New This Week: June 14, 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 Marvel's She Hulk, vol. 3: Time Trials, by Dan Slott & Juan Bobillo. Yes, I know I'm going to comic book hell because I wait for the trade on this title, but I'm really looking forward to it and you should be too.


In other comics:

Amaze Ink has bears fighting evil in giant robot suits in Ursa Minors #1.

Ape Entertainment have the second issue of Horrorwood.

Archie debut Andrew Pepoy's Katy Keene in Archie and Friends #101.

Dark Horse have the third expensive Nexus Archives hardcover, and the relatively inexpensive Star Wars X-Wing Rogue Squadron Omnibus, vol. 1. At least one of the stories collected has art by Darco Macan, and he was quite swell.

DC have Rick Veitch's new OGN Can't Get No; collect Warren Ellis & Butch Guice's JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell into a TPB; and have new issues of 100 Bullets (#73), 52 (week 6), Checkmate (#3), DMZ (#8), Ex Machina Special (#2), Fables (#50), Firestorm (#26), JLA Classified (#22--JLA Detroit!), and Superman (#653).

Fantagraphics have Megan Kelso's The Squirrel Mother.

IDW have the penultimate issue of Supermarket (#3).

Image collect Nabiel Kannan's crime-noir The Drowners.

Marvel collect the League of Losers story from Marvel Team-Up; and have new issues of Civil War (#2), Squadron Supreme (#4), and Thunderbolts (#103).

Shanda Fantasy Arts finally have a new issue of Shanda the Panda (#45).

Viz have new volumes of Banana Fish (vol. 14) and Tezuka's Phoenix (vol. 7).


Enjoy your new comics!

Review: De:TALES

De:TALES
by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá
Dark Horse, $14.95

De:TALES is the best comic I've read so far this year.

I've been impressed by twin brothers Moon & Ba's work before, but in De:TALES they raise the bar with a collection of short stories that, if there's any justice in this world, should bring them the recognition they richly deserve.

Grounded in the urban life of Sao Paulo with a touch of magical realism, the unrelated stories range the gammut from high concept--a friend is brought back from the dead to spend his birthday among the living; a young woman tells a complete stranger that he's too late to fall in love with her--to the quietly mundane. But even the seemingly mundane stories have a touch of magic in their lyrical simplicity, such as the final story in which a woman gets out of bed and lights a candle.

There is such a strong sense of life in these stories, about people who are happy, unhappy, satisfied, unsatisfied, in love, out of love, searching, longing, and content. These are stories about people and how they relate, or don't relate, to each other.

The art is attractive and fluid, with a strong grasp of storytelling. It's the kind of book that you can pick up, turn to a random page, and admire the art, from the linework to the layout.

Sometimes I worry about the state of comics; then I read a book like De:TALES, and my faith in the future of the medium is restored.

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)