NaGraNoWriMo

Some of you may be familiar with National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), where the goal is to write a 175-page (50K words) novel during the month of November.

I've decided that I'm going to participate this year, but with a twist.

I'm turning it into National Graphic Novel Writing Month. I'm going to try to write the script for a 175-page graphic novel (a la a TokyoPop or Seven Seas OEL manga book) during the month of November.

I've never writen a comic script before, so I'm sure that the final product won't be much good. But hey, who knows?! I'm not even sure yet what it'll be about, although I have a couple of ideas. In any event, it should prove to be challenging and illuminating; and maybe even a little fun!

YAFL2: Week 4

Here are the results from Week 4 of Yet Another Fantasy League 2:


Power Pack 69
Kickers Inc. 71

The Defenders 61
www.rickgebhardt.net 74

Delphi Oracles 68
Star City Archers 68

Superteam 27
Flex Mentallo 18


Current Standings:

   Team                 Record  Pct    Points  Streak
   -------------------- ------  -----  ------  ------
1. Kickers Inc.         4-0-0   1.000  295.00   W-4 
2. Flex Mentallo        3-1-0    .750  224.00   L-1
3. Star City Archers    2-1-1    .625  274.00   T-1
4. Delphi Oracles       2-1-1    .625  206.00   T-1
5. Superteam            2-2-0    .500  177.00   W-2
6. The Defenders        1-3-0    .250  256.00   L-2
7. www.rickgebhardt.net 1-3-0    .250  218.00   W-1
8. Power Pack           0-4-0    .000  212.00   L-4

Week 5 Games:

Flex Mentallo
vs.
Kickers Inc.

Power Pack
vs.
www.rickgebhardt.net

The Defenders
vs.
Star City Archers

Delphi Oracles
vs.
Superteam


Good luck to all!


In my other fantasy leagues, I didn't do well. I suffered my first loss in my friends & family league, 96-72, though I remain in 2nd place at 3-1-0. I fell to 2-2-0 in my public league after losing 64-56. And it was another pathetic performance in Pass & Kick, with just 154.50 points.

We're Beta!

Last night I upgraded this blog to Blogger Beta. Y'all shouldn't notice too much difference; unfortunately, Beta won't improve the quality (or frequency) of my postings. But now I have tagging ability, and I'll be adding them soon (although with over 1100 posts to tag it might take me a while...)

New This Week: October 4, 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 the first issue of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips' Criminal, bringing both creators back to the type of comics they do best: crime noir.


In other comics:

Ape Entertainment have the 3rd issue of Horrorwood.

DC have the hardcover collection of Infinite Crisis; the first volume of the Emma manga; and new issues of 52 (week 22), The All-New Atom (#4), American Slendor (#2), Battler Britton (#4), Boys (#3), Detective Comics (#824), Jonah Hex (#12), Justice League Unlimited (#26), Winter Men (#5), and Y, the Last Man (#50).

Fantasgraphics have the sixth volume of The Complete Peanuts (1961–1962).

IDW have a trade collection of Spike vs. Dracula; and new issues of Fallen Angel (#9) and Spike: Asylum (#2).

Image have new issues of Elephantmen (#3) and Rocketo (#12).

Marvel have the debut issue of Vaughan & Martin's Doctor Strange: Oath; the debut of Kirkman & Hester's The Irredeemable Ant-Man; and new issues of Agents of Atlas (#3) and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#13).

Pantheon have Marjane Satrapi's new GN Chicken with Plums.

Thrud Comics have the third issue of Thrud the Barbarian.

TokyoPop have the monthly end/beginning-of-the-month drop of titles, one or more of which may interest you more than they do me.

Viper have the final issue of Villains (#4).

Viz have the fourth volume of Nana.


AS usual, another good week of new comics; enjoy yours!

New Library Comics: Week of September 25, 2006

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


Blain, Christophe. Dungeon, the early years /New York : NBM Pub., 2005- vol. 1

Boring, Justin. War on flesh /Los Angeles CA : Tokyopop, c2005- vol. 1

Bruel, Nick. How to be a real good cartoonist! /Woodside, NY : Syncopated Comics, [2003]

Buronson, 1947- Strain /San Francisco, CA : Viz Communications, c1998- vol. 4

Cotter, Joshua W. Skyscrapers of the midwest /Kansas City, MO : Thank the Machines, c2003- no. 1

Crypt of horror /Longwood, Fla. : AC Comics, c2006- vol. 2

Daydreamer, Jennifer. Anna & Eva /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2004.

Katsura, Masakazu. Video girl Ai /San Francisco : Viz Communications, 1999- vol. 1

Koike, Kazuo, 1936- Offered /[S.l.] : ComicsOne, c2001. vols. 1-2

Koike, Kazuo, 1936- Wounded man : the white haired demon /Fremont, CA : ComicsOne Corp., c2001- vol. 1

Koslowski, Rich. The King /Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf, 2005.

LeGrow, M. Alice (Marty Alice) Bizenghast /Hamburg ; Los Angeles : Tokyopop, c2005- vol. 1

McCallum, Pat. Twisted Toyfare theatre : the best of twisted toyfare theatre /Yorktown Heights, N.Y. : Wizard, c2003-. vol. 1

Mori, Jinpachi, 1958- Benkei in New York /San Francisco, Calif. : Viz Communications, [2001]

Ottaviani, Jim. Bone sharps, cowboys, & thunder lizards : a tale of Edwin Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the gilded age of paleontology [Free Comic Book Day edition]/Ann Arbor, MI : G.T. Labs, [2005]

Phillips, Joe. Tales from the House of Morecock /Berlin : Bruno Gmunder, c2005- vol. 1

Rege, Ron. Stop thinking, start sleeping : stop sleeping, start living : 2-5-97, 2:30 AM Plymouth MA /Oakland, Calif : Buenaventura Press, 2006, c2003.

Ryan, Johnny. Blecky Yuckerella /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2005.

Sakurazawa, Erica. Angel nest /Los Angeles, Calif. : Tokyopop, c2003.

Sato, Rob. Burying sandwiches /Los Angeles, Calif. : The Author, c2005.

Taniguchi, Jiro. The times of Botchan : first volume /Tokyo : Fanfare/Ponent Mon, c2005- vol. 2

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Adolf : a tale of the twentieth century /San Francisco, CA : Cadence Books, c1995.

Monkey Covers

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

It's jungle lass Sheena vs. Gorilla-Men in 1941 on the cover of Jumbo Comics #32, art by Dan Zolnerowich.

(Standard disclaimer about gorilla-men not really being monkeys applies.)

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

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.)