New Library Comics: Week of February 27, 2006

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


Anderson, Ho Che. Young hoods in love /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics Books, c1995.

Baker, Kyle. The Cowboy Wally show /New York : DC Comics, c2003.

Benton, Mike. Masters of imagination : the comic book artists hall of fame /Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Pub. Co., c1994.

Crumb, R. The complete Crumb. Volume 14, The early ’80s & Weirdo magazine /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2000.

Diaz Canales, Juan, 1972- Blacksad : Arctic-Nation /Barcelona : Norma Editorial, 2005.

Diaz Canales, Juan, 1972- Blacksad : un lugar entre las sombras /Barcelona : Norma Editorial, 2004.

Eichhorn, Dennis P. The legend of Wild Man Fischer /Atlanta : Top Shelf Productions, c2004.

Gagne, Michel, 1965- Zed /Burbank, CA : Gagne International Press, c2002- vol. 1

Goulart, Ron, 1933- Over 50 years of American comic books /Lincolnwood, Ill. : Publications International Ltd., c1991.

Knight, Keith, 1966- The passion of the Keef /San Francisco, Calif. : Manic D Press, c2005.

LaRiccia, Michael V. Black mane /[S.l.] : One Time Press, c2005.

The new comics /New York : Berkley Books, 1988.

Toth, Alex. Toth : "one for the road" /San Francisco : Auad Publishing, 2000.

Yet Another Oscar Picks List

I know you're all just dying to know who I'm picking for winners in tonight's Oscar race, right? Okay, maybe not. But still, I usually finish first or second in our annual picks contest that's been going on for 10+ years now, so even though I haven't seen most of the nominated movies (Oscar and I disagree on what makes for an essential theater-going flick), if you have a contest of your own to participate in, I offer these up as choices:

Picture
Brokeback Mountain, because nothing can stop the momentum of the only one of the nominees this year that has entered popular consciousness (even if few people actually saw it).

Director
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain. See above.

Actor
A rather weak slate this year, so I'll go with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote.

Actress
Everyone says it's going to be Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line, and who am I to argue?

Supporting Actor
George Clooney in Syriana, because they'll want to reward him for something.

Supporting Actress
Conventional wisdom says that this is Rachel Weisz's, but this is the one category that typically goes against expectations, so I'm picking Amy Adams in Junebug.

Visual Effects
King Kong. It has a giant monkey fighting dinosaurs, and how can anyone resist that?

Original Screenplay
Aka the consolation prize, so it'll go to Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco for Crash.

Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana for Brokeback Mountain, because you can't stop the momentum.

Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, mainly because Cinderella Man and Stars Wars Episode III are fit for an Oscar snub this year.

Art Direction
John Myhre & Gretchen Rau for Memoirs of a Geisha, because it's the kind of movie that usally wins this category.

Original Score
A tough one, actually, so I'll go with the mo' and pick Gustavo Santaolalla for Brokeback Mountain; even though he only wrote about 13 minutes of score music for the movie, it's the only one of the nominated scores where when you hear a few bars you instantly know what movie it's from. Plus the voters will want to reward Santaolalla for having been robbed of a best song nod due to an unfair rules ruling. Plus, the Academy has been snubbing John Williams for many years now.

Oringial Song
"Travelin' Thru" from Transamerica, because the voters like Dolly Parton.

Live Action Short Film
I meant to watch a few of these through iTunes, but never got around to it this week. So I'll pick Ausreisser (The Runaway), for no good reason other than it's a gut pick.

Animate Short
Pixar's One Man Band, because they're Pixar.

Animated Feature
Actually three strong nominees this year, but I'll go with Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Sound Editing
King Kong. Because if there's one thing this movie had, it was sound, and lots of it.

Sound Mixing
Walk the Line, because this category usually goes to musical bio-pics.

Film Editing
A tough one, but Crash, with it's interlocking stories, seems the correct pick.

Cinematography
I'm going for the dark horse pick here: Emmanuel Lubezki for The New World.

Foreign Language Film
Tsotsi from South Africa has gotten the most ink, so since hardly anyone actually goes to see these it'll probably take the statue.

Documentary Feature
Conventional wisdom is to not go with any film that anyone has actually heard of in this category, but I think the trend will be bucked this year and March of the Penguins with waddle away with the golden statue.

Documentary Short
God Sleeps in Rwanda sounds like the title of a film that typically wins this category.

Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran for Pride & Prejudice, because period pieces nearly always win this category.


So those are my picks. We'll know in 11 hours or so how good they are...

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 the Academy Awards ceremony this evening, here's the cover to 1991's King Kong #3, featuring the big ape himself putting the smackdown on a dinosaur. (Peter Jackson's King Kong remake has four nominations this year.)

(Standard disclaimer about giant apes not really being monkeys applies.)

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

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Cartoonist Jules Feiffer was on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday morning. He's mostly there to discuss his new kids book, A Room with a Zoo, but he also spends some time talking about his early days as a cartoonist. (Real Audio & Windows Media mormats)

ITEM! The Comic Book Network is holding a V for Vendetta Trivia Contest, where you can win some swag from the upcoming movie by answering a few Alan Moore-related trivia questions.

ITEM! Jessica Abel has revised her Website, and it's worth taking a look. I especially like the illustrations in her gallery that she's done for YM (via Tom)

ITEM! Catherine Leamy, who is fast becoming one of my favorite mini-comics creators, is featuring all through the month of March brand new one-page Invitation to Madness cartoons on her blog. The first one went up on Thursday.

ITEM! Pal Jim Ottaviani is interviewed about Bone Sharps and his other science comics over at Newsarama.

YAFQ: The Ten Best Ideas in Comics

Yet Another Friday Question:

This one is Kevin's fault.

He recently claimed that the three best ideas in comics are:

1. Sole survivor from a doomed planet
2. Gorilla with a jetpack
3. A Nazi made out of bees

My question for you all on this Friday is:

What other ideas would you nominate to be in the Top Ten Best Ideas in Comics?

I've previously made claim to one that I think should be in the Top Ten: A giant ape with Kryptonite eye beams.

So, what are your nominations?

Dave's Dozen: Mainstream Comics

Each month I go through Previews to highlight twelve items worthy of attention in three categories: Mainstream Comics, Indy Comics, and Collections/GNs.

First up for the march Previews (comics supposedly available in May) are the following dozen mainstream comics picks:


Marvel Adventures The Avengers #1
(Marvel, $2.99, p. M41)

Marvel's all-ages line expands with an Avengers title from writer Jeff (Interman) Parker, who has quietly been making MA Fantastic Four the FF title to read over the past few months. Sure, the team's line-up (Storm, Wolverine, Giant-Girl, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America) doesn't resemble and 'real' Avengers team, but will that really matter as long as the stories are entertaining?



NextWave #5
(Marvel, $2.99, p. M52)

The first issue came out of nowhere to be one of the most entertaining super-hero comics of the young year. Okay, not exactly from nowhere, but it's been a long long time since Ellis's Marvel work was this enjoyable. Issue #5 kicks off a new storyline, which makes it a perfect place to jump on if you haven't already.



Punisher: The Tyger
(Marvel, $4.99, p. M81)

Legndary artist John Severin joins writer Garth Ennis to tell a double-sized tale of Frank Castle's dark youth on the street of Brooklyn. Sure to be worth it just for the art alone.




Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe #1 (of 3)
(Marvel, $3.99, p. 82)

Richard Corben adapts the stories and poems of Edgar Allen Poe. Could you ask for a better match?



Conan #28
(Dark Horse, $2.99, p. 33)

The Goon creator Eric Powell joins writer Kurt Busiek for a done-in-one tale of Conan doing those things that Conan does so well.



All Star Superman #4
(DC, $2.99, p. 68)

Jimmy Olsen, as filtered through Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely. The mind boggles!



Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #1 (of 3)
(DC, $2.99, p. 73)

Will Pfeifer & Cliff Chiang bring the Spectre to a new host, one who is closer to the character's roots: the late Detective Crispus Allen from Gotham Central. Hopefully we'll get a good deal of down-to-earth detecting along with the supernatural action. Plus, any comic that gives me Cliff Chiang's art is worthy--hopefulyl this will sell well enough to become a regular series.



52 #1-4 (of 52)
(DC, $2.50 ea., p. 77)

C'mon, you know you want it. Have Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid ever let you down? Okay, maybe on occasion, but I suspect that all four will be bringing their A-game to this.



Secret Six #1 (of 6)
(DC, $2.99, p.86)

They went in with six? What were they thinking?! You always go in with seven, or possibly five, but never six! Gail Simone returns to the mileau of her successful Villains United series with more tales of villains caught between a rock and a hard place.



Negative Burn #1
(Image, $5.99, p. 142)

The classic anthology series returns to monthly format. This first issue includes work from Brian Bolland, James A. Owen, and Eric Powell.



Archie & Friends #101
(Archie, $2.25, p. 224)

Andrew Pepoy returns to writing and drawing comics with a new Katy Keene feature.



Battlestar Galactica #0
(Dynamite Entertainment, $0.25, p. 259)

DE puts out a licensed comic I may actually be interested in--what the heck, it's worht a quarter to see if it approaches the quality of the tv series. Too bad about that photo cover though.



Look for the other two parts, Indy Comics & Collections/GNs, sometime over the next week.

New This Week: March 1, 2006

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 A Distant Soil: Coda, the fourth volume in Colleen Doran's fantasy epic.


In other comics:

Abstract Studios have a new issue of Strangers in Paradise (#80).

Antarctic have the third Gold Digger Color Remix, plus a print version of David Hutchinson's Mischief & Mayhem: Field Trip To Heck.

Boom! Studios have the debut of War of the Worlds: Second Wave.

Dark Horse have the Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 25 Cent Flip Book--just two bits!

DC kick off One Year Later with Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis (#40), Detective Comics (#817), JSA (#83), and Outsiders (#34); but they're still back in the previous year with the delayed final issue of Adventures of Superman (#649) and the latest Infinite Crisis (#5); they also have new issues of Jonah Hex (#5), Ex Machina (#18), Swamp Thing (#25), and Y, the Last Man (#43); a second collection of Garth Ennis's War Stories; and two collections of the Dini-verse Superman Adventures (vols. 3 & 4).

Devil's Due have the fourth issue of Elsinore.

Fantagraphics have a new issue of The Comics Journal (#274).

IDW have four hefty collections, including the fourth volume of The Complete Jon Sable, Freelance; plus a new issue of Fallen Angel (#3).

Image have a new issue of Gødland (#8); and, if you missed them, 3rd printings of the first two issues of Fell.

Marvel weigh in with the second issue of the fun Next Wave; the phone-book sized Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition vol. 1; and new issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#5), The Punisher (#31), X-Factor (#4), and Ultimates 2 (#10).

Oni have the fourth issue of Local and the long-delayed final issue of Queen & Country Declassified vol. 2 (#3).

Seven Seas debut a new OEL manga title, Captain Nemo.

Speakeasy have what may be their final comic: Beowulf #7.

TokyoPop have the second volume of I Luv Halloween, and also the second volume of Telepathic Wanderers.

Top Shelf have Max Estes' Coffee and Donuts.


Relatively big week this week (since you and I might think it's the first week of March, but for Diamond shipping purposes it's really the last week of February...)