So, say your name is "Dave Sims" (note the 's' on the end). What better way to sow confusion in the marketplace to your advantage than to name your small press comic publishing enterprise "Aardwolf"?
Nat Gertler and friends have a second issue of Licensable Bear from About Comics.Nice 'Comix Lover' cover from Terry Moore on Strangers in Paradise #74. (Abstract Studios)
Active Images has a collection of Glenn Dankin's Temptation strip and Solstice, an OGN from Steven T. Seagle & Justin Norman.
ADV has the second volume of Eiji Nonaka's rather funny Cromartie High School.
AiT/PlanetLAR debuts Larry Young & Jon Proctor's Black Diamond On Ramp, which looks to be near-future high-octane action. Looks interesting, but I'm actually more excited about the six-page preview of Smoke and Guns with art by Fabio Moon.
Alias Enterprises continues to risk over-extension as they debut two more new series, XIII & The Devil's Keeper (both at just 75¢), plus two more mini series: Tad Williams' The Burning Man and David: The Shepherd's Song (based on the First Book of Samuel). They also have another one-shot, OZF5, one of those Oz reinventions that are once again back in vogue. Don't miss T. Campbell & Gisele Legace's Penny & Aggie #2 though.Kochalka fans will undoubtedly be all goo-goo over his new Cute Manifesto from Alternative Comics.
Amaze ink debut Steve Emond's new series Emo Boy, plus they have a collection of Jim Rugg & Brian Maruca's wonderful Street Angel. If for some reason you didn't buy the individual issues, by all means get the trade!
Hey look, it's another Oz reinvention! This time it's Antarctic Press, bringing us David Hutchison's Oz: The Manga. They also have a fourth color digest collection of Rob Espinosa's wonderful Neotopia.Avatar has Stargate SG-1: Daniel's Song #1 - Art Nouveau Editions: a sixteen-page reprint comic with five different covers for $5.99 each. Who buys this stuff?
Becket Comics has a collection of The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty, featuring a cover gallery by That Pepsi Girl's dad.
D.E.'s Red Sonja #1 has five different covers. Five! Such naked marketing for a nearly-naked S&S title! They also release a collection of Doug Moench & Paul Gulacy's classic Six from Sirius, an old Epic title ffrom back in the days when Marvel was actually interested in publishing things other than super-hero comics.
Devil's Due reboots G.I. Joe with a 25¢ #0 issue. Hasn't anyone told these guys that 80s-toy-comic nostalgia is on its way out? They also start up a Dungeons & Dragons license, because all the other companies who have licensed D&D in the past have had such spectacular success with them.
Digital Manga Publishing start up a couple of new yaoi titles which I'm sure will be of interest to somebody (Antique Bakery at least looks to have an interesting premise), but I'm really interested in Atsushi Kaneko's Bambi and Her Pink Gun which looks to have a unique visual style that pulls just as much from American indy books as it does from traditional manga.Dynamic Forces is offering a pre-slabbed version of House of M #1, so that you don't have to go to all the bother of actually reading your comic before putting it away forever in a plastic lock-box.
Evil Twin Comics brings us the Action Philosophers All-Sex Special, and it's an all-ages title! Thomas Jefferson, St. Augustine & Ayn Rand star.Fantagraphics have an all-new volume of Richard Sala's Peculia, Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires. Yay! They also debut Mome, a 136-page quarterly anthology of alt-comix.
Yes, Hell, Michigan really is a town here in the mitten state. It's also the title of a new comic by Dan Joley & Clint Hillinski from FC9 Publishing.
Gemstone collects Don Rosa's classic The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
Rick Spears and Rob G., of Teenagers from Mars fame, have a new OGN from Gigantic: Dead West.
Headless Shakespeare Press debuts Craig McKenney & Rick Geary's Xeric Award-winning The Brontës: Infernal Angira that involves the famous literary sisters in an otherworldly fantasy.iBooks has the first volume of Jean-Claude Mezieres & Pierre Christin's Valerian, which apparently was th inspiraion for The Fifth Element.
IDW debuts Angel: The Curse by Jeff Mariotte & David Messina, with a story set after the series-ending cliffhanger--I really really really want the Igor Kordey puppet cover! They also have the final issue of Grimjack: Killer Instinct and a second volume of The Complete Jon Sable, Freelance.
Keenspot has John Allison's Heavy Metal Hearts & Flowers, an all-new Scary Go Round story.
Kyle Baker Publishing has not one but two new Kyle Baker comics: The Bakers, a domestic comedy; and Nat Turner, abiographical comic about the man who led the famous slave revolt. I expect that both will be worthy of our money.A new issue of Carla Speed McNeil's Finder from Lightspeed Press. Buy it!
Oni debut's Northwest Passage, a western frontier comic from Scott Chantler that looks lie it could be quite good.
Pantheon looks to to continue their success publishing artsy graphic novels with Dan Clowes' Ice Haven OGN.
Look at the size of that TokyoPop section! Of the new titles, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad looks the most promising with its rock-and-roll story. There are also new volumes of Princess Ai, Fruits Basket, The Kindaichi Case Files, and Remote.Shanda Fantasy Arts has a new Shanda-related one-shot, Quinn the Racoon Special.
Top Shelf has AEIOU, the concluding volume of Jeffrey Brown's "Girlfriend Trilogy."
Vertical has an affordable paperback edition of the second Buddha volume from Osamu Tezuka.
Viz debuts their massive Shojo Beat monthly anthology as well as their Shojo Beat GN line. Lots and lots of comics for teen girls (but don't worry boys, they haven't forgotten you either!)And lastly, W. W. Norton kicks off their Will Eisner line with Eisner's final OGN The Plot: The Secret Story of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", an examination of the famous anti-Semetic hoax.
There we have it. Something for just about every comic taste, I should think!
