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Things To Come: Previews April for comics shipping June 2005
Normally, each month's "Things to Come" is written on a leisurely Saturday afternoon, with me armed with a copy of Previews, some fantastically bad music, and the nagging voice of the Ninth Art editorial brute squad echoing in my ears. The Saturday before this column goes live is my birthday, though, and I've still got to clean the entire apartment for the eventual party in the evening. Sunday is likewise occupied with family get-togethers for Easter, so that leaves me with... well, very little time. If I was a character in an Indiana Jones movie I might say, "No time for love, Doctor Jones!" but instead I'll change that to, "No time for crap, dear readers!" That's right, I have no time to focus on the truly bad and horrific. Instead I'm going to point out what items I'd have been delighted to get as gifts for my birthday. (If people want to get me birthday gifts two-and-a-half months late, incidentally, don't let me stop you. Consider my blessing placed on the idea.) SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST #2 by Joshua Cotter
This present better come with a prescription for some Prozac. Don't get me wrong, the first issue was absolutely brilliant; Joshua Cotter's stories of alienation and self-loathing were pretty near perfect. At the same time, I can't remember the last time I've read a comic and felt so completely and utterly depressed afterwards. It says a lot about Cotter's skill as a creator, and I both look forward to and dread reading this new work of genius from him. YOTSUBA MANGA VOL 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma
I actually got to read an advance copy of YOTSUBA last week and I must say that I laughed my head off. This is cute and fun from start to finish, starring the world's most innocent and naïve four-year-old. Stories range from trying to move a new television into the house to chasing and capturing cicadas, and it sounds slight, but Kiyohiko Azuma makes it all work. At the end of reading the first book I wanted to read more right away, and when you consider just how large my backlog of stuff to be read is (it threatens to fall over and bury me in a pile of books so deep I'd never be found), that's really impressive. THE CUTE MANIFESTO TP by James Kochalka
I've only read about half of the stories collected into THE CUTE MANIFESTO but they're certainly good enough to make me want this. James Kochalka almost shouldn't be as good as he is; he draws in a cutesy style about subjects that should (more often than not) interest no one but himself. And yet, somehow, they're fascinating books that are hard to put down. Getting a combination of Kochalka's autobiographical stories and his comics about creating comics? This sounds like a goldmine, to be honest. If nothing else, I've just got to read the comic essays, "Craft is the Enemy" and "Craft is Not a Friend". The titles alone promise genuine enjoyment. CONCRETE VOL 1: DEPTHS TP by Paul Chadwick
Have yourself a merry little Dark Horse birthday, that's what I say. Two of the best comics at Dark Horse are resurfacing from the vaults. CONCRETE VOL 1: DEPTHS is the first in a projected series of definitive CONCRETE collections, compiling the comics and short stories into a chronological series of books. Paul Chadwick's CONCRETE was one of the first independent books I read, and its quiet grace and thoughtfulness makes this a must-have on any discerning reader's shelf. Likewise, GRENDEL is another book that I've followed for years on end. This is a collection of the second two-colour mini-series that Matt Wagner produced in recent years, where Wagner writes the stories, and an all-star host of creators illustrates them. Where else can you have an anthology that includes Jill Thompson, Stan Sakai, Tom Fowler, Andi Watson, Dan Brereton, Michael Avon Oeming, Ashley Wood, Farel Dalrymple, John K Snyder III, and Michael Zulli... and that's only half the artists involved. Don't think the attraction is just the art, though. Wagner's writing style for the book is wonderfully varied, approaching each story with just the right tone and method for each artist's contribution. From ancient samurais, to a children's storybook, each story about the original Hunter Rose Grendel is exciting and interesting. OH MY GODDESS VOL 21 TP by Kosuke Fujishima
This is worth a brief mention; I've always liked OH MY GODDESS despite the slightly repetitive nature of the property, in part because Kosuke Fujishima's art is really quite lovely. (It goes a long way towards keeping my interest, while RANMA 1/2 ultimately fell apart for me due to its sameness.) Starting with this volume, the book shifts to a right-to-left (aka unflipped) format, and the earlier volumes will eventually be reprinted this way as well. More importantly, the price point is dropping to $10.95. Let's hope this isn't too little, too late for Dark Horse; this is certainly one of their more popular series, and this might give it a healthy sales bump. BATMAN/SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN: TRINITY TP by Matt Wagner
All right, technically I wouldn't want the BATMAN/SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN: TRINITY TP as a birthday gift, but that's only because I already own the hardcover. Otherwise I'd be delighted, because this is a great book; I think Matt Wagner got all three title characters spot-on in terms of writing, and Wagner's art just makes me all happy and giddy every time I see it. The hardcover was one of the most handsome books I saw DC publish last year, and hopefully the softcover will keep that high design aesthetic going. NEW TEEN TITANS: WHO IS DONNA TROY TP by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Phil Jimenez
I'll admit it, I've read very little of the Marv Wolfman and George Perez run on TEEN TITANS; aside from THE JUDAS CONTRACT (which I really liked) it's a big void in my comic book knowledge. If nothing else, I want to see this for genuine curiosity's sake; so many old "classics" turn out not to have the same impact to people coming to them cold, but I want to find out for myself. If nothing else, I loved Perez's design for Donna Troy's warrior outfit with the stars-in-outer-space motif, which I'm pretty sure spun out of this storyline, so the book's certainly going to look beautiful. SEVEN SOLDIERS: KLARION THE WITCH BOY #2 by Grant Morrison and Frazier Irving
You might be thinking, "This is an awfully inexpensive birthday present, Greg must be a cheap date." I would like to point out that I am not a cheap date, but now that I'm hooked on SEVEN SOLDIERS and buying all the books (you got me good, DC Comics), if someone wanted to buy the offerings for this month, I would be delighted. And while admittedly as of the writing of this column all I've read are SEVEN SOLDIERS #0, SHINING KNIGHT #1, and GUARDIAN #1, the three comics have all been so amazingly good that I am already declaring all of SEVEN SOLDIERS a must-buy. Sheer fun and inventiveness on every single page. SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL 3: THE VAMP by Matt Wagner, Steven T Seagle, and Guy Davis
I was hoping that future SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE collections were going to take a cue from the second collection and have eight issues per book, but then again that could just have been just an attempt not to kill the sales of the collected editions by releasing THE FACE by itself. Anyway, between Volume 1 (THE TARANTULA) and the second half of Volume 2 (THE BRUTE), I'm officially a fan, and wondering why I stopped reading SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE in the first place. (Oh yeah, that's right... THE FACE.) THE VAMP features pretty Guy Davis art, and the first storyline that Matt Wagner and Steven T Seagle wrote together. (What is this, Matt Wagner month? Next we'll be seeing an announcement that THE AERIALIST is being completed and collected or something.) I can't wait to read this next storyline. ANTIQUE BAKERY VOL 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga
People reading this column regularly will know that I adore the cooking manga series IRON WOK JAN!. For that alone I feel like I need to give ANTIQUE BAKERY a try; the description is so amazingly good that I just can't pass it up:
So, let's see. Cooking. Unrequited love. Boxing champion. The phrase "cake boy". Yes, clearly, I must buy this series. (Or better yet, give it to me as a present! I promise to cherish it forever, unless it stinks... but with a description like that, how could it?) MOME VOL 1
This sounds really good, an attempt to get back to the days of anthologies like RAW that came out regularly with the same core group of creators contributing to the book. Paul Hornschemeier's MOTHER, COME HOME and RETURN OF THE ELEPHANT alone would make me want to get MOME, but John Pham, Kurt Wolfgang, and Jeffrey Brown turn this into a must-buy. The creators in the book that I recognise are all good, and those from whom I've only seen limited offerings are all ones I've wanted to investigate further, so this seems like a win-win situation to me. AVIGON: GODS & DEMONS by Che Gilson and Jimmie Robinson
Che Gilson and Jimmie Robinson's AVIGON one-shot back in 2000 was fantastic; a story of clockwork creations yearning to become real, it worked on a number of levels, both allegorical and strictly literal. It reminded me a bit of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS in terms of tone and visuals, and I always wanted to see more. Well, now we're getting it, as the one-shot gets expanded into a much larger whole. This is going to be one of those books that everyone's talking about, and with good reason. I want, I want, I want. BRATPACK TP by Rick Veitch
BRATPACK is one of the first comics to ever truly shock me. When I first read Rick Veitch's biting satire on corporate practices in comic books, I remember actually gasping out loud once or twice, surprised at the vicious (yet hard to deny) attacks that Veitch gets away with. It's amazingly clever without ever really coming across as preachy, and while many have sought to imitate what Veitch accomplished in BRATPACK, none have ever really succeeded. You'll never look at the death of a comic book character quite the same way after reading BRATPACK, and quite frankly, that's a good thing. More BRATPACK in my life is a good thing too; the copy I have is getting awfully worn out from its re-readings. GRAVITY #1 by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton
If I can't get more THE WAITING PLACE by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton, then I'll take some GRAVITY in its place. McKeever's always had a good ear for teenaged characters trying to find their place in a world that doesn't seem to want them, and GRAVITY certainly sounds to fit the bill. Add in some snazzy looking character designs by Norton (whose interiors have never disappointed me) and I think Marvel's in for a real winner. Now let's just hope that it gets the support that it deserves; so many books seem to get thrown to the side of the road these days after release. It'd be nice to see a company continue to promote and recognize that there are comics that don't have a #1 next to their name being published. X-MEN: PHOENIX ENDSONG HC by Greg Pak and Greg Land
I actually wouldn't mind getting this as a gift; from what I've seen, Greg Pak's story is smart and actually follows on from Grant Morrison's run on NEW X-MEN, proving that at least one creator did pay attention to what Morrison did and isn't sweeping it all under the carpet. Greg Land's lightbox-inspired art is always as pretty as the models he uses for figurework, and the two are working really well together. If I didn't get this as a gift, though, I suspect I might just wait until the softcover to buy it for myself. Then again, it would look awfully nice next to my three NEW X-MEN hardcovers. Decisions, decisions... NORTHWEST PASSAGE #1 by Scott Chantler
I'll admit it, there's a lot about Canadian history that I know nothing about. Scott Chantler's promised "two-fisted historical adventure" should hopefully fix some of that, telling the story of adventurer Charles Lord and his attempts to unite people against a mercenary threat. Chantler's art was my favourite thing about the graphic novel SCANDALOUS, and this certainly promises to be very pretty. I guess we'll all find out shortly if Chantler's as good a writer as he is an artist. ICE HAVEN by Daniel Clowes
I have no idea how they're going to pull this one off. Daniel Clowes's EIGHTBALL #22 was a single issue story where each page was a stand-alone piece, but all of which together formed a much larger whole about a missing person, loneliness, and trying to fit in. Clowes' comic was brilliant, and even acquaintances who were never big fans of Clowes in the past admitted to me that "Ice Haven" really surprised them at the levels of depth and storytelling that Clowes achieved here. So how, exactly, is a 36-page comic being turned into an 88-page graphic novel? Based on the cover, my best guess is the pages are all being slashed in half and thirds to form a short and long volume (sort of like a comic strip collection) that better hides the fact that this is not really a terribly long book. Still, if you've never read EIGHTBALL #22, then you really need to get this. CAVALCADE OF BOYS VOL 1 TP by Tim Fish
The stories that Tim Fish created for PopImage's YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE are some of my favourites in the ongoing, rotating-creators feature. Fish has got a writing style that nails romance in all of its forms (comedy, drama, and all points inbetween) and a beautiful art style that reminds me a lot of Walt Simonson's work. I'm delighted that we're now getting a collection of his comic CAVALCADE OF BOYS, because as much as the YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE shorts amuse me, the idea of seeing Fish's long-form work on display is fantastic. Bring on the cavalcade! SHOJO BEAT VOL 1 #1
I love Viz's English-language SHONEN JUMP; every time a new issue is released, one of the first things I do when I get home is sit down and catch up on my favourite serials. Now Viz is making a shojo manga version of the magazine called SHOJO BEAT and I've got high hopes that it'll prove to be just as good. The fact that two of the series included are PARADISE KISS creator's Ai Yawaza's new series NANA and Yu Watase's ABSOLUTE BOYFRIEND suggest that it'll be another home run. And really, 330 pages for $5.99? That alone makes it well worth checking out. SHONEN JUMP provides some of the best bang-for-your-buck in comics, and I think SHOJO BEAT is about to do the same thing. PRINCE OF TENNIS VOL 8 by Takeshi Konomi
PRINCE OF TENNIS and WHISTLE are my two favourite "sports" comics currently being published. Both of them follow a new member to a school's sports team (tennis and soccer, respectively) and the troubles and travails that ensue. They've certainly got differences; the star of PRINCE OF TENNIS is one of the most naturally gifted (and arrogant) tennis players ever, while WHISTLE is about someone who has to fight for every advancement in his skills. What makes them similar, though, is how exciting they make everything about their sports, from coaching and practices to tournaments and rivalries. You can't go wrong with sampling either one of these series. Greg McElhatton writes reviews for iComics.com, and has also written for anthologies, magazines, web sites, and technical manuals. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |