5. AIR #1Written by G. Willow Wilson; Art and Cover by M.K. Perker
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 40 pgs
The creative team behind the recent Vertigo graphic novel, Cairo, begin a new series about air travel, terrorism and anti-terrorist vigilantes. Blythe, an acrophobic flight attendant (hey it's a tough economy out there and some people have to take whatever jobs they can find) gets caught up with an organization called the Etesian Front that are taking on some radical means to stop planes from being hijacked by... hijacking planes. Writer G. Willow Wilson has written articles about religion and the Middle East for publications like the New York Times and is now plunging head first in the comics world. She even has a spot at Jason Aaron's new Vertigo themed blog Standard Attrition. M.K. Perker has a quirky way of drawing people that I think could grow on me pretty easily. There's a preview here if you'd like to look.
4. MYSPACE DARKHORSE PRESENTS VOL.1By Various
Dark Horse
$19.95
Either you're a Marvel person or a DC person. A Mac person or a PC person. A Facebook person or a MySpace person. Since I'm a Facebook guy I never step foot in MySpace so I've never seen the free web comics that Dark Horse has been putting out over there. Why get something for free when you can pay for it though? For less than $20 you can get this new collection of the various strips that were put on the Myspace website over the past year. There's some good stuff here like a new Umbrella Acadamy story by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. A Joss Whedon story called "Sugarshock" with art by Fabio Moon. A new full color Empowered story by Adam Warren. Plus Mike Mignola, Guy Davis, Eric Powell and more. Can't beat a lineup like that.
3. ABANDONED CARS #1By Tim Lane
Fantagraphics
$22.99 | 168 pgs
Tim Lane is a fairly new face to the comics world, having appeared in some various anthologies here and there but his first book is a collection of short stories that together aim to examine the theme of "the American mythological drama" by way of cars, carnivals, rockabilly, train yards and of course, Elvis. As the previews will show you, Lane works in a wordy, caption-ific style with black and white artwork that brings to mind Charles Burns pretty readily. If you don't mind some words mixed with your pictures this looks like it will be an interesting and moody look at Americana in all it's sordid and noirish glory.
2. SCORCHY SMITH AND THE ART OF NOEL SICKLESBy Noel Sickles
IDW Publishing
$49.99 | 394 pgs
Don't be ashamed if you've never heard of Noel Sickles (I'm sure there are plenty of other things you easily can be ashamed of, GarfieldFan78!) or if you've never heard of the aviation-based newspaper strip that this book collects. Sickles only drew the strip for three years and then left comics altogether for the more lucrative and glamorous career of editorial and advertising illustration. However, in those three short years (1933-1936) Sickles revolutionized the world of comic strip art with his cinematic panel compositions and chiaroscuro inking. His work here influenced such greats as Milton Caniff, John Romita, Sr. and even recently Dave Sim. This hefty volume contains Sickles' complete run as well as some extras like illustrations from Sickles' non-Scorchy work.
1. FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #1 (of 5)Written by Geoff Johns; Art by George Pérez and Scott Koblish
DC Comics
$3.99 | 40 pgs
Of the many Final Crisis spin-offs coming out now, this is by far the most highly anticipated. Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by George Perez, two men who are both closely associated with Crises of the past, this 5 issue mini-series picks up on threads that have been left hanging from such books as Infinite Crisis, JLA: Lightning Saga, The Sinestro Corps War, JSA, Action Comics and others. It involves the Time Trapper utilizing Superboy Prime to erase Superman's impact on the universe and three versions of the Legion of Superheroes trying to stop him. Usually just mentioning the Legion is enough to confuse most readers, nonetheless putting all three versions from different continuities into one story. But God put Geoff Johns on this earth to help us understand the DC Universe and it's convoluted continuity and his mission continues here. If anyone can make sense of the Legion it's him. If nothing else though at least the artistic presence of George Perez will help lend this book the Crisis Event gravitas it needs.
9 comments:
We have all five! It's like a five-tecta!
Scorchy Smith!!!!
This is a must for any/all strip collectors. It is only 1 volume and you get to witness not the birth but one of the defining moments of the adventure strip as Noel Sickels uses chiaroscuro techniques to create gorgeous atmospheric art day in and day out.
Many of the stories were written by Milt Caniff (Terry and the Pirates) as well. If you don't buy it, so be it, but do yourself a favor and look through the book and be prepared to be impressed!!
so Rich--- no Herbie the FAT Fury Archives or would that have been #6?
Andy, that book looks AWESOME, too. I'm really impressed by the design and SIZE of the thing, for just fifty bucks. Very nice, with lots of full color stuff in the "art" section. You're going to love it.
Yeah I'm really interested in the Scorchy stuff myself. Though I've been thinking about reading Caniff's Terry & The Pirates so that may be my next $50 comic purchase.
Oh, but the Scorchy book is COMPLETE! All in one volume!
Also, the CAPTCHA for this comment was "efntxn", which I think is a political protest of some kind, probably.
Just curious but does Rich Barrett also post on Yesbutnobutyes.com as Evil Richard? This blog post is identical to the one found at - http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2008/08/wednesday_is_ne_84.html
Anonymous - Yes that is me. I recently started syndicating my Yesbutnobutyes column here at Heroes.
Two blogs down only 600 billion to go.
I picked up the LEGION book today, and much to my surprise, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I was a big fan back in the late 80s/early 90s, especially the Giffen "five Years Later" stuff that no one else liked, and it's been years since I enjoyed an LSH story this much...or really, at all.
Also, I realized that all that time I spent in ninth grade study hall paid off: I can still read Interlac!
*sigh*
(If only I'd put as much effort into learning French...I could be reading Jimmy Beaulieu and David B. right now! But nooooo...)
Robert--The Five years later stuff was some of the best '90s comics. Dense, interesting and ensemble oriented, it was the first, and last, time I had any interest in the Legion. Anybody who wants a rewarding read at about three bucks a pop should check out issues 1-37.
Post a Comment