To Everything, There is a Season...

You all must know by now that Love Manga is gone, but stepping back in to fill the gaps somewhat is Pata at Irresponsible Pictures. Welcome back!

Me, I'm not going anywhere (sorry!) Besides, there's less than three weeks until we kick of the second annual Free Comic Book Month...

Dave's Dozen: Mainstream Comics

Each month I go through Previews to highlight twelve items worthy of attention in three categories: Mainstream Comics, Indy Comics, and Collections/GNs.

First up for the April Previews (comics supposedly available in June) are the following dozen mainstream comics picks:


Superman Returns: Krypton to Earth
Superman Returns: Ma Kent
Superman Returns: Lois Lane
Superman Returns: Lex Luthor
(DC, $3.99 ea., p. 67)

Ordinarily these comic book prequels are inconsequential, but with the team behind the movie involved with the stories, I image that, while not essential to the movie, these ought to be interesting.


Superman/Batman #27
(DC, $2.99, p. 69)

With new writer Mark Verheiden coming on board, perhaps this book will become readable. At least with guest art by Kevin Maguire it'll look great.


DCU: Brave New World
(DC, $1.00, p. 77)

Only Uncle Sam (Palmiotti, Gray & Acuña) & The Atom (Simone, Byrne & Scott) really interest me, but for a buck it'll be a good way to sample things.


Secret Six #2
(DC, $2.99, p. 86)

I haven't seen an issue of this yet, but I'm putting my faith in Simone to give us a ripping good yarn. Plus, so far those covers by Karl Kerschl look fantastic!


Solo #11
(DC, $4.99, p. 87)

It's a shame that this series is ending, but beore it does we get a whole issue by Sergio Aragones! Will there be a Bat Lash story?


Casanova #1
(Image, $1.99, p. 136)

Matt Fraction & Gabriel Ba bring us international action in glorious 2-color. Hot damn! This has got to be my pick of the month.



Sabrina #77
(Archie, $2.25, p. 233)

Tania del Rio continues to bring us one of the best OEL manga titles out there; don't believe me? Johanna says so too! And you don't have to wait 6 months between installments like you do with some other publishers...


Eternals #1
(Marvel, $3.99, p. M33)

Neil Gaiman & John Romita, Jr. Who cares what it's about? (Which is a good thing, because the solicitation copy is darn near content free...)


Nextwave #6
(Marvel, $2.99, p. 56)

This comic will be staying far, far away from Civil War--right? I'd much rather have samurai robots than super-heroes angsting.



Look for the other two parts, Indy Comics & Collections/GNs, sometime soon.

New Library Comics: Week of April 3, 2006

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


Andelman, Bob. Will Eisner, a spirited life /Milwaukie : M Press ; [Berkeley, Calif.] : Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2005.

Baker, Kyle. The Cowboy Wally show /New York : DC Comics, c2003.

Baker, Kyle. Undercover genie : the irreverent conjurings of an illustrative Aladdin /New York, NY : Vertigo Comics, c2003.

Braddock, Paige. Jane's world : vol. 4 /[Sebastopol, Calif.] : Girl Twirl Comics, 2005.

Gonick, Larry. The cartoon history of the universe /New York : Broadway Books, 2001- v.3

Henderson, Sam. Humor can be funny! /Gainesville, FL : Alternative Comics, 2005.

Mathieu, Marc-Antoine. Memoire morte /[Paris] : Delcourt, c2000.

Rickheit, Hans. Chloe /Cambridge, MA : Chrome Fetus Comics, c2002.

Tyler, Carol. The job thing /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 1993.

Monkey Covers

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

Wally West and Hal Jordan get their butts handed to them courtesy of Gorilla Grodd on the cover to 1992's Green Lantern #30 by artists Mark "Doc" Bright and Romeo Tanghal.

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

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

Ever Wanted to be a Super-Hero?

Man skydives with turbine engines strapped to his feet.

Grant Morrison may have been right...

King of the Impossible

This one's for Mike:



(Yes, that's a photo of actor Sam J. Jones inserted into the otherwise loverly cover by Al Williamson.)

I'll try to get motivated to have some interior scans posted soon...

New This Week: April 5, 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 Superior Showcase #1 from Adhouse Books, a new anthology series that features indy comix creators taking a stab at super-heroes (much like their well received anthology GN Project Superior, but less thick). This first issue features work by Nick Bertozzi, Mike Dawson and Dean Trippe.


In other comics:

Aeon have the conclusion of Matt Howarth's Keif Llama: Xenotech (#6).

Airship have the fourth volume of Girl Genius.

Dark Horse debut Toru Yamazaki's manga horror title Octopus Girl.

DC have a collection of Howard Chaykin's Challengers of the Unknown mini; the third collection of Ex Machina; and new issues of Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis (#41), Detective Comics (#818), Ex Machina (#19), Jonah Hex (#6), JSA (#84), Planetary (#25), Swamp Thing (#26), Winter Men (#4), and Y, the Last Man (#44). They also have the penultimate issue of Infinite Crisis (#6), which I'm sure will explain everything.

I Box have a new issue of Thieves & Kings (#48).

Image have the debut of the second volume of Lions, Tigers & Bears.

Marvel have the second digest of Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, which you should really consider picking up because writer Jeff Parker is turning out some fun done-in-one stories for this all-ages title. There are also new issues of The Book of Lost Souls (#6), Marvel Team-Up (#19), and The Punisher (#32).

Oni debut Chynna Clugston and Ian Shaughnessy's Strangetown.

TokyoPop have the U.K. edition of Rising Stars of Manga.


And that's about it. Compared to last week, it's relatively sane!