8/21/2006

This evening seemed longer than the rest.

*Today, parentheses rule over

LAST WEEK’S REVIEWS:

The Boys #1 (aces! another helpful reminder from Garth Ennis that he doesn’t care much for those superheroes! I was getting worried…)

Forty Cartoon Books of Interest (let Seth take you by the hand to frolic through the orchards of very neat things)

Phonogram #1 (of 6) (music=magic)

Deadman #1 (CHILLS)

Kampung Boy (you should buy this when it's out in a few weeks, because it's really good)

None could hope to break their grip.

*It might cost you big,

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!

Lost Girls: This isn’t on Diamond’s list or anything, but I keep hearing that some stores eastward in the US are getting a limited number of copies this week. It’s some porn thing, by the way. I guess all of you on the west coast will have to do without your porn comics. Or just re-read your copies of Silky Whip Extreme. Man, Alan Moore’s next collaboration should be with Oh! Great…

Phoenix Vol. 8 (of 12): Civil War Part 2 (of 2): It’s ok. We can all stop fighting. Chill out, folks. Relax, retailers. Don’t worry, Marvel. Osamu Tezuka’s got you covered. The God of Manga is back from the grave, folks, 'cause the Phoenix is all about immortality - and the drawing hand still works. A seven-issue miniseries? Ninety-one tie-ins and/or aftermaths? Yeah, back in the day that was called a pre-brunch warm-up. And Tezuka’s so fast, it’s already finished. Civil War ends here, and Spidey, Cap, Iron Man - nobody will be the same after they discover the mystic secrets of the human soul and the vastness of infinite lives across eternity. Dead never means dead now. We’re all on Tezuka’s side. So line up early for your copies of this 208-page, $15.99 climactic spectacular, which totally isn’t actually the rest of a story originally serialized in COM from 1978-80 and in all likelihood accompanied by Robe of Feathers from 1971. True believers.

Death Note Vol. 7 (of 12): Ha ha, oh how I wept when I accidentally had this installment’s big event ruined for me online. Mark my words - it’s a big one. There’ll be plenty more tears when the deed is exposed for all to see, unless everyone’s already cried their eyes out thanks to VIZ’s bookstore penetration - I haven’t gotten to a bookstore in a while.

Winsor McCay: Early Works Vol. 8: I’m fairly certain this is the last installment of Checker’s line of trade paperback format compilations of McCay miscellany. It’s certainly the last one Checker has listed on their site, which gives absolutely no clue as to what’s in the damned thing. I’m thinking lots of editorial cartoons. Which isn’t to say they’re done with old Silas - a more focused reprint project, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend: The Saturdays, is soon to launch, apparently in a more accommodatingly large format.

Walt & Skeezix: Book 2: But we all know this thing will be as accommodating as possible, the latest volume of Drawn & Quarterly’s Gasoline Alley dailies reprint project. The debut volume was the very model of how to package a vintage strip collection with an eye toward both education, display, and pure beauty, and this one looks to keep the ball rolling with 80 pages of extras (some material from which was excerpted in the latest issue of Comic Art) stuffed into the 400-page, $29.95 hardcover whole. Here's a few pages. If you like Frank King (and I sure do), you’re in hog heaven.

Elephantmen #2: Nice to see this book is doing well so far. It's a good slice of weird science fantasy. Between this, Gødland, Fell, Casanova, and Phonogram, I'm buying a lot of new or newish ongoing Image books these days.

Supermarket #4 (of 4): I read these comics!

Hawkgirl #55: These are the comics I read!

52 #16 (of 52): Cover artist J.G. Jones stretches himself into a Black Adam back-up, as plotlines collide in the main story. Will the Question catch a bouquet of cold-blooded murder at Black Adam’s wedding? Or will he stand around and deliver lines to Montoya like “Kind of like you and me… till death do us part” while the rest of us titter and wink at each other?

Eternals #3 (of 6): Still holding steady fairly nicely.

Action Philosophers #6 (of 9): The People’s Choice: So called because this issue’s line-up of profiled personalities were selected via email and internet polling. You apparently demanded Ludwig Wittgenstein, so you’re gonna get him, along with Soren Keirkegaard and St. Thomas Aquinas (whose entire story is now online for your edification). If you’re feeling left out right now, there’s still time to vote for the lineup of the big final issue, in which 20 philosophers will appear in 32 pages. Write-ins encouraged!

Absolute Dark Knight: Oh yeah. All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder? Never going to finish. I mean, Frank Miller's directing a movie now, and we don't even know how long the Jim Lee run is supposed to be, let alone when Neal Adams was set to start with Miller still scripting, and now the next issue has been pushed to November and Lee's working on another book - so yeah. Going nowhere fast. Anyway, here's a $99.99 reminder of the last time Miller pissed everyone off with a Batman comic, plus some other book you might have read. Oversized, and all the better for letting those sweet DK2 colors seep into your brain during the Green Lantern bits.