isaacs’ artwork, which is superb). I’d also grab the third issue of IDW’s Star Trek monthly ($3.99), in the hope that it’ll be as good as the first two issues; hardcore Trek fans, you should really be looking at this book, if you’re not already. Also on the list to grab: Thunderbolts #166 (Marvel, $2.99), continuing a great storyline from what might be one of the most underrated books from either of the big two publishers. One of the few nice things about Marvel’s recent Cancelpocalypse was seeing so many people speak up about how much they love Thunderbolts, and I’m right there with them; Jeff Parker’s done great things with this book.

If I had $30, chances are I’d put one of the above books – Angel & Faith, perhaps? – back for the week (or try and sweet-talk an extra 50 cents from the invisible budgeting gods who rule this column) and grab Rebellion’s Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks collection ($19.99), which collects all manner of (very) short stories from the Bearded One’s early days in 2000AD, with art by equally young masters like Dave Gibbons, Alan David, Steve Dillon and Brendan McCarthy, amongst others. Borag Thungg indeed, Earthlets.

When it comes to splurging, I’m taking that to mean double-dipping as opposed to buying insanely outrageously expensive items. I’ve already read Mark Waid’s wonderful Captain America: Man Out of Time, but now that it’s available in paperback (Marvel, $16.99), I might be tempted to buy it a second time.

Chris Arrant

Spaceman

If I had $15, I’d be all over the board but would start with the new Joe Casey/Nathan Fox joint Haunt #19 (Image/TMP, $2.99). I admit I didn’t jump onto the Haunt bandwagon when it first started, and despite seeing Greg Capullo on the book I never found the time to catch up. Seeing Casey and Fox jump on this gives me just the chance to do that. Next up would be Spaceman #2 ($2.99); I applaud DC for keeping the price point at $2.99, and seeing this dramatic divergence from 100 Bullets from Azz & Risso is something I eat up. Last up would be a pair of Marvel picks: Daredevil #6 ($2.99, Marvel) and Wolverine #19 ($3.99, Marvel).

If I had $30, I’d add to my stack starting with the new Thunder Agents Vol. 2 #1 ($2.99, DC). I enjoyed Nick Spencer’s first run on the title, and I’m a big proponent of artist Wes Craig and I’m excited to see what the two of them can do. Next up would be Uncanny X-Men #2 ($3.99, Marvel); stepping past my ambivalence to Greg Land and my appreciation of Kieron Gillen, I’m interested to see this team expand beyond the classic X-Men dynamic and turn into mutant ambassadors/enforcers in a political way. After that I’d get FF #12 (Marvel, $2.99). I love the transition of this book from being “The team formerly known as the FF” to being Marvel’s version of the Goonies, and seeing artist Juan Bobillo join it is invigorating as well as surprising. Lastly, I’d get Thunderbolts #166 ($2.99).

If I was to splurge like I did last Thursday at the dinner table, I would dig into The Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks ($19.99, 2000AD). I’ve read a majority of Alan Moore’s work post­-Swamp Thing, but his early British career is woefully underrepresented in my memory. I’m interested to see these stories from a younger Alan Moore, and I’d endorse more publishers to do more creator-centric collections like this in the future (hint hint, DC Comics, Alex Toth).

Brigid Alverson

Ernest and Rebecca: My Best Friend Is a Germ

If I had $15…

I would start with a graphic novel from Papercutz, Ernest and Rebecca: My Best Friend Is a Germ ($11.99), which Jim Salicrup pitched hard to me at NYCC. It’s an all-ages story of a girl who makes friends with a microbe, which helps her cope with her parents’ separation and various other problems. Since that’s likely to give me the sniffles, I’ll cheer myself up afterwards with Archie #627 ($2.99), the first issue of the Archie-meets-KISS arc.

If I had $30…

I’d toss the Archie comic and add in B.P.R.D.: Being Human ($17.99). I like the B.P.R.D. comics but I haven’t really read enough of them; this is billed as a stand-alone volume, so it looks like a good investment.

Splurge…

There’s a new book out from Archaia that caught my eye: Rust, an all-ages superhero story set on a farm during the Great Depression. At $24.95 for a hardcover copy, that’s a splurge, but it’s a manageable one. My other splurge would be Tintin: The Complete Companion ($35), a reissue of a book that came out a few years ago. And since I seem to be going for the Euro-comics this week, I’ll add in the fifth volume of the French fantasy story The Elsewhere Chronicles ($6.95), because I really like this series–it has more of an edge than most kids-in-a-strange-land stories.

Chris Mautner

Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks

If I had $15:

I’ve been reading the series as its been coming out in pamphlet form but if I wasn’t I might likely spend my $15 on the third RASL collection. Not many have said much about Jeff Smith’s current work lately, but it remains a slam-bang, captivating noir/sci-fi saga.

If I had $30:

I’d definitely pick up the Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks collection from 2000AD. I haven’t read much of Moore’s early work apart from Miracleman and really would like to become better acquainted with those stories, if for nothing else than for when I get around to doing a Comics College piece on Moore.

Splurge:

The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever, would make a perfect stocking stuffer for my daughter …

Blackest Friday

ComiXology has a bunch of digital comics for 99 cents today. DC Comics is holding a Blackest Friday sale, allowing you to buy each issue of the Blackest Night crossover for 99 cents each. Marvel has Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four issues on sale for 99 cents, while IDW has their Star Trek comics on sale.

Dark Horse is running a pretty amazing digital comics sale for Black Friday only: A megabundle of all the single-issue Star Wars comics available in their digital comics store, over 130 issues altogether, for $100. That’s 3,274 pages of Star Wars comics, in case you’re counting, and it’s $166 less than you would pay if you bought them all separately.

They have also figured out how to run a doorbuster special digitally: On Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), the first 500 customers through their checkout will get a 50% discount. There’s a $20 minimum, and the deal runs for 24 hours beginning at midnight PST on Nov. 28; you’ll also need a coupon code, which is provided at the link.

Khepri Comics is putting comics on sale and helping to save the cheetahs, with different sales all weekend and into Cyber Monday:

Fri 25 Nov – Black Friday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF HARDCOVERS with coupon CHEETAH40FRI
Sat 26 Nov – Small Biz Saturday – Enjoy 50% OFF SELF-PUBLISHED with coupon CHEETAH50SAT
Sun 27 Nov – Adjectiveless Sunday – Enjoy 40% OFF CREATOR-OWNED with coupon CHEETAH40SUN
Mon 28 Nov – Cyber Monday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF EVERYTHING with coupon CHEETAH40MON

Midtown Comics has comics, graphic novels and statues on sale.

Things from Another World has steep discounts going right now for selected items, plus $10, $5 and $1 doorbusters.

Chuck BB is holding a Black Metal Black Friday Super Brutal Blind Art Sale, where you can buy pages from Black Metal and get a sketch for $50.

Top Cow will have stuff in their online store discounted all weekend …

…as will Aspen Comics.

Jeff Smith’s Boneville site is holding a signature sale through mid-December, where every book ordered will be signed by Smith.

Fantagraphics minicomics

Don’t forget about Fantagraphics special mini-comics offer through their online store.

Mimoco has all their designer flash drives for 25 percent off, which include drives based on Batman, Green Lantern, Star Wars and more.

Threadless is holding a $10 T-shirt sale this weekend, so you can get those cool robot shirts by Ethan Nicolle, Becky Cloonan, JR Goldberg and Jhonen Vasquez for cheap.

MattyCollector has a ton of action figures on sale, including some of their past San Diego Comic Con exclusives and several Justice League Unlimited packs. Plus, the Rockers!

For more deals and bargains, check out the lists at The Beat and ComicsAlliance. And if you’ve seen any that I’ve missed, please post them in our comments section. Happy shopping!

Point One

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 Arrant

If I had $15, I’d first get the third issue of my favorite New 52 title, Batwoman #3 (DC, $2.99). Seriously, J.H. Williams III is hitting a home run on every outing here when it comes to my tastes. Although the writing isn’t up to the level of Greg Rucka’s time on the book, it’s close and only bound to get better. Next up I’d get Point One #1 (Marvel, $5.99). I think this format–an extra-size preview book for what’s coming next–is an interesting experiment, and I’m intrigued most by the Nova story, but also interested to see what the others do. Third would be Uncanny X-Force #17 (Marvel, $3.99), to get the one-two punch of Rick Remender and Jerome Opena. Iceman as a bad guy? I dig this.

If I had $30, I’d get Wolverine #18 (Marvel, $3.99) because I love Jason Aaron and Ron Garney teaming up, and seeing them bring in Fat Cobra from Immortal Iron Fist is oddly perfect for the book. Next up would be my comics weak-spot, Top Cow’s Pilot Season book–Pilot Season: Anonymous #1 (Image/Top Cow, $3.99). After that I’d pick up Fear Itself #7.2 (Marvel, $3.99) despite the fact I wish Coipel was drawing this. Lastly would be Kirby Genesis: Silver Star #1 (Dynamite, $3.99) because I love this lesser-known Kirby creation and the artist on this, succinctly named Johnny D., looks worth watching.

If I had the time (and money) to splurge, I’d get the Simon & Kirby Library: Crime hardcover (Titan, $49.95). Lately I’ve had a keen interest on Jack Kirby’s lesser-known work during the 1950s and this seems to fill in a lot of the gaps for me. I’m excited to hold this in my hands and see what surprises it has in store for me.

Graeme McMillan

Silver Star

If I had $15 this week, I’d throw a bunch of it Marvel’s way, with the first issue of Battle Scars ($2.99) and the massive Point One ($5.99) filling up the majority of my budget quite nicely. Well done, House of Ideas. I’d also grab Dynamite’s Kirby Genesis: Silver Star #1 ($3.99), the first (of many, apparently) spin-offs from the enjoyable Busiek/Ross/Herbert series.

If I had $30, then I’d redress the balance a little by grabbing the third issues of some DC books: Demon Knights, Legion Lost, Green Lantern and Batwoman (All $2.99) would make my cut this week, with IDW’s Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #2 ($3.99) rounding out the haul.

For splurging, there’s really only one choice from my nostalgia’s point of view: Marvel’s Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1 oversized hardcover ($125) is kind of a must-have, what with it being my third-favorite FF run ever (Behind Lee/Kirby and Simonson). If only they’d offered it for $44.44 …

Chris Mautner

Princess Knight

If I had $15: No question, the first volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight would be the first and only must-buy item on my list. This is one of those “Man, they’re never going to translate this series, are they?” books and I’m kind of awestruck that Vertical is taking a chance on it, even given the fact that they’ve become the Tezuka publisher of choice these days. It’s not that it’s such a controversial book as that it’s early Tezuka, which is sunnier, sweeter and less bizarre than the late period stuff they’ve been printing lately. At any rate, I’m excited to get this.

If I had $30: I’d find an extra $5 and pick up a copy of De Profundis by James Jarvis, an intriguing enigmatic comic about a pointy-nosed artist that wanders through an abandoned city before encountering a mysterious priest who gives him a commission job. I flipped through this at SPX, and while I didn’t have the extra cash to pick it up then, it did look like a worthwhile purchase.

Splurge: Again, an easy choice for me — the second volume of Jacques Tardi’s Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec from Fantagraphics. I’m on a big Tardi kick right now, having just recently read the first Adele collection, and am eager to experience more.

Michael May

Frankenstein

If I had $15, I’d spend most of it on my usual series: Demon Knights #3 ($2.99), Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #3 ($2.99), and X-Men Legacy #258 ($2.99). I was lukewarm about the first issue of Huntress, but I liked it enough to check out the second one ($2.99). And though I’m not familiar with PC and Kristin Cast’s Harry Potter/Twilight mash-up House of Night, I like the art previews I’ve seen from Dark Horse’s adaptation ($1) and certainly wouldn’t mind paying a buck to learn more.

If I had $30, I’d add Reed Gunther, Volume 1 ($14.99) to read about my favorite bear-riding cowboy.

There are a few splurge items that caught my interest this week, but near the top of the list are The Zombies That Ate the World, Volume 1: Bring Me Back My Head! ($24.95) for the Guy Davis art and The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, Volume 2 ($24.99). If I had to pick one thing though, I’d get the Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus, Volume 1 ($125.00) because I’ve been wanting to read those stories for decades.

Star Trek "Be a Redshirt" cover

I know a lot of people who would likely love to win this costume. Heck, some of them even blog here at Robot 6. And really, what comic fan wouldn’t want to appear on a Star Trek comic cover saving the life of their favorite comics retailer?

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, IDW and CBS have gotten together to give one comic fan and their retailer of choice the chance to do just that. They’ve kicked off the Star Trek “Be A Redshirt” contest, an essay contest where fans explain in 300 words or less why their retailer is the best. The grand-prize winner will appear on a limited edition variant cover of Star Trek #5, along with their retailer. The cover is limited to 300 copies; 100 will go to the fan, 100 to the retailer and 100 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, who will use them to raise funds. The fan will also receive the original art for the cover.

A “redshirt,” for those who may not know, is a character who dies soon after being introduced. On the original Star Trek television show, they’d typically send an away team to a hostile planet consisting of several show regulars along with a no-name actor or actress in a red shirt. Chances were, the “redshirt” wouldn’t make it back to the ship or out of the episode alive.

As redshirts are famous for always catching the phaser in Star Trek episodes, and as comic fans can be so loyal in defending their local retailer, it’s the perfect contest,” said Dirk Wood, IDW’s director of retailer marketing. “And partnering with the CBLDF is perfect, because no one knows more about defending retailers than they do.”

To enter the “Be A Redshirt” contest, e-mail your explanation in 300 words or less about why your retailer is the best to IDW at contests@IDWPublishing.com with the subject: Save My Retailer.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Publishing | IDW’s Chief Operating Officer Greg Goldstein attributes a bump in the company’s September sales to several factors, including DC’s big relaunch: “The reality is the DC New 52 brought some people into comic book stores that hadn’t been in comic stores for a while, and we had the opportunity to sell them some of our books as well as the other books that are available to them. But clearly, people who had not been focused on comics came out of the woodwork a bit.” It didn’t hurt that IDW had its own launches of properties familiar to those outside of comics, including the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, an ongoing Star Trek series and the Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover. [ICv2]

Legal | A Belgian judicial adviser has recommended that the nation’s courts reject a four-year-old bid by a Congolese student to have Herge’s 1931 Tintin in the Congo banned, or at least restricted, because of its racist depictions. The recommendation is being viewed as a major setback for the case, as the opinion of the Procureur du Roi (Senior Crown prosecutor) is requested and typically followed by the court. [The Guardian]

Creators | Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato talk about the tone of their new Flash series. “We definitely decided we wanted an optimistic, hopeful, and noble story because that’s who Barry Allen is to us,” Buccellato said. “It was important for us to go in that direction, and not toward the darker or more tortured hero. He’s a guy from the Silver Age who does the right thing because it’s the right thing.” [io9]

Creators | Lee Bermejo discusses his upcoming Gotham-meets-Dickens graphic novel Batman: Noel. [MTV Geek]

Enigma

Creators | Peter Milligan opens up about Red Lanterns, Justice League Dark and the potential for more Enigma: “I was re-reading Enigma. This is the really early, early stages but I’m considering doing a sequel. So much has happened in the world since it came out, in terms of how gays are treated in the West. I’d like to highlight those differences of lives of homosexuals in the West compared to gays in Africa, the Middle East, and lots of developing countries.” [io9]

Creators | A bandana-wearing Nathan Edmondson discusses his work on DC’s Grifter series. [Creative Loafing]

Creators | Scott Snyder talks about Swamp Thing. [USA Today]

Conventions | The Free Press profiles the Coast City Comicon, coming up Nov. 11-13 in Portland, Maine. [Free Press]

Batman #2

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.

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d mostly grab the second issues of some DC stuff I enjoyed last month: Batman ($2.99), Birds of Prey ($2.99), and especially Wonder Woman ($2.99). No Justice League for me though. Unlike Action Comics, I didn’t enjoy the first issue enough that I can rationalize paying $4 for it. Instead, I’ll grab Avengers 1959 #2 ($2.99) and Red 5′s Bonnie Lass #2 ($2.95), both of which had strong first issues.

If I had $30, I’d have to put back Bonnie Lass and wait for the collection in order to afford Jonathan Case’s atomic-sea-monster-love-story Dear Creature ($15.99).

If I had some splurge money, I’d likely grab the first issues of the 30 Days of Night ongoing ($3.99) and John Byrne’s Cold War ($3.99) as well as Dark Horse Presents #5 ($7.99). And if I had lots of extra money, I’d take First Second’s Nursery Rhyme Comics ($18.99) and Orcs, Volume 1: Forged for War ($17.99) too. I’ve already read Nursery Rhyme Comics and it’s wonderful; I’m curious to see if Orcs can redeem those creatures from the ennui I feel about them from growing up with Tolkien and D&D. If it was anybody but First Second publishing it, I don’t think I’d give it a chance.

Graeme McMillan

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1

If I had $15 this week, the first thing I’d make a run for in the store would be Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1 (IDW, $3.99), Chris Roberson and Jeffrey Moy’s mash-up of two of my favorite SF series and something I have been embarrassingly looking forward to since its original announcement. I’m also finding myself obsessed with Fear Itself #7 (Marvel, $4.99), for slightly different reasons; after a year in which the climaxes of both Flashpoint and Schism underwhelmed, I just want Fear Itself to go out with a bang. Talking of underwhelming, I wasn’t completely on board with the first issue of DC’s new Justice League, but I’ll be picking up #2 (DC, $3.99) to see what happens next nonetheless, and seeing if things improve.

If I had $30, I’d continue my Legion of Super-Heroes love with DC Comics Presents Superboy’s Legion #1 (DC, $7.99), the latter a collection of an Alan Davis/Mark Farmer Elseworlds series that I’ve never read. I’d round out my purchases with another DC $7.99 reprint book – I have money left from the original $15, honest – and grab Vertigo Resurrected: The Eaters (DC, $7.99), which brings a Peter Milligan horror story from the early ’90s back into print for the first time in far, far too long.

If I were going to splurge this week, I could be persuaded to grab Marvel’s 15-Love TP ($14.99), based upon surprisingly good reviews of the mini. I admit, “tennis manga done by American and European creators” doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, but some of those reviews really sold it to me.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: Butcher Baker, Candlestickmaker #4, the latest issue of the last of The Boys spin-off mini-series would be my first grab. I might also pick up the fourth issue of the newspaper anthology Pood, which, with this issue, features the work of Joe Staton.

If I had $30: Well, I’ve been long intrigued to read Alan Moore’s Neonomicon, especially since it generated such controversy and outright hatred. Now that it’s been collected in trade paperback it seems like I have a golden opportunity.

Nursery Rhyme Comics

On the complete other end of the spectrum I feel obliged to point out that First Second’s Nursery Rhyme Comics anthology, which we highlighted via a series of interviews with contributors on the blog last week, is also out in stores. Even if you don’t have young children at home, it’s a pretty boss book.

Splurge: Let’s see, there’s Vol. 16 of Tezuka’s Black Jack (and it’s always nice to see that’s continuing along) as well as MetaMaus, the “DVD features” companion to Art Spiegelman’s Maus that comes with an actual DVD and (I think) is thicker than the work it references.

But if you really want to splurge, you gotta go for The Metabarons Ultimate Collectors Slipcase edition. $130 gets you all of Alexandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez’s trippy, multi-generational sci-fi epic. Get it for the Eurocomic nerd in your life.

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, my first purchase would be Jason Aaron’s Wolverine #17 (Marvel, $3.99). Re-teaming with his original Wolverine collaborator Ron Garney, this one is billed as a post-Schism tale but the shadows of the last story arc of the title itself cast longer on the series to me. Next up would be Wonder Woman #2 (DC, $2.99), because I’m really interested to see Azzarello explore the mythological worldview that Diana inhabits. Lastly would be the de facto anthology of record in comics currently, Dark Horse Presents #5 (Dark Horse, $7.99). This issue promises a short by Eric Powell about a suicidal space robot, so what’s not to love.

Fear Itself #7

If I had $30, I’d double-back and get the finale of Fear Itself #7 (Marvel, $4.99). Although the writing hasn’t lived up to my expectations compared to previous events or previous work by Matt Fraction, I still enjoy Stuart Immonen’s work here and am interested to see what he pulls out for the final issue. After that I’d get the under-the-radar OGN by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Juan Santacruz – Book Smart (Kickstart, $8.99). This is out of the poorly publicized line of titles that the film company Kickstart is doing in comics, but the stories are strong as is the creators involved.

If I could splurge, I’d splurge all over the Metabarons Ultimate Collection Slip Case (Humanoids, $129.95). Sure I have most of these in earlier editions, but by adding this to my bookshelf I can give away those older ones and spread the love. That’s validation, right? You’ll back me up with my wife when I spent $130 on comics I already have, right? Right?

IDW Publishing and comiXology have partnered to make the publisher’s complete library available digitally across all comiXology platforms — iOS, the Android and the Web.

Beginning today, the entire Transformers line, previously sold only through comiXology’s Android app or online store, will also be available through comiXology’s apps for the various Apple devices. Several new IDW titles, including the first issue of the new Star Trek ongoing, the first two issues of Locke & Key: Clockworks and the first six issues of G.I. Joe, will also appear starting today. More comics will be added later.

Previously IDW’s comics were only available on Apple’s iOS through iVerse and the various iVerse-created IDW apps.

“ComiXology customers have asked for IDW to be part of the Comics by comiXology lineup for some time, and we’re thrilled to bring our catalog to those readers,” Jeff Webber, IDW’s director of ePublishing, said in a statement. “We’ve always been impressed with comiXology’s strength in offering comics across multiple platforms, including Apple iOS, Android and the Web. David and his team have put together an awesome offering. ComiXology has established a huge audience — I know we’re going to make a lot of IDW fans happy this week.”

The complete list of comics coming to the Comics by comiXology app are:

• Transformers – over 200 issues
• Star Trek ongoing 1
• G.I. Joe ongoing 1-6
• Rocketeer Adventures 1-2
• Locke & Key: Clockworks 1-2
• Parker: The Hunter
• Parker: The Outfit
• True Blood Vol. 1 1-6
• Jericho Season 3 4-6

Little Tommy Lost

Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is Annie Koyama, owner and operator of the wonderful Koyama Press, which publishes fantastic books that you should buy ASAP. To see what Annie and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are reading this week, click on the link below.

Flash #1

Tim O’Shea: Black Panther 523.1: If you have not checked out writer David Liss’ approach on Black Panther, here is your chance with this standalone tale. I am one of those readers that never enjoyed Reginald Hudlin’s approach to the character, so I welcomed the opportunity for a different writer to take a swing at Panther. Setting him in Hell’s Kitchen has been a really boost for the character—and one that I hope sticks around for a while.

Captain America 622: Yeah I repeat myself some weeks on WAYR. But why the hell should I need to say more than Chris Samnee art colored by Bettie Breitweiser? (And I really feel badly for failing to mention Breitweiser’s role in making Hulk 41 look so damn good last week.)

Venom 7: I come for the Tom Fowler art and stick around for Rick Remender’s writing. It’s nice to see Flash Thompson’s character fleshed out (no pun intended) in this series. Don’t know how many people are just checking the book out because of Spider Island, but I hope they stick around.

Justice League Dark 1: The last time I have read anything by Peter Milligan was likely The Human Target. His creative pursuits and my interests just rarely intersect. But he may have hooked me in the scene where Shade the Changing Man reveals certain truths to his girlfriend about the dynamics of their relationship. I like the concept of a Justice League for fighting magic (despite the fact Shadowpact has already been down this road, admittedly).

Superman 1: The numbers drop between 1 and 2 on this book is going to stun DC. Even if the writing had not been so uneven, the news that writer George Pérez is leaving with issue 7 will prompt some folks to bolt. I wonder why this book was not more tightly edited (oh wait, because they had to get 51 other issues out in the same month). Clark Kent’s newspaper story serving as the narrative device for this issue made it even a more boring read for me. Do that bit for one or two scenes, but not almost the whole book. A good comic can sometimes read like a fun soap opera episode. A weak comic reads like a wince- inducing soap opera. I am wincing as I write this.

Flash 1: In the race to win my interest for issue 2, Barry Allen wins (beating Superman quite easily). Co-creators Francis (writer/artist) Manapul and Brian (Writer/Colorist) Buccellato construct a hero with a sense of humor and who can think fast on his feet (heh, see what I did there, yeah I wrote a lame cliché). Seriously though, from the dialogue to the layout, there is nothing rushed (except for the character, of course) or half-baked. Sidebar: do you think DC intentionally wanted to run the Converse ads this month — particularly in this issue the six different versions of Flash in that ad might confuse those potential new readers they are trying to gain and weaken the brand building DC wants to establish

Firestorm 1: This is not Gail Simone at her best, not even close (why would a character insult a jock by calling him “boy band” for instance?; why introduce a female scientist who’s one bit of dialogue is to hit on doomed scientist for this plot [hopefully she has a role of more substance down the road]). This smacked of a bad afterschool special on the perils of weak journalistic ethics or the struggle of race dynamics in the current age. Also am I the only person who momentarily mistook the villains in this issue for the new Blackhawks? Wonderful art by Yildiray Cinar though, but not enough to get me back for issue 2.

Aquaman 1: The last time I enjoyed Geoff Johns writing consistently may have been around the time of the first JSA relaunch (no really). So the deck was stacked against him on this first issue of Aquaman. But two things put this book in the winning column: Aquaman’s two hands. OK, it was more than that, namely the scene in the diner–heck the fact that Aquaman ordered fish at a diner. Quirky stuff.

Secret Avengers 17: As much as I loved Warren Ellis on Secret Avengers 16, I am stymied by his writing in this issue. He writes a Cap that is like that crazy rec league coach who yells at his team for their performance. As much as I love Kev Walker’s art on Thunderbolts, he is ill-suited for this comic. Sharon Carter looks downright ugly (and unrecognizable from the way Walker typically draws her in certain panels). This was a done-in-one effort I wish I had left on the shelf. Avengers Academy 19: Christos Gage and company continue the streak of writing the best Avengers book, hands down. I really admire how Gage incorporated the Fear Itself storyline without allowing it to derail the pacing of the story or growth in characters. In fact, he used the event to his story’s overall benefits.

Power Girl

Tom Bondurant: I really liked IDW’s new Abramsverse Star Trek #1 (written by Mike Johnson, drawn by Stephen Molnar), but then I am pretty much the target audience for the book. For at least the first few arcs, it will re-stage Original-Series episodes for the timeline created in the 2009 movie. First up is Samuel Peeples’ “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the series’ second pilot episode and the first featuring Kirk (and Scotty and Sulu, but they didn’t get to do a lot). It’s not a straight-up adaptation, but the basic storyline remains intact: the Enterprise encounters a log-recorder from S.S. Valiant which warns of bad tidings around the galactic barrier; and sure enough, the barrier zaps Kirk’s friend Gary Mitchell with energy which magnifies his latent psionic powers. Before you can say “Dark Phoenix,” he’s showing off a little too much, and it’s time for issue #2. I kid, but I do think Johnson and Molnar have a good handle on the characters’ voices and likenesses. In a few panels Kirk looks about 19, but he had that problem in the movie too. Also, Molnar’s poses can sometimes be a bit stiff, and his pacing a bit off. I’m not sure if that’s a hazard of movie adaptations generally, but that’s what it reminded me of here. Still, the issue moves pretty well without getting bogged down in technobabble. While this series is perhaps best appreciated by those of us who wondered what the old stuff would look like “updated,” it’s a good read regardless.

As it happens, the first issue of Power Girl came out around the same time as 2009′s Trek movie, because I remember
picking up a copy on the way to the theater. (How’s that for a segue?) The first arc (featuring the Ultra-Humanite) didn’t grab me, but I kept hearing good things. Finally, I got the two paperbacks collecting Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner’s twelve issues, and I’m glad I did. Conner’s work especially brings wit and vitality to PG’s adventures, particularly the ones involving intergalactic swinger Vartox. However, overall these issues combine PG’s somewhat jaded, day-at-the-office attitude with a fun, anything-goes spirit, to excellent effect. There’s no getting around the cheesecake factor (my wife commented on it immediately), and an issue which PG spends mostly bound and gagged in Ultra’s torture device helped turn me off the book initially. In the larger context, though, it’s not really that salacious, and after a while it’s more farcical than anything else. Considering some of the now-infamous New-52 books, here’s hoping Conner gets to work on another DC title soon.

It’s purely coincidental that I re-watched 2008′s The Dark Knight right before picking up the paperback of 2005′s Batman: Dark Detective (written by Steve Englehart, pencilled by Marshall Rogers, inked by Terry Austin), but I was struck by the superficial similarities. Both feature an old flame of Bruce’s who knows he’s Batman (and who’s romancing a guy who looks like Aaron Eckhart) and both involve Two-Face going after the Joker. Like I said, superficial. I read the miniseries when it came out, but otherwise it’s been a while, so I can’t comment on it as a whole. However, Rogers & Austin’s work seems a lot more sketchy than their previous collaborations in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s still good, just different. Most of this is on Rogers, whose style got more loose over time; but Austin’s inking also loosened up. Their Bruce Wayne in DD has a very thick, squared-off face, almost like Jim Rockford meets Tim Sale’s For All Seasons Superman, and it’s hard to get used to. Their Joker is still fantastic, though — cold green eyes which seem to rest in those pale sockets like oiled ball bearings.

Oh! Before I forget, Kate Beaton’s new Hark! A Vagrant collection is just off-the-charts funny, page after page. The best part is that the subject matter makes virtually every comic timeless (sorry, hook-handed Aquaman). If you are able, you should get it, or at least pore obsessively over the website.

Laddertop

Brigid Alverson: Mental illness is a difficult topic, but it is also a wonderful subject for comics artists, because of the visual possibilities. Look Straight Ahead is a webcomic about a teenager with mental illness. It starts with the alienation of high school life — bullying, an unrequited crush — but in addition to that Jeremy, the main character, is hearing voices in his head and having freaky dreams — when he can sleep at all. In the third chapter he crosses over the boundary into delusions and paranoia, and his parents commit him to a mental hospital. Creator Elaine M. Will does a superb job of illustrating what’s going on inside of Jeremy’s head, constructing imaginary worlds out of galaxies and puzzle pieces, drawing what he is feeling as well as what he is seeing. She also makes very clever use of limited color in the hallucination sequences. Yet at the same time the comic is very grounded, and Jeremy’s delusions are presented as being of a piece with the other miseries of his life. It’s a fascinating comic, and the story is still unfolding, with two new pages going up each week.

Unlike Tom, I’m not the target audience at all for IDW’s Star Trek comic. I haven’t seen the movie, and I haven’t watched the show in about 20 years and yet I enjoyed it quite a bit. The story was clear, and everything I needed to know was in the comic. I liked the straightforward art style as well. I wish I could say the same for the first issue of their Ghostbusters comic. The story was a lot busier than the Star Trek comic, and with lots of cuts and scene changes it would be confusing anyway, but I kept feeling like I was missing some important bit of backstory. Again, I’m not the target audience, having last seen the movie about 10 years ago; I’m sure it would be a better experience for true fans.

I whiled away a bit of time with Laddertop, by Orson Scott Card and Emily Janice Card (apparently the three-names thing is hereditary). Although his name is in smaller type on the cover, I’d like to give Honoel A. Ibardolaza a shout-out for his lively manga-style art. “Manga-style art” is a deal-killer for a lot of people, but this is unusually well done. The story itself is sort of strange: Long ago, aliens gave the human race a gift of four 36,000-mile-high towers, each topped with a space station that provides clean energy for the earth. They are maintained by specially trained children who go to an elite school, Laddertop Academy. The main characters are two spunky 11-year-old girls, and we get to follow them through their training.It’s like Twin Spica Lite. My biggest problem with this book is that I have a healthy respect for the laws of physics and therefore I cannot accept the notion of a 36,000-mile-high-tower. That just wouldn’t work. But the idea of aliens gifting humans with technology and then leaving is kind of cool; it’s clear that the people running these things don’t totally get what they are. I’m only about a third of the way through the first volume, but there’s enough here to keep me interested.

The Freddy Stories

Annie Koyama: Since I began publishing indie comics, zines and art books in 2007, I rarely have time to read as much as I would like any more. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have boxes filled with books and zines I bought as far back as TCAF and MoCCA in 2010 that I haven’t read yet. The irony does not escape me.

This is a selection of what I have read lately. I’ll leave out things like Death Ray by Daniel Clowes since many others will cover the bigger current releases much more thoroughly than I could.

I’ve enjoyed Gabrielle Bell’s comics and love the ‘Diary’ and ‘San Diego Diary’ books published by Uncivilized Books. I like a lot of autobiographical comics but the best ones for me deal well with the mundane aspects of life. Her use of black ink for shading is so great. I don’t usually have time or the inclination to re-read books, but I have done that with these ones.

At the recent Fan Expo show in Toronto, I met Drazen Kozjan and got his self-published mini ‘The Happy Undertaker’. The art is beautiful and reminds me of Edward Gorey, Ronald Searle and San Francisco artist Roman Muradov whose work you should also check out

I just read the new Xeric funded book ‘Freddy Stories’ by Melissa Mendes. I’ve followed Melissa’s work for a couple years now and love how she draws the character Freddy. It’s charming and makes me want to see more of Freddy and what Melissa comes up with next.

I am nuts about Cole Closser’s work. I’ve got ‘Little Tommy Lost Book One’. His style is reminiscent of the comics my mom had around when I was little. His book design, colour palette and and stories are like nothing else out there right now.

Pope Hats #2

There will be a lot of great reviews for Ethan Rilly’s new ‘Pope Hats Number 2’ published by AdHouse Books so I will concentrate on what I like about his work. Ethan’s drawings are fantastic. With my film background, I automatically read and picture some books as films. There’s a page involving a character on a bus and the angles Ethan uses to portray the inertness of the scene is wonderfully filmic. I want to see more of these stories and look forward to ‘Pope Hats Number 3’.

I am loving Alex Schubert’s books ‘The Blobby Boys’ and ‘The Dudes’. The colours are gorgeous, I like the characters and the covers are great. You can see his work on the great site What Things Do and at Vice. Nathan Stapley is an amazing painter and I love his mini comics like ‘A Christmas Carol And Other Holiday Tales’. I’d be very happy to see a book of his paintings.

‘Nogoodniks’ by Adrian Norvid published by Drawn & Quarterly is a lovely hardcover of his drawings and collages. It reminds of me of the first book I published called ‘Trio Magnus: Equally Superior’.

Matthew Forsythe’s books are always beautiful and his illustrations in ‘My Name Is Elizabeth’ by Annika Dunklee published by Kids Can Press are no exception. I’m publishing his new ‘Comics Class’ book of his semi-autobiographical teaching experiences due out in time for the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival.

I am a big fan of zines too. Canadian James Kirkpatrick aka Thesis Sahib consistently puts out really interesting ones, the latest I have is called ‘New Strangers’ published by Le Dernier Cri. It comes with a CD too.

I also love his ‘Journey Through Time & Shapes’, a silk screened collaboration with Jamie Q. Perhaps my favourite zine/printmaker is Luke Ramsey. I recommend anything he does, many of which are collaborative efforts. He’s such a prolific artist whose joy, sense of wonder and social justice are evident in all of his work.

Thanks to Chris Mautner for having me contribute! Now back to that huge pile of unread treasures.

30 Days of Night ongoing

I’ve been pretty down on ongoing series for the last few years. I sort of touched on it some months ago when I expressed frustration about ongoing series having to make things up as they go along. It’s hard to tell a satisfying story when you’re not building toward an end. My biggest issue with Marvel and DC’s events over the last few years hasn’t been that they want me to buy a bunch of peripheral comics; it’s that so rarely have I been satisfied at an event’s conclusion. Events don’t end; they just lead to the next in a never-ending series of more events. On a smaller scale, ongoing series are the same way. Unless I’m a completest collector, there’s no reward for reading every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man or any other long-running series. They’re stories without end and many of their parts over time are horrible.

So why do I get a thrill when I hear, for instance, that IDW is turning Star Trek and 30 Days of Night into ongoing series? I love the series-of-mini-series approach that those titles and books like Hellboy have followed for years, so what is it that gets me excited about their becoming open-ended? Part of it is the vote of confidence by the publisher when it commits to an ongoing series. Of course it’s not really a commitment, because even ongoings can be canceled at any time, but it says something that a publisher believes there’s enough life in a character or concept to support a series indefinitely.

More than that though is the statement that there are limitless possibilities with these characters or this world. That’s a thrilling idea, even though not every story is going to be a winner. I prefer the term “mini-series” to “limited series” precisely because even though “limited” doesn’t refer to imagination or scope in that phrase, I instinctively rebel at the thought that stories have limits. It’s a silly thing to get hung up on and of course stories do have limits of various kinds, but I want storytellers to fool me into thinking that they don’t. Ongoing series help to foster that willing deception.

X-Men #110

On the other hand (or back on the first hand, I guess), I completely agree with Tom Spurgeon when he writes about REM breaking up and notes, “One thing that’s interesting to me as a comics fan is a few folks wailing about the band’s demise. I can’t imagine any interpretation of that group’s long run that isn’t a success story. Comics could use more projects with a beginning, middle and an end, and more fans willing to see things draw to a close.”

I’m genuinely torn about this. Whenever I’m faced with two extremes, my default tactic is to figure out where the middle ground is, but I haven’t been able to do that with the tension between ongoings and mini-series. I appreciate the tighter storytelling of mini-series, but I also love the freedom to experiment that ongoings provide. I’m thinking about how Chris Claremont used to do these sprawling, epic stories on X-Men and then follow them up with an issue where the team would just play baseball or something. I wouldn’t have wanted a whole series of those downtime stories, but they were always welcome after a dozen or so issues of heavy drama and I came to love them. You don’t get that kind of thing in a mini-series.

The balance, I think, is in refusing to choose. As much as I’d love to discover that there’s a perfect format, I don’t think there is. I’m happy that there are both and I’d love to see more publishers embrace both formats. Just because there’s a 30 Days of Night ongoing doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t also be 30 Days of Night mini-series at the same time. Or am I wrong about that?

X-Men scan from Gentlemen of Leisure.

Wonder Woman

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

If I had $15 this week, I’d continue to support the DC relaunch by picking up Wonder Woman #1, Legion of Super-Heroes #1 and Green Lantern Corps #1 (All DC, $2.99). I’d also grab the first issue of IDW’s new ongoing Star Trek book ($3.99), which adapts episodes of the original TV show into the new movie continuity, because I’m nerdy like that.

If I had $30, I’d add another couple of DC books to my pile (Batman and Birds of Prey, both $2.99), as well as Jay Faerber’s new crime book, Near Death #1 (Image, $2.99) and the first issue of Dynamite’s adaptation of George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones ($3.99) – I have to admit that, not only have I never read any of the original books, I’ve also not seen any episodes of the HBO series, either, so I’m coming to this entirely fresh. We’ll see if it makes any impact on me.

For splurge purposes this week, I’m torn between two collected editions of things I’ve already read: DC has the collection of Brian Wood’s New York Five ($14.99) coming out, and Marvel has the collected edition of Mark Waid’s recent Ruse revival (Also $14.99). Both are well worth reading, and if I’m really splurging, surely I should be able to pick up both, right…?

Chris Mautner

Monster Christmas

If I had $15:

I’m rather excited to see the arrival of Monster Christmas ($9.99) from Papercutz, a Lewis Trondheim book I had heard nothing about or knew was even coming out. I’m pretty much a Trondheim completest, so I’ll likely pick this up, even if it is a little early to be thinking about Christmas.

If I had $30:

I’m torn between two books from Fantagraphics. On the one hand there’s The Armed Garden by David B. ($19.99) which collects all the short stories that previously ran in early issues of the Mome anthology. I have all of those issues, however, so I’ll likely instead go with The Man Who Grew His Beard ($19.99) a collection of short stories by Olivier Schrauwen, most of which also appeared in Mome. Schrauwen’s work has appeared in English before, but in some ways this is his big American debut. His stuff is really sharp and witty and daring and deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

Splurge:

I’d probably pick up some of the other Fantagraphics books out this week, including the Mark Twain Autobiography by Michael Kupperman (note: it’s not really Mark Twain’s autobiography), Prison Pit Vol. 3 and the coffee-table-sized Art of Joe Kubert.

Michael May

If I only had $15, I’d spend it all on DC. There’s a lot of stuff for fans of DC’s female characters this week. I’m most excited to see Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s work on Wonder Woman #1 ($2.99), but thanks largely to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s leaving me with a good feeling about her after the last three months, I’m also eager to see the new Supergirl in Supergirl #1 ($2.99). And I’m a Black Canary fan, so I’m also looking forward to seeing how she fares in Birds of Prey #1 ($2.99). I feel like I can’t adequately sample the new DCU without reading some Batman and everyone tells me that Scott Snyder is the writer to read, so I’d also give Batman #1 ($2.99) a try. And though what I really want is to read Planet of the Apes #6, it’s a dollar out of my price range, so I’d try Legion of Super Heroes #1 ($2.99) instead. I’m not terribly excited to see that concept rebooted again, but I do like some of the characters.

If I had $30, I’d quickly add Planet of the Apes #6 ($3.99) because “wow, that series.” And I’d pick up Dark Horse Presents #4 ($7.99), leaving me enough money for a snack or something.

There are three things I’d like to splurge on this week. Hellboy, Volume 11 ($19.99) comes out, encouraging me to catch up on that series. I’m also very interested in returning to Mark Waid and Butch Guice’s Ruse with the collection of the Marvel reboot ($14.99) and finally, the collected Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters ($17.99). Godzilla wins because it’s something I’ll read with my son (though he is developing an appreciation for Sherlock Holmes) and I’ll get twice the entertainment that way. Also: Phil Hester.

Chris Arrant

If I (only) had $15 for this week’s comics, it would be a massacre given the number of titles I’m interested in. Making the tough call, I’d put my money first behind Wonder Woman #1 (DC, $2.99); it’s easily in my top five most anticipated titles out of the New 52, and the release this week makes it the de facto winner of the week for me – sight unseen. Editors at DC are still just beginning to catch on to how good Cliff Chiang is, and I’m glad he’s finally gotten a plum assignment close to his full potential. Next up would be Dark Horse Presents #4 (Dark Horse, $7.99) with the Geof Darrow cover if you’re curious. My passion for anthology titles is one of the few passions I wear on my sleeve, and DH seems to be aiming for my sweet spot with new stories like Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder and a new Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. Plus I’m interested to read the rare Geof Darrow interview – I’ve been trying to talk to him for years! Last up would be Avengers: Children’s Crusade #7 (Marvel, $3.99); Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung haven’t disappointed me so far, and they’re creatively mixed the needs of this (prolonged) event book with continuing the Young Avengers narrative from their original series.

If I had $30 it’d be a little bit easier on me, as I’d be able to get the Brian Wood two-pack – DMZ #69 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99) and Northlanders #44 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99). After that, I’d check out Batman #1 (DC, $2.99), as I’m a big fan of Greg Capullo going back to Quasar and Scott Snyder has been great so far with his previous Bat comics. Last up would be the penultimate issue of X-Men: Schism, #4 (Marvel, $3.99). Although it’s more talking heads than I would have hoped, there’s some big wheels turning here and I’m interested to see how they get to X-Men: Regenesis.

If I could splurge, I’d dust off some 80s-era currency and finally buy New Teen Titans: Games (DC, $24.99). I’ve tried to styme my increased expectations of this, but to see this project finally come out is definitely getting the better of me.

And before I pass it off to the next person, I have to relent: there’s a lot of good titles out this week that because of the Food or Comics budget I wouldn’t be able to get. Chalk it up to “too much of a good thing” or “comics are too damn high”, but at these cut-offs I’d be missing out on Red Wing #3, Avengers #17, Captain America #, Daredevil #4, Invincible Iron Man #508, Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger #2, Uncanny X-Men #543 and by most missed book, Detroit Metal City Vol. 10. *sigh*

Spera, Volume 1

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 I don’t have to come up with a new way to say, “Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein is still awesome!” every month. And I’ll continue letting Tom and Carla do the heavy lifting in regards to DC and Marvel’s solicitations.

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

Archaia

The Grave Doug Freshley – A lot of publishers are doing Weird Western comics lately and that’s just fine with me.

Spera, Volume 1 – I like the sound of this fairy tale in which a couple of princesses combine efforts to save their kingdoms. It’s not that I’m anti-prince, but that’s a cool, new way to do that story.

Avatar

Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island – Warren Ellis doing Steampunk sounds thrilling, but really all they had to say was “pirates.” I bet this is still really good though, even if you’re pickier than I am.

Boom!

Roger Langridge’s Snarked #1 – After a well-loved zero-issue, Langridge’s version of Wonderland gets its real, official start.

The Huntress #1

Dark Horse

Turok, Son of Stone, Volume 1: Aztlan – I never read any of the Valiant stuff, nor the original comics they were based on, but having rediscovered my interest in dinosaurs in the last few years, I gave the first issue of this a shot and enjoyed it.

DC

The Huntress #1 – How’s Levitz doing with his new Legion stuff? Can he still write? DC finally rebooted the Legion enough times to pound the fandom right out of me, so I haven’t been keeping up. I’m always curious about the Huntress though, because she seems like a character with a ton of potential. I’m drowning in the hype in this solicit (“Hot new miniseries!” “Largest price on her head in DC Universe history!” “Jaw-dropping events!” “Defines her life!” “Tie-in to upcoming Birds of Prey!”), but I’d like to read a good Huntress story and am hoping this qualifies.

The Shade #1 – This is probably as close as we’re going to get to a new James Robinson Starman series, but you know what? It’s really damn close. And it’s got some amazing artists scheduled for it like Darwyn Cooke, Javier Pulido, Jill Thompson, Frazer Irving, and Gene Ha.

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 1 tpb – Hey! Cheapskate edition! I hadn’t even dared to hope.

Showcase Presents: Batman, Volume 5 – I was getting all excited about the Tales of the Batman: Don Newton collection also coming out this month and was about to write something about how much I love Bronze Age Batman. Then I realized that that’s what this collects too, only cheaper and it’s slightly earlier stuff. Still, that Newton volume is in color, so I’ll probably want both books.

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 – Do you know what I like better than a Batman/Zatanna team-up? I don’t either.

Hark! A Vagrant

The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 - Dammit, DC. You’re going to make me buy this again, aren’t you?

Drawn and Quarterly

Hark! A Vagrant – If I could only buy one thing this month, Kate Beaton’s collection would be it. I cannot wait to start loaning this out and sharing her stuff with my friends and family who don’t read webcomics.

Dynamite

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris, Volume 1 – Colossus of Mars – Unlike the glut of Green Hornet comics, there seem to be solid reasons for each of Dynamite’s John Carter series to exist side-by-side. I’m eager to hear what Burroughs fans think of this one.

Sherlock Holmes: Year One – Ditto this and Holmes fans. Is it closer in tone to A Study in Scarlet or Young Sherlock Holmes?

First Second

Orcs, Volume 1: Forged for War - Orcs are my least-favorite Tolkien/D&D mythical race, but I trust First Second to change my mind about that. Dwarves better watch their backs if they don’t want to get bumped to the bottom of the list.

Humanoids

The Zombies That Ate the World, Volume 1: Bring Me Back My Head! – My Guy Davis collection is one step closer to being complete.

IDW

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 – In spite of what I said about my Legion fandom earlier, this really does sound cool. Then again, I’m the guy who liked the Star Trek/X-Men crossovers.

Legion of Monsters #1

30 Days of Night #1 – Very excited about a 30 Days of Night ongoing. This means I probably need to catch up on the last couple of mini-series though.

Cold War #1 – Yes, I do believe I could get into a John Byrne spy series.

Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume 5 – Eep! I’m falling behind!

Kill Shakespeare, Volume 2: The Blast of War - The massive Fables-meets-the-Bard mini-series is all collected finally. Which means I get to read it now.

Marvel

Avengers 1959 #1 and 2 – See what I said about John Byrne’s Cold War, substitute Howard Chaykin for Byrne; add Namora and Kraven the Hunter.

Legion of Monsters #1 – Someone started a meme a while ago about what titles you’d want in a Marvel version of DC’s New 52. I’ve been giving that some thought and a couple of my wishes were a  comic about all of Marvel’s monster characters and another about Elsa Bloodstone. Marvel’s apparently reading my mind.

Moonstone

Return of the Monsters – I’m already pretty interested in Moonstone’s pulp characters: Black Bat, Phantom Detective, Domino Lady, and the Spider. But I’m hooked right through the cheek when they meet Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, a mummy, and a werewolf in a series of four, separate comics.

Airboy Presents The Airfighters - I’m a little confused about whether this has already been solicited before, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I haven’t read it yet and I want to.

Nordguard

NBM

Salvatore, Volume 2: An Eventful Crossfire – I do love a good anthropomorphic animal story. Blame Blacksad.

Scar

Madame Samurai, Volume 2 – The first volume of this was quiet and beautiful. Glad there’s a second.

Sofawolf

Nordguard – The blurb for this reads like a standard Northern adventure story about a team of sled dogs who have to brave a variety of dangers to save some miners. I dig Jack London and all, but I’ve seen that story before, usually on Disney. Then I looked at the cover and realized that the sled dogs are wearing parkas and carrying revolvers.

And that’s it for me. What did I leave out?

from Flashpoint #4

Publishing | Popular comic-book guest star President Barack Obama will make a brief appearance in this week’s Flashpoint #4. DC Comics Executive Editor Eddie Berganza told USA Today that the inclusion of the actual President, rather than a fictional counterpart, signals that the danger is real — something that will get pushed as the publisher prepares for the September relaunch. [USA Today]

Publishing | Fantagraphics announced the lineup for the first volume of its EC archives series, which will collect Harvey Kurtzman’s war stories. [Fantagraphics blog]

Conventions | More than 31,000 anime and manga enthusiasts flocked to Baltimore over the weekend for Otakon, one of the biggest fan-oriented anime conventions. There were a few anime and manga licenses announced, but mainly it was a meet-and-greet for fans and publishers. [Anime News Network]

Creators | io9 chatted with Walt Simonson at the Comic-Con International about his legendary Thor run, from Frog Thor to designing Beta Ray Bill’s head: “Before I ever talked about Bill’s design, nobody ever said, ‘Bill’s a horse.’ Back in the day, nobody knew. I did this for two reasons. One, the monster quality –- in many cultures, skulls are an emblem of death. At the same time, Bill’s head is very roughly based on a horse’s skull. I was a geology student when I was younger, and I was familiar with skulls. Skulls have this quality of horror, but at the same time, horses are beautiful animals. The skull is the structure under the skin that gives the horse its look. In a way, the skull was representative of Bill’s true nature.” [io9]

Word War Hulk #1

Creators | Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak reflects on his 10 favorite moments from his five-year run on the title. [MTV Geek]

Creators | The Apocalipstix writer Ray Fawkes discusses his latest Oni graphic novel One Soul. [The Star]

Creators | Creator Brian Ralph talks about the collected edition of Daybreak. [Giant Robot]

Creators | Chris Roberson talks about the upcoming Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover he’s writing for IDW: “When I was nine years old, there was nothing that commanded my attention more than Star Trek and the LSH, and the years since haven’t dampened my enthusiasm. This project is SO much in my wheelhouse that, when Chris Ryall first approached me about it a few months ago, I simply assumed that it was a prank that one of my friends was playing on me. It wasn’t until I was in a meeting with IDW CEO Ted Adams about another project, and asked him point blank, ‘This Star Trek/Legion thing is a prank, right?’ that I was finally convinced that it was really happening.” [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | Blankets creator Craig Thompson shares some youthful scribblings from a 70-foot-long scroll comic he did as a kid. [Doot Doot Garden Blog]

• Announcements at the Marvel panel included Jeff Parker and Patrick Zircher’s Hulk of Arabia arc, a new Deadpool arc, an Avengers Academy recruitment drive and Villains for Hire, a new spin on the Heroes for Hire concept. Also in the works: A series of Avengers Origins one-shots.

• T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is coming back in November; the new comics will be written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Wes Craig.

• At the Marvel Digital panel, Marvel senior vice president of publishing David Gabriel announced that Marvel will begin simultaneous print and digital release of its Spider-Man and X-Men comics, starting next week with Amazing Spider-Man #666 and Spider Island line.

• DC released art for several of their New 52 comics. They also revealed Lois Lane’s new boyfriend.

• At the Vertigo panel, Executive Editor Karen Berger announced a new graphic novel called Marzi that would ba marketed to both young and old readers. She also said that Vertigo will launch a new Halloween anthology in October and a totally new series later this year.

• Writer Tim Seely (Hack/Slash) and artist Victor Drujiniu will collaborate on a four-issue The Occultist miniseries for Dark Horse.

• Following up on yesterday’s announcement of a Wally Wood collection, IDW announced John Romita, Sr.’s Amazing Spider-Man: Artist’s Edition. Also, IDW also announced that it is teaming up with DC to create the crossover Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes. Chris Roberson will write the comic, which will be published by IDW.

• In one of Riverdale’s unlikelier pairings, the Archie gang will meet KISS. Archie Comics and IDW share the KISS license now; IDW’s KISS series will launch next year.

• Drawn & Quarterly announced Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, the latest in cartoonist Guy Delisle’s graphic memoirs-slash-travelogues.

• Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins announced a third volume of Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer.

• Anime Diet liveblogged the Stan Lee/Yoshiki and “Manga: Lost in Translation” panels.

• The Japanese publisher Square Enix is offering a free first volume of any of its 15 online manga, including Fullmetal Alchemist and Black Butler, for con-goers and Facebook fans, through August 10.

• Director Robert Rodriguez said he is still working with Frank Miller on the script for a Sin City 2 movie, but he plans to make it this year.

• Hugh Jackman confirmed that he will fight the Silver Samurai in Fox’s The Wolverine.

Mondo, a company that specializes in limited edition prints and T-shirts, put a couple of Star Trek posters up for sale today, including this one of Tomer Hanuka’s rendition of the “Mirror Mirror” episode. There’s also a Mike Saputo poster for “The Menagerie” and a non-Star Trek one by Phantom City Creative featuring David Cronenberg’s Rabid. [Thanks to /Film for pointing it out.]

Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn! Today’s shelves are courtesy of Kenny Mittleider, who shares his extensive toy collection.

If you’d like to submit your shelves, just send some pictures and a write-up to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

Now let’s hear from Kenny …

*****

My name is Kenny I’m the host of Knights of the Guild Podcast, MASH 4077 Podcast and Epic Geek Out podcast. I’ve been collecting action figures and other TV/Movie related items now for 34 years. Here’s a small selection of pixs from my toy room.

Here at Hogwarts

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly discussion about the comics we here at Robot 6 have been checking out lately. Today’s special guest is Lauren Davis, who blogs about webcomics at Storming the Tower and io9, and is the editor of the San Francisco comics anthology The Comic Book Guide to the Mission.

To see what Lauren and the Robot 6 gang have been reading lately, click below …

*****

Tim O’Shea

Knight & Squire #6

Good lord. When I read Paul Cornell’s final text piece for Knight and Squire #6 I was astounded to learn that 130 new characters had been introduced in the six issue miniseries. I still cannot believe the narrative curveball that Cornell threw readers in the last issue, but the whole damn thing comes together quite nicely in the conclusion. And even though I read all the single issues, I have a feeling the extras that Cornell is gonna toss in the collection will make that worth picking up as well. Page 2 of this issue is worth the purchase alone for the classic comics writer names that are plastered in graffiti on the wall.

Xombi #1: Not much of a fan of supernatural, unless it’s classic material by Archie Goodwin or current stuff by Jason Aaron. But DC Comics was kind enough to send me an advance copy of Xombi #1. Not to sound like a total idiot, but Fraser Irving is perfectly suited for supernatural tales like this material. And any writer like John Rozum, who references NC Wyeth in the first panel of a story draws me in with pop culture fun. I’ve not read any of the past Xombi material–and the nice news about that is even though I did not know a damn thing about David Kim before this story, I was interested in the character by the fourth page. Plus there’s talking coins at one point in this story. Kudos to Rozum (a longtime friend of Dwayne McDuffie) for dedicating this first issue to the recently departed writer.

Superman #709: Kevin Melrose has already documented one of wacky, enjoyable aspects of this issue. Roberson’s ability to work little elements into the story, like the fact that Supes and Flash have a conversation at superspeed in the time that a waitress almost trips and falls (as the scene ends, of course, Flash saves her from a fall). Until DC makes an official announcement, I will keep writing: “Give Chris Roberson a permanent assignment as writer of Superman. This guy turned a floundering arc into something entertaining.” Small smarky aside: When all is said and done on this Grounded storyline, I am going to check and see how many issues featured a scene with a white picket fence.

Avengers Academy #11: Christos Gage remains the most engaging writer on an Avengers-related title at present. And in the current arc, he gets to use a hell of a lot of Avengers, not just the academy students. How many, you may ask? Tom Raney draws characters I never even recognize, that’s not a complaint. I still remember back in the 1970s when I first read the Avengers and there would be a character I would not know about. That would not make me feel left out, quite the opposite it would leave me wanting to learn more. And that’s the feeling I get when I read Gage’s writing. Some writers when they use Jocasta characterize her as nothing more than a high-quality PDA, Jocasta by Gage is an asset to the Academy staff and the book’s cast (though you always have this suspicion fomented by the Gage that she can go Ultron on the team at any point). After this pivotal issue, I’ll be curious to see where the creative team takes Veil, in particular.

Thunderbolts #155: Jeff Parker’s affinity for Dr. Strange (who lends a hand in this single issue only) is clear from the issue’s outset. Getting the voice of Stephen Strange just right is no easy feat, but Parker does it. To me, the sign of a good writer in a team book like the Thunderbolts is when they can make the guest stars shine in an ensemble cast without taking away from the title’s core group dynamics. That’s what Parker achieves with Dr. Strange–and Kev Walker gives Strange almost a Russian look to a certain extent. It’s an immensely iconic tone to a certain extent. While it may be too early for another Dr. Strange miniseries, I would love for Parker & Walker give it a go.

Chris Mautner

Noche Roja

Noche Roja by Simon Oliver and Jason Latour is the latest entry in the Vertigo Crime, and like previous efforts it’s a rather enjoyable effort, though it slips easily from your mind once you put it down. It’s about a former, washed-up cop now private detective who heads across the border to a small factory town in Mexico where young women are being rather gruesomely killed. It’s well done, I particularly like Latour’s just-cartoonish-enough art style, though the cheap paper it’s printed on does it no favors, particularly when Latour uses as much ink and ben-day dots as he does.

I suppose my big problem with Noche and much of the Vertigo Crime line is that it’s so plot-heavy that there’s little room for style or characterization. I realize that this genre tends to be rather plot-heavy in general anyway, but for me the pleasure usually resides in the character studies and little flourishes, and Noche Roja doesn’t have too many of those.

A more satisfying crime book to me, by far, was The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans, the latest entry in Rick Geary’s ongoing Treasury of 20th Century Murder. This time Geary tackles a rather obscure — nay, all but forgotten — tale of random and rather ugly murders that occurred in the Big Easy around 1918. Here the thrill exists in Geary laying out the various strands of the story. The case was never solved, adding an unsettling tone to an already grim story, and Geary’s methodical detective work makes the tale even more deliciously eerie.

Tom Bondurant

Welcome To Tranquility

This week I re-read just about all of Welcome To Tranquility (everything except the “Worldstorm” crossover) and I’d like to think there’ll be more from Gail Simone and company even with WildStorm gone. Eighteen issues (twelve of the regular series and last year’s 6-issue sequel) is a good bit of space in which to build a world, but Simone and artist Neil Googe got much of it done right out of the gate. The rest is mostly character studies — the revenge-driven gunslinger, the undead rockabilly star, the lawmen with unconventional backgrounds — which prove immediately engaging. Especially in the One Foot In The Grave miniseries (drawn by Horacio Domingues), I could see the same kind of dark streak which powers Secret Six, butting against the tenacity of Birds Of Prey. Moreover, since the villain of OFITG is a “forgotten character” from Tranquility’s past since turned into an unstoppable evil, I can see the sequel miniseries as something of a reaction to the Superboy-Prime style of stories. While some of OFITG‘s plot elements steer awfully close to women-in-refrigerators-type moments, I don’t think they’re meant to have the same effect; and in any case, the end of OFITG suggests that such things should never have happened to begin with. I’m eager for another sequel because OFITG seems to leave one plot thread dangling, and since it affects a couple of major characters, I hope it has a chance to play out.

I also picked up a few of Titan Books’ Star Trek reprints, specifically the first several issues of DC’s 1983 series and the first year or so of the ’89 relaunch. In a nutshell, while the first series (written by Mike W. Barr, pencilled by Tom Sutton, inked by Ricardo Villagran) was both entertaining and true to the spirit of Kirk-Movie Trek, I have to say that Peter David and James W. Fry’s work on the ’89 relaunch is zippier and more witty, with more detail-oriented art. (I do think Paramount should have let David and Fry use M’Ress, though.) The ’89 relaunch started off with a mega-arc about Kirk running afoul of The Salla, unquestioned charismatic ruler of his eponymous fanatical race. Kirk’s unconventional tactics in dealing with the Salla land him in hot water with both the Federation and the Klingons, naturally, and at the end of the issue I just finished, he’s assigned a “protocol officer” to keep him out of trouble. Then it gets wacky, with Kirk battling a bounty hunter “played by” John Cleese, and there’s a trial, and it’s a whole big thing. Still better than Star Trek V.

Anyway, I did want to mention one of the Barr/Sutton stories, “Mortal Gods” from the first series’ issue #5. This might have been the only one of Sutton’s issues not inked by Villagran, and by his absence he demonstrates how much his style sometimes overwhelmed Sutton’s pencils. In fact, Sal Amendola’s inks are practically delicate in comparison, bringing out the detail in faces and technology that Villagran often didn’t. The story is familiar Prime-Directive stuff — a stranded Starfleet captain changes the course of an alien society’s history — but this time it’s one of Kirk’s students, and he’s using his “alien powers” to stop warring factions from killing each other. That’s all well and good, and Kirk’s solution is, as you might expect, is about as radical as the original “fix.” However, I was surprised, and then a little amused, at one minor plot point. Captain Hodges’ ship was destroyed in the war with the Klingons which took up much of issues #1-4. Regardless, he had time to a) demonstrate his “godlike” powers to his new neighbors, b) impose his will on them, and c) fall in love, all in maybe a week to ten days. Either the war lasted a lot longer than I thought, or Hodges was just as good, if not better, with the ladies than his old professor….

Lauren Davis

I’m not a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying Lucy Knisley and Nora Renick-Rinehart’s Here at Hogwarts. I adore Knisley’s comic essays at Stop Paying Attention, so a 36-page Knisley comic is a real treat. She and her studio mate decide to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – with detours through Disney World and even a Jesus theme park. Knisley manages to take a clear-eyed view of the parks without being overly cynical. She investigates the ploys the parks use to keep visitors happy and spending money, but decides that, ultimately, trips like these are about recapturing joy.

from Spacetrawler

Moving from Orlando to a solar system far, far away, I’m reading (or, more accurately, re-reading) the first collected volume of Chris Baldwin’s webcomic Spacetrawler. Space opera comics are a tricky thing to pull off – as are comedic space operas – but Baldwin nails it with his tale of human abductees roped into an alien activist mission. The characters have such remarkable chemistry, and there are some genuinely shocking moments where I still laugh out loud.

The webcomic I’m most excited about this week is Tom Siddell’s Gunnerkrigg Court, which is back after a brief hiatus. The underlying tensions of Gunnerkrigg Court are set between the Court, the technologically advanced boarding school Annie and her friend Kat attend, and the mystical Forest ruled by the god-like Coyote. After two years at Court, Annie decided to spend her summer break in the Forest. Now that she’s back at school, that decision is having powerful repercussions for her friendship with the scientifically minded Kat – and likely her larger life at Court. Siddell has done a beautiful job aging up the characters, and I find I’m dying to know how Annie spent her summer vacation.

Even though I picked it up at my local comic book store, To Timbuktu, by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg, isn’t exactly a comic. Scieszka provides the words and Weinberg the illustrations for this post-collegiate travelogue about their journey from China (as English teachers), through Asia, and eventually to Mali for Scieszka’s Fullbright grant study. I’m obsessed with the minutiae of other people’s lives, and To Timbuktu delivers on a number of fronts: a formerly long-distance relationship that becomes suddenly intimate, the daily routine of life in a foreign country, two people trying to grow into who they are as adults. I suspect that if I’d read this in college, I would have dumped all my grad school plans and run off to China.

“We’re excited to bring out Infestation as a stand-alone comics app,” Jeff Webber, IDW’s director of ePublishing, said in the press release. “While all of the issues are also available in our IDW Comics app for our regular readers, creating a stand-alone Infestation Comics app allows us to introduce the whole event to fans of the individual brands. This way, casual readers of Transformers, Star Trek, G.I. Joe and Ghostbusters digital comics can see what this big comics cross-over event is all about!”

In addition to offering digital equivalent to the stories in print, IDW has also teased a special “TOP SECRET digital-only crossover” for the app. The press release murkily teases that, saying: “This will be one huge surprise for comic fans everywhere. All we can say right now is, bring a life vest!”

What could it be? Maybe the undersea-born Godzilla, which IDW recently started the license for? Maybe. Or it could be the launch of something new … maybe zombies vs. Jaws?