New Library Comics: Week of January 16, 2006

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Dart, Rebecca. RabbitHead /Gainesville, FL : Alternative Comics, 2004.

Delisle, Guy. Pyongyang : a journey in North Korea /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly ; New York : Distributed in the USA by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c2005.

Doucet, Julie, 1965- The Madame Paul affair /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2000.

Johnson, R. Kikuo. Night fisher /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2005.

Kalesniko, Mark. Why did Pete Duel kill himself? /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 1997.

Mizuno, Junko, 1973- Pure trance /San Francisco, Calif. : Last Gasp, 2005.

O, Se-yong, 1955- Buja's diary /New York : NBM ComicsLit, 2005, c2001.

Porcellino, John. Perfect example /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly ; New York : Distributed in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c2005.

Roadstrips : a graphic journey across America /San Francisco : Chronicle Books, c2005.

Sadowski, Greg. B. Krigstein /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2002-

Satrapi, Marjane, 1969- Embroideries /New York : Pantheon Books, 2005.

Yoe, Craig. Modern arf /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics Books, 2005.

Monkey Covers

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

Robby Reed—the hero with 1000 forms—battles a Plant-Gorilla on the cover of 1966's House of Mystery #161 by Jim Mooney. Plant-Gorilla! Gotta love the silver age!

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

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

YAFQ: What Comic Haven't You Read (Yet)

What comic have you always intended to read, but haven't yet gotten around to reading yet?

For me it would be Love & Rockets. I have both Palomar and Locas on my bookshelf, but they're both such massive tomes that I haven't gotten around to digging into them yet. I think they intimidate me a little...

What about you? Which comic have you always heard good things about, but haven't yet read?

Review: It's Superman

It's Superman
by Tom De Haven
Chronicle Books, $24.95

In It's Superman, novelist Tom De Haven brings a freshness to the origin of Superman by setting his story in the past. In the 1930s, in midst of the Great Depression, Clark Kent is a just graduated farmboy in Smallville with powers he doesn't understand, and looking for more from life than being a reporter for the town weekly. Unbeknownst to Clark, his life will eventually become entangled with that of Lois Lane--who is trying to make it as a woman reporter for the New York Daily Planet--and Lex Luthor, NYC Alderman, wannabe crime lord, and would-be captain of industry.

This is an origin story, and Clark doesn't put on his familiar 'S' and cape until close to the end. I've decried origin stories in the past, but by making his novel Clark Kent's bildungsroman De Haven successfully recasts the narrative; and the very last chapter of the book justifies his decisions rather poetically.

De Haven employs present-tense narration for this novel, which normally sets my teeth on edge but in this case works. In fact, it bothered me for a while why present-tense was working so well for the book, and it seemed like an odd choice for a novel set in the past. But then it occured to me that in using present-tense De Haven was employing the same narrative voice that one would find in the comic book adventures of the day, and it all made perfect sense.

This is not a typical novel based on a comic book super-hero; it's a sophisticated and compelling look at a man on his way to meet his destiny, and the world that shapes him.

Rating: 4 (of 5)

New This Week: January 18, 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 Morrison & Quitely's All Star Superman #2, because the first issue was pretty darn cool, wasn't it? I think I've read it three times already--and considering all the unread comics vying for my attention, that's saying something. Everything you could ever want in a super-hero comic.


In other comics:

Abstract Studios have the latest issue of Strangers in Paradise (#79).

Antarctic Press have a new issue of Gold Digger (#71).

Avatar have the trade collection of Warren Ellis' Apparat--four good one-shots under a single cover.

Dark Horse have the eigth volume of Samurai Executioner.

DC have a big ol' Showcase Presents Green Arrow; the debut issue of Joe Kubert's Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy mini; and new issues of Action Comics (#835), Birds of Prey (#90), Ex Machina (#17), Hellblazer (#216), Infinite Crisis (#4), Legion of Super-Heroes (#13), The Losers (#31), Lucifer (#70), Manhunter (#18), Planetary (#24), Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle (#3), and Testament (#2).

Fantagraphics have a new issue of The Comics Journal (#273).

IDW have the second new issue of Maze Agency.

Image have new issues of Noble Causes (#16) and The Walking Dead (#25).

Marvel have a trade collection of the Paul Smith-drawn X-Men: Kitty Pride--Shadow & Flame; the debut of X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl; and new issue of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#4) and Runaways (#12).



That does it for this week. I hope there's something here that you like!

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Over at The Absorbascon, Scipio continues his fascination with the Detroit-era JLA in The Real World: Detroit.

ITEM! According to an analysis by John Jackson Miller, the Diamond-serviced direct market in 2005 saw a 7.3% overall sales increase compared to 2004; which, despite all the nay-saying about what's wrong with the industry, strikes me as a rather healthy increase. Most of that increase came from GN sales, although comic floppies also showed a slight growth. Of course, it remains to be seen if the current practices by Diamond and the big-time publishers can sustain this level, and what effect these practices will have on smaller publishers.

ITEM! The new PW Comics Week has an article about Fanfare/Ponent Mon's literary manga line: "Nouvelle Manga Comes to the U.S.". I read Jiro Taniguchi's Walking Man this weekend and thought it was fantastic--just the sort of thing I want to see more of in my manga.

ITEM! I finally got the new update to my parents' lighthouse site loaded: a trip to Bois Blanc Island and Straits of Mackinac that they took back in August.

Hal Jordan: Badass

Let's face it: considering that he wears on his finger the Most Powerful Weapon in the Universe, Hal Jordan is way too often depicted as an ineffectual boob, like when he gets knocked unconscious by sticks of wood.

But sometimes the editors remember that Hal is wielding that cool ring and depict him on covers as the badass he should most righteously be:



No blonde-haired Robert Redford wannabe in a rejected Robin costume is going to take Hal's job--even if he was there first!




Take that, you blonde goateed hippy! (Hal doesn't like guys with blonde hair...)




That's two--count 'em--two badass power rings!




Back to just one ring, but he's leading the charge with a bunch of badass orc-wannabe Anti-Green Lanterns!




Hal's too much of a badass to care what his woman wants!




Beware my Power, b*tch!




Hal's not taking any crap from a bunch of short blue guys!




That's right--a whole planetoid made of Kryptonite. Hal could kick Kal's ass anytime he wants just by thinking about it!




Hal's not going to take any smack from smack--and he's not going to let his friends forget it!




Hey kid--Hal used to fly those things when you were in diapers. Punk!




Still not taking any crap from the blue guys!




He's a frickin' Shogun Warrior!




Strong and silent--lets his blonde haired hippy friend do all the talking!


So there you go. Hal Jordan, being a badass. Although it seems that in so many of those he's being mind controlled...