3/12/2007

Now it's due to possibly hit 70 degrees today.

*The world is about to end, isn't it?

LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:

The Authority #2

review nuggets (mmm - starring Fantastic Four #543, 52 #44, and Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #2)

To Terra... Vol. 1 (of 3)

Feeble Attempts (new Jeffrey Brown collection of random stuff)

*Or maybe the releases coming tomorrow are just too hot!!

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms: Finally out from Last Gasp, it’s the hotly-anticipated (by scanlation fiends) official English-language release of Fumiyo Kôno’s delicate, controversial (at least upon its 2004 Japanese release), emotionally overwhelming portrayal of sickness and youthful dreams from the Hiroshima of 1955 to the present day. Only $9.95 for 104 pages - you’re going to want to buy this as soon as you find it, because with all due respect I doubt anything else this week will be quite as good.

The Times of Botchan Vol. 3 (of 10): You’re probably also going to want to grab this if you see a copy, since it’s a new Fanfare/Ponent Mon release - which is to say, even if you don’t buy it, you should tag it and release it into the wild so we can all track it and study its mating habits. Let mine be the hundredth link to MangaBlog’s interview with Fanfare head Stephen Robson (and by ‘head’ I mean ‘actually kind of the entire company’), in which many mysteries are solved. This particular book is Natsuo Sekikawa’s and Jiro Taniguchi’s densely-packed, highly literate look at early 20th century Japanese mores and diverse characters, some real, some not. It is good.

A Late Freeze: Is this the first release of Danica Novgorodoff’s much-admired comic to the Direct Market? It seems it might be, so have a look at the art and do consider getting a copy if you see it. Yes, this week is all about grasping elusive comics in your hands like so many raindrops pattering down.

American Elf Book 2: Collecting the 2004-05 installments of James Kochalka’s daily diary comic into a 192-page volume. Review coming soon.

Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor Vol. 2 (of 2): Arriving hot on the heels of the prior volume (which is to say, ten and a half years later), this new 152-page, $19.95 tome from Dark Horse collects the remaining sequential adaptations of Ellison’s prose left over from the old Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor series, plus some new stuff, apparently still excluding John Byrne’s I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, but including stuff by Paul Chadwick, Gene Ha, Steve Rude, Gene Colan, and the late Curt Swan.

B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls #1 (of 5): Ok, everyone’s all rested up from their break, so that means it’s time for Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis to return with another adventure for the extended Hellboy cast, this one dealing exclusively with Abe Sapien’s origins, which has been a subplot for something like the last two series. B.P.R.D. has gotten steadily better with each series (although really it’s an ongoing series with generous gaps between storylines to facilitate smoother releases without changing the creative team), and it appears the year is going to fill out with two series, one right after another.

Garth Ennis’ Chronicles of Wormwood #2 (of 6): Artist Jacen Burrows says the first issue of this series has now (more or less) sold out, and Avatar has no plans to release second printings of anything, and I’d also that it kind of takes forever for Avatar to get trades out (the last Ennis/Burrows collaboration, Garth Ennis’ 303 just popped up the other week in book form), so you should hunt this down if it looks good. And I think it is good - last issue was one of Ennis’ strongest first issues in a while, and I retain much faith in the full work.

Crying Freeman Vol. 5 (of 5): All good things, like naked stabbings, must come to an end.

Blade #7: Hey retailers, this issue features the death of Blade, so I sure hope you ordered a million zillion copies - this hot tip comes courtesy of Jog Likes Comics dot Blogspot dot com.

Punisher War Journal #5: I sure liked last issue -- the actual post-Civil War first issue -- so I’m really looking forward to this one, seeing Frank take on the Bushwacker in a hostage situation in Times Square. “The ending of this issue will punch you in the face and laugh at your tears.” Which reminds me, Spider-Man: Reign also concludes this week, having almost certainly picked up several dozens of extra release-day flippers eager to see what kind of crazy stuff goes down. I mean, just look at that cover.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8) #1: I’m not much of a fan of either Joss Whedon or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I do know that I’m going to get people asking me why I’m not listing this if I don’t include it, so here it is. Art by Georges Jeanty.

52 #45 (of 52): This issue I think Montoya confronts Black Adam to teach him how A=A or something. Maybe not; I just thought it’d be funny if everyone brought back the Question’s Objectivism underpinnings now that there’s someone new wearing the hat. Everything old is new again, you know.

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