Recommended Picks for September 2, 2009

HOT PICK!

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN #1
Written by FRED VAN LENTE
Penciled by NICK DRAGOTTA

They’re back! What happened to Spider-Man, Colonel America, Power Man, Giant-Man and Wolverine at the end of MARVEL ZOMBIES 2? Where were they transported to…and, more importantly, when? A frightening five-part weekly event shambles to life here, penned by resident (evil) MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 and 4 scribe Fred Van Lente and three of today’s hottest novelists of zombie fiction! In this first chapter, your friendly neighborhood undead arachnid arrives in the swingin’ college days of his distant past, and when the Sinister Six threaten his loved ones, he seizes the opportunity to undo all the horror he’s caused as a flesh-eating freak. But can a monster truly become a hero, no matter how guilt-ridden he is? Or will he learn the hard way that with great hunger also comes…great hunger?

RECOMMENDED READING!

CAT BURGLER BLACK GN
(W/A) Richard Sala
When K. Westree arrives at Bellsong Academy, she thinks she’s left her cat-burglaring past behind her. But K. soon discovers the school has a mystery of its own – and she’s the only one who has a chance of solving it! (I couldn’t recommend Richard Sala more!)

This Week’s comics: September 2, 2009

Shipping This Week: 9/2/2009

Every Monday, PREVIEWSworld.com provides a list of comics, graphic novels and other pop-culture merchandise arriving this week to your local comic shop.

Please check with your retailer for availability, as not all new releases may be on sale in all areas at the same time.

PREVIEWS PUBLICATIONS

JUL090002	ARCHIE BETTYS DIARY HALLOWEEN MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2009 	PI
JUL090004	DARK HORSE STAR WARS HALLOWEEN MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2009 	PI
JUL090003	DH CASPER LITTLE LULU HALLOWEEN MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2009 	PI
JUL090006	DOMO MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2009 	PI
JUL090005	POPEYE MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2009 	PI

DARK HORSE COMICS

JAN090074	ACHEWOOD HC VOL 02 WORST SONG PLAYED	$14.95
MAY090079	BLOOD PLUS ADAGIO GN VOL 02	$10.95
JUL090016	BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #28 CHEN CVR	$2.99
JUL090017	BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #28 JEANTY CVR	$2.99
MAR090057	EMILY THE STRANGE TP VOL 02	$19.95
APR090024	LITTLE LULU TP VOL 20 BAWLPLAYERS & OTHER STORIES	$14.95
APR090029	SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 06	$19.95
JUL090091	STAR WARS INVASION #3 (OF 5)	$2.99
JUL090021	WITCHFINDER IN THE SERVICE OF ANGELS #3 (OF 5)	$2.99

DC COMICS

JAN090275	ABSOLUTE V FOR VENDETTA HC (MR)	$99.99
JUL090262	AUTHORITY #14	$2.99
JUL090172	BATMAN #690	$2.99
FEB090302	BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE STATUE DAVE MAZZUCCHELLI	$80.00
JUL090175	BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #33	$2.99
JUN090204	BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT TP	$19.99 

Disney to Purchase Marvel for $4B

Disney to Purchase Marvel for $4B

Press Release

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK– (BUSINESS WIRE) — Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Dynamite Opens The Stargate, For Just A Buck!

The longest running Science Fiction television franchise is now the next comic book event from Dynamite Entertainment! As SyFy prepares the launch of the brand-new Stargate Universe series, Dynamite’s STARGATE #0 not only features an exclusive STARGATE UNIVERSE story by Chuck (G.I. Joe) Dixon, but an exclusive  STARGATE SG-1 story by Brandon (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) Jerwa and an exclusive STARGATE ATLANTIS by Doug (RED SONJA) Murray! Watson and painter Dave Dorman provide the covers for this #0 comic book event!

Each of the three stories will serve as an introductory “tease” to the three series Dynamite will be launching later in 2009! And did we mention we were doing this #0 comic for just a buck?

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL volume 2

Blade of the Immortal volume 2
“Cry of the Worm”
by Hiroaki Samura

Dark Horse Comics / Studio Proteus
Translated by Dana Lewis and Toren Smith

BW, 192 pgs
$14.95 US / Higher in Canada

“Cry of the Worm”, the second collected volume in Hiroaki Samura’s punk samurai epic, contains two stories for the price of one. For my money, the first tale is the best. It’s the shorter of the two; a sword fight nestled between two very telling moments of character development.

Rin has come face to face with an artifact from her past. A Chinese sword that used to belong to her grandfather is now in the hands of one of Anotsu’s kenshi. (For those of you who are new to Blade of the Immortal, Anotsu and his Itto-ryo sword fighting school have been destroying other sword fighting schools, including the one run by Rin’s father.) When Rin tells Manji about the sword, he offers to return it to her. She tells him not to do so because she wants to start putting the past behind her. She feels it is time for her to start growing up and move on with her life. Her thirst for revenge will only die with Anotsu, so going after his minions is pointless.

SAMURAI EXECUTIONER volume 10

Samurai Executioner volume 10 (of 10)
“A Couple of Jitte”

Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Kazuo Koike
Art: Goseki Kojima

BW, 304 pgs
$9.95 US / Higher in Canada

 

Unlike the dense and layered epic of Itto Ogami from Lone Wolf and Cub, Samurai Executioner spends much of its pages telling stories about Edo-Period Japan and its citizens. These tales of crime and punishment are witnessed by Yamada Asaemon, the shogun’s sword tester and executioner. Yamada lives by his own code – he believes the executioner must understand the executed – so he goes through great lengths to familiarize himself with the condemned and the actions they’ve made. It is believed that the truth of their confessions will set their souls free, ending one life to begin another.

Samurai Executioner focuses on consequence and karma. Yamada-Sama might bookend most of the chapters in this ten volume collection, but only small fragments of his character are ever revealed at one time. We the reader are versed in his origin, and how he became the shogun’s decapitator after killing his father so he could succeed his position and title, but rarely does the reader get a glimpse into Yamada’s thoughts. Yamada, the headchopper, is far from hollow, but the distance between himself and the audience is immense. He speaks in riddles when his opinion and help is sought, instigating the need to reflect and do some soul-searching. There are no easy answers when Yamada’s wisdom is asked for, but with thought and reflection comes the solution.

GYO volume 2 (2nd Edition)

Gyo volume 2
by Junji Ito

Viz Communications
English Adaptation by Yuji Oniki

BW, 204 pgs
$9.99 US / Higher in Canada

I can’t say I’ve ever been scared reading a comic. There are horror comics out there, but they’re not likely to make you jump in your chair like some horror films. That’s actually fine by me because that jumpiness is the most basic form of horror there is. It’s a one trick pony. The momentary fright isn’t going to linger. You’ll probably even laugh immediately after jumping.

The purest form of horror is an underlying sense of unease. This occurs when moments of tension are never released. There’s no cliched scare tactics. There’s no delivery. It’s a relentless, seemingly unending build. You’re left stuck in anticipation. This unease is caused by the visuals you see and the sounds you hear. These thing make you think, put you in the moment, make you experience the horror on a more personal level. A good horror comic can do that with its images and story. It can get under your skin, make you uneasy and leave you that way even after the last page is turned. That is exactly what Gyo does to you.

DEATH NOTE volume 12

Death Note Volume 12

Viz Media
Writer: Tsugumi Ohba
Art: Takeshi Obata

BW 216 pgs
$7.99 US / Higher in Canada

The great moral conundrum: Does the ends justify the means?

I believe Neil Gaiman once said all stories if left to their own devices would inevitably end in death, as that’s life’s natural course. What about a manga that begins with death and is all about death? Of course it ends with death, does it not? And does creating a perfect world mean it’s all right to kill thousands? Do the ends justify the means?

When I discovered Death Note, it quickly became one of my favorite manga and was, in fact, one of the best comics I read last year – American, Japanese, European, they’re all comics in my opinion. Call them what you will but Death Note is right up there with the best.

For the uninitiated, Death Note is about a notebook. If someone’s name is written in it, they will die in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. If the cause of death is written down, the person will die of it in 40 seconds. An extremely smart teenager named Light Yagami finds a Death Note that was dropped into the mortal realm by the Shinigami death god, Ryuk, who was bored and decided to make his life more interesting. And hanging around Light has been anything but boring.

MY NEW YORK DIARY

My New York Diary 
by Julie Doucet

Drawn & Quarterly

BW, 96 pages
$15.95 US / Higher in Canada

Julie Doucet’s My New York Diary, first published in 1999, is a classic in the graphic novel genre. It’s the true story of Doucet’s move to New York from Montreal in 1991 to live with a man she barely knew. At first the relationship seems happy and healthy, but as the story progresses Doucet begins to discover an obsessive, paranoid side to the man she is stranded with in a city that terrifies her.

Drugs, epilepsy and success each play a vital role in her story, but the most fascinating aspect of the book is the way Doucet uses her comics as a form of reflection, as a way to make sense of a very chaotic time. Yet her ability to tell a story, and be really funny while doing it, saves it from the self-indulgence to which many diary-styled works often succumb. And the art is amazing. Everything is cluttered, claustrophobic. She has an affinity for the stuff that crowds up her apartment, like coffee pots and plants, the stuff of everyday life. In her earlier work, it was the things surrounding her that were the characters, her stories centered on dreams and inanimate objects coming to life. The characters that populate My New York Diary, even just the ‘extras’ passing on the street, are so stylistically unique as individuals that they alone pull you into her world.

My New York Diary also includes two short stories from Doucet’s old comic book Dirty Plotte, one of which is about how she started drawing comics, which is also the tale of her ‘First Time’. In addition to My New York Diary, her work has been collected into two other books, Lift your Leg, My Fish is Dead! and My Most Secret Desire. (Carrie-May Siggins)

BLACK DIAMOND DETECTIVE AGENCY

The Black Diamond Detective Agency

First Second Books
Writer: Eddie Campbell
Art: Eddie Campbell

FC 142 pgs
$16.95 US / Higher in Canada

“A tale so filled with twists, turns, and heart-stopping thrills, that its telling is best experienced through the modern wonder of the graphical narrative.”

Eddie Campbell tells a rousing tale of murder, mayhem, mystery and conspiracy set in late 1800′s just at the turn of the century in the good ole US of A. The story is pure, hard boiled pulp and that’s the way I like them. A train is blown up in the middle of a small town. Its mysterious cargo is stolen. The Black Diamond Detective Agency was hired to protect the cargo along with the Secret Service but they aren’t being told too much. Their only suspect, a man named John Hardin, manages to escape their custody. The detectives, lead by their boss, Mr. Quindlin, try to get to the bottom of the case.

As Hollywood continues its massive rape of the modern comic book, it’s interesting to note this story actually started out as a screenplay written by C. Gaby Mitchell, whose short movie resume includes contributing to the screenplay for Blood Diamond. The screenplay was sold to William Horberg who has produced such movies as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Heaven, The Quiet American and Cold Mountain. Horberg decided the story was good but unlikely to ever get made into a movie so he shopped it around as a potential comic book and First Second Books picked it up. They offered it to Eddie Campbell who agreed to make it into a comic as long as First Second would publish his Fate of the Artist.