Upcoming Comics and From-the-Ass Oscar Analysis... For You!
*I have no comment on anyone's gown.
LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:
Waltz with Bashir (comics from the 2008 film, duly prostrated)
Plus!
The Zombies That Ate the World #1 (of 8) (Guy Davis, zombies & Europe: a match made in Hurlant)
At The Savage Critics!
PLUS!!
XIII (the 2008 Franco-Canadian television miniseries, although there's lots of Belgian comics stuff in there too)
At comiXology!
*Plenty of reprints and funnybook versions of other things -
THIS WEEK IN COMICS!
Waltz with Bashir: An $18.00, 128-page Metropolitan Books color softcover translating Israeli writer/director Ari Folman's 2008 animated Lebanon War documentary to comics form. Folman himself writes, with art director/chief illustrator David Polonsky heading the visuals (with support by Asaf & Tomer Hanuka, Michael Faust and Yaara Buchman), although I didn't think the adaptation lead to a terribly satisfying comics work. My review here; preview here.
As an aside, trivia buffs should note that the movie was the first-ever animated film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It didn't win, which some commentators considered an upset, since it was by far the highest profile of the nominees, but I don't think that quite takes into account the specifics of Oscar procedure; you're not even allowed to vote for Best Foreign Language Film unless you've attended Academy screenings of all five nominees -- video or dvd doesn't count -- a procedure that's supposed to level the playing field for teeny-tiny movies that haven't secured US distribution, but effectively limits the voting pool to people that have the free time to attend all those screenings. As a result, eligible voters tend to be older, often retired, and, well, generally not the preferable audience for a flashy 90-minute cartoon centered on a sensitive political topic, widespread acclaim or not. It's finally opening at a theater near me this weekend, though.
Larry Marder's Beanworld Book 1 (of 2): Wahoolazuma!: Plenty of folks have been waiting for this - a 272-page, $19.95 hardcover collection of the first nine issues of Marder's 1985-93 series, one of the formative 'indy' comics to many an impressionable mind. It's a curious, timeless study of a whimsical, metaphorical fantasy society, or so it looked from the new Holiday Special I reviewed a while back, which I felt "suggests Mat Brinkman's Teratoid Heights as converted into a dialogue-heavy mainline newspaper strip," for what it's worth. I'm looking forward to digging in deeper, as many admirers already have. And once the reprints are through (book 2 is due in July), new stuff is promised. From Dark Horse; preview here.
Tintin in the Congo: Oh my, look what's come strolling in for another go. Unless I'm wronger than colonialist attitudes, this should be a new Direct Market release for the 2002 Last Gasp edition of Hergé's second big Tintin story, 1930-31. And while the content -- seeing our boy romping around Belgium's then-colony via a scattershot series of exploits -- later underwent two substantial revisions, this particular edition lovingly preserves all of the original b&w artwork, so that every last panel of rough early draftsmanship, wanton violence towards wildlife and unabashed paternalism is perfectly in place. Tintin enthusiasts and students of European comics history will want it (if they don't have it already); I'm pretty sure it remains the only version of the stuff readily in print in English-speaking North America. It's 120 pages for $24.95.
Dave McKean - Postcard from Paris & Squink: Dessens de Dave McKean: Being a new pair of limited edition (of 3000) books from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts/Hourglass, both devoted to the popular illustrator-filmmaker-occasional comics artist. The first is the $18.90 latest in a line of hardcover sketchbook releases (48 pages, 6" x 6") tracking McKean's travels to some European locale; previous postcards hailed from Vienna and Barcelona, and all are printed on white satin paper. Oooh fuck yeah. The second is a fatter (200-page), larger (9" x 9") and way costlier ($42.75) softcover collection of the artist's b&w illustrations, mixing old charmers with new endeavors.
Eerie Archives Vol. 1: Beginning the expected(?) companion series to Dark Horse's deluxe Creepy Archives hardcovers, tackling that other Warren horror magazine for 240 pages. Same 8 3/8" x 10 7/8" size, same $49.95, same 'first five issues of the series,' featuring vintage contributions by Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Steve Ditko, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, John Severin, Gene Colan, Gray Morrow, Angelo Torres, Reed Crandall and Wally Wood (contrary to what Dark Horse's solicitation might suggest, Neal Adams doesn't show until issue #9), plus plenty of Archie Goodwin's writin' & editin'. Have a look.
The Starman Omnibus Vol. 2: And in other fifty dollar reprint news (alright, $49.99), DC has another 416-page chunk of writer James Robinson's signature series. Issues #17-29 of the main series are covered, with primary pencils by Tony Harris, primary inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, separate flashback issues pencilled by John Watkiss and Craig Hamilton, a Sandman Mystery Theatre tie-in with Guy Davis, a Christmas issue with Steve Yowell, and partial-issue support pencils by J.H. Williams III, Chris Sprouse and Gary Erskine - god, those are the fill-ins. Also: Starman Annual #1, featuring the J.H. Williams III/Mick Gray team supreme, and pertinent stories from Showcase '95 #12 (with Von Grawbadger on pencils and inks) and Showcase '96 #4-5 (with artist Matt Smith). Quite a fertile period.
Next Men Premiere Edition Vol. 1: That's right, you saw those b&w phonebook reprints sitting around, but it wasn't enough for you, was it? Well here's your reward from IDW - the opportunity to drop $50.00 (yeah! right on the nose that time!) on a 312-page oversized color hardcover compilation of issues #0-10 from the noted 1992-94 John Byrne superhero series. Yeah, that's two issues less than the first phonebook, and minus the 2112 graphic novel. Good eye.
Alan Moore's The Courtyard (in color): No doubt everyone scanning this site is aware of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, writer Moore's big return to serialized comics this year; even the errant porno searchers must have a notion by now. Ah, but 2009 as a second, long-cooking Moore original in store - Necronomicon, a Lovecraftian horror project with Jacen Burrows, to be published by those contemporary purveyors of Magus miscellany and adaptation at Avatar. Mind you, it'll be an all-new, all-Moore, made-for-comics project when it's done, as opposed to something based on a short story or poem or whatnot. When it's done. In the meantime, here's a handy, newly colorized reprint of a 2003 Burrows-drawn, Lovecraft-inspired short story adaptation, laid down in balloons 'n boxes by Antony Johnston. It's a very minor piece, but not bad - Moore actually is pretty hands-on with these things, going so far on this particular piece as to ask Burrows to re-draw the ending from a different perspective, if I recall correctly. Also sporting a new introduction by Garth Ennis; 56 pages for $7.99.
Garth Ennis' Battlefields: Dear Billy #2 (of 3): Snejbjerg, Ennis; one woman's revenge.
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #4 (of 6): Bá.
Savage Dragon #145: Larsen/OBAMA.
Youngblood #8: Casey/Donovan/Liefeld/OBAMA.
The Sword #15: I hear Tom Spurgeon likes this.
Popbot #8: Gosh. I... I genuinely didn't expect to ever see another issue of Ashley Wood's "let's do anything" signature series again, but it looks like IDW really and truly has another 48 oversized pages lined up, priced at $9.99. I presume T.P. Louise is still co-writing, and that all contents will adhere only to Wood's dearest and most intimate whims, logic be damned. Every issue is a swell jumping-on point! Preview here! It's real!!
LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:
Waltz with Bashir (comics from the 2008 film, duly prostrated)
Plus!
The Zombies That Ate the World #1 (of 8) (Guy Davis, zombies & Europe: a match made in Hurlant)
At The Savage Critics!
PLUS!!
XIII (the 2008 Franco-Canadian television miniseries, although there's lots of Belgian comics stuff in there too)
At comiXology!
*Plenty of reprints and funnybook versions of other things -
THIS WEEK IN COMICS!
Waltz with Bashir: An $18.00, 128-page Metropolitan Books color softcover translating Israeli writer/director Ari Folman's 2008 animated Lebanon War documentary to comics form. Folman himself writes, with art director/chief illustrator David Polonsky heading the visuals (with support by Asaf & Tomer Hanuka, Michael Faust and Yaara Buchman), although I didn't think the adaptation lead to a terribly satisfying comics work. My review here; preview here.
As an aside, trivia buffs should note that the movie was the first-ever animated film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It didn't win, which some commentators considered an upset, since it was by far the highest profile of the nominees, but I don't think that quite takes into account the specifics of Oscar procedure; you're not even allowed to vote for Best Foreign Language Film unless you've attended Academy screenings of all five nominees -- video or dvd doesn't count -- a procedure that's supposed to level the playing field for teeny-tiny movies that haven't secured US distribution, but effectively limits the voting pool to people that have the free time to attend all those screenings. As a result, eligible voters tend to be older, often retired, and, well, generally not the preferable audience for a flashy 90-minute cartoon centered on a sensitive political topic, widespread acclaim or not. It's finally opening at a theater near me this weekend, though.
Larry Marder's Beanworld Book 1 (of 2): Wahoolazuma!: Plenty of folks have been waiting for this - a 272-page, $19.95 hardcover collection of the first nine issues of Marder's 1985-93 series, one of the formative 'indy' comics to many an impressionable mind. It's a curious, timeless study of a whimsical, metaphorical fantasy society, or so it looked from the new Holiday Special I reviewed a while back, which I felt "suggests Mat Brinkman's Teratoid Heights as converted into a dialogue-heavy mainline newspaper strip," for what it's worth. I'm looking forward to digging in deeper, as many admirers already have. And once the reprints are through (book 2 is due in July), new stuff is promised. From Dark Horse; preview here.
Tintin in the Congo: Oh my, look what's come strolling in for another go. Unless I'm wronger than colonialist attitudes, this should be a new Direct Market release for the 2002 Last Gasp edition of Hergé's second big Tintin story, 1930-31. And while the content -- seeing our boy romping around Belgium's then-colony via a scattershot series of exploits -- later underwent two substantial revisions, this particular edition lovingly preserves all of the original b&w artwork, so that every last panel of rough early draftsmanship, wanton violence towards wildlife and unabashed paternalism is perfectly in place. Tintin enthusiasts and students of European comics history will want it (if they don't have it already); I'm pretty sure it remains the only version of the stuff readily in print in English-speaking North America. It's 120 pages for $24.95.
Dave McKean - Postcard from Paris & Squink: Dessens de Dave McKean: Being a new pair of limited edition (of 3000) books from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts/Hourglass, both devoted to the popular illustrator-filmmaker-occasional comics artist. The first is the $18.90 latest in a line of hardcover sketchbook releases (48 pages, 6" x 6") tracking McKean's travels to some European locale; previous postcards hailed from Vienna and Barcelona, and all are printed on white satin paper. Oooh fuck yeah. The second is a fatter (200-page), larger (9" x 9") and way costlier ($42.75) softcover collection of the artist's b&w illustrations, mixing old charmers with new endeavors.
Eerie Archives Vol. 1: Beginning the expected(?) companion series to Dark Horse's deluxe Creepy Archives hardcovers, tackling that other Warren horror magazine for 240 pages. Same 8 3/8" x 10 7/8" size, same $49.95, same 'first five issues of the series,' featuring vintage contributions by Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Steve Ditko, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, John Severin, Gene Colan, Gray Morrow, Angelo Torres, Reed Crandall and Wally Wood (contrary to what Dark Horse's solicitation might suggest, Neal Adams doesn't show until issue #9), plus plenty of Archie Goodwin's writin' & editin'. Have a look.
The Starman Omnibus Vol. 2: And in other fifty dollar reprint news (alright, $49.99), DC has another 416-page chunk of writer James Robinson's signature series. Issues #17-29 of the main series are covered, with primary pencils by Tony Harris, primary inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, separate flashback issues pencilled by John Watkiss and Craig Hamilton, a Sandman Mystery Theatre tie-in with Guy Davis, a Christmas issue with Steve Yowell, and partial-issue support pencils by J.H. Williams III, Chris Sprouse and Gary Erskine - god, those are the fill-ins. Also: Starman Annual #1, featuring the J.H. Williams III/Mick Gray team supreme, and pertinent stories from Showcase '95 #12 (with Von Grawbadger on pencils and inks) and Showcase '96 #4-5 (with artist Matt Smith). Quite a fertile period.
Next Men Premiere Edition Vol. 1: That's right, you saw those b&w phonebook reprints sitting around, but it wasn't enough for you, was it? Well here's your reward from IDW - the opportunity to drop $50.00 (yeah! right on the nose that time!) on a 312-page oversized color hardcover compilation of issues #0-10 from the noted 1992-94 John Byrne superhero series. Yeah, that's two issues less than the first phonebook, and minus the 2112 graphic novel. Good eye.
Alan Moore's The Courtyard (in color): No doubt everyone scanning this site is aware of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, writer Moore's big return to serialized comics this year; even the errant porno searchers must have a notion by now. Ah, but 2009 as a second, long-cooking Moore original in store - Necronomicon, a Lovecraftian horror project with Jacen Burrows, to be published by those contemporary purveyors of Magus miscellany and adaptation at Avatar. Mind you, it'll be an all-new, all-Moore, made-for-comics project when it's done, as opposed to something based on a short story or poem or whatnot. When it's done. In the meantime, here's a handy, newly colorized reprint of a 2003 Burrows-drawn, Lovecraft-inspired short story adaptation, laid down in balloons 'n boxes by Antony Johnston. It's a very minor piece, but not bad - Moore actually is pretty hands-on with these things, going so far on this particular piece as to ask Burrows to re-draw the ending from a different perspective, if I recall correctly. Also sporting a new introduction by Garth Ennis; 56 pages for $7.99.
Garth Ennis' Battlefields: Dear Billy #2 (of 3): Snejbjerg, Ennis; one woman's revenge.
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #4 (of 6): Bá.
Savage Dragon #145: Larsen/OBAMA.
Youngblood #8: Casey/Donovan/Liefeld/OBAMA.
The Sword #15: I hear Tom Spurgeon likes this.
Popbot #8: Gosh. I... I genuinely didn't expect to ever see another issue of Ashley Wood's "let's do anything" signature series again, but it looks like IDW really and truly has another 48 oversized pages lined up, priced at $9.99. I presume T.P. Louise is still co-writing, and that all contents will adhere only to Wood's dearest and most intimate whims, logic be damned. Every issue is a swell jumping-on point! Preview here! It's real!!
Labels: this week in comics
posted by Jog at 10:30 PM
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