New This Week: August 17, 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 James Turner's Rex Libris from Slave Labor. It's two-fisted librarian action--how can you go wrong?


In other comics:

Archie have a new issue of Sabrina (#69).

DC have new collections of Terra Obscura (vol. 2), Swamp Thing (vol. 2), JSA (vol. 9), and The Maxx (vol. 5); the debut issue of the Alan Moore-less Top Ten: Beyond The Farthest Precinct; and new issues of Authority: Revolution (#11), Birds of Prey (#85), Green Lantern (#3), Lucifer (#65), Manhunter (#13), and Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch Boy (#3).

Graphix have Chynna Clugston's new Queen Bee OGN.

Image have the second issue of Gødland and the fourth collected volume of Noble Causes.

Marvel have the Power Pack digest collection; the first Ultimate Spider-Man Annual; and new issues of Defenders (#2), New Thunderbolts (#11), and Ultimate X-Men (#62).

Pantheon have Joann Sfar's GN, The Rabbi's Cat.

Serve Man Press have The Runners: Bad Goods in a collected edition.

Speakeasy debut Rocketo.

TokyoPop have many many things, including the third volume of Dead End.


Hmmm, that appears to be it for this week. Kind of small, but I'm sure you'll find something to spend your money on (as long as it isn't the second Superman: For Tomorrow hardcover...)

FGNW Day 2: Daydream Lullabies & Remains

It's Day 2 of our Free Graphic Novel Week, celebrating one year of Yet Another Comics Blog.

The first of today's graphic novels up for grabs is Daydream Lullabies: A Billy Dogma Experience by Dean Haspiel. Here's how the publisher, Top Shelf, describes it:

Billy Dogma--the last romantic antihero--is so confused, his guns shoot everything but bullets. Jane Legit, Billy's career-driven girlfriend, questions his grip on reality, yet unconditionally encourages his imagination to foil The Under Color Cop, bamboozle The Human Barcode, escape The Loneliest Photobooth In The World, and tranquilize Dr. Eros, while trying to make ends meet in Trip City.

Today's second option is IDW's Remains by Steve Niles and Kieron Dwyer:

When the world goes mad, a blackjack dealer and an exotic dancer are mysteriously spared. But now they're trapped in Reno, surrounded by a veritable army of the undead - and with no idea what might wait for them beyond the city limits if they can escape. Are they the last man and woman on Earth? And if so, how long can they last?

To enter for a chance to win one of these graphic novels, simply do the following:

Send me an email with your name, your postal address, which graphic novel you want, and a sentence or two telling me why you want it. Please put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email.

You can enter once per day (but only once)--that means that you have to choose which of the two graphic novels you want. Also, you can only win once, so if you are picked you can't enter any more. But you can keep entering each day until you win. (You must be 18 or older and live in the United States.)

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm EDT, and the winners will be announced tomorrow morning. Then I'll announce the next two graphic novels, and this will continue all week.

(Full details, including the fine print, are available here.)

FGNW Day 1: Winners

The winners for Free Graphic Novel Week Day 1 are:

District X, vol. 1: Mr. M goes to Chris Brown. Chris writes that his reason is:

I've wanted to read District X for a while, but with my limited budget, I was going to get it through Inter-library loan (which I use QUITE a bit). But, man if I get get my hands on my very own FREE copy, that would be cool.

So I'll save Chris's library the ILL costs and send him his very own copy of District X to read.


The signed copy of The Sandman: Brief Lives goes to Brendan Creecy. Brendan's reason:

I've been reading your blog for awhile and I would like to enter your contest to win The Sandman. I just started reading this series at the recommendation of a friend and I would love to have volume 7 even though I'm not that far into it because I am pretty poor as of late. It's a great series, possibly one of my all time faves.

I'm always happy to help out a fellow comic reader who is down on his luck.


Congratulations to Chris and Brendan. For anyone keeping score at home, I only received five submissions for FGNW day 1, two for Distric X and three for Sandman, which is surprising. I figured that more people would want a chance to win a free graphic novel. Perhaps today's prizes (which I'll be announcing later this morning) will be more to your liking.

Also, I'd like to remind all entrants to please be sure to include your postal address and put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email. That'll be a big help to me. Thanks!

New Library Comics: Week of August 8, 2005

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


Crumb, R. R. Crumb sketchbook. Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics, 1992- v. 1, 2, 5

Crumb, R. The complete Crumb /Seattle : Fantagraphics Books, [1987?]- v. 1, 3-7, 10, 15, 16

Gonick, Larry. The cartoon history of the universe /New York : Broadway Books, 2001- v. 1-2

Griffith, Bill, 1944- Griffith observatory : the classic strips from 1977-1980 : with 16 previously uncollected pages /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c1993.

Ryan, Sara. Flytrap episode one : juggling act /[Portland, Or. : Cold Water Press], 2005.

Ryan, Sara. Me and Edith Head /[Portland, Or. : Cold Water Press], c2002.

Strip XEN /Ljubljana : Studioosem, 2004.

FGNW Day 1: District X & Sandman

It's Day 1 of our Free Graphic Novel Week, celebrating one year of Yet Another Comics Blog.

The first graphic novel up for grabs is District X, vol. 1: Mr. M by David Hine, David Yardin, Lan Medina, Mike Perkins, Alejandro Sicat & Drew Hennessy. Marvel describes it thusly:

Welcome to Mutant Town, the dark corner of New York City where the long arm of the law has been severed clean. Here, the mutant population doesn't sport GQ style or champagne dreams. They eke out each day in squalid tenement rows and filthy streets where only one man and one law can be trusted: the X-Man Bishop.

Today's second choice is The Sandman: Brief Lives, book seven in Neil Gaiman's award-winning series, featuring art by Jill Thompson & Vince Locke with Dick Giordano. As a bonus, this volume has been autographed by Locke along with a small head sketch of Dream.

Delirium, youngest of the Endless, prevails upon her brother Dream to help her find their missing sibling. Their travels take them through the world of the waking until a final confrontation with the missing member of the Endless and the resolution of Dream's painful relationship with his son, Orpheum, change the Endless forever.

To enter for a chance to win one of these graphic novels, simply do the following:

Send me an email with your name, your postal address, which graphic novel you want, and a sentence or two telling me why you want it. Please put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email.

You can enter once per day (but only once)--that means that you have to choose which of the two graphic novels you want. Also, you can only win once, so if you are picked you can't enter any more. But you can keep entering each day until you win. (You must be 18 or older and live in the United States.)

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm EDT, and the winners will be announced tomorrow morning. Then I'll announce the next two graphic novels, and this will continue all week.

(Full details, including the fine print, are available here.)

FGNW: Free Graphic Novel Week starts tomorow!

That's right: In honor of my 1st Blogiversary, tomorrow will kick off a week-long give-away of free graphic novels!

Here's how it will work:

Every morning I'll announce at least two graphic novels that I'm giving away for free that day. To enter for a chance to win, send me an email with your name, your postal address, which graphic novel you want, and a sentence or two telling me why you want it. That's it--it's just that easy!

Please put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email.

You can enter once per day (but only once)--that means that you have to choose which of the two graphic novels you want. Also, you can only win once, so if you are picked you can't enter any more. But you can keep entering each day until you win.

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm EDT, and the winners will be announced the next morning. Then I'll announce the next two graphic novels, and we'll continue all week.

Of course, there's some fine print:

* You must be 18 or older, and you must live in the United States.

* Winners are chosen by me, based on whatever criteria I decide to employ that day. All decisions are final.

* If you are chosen to win, your name and entry will be used on this blog for the announcement of winners.

* All of the graphic novels will be registered on BookCrossing, and there may be a registration sticker inside the front cover. In other words, there won't be any collectible value to these--they're meant to be read!

Come back tomorrow morning for the announcement of the first two graphic novels I'm giving away!

Monkey Covers

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

Today's cover is Sky Ape: Waiting for Crime, which I'm assuming is by artist Richard Jenkins.

Strange thing about my copy of this comic: I got it in a trade via BookCrossing, and someone has gone through and used white-out to remove all of the curse words. Now granted, pretty much all of the cursing in here is gratuitous, and honestly I'm not a big fan of gratuitous swearing when a simple $#%@! would work just as well. But still, defacing the text of a comic because you don't like the language used, that's uncool.

As for the comic itself, I liked it, certainly a lot more than I did the original Sky Ape collection. There's still an element of the ridiculous, but the story actually coheres into a narrative that can be followed. The story by Philip Amara, Tim McCarney & Michael Russo finds Kirk Madge, aka Sky Ape, and his crew traveling back in time to stop a group of home contractors from ruining ancient buildings (like pyramids and whatnot) with vinyl siding and hot tubs. It's a bunch of silly fun.

Hmm, this Monkey Cover entry has managed to turn into a quick review. So: Rating: 3 (of 5).

(standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies)

Click on the image for a larger version.

(Be sure to come back to this blog later today for our big First Blogiversary Give-Away Announcement!)