Maybe this won’t be quite so late this month, but let’s not count our chickens before they have exited the eggs! It’s time to delve right into Previews #370, where we will find comics you might want to purchase! [Edit: As you can see, we did not get this up in a timely manner, and it’s almost all my fault. I went on vacation before we could finish, and I’ve been busy doing stuff. Travis was having some issues loading images, and I thought I wouldn’t, but I did, and before I could figure it out, several days had passed. So now I’m just going to post it without images, olde-skool style, because it’s so late. Next month I’ll be back on my own computer and I’ll be able to post images, and all will be well. Thank you for your patience!]
You know that I’m in blue and Travis is in black, so you know who to blame if your purchases are less than excellent. It’s always Travis! Let’s go!
I’d say hey but it’s probably true.
Image:
On page 46, Matt Fraction shows up with a new graphic novel, a three-part thing called November, which comes out in … November! It’s about three women in a “criminal underground” whose lives intersect during a day and a night, and there’s a strange man who interacts with all of them. Sounds neat. Elsa Charretier is drawing it, and she’s a terrific artist, so I’m sure this will be worth getting. When will they come out? Every November for the next three years? We shall see!
Too bad that I’m wary of Fraction, but Charretier is awesome.
The solicit for SFSX (page 50) makes my head hurt. It could be good, it could suck, but don’t hit me with a solicit that reads “[it’s] like SEX CRIMINALS in Gilead crossed with Oceans 8 – with a SUNSTONE twist!” Couldn’t you, I don’t know, make something unique? Would that be too big of a problem?
It’s solicit-speak so it always sucks. It almost sounds like The Invisibles more than any of that stuff, but Image didn’t publish that …
Pretty Deadly is back on page 59 with a story set during the “golden era” of Hollywood. Is that the 1930s, or earlier, or later? Anyway, I’m not sure if I’m going to get this. It’s going to be gorgeous because Emma Rios is excellent, but it’s also the best thing that Kelly Sue DeConnick has ever written and it’s still not that great. Sigh.
Yeah, but it was also better than the crap Fraction was churning out that same year as the first volume of Pretty Deadly.
Man, you’re mad about Fraction, aren’t you?
It’s just a coincidence that he’s come up twice, I’m not really that super mad about him and his sucky overrated comics. Oh wait.
Yes, NOW Spawn is record-breaking, dammit! (Page 60 with #301, with yet another self-homage)
Hey, Trees is back on page 61! How about that? That’s nice. I like Trees.
The trade for Assassin Nation is on page 62. I’ll be picking this up, just to check it out.
It did sound cool.
Should I bother with Battle Chasers Anthology on page 63? Was the comic really one of the most beloved comic book series of all time? Wasn’t it more one of the most delayed comic book series of all time?
I can’t imagine it’s any good. I guess it’s also getting finished, but Madureira isn’t drawing it? Maybe? Anyway, I guess if you have 25 bucks you don’t want, get it, but I’m avoiding it like the plague.
I know you’ve been getting Fairlady and actually reading it. I’ve been getting it but not yet reading it because I suck. If the readers have not yet gotten it at all, the first trade is on page 64, and it’s just 10 bucks for 5 issues, and those issues are bigger than the average comic these days, no?
They have to change that stuff about what issues are in the Walking Dead books on page 71, and that solicit on page 89 … I gotta say, that’s a baller move to end your comic with no fanfare like that, especially a comic like TWD!
Dark Horse:
Everything on page 96 from Christopher Cantrell and I.N.J. Culbard looks and sounds out there enough that I might get the single issues. Culbard was awesome on New Deadwardians, so I need to get more of his stuff.
Yeah, this does look good. I always enjoy something that people are trying to make money off of telling me how horrible people who try to make money are. But it should be pretty good nevertheless.
I know I’ll get Steeple on page 108, because it’s by John Allison of Giant Days et al, but I’m not sure if I’ll get the singles or trade wait. You’d think a 5 issue mini would be a nice $20 trade (at most), but DH prices things weird any more.
Is Perry Bible Fellowship worth getting, folks? The 10th anniversary of the collection is on page 110.
Yes, definitely. It’s ridiculously funny and weird. Well worth the price.
Man, I want the Usagi Yojimbo 35 Years of Covers HC on page 116 but it’s 40 bucks. Sigh. I’ll still probably get it though.
You’re crazy. And how long has this been in the pipeline? Usagi Yojimbo has been at IDW for a little while by now!
Dark Horse might have been more willing to let Stan Sakai head over there if he let DH do this book, which seems like it’d be a perfect fit at IDW.
On the same page is Last Stop on the Red Line, about a Boston subway strangling, and I probably will get this because I have been on that subway. Hey, don’t ask questions about my method!
This sounded neat, so I’ll get it. It’s a bit more than the single issues, of course!
I have at least an issue or two of Witchfinder, now in Omni form on page 119.
DC:
Hey, Bendis is writing Legion of Super-Heroes on page 11. Bendis isn’t great at team books, but this sounds like it’s a solo book with some other people around (the protagonist is unnamed, but it’s probably Naomi, right?), so it might work. I love how Ryan Sook is supposed to be the artist on the ongoing coming out. Sook can barely finish one issue in a timely manner, so how is he going to do this? And that bugs me, because I love Sook’s art.
Well, this is a solo book but the LoSH series will obviously be a team book. Yeah, Sook won’t keep up, especially on a huge team book like LoSH. And it does seem like this woman has got to be Bendis’s new Mary Sue, but there must be a swerve in there. Also, why do 2 of the guys (Lightning Lad and the orange dressed dude in the middle of page 11) have the same douchey haircut? WHY?!?!
Also, I was kind of hoping at some point that DC was going to lure Hickman to this. Seems more his kind of thing.
Keith Giffen and Jeff Lemire are doing a 12-issue Inferior 5 book on page 16. That’s something.
Like our pal Fraser said behind the scenes, if it leads to a reprinting of the original stuff, I’m for it!
So, I guess this issue 10 of MAD on page 51 is the last one with original content, except for the year end issues. It’s a shame that it’s ending, of course, because it’s a fun mag, but I only flipped through the first issue or two of the new run and haven’t gotten around to reading it from the library. Buy it? Wha?! When looking it up, I did get reminded that Weird Al edited an issue, and it was pretty good as I recall, and I was getting it mixed up with the all monkey issue, which was amazingly funny. I hope the Usual Gang of Idiots has someplace else for their stuff, like Teresa Burns Parkhurst, who is one of the funniest contributors in ages.
Last issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up on page 55! Aw! I’ve been buying it but not reading it always. It’s a fun little book every time, though. Maybe they’ll reboot it eventually!
Vertigo wraps up as well with a few trades. American Carnage is collected in full on page 69, and it’s 20 bucks for 9 issues for a story a la Incognegro. Goddess Mode on page 74 is about a woman fighting the AI controlling future humanity. And Hex Wives on page 75 is about a suburban group of witches in war against a male conspiracy. You’ve also got the first of two iZombie trades on page 76, well-timed now that the show is ending. And a nod to one of the early Vertigo books as the imprint ends as Vamps: The Complete Collection is offered on page 84. I have some of this but I don’t think I ever read it. It’s too rich for my blood, ahem, at 40 bucks but cool of DC to reprint it to hold onto their rights to the book for some more years!
I could comment on the statues of Batgirl by Frank Cho and Harley and Ivy by Emanuela Lupacchino on pages 88 and 89, but I won’t. I just won’t. AHWOOGA!
IDW:
I will probably get Ghost Tree on page 146 because it sounded interesting and I liked Simon Gane on They’re Not Like Us.
Yeah, Gane’s a good artist, so I’ll be getting this, too.
Dick Tracy Forever sounded interesting, as it has him in different times and places, apparently. It’s by Michael Avon Oeming, who’s pretty good, and it’s collected on page 150.
Is the fact that Eve Stranger is the only Black Crown book (on page 165) a good sign? I have most if not all of the collections, although I haven’t read them all. Of course.
I’m not sure. There have been other months where they haven’t offered much, so maybe it’s just a lull. But I don’t pay attention to comics news, so what do I know?
On page 168, A Radical Shift of Gravity is about that – the world’s gravity is beginning to go away, and some journalist dude is writing about it while going through some stuff himself (I will bet you the title has … a double meaning!!!!). It’s not the most unique idea in the world, but Nick Tapalansky is a pretty good writer, so I’ll probably check this out.
Another Magdalene Visaggio book, Marilyn Manor, concludes on page 169 and is offered in trade right away. Visaggio sure likes the ‘80s, huh? This sounds neat, so I’ll consider it.
Marvel:
J.J. Abrams and his son are writing a Spider-Man comic on page 2. I mean, I guess it’s okay that the elder Abrams is there, but what qualifications does his son have? Has Abrams insulted the president on social media because his incompetent children are involved in the administration? If so, get the log out of your own eye, sir!!!!!
Ooh, nice burn. I saw that your pal Layman was none too pleased about this. I guess if it gets Marvel eyeballs, whatever, right? But still, it’s dumb.
I missed Layman being grumpy about it. I don’t spend enough time on the Twitters, I guess!
I love it when the Big Two do comics like Strikeforce #1 (page 6). I have no idea if it will be good or terrible, but every once in a while, they just think, “Man, we have a bunch of characters sitting around sipping chai tea lattes, and we have nothing for them to do, so let’s throw them in a team together!” And it lasts 6-15 issues, and everyone gets paid a little bit, and we all go home happy.
Exactly. This lineup is like, yeah, that person hasn’t been in a book in awhile. So weird!
They’re suckering me into getting Marvel Comics 1001 on page 12. Dammit!
RESIST!!!!
I can’t!
Sweet baby Jesus, they’re bringing back Crazy on page 25, but the big news to me is that Dandy Don Simpson is doing art! I thought he’d retired from comics from what I’d heard!
I will be picking up the Avengers: Loki Unleashed! on page 38, by the always great Roger Stern and Ron Lim. This is one of the good things about Marvel celebrating their anniversary, they’re giving work to great creators who haven’t been getting regular gigs from them recently!
Also, on page 56 is Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big, with a new Erik Larsen Spidey story, which is kewl!
Did Larsen really “revolutionize” the character, though? I mean, I think his work on the book is terrific, but let’s be honest – McFarlane revolutionized the character. Every visual Spidey interpretation today is rooted at least somewhat in the way McFarlane drew him.
I’ll agree with you there.
The cover of Invisible Woman 3 on page 59 shows why Adam Hughes gets work all the time!
I’m sure you’re getting the Moon Knight Annual on page 79, and I’m interested because it’s all timey-wimey with Kang, and I dig that stuff.
Yeah, probably. It’s a nice creative team, and it’s a one-and-done, or at least it appears to be.
I’m really looking forward to New Mutants: War Children on page 84. I know you can never go home again, but just a little of Claremont/Sienkiewicz is amazing, so I hope if they’re focused just on this, it will be terrific. Fingers crossed!
I’m snagging it!
Marvel gets around to releasing Peter David’s Hulk run in giant Omnibus form on page 111. I already have these, and this is $125 (for a giant chunk of comics, to be sure), so I’ll probably skip it, but it’s still very tempting. If you don’t have them yet, these are terrific comics!
I’ve read a great deal of it. It is good stuff!
Spider-Man: Life Story is in trade on page 128. This seems like a neat idea – aging Spidey from his debut to the present day – and while I don’t love Chip Zdarsky, I don’t hate him, either, so I’ll probably give this a look.
Yeah, this one sounded neato.
Dynamite:
Army of Darkness/ Bubba Ho-Tep cross over on page 199. I need to pull out my Bubba Ho-Tep DVD, that was a pretty good movie from what I remember.
I’m hearing that Kieron Gillen blew the fucking covers off comics with the Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt mini he just did with Caspar Wijngaard, so I’m going to consider the HC on page 200, even though it’s 30 fucking dollars.
Well, with so much cursing, I might have to consider it! Although I’ll probably just wait until a softcover comes out.
It’s great that Joyce Chin didn’t suffer too badly from the stroke she had, but it’s shameful that she has to rely on sales of a lithograph (admittedly a sweet looking Vampirella one on page 206) for her medical costs. Grr, this country!
Boom! Studios:
I’m not the biggest fan of James Tynion, but Something Is Killing the Children, his new mini-series on page 214, sounds neat. It’s a creepy horror thing, and Werther Dell’Edera is a pretty good artist. Perhaps the trade will be timely!
My retailer was talking about how he was none too pleased with the way Boom handled the new Angel series soliciting. Apparently they dropped the ball on it. It might be cool though, and I always liked that series, and the first trade is on page 219.
What was wrong with it?
The zero issue and the first 4 issues were solicited not unlike Die! Die! Die!, I believe, but even worse. You may have seen in last month’s book, the four issues were offered, but apparently the third issue was left off the order form, I think, if I understood right.
Wow, that’s pretty stupid. I mean, Kirkman can get away with it for a bit because he’s loaded so he doesn’t give a shit if his books sell initially, but that seems silly for Boom! to pull. Oh well.
I’m interested in Girl. [Edit: What is this? It’s weird, and I love it.]
The ipad wouldn’t stop going with the space bar. Anyway, I was saying, I’m interested in Girl on Film, because Cecil Castellucci did at least one of the neat Minx books that DC did years back (The Plain Janes books, I think), so she can write comics, and the story of being an aspiring artiste sounds neat.
Let’s head to the back of the book!
The latest Cerebus in Hell? one shot, The Iron Manticore, is on page 246 from Aardvark-Vanaheim. According to Dave, it’s the lowest print run of any Cerebus #1, so grab your copy! Also, Church and State II is remastered and offered on the same page. It is good!
It seems like Sim pissed off even some of his remaining hard-core supporters with the LGBTQ cover a while back. He loves shooting himself in the foot!
I can’t disagree on that one. I guess it was the issue before this one that had the lowest print run. This one might bounce back in sales because of the Iron Man parody name.
Vampire State Building from Ablaze on page 246 sounds fun – it’s like the Karl Urban Judge Dredd movie or The Raid or any of those movies where people are trapped in a building and have to fight their way out, only the building is the Empire State Building and there are vampires. I was kind of puzzled how Charlie Adlard was going to draw this – he’s a pretty fast artist, I know, but cranking out two monthly books seems difficult – but that question was answered, I guess!
I was wondering as well!
On page 250 is Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival HC GN from Abrams Comicarts. It’s not a fun topic, obviously, but an important one with talented creators contributing and some profits going to RAINN, so I’m considering it.
Action Lab has Cold Blood Samurai (not sure if that’s one or two words since the solicit is 2 but the cover art appears to be one) in trade on page 255, about a salamander samurai. Sure, why not?
Also from Action Lab, on page 258, is Chainsaw Reindeer, about a reindeer of Santa’s who snaps and cuts people down. It’s like two Tick characters mushed together!
There’s Midnight Vista from AfterShock on page 262. It’s about a kid and his stepdad who get abducted by aliens and years later, the kid returns. It’s a “true” story, according to the solicits. So Eliot Rahal, the writer, was abducted and spent years living with aliens, and this is how he reveals it? Through a comic?
He knows his first name is Eliot. Anyway, he was the one that did that one about the demon possessing his dad or whatever, right, also from Aftershock? So he’s lived an interesting life! There sure are a lot of stories in comics of kids disappearing and coming back as adults, aren’t there? Also, in re the stepdad’s name, No-MAAAAA!!!!
I think he did? I wondered that, too, but wasn’t sure. But yes, that would be an interesting, if totally fictional, life.
That girl’s face on the cover of You Are Obsolete #1 on page 264 is fuckin’ creepy!
Stronghold by Phil Hester and Ryan Kelly is on page 270. I was waiting for this trade, and here it is!
Me too!
Our friends at Amigo have a second Apocalypse Girl miniseries starting on page 280. I got the first one, but surprise surprise, I haven’t read it yet. I’m working on it!
Same page has AMP Adult with an interesting sounding one, Bloodlust and Bonnets, with vampires in the Romantic age. I’m wary of it, though, looking at that less-than-detailed artwork on the cover.
Also from them is Nancy: The Olivia Jaimes Collection HC 1, which I’ve seen examples of floating around on the internet. It looks good, but maybe I’ll just try to look on a comic strip website. Although it does include some interesting back matter.
Yeah, I’m thinking about this. Her strips aren’t really funny, but they are kind of surreal, which makes them worth a look. And it’s only 15 bucks, which isn’t bad.
Archie has Archie ’55 (page 287), which is by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn and drawn by Tom Grummett. Is this comic coming out in 1992? Man, Tom Grummett. When was the last time you thought about Tom Grummett? He’s a decent enough artist, but I wonder what he’s been doing.
Section Zero, motherfucker! God, do you even read my posts from, like, last year?! Hee hee!
Dang, you’re right. For some reason Karl Kesel’s name got stuck in my head regarding that book, and Grummett’s just fell out. Sorry, Mr. Grummett, for not keeping up with the Grummett-naissance!
I thought he also did some stuff for Marvel semi-recently, or maybe for DC? Sort of fill-in stuff. I could be just thinking of the stuff he did on Waid’s Hulk run, which is further back than I remember, I think.
If you’re going to learn from someone, it ought to be a master. Therefore, Making Comics: A Practical Guide on page 313 from Chartwell Books is a good bet, since it’s by Dave Gibbons. I think they offered this before but it didn’t come out.
The second trade of Sink shows up on page 315 from ComixTribe. This is an excellent horror comic, and you should all get it!
They’re always cool here in our book, because they were the first comic I know of that blurbed us here at the Atomic Junk Shop! (By quoting you on the back of issue 2, I think.)
I might get Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre, a biography of the author, on page 318 from Hyperion (which is now Disney, apparently, because of course it it). Sounds neat.
I’ll read it if the library gets it. I actually read Jane Eyre in college. I mean, it’s a reading I actually did!
I’m not entirely sure what the need for this is, but Fantoons has Rush: The Making of A Farewell to Kings on page 331, and I may need to get it for a pal of mine because of a long running inside joke that is too complicated to explain here.
It was tough growing up with five or so really good friends who were all die-hard Rush fans because I think they’re wildly overrated. #FirstWorldProblems.
I’m going to pass on your Rush dis in favor of going for a “you had 5 friends” dis. Burn!
Dang, that was solid. I had at least six friends, and some of them weren’t imaginary!!!!
Jeff Lemire continues to release graphic novels while his writing for DC and Marvel pays the bills, as we get Frogcatchers on page 334 from Gallery 13. A man wakes up in a room with no idea how he got there, and there are strange things in the place. He meets another person who begs him not to investigate. Yeah, I doubt that’s going to happen. Lemire does excellent comics when he’s writing and drawing himself, so I’m looking forward to this.
It takes place at the Edgewater Hotel. Is this comic destined to take the place of the mudshark in our mythology? Yes, I know I sound crazy, but I’m making a Zappa reference, dammit!
Graphic India has, on page 337, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Striker Force 7 Special Collector Edition 1, which is an expanded version of the FCBD book. If I ever get around to finishing my post on FCBD stuff, you’ll find out that I thought this book was surprisingly good for a media tie in. The story was some good old-fashioned superheroics, and the art was a nice looking style a la the DC Animated series from the late ’90s. I’m not saying it’s worth the cash necessarily, but it’s not terrible.
I saw this and laughed and laughed. But that’s just me.
Hmm, will Heavy Metal actually release The Smile of the Absent Cat, offered again on page 342 and featuring two of my all time faves in GMozz and Gerhard. I’m waiting for this!
Short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooooooo.
Our pal Drew Ford continues finding good comics to release through It’s Alive! On page 349 we’ve got Jeff Nicholson’s Father and Son Omnibus. Nicholson did Ultra Klutz among other things, and that series gave us a parody of the Justice League where the Martian Manhunter stand in says to the Aquaman stand in, iirc, “Go ‘Way, Bad Fish Mans!”. I need to find some of my comics and do a post on my favorite lines/panels ever! Anyway, I hope this leads to a collection of Ultra Klutz and/or Colonia, also by Nicholson.
You have a lot of good ideas for posts. You should, you know, post something some day before the sun goes nova.
Well thank you for the vote of confidence in saying my ideas are good. I’m going to try!
I don’t exactly understand what it is, but it sounds interesting on page 388 from Rosarium Publishing: Baaaad Muthaz, women who are space pirates but also members of a James Brown cover band. Sure.
SelfMadeHero reoffers The Nao of Brown on page 393, and I believe you highly praised that book, no?
I really liked it, but I did have a little problem with the ending. But it’s still excellent.
Same page has the new Frank Miller illustrated novel Cursed, a … feminist take on the Arthur legend. It’s from Simon and Schuster Books Young Readers, and that should go well, right?
What could possibly go wrong?
I skipped the singles but I was interested in Floppy Cop from Source Point Press, so I may get the trade on page 397 since it’s a strange sounding comic with an underground art style, based on the cover, so hey, why not?
Also from them is Gutter Magic on page 398, and I don’t know if this is reprinting the mini that IDW did or if it’s a new volume. You thought it was good, right?
I liked it quite a bit, and I have to find out if this is a reprint or a sequel. I’ll figure it out by the time I have to order it, but if it’s a reprint, this is quite good, and if it’s a sequel, I have high hopes!
T Pub has some interesting-sounding comics on page 402, as they often do. Neil Gibson, the mastermind behind the company, writes (along with some others) The Theory, which is a bunch of short stories linked by a common plot thread of time travel. Sounds neat, if I can deal with the time travel aspect! Meanwhile, Transdimensional is about a dude searching for a missing Soviet submarine, which never goes well. Leave things in the ocean, people!
Yeah, The Theory intrigued me.
On page 408, Titan has Cromwell Stone, “a Lovecraftian horror-mystery.” Well, that sounds neat.
Art looks good.
TwoMorrows stuff on page 412. Alter Ego 161 is a Stan Lee tribute. Comic Book Creator 21 features Eric Powell and Crumb. And there’s an anniversary celebration with The World of TwoMorrows book talking about the history of the company. Should be pretty cool.
Some manga intrigues me this month. First from Viz is The Way of the House Husband on page 449, about a former Yakuza gangster who leaves the lifestyle to become a house husband. Page 451 has No Guns Life, about a cyborg soldier in a post war world trying to make a life, but the problem is that he’s got a giant gun for a head! Somehow this doesn’t seem to be played for laughs. Then on page 470 from Seven Seas Entertainment is Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love, about a high school senior who offers to date anyone who beats her in a road race. It sounds like a girls’ love version of Scott Pilgrim mixed with Motor Crush with a little touch of Red Sonja. Now THAT’S how you write solicit text!
That first one sounds fun. I’ll have to think about the other two.
On page M 93 is a figure of Waldo (of Where’s… fame), but I figure I’d just always lose it if I got it.
Thank you, thank you very much, on that note I’m done, and don’t forget to look at the Halloween comics in the front of the book!
Mr. Burgas: I’m curious as to what T.P.’s problem with Matt Fraction? Is it the same thing that you have with Mark Millar?
Finally, Trees is back. Awesome.
Peter David’s Hulk Omnibus sounds like a fun read (even though I read most of ’em), but it sounds like it’s gonna be a 4-volume set to collect all of the PAD run on the Hulk. amirite?
Tom: I’m not sure what Travis’s problem with Fraction is. He should write a post about it! 🙂
Four volumes sounds a bit small, but possible. Maybe five?
Why did you ask Greg when I’m right here, dude?
I don’t remember exactly but Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam, and I think another comic of Fraction’s all came out around the same time, were all highly acclaimed, and were, in my view, highly overrated.
That’s about it. It’s not like I hate the dude or won’t look at his stuff. It’s just that I felt it was all overrated. So it’s as much the critics that I hate as anything. 🙂
Cromwell Stone is from German artist, Andreas, who also did Rork. Excellent stuff. He’s got a mix of the Studio guys, plus some other influences. Not only is his art fantastic; but, his stories are very good. I first encountered him and Rork, in Dark Horse’s Cheval Noir anthology of European comics. NBM put out at least 2 Rork volumes and Dark Horse had a couple for Cromwell Stone, a while back.
Jeff: That’s good to know. I’m always keen to find out about even more comics, because I certainly don’t read enough! 🙂
The Dave Gibbons solicitation is weird. In 2017, a great book by Gibbons and Tim Pilcher came out, HOW COMICS WORK. I own it and can recommend it without reservation.
The thing is, from the description, MAKING COMICS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE seems to be the same book. Maybe it’s an update? Could be, but the page count — 192 — is unchanged.
I knew it was previously solicited, but I didn’t realize that it had actually come out. A new publisher, maybe?
“Men are stuffy little fellows. Their manliness bores me – it is almost universal, and humanity is very rare. A very wise woman, young and free, once told me that for the majority of human creatures only one virtue is possible – appreciation. The good, says she, are those that see power or virtue or beauty in those who have it, or a piece of it. The rest is vanity.
“This single virtue is not common: the poor things keep on struggling in a web of phantoms. They play with dolls all their lives. It’s no good talking to them about wisdom and beauty. They have a complete system. There’s even a doll Hell. This is not Timonism, I am an optimist. They are saved, most of them by their guts. A doll has no guts.” (Walter Raleigh, 1906)
> “Previews #370”
Stranger than paradise, and gutsy. From Raina Telgemeier’s GUTS, that is, alongside other nonfic like Luke Healy’s AMERICANA (paging Jason’s CAMINO?) and the library edition of David Rault’s ABC OF TYPOGRAPHY (paging Garfield’s JUST MY TYPE?).
Or fic such as Kurt Ankeny’s nice-looking PLEADING WITH STARS (10-page story), Chris Ware’s RUSTY BROWN PT. 1 (whose ad dropped the “part one of the ongoing” bit, and doesn’t it sound more like his slightly stilted JIMMY CORRIGAN than like his Alice Munro-worthy magnum opus BUILDING STORIES?), or even Michael DeForge’s STUNT (apparently a 24-pager spread over 72 pages of 8×3”).
Not to mention teen fic like Tillie Walden’s ARE YOU LISTENING (10-page excerpt), and maybe Jen Wang’s STARGAZING (whose specs gain 10 pages of samples and lose 64 pages of content). Or kid fic like Philippe Coudray’s BIGBY BEAR standalone VOL. 2 and Luke Pearson’s HILDA & THE MOUNTAIN KING, so that the next gen can grow some IQ and EQ.
Mousetraps galore to watchlist out for!
> G: “a three-part thing called November”
Jim Jarmusch’s remastered films have been reissued ahead of THE DEAD DON’T DIE. Mebbe Fraction pitched, “What about MYSTERY TRAIN as a feminist actioner, baby? Don’t expect it to explain all that much, but what’s a story anyway, except one of those connect-the-dots drawings that in the end forms a picture of something.”
(Just as Aimée De Jongh’s TAXI seems to remake NIGHT ON EARTH as reportage… or how you almost became a certain kind of tourist, a tourist that’s on a permanent vacation.)
> G: “Trees is back”
EAST OF WEST too.
> T: “I need to get more of [Culbard’s] stuff.”
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS is relisted.
> T: “Church and State II”
Just as for JAKA’S STORY some months ago, it’s absent from the Previews text file, surely not to cheat online customers out of another signed item?
> T: “Making Comics [by] Dave Gibbons”
And MAKING COMICS by Lynda Barry (whose WHAT IT IS is liable to remain her best manual).
> G: “second trade of Sink”
Yes it’s standalone, now get back in the van.
> G: “I might get Charlotte Brontë”
There’s also a library ed of Birmant & Oubrerie’s nice graphic bio of Isadora Duncan.
> T: “Nicholson did Ultra Klutz”
Mebbe someone at Diamond hated it, as the “It’s Alive” entry too isn’t on the text file provided to online retailers.
> T: “The Nao of Brown”
Glyn Dillon’s OCD-tinted homage to Hal Hartley’s beautiful TRUST ME was a good book and a $25 oversized hardcover, so this softcover is a $35 mousetrap, natch.
> G: “The Theory”
Time travel is only one thread, as explained in its Kickstarter pitch (that links to 6 full stories).
> G: “Transdimensional”
Interestingly twisted marketing, as its #1 was listed as a one-shot, which became “true” when #2–4 didn’t ship. (Which is par from the pub selling as “THEATRICS GN” the first half of an incomplete story.)
> G: “Cromwell Stone”
Andreas is a fascinating all-ages fantasy creator since the 1980s, with intricate continuities and art. This one is more likely to be released than his 8-volume RORK or 20-volume CAPRICORN and 18-volume ARQ.
(And it’s more from Poe and Lynch or Wells and Verne than Lovecraftian. For HPL there’s the library ed of Michel Houellebecq’s unreverently revealing prose essay H.P. LOVECRAFT: AGAINST THE WORLD AGAINST LIFE.)
> T: “Some manga intrigues me”
And neither Kajio & Tsuruta’s EMANON standalone VOL. 3 (ain’t she cute) nor Taiyo Matsumoto’s CATS OF THE LOUVRE (ain’t they cute)?
> T: “the Halloween comics”
Adequately frightful how none seem interesting even for free. (Unless you’ve never sampled Junji Ito or Kazuo Umezu.)
Ordered and possible books (as in if it’s in the store and I see it I might pick it up):
IMAGE:
FAIRLADY VOL.1
BLACK SCIENCE VOL. 9
SEA OF STARS #3
SECTION ZERO #6 (OF 6) (ALL 3 COVERS) – Usually I don’t do that, but I’m trying to help make certain the next story arcs get picked up and sold through Image this go around.
WEATHERMAN VOL. 2 #4
Possibly SPACE BANDITS #3 also
DARK HORSE:
Possibly TRIAGE
STRAYED #2
NO ONE LEFT TO FIGHT #3
TOMMY GUN WIZARDS #2
I have stopped buying the Mignolaverse officially at this point.
DC COMICS
COLLAPSER #3
HOUSE OF WHISPERS #13
If I do get the John Byrne Doom Patrol Omnibus, it’ll be online where I can get it at much cheaper than cover price, and even that’s a big if, because I bet I can his Doom Patrol stuff in singles for cheaper if I really want it.
IDW COMICS
USAGI YOJIMBO #4
WALTER SIMONSON RAGANAROK: THE BREAKING OF HELHEIM #2
STAR PIG #3
A RADICAL SHIFT OF GRAVITY TPB
JOHN BYRNE CLASSICS ARTIFACT EDITION
AFTERSHOCK COMICS:
MIDNIGHT VISTA #1
Possibly YOU ARE OBSOLETE #1
ALTERNA COMICS:
Possibly GODS & GEARS #1
BOOK PALACE:
40 DAYS DANS LE DESERT B HC
LA FUANTE DE MARS (MARTIAN WILDLIFE) HC
(It’s Moebius doing crazy assed space and psychedelic work – I don’t even care if there’s a story, I just have to have the pretty pretty arts!)
CALIBER PRESS:
Possibly BROKEN BEAR TPB
FANTACO ENTERPRISES INC.:
Possibly MARGO: INTERGALACTIC TRASH COLLECTOR #1
:01 FIRST SECOND:
Possibly MIGHTY JACK & ZITA THE SPACE GIRL GN and STARGAZING GN in softcover.
LION FORGE:
BEZKAMP TPB
SCOUT COMICS:
Possibly THE FOREVER MAPS #1 and MIDNIGHT SKY #1
SOURCE POINT PRESS:
SAMURAI GRANDPA #4
Possibly GUTTER MAGIC #1
That seems to be it.