Monkey Covers

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

From January 1974 it's Jungle Twins #8: "Tono and Kono confront a fearsome fugitive from the gorilla cult of Dr. Strangekind!" What more could you ask for out of a comic?

(standard disclaimer about gorillas not really being monkeys applies)

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

Runaways Contest!

It's time for a new contest here at YACB!

I'm giving away two prize packages related to Marvel's acclaimed Runaways series by Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona:

The Grand Prize is all three volumes of the Runaways digests, collecting all 18 issues of the first volume of the series.

Second Prize is the first six issues of the first Runaways series (the ones that are collected in the first digest).

What do you have to do to enter? It's simple:

In the series, a group of kids discover that their parents are secretly super-villains. To enter the YACB Runaways contest, just email me a paragraph addressing the topic: If your parents were super-villains, which super-villains would they be, and why? (Please put 'Runaways Contest' in your email subject.)

Fine Print: Deadline for entries is next Friday, July 1st, at 11:59 pm EDT. Due to postage costs, only U.S. and Canada residents are eligible. The decision of the judge (me) is final. Only one entry per person. Your name and entry may be used on this blog when the contest winners are announced.

So what are you waiting for? Enter today!

Super Manga Linkblogging Love Go!

So you want to know the latest news and commentary in the world of manga, but don't have time to go through all the news sites and message boards and blogs and whatnot? Then check out the fine work of Pata at Irresponsible Pictures and David Taylor at Love Manga, where high quality manga links are presented for your edification and enjoyment.

Also in manga-blog-land, David Welsh (writer of the weekly Flipped column at Comic World News) blogs frequently and intelligently about manga at Precocious Curmudgeon, and Johanna of Cognitive Dissonance does a lot of good manga reviewing.

New This Week: June 22, 2005

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 debut issue of Viz's new anthology, Shojo Beat. It's hundreds of pages of girl-friendly manga for the price of just two House of M or Infinite Crisis crossover comics--you should at least give it a try.


In other comics:

Aeon have the final issue of Matt Howarth's Bugtown (#6).

Alias actually have some second issues: Deal with the devil, Judo Girl, Killer Stunts, and Lethal Instinct.

Antarctic have the Heaven Sent Stand Alone Special and Fred Perry's last issue of his Ninja High School arc (#129).

APC debut three series: Dark Mists, Gloom, and Lexian Chronicles Full Circle.

Dark Horse have the debut of Hellboy: The Island, a trade of Steve Rude's The Moth, and new volumes of What's Michael (vol. 10) and Little Lulu (vol. 4).

DC have the debut of a new Astro City maxi-series, The Dark Age, and the debut of the rather unnecessary adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (read the book or watch the video instead!) They also have new issue's of Legion of Super-Heroes (#7), Otherworld (#4), and Teen Titans. Lots of Batman stuff too--you'd think there's a movie out or something...

IDW have the penultimate issue of Grimjack: Killer Instinct (#5).

Image have a new issue of Noble Causes (#11) and a third paperback collection of Frank Cho's Liberty Meadows strip.

Marvel have the second issue of House of M, along with many crossover comics, and new issues of Captain America (#7), Spellbinders (#4), Supreme Power (#17), and Ultimate X-Men (#60).

NBM have the second volumes of their Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew OGNs.

Shuck Comics have the first issue of Shuck: The Sulfurstar.

TokyoPop have a gaggle of new manga volumes, including the debut of the rock-n-roll manga Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad.


That's it for this week. As always, plenty of comics, no matter your tastes!

Germans Also Love The Manga

Article from Expatica (an online magazine for English-speaking ex-pats in Germany):

Manga Mania

"The cult Japanese 'manga' comics have conquered Germany, with fans spending hundreds of euros a month on comics and dressing up as their heroes at conventions. Yuriko Wahl looks at the craze."

Replace the names and places, and you'd have exactly the same kind of article that appears in the American press whenever a reporter 'discovers' The Manga.

(link via the Comix Scholars email list)

Monkey Covers

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

From 1969's Iron Man #15, artists George Tuska & Frank Giacoia bring us ol' shell-head facing off against the Red Ghost's Super Apes.

(standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies)

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

Previews-o-Rama part 2: The Middle

We continue now with the second half of our monthly stroll through the lastest Previews for items scheduled to come out in August (loosely defined...)


Aardvark-Vanaheim & Win-Mill continue with issue #5 of Following Cerebus, this time looking at the role of editors in creating graphic novels.

Active Images has Joe Kelly & Ilya's Ballast One-Shot, about a contarct killer who goes to work for God.

Amazingly, Alias has decided to stop launching new series. They do have new issues of Penny & Aggie (#4), Opposite Forces (#2), and David: Shepherd's Song (#2), as well as collections of two series that initially appeared when they were publishing through Image: Imaginaries, vol. 1: Lost & Found; and Lullaby, vol. 1: Wisdom Seeker.

AiT/PlanetLAR has a third volume of Mike Brennan's Electric Girl, with over 50% all-new material!

ADV has the third volume of the badass highschool manga parody Cromartie High School.

Rex-Libris #1: "I, Librarian"--a gun- & dictionary-toting librarian who fights evil gods and powerful alien warlords. It's from James Turner & Amae Ink/Slave Labor; how could I possibly pass this up?

Judging by the sample pages, APC's Abiding Perdition looks kind of interesting...

Several interesting things from Antarctic this month: in addition to new issues of Gold Digger (#67), Ninja High School (#131), and Oz: The Manga (#3), there are collections of Rod Espinosa's Chronicles of the Universe: Desperado Brothers & Ben Dunn's Mighty Tiny, a well-done furry comic; MetaDocs, a one-shot about doctors who treat super-heroes from Joe Dunn (M.D.) and Rod Espinosa; and the debut of Jasen Lex's Science Fair.

Arcana has the sixth issue of 100 Girls.

Archie has a new issue of Tania Del Rio's Sabrina (#69).

Checker have a collection of Theodor Geisel's pre-Dr. Suess work: Theodor Seuss Geisel: Early Works, vol. 1

Boom! have a colorized version of Keith Giffen's classic The March Hare one-shot.

A new issue of Dave Roman & John Green's Quicken Forbidden comes out so rarely I usualyl think that it's cancelled, but Crytic Press have issue #13 this month.

D.E. have the first volume of Carlos Trillo & Eduardo Risso's Borderline. I've never cared much for Trillo's writing, but Risso's art is always worth a look.

Devil's Due continue to think that the 80's toy-based comic craze is still in full swing, as they debut G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes: Declassified.


Del Rey have two new manga series: Gacha Gacha & Love Roma; I'd love to be able to tell you more about them, but the descriptions in Previews are so generic as to be worthless.

Drawn & Quarterly have a third issue of Kevin Huizenga's Or Else, the comic where each issue is a different size & shape! Issue #2 was really good though, so this next issue is undoubtedly worth a look.

Fantagraphics go in a somewhat unexpected direction and start up a hardcover reprint series of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace. They also have a Jessica Abel interview in The Comics Jornal #270.

Gemstone's Donald Duck and Friends #331 & Uncle Scrooge #345 both have Carl Barks stories.

Girl Twirl have a new printing of the first Jane's World collection.

GT Labs has Bone Sharps, Cowboys & Thunder Lizards--I gave out 50 free copies of the FCBD preview, so now you're all primed to go buy this, right? They also have a companion book, a previously unpublished autobiography of dinosaur illustrator Charles R. Knight, with illustrations by Mark Schultz (I saw the pencil roughs a couple of months back, and they were looking good.)

I Box have a new issue of Mark Oakley's Thieves & Kings (#47)--is this book back on a quarterly schedule yet?

Graphix/Scholastic have a new OGN from Chynna Clugston: Queen Bee (I wonder what happened to the -Major?)

Warning: Snarky Political Comment ahead:
Heroic Publishing's Flare Adventures #1 features the League of Champions "on a mission... to prevent President Bush from being replaced by an evil demonic duplicate." How exactly would one be able to tell the difference? (C'mon, man, the joke was just lying there--I had to make it!)

IDW have Spike: Old Times, a one-shot written by Peter David--overpriced but I'll probably get it anyway, fanboy that I am. They also have a trade collection of Desperadoes: Banners of Gold, and The Complete Mars collection the entire classic First Comics series by Mark Hempel & Marc Wheatley.

Komikwerks have a new anthology, Thrills & Chills, nicely priced to compete with manga.

Peter David pops up again, this time writing Moonstone's Kolchak Tales: Black & White & Red All Over one-shot.

NBM collect the first three issues of Zorro in a pocket-sized trade.

Oni have the secon dissue of Banana Sundays (monkeys!); Lola, a graphic novella from J. Torres & R'John Bernales; and a second collected volume of Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures by J. Torres & J. Bone.

Renaissance Press finally have a new issue of Jimmy Gownley's Amelia Rules (#14)--resolicited, of course.

Serve Man Press have a collection of Sean Wang's sci-fi adventure series, Runners: Bad Goods.

Puffin have two new adaptations of classic literature in a manga-shaped package: Treasure Island and The Wizard of Oz.

Titan Publishing have Star Trek Comic Classics volume 1: To Boldly Go, a collection of the first six issues of DC's first Star Trek comic series from 1984, by Mike W. Barr, Tom Sutton & Ricardo Villigran. While not quite as good as Peter David's later work on the title, these issues, set improbably between Star Trek II & Star Trek III, were actually pretty good.

Speakeasy have a colelction of Jamie Delano's old Vertigo series, 2020 Visions, with artists Frank Quitely, Steve Pugh, Warren Pleece & James Romberger in tow. Their new series, Rocketo by Frank Espinosa, also looks promising.

Look at all those TokyoPop books! This month's OEL manga debut is War on Flesh, a zombie story by Greg Hildebrandt, Justin Boring, and Tim Smith. Also debuting is Girls Bravo, a 'harem manga' (I'm a bit disturbed that there's now a term for that...); and Off Beat!, a shonen ai series about a 15-year-old genius. Also, Shobei Manabe's existential horror series Dead End returns with a third volume, and OEL manga Van Von Hunter returns for a second volume.

Top Shelf make a series stab for your wallet with Tricked, Alex Robinson's new OGN; and Aaron Reiner's Spiral Bound OGN. They also have the first two Owly valumes available for re-order, just in case you missed them before.

Viz have a lot of new volumes of their same stuff; nothing new really stands out, and you pretty much know by now which of the regular stuff you like by now.

Hiding way back in the Books section is Larry Gonick's The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (with Craig Criddle), which has actually been out in regular bookstores for a while now. I've only read the first couple of chapters, but so far it looks like the same high quality learning & fun as his previous Cartoon Guides.

Also hiding back in the book section is the third collection of the Unshelved online comic strip: Library Mascot Cage Match. It's a fun comic strip about what goes on in a public library--funny stuff!