Undiscovered Gems 2 Day 1

Only one entry received so far in the Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest:

Redhead Fangirl writes:

UMBRA
Image Comics
Art: Mike Hawthorne
Written by: Steve Murphy
A female forensics investigator in Iceland, with situational anxiety disorder discovers a mysterious skeleton in a cave… if this plot does convince you it’s not the average comic storyline, maybe the two Harvey nominations will. Absolutely deserves a wider audience (and I said so at the Vertigo panel).

Thanks to RHFG for her recommendation; she's been entered into the drawing for The Best American Comics 2006, which will be awarded next Wednesday. There's still time for you to enter!

Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest

In honor of my 3rd blogiversary next Wednesday (August 15), I'm having another contest!

The Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest will operate a lot like last year's anniversary contest. This year the grand prize is a hardcover copy of The Best American Comics 2006, edited by Harvey Pekar. It includes works by a number of luminaries in the comics field, including Kim Deitch, Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Rebecca Dart, Jamie Hernandez, Alex Robinson, Jessica Abel, Rick Geary, Tom Hart, Linda Barry, Robert Crumb, and many others.

There will probably also be some runners-up prizes, though I'm not sure yet how many or what they will be.

So how do you enter? I'm glad you asked!

Simply email me your recommendation of a comic that you think is worthwhile, but that you don't think that very many people have read. What I'd like to do through this contest is give you all the opportunity to share an undiscovered gem with the rest of the comics Intraweb. Thoughout the next week until the end of the contest on the 15th I'll be posting here on YACB the picks that you send me.

Your entry should include:

• Your name (tell me if you wish your name to be used when I post your pick)
  
• Your address (I won't share your address or your email with anyone!)
  
• Your pick, with a sentence or brief paragraph describing why you recommend it.
  
• The phrase 'Undiscovered Gems 2' in the subject line
  

On the evening of August 15th the winners of the Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest plus the runners-up prizes will be selected at random, and announced here on this blog.

The fine print:

• You must be 18 or older and reside in the United States to enter. (If you are outside the U.S. you can still send your recommendation pick, but you will not be elligible to win a prize.)
  
• Only one entry per person
  
• Deadline for entry is 6pm EDT on Wednesday, August 15, 2007.
  

So go ahead and enter today! (Or tomorrow, or anytime before next Wednesday.)

(You may receive an auto-reply saying that I am out of the office. Be assured that I have received your entry; there is no need to send it again to any other email.)

(Last year's undiscovered Gems: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.)

YAFQ: Final Crisis?

One of the big announcements at CCI last weekend was the creative team for DC's next big crossover, Final Crisis: Grant Morrison & J. G. Jones.

Given that DC's recent Countdown (and to an extent Amazons Attack) have pretty much sucked the momentum of excitement right out of their super-hero line, this creative team might be just the thing to get people interested again. Morrison is extremely popular amongst the super-hero intelligencia, and has shown that he can do big crossovers in the past with DC One Million. Jones is a highly regarded artist of capes; he has a reputation of being a bit slow, but it sounds like they;re giving him plenty of lead time.

So our Friday question to you this week is:

What do you think about DC's upcoming Final Crisis?

Are you looking forward to it, or are you all crossovered out?

Shameless Friend Promotion: Steve Lieber

Go over to The Beat to see Heidi's video interview with pal Steve Lieber, focusing on the graphic novel Whiteout and the forthcoming, movie.

Super-assertive Cool Female Black Protagonists in Comics

In his recent review of Mark Haven Britt's Full Color, Tom Spurgeon remarks:

...one can count the number of super-assertive cool female black protagonists in comics history on one healthy foot and another foot ravaged by frostbite...

I took this as a challenge, and came up with:

• Agent 355 (Y the Last Man)
  
• Amanda Shane (Amanda & Gunn)
  
• Amanda Waller (Suicide Squad, Checkmate)
  
• Martha Washington (Give Me Liberty, etc.)
  
• Misty Knight (Daughters of the Dragon, Heroes for Hire)
  
• Monica Rambeau (NextWave)
  

Help me out: Who am I missing?

New Library Comics: Week of July 23, 2007

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- Feeble attempts. /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions Inc, 2007.

Crécy, Nicolas de, 1966- Glacial period /New York : NBM, c2006.

Drawing the line. /[Toronto?] : [s.n.], 2004.

J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. /[White Plains, N.Y. : J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., 200-]

Lonergan, Jesse. Flower and fade /New York : NBM ; London : Turnaround [distributor], 2007.

Ottaviani, Jim. Quantum entanglement, spooky action at a distance, teleportation, and you : a.k.a the official G.T. Labs guide to teleportation via quantum entanglement and spooky action at a distance (including a brief but helpful section on why, perhaps, you should not try this at home) /A² [i.e. Ann Arbor], MI : G.T. Labs, c2003.

Raging Rhino Productions. Erotic screams : a catalog of the wicked, twisted & bizarre. /Hollywood, Fla. : Raging Rhino Productions, 1993- vol. 1 no. 1

Talbot, Bryan. Alice in Sunderland /Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2007.

Toffolo, Davide. Il re bianco /Bologna [etc.] : Coconino press, [2005]

Zap comix. San Francisco, CA : Last Gasp. nos. 2-3

Zero zero. /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c1995- no. 2

Monkey Covers

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

Pirates vs. Gorillas? It's hard to tell who to root for on the cover of Tom Strong #32.

(Standard disclaimer about pirate-fighting gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

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