Previews: January '09 Comics

I've been sick, so it took awhile for me to get around to doing a long post like this one, but finally, here are the noteworthy books shipping to comic shops in January, from items found in Previews Catalogue...

Dark Horse

B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess #1 (of 5) - A new B.P.R.D. tale!

Clover Omnibus Edition - The manga has been out of print for a long time, so here's an omnibus edition of the classic story by supergroup CLAMP!

DC Comics

The Compleat Death Deluxe Edition HC - Both Death mini-series by Neil Gaiman, as well as short stories from various places featuring the fan-favorite character. Only $34.99.

Final Crisis #7 - The final issue of Grant Morrison's epic crossover!

The Losers by Jack Kirby HC - Jack Kirby's World War II stories are collected for the first time!

Drawn & Quarterly

Kaspar GN - Quebec artist Diane Obomsawin's first translated work to English follows the life of Kaspar Hauser, a man surrounded by mysteryduring his stay in Nuremberg in the early 19th century.

Fantagraphics Books

Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers - In the same vain as the recent Fletcher Hanks book, here's a book focusing on the lowbrow Boody Rogers.

Luba HC - This is the follow-up hardcover to the gigantic Palomar HC that was released a few years ago. A huge graphic novel containing the post-Palomar stuff from Gilbert Hernendez.

Supermen! The First Wave of Comic-Book Heroes (1939-1941) - A collection of 22 offbeat early superhero stories by creators such as Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Jack Cole, and Fletcher Hanks.

IDW Publishing

Locke & Key: Head Games #1 - A sequel to the horror comic by novelist Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.

Star Trek: Countdown #1 - The comics prequel of the new J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek film leads up to the film this summer.

Image Comics

American Jesus (Volume 1): Chosen TP - Mark Millar and Peter Gross's tale of a boy who realizes he's the returned Jesus Christ!

Marvel Comics

Captain Britain and MI-13 #9 - The return of one of my favorite Marvel characters, original Excalibur founding member, Meggan!

Captain Britain by Alan Moore & Alan Davis Omnibus HC - These are some of the most underrated superhero comics out there. I LOVE Alan Moore and Alan Davis's Captain Britain, and I also LOVE Alan Davis and Jamie Delano's Captain Britain. This contains both of those plus other goodies.

***Pick of the Month***

Daredevil: Born Again Premiere HC - Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's much-lauded Daredevil tale gets some love.

Dark Avengers #1 - A new series launching under the banner of Marvel's newest crossover event Dark Reign, this is another Avengers title (on top of Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, and Avengers: The Initiative, not replacing any title).

Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death TP - The first Anita Blake comic that isn't a direct adaptation from the prose novels, this collects the two issues of The First Death that look into Anita's past, as well as the Guilty Pleasures Handbook.

Punisher #1 - A relaunch of Punisher in wake of Secret Invasion, coming out of Dark Reign.

Ruins #1 - Warren Ellis paints a picture of the ruins of the Marvel Universe.

Secret Invasion: War of Kings - Leading into another Marvel Universe crossover, this is the final issue of the "prelude" titles to War of Kings.

Secret Invasion TP - A collection of all eight issue of the main mini-series.

The X-Men Omnibus (Volume 1) HC - Collecting the first 31 pages of The X-Men!

X-Men: Original Sin Premiere HC - This was kind of a mini X-Men crossover that delved into when Wolverine originally joined the X-Men.

X-Men: Proteus Premiere HC - I'm not sure this really deserves a prestige format, but this is considered a classic X-Men arc, I guess...

Tokyopop

Orange - Tokyopop launches its new line of full-color comics with this title and Pixie.

Viz Media

20th Century Boys (Volume 1) - With the final volume of Naoki Urasawa's Monster looming in the near-future, Viz is releasing not one, but two new manga translations by the master of suspense!

Otomen (Volume 1) - From the creator of Blank Slate comes a series about a boy who loves girly things, and does his best to hide that fact.

Pluto (Volume 1) - This is the other new series by Naoki Urasawa being released, a reimagining of Osama Tezuka's Astro Boy.

Misc.

Be a Nose! The Art of Spiegelman Sketchbook - uh...a freaking Art Spiegelman sketchbook!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw HC - The insanely popular children's comic from Jeff Kinney!

Teenagers From the Future SC - A collection of essays focusing on The Legion of Super-Heroes from scholars and fans. Foreward by Matt Fraction.