The truth about wine and its grip on a man.

*Wait for it.

LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:

Golgo 13 Vol. 12 (of 13): Shadow of Death (with more of my all-important thoughts on anime)

The complete Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay (hey, that's how it's printed)

and some thoughts on the old movie Videodrome.

Nothing up at any other site, although I'm working on several posts for this week...

*A lot of things I didn't know existed until right now -

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!

Teen Titans: The Lost Annual: Yep. Someone 'lost' it for close to half a decade, I guess, as opposed to DC simply refusing to print this final work by the late Bob Haney, venerable DC scribe, aided and abetted by penciller Jay Stephens & inker Mike Allred, with Nick Cardy on the cover for extra period kick. The original Titans blast off to save JFK from trouble, and here's how it looks in b&w. Laura Allred will color the final product. This was supposed to be an Elseworlds one-shot back in the day, but now it's a $4.99, 64-page pamphlet that no doubt takes place on Earth 29 or thereabouts, in case the Arena calls.

Hickee Vol. 3 #4: Another issue of the pamphlet-format Alternative Comics humor anthology, this time with a 'crime' theme. Contributor Graham Annable has some stuff up, including a list of artists involved. A mere $2.95.

Black Hole: The Charles Burns body horror viral teen sex community graphic novel, finally in softcover for those who only want to pay a full cover price of $17.95. If I recall correctly, just about every Best Of comics list written in English in 2005 topped off with either this or Epileptic (mine included); I'm kinda glad for the diversity reflected in the 2007 crop. Also out this week from Pantheon is Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter #0, a twenty-five cent introduction to the gaiety and merriment of the person hunting Jenna Jameson's shadow, which seems kind of weird but you can probably get a comic out of it.

Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History: This is the new Harvey Pekar project, with art by Gary Dumm, and I do suspect the title says it all. Featuring additional contributions from real radical activists of the time. It's 224 pages from Hill and Wang, priced at $22.00.

Heavy Metal, March 2008: Noteworthy in that the feature presentation is a rare done-in-one album: Lola Cordova by one Arthur Qwak, a non-linear account of a prostitute's exploits in space that seems to have won some acclaim in its original French edition. Click around that website; nice-looking work.

Manga Sutra - Futari H Vol. 1: Oh, this will be one to watch. Serialized since 1997 and still going strong (Vol. 37 was released in Japan just last month), Aki Katsu's popular romantic comedy/sex guide is now in official English, ready to be plopped out by Tokyopop in 384-page bricks for $19.99 a pop. And don't underestimate the sex; being a chronicle of the fantasy and physical lives of a... novice married couple, Futari H supposedly gets about as close to flat-out porno as a manga can without being kicked out of the general-reading anthologies. I hear it promotes good morals and happy relationships too, so you might want to bring a copy to church.

B.P.R.D.: 1946 #1 (of 5): All of the creative team save for creator/co-writer Mike Mignola is taking a break for this story, set well before any of the main characters are in play. Joshua Dysart (of Swamp Thing and Captain Gravity and the Power of the Vril) co-writes, while Paul Azaceta (of Grounded) draws and Nick Filardi colors.

The Goon #20: Wait, I'm sorry. Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter #0 is published by Virgin Comics, not Pantheon. What a humiliating mistake. I've been drinking too much of this teaberry wine I bought off a bunch of hippies the other day. It's got artificial flavoring! What the fuck kind of bullshit hippies were they?! Artificial flavoring. I bet they take off their long hair at the end of the day and they're wearing stifling corporate suits on the scalps underneath. This is a new issue of an Eric Powell comic Dark Horse is publishing.

Infinity Inc. #5: "'The Influencing Machines of Metropolis' — Finale! As The Influencing Machines continue to induce madness, Nat and Lucia are forced into a deadly and ugly beauty pageant, and Erika and Gerome must face their own demons in time to stop a villain of devastating super-powered insanity." Man, that sounds like a nice Peter Milligan comic. Too bad it's two issues away. This one wraps up the first storyline.

Wolverine #61: Aw, I totally lost track of what was going on last issue. Someone from somewhere showed up, and my heart stopped? Maybe Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin will make everything clear in this, their last issue. Chaykin will next be teaming with Matt Fraction (!!) for a two-issue run on Punisher War Journal starting with #16, which is the one after the issue due this week. Then it's on to that WWI aviation MAX miniseries with Garth Ennis. Speaking of temptations and artists I like, Chris Weston has issue #1 of The Twelve this week, featuring a bunch of WWII-era superheroes and writer J. Michael Straczynski.

Youngblood #1: You may exhale. No, it's not the one where they're all fighting a battle royale across the dimensions, nor the one where they're all fighting a supervillain team based on popular UK comics writers. Those comics are as lost as your youth. This comic is as present as your bones. Writer Joe Casey and artist Derec Donovan bring the sucker home to Image, and it looks like this. Be forever.

Amazing Spider-Man #546: I read in the news that Spidey kisses a girl right on the lips in this issue!!! Confirm/deny?!??