Dave's Dozen: Collections/GNs

Concluding my look through the September Previews (for items supposedly shipping in November or December), here are a dozen collections and graphic novels that I feel are worth your attention:


Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter TP
(DC, $19.99, p. 69)
I'm actually a bit surprised that DC would go to the trouble to clear the reprint rights for a bunch of non-continuity stories about a b-list character that will have limited sales appeal. But since the author is company VP Paul Levitz, I can see how that might have greased the wheels. Still, I won't complain, and neither will Earth-2 fans, who will have a chance to get all of these disparate stories in one handy package.



New Teen Titans: Terra Incognito TP
(DC, $19.99, p. 91)
DC already collected the second part of this story several years ago as The Judas Contract; now read how it all began. This storyline is probably the height of the Wolfman/Perez Titans as wel as being one of the best straight-forward corporate super-hero stories of the 80s.



New X-Men Omnibus HC
(Marvel, $99.99, p. M90)
Yes $100 is a steep price, but with over 40 comics worth of content it's cheaper than buying all the individual issues, and there aren't any ads either. You get one of the best runs on the X-Men in years all between two sturdy covers.



Avengers and Power Pack Assemble! Digest
(Marvel, $6.99, p. M95)
If you have something against fun all-ages super-hero comics then don't order this! The rest of you though can enjoy the stories at a reduced size and price!



Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition #1
(Airship, $14.95, p. 228)
The first three volumes of Phil & Kaja Foglio's fun Gaslamp Fantasy series that features "lots of running around in Victorian underwear, occasional innuendo, a certain amount of violence and the occasional 'damn!'", all in glorious black & white at an affordable price. If you haven't yet tried it, now's your chance!



Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures TP
(Avatar, $29.99, p. 246)
A collection of Moore miscellany: a few stories by Moore, including a From Hell coda; adaptations of stories by Moore; stories inspired by Moore's other stories; interviews; and illustrated essays. Love that cover!



Mammoth Book of Best New Manga
(Carroll & Graf, $13.95, p. 260)
When they say Mammoth, they mean it: over 500 pages of stories from creatorsboth new and established. Even if only half of the stories turn out to be any good, it's still a good deal.



Dork Decade: The Dork Tower 10th Anniversary Collection TP
(Dork Storm, $15.99, p. 280)
Every one of John Kovalic's Dork Tower strips from Shadis & Dragon magazines collected together. Very funny stuff for gamers and those who know gamers.



Curses HC
(Drawn & Quarterly, $21.95, p. 281)
I've expressed my admiration of Kevin Huizenga many times before on this blog, so it should come as no surprise that this collection is a top pick of the month; even though it's all material that has previously appear in disparate sources, having it all in one hardcover collection will be swell.



New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming
(Fantagraphics, $19.95, p. 286)
Frank Stack's underground classic finally gets collected. Probably won't be a hit with the bible belt crowd...



Mister i volume 1 HC
(NBM, $13.95, p. 315)
I really dug Trondheim's Mister O, and this looks like more of the same, with a different letter of the alphabet.



Blank Volume 1
(TokyoPop, $9.99, p. 329)
Pop Mhan was one of the artists who came on the scene with a manga-esque stle just before the big manga explosion in the US, so it's gratifying to see him get an OEL series to strut his stuff. It's a high school comedy/action/romance type thing.



Sorry this was so late--hopefully you still have time to let your FLCS know that you want one or more of these fine books. I'll be back next month! (Earlier this month I had my picks for mainstream and indy comics.)

YAFL2: Week 3

Here are the results from Week 3 of Yet Another Fantasy League 2:


The Defenders 62
Kickers Inc. 68

Star City Archers 62
www.rickgebhardt.net 44

Superteam 71
Power Pack 47

Delphi Oracles 45
Flex Mentallo 60



Current Standings:

   Team                 Record  Pct    Points  Streak
   -------------------- ------  -----  ------  ------
1. Kickers Inc.         3-0-0   1.000  224.00  W-3 
2. Flex Mentallo        3-0-0   1.000  206.00  W-3 
3. Star City Archers    2-1-0    .667  206.00  W-1
4. Delphi Oracles       2-1-0    .667  138.00  L-1
5. The Defenders        1-2-0    .333  195.00  L-1 
6. Superteam            1-2-0    .333  150.00  W-1 
7. www.rickgebhardt.net 0-3-0    .000  144.00  L-3
8. Power Pack           0-3-0    .000  143.00  L-3

Week 4 Games:

Power Pack
vs.
Kickers Inc.

The Defenders
vs.
www.rickgebhardt.net

Delphi Oracles
vs.
Star City Archers

Superteam
vs.
Flex Mentallo


Good Luck to All!


In my other leagues: I won 57-30 in my friends and family league, but dropped down to 2nd place due to points; I lost 61-48 in my public league and dropped to 3rd place; and scored a pathetic 189.05 points in my pass & kick league, dropping to 4th place.

Dave's (Half) Dozen: Indy Comics

Continuing my look through the September Previews (for comics supposedly shipping in November), here are a half dozen indy comics that I feel are worth your attention:


Rex Libris #6
(Amaze Ink/Slave Labor, $2.95, p. 232)
Rex has to save a library patron who is sucked into a refernce book of monsters. Why is Rex Libris so fun? Because James Turner knows to use terms like 'patron' when refering to libary users. More library-related jokes per page than any other comic shipping this month!



Tigers of Terra Special
(Antarctic, $3.95, p. 237)
Ted Nomura celebrates the twentieth anniversary of his futuristic military comic will an all-new installment in the Families of Altered Wars saga.




Youngblood: Bloodsport #2
(Arcade, $3.99, p. 237)
Issue #1 came out over two years ago, and was so bad that it took Rob Liefeld this long to draw the second issue. Buy it for the train wreck it is bound to be!



Ninja Tales #1
(Boom!, $6.99, p. 255)
Ninjas get the Boom! anthology treatment. Now if they ever do a Ninjas vs. Zombies Tales comic, we'll have reached nerd nirvana!



Castle Waiting vol. 2 #3
(Fantagraphics, $3.95, p. 283)
I hear tell that, although Linda Medley's hardcover collection is selling quite well thank you, the comic-sized bites of all-new Castle Waiting stories ins't doing so well. Come on people, I know you're waiting for the trade, but good quality indy comics need your support in comics form as well.



The Lost Books of Eve #1
(Viper, $3.25, p. 349)
Josh Howard goes all apocrypha on us with an off-book tale of Adam, the first man, going missing and Eve, his wife, battling monsters, wizards, demons and what-not to find him. Probably won't be a hit with the Southern Baptist crowd.



I covered mainstream comics last week. Hopefully maybe I'll get GNs and collections done before orders are due...

New This Week: September 27, 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 today:


The Pick of the Week is Superman: Up, Up and Away!, the collection of the one-year later story from Action Comics & Superman. It's eight issues worth of quality super-heroics from Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns and Pete Woods for the reasonable price of $15.


In other comics:

Amaze Ink have the second issue of Sonny Liew's Wonderland.

Antarctic have the latest Ninja High School (#142).

Bongo have this year's Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror (#12), with Kyle Baker, Tony Moore, & Eric Powell.

Dark Horse have a new issue of Usago Yojimbo (#97).

DC have the final Losers collection (vol. 5: Endgame); a first collection of Phil Jimenez's Otherworld; and new issues of 52 (week 21), Action Comics (#843), American Way (#8--final issue), Batman (#657), Bite Club VCU (#5--final issue), Blue Beetle (#7), Hawkgirl (#56), Jack of Fables (#3), Justice League of America (#2), Secret Six (#4), Supergirl and the Legion (#22), and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters (#3).

Fantagraphics have a new issue of The Comics Journal (#278).

IDW have the first issue of Spike: Asylum.

Image have the fifth Walking Dead collection; the Image debut of True Story, Swear to God; and new issues of Invincible (#35) and Lions, Tigers & Bears (vol. 2 #3).

Marvel have a hardcover collection of Richard Corben's Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe; the 100th issue of Ultimate Spider-Man; and new issues of Captain America (#22), Civil War Front Line (#6), Daredevil (#89), Eternals (#4), Punisher (#38), She Hulk 2 (#12), Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (#10), and Ultimates 2 (#12).

Oni have the third issue of Northwest Passage.

WW Norton have a hardcover Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City, which includes New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People. Well worth your time and money if you haven't read these yet.


That wraps up another week of new comics. Enjoy!

New Library Comics: Week of September 18, 2006

Here are the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Anderson, David. Bastard Bunny in "Don't you know who I am?!" : the collected works /London : Virgin, 1998.

Art out of time : unknown comics visionaries, 1900-1969 /New York : Abrams, 2006.

Chadwick, Paul (Paul H.) Think like a mountain /Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse, 2006.

Denson, Abby. Tough love : high school confidential /San Francisco, Calif. : Manic D, c2006.

Dupuy, 1960- Get a life /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, c2006.

Forney, Ellen. I love Led Zeppelin : panty-dropping comics /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, c2006.

Hernandez, Gilbert. Sloth /New York : DC Comics, c2006.

Legg, Barnaby. Eminem : in my skin /London : Omnibus, c2004.

Rege, Ron. Skibber bee bye : a book /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2006.

Sienkiewicz, Bill. Stray toasters /Anaheim, CA : Graphitti Designs, c2003.

Weissman, Steven. Chewing gum in church /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, c2006.

Minicomics Monday

Today I have two minicomics from Marek Bennett:

Mimi's Doughnuts #5 is a lot of fun. There are several short stories in this 12-page mini, all about awkward teenager Shayna during the summer she turns fifteen. Divorced parents, odd birthday gifts from relativeness, hanging out with your friend, eco-sabatage, and writing fantasy stories--it's all here. Bennett has an engaging cartoony style and knows how to pack a page without it looking too cramped.


Dog Bless America is a 24-hour comic, and is the perfect illustration about what frustrates me about 24-hour comics. There's a germ of a clever story about a secret-agent dog sent on an assignment to the Middle East, but the story wanders and never gels and the art is kind of sloppy, especially compared to the more polished art that appears in Bennett's minis and Webcomics. Had he taken the time to develop this story properly it could have been better.

Monkey Covers

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

We're Lost in Space with the Robinson family as they take on a giant four-armed cycloptic gorilla on the cover of Space Family Robinson #59.

(Standard disclaimer about giant four-armed cycloptic gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

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