Comics and More

Sorry I've been so terrible about posting lately!  I'll having something of substance soon - I've just been very busy.  But here's the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today... Five Weapons #1 Jimmie Robinson 

Here's the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops Wednesday... Smurfs (Volume 14): The Baby Smurf Peyo

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow...   Alabaster Wolves HC Caitlin R. Kiernan, Steve Lieber & Rachelle Rosenberg

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops this Wednesday... Aya: Love in Yop City Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie

Here are the books shipping to comic shops in February that caught my eye in Previews Catalogue ... Gil Jordan, Private Detective: Ten Thousand Years In Hell HC - I was a huge fan of the first Gil Jordan, Private Detective collection, Murder At High Tide , so I'm happy to see Fantagraphics rolling out more of the series. Justice League of America #1 - Another JL book launches, from the creative team of Geoff Johns and David Finch, with some more interesting secondary characters in the mix. Nova #1 - A new young Nova takes the mantle in this new ongoing series by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. Nemo: Heart of Ice HC - A new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book featuring Nemo, from series creators Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Secret Avengers #1 - Nick Spencer and Luke Ross take the reins of the new undercover Avengers team, which sees Nick Fury leading a small group of superheroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents into the field. The Simon & Kirby Library: Science Fictio...

Here is the book you should pick up at the comic shop this Wednesday... The Freddie Stories Lynda Barry

New comics come out tomorrow!  Here's my pick for what to grab at the comic shop... MAD: Artist's Edition HC Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Basil Wolverton & Others 

These are my favorite comics of 2012, including manga, superheroes, graphic novels, reprints, etc. I try to be as true to how I feel about a book as possible when ranking them, which is why it may seem odd for some to see a superhero title hardly anyone read rank over an acclaimed graphic novel. If I enjoyed my experience of reading it more, it was placed higher on my list. I did feel odd including a book like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deluxe Edition , since the comics are fairly recent, and it's not like people couldn't get their hands on it, unlike something like Carl Bark's Uncle Scrooge comics, which really needed to be collected. It felt more like I would be ranking its new packaging more than anything, so I left things like that off of my list (even though I enjoyed it a lot). Anyways, these are my favorite twenty comics of the year. I hope you enjoy my list, and hopefully check out some books that may have eluded you. Honorable Mentions All ...

Of the new books coming to comic shops tomorrow, here's my pick... Fables (Volume 18): Cubs In Toyland TP Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham 

I loved the following comic book issues, but none of them sustained the quality I'd have hoped as the year went along and so none of them placed in my best of the year list.  I can't ignore them completely, however, because I loved the individual issues, so I decided to just give a little nod to these books in this post...   Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #1 David Hine & Shaky Kane     Fairest #8 Lauren Beukes & Inaki Miranda   Fatale #1 Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips   Mining Colony X7170 (From the pages of Kramer's Ergot 8 ) Johnny Ryan    Prophet #21 Brandon Graham, Simon Roy & Richard Ballermann   Saga #1 Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples 

Of the new books coming to comic shops on Wednesday, here's my pick... Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers (Volume 1) TP Steve Gerber, Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway & Various 

2012 saw a lot of great manga, with fun new series debuts, and excellent volumes of ongoing titles.  It's always hard to narrow down my favorites to just ten books, but I've done just that in the following list.  So, in my opinion, these are the best manga that the year had to offer... 1. Soulless ( Gail Carriger & Rem ) - Adapted from the novels by Gail Carriger, by artist Rem, Soulless follows Alexia Tarrabotti, a preternatural in a Victorian Era London populated by vampires and werewolves, as well as humans. Preternaturals are rare, but the gift that Alexia has makes her a formidable opponent, as well as a target, as she has the ability to make a supernatural being completely human for as long as she touches them. And while that is certainly a cool part of the story, and comes in to play quite a bit, it's really the relationship between Alexia and the sexy werewolf Lord Maccon that is the thrust of this story.  This series is action-packed, funny and se...

Personal Demons Tom & Nimue Brown I was really looking forward to this graphic novel release from Archaia Entertainment , since I love these sort of Gothic supernatural comic books, and since the last webcomic from this genre that they chose to put into print, the excellent Gunnerkrigg Court , fast became one of my favorite series of all time.  So, yes my hopes were high for this book, which is perhaps why I felt a little more let down than usual when I read this book that was frankly, unremarkable.  The story follows Salamandra, a little girl who wields powerful magic, and is brought to an orphanage, where she is lonely and finds herself caught up in the supernatural goings-on of Hopeless, Maine.  Salamandra's backstory isn't fully explained, but the hints we've been given about it are rather ominous, and we get glimpses of things like demons that her parents left behind.  Unfortunately, Salamandra is just sort of boring, and no other charact...

New books come out to comic shops today.  Here's my pick this week...   Fatale (Volume 2): The Devil's Business TP Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips

Going forward, I will be putting out these posts featuring my picks for each month, books I wish to highlight from Previews Catalogue .  And weekly, I will only be highlighting one book.  For January, these are the books that caught my attention... Young Avengers #1 - Kieron Gillen has quickly become one of my favorite writers over the past few years, and I love Jamie McKelvie's art, so this book is kind of a big deal in my book, especially as Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung haven't given up the reins on Young Avengers since they first created it, until now.  Gillen and McKelvie also created a fantastic comic together a few years ago called Suburban Glamour , so I'm happy to see them working together on this project. Knights of Sidonia (Volume 1) - The creator of Biomega returns with a new manga series, this one a hard science fiction space comedy. Uncanny X-Force #1 - Uncanny X-Force relaunches as Rick Remender leaves the title that propelled him to fam...

On the latest Comics-and-More Podcast , Patrick Markfort and I discuss Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine , along with its various satellite series.   Reviewed: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine Andrew Chambliss, Georges Jeanty & Various Angel & Faith Christos Gage & Rebekah Isaacs Spike: A Dark Place Victor Gischler & Paul Lee Willow: Wonderland Jeff Parker & Brian Ching For further reading: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight Library Edition (Vol. 1-4) HC Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Karl Moline, Brian K. Vaughan, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, Brad Meltzer & Various Tales of the Vampires TP Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, Paul Lee, Cameron Stewart & Various

I'm sure that I'm missing some great comic book covers, but these are some of the best that I recall seeing throughout the year.  Feel free to leave a comment if you know of any that I missed!