Kick-Ass Trailer

Stumptown #1

Stumptown #1
Oni Press
(W) Greg Rucka
(A) Matthew Southworth
FC 32 pgs w/ ads $3.99 US / Higher in Canada

If there’s one thing that Greg Rucka excels at, its gritty crime stories. I usual follow Rucka to whatever project he’s working on with a few exceptions. I’m not currently following his run on Action Comics and Superman: The World of New Krypton. I hear they are good but I just don’t have the money to follow everything and I’d rather read Rucka on Detective or even better – something like this series.

The story is familiar, a private detective, in this case a woman named Dex, who is a bit down on her luck is forced to take a missing persons case to pay an outstanding debt. The second she starts snooping there’s the familiar threats from some mysterious toughs and then there is the rich, respectable business man who also is involved.

This is a story that I’ve read before in a dozen or so dime detective novels and seen in similar films. I don’t know why but I never get tired of it though. And Rucka has me hooked into the story with his strong characterizations as always. Matthew Southworth is meticulous in his rendering of Portland, Oregon which grounds the series in reality and his dark pencils are reminiscent of Michael Lark’s work. It adds the right look for this book.

This first issue has hooked me and while I’d like to see more Queen & Country from Rucka, this feels like a series that I’m going to really enjoy. (Shane Hnetka)

Recommended Picks for November 11, 2009

Hot Pick!
Batman/Doc Savage Special #1
DC Comics
(W) Brian Azzarello
(A) Phil Noto
Cover by JG Jones

Doc Savage returns to DC Comics…and comes face-to-fist with the Batman! Superstar scribe Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Joker) and the breathtaking art of Phil Noto combine to shine the first light on a shadowy new version of the DC Universe, where the thugs run rampant, corruption runs deep, and even heroes can’t be trusted! Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, hates what he’s heard about the connections between a grisly murder and Gotham City’s violent new vigilante. But the Batman can’t abide do-gooders getting in his way— and his .45 just won’t stay in its holster! Sketchbook material and variant cover by Rags Morales.

FC $4.99

Recommended Pick!
LUNA PARK
Written by Kevin Baker
Art and cover by Danijel Zezelj

“The most satisfying story I’ve read — in any medium — in years. Perhaps the greatest work of one of America’s greatest writers.”
— Darin Strauss (Chang and Eng)

“Frightening, beautiful and compelling to the very last panel.”
— Denise Mina (HELLBLAZER, Slip of the Knife)

New York Times bestselling author Kevin Baker (Dreamland) writes his first original graphic novel, with internationally acclaimed artist Danijel Zezelj. Alik Strelnikov lives in the shadow of Coney Island, a world of silenced rides and rusting amusement parks that mock his dreams of becoming a hero. Ten years ago, he traded a brutal existence in the Russian army for the promise of America only to become an enforcer in the Brooklyn mob. Now, he chases his ghosts with all he has left: booze, heroin and his lover, Marina, part-time prostitute and full-time fortune teller. The only way the two of them can escape their miserable fates hinges on a desperate plan that will put them between warring mobs and span a century, from contemporary Coney Island to the Russia of the Second Chechen War to spellbinding 1910s New York. Mixing historical novel, immigrant fiction and crime thriller, LUNA PARK marks Kevin Baker’s return to Coney Island, the setting of his critically beloved Dreamland and features breathtaking art by Danijel Zezelj (LOVELESS) with to-die-for colors by Dave Stewart (DC: THE NEW FRONTIER).

FC $24.99 US

Comics Shipping This Week: November 11, 2009

Shipping This Week: 11/11/2009

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.

DARK HORSE COMICS

JUL090068 BLOOD SONG SILENT BALLAD GN DHC ED $19.95
SEP090028 BPRD 1947 #5 (OF 5) $2.99
SEP090016 CITIZEN REX #5 (OF 6) $3.50
MAR090096 COASTER SET TOKIDOKI $12.99
AUG090028 ELECTROPOLIS TP $14.95
SEP090030 HELLBOY WILD HUNT #8 (OF 8) $2.99
JUN090047 INSOMNIA CAFE HC $14.95
JUN090064 OH MY GODDESS RTL TP VOL 13 $10.95
AUG090021 RAPTURE #5 (OF 6) OEMING CVR $2.99
SEP090034 STAR WARS CLONE WARS #10 HERO CONFEDERACY PT 1 $2.99
SEP090013 STAR WARS PURGE SECONDS TO DIE ONE SHOT (OSW) $3.50

DC COMICS

APR090204 ABSOLUTE JUSTICE HC $99.99
SEP090132 ACTION COMICS #883 $3.99
SEP090197 AUTHORITY THE LOST YEAR READER $2.99
SEP090123 BATGIRL #4 $2.99
SEP090117 BATMAN #693 $2.99
SEP090115 BATMAN AND ROBIN #6 $2.99
SEP090139 BATMAN DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL #1 $4.99

Kick-Ass Posters

Teaser Posters for the upcoming movie adaptation.

SEVEN NEW BOOK COLLECTIONS OF CLASSIC COMIC BOOK MATERIAL

From my SPAM box:

 

For Immediate Release 

FANTAGRAPHICS & EDITOR GREG SADOWSKI PARTNER ON SEVEN

NEW BOOK COLLECTIONS OF CLASSIC COMIC BOOK MATERIAL

Fantagraphics Books is proud to announce that it has struck a deal with comics historian and editor Greg Sadowski to produce seven new collections of classic comic book material for the Seattle publisher. Sadowski is a Harvey and Eisner Award-nominated editor who has previously overseen the publication of the acclaimed collections SUPERMEN: THE FIRST WAVE OF COMIC BOOK HEROES 1936-1941, as well as B. KRIGSTEIN and B. KRIGSTEIN COMICS. He is a former staff editor and designer for Fantagraphics Books and currently works freelance from his home on San Juan Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound.

“Greg has written one of the landmark cartoonist biographies (and only the first half yet!) with B. Krigstein, and the collections of comics from the ’40s and ’50s that he’s edited for us — B. Krigstein Comics and Supermen!, to date— have been meticulously assembled, with an eye toward selection, flow, and accompanying historical text. We’re pleased that he’s got such an ambitious agenda ahead,” says Fantagraphics Publisher Gary Groth, who acquired the books.

The books will be released one per season, beginning with FOUR COLOR FEAR: FORGOTTEN HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s in June 2010 and produced in collaboration with comics historian John Benson (SQUA TRONT). The second book, due in Fall 2010, will be a collection of legendary artist Alex Toth’s work for Standard Comics in the 1950s. The remaining five books will be release in subsequent seasons, with exact schedules to be announced. The full list of books follows below.

FOUR COLOR FEAR: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s

RELEASE DATE: June 2010

This full-color 304-page edition collects the finest horror comics of the pre-code era (1950-54). EC is the company that most fans associate with horror, but to the average reader there remain unseen a tremendous volume of genuinely disturbing, compulsive, and imaginative stories from publishers such as Ajax-Farrell, Atlas, Charlton, Fawcett, Quality, Standard and many more. Four Color Fear collects the best, and includes 40 full-sized covers. Featured are comic book legends such as Jack Cole, Steve Ditko, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Basil Wolverton, Wally Wood, L.B.Cole, Matt Fox and many others. “In these types of compilations, I try to provide a service to the reader who has neither the time, inclination, nor bank account to purchase and sift through hundreds of golden age comic books to glean off that precious 10% – the most distinctive and worthwhile examples from a particular genre,” says Sadowski.

Halloween at ComicReaders

Invincible and Atom Eve dropped by for some candy and free comics.

Great costumes Darren and Michelle!

Ranma 1/2 volume 3

Ranma ½ volume 3
Viz Comics
by Rumiko Takahashi
BW, 216 pgs $13.95 CAN / $9.95 US

Ranma and Akane put on their ice-skates to finally duel with the ‘Golden Pair”, Azusa and Mikaao. The victors of the battle win the pig P-Chan and the loser gets nothing. As always, the events get crazy and everybody is fighting for the love of someone else and by the end of it nobody is really sure what happened.

As I started reading this trade paperback, I couldn’t help but feel the series Ranma ½ was going nowhere. The transformation of the characters into different forms was unlike anything I’ve read before, but I was starting to think this premise was getting stale after about three trades. Rumiko Takahashi can write funny situations and her gag timing is almost perfect, but the stories were being told over again in different ways.

These thoughts about Ranma ½ were changed by the introduction of the character Shampoo. She is a Chinese Amazon hunting down the female version of Ranma after ‘she’ defeated Shampoo in hand-to-hand combat. Shampoo swore to avenge herself and kill Ranma. But it wasn’t the character that made me change my opinion of the series. It was what happened. Shampoo gave Akane amnesia in a fight because Shampoo fell in love with the male half of Ranma after he beat Shampoo in hand-to-hand. So, Akane didn’t remember who Ranma was and it was the turmoil that ensued that really propelled the story. After hundreds of pages, Takahashi’s characters were finally breaking away and building their own personalities. It is evident the core players really care for one another.

So, even though every trade will be filled with turbulent love scenes and gratuitous action, I don’t mind. I’ll be reading it for those soft moments when Ranma figures out he is actually fond of Akane even though every bone in his body knows he isn’t suppose to be. (Dana Tillusz)

Ranma 1/2 volume 2

Ranma ½ volume 2 
Viz Comics
by Rumiko Takahashi
BW, 224 pgs $9.95 US

The adventures of Ranma, Akane and Ryoga continue in this second edition. This series is jam-packed with crazy love triangles; everyone is smitten with someone else but no one is able to get together. In poor Ranma’s case, he’s just trying to avoid the whole affair. Everyone seems to fall in love with Ranma whether he is a boy or if he’s turned into his female form.

Akane is supposed to battle Kodachi, the “Black Rose”, in the art of rhythmic gymnastics. After ambushing Akane a week before the scheduled battle, Kodachi bumps into Ranma. The Black Rose falls head over heels for Ranma after he beats her in a quick duel; even then she shows her true colours (she cheats at everything) when Kodachi uses paralysis gas to try and kiss him. Luckily for Ranma, Akane beats her off with a swift kick and the adversity carries on. The following day the situation gets thicker when Akane injures herself practicing her gymnastics and Ranma has to take her place in his cursed female form. And just for the record, rhythmic gymnastics involves beating your opponent out of the ring using any weapon you’ve got at your disposal. Ranma attempts to play the gentlemen (beating up girls isn’t his style) until Kodachi starts playing rough.

In another story, Akane and Ranma are blackmailed into dueling a couple known as the golden pair over the ownership of the piglet P-Chan (Ryoga’s animal form–Ryoga is cursed too and is Ranma’s archenemy; yes, I know it’s confusing). Of course, the fight takes place on an ice rink, the fighting in the style of Martial Skating, and neither Ranma nor Akane can skate. Nonetheless, some fighting takes place and Ranma receives his “first kiss.”

If this manga series is anything, it is entertaining. Ranma ½ might not be filled up with philosophy and highbrow humour, but it sure knows how to make you laugh. With all the love lost characters filling the pages, the reader can’t help but fall in love with them. (Dana Tillusz)

Recommended Picks for November 4, 2009

Hot Pick!
Lobo: Highway To Hell #1
DC Comics
(W) Scott Ian
(A/Cover) Sam Kieth

A Lobo story like nothing you’ve seen before! You can imagine that when you live life the way the Main Man lives life — loud, loose, and ludicrously violent — you might pick up an enemy or two along the way. An enemy like, Satan himself. Hell’s iron-fisted ruler has a serious mad-on for the last Czarnian, and he’s gonna hit Lobo right in his blackened, scabrous heart. So Lobo’s just gonna have to hit him harder. But first, Lobo has to go to Hell…a little sooner than anticipated! Metal icon Scott Ian of Anthrax makes his comics debut, joining forces with visionary creator Sam Kieth to bring you a Lobo story with exploding moons and severed heads.

FC $6.99

Recommended Pick!
Stumptown #1
Oni Press
(W) Greg Rucka
(A) Matthew Southworth

Superstar writer Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Detective Comics) embarks on his first creator-owned series since the Eisner Award-winning Queen & Country! Dex is the proprietor of Stumptown Investigations, and a fairly talented P.I. Unfortunately, she’s less adept at throwing dice than solving cases. Her recent streak has left her beyond broke — she’s into the Confederated Tribes of the Wind Coast for 18 large. But maybe Dex’s luck is about to change. Sue-Lynne, head of the Wind Coast’s casino operation, will clear Dex’ debt if she can locate Sue-Lynne’s missing granddaughter. But is this job Dex’s way out of the hole or a shove down one much deeper?

FC $3.99