Pick of the Week 5/22

Here is the book you should be paying attention to this Wednesday in comic shops...

Sunny (Volume 1)

Taiyo Matsumoto

Pick of the Week 5/15

Sorry this is being posted late this week...but here is the book you should be paying attention to in comic shops!

Doomsday.1 #1 (of 4)

John Byrne

Pick of the Week 5/8

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today...

 

Avengers Arena (Volume 1): Kill or Die TP

Dennis Hopeless & Kev Walker

May Previews Picks

Here are the books that caught my attention from Previews Catalogue, for books shipping to comic shops in May...

Sunny (Volume 1) - A new manga by Taiyo Matsumoto (GoGo Monster)?  Yes, please!

Half Past Danger #1 (of 6) - A new action mini-series from Stephen Mooney featuring dinosaurs in a 1940s adventure, with some really nice art.

Marble Season HC - This one must have come to stores early because I already had it a few weeks ago!  But this is a must-buy.  Gilbert Hernandez doing a semi-autobiographical graphic story.

Avengers: The Enemy Within #1 - A one-shot kicking off a four-part event that crosses over into Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble.

Promethea: The Immateria Edition HC - The entire 32-issue run of Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III's stunning Promethea is collected in a deserving hardcover edition.

Tarzan: The Complete Russ Manning Newspaper Strips (Volume 1): 1967-1969 - A new addition to IDW's excellent Library of American Comics line, this is the first of four volumes collecting Manning's comic strip run, both dailies and Sundays.

Benny Breakiron (Volume 1): The Red Taxis HC - A new series from Papercutz collecting another work from Peyo, creator of The Smurfs!!

The Best of EC (Volume 1) Artist's Edition HC - IDW's Artist's Editions continue with this first volume of EC works, showcasing the art of creators like Harvey Kurtzman, Al Williamson, Bernie Krigstein, and more.

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard (Volume 2) #1 - A new round of creators tackle David Petersen's world of mice and swords in the first issue of this new volume of the anthology series.  Volume one featured the first art I'd ever seen by Jeremy Bastian, who went on to produce my favorite comic in recent memory, Cursed Pirate Girl.  This new issue will see the art of creators such as Stan Sakai and Ben Caldwell.

Kick-Ass 3 #1 (of 8) - Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. continue Kick-Ass into a new mini-series.

The Last of the Mohicans HC - Picturebox dives into manga with this work my Japanese comics master Shigeru-Sugiura.

The Wake #1 (of 10) This maxi-series from Scot Snyder and Sean Murphy sees a group of scientists discover something terrifying in the depths off of the Arctic Circle.

Pacific Rim: Tales From Year Zero HC - In this prequel to the Summer film, we get a look at humanity's first encounters with Kaiju.

The Mighty Thor Omnibus (Volume 2) HC - I'm glad they're still putting these out.  Stan Lee and Jack Kirby continue spinning stories from Asgard in this 768-page monster.

Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist Omnibus TP - A 460-page murder mystery manga from Asumiko Nakamura.

Animal Man Omnibus HC - Loving the current Animal Man comic?  Well, check out this 712-page omnibus edition featuring the creative Grant Morrison's legendary run on the character.

Tommysaurus Rex GN - A new all-ages graphic novel from Doug Tennapel, who is really making a name for himself with this niche.

The Reason For Dragons HC - This coming-of-age story sees a boy venture into a Renaissance Fair, where he meets a knight who insists there is a dragon in the woods that he is training to slay.

New Genesis #1 (of 12) - This first original comic series from Clive Barker.  Co-written by Mark Millar, art by Haemi Jang.

Odd Duck GN - Sara Varon illustrates this all-ages story by Cecil Castellucci about a...well, an odd duck.

X #1 (of 4) - A Dark Horse vigilante is resurrected in this mini-series by Duane Swierczyski and Eric Nguyen.

Mister X: Eviction #1 (of 3) - And more X-stuff from Dark Horse.  This is a new mini from Mister X creator Dean Motter.

Fran HC - Jim Woodring's follow-up to Congress Of the Animals from a few years ago.

The Crow: Skinning the Wolves TP - An all-new Crow story from Jason O'Barr and Jim Terry, set in 1945 Europe.

Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos HC - Science fiction great Harlan Ellison pens this new graphic novel, with art by Concrete's Paul Chadwick, that takes place in a strange, distant future.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong GN - Faith Erin Hicks illustrates this high school drama by Prudence Shen.

Captain Universe: The Hero Who Could Be You #1 - Love the enigmatic new Captain Universe in Avengers?  Well, here you can get a look at original classic tales of the original Captain Universe from the 70's and 80's, in a fat 104-page comic book.

Walrus GN - Brandon Graham's first art book, courtesy of Picturebox.

Lost Cat HC - The latest by Jason.

Doomsday.1 #1 (of 4) - John Byrne continues to turn out the creative original works over at IDW.

Adventures of Superman #1 - A digital-first series featuring talent like Jeff Parker, Chris Samnee and Orson Scott Card.

Masters of the Universe: The Origin of Hordak #1 -This one-shot delves into She-Ra's biggest foe's past.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Sunday Comics (Volume 1): 1931-1933 HC - Giant-size, full color reprints of the action strip  with art by Prince Valiant's Hal Foster.

The Green Team #1 and The Movement #1 - Yawn. 

Pick of the Week 5/1

I just got back from a nice long weekend in Chicago, where I attended C2E2, a comic book convention in the Windy City.  I attended a few panels, but mostly just shopped the showroom floor for cheap graphic novels.  While there, I picked up several goodies like Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend HC, Alpha Flight Classic (Volume 3) TP, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury HC, Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis (Volume 2) TP, and several X-Factor hardcovers from Peter David's run.  It was nice, but there wasn't really enough for us to do over the course of three days, so we skipped Sunday and had a day in the city instead, which turned out to be really nice.  Anyways, here's the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today...

Cyborg 009: Chapter 000

F.J. DeSanto, Bradley Cramp, Marcus To & Ian Herring

Hilda

I saw the cover image from Hilda and the Bird Parade on the cover of ForeWord Reviews magazine, and investigated it, and I'm really glad that I did!  Luke Pearson's latest all-ages graphic novel wasn't available from Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago when I was looking into it, so I ordered his previous works surrounding the little blue-haired girl Hilda. 

 

Hildafolk
Luke Pearson

Hildafolk is part of UK publisher Nobrow Press' 17X23 line of graphic short stories, and is in the format of a comic, with exceptional printing quality.  This story introduces readers to Hilda, who lives in the countryside, where myths and fantasy creatures are very real.  She has a little blue fox with antlers named Twig, as a sidekick, is friends with a boy made out of wood, and otherwise lives in a warm little house with her mother.  In this short, we see her first encounters with the strange wooden boy as Hilda ventures into the hills to draw.  While there, she meets a troll, a very dangerous creature according to the book she's been reading.  There's not much going on in terms of plot in this book, but the fiery-spirited, adventurous Hilda manages to entertain readers in this magical world that Pearson has created.  Pearson has a wonderful cartoony art style that's full of vibrant colors and beautiful panel sequences.  I particularly like a snowy scene set to an orange background - it's just breath-taking - and the general warmth of the house that Hilda occupies with her mom.  This is a fantastic introduction to this all-ages fantasy world, and I highly recommend it.

Hilda and the Midnight Giant HC
Luke Pearson

Hilda and the Midnight Giant builds on the world of Hildafolk in a full-length graphic novel that sees Hilda and her mother attacked by tiny, invisible beings, before opening her eyes to a tiny world around her.  Pearson plays with the designs of the characters in this book, which look different than in Hilda's debut, but it retains that child-like fantasy and humor in an ever-expanding world.  I'm lucky I ordered this when I did since it went on backorder at Barnes & Noble following its Eisner nominations a few days later for Best Publication For Kids and for Luke Pearson himself in the Best Writer/Artist category.  With this book, I'm officially onboard the Luke Pearson bandwagon (it doesn't hurt that he's really cute), and am a huge fan of the Hilda books!

Pick of the Week 4/24

Here is the book you should be paying attention to in comic shops on Wednesday...

Marble Season HC

Gilbert Hernandez