Comics and More

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today... Avengers #1 - I have high expectations for this Marvel NOW! title, as Jonathan Hickman, who really reinvigorated the Fantastic Four franchise with an absurdly entertaining run, pens the flagship Avengers book, with Opena on art. Other Noteworthy Releases Blackacre #1 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine (Volume 2): On Your Own TP Demon Love Spell (Volume 1) Hellboy In Hell #1 I Love Trouble #1 Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Volume 1) TP Sky Over the Louvre HC Thunderbolts #1

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow... Diosamante HC - This graphic novel collection from Humanoids is a gorgeous fantasy tale about a cruel queen, from European creators Alexandro Jodorowsky (the fan-favorite  Incal ) and Jean-Claude Gal. Other Noteworthy Releases Captain Atom (Volume 1): Evolution TP DC Universe Presents (Volume 1): Deadman Challengers TP FF #1 Forbidden Worlds Archives (Volume 1) HC Infestation 2 Complete Series HC My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magical #1 RIPD: City of the Damned #1 Sailor Moon Box Set #1: Volumes 1-6 Star Bright and the Looking Glass HC Tad Caldwell and the Monster Kid GN

On the latest Comics-and-More Podcast, Patrick Markfort and I discuss three more titles launched as part of Marvel NOW!   Reviewed: Captain America #1 Rick Remender & John Romita, Jr. Journey Into Mystery #646 Kathryn Immonen & Valerio Schiti Indestructible Hulk #1 Mark Waid & Leinil Yu For further reading: Journey Into Mystery (Volume 1): Fear Itself Kieron Gillen & Doug Braithwaite Captain America (Volume 1): Winter Soldier Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting & Various Thor: God of Thunder #1 Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic Daredevil by Mark Waid (Volume 1) Mark Waid, Paolo Manuel Rivera & Marcos Martin Iron Man #2 Kieron Gillen & Greg Land

Here are the books from Previews Catalogue that caught my attention, for titles shipping to comic shops in December... The Freddie Stories HC - Part of Drawn & Quarterly's project to collect the works of Lynda Barry, these are the Freddie stories from Ernie Pook's Comeek . Avengers #1 - Avengers begins anew with Jonathan Hickman at the helm, and Jerome Opena on art.  If Hickman's Fantastic Four is any indication, we're in for quite a ride. Mara #1 - Brian Wood begins a new tale here, about a celebrity with supernatural powers from a future obsessed with sports and war. Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers (Volume 1) TP - The inevitable reprinting of Guardians of the Galaxy begins, featuring the clasic characters that probably won't be seen in the movie anyway, but kicked off the franchise: Vance Astro, Yondu, Martinex and Charlie-27. Hellboy In Hell #1 - Mike Mignola returns to his creation to draw a new story, kicking off an ongoing...

Here's the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today... Library of American Comics Essentials (Volume 1): Baron Bean HC - IDW debuts its new line of comic strip reprints, part of its Library of American Comics imprint, beginning with a strip by Krazy Kat 's George Herriman. Other Noteworthy Releases Adventures of Augusta Wind #1 Angel & Faith (Volume 2): Daddy Issues TP The Art of Todd McFarlane: Devils In the Details HC Batman/Judge Dredd Collection HC Blackhawks (Volume 1): The Great Leap Forward TP Captain America #1 Clone #1 Fairest (Volume 1): Wide Awake TP Grand Duke HC Indestructible Hulk #1 Journey Into Mystery #646 Judge Dredd #1 Last Days of an Immortal HC Neon Genesis Evangelion (Volume 13) Nexus Omnibus (Volume 1) TP Saucer Country (Volume 1): Run TP Stitched (Volume 1) Thermae Romae HC Upside Down: A Vampire Tale HC The Walking Dead (Volume 17): Something To Fear TP

On the latest Comics-and-More Podcast, Patrick Markfort and I discuss four new titles launched as part of Marvel NOW!   Reviewed: Iron Man #1 Kieron Gillen & Greg Land Fantastic Four #1 Matt Fraction & Mark Bagley All New X-Men #1 Brian Michael Bendis & Stuart Immonen Thor: God of Thunder #1 Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic For further reading: The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis Warren Ellis & Adi Granov X-Men: S.W.O.R.D.: No Time To Breathe Kieron Gillen & Steven Sanders Fantastic Four (Volume 1) Jonathan Hickman, Dale Eaglesham & Neil Edwards Avengers vs. X-Men Various Wolverine and the X-Men (Volume 1) Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo & Nick Bradshaw X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong Greg Pak & Greg Land

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow... Hopeless Maine (Book 1): Personal Demons HC - There's a lot of good stuff coming out this week, but I've been watching for this one's release for a while now.  Tom and Timue Brown's fantasy webcomic sees print in this hardcover edition from Archaia. Let's hope this is another Gunnerkrigg -quality series. Other Noteworthy Releases 07 Ghost (Volume 1) All New X-Men #1 Blue Beetle (Volume 1): Metamorphosis TP Deadpool MAX HC Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland HC Fantastic Four #1 Godzilla (Volume 1) TP James Patterson's Zoo GN Locke & Key: Omega #1 Neon Genesis Evangelion 3-in-1 (Volume 1) Opus: The Complete Library: Sunday Comics 2003-2008 HC Prison Pit (Volume 4) GN Scalped (Volume 10): Trail's End TP Shinku (Volume 1) TP Spider-Men HC Start With a Happy Ending (Volume 1) Superman (Volume 1): What Price Tomorrow HC Thor: God of Thunder #1 Torpedo (V...

Strobe Edge (Volume 1) Io Sakisaka Strobe Edge is a new shojo manga from Viz, that follows a young girl trying to understand what love is.  Ninako Kinoshita is a bit clueless as a protagonist, which can make for a good story, but it's kind of unbelievable how far gone she is here.  She's a pretty passive character, taking in the advice of her friends and listening to them tell her how she should feel.  As the first volume of this series moves along, she begins to think for herself more and makes decisions regarding her life, which makes her more likable, but you can't help but think that the guy she's pining over deserves far better by that point.  Her childhood friend, Daiki, has been in love with her for a long time and everyone in Ninako's class (aside from her) know this and are rooting for them to get together.  But she suddenly finds that the way her friends describe love is how she is feeling toward the guy that every girl in school has a crush on, the...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today...   Avengers vs. X-Men HC - In case you missed the floppies and only followed the story through spoilers online, you can now experience the entire saga as the Avengers duke it out with the X-Men over the power of the phoenix force.  One of the better crossover events I've read in comics in recent memory. Other Noteworthy Releases 47 Ronin #1 (of 5) Adventure Time (Volume 1) TP Alpha Flight Classic (Volume 3) TP Annotated Sandman (Volume 2) HC B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs (Volume 4) HC Before Watchmen: Moloch #1 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow - Wonderland #1 (of 5) DC Comics: The Sequential Art of Amanda Conner HC Deadpool #1 The Flash (Volume 1): Move Forward HC The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Volume 1) HC Hulk: Abominable HC Iron Man #1 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind HC Box Set Ragemoor HC Red Hood and the Outlaws (Volume 1): Redemption TP Scott Pilgrim Color Editon (Volume ...

Here are the books from Previews Catalogue that caught my attention, coming to comic shops this November... All-New X-Men #1 - This new X-Men title sees the original five X-Men dropped into the present day, from the mind of Brian Michael Bendis and the hand of Stuart Immonen. The Heart of Thomas GN - Moto Hagio's acclaimed classic manga set in a German all-boys boarding school. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #1 - There's surprisingly a lot of hype around this all-ages comic based on a girls' cartoon from the 80's, but if rumors of pre-order numbers can be believed, this could be one of the biggest comics of the month. Indestructible Hulk #1 - Part of Marvel NOW!, this is a new Hulk comic from Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu. Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Omnibus HC - The Green Lantern scribe's run on Teen Titans is collected in a huge hardcover for $150 - that's 1,440 pages of Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg and the gang. Neon Genesis Evangelio...

The past few months have been so busy for me that I've had little time to devote to regular posts, but I should be back on track shortly.  As for this week's new releases, here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today...   EC Comics - Two of Fantagraphics' new line of EC Comics collections debut today!  EC Harvey Kurtzman: Corpse of the Imjin and Other Stories and EC Wally Wood: Came the Dawn and Other Stories HC . Other Noteworthy Releases A+X #1 Abelard HC Absolute Final Crisis HC All Star Western (Volume 1): Guns and Gotham TP Archie Archives (Volume 5) HC August Moon GN Extremely Moronic Mad TP G.I. Joe: The Complete Collection (Volume 1) HC Joe Kubert Presents #1 Lot 13 #1 The Real Ghostbusters Omnibus (Volume 1) TP Red Hulk: Mayan Rule TP Superman: Earth One (Volume 2) HC Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2012 Through the Walls HC Uncanny X-Force: Final Execution (Book 1) HC

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow... Ralph Azham (Volume 1): "Why Would You Lie To Someone You Love?" - This is a new landscape-format collection featuring the wonderful  Ralph Azham comics of Lewis Trondheim. Other Noteworthy Releases Ghost #1 Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads TP The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here: Images From the Graphic Novel HC Multiple Warheads: Alphabet To Infinity #1 Punisher: War Zone #1 Savage Hawkman (Volume 1): Darkness Rising TP Supercrooks HC Wolverine MAX #1 You'll Never Know (Book 3): Soldier's Heart HC

This is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops today! The Hive GN - The second volume of Charles Burns' new horror epic, this follows up on X'ed Out from a few years ago. Other Noteworthy Releases A-Babies vs. X-Babies #1 B.P.R.D. 1948 #1 Bloodstrike (Volume 1): Reborn Under a Bad Sign TP Cyber Force #1 Green Lantern - New Guardians (Volume 1): Ring Bearer HC Infernal Man-Thing TP Limit (Volume 1) Marvel NOW! Point One Marvel Zombies Halloween Mind the Gap (Volume 1): Intimate Strangers TP Mudman (Volume 1) TP Nancy Drew & the Clue Crew (Volume 1): Small Volcanoes GN Supergirl (Volume 1): Last Daughter of Krypton TP Sword of Sorcery #1 Ultimate Comics: Iron Man #1 The Wizard of Id: Dailies & Sundays 1972 HC

On the latest Comics-and-More Podcast , Patrick Markfort and I discuss the first two debuts from Marvel Comics' Marvel NOW! Reviewed: Uncanny Avengers #1 Rick Remender & John Cassaday Red She-Hulk #1 Jeff Parker, Carlo Pagulayan & Wellington Alves For further reading: Uncanny X-Force (Volume 1): The Apocalypse Solution TP Rick Remender & Jerome Opena Red Hulk: Mayan Rule TP Jeff Parker & Dale Eaglesham Agents of Atlas (Volume 1) TP Jeff Parker & Leonard Kirk Astonishing X-Men (Volume 1): Gifted TP Joss Whedon & John Cassaday

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops tomorrow... Building Stories HC - Good lord, there are a lot of good releases this week.  It's that time of year when publishers are putting out their high quality material for the holidays, including several books that are certainly contenders for some of the best graphic novel releases of the year, including Theo Ellsworth's The Understanding Monster , Adrian Tomine's New York Drawings , the first volume in the Pippi Longstocking reprint series and the latest edition of the Best American Comics anthology, edited this year by Franoise Mauly.  The most exciting of the new releases, however, would have to be the highly-anticipated masterpiece from Chris Ware, Building Stories , an elaborately designed book that's $50, and worth every penny.  It's been a long time coming, and is sure to be on the top of many lists as the best thing to come from comics this year. Other Noteworthy Releases Alie...

Lauren Beukes & Inaki Miranda The latest issue of the Fables spin-off title, Fairest , begins a new story arc featuring Rapunzel, written by a new creative team.  I have to say that I was a little let down by the first arc of this series, from Fables series creator Bill Willingham, especially since it picked up a pretty exciting storyline from that main title.  It felt drawn out and it was kind of dull overall.  So I'm happy to report that with this new storyarc, Lauren Beukes injects some life back into this title with a stunning story that promises some cool Japanese mythology to come.  It seems like a no-brainer that a series featuring the women from Fables would be written by a woman, but this is the first issue that that's the case, and Lauren Beukes takes the reins on the title masterfully, easily putting out the best issue to date.  In this story, we see Rapunzel receive a mysterious message insinuating that her children may still be alive, ...

This is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic shops this Wednesday... Skippy: The Complete Dailies (Volume 1): 1925-1927 HC - The classic comic strip from Percy Crosby begins being collected here. Other Noteworthy Releases Age of Apocalypse (Volume 1): X-Terminated TP Avengers: Bride of Ultron HC Avengers vs. X-Men #12 (of 12) Batman - The Dark Knight (Volume 1): Knight Terrors HC Broxo GN The Complete Flash Gordon Library (Volume 1): On the Planet Mongo HC Creepy Archives (Volume 14) HC Crusades HC Daredevil: End of Days #1 Epic Kill (Volume 1) TP Hell Yeah (Volume 1): Last Day on Earths TP I, Vampire (Volume 1): Tainted Love TP Man-Thing Omnibus HC Marvel Zomnibus HC The Nao of Brown GN Sailor Twain GN Trio (Volume 1) TP Voltron (Volume 1): The Sixth Pilot TP The Walking Dead Compendium (Volume 2) TP A Wrinkle In Time GN X-Men: Bishop's Crossing HC

Here are the books that caught my eye in Previews Catalogue , for books shipping to comic shops in October... Uncanny Avengers #1 - Rick Remender and John Cassaday team up for the new flagship title in Marvel's Marvel NOW! with a team made up of a mixture of Avengers and X-Men characters, with Havok taking center stage. The Understanding Monster (Volume 1) GN - Theo Ellsworth's Capacity was one of my favorite comics from 2008, and finally, we get his follow up!!! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2012 - Co-creator Kevin Eastman writes and draws a full TMNT comic for the first time in almost twenty years!  Also available this month, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Volume 2) TP , in which the Archie material begins to venture away from adaptations of the classic cartoon series, and venture into exciting, new territory. Wolverine: MAX #1 - A new ongoing series, which appropriately lets creators cut loose with one of the more brutal and bloody Marvel charact...

Sword of Sorcery made its debut during DC's zero issue month, and features the character Amethyst, with a short back-up story focusing on Beowulf. Amethyst is a fantasy with a lot of potential.  Written by Christy Marx (creator of Jem ) and illustrated by Aaron Lopresti, this title follows Amy Winston, a loner who has been shifted between schools as she has grown up, her mother training her to fight with a sword in the evenings leading up to her seventeenth birthday.  At her latest school, Amy gets in the middle of a fight as three guys try to take advantage of one of Amy's classmates.  Amy is able to fight them off rather easily, but to accentuate the fact that she really is a lone wolf, the girl she rescues, who has been nice to her in the past, runs from her screaming, despite the fact that she just saved her.  But Amy's high school drama hardly matters as, that evening, her mother whisks her away to a new world, where her evil sister wants noth...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to, in comic stores today... Barbara GN - Here's another Osamu Tezuka work in print, thanks to DMP ! This one's a 400+ page thriller. Other Noteworthy Releases Absolute Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War HC American Vampire (Volume 4) HC Archie: The Best of Harry Lucey (Volume 2) HC Dark Matter (Volume 1): Rebirth TP Gasoline Alley (Volume 1) HC Joe Kubert's Tarzan of the Apes Artist's Edition HC Marvel Zombies: Destroy HC The Mighty Thor by Matt Fraction (Volume 3) HC The Milkman Murders HC Next Men (Volume 3) HC Showcase Presents: Amethyst (Volume 1) TP Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Volume 3): Shadows TP Tellos: Colossal (Volume 2) HC Voodoo (Volume 1): What Lies Beneath TP The Walking Dead (Volume 8) HC Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron (Volume 3) HC