At over 500 pages, this is the biggest PREVIEWS ever. Why did I want this job, again?

Oh yes... because of books like our...

PICK OF THE MONTH

AFTER THE SNOOTER (APR02 2262, pg. 282, $14.95), by Eddie Campbell, from Eddie Campbell Comics

Eddie Campbell may be a romantic, but he insists that he doesn't romanticize. "I'm not trying to make ordinary life interesting," he once protested in THE COMICS JOURNAL. "It is interesting."

It is in Campbell's hands. He approaches living as an art. Unlike most American autobiographical cartoonists, he is not neurotic, and though he is well-read he is not bookish. He writes about himself because it's the subject he knows best (among other reasons - note that his next magazine will be named EGOMANIA). He tells his stories with such close focus that they become both peculiar and universal at once. He is candid, a bit of an epicure, and a great charmer. In short, he's the Montaigne of comics.

AFTER THE SNOOTER picks up where ALEC: HOW TO BE AN ARTIST left off, and like HTBAA it's got some inside baseball on How Comics Are Made. It's the story of Eddie's mid-life crisis, personified by mosquito-like pest The Snooter (seen right, on the cover of the last edition of BACCHUS magazine), during his collaboration with Alan Moore on the monumental graphic novel FROM HELL. Do not miss what will be, like ARTIST, one of the best books of its year.

Samples of AFTER THE SNOOTER can be seen here and here.

DARK HORSE COMICS

Dark Horse goes after the mystic market with two new titles. FORT: PROPHET OF THE UNEXPLAINED #1 (of 4, APR020024, pg. 34, $2.99) turns the original paranormal investigator, Charles Fort, into an action hero, mainly because a true account of his life would have to be set mostly in libraries. It looks like artist Frazer Irving has a Bissette/Totleben thing going on. RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT: INTO THIN AIR #1 (of 4, APR020025, pg. 35, $2.99) covers most of history's famous mysterious disappearances (though it omits my favourite, that of Ambrose Bierce). It's an odd choice for a subject to lead off with. There's no visual hook to people going missing, and nothing to dramatize either, unless you give in to wild conjecture. Cary Nord's art looks awfully good, though.

Meanwhile, in the Maverick line, there's the next volume of P. Craig Russell's adaptation of Wagner's masterwork, RING OF THE NIBELUNG BOOK 2: SIEGFRIED & GOTTERDAMMERUNG: THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (APR020027, pg. 36, $21.95). Title's a mouthful, isn't it? I hadn't realized that Russell's been adapting opera to comics since 1977 at least. This had struck me as a little perverse- after all, the appeal of opera lies least in the plots, which are notoriously silly and usually just the pretext for musical histrionics. But having since seen some of his early work in the collection OPERA, I can attest that it's surprisingly effective and quite beautiful. His new work could only be more so.

And there's a new Groo collection, THE GROO NURSERY (APR020028, pg. 37, $11.95), as ever by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones. One Groo collection is pretty much like another, but that's as much a tribute to the consistent high quality of the series as an acknowledgement of the limitations of the character.

DC COMICS

Sexy month from Vertigo, chiefly due to two new miniseries: Grant Morrison's THE FILTH, with penciller Chris Weston and inker Gary Erskine (#1 of 13, APR020488, pg. 89, $2.95), and Paul Pope's 100% (#1 of 5, APR020477, pg. 88, $5.95). There's little to be gleaned about the substance of these yet, but the style is certainly tantalizing.

For the much-lauded 100 BULLETS, there's a new collection, VOL. 4: A FOREGONE TOMORROW (APR020481, pg. 89, 264 pages for $17.95!) and a new story arc (#37, APR020480, pg. 89, $2.50). Also from the 100 BULLETS team is the collected JONNY DOUBLE (APR020492, pg. 91, $12.95), a hard-boiled private eye story. HELLBLAZER is handed over to the respected Mike Carey, of LUCIFER fame, with #175 (APR020489, pg. 90, $2.50). Even the disappointing CODENAME: KNOCKOUT (#14, APR020485, pg. 90, $2.50) is getting a makeover, with variant covers no less.

And then, by contrast, there are the other feature articles. WONDER WOMAN: THE HIKETEIA APR020459, pg. 85, $24.95) has potential, being written by the ubiquitous Greg Rucka, who's known for his strong female leads, and drawn by J.G. Jones, who dazzled in MARVEL BOY. Otherwise, it's more of the same in the DCU: more GREEN LANTERN, more JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE CREATING THESE BOOKS AND YOU'LL HAVE PUT MORE THOUGHT INTO IT THAN HE DID (God help us, he's doing SANDMAN now), yet another JLA Elseworlds, and some wonky-sounding JSA thing ("this time it's personal"). And from WildStorm, there are two books based on computer games and a spinoff from a struggling spinoff from the now-defunct AUTHORITY.

This will illustrate the extent to which DC is out of it: this month, they're debuting SMALLVILLE dolls. Is there a SMALLVILLE comic book? Nope - according to Newsarama, "DC plans a one-shot called SMALLVILLE, but [editor Eddie] Berganza doubted it would go much further." Is there a comic aimed at SMALLVILLE fans? Well, there'll be a story about young Clark, as a tentative step towards a possible new SUPERBOY series, in ACTION COMICS #791 (ask for it by name).

Can you imagine what Marvel would have made of an opportunity like this?

IMAGE COMICS

They've brought back the MICRONAUTS. You wait long enough, and all the old jokes come true.

The '80s-toy-based comic revival is the Next Big Thing. G.I.JOE is a hit, and TRANSFORMERS #1, from Dreamwave, was Diamond's top-selling comic last month- calling it 'a hit' would be like calling Unicron 'portly.' (It's been five years since an indy book even cracked the top ten, and then only because Diamond wasn't carrying Marvel at the time.) The rationale is that the books will reach kids who like the toys, and thereby grow the direct market. I'm not convinced of that - this is the same direct market that couldn't sell POKEMON comics, for chrissakes - but it's possible.

It is not possible for the MICRONAUTS, because the toyline has been moribund for over two decades. There is no disguising that the target audience for this book is over thirty.

"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
- Frank Zappa

Also this month is the 100th issue of SAVAGE DRAGON. You have to give Erik Larsen credit: he is the only Image founder to have fulfilled the "one creator, one book" promise of the company, and he is the only one whose Image work has been funny on purpose. He also gives his fans their money's worth, as this quadruple-sized issue demonstrates. That said, this neo-Silver Age stuff is as much a nostalgia trip as the damn MICRONAUTS.

MARVEL COMICS

Steve Gerber's HOWARD THE DUCK revival is coming to an end with #6 (APR021718, pg. 153, $2.99), a story provocatively titled "Creator's Rights." And since the only other proposed Max humor title, Gail Simone's NIGHT NURSE, has been scrapped, with it will end my interest in the Max imprint. Someone will alert me if they ever get beyond doing naughty versions of children's book characters, I'm sure.

The big story for the month is THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1 of 6, not to be confused with the recently-cancelled ham-fisted mutant book THE BROTHERHOOD. It's about a New York fireman dealing with the aftermath of September 11 and, to no readily appreciable advantage, with superheroes. Presumably he wants to know why none of them was able to prevent the attack. It's a silly question that will no doubt have a silly answer, but the logical contortions that result might be fun to watch.

Being online, you've probably seen a lot of hype from Nu-Marvel architects Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada. And you've probably said to yourself, "I'm getting all this stuff for free - isn't there some way I could pay for it?" Now you can, and right through the nose too, with the hardcover FANBOYS & BADGIRLS: BILL & JOE'S MARVELOUS ADVENTURE! (MAR021778, pg. 182, $29.95), assuming it is not an April Fool's hoax. You belong, you belong, you belong, you belong to the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

ABIOGENESIS PRESS

New issue of Gary Spencer Millidge's STRANGEHAVEN (#14, APR021982, pg. 218, $2.95), the photo-realistically-rendered story of an eccentric, remote English village that nobody seems able to leave. As Alan Moore says in his blurb for the ad, "Millidge is a consummate craftsman, a watchmaker patiently constructing his own unique universe," which is a) entirely true and b) an interesting simile coming from the author of WATCHMEN, don't you think? See also issue 13 (APR021983, pg. 218, $2.95), and the collection of #7-12, BROTHERHOOD (APR021981, STAR11407, pg. 216, $14.95).

ABSENCE OF INK COMIC PRESS

THE CASTAWAYS (APR021984, pg. 218, $5.95), a Depression-era hobo story that raises memories of James Vance & Dan Burr's KINGS IN DISGUISE, was the best reason to seek out the now-cancelled ABSENCE OF INK THEATER anthology. It's a powerful debut by both writer Rob Vollmar and artist Pablo Callejo that manages the trick of evoking the period without lapsing into cliche. Recommended. See sample pages at the AOI webpage.

Also, the prolific Paul Hornschemeier brings us FORLORN FUNNIES #1 (APR021985, pg. 218, $3.95). I can vouch, after having read Ex Falso Quodlibet from the latest issue of his self-published anthology SEQUENTIAL, that he's got the "forlorn" part sussed. Hornschemeier is dabbling in Chris Ware territory here, judging from the art samples (it's in the little things, from the logo to the magnifying-glass circles with arrows to the way he's drawing snow). It's hard to avoid the anxiety of influence with Ware, and I have seen some cartoonists appropriate his techniques for some truly ugly and anti-humanistic comics, as if they wanted to both piggyback on his work and sully it. (Let's name names: Ethan Pershoff's TOP NOTCH and Jacob Weinstein's DIRTY BOXES). There's no fear of that with Hornschemeier, who has already established his own identity. He's a McCloudian experimentalist (in FORLORN he'll juggle seven narratives, just because he can) and an excellent designer (SEQUENTIAL #7 is the most thoroughly designed comic I've seen since CHANNEL ZERO). For more info, visit the website

AMAZE INK/SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS

RANDY THE SKELETON (APR022005, pg. 224, $12.95) won't stop leering at me. It's starting to creep me out.

Randy would probably still be leering even if there were some flesh on his face. He is, as the solicitation says, "the ultimate hedonist," a trickster figure in whose dubious care are a group of orphans who live on the streets of Salford (no easy feat, given how the streets mutate in every panel). It's Aidan Potts' art that really sends this aloft, all even technical-pen lines and fine hatching, anchoring the surrealism with something like the deadpan manner of Michael Kupperman's UP ALL NIGHT. This is not to shortchange the writing by Ian Carney, who has acquired a reputation for inspired silliness with SUGAR BUZZ, also from Slave Labor. You have to admire the cheek behind footnotes like "A note to U.S. readers: non-American beer actually gets you drunk." Half the book collects the widely-scattered magazine strips, and the other half is new.

AVATAR PRESS

In the collected BAD WORLD (APR022063, pg. 236, $10.95), Warren Ellis catalogs his favorite Internet conspiracy theories and delusions, with increasingly impressive illustrations by Jacen Burrows. Diverting, but not exactly revelatory to anybody who's ever trawled the web for any substantial length of time.

BEHEMOTH BOOKS

IMAGINATION ROCKET #1 (APR022094, pg. 239, $9.95) is the sequel to the Eisner-nominated BRAINBOMB (APR022095, STAR10742, pg. 240, $19.95), an educational anthology designed for classroom use by cartoonist and schoolteacher Brian Clopper. As with the last one, he's got some good people lined up.

CYBEROSIA PUBLISHING

Lea Hernandez's "Texas steampunk" manga CATHEDRAL CHILD (APR022207, pg. 268, $10.95) gets a definitive edition with "digitally re-mastered art."

DRAWN AND QUARTERLY

Chester Brown's biography of 19th-century Canadian half-Indian radical LOUIS RIEL hits #7 (APR022218, pg. 275, $2.95), and Seth begins Part 3 of 'Clyde Fans', the story of a failed salesman in an obsolete trade, in PALOOKA-VILLE #16 (APR022221, pg. 275, $4.75). Unlikely subjects, yet both books are riveting.

Consumer note: PALOOKA-VILLE's price is a dollar higher than usual. Since there's no increase in page count, and no "(Note Price)" instruction in the catalog, I'm hoping that's a misprint.

THE ROAD TO AMERICA (APR022223, pg. 275, $14.95) is a story by French cartoonist Baru that was originally serialized in the anthology DRAWN AND QUARTERLY, so you know it must be good. It's about an Algerian boxer, Said Boudaif, who fights his way towards the championship and struggles to stay neutral during his country's war for independence from France. It's drawn in a wonderfully expressive, almost slashing style - think Mark Kalesniko, but much, much more forceful. My only complaint is that it's a little compressed, but that's minor - this is excellent cartooning. This is the first major translation of Baru to English, so let's hope there's more to come (like the decidedly decompressed L'AUTOROUTE DU SOLEIL).

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

The Eurocomics onslaught continues with the legendary EPILEPTIC VOL. 1 (APR022279, pg. 284, $24.95), by David B. The epileptic of the title is his brother, and the story is how the stresses of treating him warp his family, as his parents resort to alternative medicine and zen macrobiotics. The storytelling is reputedly radically unconventional, rarely relying on panel-to-panel continuity, and the artwork is like nothing else you've seen in comics - stark, flat, almost Mayan at times, and rich with weird metaphor and feverish imagery. Find out why this has been widely acclaimed as the best French comic of the past decade.

THE COMICS JOURNAL WINTER 2002 SPECIAL (STAR15142, APR022276, pg. 282, $19.95), the Journal's first foray into coffee-table anthology format, was a great success, both handsome and substantive. So much so that it's going to be a twice-yearly event, hence TCJ SUMMER 2002 SPECIAL (APR022277, pg. 284, $19.95). There's a big interview with and a critical focus on hallucination-prone comics genius Jim Woodring, more welcome appreciations by top cartoonists of their influences, and a comics section with a music theme that boasts nearly as stellar a lineup as the last special did. Snap these up.

Also, Roberta Gregory brings us more fulminating pre-menstrual viragos from BITCHY BITCH in VOL. 6: BURN, BITCHY, BURN (APR022280, pg. 284, $9.95), while Dame Darcy brings us more morbid Victorian nymphets in MEATCAKE #12 (APR022278, pg. 284, $3.95). Will I blow my chances of ever dating a Friend of Lulu if I admit to considering both of them minor talents?

HOTEL FRED PRESS

New issue of Roger Langridge's FRED THE CLOWN (#3, APR022362, pg. 294, $2.95). "More bittersweet laughs with the clown who won't go away," says the solicitation, and I hope that's a promise. One of the few truly funny funnybooks on the market. Hotelfred.com has many sample strips.

HUMANOIDS PUBLISHING

METAL HURLANT #1 (APR022363, pg. 296, $3.95) is the Anglophone edition of the famous French graphic fantasy magazine, being revived after 15 years. There's only one problem: METAL HURLANT already had an official Anglophone edition. It's called HEAVY METAL, and it's still running. For the both of them, big enough this town ain't.

HEAVY METAL could use the challenge. At its best, it helped introduce English-speakers to a host of great European cartoonists, from master fantasy artists like Moebius and Enki Bilal to more arthouse creators like Jacques de Loustal and Nicolas de Crecy. In recent years, though, it's gone into an artistic and financial decline, thanks in part to the poison touch of Kevin Eastman. Will METAL HURLANT be more grown-up? Not judging by the cover, a painting of a busty woman with big guns that is purest HEAVY METAL (and that appears four times in the space of three pages). But then, there's an admonition against judging a book that way. Looking to the text, it's encouraging that METAL HURLANT looks writer-driven: the big names cited there are the reliable Kurt Busiek (ASTRO CITY) and the deranged Alexandro Jodorowsky (METABARONS). This will bear watching.

NBM BOOKS

ODDBALLZ #2 (APR022439, pg. 307, $2.95), by Lewis Trondheim & Manu Larcenet, will be a delight. I defy you to read the previews for #1 at NBM's website (now with the links all fixed!) and tell me I'm wrong.

Editorial cartooning in America is dying. Every year the field gets a little smaller and a little tamer. In daily newspapers, that is. The best work is being done in the alternative weeklies, and I'm excited that a cross-section of it is being showcased in ATTITUDE: THE NEW SUBVERSIVE POLITICAL CARTOONISTS (APR022438, pg. 307, $13.95).

I just wish it weren't being done by Ted Rall, who has most recently epatait le bourgeoisie by smearing World Trade Center widows, Marianne Pearl and New York City firemen as greedy, soulless media-whores in his strip. Stunts like that make Rall seem like a cynical media-whore himself, and he's not; he's just stuck on sky-high rhetoric and contrariness for it's own sake.

Fortunately, his comrades in ATTITUDE don't have that problem, by and large. In fact, I'm happy to report that ATTITUDE is entirely the wrong title for this book. Rall must think that it sounds punk, but nowadays all it sounds like is a sports drink commercial. Most of the cartoonists in here are primarily verbal, and they use the greater space and freedom of the alt-weeklies to make more nuanced arguments than traditional symbol-heavy editorial cartooning techniques can accommodate. "Attitude" usually gets in the way of that. The best political strips here, THIS MODERN WORLD by Tom Tomorrow (real name Dan Perkins), TOM THE DANCING BUG by Ruben Bolling (real name Ken Fisher), and TROUBLETOWN by Lloyd Dangle (real name, believe it or not, Lloyd Dangle), are all less nasty in a month than Pat Oliphant is in a typical week. The worst epithet in Perkins' vocabulary is "wanker."

What's more, the subtitle is wrong too. One of the best things about this "new breed" is that they aren't confined to politics. Many of these strips are pop-cultural (Ward Sutton), or lightly topical (Jen Sorensen), or uncategorizeable (Derf). By my count only Tomorrow, Matt Wuerker and Lalo Alcaraz are strictly political - even Rall, Bolling and Dangle do plenty of other topics.

It's worth getting to know these artists, and there are mini-interviews with each of them in the book to help you do just that. It's doubtful that they'll save the world, but they may yet rejuvenate newspaper cartooning.

ONI PRESS

It's HOPELESS SAVAGES month at Oni, with a collection (VOL. 1, APR022456, pg. 312, $13.95) and a new miniseries, GROUND ZERO (#1, APR022455, pg. 309, $2.95). You've heard of 'perky goth'? Oni is 'perky punk.'

PENNY DREADFUL PRESS

Despite the title, XXX LIVENUDEGIRLS #1 (APR022471, pg. 313, $2.95) is, as the solicitation is careful to point out, not porn. Unfortunately that's easy to overlook, as it's followed directly by, in one of those wacky PREVIEWS juxtapositions, the revival of PENTHOUSE COMIX. What it is, is a comic by newcomers Nikki Coffman and Lauren McCubbin that has already attracted some mainstream attention through its website. The photo-based art recalls the rotoscoping from the movie WAKING LIFE, and the stories are about the girl "everyone knows...who crawls in and out of strangers' beds, confuses sex for love and love for weakness," as the website puts it. Worth your attention.

REPRODUKT

DIE FABRIK (APR022490, pg. 315, $8), a "graphic novella" by Canadian artist Genevieve Castree, is a wordless METROPOLIS-esque-sounding story about a slave robot who tries to escape his factory. I found a sample page on the web, which to me suggests Anke Feuchtenberger meeting Dave Cooper. That's all I could find, though, except for Renee French saying Castree has "got something very special."

SIRIUS ENTERTAINMENT

SCARY GODMOTHER: GHOULS OUT FOR SUMMER (APR022497, pg. 317, $14.95) collects Jill Thompson's latest and most ambitious miniseries. Sprightly art, awful puns, a moral that is actually delivered with a light touch, and even a big fight scene for a climax - what more could you want from a kids' book?

SORHENN GRAFIKS

POLSTAR VOL. 1: MANGROVE JACK (APR022506, pg. 320, $8.75) is the first in a series by French father and son team Jean & Simon Leturgie. From the plot summary it sounds like a straight thriller with a high body count (one man wages war on a totalitarian Empire, etc.). But a look at Simon's website reveals a comedy drawing style - like a cross between Andre Franquin and Jamie Hewlett. It even has some apes and funny animals in it. How a mixture like that works I can't guess, but I'm curious.

TITAN BOOKS

More snarky adventures from Hewlett and Martin in TANK GIRL VOL. 2 (APR022510, pg. 322, $16.99).

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

James Kochalka sometimes gets criticised for being sentimental and cutesy... which, of course, only encourages him. PINKY & STINKY (APR022555, pg. 328, $17.95), about a pair of piglets who go to the moon, promises to be the cutest comic this side of HELLO KITTY. Not to my taste, but I suppose it karmically balances dead-baby-joke books like ARSENIC LULLABY.

Tony Consiglio is finally snapped up by one of the established companies, as Top Shelf collects the best of his minicomic DOUBLECROSS, called DOUBLECROSS: MORE OR LESS (APR022557, pg. 328, $4.95). Consiglio's mostly-autobiographical stories are mainly about his insane New York Italian family and his dead-end jobs, over which his bitterness is not concealed. Consistently funny stuff. See his website for more info.

XXX STRRIPBURGER (APR022558, pg. 328, $13.95) is an erotica-themed issue of the Eastern European anthology STRIPBUREK. Slavic comics porn will be the hot new fetish for spring, so act fast. This contains some creators familiar to us Anglophones, such as Donna Barr, Julie Doucet and Dave Choe, as well as work from the Israeli comics collective Actus. 160 pages.

Chris Ekman is a political cartoonist.

This article is Ideological Freeware. The author grants permission for its reproduction and redistribution 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.