New This Week: August 15, 2007

So, what looks good this week?

Fantagraphics have a new volume of The Complete Peanuts, 1965-1966. The strip hits what many consider to be its sweet spot, with many classic, well-remembered strips such as Snoopy's first dogfights with the Red Barron, and the debut of Peppermint Patty.

The latest Minx offering is Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm.

Phil & Kaja Foglio have the latest Girl Genius collection (vol. 6).

Those looking for a good overview of international art-comix will probably enjoy the third C'est Bon Anthology, under a cover by fave James Jean.

Boom! collect their enjoyable X-Isle series into a trade.

I'm sure it'll be pure continuity porn, but I'm on-board for the new Booster Gold series by Geoff Johns and original creator Dan Jurgens.

And there's lots and lots of manga, which may be why your FLCS proprietor is quietly sobbing when looking at this week's invoice.

Undiscovered Gems 2 Day 4

Another entry for the Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest:

Paul Abbamondi writes:

Actually, I don't read that many comics, and so I'm not too sure of what is technically discovered or undiscovered, but my recommendation has to go to Grease Monkey by Tim Eldred. The story revolves around Robin Plotnik, a young assistant mechanic who has just arrived on the Fist of Earth for duty. In this era, over half the human population has been killed. To fill the void, a race of aliens offer intelligence first to the dolphins (they turn them down, bunch of bottle-nosed snobs!) and then next to gorillas (who gleefully accept). Robin quickly learns that he'll be working under Mac, a sentient gorilla. Action isn't the name of the game here, with the focus being more on the budding relationship between Robin and Mac, human and accelerated animals, and together these two will share some sometimes silly adventures and some sometimes downright serious ones. Regardless, I found both the writing and artwork to be top-notch. The hint of war never really blossoms into anything other than background drama, but with Mac looking for love and Robin yearning to find his place a battle in space is the last thing on their minds. A really fun read, one that I always tell people should check out. The entire series of comics has been published by Tor Books as a graphic novel.

Thanks to Paul for his recommendation; he'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!

New Library Comics: Week of April 16, 2007

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection 2 weeks ago:


Bieri, Sean. Cool Jerk & Homo Gal : the collected mini-comics, 1992-1997 / Hamtramck, Mich. : [S. Bieri], c2002.

Burden, Bob. Flaming carrot comics / Eugene, OR : Dark Horse Comics, [1997]- vol. 6

The coevolution quarterly. /Sausalito, Calif. : POINT, 1977. no. 14

Derian, Evan. Insignificant gods / Detroit, Mich. : Deadcity Comics, 2002- nos. 1-5

Howarth, Matt, 1954- Caroline : circle vs. square / Seattle, WA : Aeon, c1998.

Kanan, Nabiel. The drowners / Berkeley, Calif. : Image Comics ; Norcross, Calif. : Desperado Publishing, 2006.

Mad super special. /New York : E.C. Publication, Inc., no. 46

Marshall, Kenjji. Eden preview / Detroit, Mich. : Sigma6, 1997.

Marshall, Kenjji. The days and nights of Kid Shade / [Detroit, Mich.] : Detroit Comic Alliance, [199-?]-

Science : sequential art annual 2006 / Savannah, Ga. : Savannah College of Art and Design, c2006.

Simpson, Don, 1961- Bizarre heroes / Pittsburgh, Pa. : Fiasco Comics, 1994- no. 1

Simpson, Don, 1961- Bizarre heroes / Princeton, Wis. : Kitchen Sink Press, 1990-[199-?] no. 1

Simpson, Don, 1961- Megaton Man /Princeton, Wis. : Kitchen Sink Press, 1984- no. 1

Simpson, Don, 1961- The return of Megaton Man / Princeton, Wis. : Kitchen Sink Press, 1988.

Simpson, Don, 1961- Yarn Man / Princeton, WI : Kitchen Sink Press, 1989.

Spudd 64 / [Ohio : M. Kish, 200-?- ] no. 4

Young, Ethan. Tails / [United States] : Bohemian Press, 2006- vol. 1


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Undiscovered Gems 2 Day 3

Two more entries in the Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest:

The Dane writes to tell us:

Clan Apis is a wonderful book for two reasons. In the first place it fulfills all the typical demands of storytelling. It's funny, exciting, interesting, and emotive. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Et cetera. In the second place, Clan Apis does something amazing. It actually comes off as a work of non-fiction, explicating and illustrating the secret lives of bees. And doesn't bore the reader into giving up partway through. I had read the back cover on several visits to my local seller and put the book back on the shelf several times. It just didn't sound interesting. At last and after a great many months later, I decided to purchase it as I had already gone through most of the books my seller stocked. After that, it sat on my to-read pile for another month or two. Then I finally read it and was...surprised. I was engrossed. Jay Hosler had created something amazing and no one had told me. I've since read it multiple times and given it to my wife's students to enjoy as well. Good stuff!

And Joe Szilvagyi writes:

My recommendation for the undiscovered gems list is The Surrogates written by Rob Venditti with art by Brett Weldele published by Top Shelf. The writing paints an incredibly credible view of the future where people choose to experience life through surrogate androids that transmit all sensory information to the user. It manages to run through a crime story that explores the benefits and drawbacks of this technology without coming across as preachy or too technical. Best of all, the art is quite solid with well thought out colour schemes and dynamic compositions.

Thanks to Joe and The Dane for their recommendations; they've 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!

Monkey Covers

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

Bow tie-wearing monkeys and surfing space heroes go great together on the cover to Kid Blastoff #1 by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer.

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

Bassoon Manga

I do believe that this is the first ever appearance of a bassoon on the cover of a comic:



Cover to Nodame Cantabile 11 by Tomoko Ninomiya.

(Why yes, I was a bassoon player in high school...)

Undiscovered Gems 2 Day 2

I received one further entry in the Undiscovered Gems 2 Contest:

Bill Burns writes:

Hey Mister, by Pete Sickman-Garner

A series of bizarre comedies focusing around a family unit of three unrelated characters: the dissipated loser Mister, the weird-looking child Young Tim, and Aunt Mary, the toughest woman in comics. Sickman-Garner (the best-named writer in comics) intersperses an occasional tale of his own creative process, one of which features Chris Staros demanding "I want wall to wall women and I want them greased up, strapped on, spread out and going down or you've drawn your last comic for Top Shelf." Hey Mister's humor is surrealistic and outrageous, but Sickman-Garner's affection for his characters makes them more than caricatures. The comics have been collected in three volumes from Top Shelf: Afterschool Special, Celebrity Roast, and The Fall Collection.

Thanks to Bill for his recommendation; he'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!