Wednesday is New Comics Day

Every Wednesday we count down the 5 most interesting and noteworthy comics or graphic novels coming out for the week.

5. 100%
By Paul Pope
DC Vertigo
$39.99 | 256 pgs

Following up on their hardcover treatment of Heavy Liquid a few months back, Vertigo continues their repackaging of their Paul Pope library with 100%, arguably his most popular and acclaimed book. If you've never read any of Pope's stuff, this is a good place to start. It's a sexy and stylish cyberpunk drama set in 2038 following the lives of six interconnected New Yorkers. Pope's style is a fusion of Japanese and European styles and has made him not only popular with us comics people but with commercial advertising and NY fashionistas as well (check out the work he's done for Diesel if you haven't already).

There's some sketches and some new material included in this new printing.

4. THE DYLAN DOG CASE FILES
Written by Tiziano Sclavi; art by various
Dark Horse
$24.95 | 680 pgs

Though most American comics readers have probably never heard of Dylan Dog, this Italian comic, first published in 1986, has been a huge success in Europe and is soon to be made into a motion picture called Dead of Night starring Brandon (Superman) Routh. Dark Horse is releasing the first English version of this series in a decade by dropping a 680 page brick on us complete with a new Mike Mignola cover.

Dylan Dog is an ex-cop and paranormal investigator living and working in London. He is accompanied by his partner, Groucho, looks exactly like Groucho Marx and his former boss, Inspector Bloch, who acts in the skeptical Skully role of the non-believer in all things supernatural. What makes Dylan Dog interesting is his numerous hangups. After losing
his wife he wears the same outfit all the time, he's afraid of bats and heights and is claustrophobic and he seems to have an Oedipus complex in that he is constantly falling in love with women that resemble his dead mother.

Check out a preview here.

3. ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING: HOW TO TURN YOUR DOODLES INTO COMICS
By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost
First Second
$12.95 | 112 pgs

There's a lot of how-to books out there for aspiring comic creators but none quite like this. Aimed at a much younger audience than theory books like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, this new book teaches kids cartooning skills within the context of a story in which a princess tries to make a cartoon but doesn't think she's good enough to do it. The cartoons are light and kid-friendly but the information it passes on is useful for artists of any age. It's written by James Sturm (Golem's Mighty Swing) who is the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies. With this book he collaborates with two newcomers and former students of his, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost.

Read a little preview here.

2. RAMPAGING WOLVERINE #1
Written by Joshua Fialkov, Christopher Yost, Robin Furth, Ted McKeever; art by Paco Diaz Luque and Ted McKeever
Marvel
$3.99

Back in the '70's Marvel put out an black and white magazine called Rampaging Hulk that I actually have fond memories of (though if I were to re-read it now I'm sure it wouldn't seem as great as it did then). It featured out-of-continuity Hulk stories that were slightly more mature in hopes of pulling in the audience of the popular TV show of the time. I guess with the new Wolverine movie coming out you could say that might be the thinking behind this new magazine-sized comic that borrows everything from that Hulk book including the adjective.

There are three stories included in this first issue and the creative teams are a bit unusual for a Wolverine comic. Joshua Fialkov is the writer of the acclaimed series Elk's Run and Ted McKeever is known for his creator-owned sci-fi books like Metropol. I think Wolverine battles pirates in one of these stories which seems topical right now though I think they are of the South Pacific rather than the Somali variety.

If you're love for Wolvie is so strong that a magazine-sized black and white comic just won't be enough of a fix for you than this is your week. This is not the only Wolverine comic hitting the stands by any stretch of the imagination. You've also got Wolverine Noir #1 in which Wolverine is re-imagined as a hard-boilded detective in 1930s New York. Wolverine: Logan written by Lost and Y: The Last Man writer Bryan K. Vaughan with art by 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso and of course the latest issues of Wolverine proper and Uncanny X-men.

1. 100 BULLETS #100
Written by Brian Azzarello; Art by Eduardo Risso; Cover by Dave Johnson
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 32 pgs

This is it, the final issue of the excellent crime/conspiracy thriller 100 Bullets. They always said it would aptly end at the hundredth issue and here it is. Myself, I've been holding off on reading the last few story arcs until this whole thing came to an end so that I can go back and start re-reading the whole epic tale from the beginning to try to sort through all the twists and turns. If you haven't read any of it yet than take this new release as a sign that it's time to start at the beginning. In fact, I'd expect some nice hardcover collections to start hitting pretty soon, so maybe hold off a little bit longer.

A book that started off pretty unassumingly about a mysterious man who shows up offering various people a briefcase containing everything they need to get revenge on the person that ruined their life slowly built into a complicated web of a story about assassins, secret organizations and Manchurian Candidate-style hypnotic suggestion. Brian Azzarello writes with the tough guy flair of crime writers like Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy. Eduardo Risso illustrates it all with drenching, black shadows and expressionistic gestures. Dave Johnson captures the essence of each chapter succinctly in an intriguing cover image. They were an amazing team and you know what? None of them ever missed an issue.

STILL, THERE ARE ALSO THESE...

ALEX TOTH GOES HOLLYWOOD
This might be a little hard to find but it collects works adapted from Hollywood and television properties by the great master, Alex Toth. Stuff like Roy Rogers
HERBIE ARCHIVES VOL 3
The third and final volume of these golden age reprints
ESSENTIAL DAZZLER
Reasons this is essential: Paul Chadwick is credited as one of the creators in this volume. Reasons this may NOT be essential: Every story has Dazzler in it.