Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Today's cover is Tarzan #206, from February 1972. The cover painting by George Wilson features Tarzan battling "English speaking gorillas with minds and desires of ferocious beasts!"

(standard disclaimer about gorillas not really being monkeys applies)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

SNAP!

Apparently there's going to be a new Small Press Comix Expo-type event right here in Southeast Michigan on October 29: SNAP!

Very Cool. I've already marked it on my calendar.

(link via Rampage)

Quick Spider-Man GN Reviews

Spectacular Spider-Man, vol. 5: Sins Remembered
by Sara Barnes, Scot Eaton & Cam Smith

One of the most talked about super-hero stories of last year was "Sins Past," the Spider-Man story by JMS that revealed that Gwen Stacy had been seduced by Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn and had twins shortly before her death. Those twins were lightly super-powered with advanced strangth and agility and were rapidly aging, and had a mad-on for Peter Parker. At the end, Gabe was seemingly dead and Sarah--who was the spitting image of her mother--went back to France. This wholly unnecessary sequel picks up a few months later, as Peter parker is called to France after Sarah reportedly attempts suicide by pills. Peter soon discoveres that Sarah is in trouble with a local drug lord due to debts incurred by her brother, and that Sarah also has a crush on him. It may not sound like it by my description, but for the plot to continually move forward it's required that the main participants act stupid most of the time. In Sarah's case this can be forgiven, since despite that fact that she looks like a hot twenty-something babe she is actually just ten-years-old, but Peter and Mary Jane should know better. Clichés abound, including that old chestnut of a person's siginificant other walking in the room just as he/she is being kissed by Object of Jealousy even though the attraction is unrequited. Eaton's art is competent enough in the light T&A style that's so popular these days, and he draws Sarah wearing plenty of tight sweaters--though at least she's not prancing around for three pages in her underwear.
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Spider-Man: India
by Jeevan J. Kang & Gotham Studios Asia

For some reason Indian comics producers Gotham Studios Asia wanted to produce a homegrown version of Spider-Man--so they did. The result is Spider-Man: India, which sees Spidey's origin reframed as mystical rather than technological, and the names of the characters Indianized (e.g. Peter Parker becomes Pavitr Prabhakar and Mary Jane becomes Meera Jain). Of course Pavitr is still the school outcast (he's a scholarship student from the country), Meera Jain is still hot and nice, Flash is still a jerk, and Uncle Bihm still has to die. Spidey fights versions of the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus and learns that with great power comes great responsibility. Except for the surface changes tehre's really nothing much new here. The art is by Kang and the studio, and it has that weird quality of sameness yet slight inconsistancy that can only arise from studio work.
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Marvel Knights Spider-Man, vol. 3: The Last Stand
by Mark Millar, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson

Let's see, where were we: oh yes, Aunt May has been kidnapped (again!) and Norman Osborne is behind it. He wants Spdier-Man to break him out of prison in exchange for her life, and Peter shuts his brain completely off and goes along with the plan. Meanwhile, The Scorpion becomes the new Venom and the secret history of super-villains is uncovered; and Mary Jane gets jealous, though at least she does the one smart thing in this comic before she gets kidnapped (again!) by the Green Goblin and dangled off a bridge--just like Gwen Stacy! Sigh. The art by the Dodsons is okay, though it's far from their best work. The most amazing thing about Millar's MK Spidey run is that he managed to stretch his whole four-issue story out into twelve issues.
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

New This Week: July 27, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is the collected edition of the lighthearted adventure comic Cryptozoo Crew by Allan Gross & Jerry Carr from NBM. The trade paperback reprints the first two issues and also includes 3 new stories--which should place it at around 50% or so new material (if I'm doing the math correctly...) Plus: monkeys!


In other comics:

Alias debut two more 75 cent first issues: Gimoles & Imperial Dragons, and they have the trade collection of Lions, Tigers & Bears.

Kolchalka fans will probably be happy to see that Alternative Comics are releasing his Cute Manifesto.

Amaze Ink have a second collection of Evan Dorkin's Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures.

Dark Hose have the second and final issue of Hellboy: The Island and a new Usagi Yojimbo collection: vol. 19: Fathers & Sons.

DC have a collection of Kinetic, the fifth and final Promethea hardcover, the start of Warren Ellis's six-issue JLA: Classified arc (#10), and new issues of Albion (#2), Astro City: The Dark Age (#2), City of Tomorrow (#4), Hellblazer (#210), Legion of Super-Heroes (#8), The Losers (#26), The OMAC Project (#4), and Otherworld (#5).

Del Rey have the second volumes of Genshiken and Nodame Cantiabile.

Disney have the Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Manga GN.

IDW have the final issue of Grimjack: Killer Instinct.

Image have the debut of the Kirby-esque Gødland.

Marvel have the digest-sized collection of Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm with Stupid; the thirteenth Ultimate Spider-Man collection: Hobgoblin; the debut of Peter David's Hulk: Destruction; and new issues of Black Panther (#6), Machine Teen (#3), The Pulse (#10), Runaways (#6), and Spellbinders (#5).

Oni have the first issue of Ted Naifeh's new quarterly (?) Courtney Crumrin Tales.

Seven Seas' Amazing Agent Luna vol. 2 actually came in my comics shipment last week, but Diamond has it listed for this week, so your store may be getting it tomorrow.

TokyoPop have a bazillion volume sof manga, including the fifth Rising Stars of Manga contest collection.

Viper Comics have the final issue of Oddly Normal (#4).

Viz have the second issue of Shojo Beat (which also arrived for me last week...)



And finally, Avatar are release seven comics with twenty-seven different covers. No, really. That's at least $285 dollars worth of comics if you were to buy them all, which is about the same as it would cost you to buy the entire run of Lone Wolf & Cub. Guess in which way your money would be better spent?

New Library Comics: Week of July 18 2005

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Bravo, Émile. Boucle d'or et les sept ours nains /[Paris?] : Éditions du Seuil, c2004.

Dorkin, Evan. Hectic planet /San Jose, CA : Slave Labor Graphics, 1998- v. 1-3

Martin, Pauline. La meilleure du monde /Angoulême : ego comme x, c2001.

Mead, Stu. The immortal man bag journal of art /Marseille : Le Dernier Cri, 1999.

Miyazaki, Hayao, 1941- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind /San Francisco, CA : VIZ, LLC, c2004- v. 1-6

Scheibner, Reinhard. Holy shit /Marseille : Le Dernier Cri, [2002?]

Shelton, Gilbert. The complete fabulous furry Freak Brothers /London : Knockabout Comics, c2001- v. 1

Spiegelman, Art. Maus : a survivor's tale /New York : Pantheon Books, [1997]

Stripburek : comics from the other Europe. Ljubljana, Slovenia : Strip Core : Forum Ljubljana, 2001.

Quick GN Reviews

Doctor Cyborg, vol. 1: Outpatient
by Allan Gross & Mike Oeming

Inventor Malcolm Syberg has spent the past several years in a mental health facility, suffering from traumatic amnesia. And though he hasn't fully recovered his lost memoreis, he is still deemed fit to be released. Once he returns to his old home, he begins to suspect that he is not an ordinary man; that he has nanites running around in his bloodstream which make him a cyborg! Thus begins as odyssey that takes Malcolm from stopping a hostage situation to the future to the heart of an anti-technology cult. The plot progresses at a furious pace, with one adventure rolling right into the next. Despire all the action though, Gross still finds time to work in character development. Oeming's art is reined in somewhat by the adventure strip format that this comic originally appeared in online, but he proves that he can work just as well within a restrictive grid as he can on a full comic book page. If you're looking for a fun, exciting comic that's a modern take on the adventure strips of yore and relief from today's slow-paced multi-part 'epics,' then Doctor Cyborg may be just the thing.
Rating: 3.5 (of 5)



X-Treme X-Men, vol. 5: God Loves, Man Kills
by Chris Claremont, Igor Kordey & Scott Hanna

Boy, that Chris Claremont never met a comic panel that he doesn't think can't be improved by adding in several dialogue balloons or narrative boxes. Never content to let a scene speak for itself, he fills each page with so much description that the book nearly suffocates under his purple prose. The plot, which sees Rev. William Stryker--the X-Men's old anti-mutant enemy from the original God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel (which is reprinted here as well)--escape from prison and discovering a secret mutant haven in the Colorado Rockies, makes little sense as it goes along and falls apart completely when you think about it too hard. Logical leaps abound and characters act according to the dictates of the plot rather than on their established personalities. Kordey was in his 'rushed' phaze during the period these comics were produced, and it definitely shows. His storytelling is solid enough (Claremont could and should have disposed of about half of his narrative captions), the quality of the character work varies around in several places and not even the skilled brush of Hanna can always save it. I'm sure that it must have been tempting to doa sequel to one of the stories that was an inspiration for the X-Men movies, but this is one project that should have been thought through more before proceeding.
Rating: 2 (of 5)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

In honor of Jim Aparo, who passed away last week, today's cover is Adventure Comics #438, the March 1975 cover by Aparo that features the Spectre and a bunch of gorillas with what appears to be murderous intent.

(standard disclaimer about gorillas not really being monkeys applies)

This cover was suggested by YACB reader Nuadha. Image is courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.