Review: CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #4

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #4
ARCHIE COMICS – @ArchieComics @ArchieHorror

STORY: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
ART: Robert Hack
LETTERS: Jack Morelli
COVER/VARIANT COVER: Robert Hack
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2015)

“The Crucible” Chapter Four: “Harvey Horrors”

Rated Teen + (Violence and mature content)

When writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo created Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch and her world in the early 1960s, did they imagine or could they have imagined how much it would all change decades later?  It's a chilling thought.

The comic book series, Afterlife with Archie, is a re-imagining of the world of Archie Comics as a zombie apocalypse, and it is a hit with readers.  Last year, Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch, a traditionally lighthearted, Archie Comics publication, also received a horror comics makeover.  Now, we have Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, drawn by Robert Hack, and lettered by Jack Morelli.  It is a genuine and genuinely good horror comic book.  Say what!

This darker series is set in the 1960s, with the current story line largely taking place in 1967.  Sabrina Spellman is a 15-year-old who lives in Greendale with her aunts, Hilda and Zelda (two witches of the Satan-serving variety), and her cousin, Ambrose (a warlock).

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #4 (“The Crucible” Chapter Four: “Harvey Horrors”) opens after Sabrina's interrupted “Unholy Baptism,” in which she was preparing to accept the life of a witch.  Now, Sabrina's boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle, a fellow student and football stud at Greendale High School, is running for his life.

In the tragic aftermath, Sabrina struggles to accept what seems like fate.  In the meantime, her aunts warn her that she must face the coven.  However, a sympathetic teacher at Greendale High, Evangeline Porter a.k.a. Madam Satan, may have a way to make things better for Sabrina.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack have created a horror comic book that it is so good that they could make it work without using a well-known Archie Comics character.  That they have re-imagined Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch simply makes the book that much more wickedly divine and salacious.

The bucolic 1960s setting is appropriate as this comic book has the occult and ominous vibe of such 1970s occult films like Carrie, The Omen, Race the Devil, and Rosemary's Baby, among others.  Every time I read this comic book, I also think about Rob Zombie's recent half-ridiculous/half-brilliant, Satanic art movie, The Lords of Salem.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is mad and brilliant.  If EC Comics and the 1950s copy-cat horror comics that the publisher influenced had created graphic novels, they would look like this first story arc of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, “The Crucible.”  Sometimes, the witchery is so shocking in this comic book, I think that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack might need some inquisition face-time, or perhaps to be dunked a time or two.

[This issue includes a bonus Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch story, “Double Date,” from writer by Dick Malmgren and artist Dan DeCarlo.]

A

http://archiehorror.com/

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Food Wars: Memories of Battle

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 6

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.  Support my work at Patreon.

Review: WAYWARD #10

WAYWARD #10
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

STORY: Jim Zub – @jimzub
ART: Steve Cummings – @stekichikun
COLORS: Tamra Bonvillain – @TBonvillain
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon – @MarshallDillon
COVER: Steve Cummings with Tamra Bonvillain
VARIANT COVER: Hanzo Steinbach
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

Wayward, the comic book series from writer Jim Zub and artist Steve Cummings, is about to take a three-month break from publishing.  Before that break, Wayward #10, which is the concluding issue of the series' second story arc, has arrived.

Published by Image Comics, Wayward is set in Japan and features those creatures and spirits of Japanese folklore, yokai.  Wayward focuses on Rori Lane, a half-Irish/half-Japanese teen girl, who is trying to start a new life in Japan.  Instead, Rori and a small band of fellow magically-touched folks battle a secret war of magic in the shadows of Tokyo.

Ohara Emi was a quite school girl until she started manifesting strange powers.  Now, she is the narrator of the current story arc, and she manipulates matter and transmutes man-made materials.  As Wayward #10 (“Chapter Ten”) opens, Ohara, Nikaido, and Ayane have team up with Tsuchigumo.  These are supernatural spiders that are fighting their yokai brethren.

Now, humans and mystical spiders attack the Fudo Temples, but their tengu guardians are determined to fight back.  Do Ohara and her friends know the entire story of this fight, however?  Meanwhile, Rori and Shirai, thought to be dead, prepare to reemerge.

Wayward writer/co-creator, Jim Zub, sent out advanced review PDF copies of Wayward #10 (which the ComicBookBin received).  This is a pivotal issue.  Not only is issue #10 the closing chapter of the series second story arc, but it also essentially the end of series introductions.  Now, the series is prepared to get on with the big story, as Zub says in an afterword to this issue.

Zub's script does not disappoint, and co-creator Steve Cummings brings the script to life as magical graphical storytelling that remains grounded at the same time it brings the supernatural to life with imagination and inventiveness.  Colorist Tamra Bonvillain delivers striking colors that make the magical energy pop.  Also, integral Wayward contributor, Zack Davisson, delivers two essays (instead of the usual one) that explain the mythology and culture in which Wayward travels.  I think the next 10 issues will blow our minds.

A

[Wayward #10 contains two engrossing essays, “Circle of Protection Tokyo! The Goshiki Fudo” and “Sokushinbutsu – Buddhas of the Living World,” by Zack Davisson (@ZackDavisson).]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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MAY151794     NEIL GAIMAN NEVERWHERE AUTHORS PREFERRED TEXT HC     $26.99
JUN151419     POSTERS OTOMO KATSUHIRO GRAPHICS DESIGN SC     $69.00
MAY151811     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK ATTACK OF CLONES     $4.99
MAY151814     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK EMPIRE STRIKES BACK     $4.99
MAY151813     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK NEW HOPE     $4.99
MAY151810     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK PHANTOM MENACE     $4.99
MAY151815     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK RETURN OF JEDI     $4.99
MAY151812     STAR WARS LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK REVENGE OF SITH     $4.99

Assassination Classroom: Time to Face the Unbelievable

I read Assassination Classroom, Vol. 4

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.  Support me on Patreon.

Review: INJECTION #1

INJECTION #1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review originally appeared on Patreon.]

WRITER: Warren Ellis
ARTIST: Declan Shalvey
COLORS: Jordie Bellaire
LETTERS: Fonografiks
20pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (May 2015)

Injection is a new comic book series published by Image Comics.  Injection is created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Declan Shalvey; the book is colored by Jordie Bellaire.  Ellis, Shalvey, and Bellaire were the creative team behind Marvel Comics' 2014 relaunch of its Moon Knight comic book, producing the first six issues.  According to publicity material for this series, Injection is apparently about five people who have to save the world from being too weird to support human life, a situation they apparently created.

Injection #1 opens at Sawling Hospital.  There, we meet Professor Maria Kilbride, who is being castigated by a stern older woman.  Through a flashback, we learn that Kilbride was part of something called the “Cultural Cross-Contamination Unit.”  We meet Kilbride's colleagues:  Robin Morel, Simeon Winters, Vivek Headland, and Brigid Roth.  Back to the present, it is time to start to learn how these five individuals “poisoned the 21st Century.”

At a slim 20 pages, Injection is all about set-up and vague introductions.  Am I intrigued?  Well, hell, every first issue of a Warren Ellis comic book intrigues me, but that doesn't mean I'll keep reading past the first issue.

However, I am reluctant to bail on Injection.  I was decidedly underwhelmed by the first issue of Ellis, Shalvey, and Bellaire's Moon Knight, but that turned out to be an especially enjoyable and unique reading experience.  The series actually got better and proved to be more imaginative with each issue.  Ellis and company leaving after six issues was probably a good thing; eventually, they could not have kept up that pace of originality.

Besides, whatever vagueness Ellis' story presents in Injection is topped by Shalvey and Bellaire's eye-grabbing, attention-trapping graphical storytelling.  The weird practically popped off the page in order to get inside me and to demand that I get at least one more Injection.  I would say that fans of Ellis' non-superhero work will certainly want to try an issue or two of Injection.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Yaoi Manga Review: LOVE STAGE Volume 1

LOVE STAGE!!, VOL. 1
SUBLIME MANGA– @SuBLimeManga

STORY: Eiki Eiki
ART: Taishi Zaou
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: Wally
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7991-7; paperback (May 2015); Rated “M” for “Mature”
186pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Love Stage!! is a boys' love (BL) manga from the creative team of writer Eiki Eiki and artist Taishi Zaou that was serialized in Asuka Ciel magazine beginning in July 2010.  SuBLime Manga began publishing Love Stage!! in an English-language edition in graphic novel form back in May.

Boys' love manga depicts amorous situations between male romantic leads, with its subset, yaoi (which Love Stage!! is), being more explicit.   Love Stage!! is about an average guy from a family of celebrities who becomes romantically entangled with one of Japan's most popular young male celebrities and idols.

Love Stage!!, Vol. 1 (Chapter 1 to 5) opens in the past.  A small boy is dressed as a girl for a commercial shoot.  His costar believes that the girl is really a girl, and he never forgets her... him.  Ten years later, the boy who dressed like a girl is Izumi Sena, now a beginning college student.  He is an unrepentant otaku (fanboy) and wants to be a mangaka (a creator of manga).  The rest of his family is in show business, and they want Izumi to join the family business.

Meanwhile, Izumi's costar in that long-ago commercial is Ryoma Ichijo, a hot young actor and idol.  The commercial in which he starred 10 years ago is going to get an anniversary sequel, but Ryoma will not return unless that “girl” from the original reprises her role.  What will he do when he finds out that she is really a he?

While the Love Stage!! manga is a romantic comedy, the early chapters are more comedy than romance.  Love Stage!! Volume 1 is not just funny; it's delightfully funny.  In fact, it is so comedy oriented that when some... heaving petting suddenly occurs, the change in tone is quite jarring.

Writer Eiki Eiki is a master of BL and similar genres, as well as shojo manga.  Artist Taishi Zaou has a beautiful drawing style that is perfect for shojo manga and makes her boys' love manga exceptionally pretty.  Together, they create something unique, manga that transcends genre.  That is Love Stage!!, cute and funny and popping with energy and I think the best is yet to come.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: BATMITE #1

BAT-MITE #1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Dan Jurgens
PENCILS: Corin Howell
INKS: Corin Howell and Andres Ponce
COLORS: Mike Atiyeh
LETTERS: Tom Napolitano
COVER: Corin Howell with Mike Atiyeh
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (August 2015)

“Transplant”

Bat-Mite is a  DC Comics character that is part of the Batman line of comics.  Bat-Mite was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff and first appeared in Detective Comics #267 (cover dated:May 1959) in the story, “Batman Meets Bat-Mite.”

Bat-Mite is an “Imp” character that is similar to Superman's adversary, “Mister Mxyzptlk.”  However, Bat-Mite idolizes Batman, but is a nuisance to Batman because of his impish activities.  Bat-Mite's appearance is that of a small, child-like man, and he possesses seemingly near-infinite magical power.

Now, DC Comics has a new thang going on, and it is a publishing initiative called “DC You.”  It's all about us, the readers... actually, the fans.  June 2015 alone sees the launch of over 20 new titles.  One of them is a new comic book feature Bat-Mite.  It written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by Corin Howell and Andres Ponce, colored by Mike Atiyeh, and lettered by Tom Napolitano.

Bat-Mite #1 (“Transplant”) begins with the banishment of Bat-Mite, presumably from his home dimension.  When next we see him, Bat-Mite is interfering...err... helping Batman foil two criminals.  Things aren't what they seem, as Bat-Mite learns when he meets Doctor Trauma.  And Doc Trauma's latest Frankenstein-like scheme is positively... savage.

I laughed in derision when I read that DC was launching a Bat-Mite comic book, but I have to admit that I was curious about this new series.  I have loved Bat-Mite since I first encountered the character on “The New Adventures of Batman” Saturday morning cartoon series (Filmation, 1977).  I was later surprised to see that this new Bat-Mite comic book was only a six-issue miniseries, which makes sense, I guess.  I doubt that Bat-Mite is a character that can support an ongoing series.

Now, I won't be fake and claim that Bat-Mite 2015 is a great comic book, but I do like it a lot.  Dan Jurgens is an underrated comics creator.  Someone once described Jurgens as the kind of creator whose steady output of professional work kept the comics business operating in between brief but outstanding bursts of greatness that guys like Frank Miller dropped in to offer once a year or so (not the writer's exact words).

Well, Dan Jurgens – Mr. Professional – strikes the right tone for Bat-Mite as a character.  He is a pest, a confidant nerd.  He is funny because of his know-it-all superiority and sarcasm, but not necessarily because he is silly.  That is why I think that Jurgens could do much with this character if he were given the chance to produce a series of Bat-Mite miniseries.

Corin Howell and Andres Ponce make a good art team.  Howell's storytelling strikes the right tone because she maximizes physical comedy, especially facial expressions.  Howell makes Bat-Mite a character with believable motivation, attitude, and personality.  That is not necessarily easy.  Bat-Mite is always on the edge of being nothing more than a plush toy.

So, I am in with Bat-Mite for the long haul, or whatever kind of haul six issues make.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Review: RESIDENT EVIL: The Marhawa Desire Volume 5

RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE, VOL. 5
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Naoki Serizawa
CONCEPT: Capcom
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERING: John Clark
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7376-2; paperback (July 2015); Rated “M” for “Mature”
168pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

VIZ Media's publication of the seinen manga, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, has come to an end with the publication of the fifth volume or graphic novel in the series.  An adult horror manga, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, serves as a comic book prequel to the story line of CAPCOM’s bestselling video game, Resident Evil® 6.  This iteration of Resident Evil introduces the highly virulent C-virus, and the manga explores the origins of this new outbreak.

The story begins with Doug Wright.  He is a professor in the Department of Sciences and Engineering at Bennett University, and he specializes in bacteriology.  He receives a letter from Mother Gracia, headmistress of Marhawa Academy, Asia's largest and most prestigious school.  Wright, who had a past relationship with Gracia, rushes to the school, with his nephew, 20-year-old Ricky Tozawa, in tow.  Deep in the jungle, Marhawa Academy is located within a giant, self-contained and self-sufficient complex.  There, Prof. Wright and Ricky find themselves caught in a deadly and growing tragedy that is an epidemic of zombie proportions.

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, Vol. 5 (Chapters 33 to 39 – Final Chapter) opens as the remaining humans in the Marhawa Academy complex make their last stand against a legion of students, faculty, and staff turned zombies.  Ricky has joined a three-person team from the B.S.A.A. (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance):  Chris Redfield (team leader), Merah Biji, and Piers Nivens.

They believe that they have found a way to escape the campus, but before they do that, they must fight their way not only through zombies, but also through monsters.  The bio-organic weapon (B.O.W.), Nanan Yoshihara, swings her horrible tentacles when she isn't spewing deadly virus gas, and Bendi Bergara has undergone a horrible transformation.  Meanwhile, the Hooded Woman lurks in the background, carrying the truth behind the Marhawa Incident.

[This volume includes a “Special Epilogue.”]

Sigh.  The Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire manga has come to an end.  I want more.  No, I have never played any Resident Evil video games, nor do I play video games in general.  I have not read previous Resident Evil comics, but I am a fan of the Resident Evil live-action film franchise that began with the 2002 film, Resident Evil.  I enjoyed reading the manga more than I have enjoyed watching the films, which I have, for the most part, found entertaining.

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 5 offers a satisfying ending, relatively speaking.  Zombie apocalyptic fiction has to break your heart for every time it gives you a good outcome.  Writer-artist Naoki Serizawa gleefully poured on the gore and violence, and he gave us some attractive characters, so that he could use some of them to break our hearts.  He put the reader right in the middle of the action.  I felt that I had to run every time the heroes did, and I felt like every page was about a fight for my life, just as the heroes were fighting for their lives.

Yeah, you might say that this is “just” a Resident Evil comic, so it can't be that good.  Well, it is just a great Resident Evil comic, and it is that good because it is classic monster comics.  Read it by flashlight, under a bed sheet, while something scratches at your window.  Fans of horror manga and zombie comics will want the VIZ Signature title, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux (Support Leroy on Patreon)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
HARPCOLLINS/HarperPerennial – @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Harper Lee
ISBN: 978-0-06-093546-7; paperback (July 5, 2015)
336pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $18.50 CAN

First published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel from author Harper Lee.  The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.  It was adapted into a film drama, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), directed by Robert Mulligan and written for the screen by Horton Foote.  The film would go on to receive eight Academy Award nominations and win three at the 35th Academy Awards ceremony on April 8, 1963, including a best actor Oscar for Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.

Harper Lee's second novel, Go Set a Watchmen, was recently published.  Because it features many characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchmen is being described as a sequel or follow-up to the 1960 novel.  As I understand it, however, Go Set a Watchmen was Harper Lee's first draft of the novel that would become To Kill a Mockingbird.  A few months ago, HarperCollins offered book reviewers on its contact lists a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird in preparation for the release of Go Set a Watchmen.  I read To Kill a Mockingbird almost 20 years ago, and as I wanted to read it again, I accepted a copy for review.

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the Deep South of the early 1930s, and, if my “figurin'” is right, it opens in 1932 or thereabouts.  The location is the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, the county seat of Maycomb County.  The narrator of the book is the presumably adult Jean Louise Finch, who was called “Scout,” as a child.  Jean Louise's story is a coming-of-age tale about a particular time in her childhood.  The story begins when Jean Louise/Scout is six and ends when she is 10.

Scout lives with her widower father, Atticus Finch, an attorney and Alabama state legislator; and her older brother (by three years), Jeremy Atticus Finch, called “Jem.”  They have a live-in housekeeper and caretaker, an African-American woman named Calpurnia.  Scout and Jem befriend Charles Baker Harris, called “Dill,” a boy who is a year older than Scout and is from Mississippi.  Dill visits every summer, staying with an aunt, Miss Rachel Haverford, who lives in Maycomb.

The trio of Scout, Jem, and Dill spend their summers playing and having adventures.  Their biggest obsession is discovering the mystery of a next-door neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley.  Their determination to get a look at “Boo,” who has rarely left his home in years, takes up much of the early part of the book.

The turning point comes when Scout and Jem's father, Atticus, is appointed the public defender of a young Black man, Tom Robinson, who is unjustly accused of and criminally charged with raping a young white woman.  The trial occurs in the summer of 1935, and Scout witnesses the quite heroism of her father, as he struggle for justice in a courtroom where the weight of history and also irrational hate are bigger obstacles than the prosecution.

After 50+ years of praise and of being a “beloved classic,” To Kill a Mockingbird does not need to be reviewed... one would think.  However, I believe that this book should never be forgotten.  It should be discussed not only in schools and in other academic settings, but also in the larger world of people who pay attention to books and to their importance.

To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with wisdom, but not the homespun kind that is little more than an old adage.  What this novel has to say, one has to engage; the reader has to think about it and to ruminate on its passages and lessons.  For instance, there is the following passage in which Atticus informs his children:  “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

I never realized until my second reading that Tom Robinson, accused of rape by a pitiable white trash teenage girl and her cowardly, lazy, shiftless white trash father, is this story's mockingbird.  You see, all a mockingbird does is sing, while other birds might be pests.  The mockingbird is innocent, and it is a sin to kill an innocent – a truth so plain that most people are blind and ignorant to it.

I had a English lit instructor (who may have been a professor) who said that society hid dangerous books away in the children's literature section.  She used Lord of the Flies, as well as To Kill a Mockingbird as examples.  I think To Kill a Mockingbird is a dangerous novel.  The reason is simple.  This novel's depiction of injustice and blind and violent hate in the Deep South; its portrayal of honor and quite heroism; and its examination, measure for measure, of the irrationality of the White adults of Maycomb's attitudes toward race and class are all seen through the eyes of child, Scout's.

Jean Louise tells the story through her younger self, Scout, and Scout sees the world in a matter of fact way, innocently free of the dressings of subterfuge and hypocrisy.  Of course, it takes a child to catch an adult saying one thing and meaning another.  Late in the novel, Scout attends a tea party held by her Aunt Alexandra (Atticus' sister, who moves in with the family).  One of the women attending mentions how horrible it is that Adolf Hitler is having Jewish citizens arrested and imprisoned simply for being Jewish.  A child whose father is defending a wrongly accused Black man, without guile, will wonder why that same woman cannot see the plight of her Black neighbors with sympathy.

This is why To Kill a Mockingbird is a dangerous book.  Harper Lee's narrator is a child who views the beauty of the world as plainly as she sees the lies, inequities, violence, hatred, and racism.  Unlike an adult, Scout won't try to justify injustice the way adults do so that they can live with themselves.  Any American who reads books must read To Kill a Mockingbird at least twice in their adulthood.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux (Support Leroy on Patreon)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

DC COMICS

APR150287     AMERICA VS THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA TP     $14.99
MAY150134     AQUAMAN #42     $3.99
APR150285     ARKHAM MANOR TP VOL 01     $14.99
MAY150206     BATMAN 66 #25     $2.99
MAR150277     BATMAN GOTHIC DELUXE EDITION HC     $24.99
APR150291     BATWOMAN TP VOL 06 THE UNKNOWNS     $16.99
MAY150122     CYBORG #1     $2.99
MAY150140     DEATHSTROKE #8     $2.99
MAY150261     EFFIGY #7 (MR)     $3.99
APR150316     FABLES TP VOL 22 (MR)     $17.99
MAY150147     FLASH #42     $3.99
APR150322     GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS NEST HC (MR)     $29.99
MAY150207     GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #7     $2.99
MAY150212     GRAYSON #10     $3.99
MAY150216     HARLEY QUINN & POWER GIRL #2     $3.99
MAY150155     INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US YEAR FOUR #6     $2.99
MAY150130     JLA GODS AND MONSTERS BATMAN #1     $3.99
MAY150156     JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #2     $2.99
JAN150381     JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS HC     $39.99
MAR150284     LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT NORM BREYFOGLE HC     $49.99
MAY150170     PREZ #2     $2.99
MAY150178     SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #12     $3.99
MAY150225     SINESTRO #13     $2.99
MAY150166     TEEN TITANS #10     $2.99
APR150304     TRINITY OF SIN TP VOL 01 THE WAGES OF SIN     $14.99
APR150315     VERTIGO CMYK TP (MR)     $19.99
MAY150219     WE ARE ROBIN #2     $3.99
MAY150179     WONDER WOMAN #42     $3.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

MAR158513     BATMAN BLACK & WHITE HC VOL 1 BOOK & DVD BLU RAY SET     PI
MAR158506     BATMAN YEAR ONE HC BOOK & DVD BLU RAY SET     PI
JAN150421     DC COMICS COVER GIRLS WONDER WOMAN STATUE     $99.95
DEC140437     DC COMICS NEW 52 THE JOKER AF     $24.95
MAR158509     DEATH OF SUPERMAN HC DVD & BLU RAY SET     PI
MAR158507     JLA EARTH 2 HC BOOK & DVD BLU RAY SET     PI
MAR158508     JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL 1 HC ORIGIN BOOK & DVD BLU RAY SET     PI
MAR158510     WONDER WOMAN GODS & MORTAL HC BOOK & DVD BLU RAY SET     PI

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

MARVEL COMICS

APR150874     ALL NEW HAWKEYE #4     $3.99
APR150928     DAREDEVIL TP VOL 03 DAREDEVIL YOU KNOW     $15.99
APR150937     DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 12 DEADPOOL CORPS     $34.99
MAY150742     E IS FOR EXTINCTION #2 SWA     $3.99
MAY150732     FUTURE IMPERFECT #3 SWA     $3.99
APR150921     GUARDIANS OF GALAXY TP VOL 03 GUARDIANS DISASSEMBLED     $19.99
APR150927     HULK TP VOL 03 OMEGA HULK BOOK 02     $19.99
MAY150784     KANAN #4     $3.99
APR150920     LEGENDARY STAR-LORD TP VOL 02 RISE OF BLACK VORTEX     $19.99
MAY150651     LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #16 SWA     $3.99
MAY150652     MAGNETO #20 SWA     $3.99
MAY150663     MARVEL ZOMBIES #2 SWA     $3.99
APR150906     MARVELS AGENTS SHIELD SEASON TWO DECLASSIFIED SLIPCASE HC     $49.99
MAY150740     OLD MAN LOGAN #3 SWA     $3.99
MAY150654     PUNISHER #20 SWA     $3.99
APR150905     ROCKET RACCOON PREM HC VOL 02 STORYTAILER     $24.99
APR150941     SAVAGE WOLVERINE TP VOL 04 BEST THERE IS     $19.99
APR150925     SPIDER-MAN AND X-MEN TP     $19.99
APR150940     SPIDER-MAN BIG TIME TP VOL 04 COMPLETE COLLECTION     $34.99
MAY150800     SPIDER-WOMAN #9     $3.99
APR150738     STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE #1 SWA     $3.99
MAR150771     UNCANNY X-MEN #35     $3.99
APR150775     WEIRDWORLD #2 SWA     $3.99

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

IDW PUBLISHING

MAY150445     DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGEND OF DRIZZT TP VOL 02 EXILE     $19.99
MAY150351     EDWARD SCISSORHANDS #10 WHOLE AGAIN     $3.99
MAR150346     ERIC POWELLS THE GOON CHINATOWN ARTIST ED HC     PI
APR150419     FLY OUTBREAK #4     $3.99
MAY150444     GALAXY QUEST JOURNEY CONTINUES TP     $17.99
MAY150337     GI JOE (2014) FALL OF GI JOE TP VOL 02     $17.99
MAY150334     GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #216     $3.99
MAY150409     INFINITE LOOP #4     $3.99
MAY150407     INSUFFERABLE #3     $3.99
APR158518     JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #1 PLUGGED IN ED 3RD PTG     $3.99
MAY150381     MICKEY MOUSE #2     $3.99
MAY150367     MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #32     $3.99
MAY150424     OCTOBER FACTION TP VOL 01     $19.99
MAY150449     ROBERT HEINLEINS CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY TP     $17.99
MAY150355     STAR TREK ONGOING #47     $3.99
MAY150358     TMNT CASEY & APRIL #2     $3.99
MAY150320     TRANSFORMERS #43     $3.99
MAY150316     TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ANIMATED #1     $3.99
MAY150375     UNCLE SCROOGE #4     $3.99
FEB150412     WALLY WOOD EC COMICS ARTISAN ED TP     $49.99
MAY150384     WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #721     $3.99
MAY150386     WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #721 BLANK SKETCH CVR     $3.99
MAY150415     WINTERWORLD FROZEN FLEET #3     $3.99

Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

DARK HORSE COMICS

MAR150031     ADV OF DR MCNINJA TP VOL 03 KING RADICAL     $19.99
MAY150033     ARCHIE VS PREDATOR #4 MAIN CVR     $3.99
MAY150088     BTVS SEASON 10 #17 MAIN CVR     $3.99
MAY150066     ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST #10     $3.50
MAY150019     FIGHT CLUB 2 #3 MAIN CVR     $3.99
MAY150087     FRANKENSTEIN UNDERGROUND #5     $3.50
MAR150099     GANTZ TP VOL 36 (MR)     $13.99
MAY150015     MIND MGMT #35     $3.99
MAR150020     MIND MGMT HC VOL 05 THE ERASER     $19.99
MAR150101     OREIMO KURONEKO TP VOL 02     $10.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

IMAGE COMICS

MAY150531     68 LAST RIGHTS #1 CVR A JONES & FOTOS (MR)     $3.99
MAY150532     68 LAST RIGHTS #1 CVR B VAN DYKE & FOTOS (MR)     $3.99
MAY150483     BIRTHRIGHT #9     $2.99
FEB150595     COWL #11 (MR)     $3.99
MAY150470     DEAD AT 17 TP VOL 07 BLASPHEMY THRONE     $19.99
MAY150575     DIGITAL ART TUTORIALS ADV DIGITAL COLORING VOL 01     $29.99
MAY150574     DIGITAL ART TUTORIALS BEGINNING DIGITAL COLORING CDROM VOL 0     $29.99
MAY150572     DIGITAL ART TUTORIALS SKETCH TO PAINT     $29.99
MAY150573     DIGITAL ART TUTORIALS SPECIAL EFFECTS     $29.99
MAY150535     DREAM MERCHANT TP (MR)     $15.99
MAR150563     EGOS #8     $2.99
DEC140732     FIVE GHOSTS #17     $3.50
FEB150496     IXTH GENERATION #4 CVR A SEJIC     $3.99
FEB150497     IXTH GENERATION #4 CVR B SEJIC     $3.99
JAN150635     LIL DEPRESSED BOY TP VOL 05     $14.99
MAY150501     RUNLOVEKILL #4 (MR)     $2.99
MAY150525     SAVAGE DRAGON CHANGES TP     $19.99
SEP140752     SIDEKICK #11 CVR A MANDRAKE & HIFI (MR)     $2.99
SEP140753     SIDEKICK #11 CVR B JERRY & RACHEL ORDWAY (MR)     $2.99
MAY150543     SONS OF THE DEVIL #3 (MR)     $2.99
APR158733     SONS OF THE DEVIL #3 CVR B CHANG (MR)     $2.99
APR158734     SONS OF THE DEVIL #3 CVR C BUCCELLATO (MR)     $2.99
APR150676     STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #6 (MR)     $3.50
MAY150549     VALHALLA MAD #3     $3.50
MAY150550     WOLF #1 (MR)     $4.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for July 22, 2015

PREVIEWS PUBLICATIONS
JUN150001     PREVIEWS #323 AUGUST 2015     $3.99
JUN150004     PREVIEWS #323 AUGUST 2015 CUSTOMER ORDER FORM     PI

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

MAY151679     A CERTAIN MAGICAL INDEX GN VOL 02     $13.00
MAY151680     ACCEL WORLD GN VOL 04     $13.00
MAY151155     ADVENTURE TIME #42     $3.99
MAY151681     AKAME GA KILL GN VOL 03     $13.00
MAY150933     ARCHIE COMICS SPECTACULAR FRIENDS FOREVER TP     $5.99
MAY150934     ARCHIE FUNHOUSE COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #16     $4.99
MAY150928     ARCHIE VS SHARKNADO ONE SHOT REG CVR     $4.99
APR151050     ARCHIES FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL COMICS TP     $9.99
MAY151683     AWKWARD GN     $11.00
MAY151684     AWKWARD GN HC     $24.00
FEB151464     BABY SITTERS CLUB COLOR ED GN VOL 01 KRISTYS GREAT IDEA     $10.99
MAY151070     BART SIMPSON COMICS #97     $2.99
MAY150935     BETTY & VERONICA COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #235     $4.99
MAY151682     BLACK BUTLER TP VOL 20     $13.00
MAY151530     BLACKLIST #1 REG ZHANG     $3.99
MAY151531     BLACKLIST #1 SUBSCRIPTION PHOTO     $3.99
MAY151595     BOOK OF DEATH FALL OF BLOODSHOT #1 CVR A SANDOVAL (ONE SHOT)     $3.99
MAY151596     BOOK OF DEATH FALL OF BLOODSHOT #1 CVR B PALO (ONE SHOT)     $3.99
MAY151145     BURNING FIELDS #6     $3.99
JAN150974     CAVEWOMAN CASTAWAY ONE SHOT CVR D     PI
MAY151729     CHARMED SEASON 10 #10 A CVR SEIDMAN (MR)     $3.99
JUN151048     CROSSED BADLANDS #75 CHICAGO ART DECO CVR (MR)     $9.99
MAY151685     DEVIL IS PART TIMER GN VOL 02     $13.00
MAY158099     DISCIPLES #1 2ND PTG (MR)     $3.99
APR151158     DISCIPLES #2 (MR)     $3.99
FEB151608     DOCTOR WHO 10TH HC VOL 02 WEEPING ANGELS OF MONS     $19.99
MAY151686     DURARARA YELLOW SCARVES GN VOL 03     $13.00
APR151743     ENORMOUS V2 #1 CVR A CHEGGOUR     $3.99
APR151744     ENORMOUS V2 #1 CVR B ADLARD     $3.99
MAY151359     FANTE BUKOWSKI GN     $12.99
MAY151687     FINAL FANTASY TYPE 0 SIDE STORY GN VOL 01 REAPER ICY BLADE     $13.00
MAY151688     FIRST LOVE MONSTER GN VOL 01     $13.00
MAY151705     GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #112 A CVR MYCHAELS BLOODY BONES (MR)     $3.99
MAY151706     GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #112 B CVR MELONI BLOODY BONES (MR)     $3.99
MAY151707     GFT GRIMM FAIRY TALES #112 C CVR PANTALENA BLOODY BONES (MR)     $3.99
MAY151730     GFT LITTLE MERMAID TP VOL 01     $15.99
MAY151038     GOD IS DEAD #39 (MR)     $3.99
MAY151040     GOD IS DEAD #39 CARNAGE WRAP CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY151042     GOD IS DEAD #39 ENCHANTING CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY151041     GOD IS DEAD #39 END OF DAYS CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY151039     GOD IS DEAD #39 ICONIC CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY151474     HELLBREAK #5 (MR)     $3.99
MAY151689     INU X BOKU SS TP VOL 08     $11.99
APR150985     IT WILL ALL HURT #2 (MR)     $8.00
MAY151230     JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES DOWN TOWN #6     $3.99
JAN151590     JOHN CARPENTERS ASYLUM #11 (MR)     $3.99
MAY151233     JOHN CARTER WARLORD #9 CVR A BENES (MR)     $3.99
MAY151234     JOHN CARTER WARLORD #9 CVR B SEARS (MR)     $3.99
MAY151235     JOHN CARTER WARLORD #9 CVR C LUPACCHINO (MR)     $3.99
MAY151236     JOHN CARTER WARLORD #9 CVR D EXC SUBSCRIPTION CVR (MR)     $3.99
MAY151508     JUDGE DREDD DARK JUSTICE HC     $24.99
MAY151690     KAGEROU DAZE GN VOL 02     $13.00
MAY151691     KARNEVAL GN VOL 02     $20.00
JUN151173     LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #0 RAW POWER CVR (MR)     $9.99
JUN151174     LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #1 THORNS CVR (MR)     $9.99
JUN151172     LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #25 ROCK & ROLL CVR (MR)     $9.99
JUN151171     LADY DEATH APOCALYPSE #1 KICKSTARTER CVR (MR)     $9.99
APR151686     MAGICAL GIRL APOCALYPSE GN VOL 04 (MR)     $12.99
APR151160     MAYDAY #4 (MR)     $3.99
MAY151642     MONSTER TP VOL 05 PERFECT ED URASAWA     $19.99
MAY150436     MOTORCYCLE SAMURAI TP VOL 01     $19.99
MAY151437     MY LITTLE MONSTER GN VOL 09     $10.99
MAY151091     POWER UP #1     $3.99
MAY151692     PRISON SCHOOL GN (MR)     $20.00
MAY151693     PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA HOMURAS REVENGE GN VOL 01     $13.00
MAY151644     RESIDENT EVIL MARHAWA DESIRE GN VOL 05 (MR)     $12.99
MAY158100     RICK & MORTY #1 3RD PTG     $3.99
MAY151472     RICK & MORTY #4     $3.99
MAY151069     SECRETS OF NINJA SHINOBI TEACHINGS OF HATTORI HANZO GN     $15.95
MAR151454     SIXTH GUN TP VOL 08 HELL AND HIGH WATER     $19.99
MAR150858     SKYSTORM ORIGINS #3     $3.99
MAY151694     SO I CANT PLAY H GN VOL 02 (MR)     $13.00
APR151732     SOMETHING AT WINDOW IS SCRATCHING GN     $18.99
MAY150943     SONIC UNIVERSE #78 SPAZ REG CVR     $3.99
MAY151134     SONS OF ANARCHY #23 (MR)     $3.99
MAY151696     SOUL EATER NOT TP VOL 05     $13.00
MAY151412     STAN LEE CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE #1     $2.99
MAY151513     STEVE JOBS INSANELY GREAT GN     $22.95
MAY151645     SUNNY HC VOL 05     $22.99
MAY151284     SWORDS OF SORROW #3 RARE LUPACCHINO VIRGIN     $50.00
MAY151226     SWORDS OF SORROW SONJA JUNGLE #1 CVR A ANACLETO     $3.99
MAY151643     TERRA FORMARS GN VOL 07 (MR)     $12.99
MAY150426     TIM GINGER TP (MR)     $19.99
MAY151446     TOWER CHRONICLES DREADSTALKER #12     $3.99
MAY151288     VAMPIRELLA ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 RARE LEE VIRGIN     $50.00
MAY151509     ZENITH HC PHASE FOUR     $25.00
MAY150881     ZOMBIE TRAMP ONGOING TP VOL 03 BREAKING BATH (MR)     $14.99

MAGAZINES
MAY151848     COMIC SHOP NEWS #1466     PI
DEC141932     G FAN #109     $6.95
MAY151868     LOCUS #654     $7.50
MAY151873     STAR WARS INSIDER #159 NEWSSTAND ED     $7.99
MAY151874     STAR WARS INSIDER #159 PX ED     $7.99

BOOKS
MAY151697     ACCEL WORLD NOVEL VOL 04     $13.00
APR151908     BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT OFFIC NOVELIZATION MMPB     $7.99
MAY151397     BIG BIG OVERSTREET PRICE GD VOL 45     $47.50
MAR151763     DOC SAVAGE DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 82 BOSS OF TERROR & MAGIC FOREST     $14.95
MAY151698     DURARARA LIGHT NOVEL VOL 01     $14.00
MAY151699     LOG HORIZON LIGHT NOVEL VOL 02     $14.00
MAY151755     MALEFIC TIME APOCALYPSE HC VOL 01     $29.95
APR151600     NIGHT HAWK THE HELL CAVERNS PROSE NOVEL     $9.99
MAY151700     NO GAME NO LIFE LIGHT NOVEL VOL 02     $14.00
MAY151358     OCTOPUS RISES HC NOVEL     $22.99
FEB151636     RECORD OF AGAREST WAR HEROINES VISUAL BK SC     $39.99
APR151754     SENRAN KAGURA OFF DESIGN WORKS SC (MR)     $44.99
MAY151787     SEVEN WILD SISTERS SC     $8.00
APR151601     SHERLOCK HOLMES & KOLCHAK CRY FOR THUNDER PROSE NOVEL     $9.99
FEB151635     SHINING BLADE & ARK COLL VISUAL MATERIALS SC     $44.99
APR152711     WARHAMMER 40K XENOS SC     $14.00
MAY151753     WHY HOW WHAT FIRST BIG BOOK OF ART BY BROSMIND HC     $59.95
MAY151754     XIII ART OF NEKRO HC VOL 01     $39.95

Kimi Ni Todoke: White Day

I read Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 21

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.  Support my work at Patreon.

Review: BARB WIRE Volume 2 #1

BARB WIRE, VOL. 2 #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[Originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Chris Warner
PENCILS:  Patrick Olliffe
INKS: Tom Nguyen
COLORS: Gabe Eltaeb
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Adam Hughes
VARIANT COVER: Adam Hughes
EDITOR: Scott Allie
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2015)

Steel Harbor Blues Part 1

Barbara Kopetski a.k.a “Barb Wire,” is a Dark Horse Comics character.  She made her first appearance two decades ago in Comics Greatest World: Steel Harbor Week 1 and was created by Chris Warner, apparently with the assistance of something called “Team CGW” (Mike Richardson, Randy Stradley, Barbara Kesel, Jerry Prosser, Chris Warner).

Barb is a bar owner and works as a part-time bounty hunter in order to pay the bills for her bar (“The Hammerhead”).  She lives in Steel Harbor, which is the kind of crime-ridden, gang-infested, bombed-out, wreck of a town that is a good setting for storytelling.

Dark Horse is bring Barb Wire back to comic books in Barb Wire Volume 2.  The new series is written by creator Chris Warner, penciled by Patrick Olliffe, inked by Tom Nguyen, colored by Gabe Eltaeb, and lettered by Michael Heisler, with covers by Adam Hughes.

Barb Wire Volume 2 #1 (“Steel Harbor Blues Part 1”) opens with Barb playing bail enforcement agent to bring in a character named Amos Lomas.  Back at The Hammerhead, there is the kind of trouble that leads to difficulties and destruction and the need for more money for bar repairs.  However, Barb's troubles are moving past rowdy patrons and gang disputes.  Steel Harbor's new mayor, Victoria Castle, wants to clean up the city, and Barb's treasures may face a bulldozer.

Barb Wire Volume 2 #1 is one of the most low-key first issues that I have ever read.  It is not at all a poorly produced comic book.  The art team of Patrick Olliffe and Tom Nguyen deliver some impressive compositions with pleasing page designs.  The storytelling, however, lacks spark because the script from which the artists work is competent, but would never be mistakenly described as “explosive.”  Still, I must admit to being impressed that Chris Warner is making gentrification and class the impetus for conflict in this story.

I can't see anyone beside fans of Barb Wire and people who look to try first issues buying Barb Wire Volume 2 #1.  The first trade paperback will probably be a good read, but, as first issues go, this first issue is just too much set-up and is also too damn nonchalant.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: 07-GHOST Volume 17

07-GHOST, VOL. 17
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara
TRANSLATION: Satsuki Yamashita
LETTERING: Vanessa Satone
EDITOR: Hope Donovan
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7794-4; paperback (July 2015); Rated “T” for “Teen”
216pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

07-Ghost, the debut manga from creators, Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara, has come to an end.  The series is set in the Barsburg Empire and focuses on a slave boy who will save the world from a rogue god.

Once upon a time, the Barsburg Empire destroyed the Raggs Kingdom.  Teito Klein is a slave and a cadet at the Barsburg Empire Military Academy.  He discovers that his father was the late Weldeschtein Krom Raggs, the murdered King of Raggs.  Teito escapes to the Barsburg Church of District 7, where three bishops and seven legendary ghosts attempt to guide his destiny.  Teito hopes to uncover the secrets of the world's murky past, as well as his own.

As 07-Ghost, Vol. 17 (Chapters 96 to 99) opens, Teito tries to find a way to free himself and Bishop Frau from the scythe of Verloren the death god.  Teito's final confrontation with the death god will pit him against the personification of Verloren, his nemesis and former tormentor at Barsburg Military Academy, Chief Ayanami.  To save the world, however, Teito may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

[This final volume contains the bonus story, “Seven Ghosts.”]

I read the first volume of the 07-Ghost manga in November of 2012.  A little more than two-and-a-half years later, the series has come to an end.  Series creators, Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara, have rewarded those who followed the series from the beginning with answers and a resolution.

Please, allow me to be the fly in the ointment.  07-Ghost Volume 17 is quite satisfactory, but I am usually ambivalent about the final volume and final chapters of a manga.  I find that the ends often feel incomplete, and 07-Ghost ends, with the hint that there is more.  In fact, those are the last words of the final chapter.  So I accept this closure and wait to see what comes next... if something comes next.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux (Support on Patreon)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

2015 Harvey Award Nominees Announced for Over 20 Categories

2015 Harvey Awards Nominees Announced

Visit www.harveyawards.org for Ballots & Submission Details

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - The 2015 Harvey Awards Nominees have been announced with the release of the final ballot, presented by the Executive Committees of the Harvey Awards and the Baltimore Comic-Con. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry's most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. They will be presented September 26, 2015 in Baltimore, MD, in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators - those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit, or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Thank you to all that have already participated by submitting a nomination ballot. Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Monday, August 31, 2015. Full submission instructions can be found on the final ballot.

Voting is open to anyone professionally involved in a creative capacity within the comics field. Final ballots are available at www.harveyawards.org. Those who prefer paper ballots may e-mail harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com.

This will be the tenth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore, MD. Look for more details soon as to how you can attend the Harvey Awards dinner.

This year's Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 25-27, 2015. The ceremony and banquet for the 2015 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 26th.

Without further delay, the 2014 Harvey Award Nominees:

BEST LETTERER
____ Aubrey Aiese, LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ Deron Bennett, HACKTIVIST, Archaia Black Label (BOOM! Studios)
____ Ed Dukeshire, THE WOODS, BOOM! Studios
____ Jack Morelli, AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ Josh Reed, DAMSELS IN EXCESS, Aspen

BEST COLORIST
____ Elizabeth Breitweiser, VELVET, Image Comics
____ Jordie Bellaire, MOON KNIGHT, Marvel Comics
____ Laura Martin, ARMOR HUNTERS, Valiant Entertainment
____ Dave Stewart, HELLBOY IN HELL, Dark Horse Comics
____ Matthew Wilson, THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Image Comics

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP or PANEL
____ DICK TRACY, Joe Staton and Mike Curtis, Tribune Media Services
____ DILBERT, Scott Adams, Universal Uclick
____ FOX TROT, Bill Amend, Universal Uclick
____ GET FUZZY, Darby Conley, Universal Uclick
____ MUTTS, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate

BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK
____ ALBERT THE ALIEN, Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Bautista, albertthealien.com
____ BATTLEPUG, Mike Norton, battlepug.com
____ GIRLS WITH SLINGSHOTS, Danielle Corsetto, girlswithslingshots.com
____ SPACE MULLET, Daniel Warren Johnson, space-mullet.com
____ THE PRIVATE EYE, Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente, panelsyndicate.com

BEST AMERICAN EDITION of FOREIGN MATERIAL
____ BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, Drawn & Quarterly
____ BLACKSAD: AMARILLO, Dark Horse
____ CORTO MALTESE: UNDER THE SIGN OF CAPRICORN, EuroComics/IDW
____ THE COLLECTOR, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ THE KILLER OMNIBUS VOL. 2, Archaia/BOOM! Studios

BEST INKER
____ Roger Langridge, JIM HENSON'S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ Danny Miki, BATMAN, DC Comics
____ Mark Pennington, ARMOR HUNTERS: BLOODSHOT, Valiant Entertainment
____ Joe Rivera, THE VALIANT, Valiant Entertainment
____ Wade Von Grawbadger, ALL NEW X-MEN, Marvel Comics

BEST NEW SERIES
____ BITCH PLANET, Image Comics
____ LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ MS. MARVEL, Marvel Comics
____ SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Image Comics

MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT
____ Steve Bryant, ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ Daniel Warren Johnson, GHOST FLEET, Dark Horse Comics
____ Chad Lambert, "KILL ME" FROM DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____ Babs Tarr, BATGIRL, DC Comics
____ Jen Van Meter, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
____ James Asmus, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____ James Asmus & Fred Van Lente, THE DELINQUENTS, Valiant Entertainment
____ Ryan Browne, GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS, Image Comics
____ Fred Van Lente, ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG, Valiant Entertainment
____ Chip Zdarsky, SEX CRIMINALS, Image Comics

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS
____ JIM HENSON'S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ SISTERS, Scholastic-Graphix
____ SPONGEBOB COMICS, United Plankton Pictures
____ THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
____ HIT: 1955 TP, BOOM! Studios
____ MOUSE GUARD: BALDWIN THE BRAVE AND OTHER TALES HC, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ RAI VOL. 1: WELCOME TO NEW JAPAN TP, Valiant Entertainment
____ SIX-GUN GORILLA TP, BOOM! Studios
____ THE LOVE BUNGLERS, Fantagraphics

BEST ANTHOLOGY
____ DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____ IN THE DARK: A HORROR ANTHOLOGY, IDW
____ LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, Locust Moon Press
____ MASTERFUL MARKS: CARTOONISTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, Simon & Schuster
____ WILD OCEAN, Fulcrum Publishing

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
____ HARVEY KURTZMAN'S JUNGLE BOOK: ESSENTIAL KURTZMAN VOLUME 1, Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Books
____ STERANKO NICK FURY AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. ARTIST'S EDITION, IDW
____ THE COMPLETE QUANTUM AND WOODY CLASSIC OMNIBUS, Valiant Entertainment
____ VALIANT MASTERS: H.A.R.D. CORPS VOL. 1 - SEARCH & DESTROY, Valiant Entertainment
____ WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK AND UNCLE SCROOGE: THE SON OF THE SUN (DON ROSA LIBRARY VOL. 1), Fantagraphics

BEST COVER ARTIST
____ Mike Del Mundo, ELEKTRA, Marvel Comics
____ Francesco Francavilla, AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ Jenny Frison, REVIVAL, Image Comics
____ Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, or JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION
____ BACK ISSUES, Comic Pop
____ COMIC BOOK CREATOR, TwoMorrows Publications
____ HEROES OF THE COMICS: PORTRAITS OF THE LEGENDS OF COMIC BOOKS, Drew Friedman, Fantagraphics
____ MASTERFUL MARKS: CARTOONISTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, Monte Beauchamp, Simon & Schuster
____ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL HISTORY, Andrew Farago, Insight Editions

SPECIAL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION
 ____ ARMOR HUNTERS, Josh Johns and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment
____ HARVEY KURTZMAN'S JUNGLE BOOK: ESSENTIAL KURTZMAN VOLUME 1, John Lind and Philip R. Simon, Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Books
____ LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, Andrew Carl, Josh O'Neill, and Chris Stevens, Locust Moon Press
____ JIM HENSON'S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Scott Newman, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ THE VALIANT, Kyle Andrukiewicz and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM ORIGINAL
 ____ ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ JIM HENSON'S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ SECONDS, Ballantine Books
____ THE WRENCHIES, First Second Books
____ THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
____ AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ SAGA, Image Comics
____ SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ THE VALIANT, Valiant Entertainment

BEST WRITER
____ Jason Aaron, SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ Jen Van Meter, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment
____ Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA, Image Comics
____ Mark Waid, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ G. Willow Wilson, MS. MARVEL, Marvel Comics

BEST ARTIST
____ Clayton Crain, RAI, Valiant Entertainment
____ Roberto de la Torre, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment
____ Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics
____ Jillian Tamaki, THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books

BEST CARTOONIST
____ Steve Bryant, ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ Howard Chaykin, BLOODSHOT #25, Valiant Entertainment
____ Farel Dalrymple, THE WRENCHIES, First Second Books
____ Terry Moore, RACHEL RISING, Abstract Studios
____ Dan Parent, KEVIN KELLER, Archie Comic Publications
____ Andy Runton, X-O MANOWAR #25, Valiant Entertainment

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
____ ARMOR HUNTERS #1, Valiant Entertainment
____ "Breaking Out", DARK HORSE PRESENTS #35, Dark Horse Comics
____ JIM HENSON'S THE STORYTELLER: WITCHES #4, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ MULTIVERSITY: PAX AMERICANA, DC Comics
____ RAI #1, Valiant Entertainment

Congratulations to all of the nominees! If you know a nominee, please pass on the good news using email, Facebook, and Twitter.

Please submit any corrections to harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com. We try our best to list nominees correctly, and want to know if there is an error.

The Harvey Committee and the Baltimore Comic-Con will make every effort to contact all nominees. If you are a nominee and you do not hear from us by July 25, 2015, please contact us at harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com. We would love to discuss your involvement in the ceremony and the Baltimore Comic-Con.

For additional information about Harvey Kurtzman and the Harvey Awards, visit www.harveyawards.org or http://www.facebook.com/theharveyawards.

2015 Eisner Award winners are here.

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