New This Week: November 2, 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 later today:


The picks of the week are two of Matt Howarth's Keif Llama comics from Aeon: Keif Llama: Particle Dreams, a trade collection of past Keif Llama stories, and Keif Llama: Xenotech #1, the first issue of an all-new limited series. Get yourself some trippy Matt Howarth sci-fi comix, okay?


In other comics:

Abstact have a new Strangers in Paradise collection: Volume 17: Tattoo.

Alias have the first issue of a new Lullaby series, the third colorized issue of Opposite Forces, the delayed 75 cent first issue of Yenny, and the 75 cent #0 issue of Victoria's Secret Service, which is sure to be just as bad as you think, but still has a great pun for a title.

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor have the second librarian-action-filled issue of Rex Libris.

Antarctic have a new issue of Oz: The Manga (#5), and the fourth pocket manga collection of Rod Espinosa's Neotopia.

DC have the hardcover collection of Loeb & Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome; a softcover version of Dave Gibbons' The Originals; a softcover collection of ALan Moore & Zander Cannon's Smax; the debuts of Seven Soldiers: The Bulleteer and a new Jonah Hex series (along with a big thick b&w Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex collection); and new issues of Desolation Jones (#4), Detective Comics (#813), JSA (#79), and The Winter Men (#3).

El Capitan have a new issue of Stray Bullets (#40).

Fantagraphics have the latest Complete Peanuts: 1957-1958.

iBooks have a softcover of Joe Kubert's Yossel OGN.

Ice Kunion debut four manwha titles: 11th Cat, Angel Diary, Bring it On, and Chocolat.

Image have the fifth Invincible collection: Facts of Life.

Marvel have a big thick b&w Essential Marvel Two-in-One; a hardcover Young Avengers collection; new issues of Powers (#14), The Punisher (#27), Supreme Power: Nighthawk (#3), and Ultimate Spider-Man (#85); and finally conclude Mouse of Him (#8).

Speakeasy bring on the pretty with a new issue of Rocketo (#3).

Top Shelf have Conversation #2, featuring James Kochalka vs. Jeffrey Brown.

Viz have tonnes of stuff, including the debut of the improbably named BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo.


And finally, ACC Studios debut the much-discussed Liberality for All. I almost nearly pre-ordered this just for kicks-and-giggles, but when I saw that they were pledging to donate portions of the proceeds to like-minded interests, that put the kibosh on it for me.

Review: Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires

Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires
by Richard Sala
Fantagraphics, $9.95

Richard Sala has a wonderful way of combining spooky and fun, and in no place is this tendency on better display than with his stories staring Peculia.

In Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires, the title character falls in with a bunch of other teenage girls who are off to babysit for a family. But of course the family are vampires! What follows are a series of escapades of blood sucking and narrow escapes.

It's a testament to how well Sala develops Peculia's character that I didn't notice on a first read-through just how little dialogue she has. It's all in the reactions she has to the other characters.

How many times have I said 'spooky' and 'fun' in this review? Plenty of times, but here's one more: Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires is spooky fun, and an enjoyable read!

Rating: 4 (of 5)

SNAP! Pics

Phoebe Gloeckner has a photo set of pics she took at SNAP! on Satuday.

(No captions though, so except for a couple of pics I'm unsure as to who is who...)

New Library Comics: Week of October 24, 2005

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



Hernandez, Jaime. Locas : the Maggie and Hopey stories. /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2004.

Kim, Derek Kirk. Same difference and other stories /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, 2004.

Kochalka, James. The cute manifesto /Gainesville, Fla. : Alternative Comics ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2005.

Pictures and words : new comic art and narrative illustration /London : Laurence King, 2005.

Rosenkranz, Patrick. Rebel visions : the underground comix revolution, 1963-1975 /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2002.

Sabisch, Ingrid. Albrecht Durer : vom Handwerker zum Kunstler und Gelehrten /Heroldsberg : Verlag die Heldin, 2003.

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Buddha /New York, NY : Vertical, 2003- v. 5-6

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- Penguin soup for the soul /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 1998.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- Tune in Tomorrow /New York : St. Martin's Press, 1994.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- When penguins attack! /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2000.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- The wrath of Sparky /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 1996.

Vescovo, Matthew. The life and death of bling bling : a story of innovation, proliferation, regurgitation, commercialization and bastardization /[New York, NY : Instructoart Book Associates, c2004.]

Woodring, Jim. Seeing things /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2005.

SNAP! Day 2: Halloween

Continuing my week-long look at comics I picked up at Saturday's SNAP! With Halloween just a couple of days away, I couldn't resist picking up a few related minis:


When technical difficulties prevented Ben T. Steckler (aka BenT) from debuting a new mini-comic at the show, he came up with a new idea: he put together three quickie spooky-themed one-page fold-overs and packaged them into a Halloween treat bag as S.N.A.P. Decision. Short fun is to be had in Dead Man Walkin', Halloween Stinks!, and Bat Jam (excerpt below).





I already sang the praises of Pam Bliss yesterday, so it should be no surprised that her mini-comic Small Feather Bat was a lot of fun. It has dogs, cute little bats, and a werewolf librarian.


Finally, Sean Frost & Wendi Strang-Frost's A Yearly Treat is a six-page color chapbook ghost story of trick-or-treaters and that one house that no one goes up to, unless it's on a dare... Not only does the story do a good job at getting in and setting the mood and telling a story, but the art is quite accomplished too. This Hula Cat Comics production is a winner.


That's it for the Halloween-themed comics. More SNAP! finds tomorrow!

SNAP! Day 1: Monkey Covers

Over the next several days I'll be going over the various comics I picked up at SNAP!, which was held yesterday in Dearborn, MI.

Since it's Sunday, I thought I'd kick things off with comics with monkeys on the cover. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!


First up we have Jungle Love, a chapbook by Joanna Estep. Monkeys don't play a prominent role in this adorable tale, but they hang around the edges and add a bit of metaphorical flavor. Estep's take is light on dialogue, but she is able to tell her story through largely through the visuals. She's providing the art for the upcoming TokyoPop OEL title Roadsong; the first volume is out in January (and in Previews now, so tell your LCS you want it!)


Next is Pam Bliss's Purple Gorilla. This 48-page mini-comic is chock full of fun, including the title story which is printed on purple paper in the middle. Bliss is one of the all-time greats in the mini-comic world, and Purple Gorilla continues the fun that she is known for. If you've never read anything by Pam Bliss, you owe it to yourself to do so immediately. (Her Dog & Pony Show collection is a good place to start.)



Finally there's From the Desk of Business Chimp, which is actually a tip-in comic by Sean Bieri included with his Jape vol. 2 #1 mini-comic. It's a short series of one-panel gags which are both funny and melancholy, and will be appreciated knowlingly by anyone who has worked in an office. Sean has been doing mini-comics for about fifteen years now, and is another creator with whom you should acquaint yourself.



(standard disclaimer about gorillas & chimps not really being monkeys applies)


Okay, that wraps things up for today. I'll be back tomorrow with more of my finds from the first ever SNAP!

Quick OEL Manga Reviews

War on Flesh, vol. 1
by Justin Boring, Greg Hildebrandy, & Tim Smith 3

The opening chapter of this GN--in which martial-arts monks take on a bunch of zombies--sounds like great high concept fun, but instead comes off as a pointless, confusing mess. Fortunately it gets a bit better in the later (mostly unrelated) chapters, as a desperate father make a deal with Evil Forces to bring his son back from the dead. The son, it turns out, is destined to become a key player in the enigmatic War on Flesh. It turns out to be a more-or-less competant story of voodoo zombies, and if that's your thing you may find War on Flesh enjoyable. But with other, better zombie comics out there, you can probably get your zombie fix elsewhere.

Rating: 2 (of 5)


I Luv Halloween, vol. 1
by Keith Giffen & Benjamin Roman

I Luv Halloween has a warped, twisted and dark sense of humor, centering around kids going trick-or-treating on Halloween and doing some Very Bad Things. There's Moochie, the young girl who dresses up as the Tooth Fairy, who finds a discarded brassiere and uses it as a slingshot and a garrote to kill two neighborhood bullies. She and her brother Finch live seemingly unsupervised in an abandoned house, with only the decaying corpses of the former occupants to keep them company. There's also Devil Boy, the kid who only shows up every Halloween to go trick-or-treating. And a zombie dog. Events spiral out of control into an evening of violence and blood and death. It's all rather well done, with appropriately twisted art from Roman and Giffen in his Lobo-esque ultrviolent humor mode, applied to kids who aren't quite old enough to understand the lack of morality of their actions. This book will definitely appeal to a certain type of reader, and if any of the events I described here sound interesting, then that type of reader is probably you. Conversely, if you're not that type of reader, you'll probably be best off staying far away.

Rating: 3 (of 5)