All those people should be shot. Not reprimanded, but shot in the head with a twelve-gauge shotgun, repeatedly and with glee. These people are fools - utter fools - and deserve not just a ticking-off, but a righteous rogering in the head with an incendiary pitch fork made from nuclear barbed-wire.
- Stephen "I'm not an unreasonable man" Holland on his own ideas for Foolkiller. Good grief!
b o o k s f o r a u g u s t
The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard (£10-99, First Second) by Eddie Campbell, Dan Best. A book for August 3rd, to be exact, from 1-30pm to 3-30pm, which Eddie Campbell will sketch in and sign to your good self should you be of a mind to join us. Unusually for First Second I can't find a preview, but there's always that first link, and I've seen one myself. I have 33 pages of full-colour madness and mortality right in front of me, as the titular Man On The Flying Trapeze falls through the safety net of life and expires, leaving his nephew Etienne an empty book, his false moustache, and three final words: "May nothing occur..." One daring balloon ride to Paris through Prussian cannon fire later, and Etienne rejoins his Uncle Jules' circus:
"Uncle Jules is gone, alas. Smallpox. And he was still so young."
"We feared the worst - what will we do now?"
"I'm going to attempt to fill his shoes."
[Pointing at his costumed crotch] "First you need to fill his pants."
A period piece, this frankly bizarre spectacle seems like the comicbook equivalent of Spike Milligan and Terry Gilliam collaboration, full of visual flourishes from musical scores to Parisian panoramas. There, that's your lot until the review in late August. We've set the ceiling at 100 copies being available exclusively at Page 45 to be signed by Eddie, so if you don't book this in advance, don't come crying to me if they run out. Same goes for the other Campbell comics (see event guide on our myspace).
Local h/c (£19-99, Oni) by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly. My favourite series over the last two years, this gave me everything I've missed so desperately from STRAY BULLETS. Not that this is crime, although crimes are committed. Instead it's one young lady's journey across America as she grows from insecure and none-too-likeable brat into a sympathetic human being. The art is exemplary, capturing each location's ambience and architecture without fail, which is just as well because this series is just as much about that as it is about Megan. Here's what I made of... Local #5 (£2-25, Oni) by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly. A single, self-contained portrait of a girl who simply cannot stop lying, and the escalating consequences of her actions. Megan's just moved to Halifax, Canada, and has taken a job in the ticket booth of a local cinema. There she spruces herself up, pops on a name tag, and greets the paying public. But because she's the only one in the booth, and because there are a wealth of discarded, laminated name tags there, she can't help but put a new one on every night, and invent for herself a completely different personal history which she foists on those who'd rather not know. And soon, there are repercussions... Ryan Kelly is ridiculously hard on himself in the back of the book, providing a few secrets of his own that you'd never guess from the thoroughly sumptuous visuals. He's one of several Paul Pope-inspired artists around at the moment (most of whom seem to know Brian Wood!), but he's made it his own, and each issue comes fully mapped out in its own breathing location. The waterfront landscape in this issue, for example, glows under the evening lights.
The Portable Frank (£10-99, Fantagraphics) by Jim Woodring. From Mark's all-time comicbook God comes a new collection of classic material to prove that The John Peel Of Comics' veneration was unequivocally merited. At 200 pages it won't have everything the sumptuous hardcover contains (in stock @ £26-99 - introduction by Francis Ford Coppola); indeed for all I know it's completely different material, they're not too helpfully specific.
Frank... is an individual. An individual what I couldn't tell you. Like most of Woodring's creations you can see some identifiable animal in their origins (Pupshaw and Pushpaw are dogs after a sort and Man-Pig is a man who looks a bit like a pig and trots like one), but they're unique creatures in their own rights. Frank is an anthropomorphic, purple-and-cream-skinned, white gloved, buck-toothed... bear of sorts. He's a fallible human being given to temptation but defended at every juncture by his loyal companions/pets Pupshaw and Pushpaw. The stories are fantastical, phantasmagorical fables, mostly silent so that you can bring to them what you will and interpret them as you like, and if you were to sit down with someone else and discuss any given piece you might find it revealing - of yourself and of your friend. I often describe them as "mind-altering, yet legal". Enlightening too, as I say. Just don't be taken in by how colourful and kid-friendly it looks on the surface: it isn't. There's all the cruelty that comes with real life, and all the unsettling strangeness of dreams. Leave it with me to work out what this contains on arrival. The man is a visionary, a veritable shaman with that rare ability to communicate with wisdom and skill. Would you expect anything less from Mark's peerlessly educated instinct? Me neither.
Against Pain h/c (£16-99, Drawn & Quarterly) by Ron Regé Jr. ~ Collects all of Ron's short stories, zines, collaborations and many anthology contributions into one tome. I've probably spent an awful lot of money finding all of these over the years and now YOU can have the lot for a much more reasonable price. Excuse me... I have something in my eye... *sniff*... the pain...
Sublife (£5-50, Fantagraphics) by John Pham ~ I adore John Pham's comics. He has a style which is 1/3 Chris Ware, 1/3 Osamu Tezuka and 1/3 Asian model kit packaging. This compiles all of his "221 Sycamore Ave." strips, a few of which found their way into the first few issues of Mome. Following the daily trails of a group of house mates as they deal with loneliness in a house full of people, the way each new character is introduced is reminiscent of Nickelodeon classic "The Adventures of Pete & Pete". A monologue tells us of their eccentricities as if they are suburban legend Like Vren the gentle giant taking shelter from the daily humdrum using his extremely sensitive nose to enjoy a variety of his favourite musky smells: dandruff under fingernails and his sneakers after his bare feet have been in them all day (the latter, his only comfort after he's forced to take the bin out). Everyone likes the smell of their own. Or the Hermit landlady's son who stays in all day with a sheet over his head, watching the tube through the eye-holes he cut in it, like some sort of urban ghost, so barely there. A casualty of apathy.
"Barnaby Ward mixes the class and glamour of European illustration, with the flair and originality of Japanese manga to create wonderfully compelling and stunning pieces of art!" - Ashley Wood (POPBOT, TANK GIRL, various massive art books)
Out of everything solicited this month I eagerly anticipate this the most. Barnaby has taken the stylistic qualities of Yoshitoshi Abe's art and Hergé-esque Euro comics, and wrapped them in a blanket of surrealist dreamscape. Plus like Ashley he's not afraid of getting loose and rough with the inks or warming us with a sensitive use of colour. The stories themselves are like being thrust into another's dream with no compass or manual. They're admittedly disorientating but then so are all fast rides, and I'll happily queue for another go! Contains the eponymous 100-page tale plus 50 more pages of short stories and another 50 of paintings. Follow the title link for much preview page!
Jamilti & Other Stories h/c (£12-99, Drawn & Quarterly) by Rutu Modan. Suicide bombings, a serial-killer murder mystery, and an infatuated plastic surgeon are just three of the subjects in this new collection from the Israeli creator of EXIT WOUNDS.The preview there starts off stiffly enough, but wait until you get to the argument that's going to ruin any prospects of marriage and then... Powerful stuff from the creator of EXIT WOUNDS.
How To Love h/c (£19-99, Top Shelf/Actus Independent) by various. Rutu Morden's here as well, joined by five others exploring some of the more "unconventional" aspects of love. No idea what that means.
The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 h/c (£19-50, Fantagraphics) / The Complete Peanuts 1967-1970 h/c Boxed Set (£32-99, Fantagraphics) by Charles Schulz. More of the daily strip which almost justified the existence of The Daily Mail. Well, obviously not, but as a child I was grateful its was my Mummy's choice. All previous hardcovers in stock.
Echo vol 1: Silver Rain (£10-50, Abstract Studios) by Terry Moore. In a comics industry rife with format stupidity right now, it's relief to find that we can as always rely on one of the loveliest men in the world to get it right: straight to softcover. It's all trotting along very enjoyably right now, and here's my review of the first issue:
Terry Moore has discovered some very weird science, and Julie Martin is about to encounter it first-hand as a second skin. As you can imagine from the creator of STRANGERS IN PARADISE, Julie is an independent and decidedly pretty young woman. If the messages piling up on her answering machine are anything to go by, though, she's also broke and dragging her feet on divorce papers. An hour or so earlier she had the misfortune to be out in the desert taking photographs with a very unusual and personally treacherous military experiment being conducted over her head. One explosion later and the sky hails down a biting rain of tiny metallic beads which stick to Julie's bare skin and won't come off. I'll leave you to find out where they came from (the opening sequence will come as a surprise to SIP readers!), and discover dishy Dillon Murphy, Park Ranger, for yourselves. I don't know where this is going yet, but I wouldn't expect the U.S. military to come out of it looking at all good.
Ghost World: Special Edition Hardcover (£26-99, Fantagraphics) by Daniel Clowes. Okay, this one deserves the treatment! Expanded with a whopping 200 pages of extras from strips to script for the film, concept drawings and assorted ephemera all annotated by Clowes, this is a sharply perceptive observation of a loving but competitive friendship between two girls, Rebecca and Enid, and one over which the prospect of separation looms with college in different States. Enid harbours a neurotic obsession with constantly updating herself then discarding her "identities" as soon as they risk becoming the norm, and if memory serves she's judgemental and bitchy but you can't help but but feel for her in all her insecurities. (Damn I wish I could find my old review of this! I'll have to re-read write a new one on arrival.) Clowes' dialogue is first-rate, and if you're a Tomine fan but this has - against all odds - escaped you, you're in for a treat.
Berlin book 2: City Of Smoke (£12-99, Drawn & Quarterly) by Jason Lutes. Holy hell - wasn't expecting this on the schedule! "Set against the backdrop of the the twilight years of the Weimar Republic, Lutes highly-rated storytelling concerns the relationship between a journalist and an artist as they see the society around them change. This is the first of, what I imagine would be, three graphic novels, beginning in 1928 and stretching out over the next five years," wrote Mark of book one in 2001. He then promised a review "next month" when it arrived in April, but much to my astonishment that appeared to be a tease, because I can't find one! We've never reviewed BERLIN! We'll rectify that, I promise you.
Good-bye Marianne (£8-50, Tundra) by Irene N. Watts. A different Tundra to the one we know in comics! "As autumn turns toward winter in 1938 Berlin, life for Marianne Kohn, a young Jewish girl, begins to crumble. First there was the burning of the neighbourhood shops. Then her father, a mild-mannered bookseller, must leave the family and go into hiding. No longer allowed to go to school or even sit in a café, Marianne’s only comfort is her beloved mother. Things are bad, but could they get even worse? Based on true events, this fictional account of hatred and racism speaks volumes about both history and human nature." Review here.
Brainfag Forever (£5-99, Microcosm) by Nate Beaty. Surprising Find Of The Month here, as I clicked on-line through some one page strips (this one is exactly where my mind is at, 3.53pm Sunday before you should be receiving this... with any luck!), in a variety of styles - some even in colour, thought probably not in the book. I think there's a Lewis Trondheim quote on the back of this 224-page exploration of everyday autobiography. Oh, and "Brainfag" is short for "brain fatigue".
Souvlaki Circus h/c (£8-99, Buenaventura) by Amanda Vahamaki, Michelangelo Setola ~ "In this enigmatic series of pencil drawings, flamingos attack taxi drivers. Bears eat boiled eggs. Bishops contend with an angry mob of seals. And teeth -- smiling, hungry, growling, or lacerating -- are rarely more than a heartbeat away from being bared. A patchwork narrative of metaphoric truths about humans and nature, one of the many stunning aspects of this blind collaboration -- their only discussion was to agree on the theme of "animals" -- is that these two different artists have created a seamless work of art with deep, unsettling imagery. Their night-time world blurs the line between humour and suspense." Nice art from Michelangelo, recommended for those of you desperate for more of Anders Nilsen's Big Questions.
The Complete Jack Survives h/c (£19-99, Buenaventura) by Jerry Moriarty ~ I've barely read any of these, but the fully painted strips I have in the odd issue of RAW send chills up my spine and make me crack a slightly scared, defensive laugh. Such is the overwhelming sense of paranoia I take away from them, as everyman Jack survives yet another encounter with a fellow human. Everyday experiences as viewed in the mind set of a paranoid American. Love it. This massive hardcover collects the strips on the massive kind of pages they were originally intended to be viewed upon.
Abandoned Cars h/c (£15-50, Fantagraphics) by Tim Lane. Hope this is as good as the write-up: "Tim Lane's characters exist on the margins of society - alienated, floating in the void between hope and despair, confused but introspective. Some of them are experiencing the aftermath of an existential car crash - those surreal moments after a car accident, when time slows down and you're trying to determine what just happened and how badly you're hurt. Others have gone off the deep end. Here, America culture is a thrift store and the characters are thrift store junkies living among the clutter. It's an America depicted as a subdued and haunted Coney island, made of of lost characters - boozing, brawling, haplessly shooting themselves in the face, and hopping freight trains in search of Elvis."
Dungeon Monstres vol 2: The Dark Lord (£8-50, NBM) by Sfar, Trondheim, Blanquet, Andreas. Unlike ORDER OF THE STICK, KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE etc. which actually sell, this should, but doesn't. Of two previous volumes:
"And you, Grogro, swallow that rabbit or spit him out, but stop sucking on him, it's disgusting."
Welcome to the Dungeon, it has everything you need: dim-witted monsters as colourful as giant muppets, vampire shadows, killer mushrooms, combat skeletons, and the most eco-friendly back-up lighting system in the world (gelatinous green cephalopods). It's a 24-hour business run by a ratty old cockatoo in beatnik sunglasses, and constantly imperilled by Herbert the Timorous, an act-now/think-later duck in constant need of rescue by Marvin the vegetarian dragon. Here's how it works (you know, when it does work!):
"The entrances must resemble secret passages, that way the clients think they're clever for having found them. Next, in order to lessen the crowding in the most trafficked parts of the Dungeon, we leave around treasure maps that guide visitors into little-used rooms. We set it up so the adventurers don't stumble upon the biggest monsters right away, so as not to discourage them. In any case, most of them end up getting killed, and we keep their money."
"Ah... but when an adventurer dies, don't you then lose a client?"
"Not necessarily. There's always some acquaintance of his who'll try to avenge him. It brings folks in. Sometimes we let a survivor make it out with a pretty little treasure so he'll go tell everybody there's winnings to be had here. It's part of our advertising budget."
It's by far the finest gentle parody I've read of role playing games, having a life and direction entirely of its own, a population of individuals you'll grow to love, and a humour that's cumulative, like the illiterate but highly effective purple giant Zongo, who bellows nothing but "Zongo!", and is only ever seen in single panels bellowing "Zongo!" whilst splatting some hapless creature into so much cherry compote with his mighty club/tree trunk. That particular joke makes for an unexpected but hilariously timed climax to the first half of the second volume here, when the Dungeon is besieged by a plague of purulent flying toads attracted to a Pestilential Pyramid. In the first volume the Dungeon suffers the rude awakening, after competition rears its debilitating head, that customers prefer the fake, the shallow and the safe over the -- well, the beheading. There's also that perennial puzzle of how best to use a genie lamp, and Grogro's insatiable appetite. Great fun all round and, now that I come to think of it, suitable for all ages.
100 Bullets vol 12: Dirty (£8-50, Vertigo/DC) by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso. Here's a randomly selected link to one of the books and its attendant preview. And here's my review of that volume (four). Another randomly selected previous review on arrival. Gripping crime fiction in which everyone is wittier than humanly possible but I do not care.
"So why is Graves still alive?"
"That's a good question, but not the important one."
"Oh no? And that would be...?"
"What's he up to."
So far Agent Graves has been helping ordinary, disparate victims across the US settle their scores, with no apparent motive on his part. We've also heard intimations about The Minutemen, a body of enforcers he used to be a part of, and the organisation they were employed by, The Trust. Now you're going to meet The Trust, whose roots are sunk deep into American history, whose tendrils extend into every area of its present, and whose plans for the future are about to reach fruition. Knock-out shadows and silhouettes are Risso's forté, enhanced by menacing eyes and pouting lips. Azzarello's strength is the dialogue, beat perfect, and enough to send shivers down your spine. Welcome to the thirteen families, then; I wouldn't leave that pistol at the door.
Scalped vol 3: Dead Mothers (£11-99, Vertigo/DC) by Jason Aaron & Davide Furno. Of volume two... Crime and grime on the Prairie Rose Reservation which has really hit its stride now in an immaculately structured series of six stories seen from different perspectives, each of which give different accounts of the opening of the local casino and the events in each individual's life leading up to it. Along the way one secret after another is revealed depending on who's talking to whom, whilst others emerge to tantalise you to the end. The art's fluid, well lit and riddled with Vince Locke textures [note: this is a different artist - ed.]. The wizened faces are beautifully sculptured, particularly Granny's, whilst some of the forms, younger faces, and the glint of light on Catcher's green aviators under his wide-brimmed hat, suggest a little mid-John Byrne as inked in different places by Klaus Jansen or Tom Palmer.
The Prairie Rose Casino is the creation of tribal leader and mob boss Red Crow, under investigation by the FBI in the form of former reservation resident and now undercover Agent Dashiell Bad Horse whose mother Gina has for years been a people's rights activist. Working both as a policeman and an employee of Red Crow's, it's Dash's job to find blood on Crow's hands. That's what the FBI want, even if the blood in question is Dash's, for what no one has told Dash is that he isn't the only Agent in town. As I say, its strength - in addition to the shadow-laden art - is where Aaron chooses to cut away from a scene as events go out of eye-shot or ear-shot of that issue's chief protagonist, only to be resumed dozens of pages later from a different perspective, and the order in which Aaron reveals what. Also, the poverty of opportunity for those without Red Crow's ruthlessness, and the squandering of such opportunities that had been offered to the likes of the former Oxford University graduate, now wandering drunkard/visionary, Catcher. First issue download here.
Cairo s/c (£11-99, Vertigo/DC) by G. Willow Wilson & M.K. Pekar. One of the reasons I have no idea what to make of these creators' new series, AIR (see comic section) is that I never read this as a hardcover. "Ancient and modern Middle East with a Vertigo twist." More here.
Y- The Last Man Deluxe Edition h/c vol 1 (£19-99, Vertigo/DC) by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra. For no earthly reason whatsoever. Won't be stocking this, so please order in advance. First ten issues, and marvelous they are too. Just cheaper in softcover.
Boys Definitive Edition slipcased h/c (£49-99 or £300-00, D.E.) by Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson. The £300 version comes with an original sketch by Robertson and will be signed by both; both versions collect the first fourteen issues. Once more, we won't be stocking this. No room for so many different versions of so many different series. Please order now, because there'll be no overprints. Both softcovers currently in stock.
Sharknife Vol. 2: Double Z (£7-99, Oni Press) by Corey Lewis ~ Sequel to 2005's beat-em-up comic. More smash and grab than shock and awe. Lets hope "Rey" has evolved his storytelling skills beyond those of a sugar-high 10-year-old boy spilling his toy-box.
Fokke & Suuke (£5-99, Catulus) by Reid, Gelejinse & Van Tol. Umm. Yes. Very popular in the Netherlands, they say. Also: "Both endearing a repulsive". A bird and a duck with genitals. Translated, I expect.
Janes In Love (£6-50, Minx/DC) by Cecil "Jeanne" Castellucci & Jim Rugg. Sequel to the first Minx graphic novel (DC's line aimed at early teenage girls) which we loved enough to make it Comicbook Of The Month. Same creators too. Of The Plain Janes (£6-50, Minx/DC), I wrote...
"Hopeless is lying in a hospital bed with a ringing in your ear and trying to forget the screaming.
"Loud noises made me jump. Sounds I couldn't identify made me jump.
"Silence made me nervous.
"But there was hope in that sketchbook."
Since the bomb blast, life has changed for Jane. Some of it - her hair, for example - she changed herself; other aspects, like being relocated from cool city to staid suburbia, has been thrust upon her by her fearful parents. "Mom doesn't see the beauty in anything any longer. She only sees the danger. I want her to stop worrying and love the world again, because if she can, then I can." Her mum, in fact, is neurotic, incessantly phoning her at all manner of embarrassing moments, and as we all know, "It's hard to be a rebel on a leash."
PLAIN JANES is packed with such eminently printable quotes, but that's the young lead lady for you: feisty, defiant, quietly cool, predominantly optimistic yet occasionally sardonic. "Here we go. Nothing worse than starting the school year six weeks late. Remember, it's just four years. Om, and all that." Jane's actually well received by the "in" crowd at school, but sees no merit in that, selecting instead to sit at a table with three other Janes - one a thespian, one a scientist and one an aspiring soccer player - but they're simply not interested in Jane, each other or anything else outside their own insular little worlds, until Jane summons all her wit to understand them, then guile to galvanise them. And so begins their inspired campaign of local art attacks as the covert club called P.L.A.I.N - People Living Art In The Neighbourhoods, and Catellucci's astute observations on adult society's overwhelming confusion if not outright hostility towards public art.
I'm honestly quite surprised to declare DC's first salvo in their bid for young-teen female readers such an attractive success. The cover's horrid, but the art inside communicates mood and expression successfully and succinctly, whilst there are elements of Jane and her life that are instantly identifiable as nigh-universal, whether it's the overprotective mum (all mums are perceived as overprotective, regardless of innocence or guilt!), the missed opportunities, frozen in romance's blinding and gagging headlights, or just the immortal phrase (muttered several times a week, I'll bet): "Boys suck." I like the fact that Jane's far from perfect, giving way on occasion to unreasonable sulks, and suffering the setbacks we all do in life along with the inevitable, attendant deflation of confidence. But her creativity and her sense of fun are infectious both for the three Janes and for this reader, and I'd have thought there's nothing more seductive to the book's target audience than the act and art of rebellion. This is full of it.
Emiko Superstar (£6-50, Minx/DC) by Mariko Tamaki & Steve Rolston. "A borrowed diary, a double life and identity issues fuel a teenager's quest to find herself before she cracks and commits social suicide. Watch Emi go from dull, suburban babysitter to eclectic urban art star compliments of one crazy summer."
Mister X Archives h/c (£51-99, Dark Horse) by Dean Motter & Jamie Hernandez, Paul Rivoche, Dave McKean, Seth, Ty Templeton, more. I know I should be interested in this with a stellar line-up like that, but I never was and at a price like that I doubt you will be either. We've a softcover volume of some of this in stock if you want to inquire. It might even be this one, about which Mark wrote...
Mister X vol 1: Who Is Mister X? (£11-99, IBooks) by Dean Motter, Paul Rivoche & Los Bros Hernandez, Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean - More comics about architecture that's what we need. More comics about architecture drawn by Gilbert & Jaime, that's most definitely what we need. Mister X had a strange start. The book was heralded by some beautiful posters designed by either (or both of) Motter & Rivoche. Elegant designs that looked as if Fritz Lang done a Lazarus and decided that the funny pages were where he belonged. There was an element of hype whipped up but still there was no book. The Hernandez brothers (sigh) were riding high (in an independent, black and white sort of way) on Love & Rockets so they were drafted in to do the art. And they might have written it.
Mister X was the architect of Radiant City, a pioneer in the use of psychitecture where buildings are designed to make everybody happy and prosperous. Unfortunately he was kicked off the program before it could be finished, other hands, unversed in his ways, meddled. Now the buildings are driving everybody insane. (Excuse me if I'm getting this wrong. I haven't seen these issues for well over ten years). Mister X himself hasn't slept for a very long time so he's possibly a few bricks short of an underpass. Ibooks is promising to reprint the whole thing over three books. This one has all the Hernandez stuff and the Gaiman/McKean story from A1. Later books have art by Seth and Maurice Vellecoop.
Nightmares & Fairy Tales vol 4 (£9-99, Amaze Ink/SLG) by Serena Valentino & Camilla d'Errico. An abused mermaid, and a modern adaptation of Sleeping Beauty set in San Francisco. From the author of GLOOM COOKIE.
Silent Leaves vol 2: Exceptions To Life (£12-99, DMF) by Christopher Shy. Not had the first book yet. End of the world sci-fi fantasy in swirling green mists. Also this month, a lithograph @ £12-99.
Charley's War vol 5: Return To The Front h/c (£14-99, Titan) by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun. More classic British comicbook WWI material. Bumper Book Of Roy Of The Rovers h/c also from Titan this month @ £12-99.
Stickleback (£9-99, Rebellion) by Ian Edginton & D'Israeli. 2000AD material from the creators of SCARLET TRACES, the two-volume follow-up to their adaptation of WAR OF THE WORLDS which I enjoyed so much that this isn't going to get farmed out to Alex Sarll for once. Like most 2000AD, I've not read STICKLEBACK, so I can't tell you much for the moment that it's set in London at the turn of the 19th century and looks rather grotesque. You might also know D'Israeli (aka Matt Brooker) as the artist on Ellis' LAZARUS CHURCHYARD, due for a reprint any month now.
Tank Girl vol 1 - Anniversary Edition (£10-99, Titan) by Alan Martin & Jamie Hewlett. 20 years old?!! The original Riot Grrl (oh, I can never remember how many "r"s and "l"s there are in that), punked up to the max and repackaged. Includes all the strips, posters etc. from the first fifteen issues of the uniquely successful British music and comics hybrid magazine DEADLINE which included an impressive and commendably brave range of creators from Evan Dorkin to Nabiel Kanan. If you've never come across Gorillaz artist Hewlett's missile-mammoried madam in anything other than its celluloid incarnation, please don't think this is aaaanything like the film. It aint.
Nemi vol 2 h/c (£9-99, Titan) by Lise Myhre. More goth froth from THE METRO.
Abe Sapien vol 1: The Drowning (£11-99, Dark Horse) by Mike Mignola & Jason Shawn Alexander. Murky mystery starring the HELLBOY amphibian, just completed as a serial. More on arrival. Also this month Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye novel (£8-50) and the second volume in the deluxe HELLBOY series @ £32-99.
Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite ltd edition h/c (£51-99, Dark Horse) by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá. Regular softcover any day now. This version is bigger and fatter, containing concept designs, more sketches, commentary from the artist and the Free Comic Book Day story.
Serenity: Better Days (£6-50, Dark Horse) by Whedon, Matthews & Conrad. Volume of the film spin-off. Volume one in stock.
Dark Tower: The Long Road Home h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by Peter David & Jae Lee, Richard Isanove. Second book of Stephen King's luminous horror with spurs, all told in a rich Somerset accent. Kicks off with Roland in a coma (I know, it's serious), and our plucky if argumentative lads on the run from a large and deadly posse. Terrifying scene with their horses on a rope bridge missing so many rungs (okay, what do rope bridges have, then?) it qualifies as more rope than bridge.
Gravel: Never A Dull Day signed h/c (£58-99, Avatar) by Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer. 576 pages collecting together all six STRANGE KISSES and KILLINGS, signed by both creators, limited to 2,000 copies, with the promise that there will be no softcover. "Guns, basically, and dismemberment," I wrote of one of them, promptly misidentifying the artist. Also, magic. On the subject of Ellis, he recently wrote:
"If all of you with a blog could do me a favour today, if if you feel so moved:
Thanks. -- W"
And who are we to decline to do favours for the man who's done Page 45 so many?
Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis vol 2: Caged Angels h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato. The second half of Ellis' darkly comedic take on a small army of super-psychotics employed (under duress) by the American government to capture and incarcerate its heroes. Rivalries within grate and threaten to escalate, but that's nothing compared to the internal struggles of their heavily sweating, med-mixing commander: Norman Osborn, he of the hair that looks like a recently ploughed field and the alter ego whose cackles could make Marilyn Manson's balls shrivel. And as Tom pointed out, he remains as terrifying here when he does finally give in and put on his silly Halloween costume, which is no mean feat given how Ellis wrote him in the first volume. Easily the finest interpretation since the Green Goblin's creation. Can't wait to see what he does with Emma Frost in ASTONISHING X-MEN.
Marvel Illustrated: The Picture Of Dorian Gray h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Oscar Wilde, Roy Thomas & Sebastian Fiumara. Oscar Wilde and Roy Thomas: can you spot the gaping chasm? One of those books that should under no circumstances be adapted into any visual medium on account of Gray's seductiveness relying substantially on your own inner vision of what constitutes blinding physical beauty. And indeed on your idea of what you'd most hate to look like on/in a canvas/mirror. I haven't looked at this for the same reason you'd be well advised never to watch the video to your favourite song that wasn't written by David Sylvian, so for all I know I'm talking bobbins. However, in the original book a painter falls in love with a man whose portrait he's painting, just as his subject falls in love with the painting itself. It's a bit like reading your own press, because it goes to Dorian's head. One aspiration to immortality later, Dorian gives in to every temptation he can find, physically immune to their debilitating effects, and treats those around him with contempt and outright cruelty whilst the portrait in his attic begins to reflect his degeneracy. One of the finest novels in the English language, and we'll order a copy of that in for you instead, if you prefer. Do please, however, see bottom of the book section for a welcome reprint of a stunningly illustrated edition of another classic novel, Frankenstein.
The Twelve vol 1 h/c (£16-99, Marvel) by J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Weston. ...And then something comes along that takes you completely by surprise. It's not that Weston's art isn't fantastic (MINISTRY OF SPACE) or that Straczynski can't think outside the box - MIDNIGHT NATION was proof of that - it's just that I wasn't expecting something so tense, so worrying, so thoughtful. During WWII twelve random "superheroes" - not a team at all - explored the SS Headquarters in Berlin during a mop-up operation. They were looking for snipers and other opposition forces. They found more than they bargained for. Buried deep underground and left in suspended animation, they're discovered in the present day by the construction industry revitalising East Germany. America is quick to reappropriate and relocate the heroes who were born into a patriotism that wouldn't think twice which side to choose during any superhero Civil War. But that doesn't mean to say that all sorts of other baggage isn't collected from the metaphorical conveyor belt as well. Family reunions, if they happen at all, don't all go well - and there's one in a Jewish household that is particularly painful to watch as one of the so-called heroes is taught a well deserved lesson in being proud of one's heritage. Adapting to modern life proves hard for some and impossible for others, with consequences that are, again, worrying. One superficial show-off makes an utter tosser of himself, one has his heart-broken by the realities of life for kids in some urban schools. This is the first half, and the best offering from Marvel this month.
Elektra by Frank Miller Omnibus h/c (£49-99, Marvel) by Frank Miller & Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz. ELEKTRA ASSASSIN, ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN and the single issues BIZARRE ADVENTURES #28 and WHAT IF? #35 collected together into one unaffordable package. The contains are magnificent, as you'd expect: the first is what David Mack has based his entire career upon, being full of inventive little devices; the second saw some spectacular ninja action in the snow and Bullseye in the buff.
Tomb Of Dracula Omnibus vol 1 h/c (£65-00, Marvel) by various. Because...?
Hulk: Heart Of The Atom h/c (£19-99, Marvel) by various & Trimpe, Sal Buscema, Joe Staton. The saga of our green goliath's sub-atomic love affair with jade Jarella, which obvious doesn't end well. From over thirty years ago, the original PLANET HULK in so many ways that it's amazing to think Greg Pak never read it. <snort>
Logan h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Brian K. Vaughan & Eduardo Risso. Review of the first issue:
"I didn't even catch her scent. She's like a... a ghost."
"If she's not yet, she will be."
Risso's art is gorgeous, his shadow- and shape- rather than line-reliant art, which has always seemed informed by Miller's SIN CITY, here reminiscent of ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN especially under the watercolouring of Dean White. But my initial reaction to the solicitation was, "Haven't these got something better to do with their time?" I should have known better, because time is exactly what they're playing with here, as Wolverine, his memories restored post-HOUSE OF M, embarks on a pilgrimage to a Japanese temple where, we are led to believe, some sixty years ago his heart was broken. Why, then is he assaulted by a skeleton ablaze? The clues lie in those memories during World War II, when Logan as part of the Canadian army was sent to blow up a train in Burma, and ended up a prisoner of war on the Japanese mainland - he knows not exactly where. Escaping with an uncouth American, he stumbles upon and falls for a beautiful woman called Atsuko.
"<This is heaven, isn't it? I'm already dead, and now I'm in heaven.>"
"<No, not heaven.>"
"<Then what is this place? Where am I?>"
"<Hiroshima.>"
X-Men: Legacy - Divided We Stand h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Mike Carey & Scot Eaton, John Romita Jr., Billy Tan. Post-MESSIAH COMPLEX, X-MEN has changed its name to X-MEN LEGACY as Xavier's mind is messed with by one of his enemies before being put back together minus his memories. Which is handy if you don't fancy feeling guilty about your mistakes. Seemed like an awful lot of treading water and talking heads. And I love a good conversation, I really do, whether it's with my friends or colleagues, in a book written by Evelyn Waugh or a comic created by Jeffrey Brown (the mountain hike in LITTLE THINGS was magnificent - if you want to see Jeffrey do scenery, it will blow you away), but they're uncomfortable and tedious WHEN YOU'RE JUST SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME AND THREATENING TO TEAR THE VERY FABRIC OF THE ASTRAL PLANE APART AND CALLING EACH OTHER TRAITORS TO YOUR KIND AND WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE, MAGNETO - STOP SMOULDERING AT ME!
Foolkiller: Fool's Paradise (£11-99, Marvel) by Gregg Hurwiz & Lan Medina. Very violent and not unintelligent, but nor is it a particularly imaginative treatment. Could easily be The Punisher. Far more interesting would be to play on what people consider "foolish" rather than "villainous". Seems obvious to me. "Foolish" is walking into a shop that sells anything printed on paper with a drink in your hand, and not fully expecting to be ejected. "Foolish" is discarding drink cans into country streams and not caring what effects they have. "Foolish" is falling asleep in front of the tv every single time you invite a friend over for booze, chit-chat and DVD watching... and then being absolutely impossible to wake up.* All those people should be shot. Not reprimanded, but shot in the head with a twelve-gauge shotgun, repeatedly and with glee. These people are fools - utter fools - and deserve not just a ticking-off, but a righteous rogering in the head with an incendiary pitch fork made from nuclear barbed-wire. I am not an unreasonable man, but that would make for a cracking Foolkiller series, and I shall be suing with Extreme Prejudice if they farm it out to anyone else.
* Please don't hurt me.
New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection vol 2 of 3 (£23-50, Marvel) by Morrison & many. The first book in its new format has just hit the shelves and is ardently recommended to those who kicked off with Joss' run, on account of it taking its cue from this. Of the middle book in its old format, I wrote:
*
Emma Frost: "Hypercortisone D. They call it "Kick," God bless the little dears. It makes them feel like movie stars, being directed by God, on location in Heaven... We found this dispenser outside the Common Room window. I've tried it, of course... in the interests of science. I felt angelic and violently insane for five hours. I foresee trouble if this becomes widespread."
*
Quentin Quire: "You're always encouraging us to dream... I just wondered what would happen if one of us had a dream you didn't like?"
*
Charles Xavier: "These clothes, the angry slogans, are just the outward signs... he's developing a small cult following. With a dangerous anti-human undercurrent. If any of our students were found to be involved in these latest killings... I've always feared something like this - trouble from within."
*
When Jumbo Carnation, flamboyant clothes designer and mutant cause célèbre, becomes the latest victim of anti-mutant hatred, it's one last nail in the coffin of tolerance for some of the younger students at Professor Xavier's school. They've seen 16,000 mutants massacred in Genosha with human technology, their self-proclaimed mentor has been trying to win the battle for integration and peaceful co-existence for years, and to Quentin Quire, a bitter teenage with all the dopamine that comes with those years, the goal is no nearer to being accomplished than it was when Xavier began. All it takes is one profound emotional trauma and a blast of Kick, and it's going to grow nastier than any of the students or teachers can imagine.
Morrison's brilliance throughout this series has been to refine the spectacle, mechanics and melodrama of the superpowered mutant as outsider, and marry them to historical and contemporary social issues, popular youth trends, and throw in a lot of style while he's at it. For the Genoshan genocide, read Holocaust; for the assault on Jumbo, read queer bashing; and then there's always been that logic-defying racism within the football and music camp, when key players in both are quite patently black. All this and so much more - from reclaiming the language and imagery of bigotry, to recreational drugs, globalisation and modern evolutionary theory - has been tailored to fit this mutant soap opera, and turned it into something refreshingly relevant and deliciously witty. And the icing on the cake, if you'll excuse the pun, has to be the sybaritic Emma Frost, perpetually detached, self-important and superficial, whose complacent calm in the heart of the bloody storm is rendered by Quitely with total panache:
"It looks like you were right about Master Quire and his band of bad haircuts. This is quite appalling!"
"We told you, Miss Frost! We knew he'd ruin our Open Day! He wants to make a mess of everything."
"I'm sure it's just another petulant cry for help, girls. I don't know what it is with young people these days, but I do miss the imagination and verve of the little zealots I used to teach. There was a wild, romantic light in their eyes and they threw themselves into the fray at every turn. Now it's all bored stares, vague demands and a few broken windows. Hardly the stuff of mutant legend."
"But weren't they all killed, Miss Frost? The students you used to teach?"
"There were one or two fatalities, yes.. But for heaven's sake, Esme. Let's try not to dwell on the down side."
Imagination, flair, and a keen fashion sense - when they're on top form Quitely and Morrison have made reading the X-Men a chic thrill for grown-ups, rather than a guilty addiction for the undemanding. You can come out now.
Kingdom Come new edition (£11-99, DC) by Mark Waid & Alex Ross. What must it be like to write or draw for DC right now, knowing that NOBODY CARES. Nobody cares. Even Grant Morrison has given up: you won't see any more of that AUTHORITY run. It's such a load of drivel that the most remarkable book this month is a new edition of KINGDOM COME whose first printing only will have a new foldout cover by Alex Ross. And it's a great book. As I always say, "It's the end of the DC Universe when things have already gone wrong, and it's about to grow a great deal worse." The new generation of DC superheroes aren't half as altruistic as their predecessors. Superman feels alienated enough that he's in self-imposed exile. And someone's doing something vile to young Billy Batson. Ross' finest hour. Devastating.
Green Lantern: Revenge Of The Green Lanterns (£8-50, DC) by Geoff Johns & Carlos Pacheco, Ethan Van Sciver. #7-13 of the current series. And that's as much as I can bring myself to write on DC books this month.
Ghost Omnibus vol 1 (£16-99, Dark Horse) by Eric Luke & Adam Hughes, Terry Dodson, Matt Haley. Dark Horse have been reprinting a lot of their "superhero" stuff from fifteen years ago, and although I've listen them in "also scheduled" I haven't been surprised that no one's asked via email or on the shop floor because they were irrelevant then and even more so now. However, one cannot deny the draw of Hughes and Dodson, so although I've not read any of this, you might want to see what you can find out about it online, other than it being about a brutally murdered reporter, Elisa Cameron, who's back from the grave as the spectral avenger Ghost.
Golden Age Sheena vol 2 (£12-50, Devil's Due) by Matt Baker. Jungle action with breasts from the '30s, '40s and '50s as referenced by Bendis in SECRET INVASION #3 which, by the way, made me drunk with happiness as I read my bottle of Gewurztraminer.
Love The Way You Love: Side B (£7-99, Oni) by Jamie S. Rich & Marc Ellerby. Utter waste of Ellerby's talents, and totally...
Serpo (£9-99, Devil's Due) by Jason M. Burns. Horrific sci-fi.
Sabbath: All Your Sins Reborn (£12-50, Devil's Due) by Matt Tamao & Josh Medors. Horrific.
EC Archives: Vault Of Fear h/c (£32-99, Gemstone) by various. Terrific. Horror.
Vertigo Encyclopaedia h/c (£16-99) 240 pages of information you could glean for yourself by reading the comics. Wouldn't that be more fun? Also, creator biographies you could get from the creators' websites, and an assessment of each title's impact on the world which you could get, strictly unbiased, from the publisher. "Ground-breaking" will feature prominently, you mark my words.
The Art Of Tony Millionaire h/c (£26-99, Dark Horse) by Tony Millionaire. Another Dark Horse beauty, featuring the creator of SOCK MONKEY and MAAKIES. Also available and mostly in-stock: Jeff Smith, Stan Sakai, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola.
Jack Magic (£16-99, Pure Imagination) by Greg Theakston & Jack Kirby. Biography of the King of Comics.
Jeff Smith: Bone & Beyond h/c (£16-99, Cartoon Books) by Dave Filipi, Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman. But apparently not Jeff Smith! Overview art book based on this year's exhibition. Gorgeous BONE artbooks already in stock.
The Art of Hergé: Inventor of Tintin h/c (£26-99, Last Gasp) by Phillipe Goddin, Michael Farr... and Hergé, I'd have thought. The first of three volumes, this covers his development from schoolboy sketches through his first published work and upwards. 1907 to 1937.
The Art Of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (£12-99, IDW) by Ben Templesmith. Third Templesmith art book, also available @ £32-99 as a h/c and £65-00 if you want that h/c signed.
Fables: Covers by James Jean h/c (£26-99, Vertigo/DC) by James Jean. Currently the hottest cover artist in town, and very big in the art community itself. On sale October 30th and inevitably one of the biggest Christmas sellers - there aint nobody else out there about whose art book I could say that.
"I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? ...I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear."
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
Here it is at last: a new printing of a book we've been unable to sell you for so long that I don't think there ever existed a written review by myself, but it would have been riddled with superlatives. I've bought three copies in my time (one to cut up), several sets of the postcards, and a full set of trading cards. If you've ever been in my study you'll have seen a full-colour, signed and lovingly framed print as the centre-piece above my open fireplace. So if you've been remotely intrigued about my claims that Franklin Booth: American Illustrator h/c (£16-99) shows Booth to be the missing link between Gustave Doré and these majestic pages built up of layers of intricate lines, then here you go: 240 pages of prose in between full-page and double-page heartbreak, horror and beauty. Man's inhumanity to man, with more than a dollop of hubris.
also scheduled:
South (£9-99) by Patrick McDonnell. Another MUTTS storybook.
Owl vol 5: Tiny Tales (£6-50, Top Shelf) by Andy Runton
Korgi vol 2: The Cosmic Collector (£6-50, Top Shelf) by Christian Slade
Kidnapped (£7-99, Tundra) adapted by Alan Grant & Can Kennedy
Queen & Country Definitive vol 3 (£12-99, Oni) by Greg Rucka & Steve Rolston, Mike Norton, Chris Samnee
Complete Zombies vs Robots s/c (£16-99,, IDW) by Chris Ryall & Ashley Wood
48 More Ashley Wood Nudes (£9-99, IDW) by Ashley Wood
Rocky vol 2: Strictly Business (£9-99, Fantagraphics) by Martin Kellerman
Stinky (£8-50, Raw Junior) by Eleanor Davis
Complete Dick Tracy vol 5 (£19-99, IDW) by Chester Gould
Massive Swerve (£12-99, Heavy Metal) by Robert Valley
Blue Beetle vol 4: Endgame (£9-99, DC) by many and some
Countdown To Final Crisis vol 3 (£12-99, DC) by several and sundry
DC Comics Goes Ape (£12-99, DC) by bangers and mash
DC Universe Illustrated By Neil Adams (£16-99, DC) by clotted and cream
JSA Presents: Green Lantern (£9-99, DC) by sticks and stones
Phantom Stranger: The Heart Of a Stranger (£12-99, DC) by broken bones
Showcase Presents: Metal Men vol 2 (£10-99, DC) by bored of this now
Showcase Presents: Blackhawk vol 1 (£10-99, DC) oh stop it
JLA: Salvation Run (£12-99, DC) by Willingham, Sturges & Chen
Justice League Of America: The Tornado's Path s/c (£11-99, DC) by Brad Meltzer & Ed Benes, Sandra Hope
Justice vol 2 s/c (£9-99, DC) by Ross, Krueger & Braithwaite, Ross
Batman & The Outsiders vol 1: The Chrysalis (£9-99, DC) by Chuck Dixon & Julian Lopez
Batman: Black & White vols 2, 3 (£12-99, each, DC) by various
Birds Of Prey: Metropolis Or Dust (£11-99, DC) by Dean McKeever & Nicola Scott
Legion Of Superheroes: Enemy Rising h/c (£12-99, DC) by Jim Shooter & Manapul, Lopresti
New Teen Titan Archives vol 4 h/c (£32-99, DC) by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez
Superman/Batman: The Search For Kryptonite h/c (£12-99, DC) by Green, Hohnson & Davis, Banning
Superman: The Third Kryptionian (£9-99, DC) by Busiek, McDuffie & co.
Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters: Brave New World (£9-99, DC) by Palmiotti, Gray & Renato Arlem
Number Of The Beast (£12-99, DC/Wildstorm) by Christos Gage & Chris Sprouse
Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Man vol 10 h/c (£35-99, Marvel) by Stan Lee & John Romita Sr., Gill Kane.
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane vol 2 h/c (£26-99, Marvel) by Sean McKeever & various
Clandestine: Blood Relative h/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Alan Davis
Spider-Man J: Turning Japanese digest (£6-50, Marvel) by Yamanaka Akira & Yuko Fukami
Spider-Man: One More Day s/c (£12-99, Marvel) by Straczynski & Quesada. See h/c review
Mighty Avengers vol 1: The Ultron Initiative vol 1 s/c (£9-99, Marvel) by Bendis & Cho. See h/c review
Ultimate Spider-Man vol 20 s/c (£8-50, Marvel) by Bendis & Immonen. See several dozen previews reviews
Wolverine: Get Mystique (£7-50, Marvel) by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney
X-Men: Divided We Stand (£8-50, Marvel) by various
New Exiles vol 1: New Life, New Gambit (£10-50, Marvel) by Chris Claremont & Grummet, Castro
New Warriors vol 2: Thrashed (£12-99, Marvel) by Kevin Grevioux & Jon Malin, Paco Medina
Young Inhumans (£16-99, Marvel) by Sean McKeever & various
Immortal Iron Fist vol 2: Seven Capital Cities Of Heaven s/c (£11-99, Marvel) by Brubaker, Fraction & Aja, Zonjic, Kano
She-Hulk vol 6: Jaded (£9-99, Marvel) by Peter David & Shawn Mol, Val Semeiks
Punisher War Journal Classic vol 1 (£16-99, Marvel) by Carl Potts, John Wellington & Carl Potts, Jim Lee.
Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walt Simonson vol 2 (£9-99, Marvel) by Simonson, Fingeroth, Simonson, Valve
New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection vol 2 of 3 (£23-50, Marvel) by Morrison & many - again, see original reviews
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt s/c (£9-99, Marvel) by DeMatteis & Zeck
X-Men: The Complete Onslaught vol 3 (£19-99, Marvel) by a multitude of monkeys
Dead Of Night Featuring Man-Thing s/c (£9-99, Marvel) by Aguirre-Sacasa & many
Essential Man-Thing vol 2 (£10-99, Marvel) by many
Conan vol 6: Hand Of Nergal (£11-99, Dark Horse) by Truman & Giorello
Empowered vol 4 (£9-99, Dark Horse) by Adam Warren
The End League Vol 1: Ballad Of Big Nothing (£8-50, Dark Horse) by Rick Remender & Mat Broome
Predator Omnibus vol 4 (£16-99, Dark Horse) by various
The Evil Dead (£8-50, Dark Horse) by Mark Verheiden & John Bolton
Invincible vol 4 h/c (£23-50, Image) by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley
Hawaiian Dick vol 3: Screaming Black Thunder (£9-99, Image) by B. Clay Moore, Steven Griffin & Scott Chantler, Steven Griffin, Jason Armstrong, Shawn Crystal
New World Order: Dawn Of A New Day (£10-99, Image) by Gus Higuera & Giuseppe De Luca, Mansyur Darman
Runes Of Ragnan (£9-99, Image) by Ty Gorton & Josh Medors, Jay Fotos
Tellos Colossal vol 2 h/c (£26-99, Image) by Todd Dezago & co.
Black Diamond: Get In The Car And Go (£12-99, AIT/Planet Lar) by Larry Young & Jon Proctor
Babysitter (£19-99, Amaze Ink/SLG) by Andy Ristaino
Dead Men Tell No Tales (£9-99, Arcana) by Dwight MacPherson & Michael DeVito
Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Dead Man's Jest (£10-50, Bongo) by Matt Groenig allegedly
Enigma Cipher (£10-50, Boom!) by Andrew Cosby, Michael Alan Nelson, Greg Scott
The Scorpion vol 1: The Devil's Mark (£9-99, Cinebook) by Stephen Desberg & Enrico Marini
Lucky Luke vol 12: Rivals of Painful Gulch (£5-99, Cinebook) by R. Goscinny & Morris
Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance Of Threatening Green h/c (£9-99, Desperado) by Don McGregor & Marshall Rogers
No Formula: Stories From The Chemistry Set (£10-99, Desperado) by various
Snakepit vol 3: 2007 (£3-99, Microcosm) by Ben Snakepit
Jews And American Comics: An Illustrated History Of An American Artform h/c (£17-99) by Paul Buhle.
m a n g a a a a !
Tokyo Zombie (£6-99, Last Gasp) by Yusaku Hanakuma ~ Cutting-edge manga, by which I mean more Gary Panter than Masamune Shirow! A pair of blue-collar labourers, Fujio & Mitsuo, accidentally kill their over-bearing boss and bury him in a gargantuan rubbish tip called "Dark Fuji". Unbeknownst to them the rubbish has been contaminated by toxic waste which as we all know makes for Zombie pie! Lots of wobbly-lined humour and gore.
Yen Plus Magazine #1 (£5-99, Yen Press) ~ New monthly anthology of manga, manhwa and comics. Read from right to left for the manga or flip it over to read the Korean and western comics from left to right. Follow the link in the title for details and regular updates about the comics featured within. More upon arrival.
Slam Dunk Vol. 1 (£5-50, Viz Media LLC) by Takehiro Inoue ~ The Basketball drama which the mutual Bristolian friends of Stephen and I swear by (literally, they get a stack of the Japanese versions and swear to play fair at King Of Fighters or forfeit the right to Mario Party on the DS). I've never read it but don't tell them as I'll lose face.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi's got no game with the girls - none at all! It doesn't help that he's known for throwing down at a moment's notice and always coming out on top. A hopeless bruiser, he's been rejected by 50 girls in a row! All that changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko, and she's actually not afraid of him! When she introduces him to the game of Basketball, his life changes forever!" Viz have very kindly posted a preview here, enjoy.
Tezuka's Dororo vol 3 (£8-99, Vertical) by Osamu Tezuka. Between Vertical Inc., Tom, Jonathan Rigby and his dissertation in these pages -- err, on this screen -- err -- Anyway, between those three Tezuka is now selling in quantities at Page 45 that we only dreamt about previously. Just thought you'd like to know.
Vagabond Vol. 1: Vizbig Edition (£12-99, Viz Media LLC) by Takehiro Inoue ~ Inoues' fictional rendition of the early years of Miyamoto Musashi gets the big treatment. That usually means an expansion in page size but with Vizbig its girth. 728 pages thick makes for a decent doorstop should you ever put this down, which you won't as it's utterly engrossing. We still have the regular versions in too, all 28 volumes averaging at £6-50 a piece.
The Art Of Vagabond: Sumi HC (£23-50, Viz Media LLC) by Takehiro Inoue ~ Gorgeous monochrome examples of Inoues' art for his roaming aspiring-Samurai series. Printed on nice thick paper.
The Art Of Vagabond: Water HC (£23-50, Viz Media LLC) by Takehiro Inoue ~ Same deal as above but replace monochrome with watercolour.
Hayao Miyazaki: A Life In Anime (£7-99). Study of Studio Ghibli's extraordinary creator (My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke etc.) using archive interviews etc.
c o m i c s f o r a u g u s t
Boy's Club #1 (£3-50, Buenaventura) by Matt Furie ~ This has had a serious buzz about it online, and to be fair it looks justified. Matt Furie's art scares the fuck out of me, click the link and pick at random a Furie monster. "Teenage monsters Andy, Brett, Landwolf and Pepe are always "drinkin', stinkin', and never thinkin'." These four best friends spend their day-to-day lives together playing Nintendo, eating pizza, and having the occasional psychedelic metamorphosis."
Neverland (£4-50, Bodega Books) by Dave Kiersh. Mark was rather partial to Kiersh, appearing as he did in SIDEWALK BUMP, that rather fine anthology of skater comics. And of LAST CRY FOR HELP back in 2005, Tom wrote: "Kiersh succeeds where dozens of American teen movies failed. Yeah, this is full of vulgar and obscene individuals but it's also very, very funny, if just a little heartbreaking. His noodle-armed characters are easy to empathise with as they awkwardly fumble across a teenage wasteland. This is somewhere between a John Hughes movie and a Jack T. Chick tract about the dangers of teenage sexual abandon. It's bitter-sweet and I love it." Here the suburbs take on the facade of a gingerbread castle on a magical island. "What happens to lost boys when they grow up, and their fantasies are no longer innocent?"
Air #1 (£2-10, Vertigo/DC) by G. Willow Wilson & M.K. Perker. "Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a change in our flight plan.You may have heard of a group called the Etesian Front — vigilantes dedicated to taking the skies back from terrorism. Sounds like a noble cause, right? But there's more to them than meets the eye. They're after someone I know. Someone who is either an average frequent flier — or a terrorist. And he's got a secret. Something that will change the way we fly — and the way we see technology — forever. To find him, we've altered course. We're en route to a country that doesn't exist on any maps. Only one person knows how to get us there: me. My name is Blythe, and I'll be your stewardess today. So buckle your seatbelts — this will be the flight of your life." From the creators of Vertigo's CAIRO (softcover in book section above) I have no idea what to make of this. Admittedly that's never prevented me from typing five paragraphs of opinionated propaganda, but this time you'll have to settle for a preview at the link.
Welcome To Hoxford #1 (£2-60, IDW) by Ben Templesmith. Hoxford Correctional Facility, that is - a newly privatised prison from which no one is ever released, and to whose prisoners even their old doctors have no access. Ben Templesmith (3o DAYS OF NIGHT etc.) continues his voyage into darkness.
Crossed #0 of 9 (£0-75, Avatar) by Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows. From the team that brought you 303. "Imagine for a moment the worst crimes against humanity. Picture the cruellest affronts to decency..." Oh wait, it just goes on like that. Nope, they're not giving us a clue. End of civilisation, much violence and manic grins.
Secret Invasion: Thor #1 of 3 (£2-10, Marvel) by Matt Fraction & Dougie Braithwaite. Fraction's doing such a bang-on job on THOR: DAYS OF THUNDER that this must surely be worth a gander - particularly since JUSTICE's Braithwaite's on art. The Skrulls set their sights on Asgard, currently hovering over the Oklahoma Desert, and home to several dozen seriously powerful Norse Gods. Ambitious...
Secret Invasion: X-Men #1 of 4 (£2-10, Marvel) by Mike Carey & Cary Nord. For once one of these tie-in series is boasting a creator currently in charge of the relevant main title, as another Skrull faction moves on San Francisco for some serious sea-food salad action down at The Ferry Building. Will they pause every five seconds to take snap-shots of what they took snap-shots of in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? Will they make pilgrimages to the spot where, instead of giving her flowers, they accidentally blew their girlfriend's head off by pressing the wrong button?* Or are they all slightly more grown-up than myself? Carey is joined by the artist from ULTIMATE HUMAN and CONAN.
* Guilty, I'm afraid, hence the caption saying: "You have abused your girlfriend. Your date is over."
Secret Invasion: Inhumans #1 of 4 (£2-10, Marvel) by Joe Pokaski & Ton Raney. Well, it's been out as a serial, a hardcover and as a softcover, so I think it's now fine to mention that in AVENGERS ILLUMINATI Black Bolt was revealed to be a Skrull. How long was he a Skrull, and is the real Black Bolt still alive? His Royal Family set out to discover the truth. If they do find their king alive, what on earth will he have to say about it, and will his kin have remembered to wear ear plugs?
Secret Invasion: Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 of 3 (£2-10, Marvel) by Brian Reed & Marco Santucci. Okay, that's one spin-off too many. Well, at least one. And are you even allowed to have two colons in the same sentence?
Amazing Spider-Man #568 (£2-60, Marvel) by Dan Slott, Mark Waid & John Romita Jr., Adi Granov. Return of Venom, The Green Goblin (bringing his Thunderbolts with him) and one of the finest Spider-Man artists of all time. Hold on, no - the finest Spider-Man artist of all time. Oh yes, and also during this six-parter: the birth of the Anti-Venom! Anti-Venom! You can still call characters that, post-CEREBUS-satire?
Venom: Dark Origin #1 of 5 (£2-10, Marvel) by Zeb Wells & Angel Medina. The original Eddie Brock Venom, if you're counting. More Spider-Man spin-offs this month too, if you want to enquire. The one we will mention is...
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 of 5 (£2-10, Marvel) by Terry Moore & Craig Rousseau. Return of the all-ages title, this time with the creator of STRANGERS IN PARADISE and now ECHO at the helm. The first volume of ECHO's in the book section, by the way. He's up for RUNAWAYS shortly too.
Runaways #1 (£2-10, Marvel) by Terry Moore & Humberto Ramos. Oh, here we go, then. A relaunch for the kids with ga-ga Mas and bad Dads.
Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe (£3-50, Marvel) by Garth Ennis & Dougie Braithwaite. Reprint of the imaginary killing spree from thirteen years ago which Marvel did reprint a few years ago as part of their PUNISHER: WELCOME BACK FRANK hardcover, but aren't about to reprint in its new incarnation. Wasn't actually terribly big or clever, but it'll be on the shelves all the same.
Universal War One #1 by Denis Bajram. I wrote the preview at the very last minute in May because I'd assumed like Marvel's other Euro-pairing, it wouldn't be available in the UK. Then I read the order form and found that it was available in the UK. Turns out it's not available in the UK. Sorry.
DC Universe: Last Will And Testament #1 of 1 (£2-60, DC) by Brad Meltzer & Adam Kubert. Sure to be lost in the deluge of Crises, so do book early remembering that this is the guy what wrote IDENTITY CRISIS which wasn't a "CRISIS" if you know what I mean, but a bloody good read about relationships. "The final battle is quickly approaching. how do the heroes of the DCU prepare for the end? Whom do they approach and say goodbye to before they make the ultimate sacrifice? Featuring the entire DC Universe, Meltzer takes us deep into the hearts and psyches of our heroes. It's the day before you die. What would you do?" Well I wouldn't set my alarm.
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1 of 2 (£2-99, DC) by Grant Morrison & Doug Mahnke. "Hyperdelic journey from the streets of Metropolis, through the 52 worlds of the multiverse, to the haunted court of the King of Limbo." Includes alternate-earth Supermen, a 3-D section and drugs.
Final Crisis: Revelations #1 of 5 (£2-60, DC) by Greg Rucka & Philip Tan, Jeff De Los Santos. Crispus Allen, former crack, black detective officer in GOTHAM CENTRAL turned albino shroud-headed Spectre, embraces his role as ghastly meter-outer of justice to sinnerzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -- wha? Sorry. Co-starring Renée Montoya, his former colleague who also used to be fascinating until they turned her into The Question. Because if you're not a superhero, nobody cares. Fuckwits.
Final Crisis: Legion Of Three Worlds #1 of 5 (£2-60, DC) by Geoff Johns & George Pérez. Superboy-Prime! If that means something to you, please order.
Guerillas #1 of 9 (£2-60, Image) by Brahm Revel. The US uses Chimpanzees in the Vietnam War. Of course it does. Still, some rather fine greys.
m e r c h a n d i s e e v e n t u a l l y
Balls: Incredible Change-bots vinyl figure (£29-99, Devil's Due) by Jeffrey Brown. Hilarious! Based on Jeff's wicked satire on Transformers, INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS, this actually transforms from a decidedly lo-tech robot-with-gun into a Lego-like buggy that would make a Sinclair C5 look like an armoured sports car. The only piece of plastic you'll ever need apart from the one to pay for it.
Watchmen Movie: Rorschach Bust (£59-99, DC), Ozymandias Bust (£59-99, DC), Dr. Manhattan 1:6 Scale Deluxe Collector Figure (£79-99) and various other tat. The Watchmen movie is out in America on 6th March 2009, and this lot arrives in January next year. You too can show your utter contempt for one of your favourite writers of all time by buying this range of ugly, childish merchandise not remotely endorsed by Uncle Alan.
The Joker poker set (£79-99, DC). Limited to 1,000 pieces, this is based on the forthcoming moooovie and its existence probably derives from the fact that "Joker" and "poker" rhyme. So does "moronic" and "bubonic" but I wouldn't wish The Plague on patrons of McDonalds. Necessarily.
Housed in a black aluminium carrying case, you get a deck of 54 prop replica Joker cards and a standard "playable" 4-suit 54-card deck defaced by The Joker. Also: 100 4-colour poker chips in Joker-themed colours of green, purple, red and black, and 5 dice. Available from August 28th this actual year.
Mouse Guard Role Playing Game h/c (£23-50, Archaia) by David Petersen, Luke Crane. The second series is six issues long, by the way, and the sixth should appear in August which means - and we're asked this a lot - I'm imagine there'll be a collection in Autumn. Based on the medieval mouse tales, this is a role playing game and I know nothing about role playing games whatsoever, so I'll shut up now. Suitable for 10 years and upwards, it says. Pretty.
"Otaku" t-shirt or Hoodie (£14-99/£29-99, navy M-XL). Tell the world you're a mouth-breather with no social skills, but don't do it in our shop, please. Enjoy your time here, buy your manga, accept our genuine words of gratitude, then please walk away. Do not attempt to tell us your life story.
Buffy Tarot Cards and Booklet (£12-99, Dark Horse) by Rachel Pollack & Paul Lee. See, they don't have to cost £40-00. But then Paul Lee is no Dave McKean which means a) these aren't quite as pretty as the Vertigo deck but b) you stand a chance of being able to use them. You know, depending on what you believe the Tarot is for: a useful tool for communication and exploration of the self as long as you're prepared to be open and honest, or a pretentious yet derisibly transparent attempt to make up for the fact that you don't actually possess any character of your own. 78-card deck of the Major and Minor Arcana, "instruction pamphlet" (uh-oh) and 64-page softcover book in a box with magnetic closure. These form part of the Buffy lore, as fans of the series will know, and if you buy two packs you can play snap with your friends... until the Watcher's Council find out, anyway.
* * *
UK Postage (overseas at cost):
£1-00 for the first comic or t-shirt (unless there's a book included in the package in which case it's just 25 pence), and 25 pence thereafter...
£1-00 each for of the pocket-sized manga books, £1-50 each for all other books except...
Complete Calvin & Hobbes slipcased edition and Little Nemo will cost a flat £5-00 postage, but anything ordered on top of it will of course be postage free, because.....
Maximum postage for all this lot in whatever quantities is £5-00.
Posters and prints are sent separately @ £1-50 for as many as we can fit in a single tube.
Standing Orders:
To ensure that you never miss a single issue of a title you read, Page 45 provides a free standing order service either for personal collection or sending by post. All you have to do is tell us which titles you want, and we'll save them for you as they come out. You can visit or phone or even email as often as you want, but we must hear from you at least once every three months, please. Single orders and reservations just as gratefully received as any others.
Page 45 gift vouchers available in denominations of £5-00. You get: a free card and envelope. We get: to see your friends, later on.
Removal instructions: there is no way out. Oh, okay, just type 'remove' in the subject heading, and feel our desolation.
Page 45 is a comic shop.
We are:
Stephen L. Holland
Tom Rosin
with Emily Hubbard
Page 45 was created in 1994 by Mark Simpson (1968-2005) and Stephen L. Holland (1703- ),
then kick-started with more than a little help from the glamorous, glorious Dominique Kidd.
Page 45
9 Market Street
Nottingham
NG1 6HY
Tel: (0115) 9508045
Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm.
Page 45 Mailshots exist. Yes they do. Scary, huh?
l e t t e r s
Stephen "I'm not an unreasonable man" Holland - in case you ever wondered what the L. stood for!
It's as close to the truth as you're ever going to get.
Stephen: I organise Lowdham Book Festival (starts 20 June) and this year we have Steve Bell, Posy Simmonds and Martin Rowson - at least one of whose work you support! Could we put something in your window about some of this? Or in the shop? Or do you have an email list?? Secondly, do you want a stall at our book fair on 28th June? This is the last day of our book festival, lots of free events and a large book fair. Free if you help us publicise the graphic stuff we are doing, otherwise £14. See the attached form. The full festival programme is on www.lowdhambookfestival.co.uk. Happy to give you a stack of brochures if you want!
I wish I was the sort of person prepared to man a stall at such a high-profile genuinely mainstream literature event like that. It would do us and comics the power of good. Maybe I'll pop along to see Posy talk and draw this Sunday (June 22nd 2-30pm-3-45pm - see programme above) and give her another big hug for being one of the loveliest ladies I have ever met in my life. Did you come along to our Posy Simmonds and Bryan Talbot signing last Christmas? Wonderful, isn't she? Probably the only MBE I've ever met as well.
Yes, maybe I'll pop along, do a recce, and prepare to set up a stall next year.
Hello, he's back:
Never mind Posy, I walk past your window several times a week and think the piece of cardboard in the window is the sexiest thing in the city. I worry that I am attracted to a piece of wood pulp.
Do you mean Tamara Drewe, or the field full of sheep?
Here's some words for your emailing:
Lowdham Book Festival goes graphic. For the first time, Lowdham brings together the three big time UK cartoonists/graphic artists from the Guardian: Steve Bell, Posy Simmonds and Martin Rowson. Steve Bell has won the Cartoon Arts Trust prize masses of times for his political cartoons - he was the man who invented John Major wearing Y-fronts outside his suit trousers. Posy Simmonds is back to back with Bell on 22 June. As well as her cartoon strips in the Guardian she has written several graphic novels like Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe, the cut out of which is an almost permanent feature in Page 45's window. Martin Rowson joins the set with an illustrated talk on political satire. Rowson has also written books including his The Dog Allusion: pets, dogs and humans. Also coming to Lowdham is Tim Quinn with his suitable-for-families presentation "AAARGH! The ups and downs of a comic book creator".
I'll bring in some stuff for the shop
I thought that was worth repeating in case none of you found a pen and paper in time.
You'll be hearing more from and about Ross Bradshaw over the next year, but I'm not telling you in what capacity yet. You'll be surprised... Between that and the literacy programme, about which I cannot tell you more at the moment for political reasons (seriously), I think 2009 will find you'll be very surprised. Here's hoping...
Now then, it's that Paul Gravett again: The Man At The Crossroads, and one of the loveliest men I've ever met.
Hello again.
Hello, Paul. I love your letters. Maybe you should send us a press release some time?
As the song goes, "June is busting out all over!" with comics, not least the launch last Friday of The DFC, www.thedfc.co.uk , Britain's smart new weekly comic for the young and young at heart, and the first buzzing "No Bar Codes" shebang at Camden's London Underground Comics last Saturday, and the start today, June 2nd, of the new weekly graphic novella serial in The Times over the next 6 months by Nick (Laika) Abadzis, The Trial of the Sober Dog, viewable from tomorrow here: www.timesonline.co.uk/soberdog
June also brings advance copies of my next book, once again sharply designed by Peter Stanbury: The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, officially out July 18. You may have seen their previous fine comics anthologies, clocking in at around 500 pages, like Best New Manga 1 & 2 (the all-colour thirs volume is coming this autumn), or Best War Comics and Best Horror Comics. When Mammoth approached me to do a Crime collection, they were still looking at doing this book, as well as War and Horror, in the same smaller manga format, which would have seriously shrunk the comics pages down way too small. Thanks to our insistence, they enlarged the format of this series, and in fact for Crime Comics, expanded it a little further still, letting the pages breath and fill the page area far better. Stories by Alan Moore top and tail the book perfectly and other contributors include Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Will Eisner, Jack Cole, Jack Kirby, Jacques Tardi, Muñoz & Sampayo, Neil Gaiman and more. Another distinction is in Peter's exemplary graphic design, which lends the whole 480-page compendium class and atmosphere. Peter also put in amazing effort to restore and refurbish the comics pages, which appear mainly in crisp black and white with no murky greys, to suit the strong, black-and-white noir style. And the contents really are some of the very best, no padding, no also-rans, but two dozen of the cream of crime comics, first-class throughout. You can read more about them here on my site, and there will be sneak previews and sample pages online there too very soon. http://www.paulgravett.com/books/crime/crime.htm
Pre-order from us now!
The very first copies, touch wood, will be with me a week on Wednesday, June 11th, at the ICA, for the next COMICA event, BETWEEN THE PANELS 2. So as well as being a rare opportunity to hear from four of today's finest graphic novelists - Mike Dawson, Mio Matsumoto, Woodrow Phoenix and Warren Pleece (who is also in Best Crime Comics) - you can get your hands on this latest Gravett & Stanbury co-production. Book now and I'll sign your copy for you!: http://www.ica.org.uk/Between%20the%20Panels%202+16888.twl
Why-oh-why didn't I get Paul to sign all our copies of GRAPHIC NOVELS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE and GREAT BRITISH COMICS and 60 YEARS OF MANGA (all in stock - they're definitive) when he came to stay last year?
Was it last year or was it the year before?
Before that, if any of you will be near the Arctic Circle this coming weekend, I'll be at Kemi June 5-8, the most northerly comics festival in the world, in funky Finland, enjoying saunas, reindeer and days without hardly any night - it should be amazing. I'll be reporting soon on the Finnish comics scene on my site.
And then I am off to Semana Negra, an incredible Spanish festival about mystery literature and art in all its forms, where I'll be "officially" launching BEST CRIME COMICS on July 17th, hopefully with cover artist Jordi Bernet of Torpedo fame (tbc): www.semananegra.org
And with The Beano's 70th Birthday fast approaching, Comics Britannia finally gets its terrestrial TV premiere, starting July 12th on BBC2. If you've not got GREAT BRITISH COMICS already, now's the time to add this "Tardis of delights" to your bookselves and complete your Gravett & Stanbury Collection! http://www.paulgravett.com/books/gbc/gbc.htm
20X/
ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212429454&sr=1-2
Ummm. I hope that link still works. Not sure what happened there.
Believe me, this book showcases some wonderfully weird oddities "all in the best possible taste!"
Hey - two mailshots in a row and two references to Kenny Everett's Cupid Stunt! Outstanding!
Meantime, my obit of Will Elder and review of Mark Evanier's Kirby and Roz Kaveney's Superheroes are coming soon in The Guardian and The Independent.
Thanks so much for your continued interest as we share in the rich harvest of these astounding times for comics, in Britain and internationally.
All my best to you
Paul
---------------------------------
And all my best to you, Paul. But seriously: send us a press release sometime.
More letters...
It's Jane Goldman, wife of Jonathan Ross and writer of Stardust...
Andy [Ducker]
Where?! In the shop...?!
Stephen,
Re: The Facts Of The Case Of The Departure Of Miss Finch "...And it is most definitely Neil, just as it's Jonathan Ross (and a certain Jane whom I can't identify) sitting down with him over sushi to recall the events leading up to the strange disappearance of Miss (not her real name) Finch."
The Jane will be Jane Goldman, Jonathan Ross's wife and writer of the screenplay of the film of Neil Gaiman's Stardust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goldman
Speak to you soon
Christopher [Powell]
Ah, I see... I love the community we have here. You actually know what you're talking about. Imagine the Page 45 Mailshots if you all wrote them instead of me - they might actually be informed and useful!
Now then, last month's Page 45 Comicbook Of The Month was TRAINS ARE... MINT #5, whilst the book of #1-3 was also reviewed in May part B, published as it was by Blank Slate books, an off-shoot of Forbidden Planet under the wise guidance of one Kenny Penman, who's just signed up for his first Mailshots:
thanks Stephen
it's a pretty good read - I don't get Achewood either, what's that about? Thanks for the nice words in your newsie - Honourable!!! I've been called many things - but.....
signed print from Oli on the way to you
cheers for now?
Kenny [Penman]
The downRight Honourable Kenny Penman just sent us the first edition of the first TRAINS ARE... MINT print, signed by Oliver East, the rest of which are only available direct from Forbidden Planet or Blank Slate books - I've been too lazy to find out in time. And when I say "first edition" I mean it's actually #1 of 100. It's numbered number one of the very first ever series of TRAINS ARE... MINT prints. And he sent it us for free. Can you say "Collectors' Item"? Can you? If so, you should get a job at Marvel.
In the meantime, what shall we do with said item? Sell it on e-bay? No, we're going to raffle it off at the Eddie Campbell signing here on 3rd of August. Everyone turning up on the day will receive a free ticket for the print, and Eddie or Hayley or even Paul Gravett if he appears (hell, Oliver East might swing by for all I know) will draw the winner out of the hat.
Less honourable at the moment is Forbidden Planet Nottingham. Customers tell me there's a big poster up claiming that they're cheaper than us. For all I know they are on the singles, but customers also tell me they're a lot more expensive on books like MARVEL ZOMBIES. It's fair game in competition to compete on price and even to boast about it - the supermarket giants are constantly indulging in that sort of behaviour - but to me a poster like that is a little too aggressive for this particular industry where we should be cooperating. We compete on service here, but you would never in a million years find me putting up a poster comparing our levels of service, boasting about Page 45's customer care and breadth of knowledge whilst belittling the guys that work in Forbidden Planet. I think it'd be extremely distasteful. We leave customers to decide where they want to shop and happily direct them to F.P., even recommending they check them out if a customer asks for the sort of material they stock that we don't.
Now, as to the mysterious fourth issue of TRAINS ARE... MINT (see May part B), we have two emails. The first from its creator.
Good timing actually, cos not just ten minutes ago Kenny said he was interested in re-printing it at some point. not any time soon because i want my next book out first, but after that, there's a distinct possibility of it seeing the light of day as a more affordable edition. for now it can be viewed in it's entirity at:
www.rollingstockpress.co.uk/tam4.html
if any minted Trains fan wants the original edition of one then they'll have to part with £2k+ i'm afraid.
thanks again for the lovely words.
x
[Oliver East]
Okaaay. In spite of the kiss, a little out of my price range. For that I could possibly still buy my only missing copy of CEREBUS. Yes, I have every original except #1, and it's the only comic missing from my collection. Doesn't really matter, I have it in reprint form, and there are better things to do with that sort of money - like giving it to Amnesty International. Or indeed patronising (in its oldest sense) a relatively new-comer to comics like Oliver.
Here's his biggest fan. And he is. Ian actually met up with Oliver at Page 45 the other month/year when Oli dropped in to drop off some more copies, and Ian was wearing a very rare (possibly unique, I can't recall) TRAINS ARE... MINT t-shirt. But about that elusive #4, Ian feels the need to inform you ...
I love Trains Are ... Mint, but issue #4 isn't deserving of the name. It was originally published under the title Allemansretten and is about camping in Germany, not railway lines. It didn't sell at all well, so Oliver's daubed the black and white illustrated pages of the book with acrylic washes so that every copy is hand-painted (okay, so far there's just one copy, but Oliver had plans to paint more if there was demand for them, and there are loads of un-painted copies left over from the original print run) and renamed it Trains Are ... Mint #4 as a blatant attempt to cash-in on the success of the series. The unpainted Allemnsretten is still available, under it's original name.
Would it be inappropriate to plug my recent interview with Oliver while I'm here?
Not that that should put anyone off Trains Are ... Mint, be it the hardcover or issue #5 - it's one of my favourite comics of all-time, a wonderfully detailed, sometimes wryly humourous, sometimes mildly disturbing and threatening picture of life in northern England.
Cheers,
Ian
Back to the super-spandex:
Really surprised you were so unimpressed by Captain Britain [AND MI 13 #1 - ed]. Even in among a lot of good comics lately (though let's not mention Final Crisis 1, eh?)...
We will in part B.
... that's one of the ones that has stood out for me as a big deal. You didn't like Moore's run on him either, did you? Perhaps there are just some characters for each of us where no writer can make us like them; I'm a bit that way with 616 Spider-Man.
Nope. There's no such thing as a fictional character that cannot be liked if the writer is up to it. But, but, but... I've just read #2. I wrote at the time that Tom liked the first issue and that my review may have been the result of reading it in the wrong mood, and although we're awaiting imminent second printings of #1 so I can't reassess my comments, I can tell you that I very much enjoyed the second issue.
Mither's a very Derbyshire/Yorkshire word - I wonder where along the A52 it stops being in general use?
I'm not giving away my home address. The number of biro-scribbling self-publishers who would smear excrement through my door...
And further to my earlier missive, I should note that I read that recent Hellstorm series I mentioned from the library [EQUINOX @ £12-99 - ed], and it's not bad at all. Like Ellis' run, it plays him very much as Marvel's Constantine.
[Alex Sarll]
So there we are, at the end of another marathon-run of a letter column. How to end these things, individually, after so many years?
Well, occasionally we're encouraged to reprint old reviews of stellar work that stand the test of time, but whilst searching for a review I know I've written at some point for GHOST WORLD (couldn't find it for the life of me - any ideas? - I know I didn't introduce the film at The Broadway because I took PHONOGRAM's Jamie McKelvie to see it back when he was an impoverished student and none of his housemates would even entertain the idea), I stumbled upon this, the very opposite of stellar, and, well, it made me laugh!
So I'll leave you with my 2003 vent-o-thon in the self-aggrandising titled occasional feature which we call....
r e v i e w c l a s s i c !
Sometimes you've just got to get it out of your system.
The Rise Of The Graphic Novel (£10-50) by Stephen Weiner. Slim pamphlet purporting to know what it's talking about, and for the first couple of chapters I thought I was learning new stuff here. Now I doubt it, because as I quickly discovered this book is a minefield of careless attributions and lazy errors. Where do you want to begin?
"The 1978 Superman film was a megahit, and teens and twenty-somethings were the target audience. So [emphasis mine] Marvel commissioned Frank Miller, an artist fairly new [to] the profession, to write Daredevil as well as draw it." Really. Because of the Superman film Marvel commissioned Frank to write DAREDEVIL. I doubt that somehow. Unless my history is buggered, it was because Frank's artistic contributions had saved the title from cancellation, he was already co-plotter and he pitched a cracking concept. And while we're in Marvel-land, Captain Marvel did not die from a "cosmic" illness, he succumbed to the all-too-human and appallingly common disease of cancer. That Was. The Whole. Point. Next?
"Maus existed outside of any normal comicbook genre, except, if one stretched far enough, funny animal stories." Beg your pardon, but how about autobiography? You could consider it biography, but one of its most appealing aspects is Spiegelman's own learning curve. The employment of animals there is a device - a cleverly employed device but a mere device all the same - and nothing to do with genre. There'd been plenty of autobiography up to that point, making it perfectly normal, just brilliant in execution. Worse still:
"McCloud is one of the few breakthrough cartoonists who has produced a significant second work." Now, I love Scott McCloud, I admire UNDERSTANDING COMICS, but what the flying fuck is that supposed to mean? Does the "breakthrough" qualifier (definition never explained) somehow exclude Clowes, Ware, Hernandez x 2, Woodring, Thompson, Miller, Sim, Eisner, Campbell and approximately 732 other "cartoonists"? What on earth do you call significant?
This book is riddled with such arbitrary assertions and spurious pronouncements, backed up by little in the way of evidence, and signifying fuck all. My university tutor would have thrown the whole thing back at me and chucked me off the course if I'd attempted anything half so weak.
"Kings [In Disguise] represented a maturation of the underground comix movement; literary, well drawn, making a personal and political statement, and produced in black and white."
Leaving aside that final non-sequitur, this was 1990. What do you think Robert Crumb had been doing? Slacking?!
The plot summary of SANDMAN is hilarious in its ineptitude (no, the first SANDMAN book was not a "best-of", it was DOLLS HOUSE along with the previous issue introducing Death), and the book as a whole contains no accurate sense of transition; it's just a product of whomever was interviewed. Please don't get me started on the man's inability to grasp that you can't assign the word "mainstream" to Raymond Briggs and the wider world (both correct) and at the same time the corporate superhero subculture "considered suspect by mainstream culture." (Again, my emphasis).
If you're serious about learning this stuff, go to Roger Sabin's COMICS, COMIX & GRAPHIC NOVELS (£19-99). Twice the price, but twenty times as long, with a dazzling gallery of colour reproductions, a sense of perspective and a thorough command of its subject matter. However, as Mark pointed out, this wretched work will be perfect for students and libraries - it's brief, it's absolutely full of shit, but you'll be able to quote it.
We no longer have it, so I wonder who bought it?
Peace, everyone!