DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 27 2013

DC COMICS

JAN130275 ALL STAR WESTERN #18 $3.99

NOV120298 AMERICAN VAMPIRE HC VOL 05 (MR) $29.99

JAN130209 AQUAMAN #18 $2.99

JAN130287 ARROW #5 $3.99

JAN130229 BATMAN INCORPORATED #9 $2.99

JAN130232 BATMAN INCORPORATED #9 COMBO PACK $3.99

JAN130240 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #18 $2.99

DEC120327 BATWING TP VOL 02 IN THE SHADOW OF ANCIENTS (N52) $14.99

DEC120330 DAY OF JUDGMENT TP $14.99

JAN130211 FLASH #18 $2.99

JAN130217 FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #18 $2.99

JAN130271 I VAMPIRE #18 $2.99

JAN130327 INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US #3 $3.99

JAN130291 JOE KUBERT PRESENTS #6 $4.99

JAN130264 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #18 $2.99

JAN130260 RED LANTERNS #18 (WRATH) $2.99

JAN130215 SAVAGE HAWKMAN #18 $2.99

NOV120267 SHOWCASE PRESENTS SGT ROCK TP VOL 04 $19.99

JAN130225 SUPERMAN #18 $2.99

JAN130324 SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES #11 $2.99

DEC120339 SUPERMAN VS ZOD TP $9.99

JAN130238 TALON #6 $2.99

JAN130280 TEEN TITANS #18 $2.99

JAN130333 TIME WARP #1 (MR) $7.99

JAN130339 UNWRITTEN #47 (MR) $2.99

DEC120368 UNWRITTEN TP VOL 07 THE WOUND (MR) $14.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

DEC120379 BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS CALL TO ARMS STATUE $399.95

JAN130346 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL STATUE BY LEE BERMEJO $79.95

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for April 25 2012

MARVEL COMICS

FEB128183 AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1 2ND PTG BACHALO VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB120619 ASTONISHING X-MEN #49 $3.99

FEB120662 ASTONISHING X-MEN EXALTED PREM HC $19.99

FEB128178 AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #1 2ND PTG BAGLEY VAR WITH DIG CDE $3.99

FEB120549 AVENGERS ROLL CALL $4.99

FEB120531 AVX VS #1 (OF 6) $3.99

FEB120606 BATTLE SCARS #6 (OF 6) $2.99

FEB120584 CAPTAIN AMERICA #10 $3.99

FEB120583 CAPTAIN AMERICA AND HAWKEYE #629 $2.99

FEB120679 DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE BIG BREAK TP $16.99

FEB120580 DAREDEVIL #11 OMEGA $2.99

FEB120560 DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER WAY STATION #5 (OF 5) $3.99

FEB120681 DARK TOWER TP BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL $19.99

FEB120690 DARKHAWK CLASSIC TP VOL 01 $24.99

FEB120694 ESSENTIAL DAREDEVIL TP VOL 01 NEW ED $19.99

FEB120695 ESSENTIAL HULK TP VOL 04 NEW ED $19.99

FEB120663 FEAR ITSELF WOLVERINE NEW MUTANTS PREM HC $24.99

FEB120594 FF #17 $2.99

FEB120689 INCREDIBLE HULK PARDONED TP $39.99

FEB120604 MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 $2.99

FEB120589 MIGHTY THOR #13 $3.99

FEB120656 MMW DAREDEVIL TP VOL 03 $24.99

FEB120657 MMW DAREDEVIL TP VOL 03 DM VAR ED 41 $24.99

FEB120614 MOON KNIGHT #12 $3.99

FEB120540 NEW AVENGERS #25 AVX $3.99

FEB128182 SCARLET SPIDER #3 2ND PTG STEGMAN VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB128184 SECRET AVENGERS #21.1 2ND PTG ADAMS VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB128185 SECRET AVENGERS #22 2ND PTG ADAMS VAR (PP #1016) $3.99

FEB128175 SECRET AVENGERS #23 2ND PTG ADAMS VAR (PP #1016) $3.99

FEB120543 SECRET AVENGERS #26 AVX $3.99

FEB120671 SPIDER-MAN FLYING BLIND PREM HC $19.99

FEB120638 SUPERCROOKS #2 (OF 4) (MR) $2.99

FEB120615 TWELVE #12 (OF 12) $2.99

FEB120558 ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #9 WITH DIG CDE $3.99

FEB120684 ULTIMATE COMICS X ORIGINS TP $19.99

FEB120545 UNCANNY X-MEN #11 AVX $3.99

FEB128179 WINTER SOLDIER #1 2ND PTG BERMEJO VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB128180 WINTER SOLDIER #2 2ND PTG BERMEJO VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB128181 WINTER SOLDIER #3 2ND PTG BERMEJO VAR (PP #1016) $2.99

FEB120629 WOLVERINE #305 $3.99

FEB120685 WOLVERINE WOLVERINE'S REVENGE TP $16.99

NOV110608 X-FORCE TOY SOLDIERS PREM HC $29.99

NOV110609 X-FORCE TOY SOLDIERS PREMIERE HC DM VAR ED 88 $29.99

FEB120621 X-MEN LEGACY #265 $2.99

FEB120668 X-MEN WAR MACHINES PREM HC $19.99

"Before Watchmen" - Watchmen Prequel Comic Books Announced

The following was taken from a DC Comics blog post written by David Hyde:

DC ENTERTAINMENT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES “BEFORE WATCHMEN”

This summer, DC Entertainment will publish all-new stories expanding on the acclaimed WATCHMEN universe. As highly anticipated as they are controversial, the seven inter-connected prequel mini-series will build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN, the bestselling graphic novel of all time. BEFORE WATCHMEN will be the collective banner for all seven titles, from DC Comics.

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).

BEFORE WATCHMEN includes:

RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

Each week, a new issue will be released, and will feature a two-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins. There will also be a single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, featuring the work of various writers and artists, and a CRIMSON CORSAIR story by Wein and Higgins.

“The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire,” said Dave Gibbons, WATCHMEN co-creator and original series artist.

“Comic books are perhaps the largest and longest running form of collaborative fiction,” said DiDio and Lee. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant.”

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 18 2012

MARVEL COMICS

NOV110531 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #678 $3.99

NOV110493 AVENGERS #21 $3.99

NOV110525 AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #3 WITH FREE DIGITAL CODE $3.99

NOV110642 DAKEN X-23 COLLISION TP $19.99

NOV110529 DAREDEVIL #8 $2.99

NOV110633 DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 06 $29.99

NOV110591 DEADPOOL MAX 2 #4 (MR) $3.99

NOV110486 DEFENDERS TOURNAMENT OF HEROES #1 $5.99

NOV110649 ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR TP VOL 05 NEW ED $19.99

SEP110685 ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 08 NEW ED $19.99

NOV110475 FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #7 (OF 12) $2.99

NOV110614 FEAR ITSELF JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY PREM HC $19.99

NOV110616 FEAR ITSELF THUNDERBOLTS PREM HC $19.99

NOV110585 GENERATION HOPE #15 XREGB $2.99

NOV110550 GHOST RIDER #8 $2.99

NOV110510 HALO FALL OF REACH INVASION #1 (OF 4) $3.99

NOV110491 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #512 $3.99

NOV110508 JOHN CARTER A PRINCESS OF MARS #5 (OF 5) $2.99

NOV110509 JOHN CARTER OF MARS WORLD OF MARS #4 (OF 4) $3.99

NOV110540 LEGION OF MONSTERS #4 (OF 4) $3.99

NOV110636 MARVEL FIRSTS 1970S TP VOL 01 $29.99

NOV110637 MARVEL POINT ONE II TP $24.99

AUG110688 MMW ATLAS ERA TALES TO ASTONISH HC VOL 04 $64.99

AUG110689 MMW ATLAS ERA TALES TO ASTONISH HC VOL 04 DM VAR ED 174 $64.99

NOV110547 MOON KNIGHT #9 $3.99

NOV110640 NEW DEFENDERS TP VOL 01 $29.99

NOV110578 NEW MUTANTS #36 XREGB $2.99

NOV110539 SIX GUNS #4 (OF 5) $2.99

NOV110667 SPIDER-MAN DAREDEVIL BY LEE BERMAJO POSTER $8.99

SEP110631 SUPERIOR #7 (OF 7) (MR) $4.99

NOV110552 THUNDERBOLTS #169 $2.99

NOV110641 TWELVE TP VOL 01 $16.99

NOV110619 ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE BY HICKMAN PREM HC $19.99

NOV110515 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #6 WITH DIGITAL CODE (RES) $3.99

NOV110576 UNCANNY X-FORCE #20 XREGG $3.99

OCT118157 UNCANNY X-MEN #2 2ND PTG PACHECO VAR XREGB (PP #1001) $3.99

NOV110564 UNCANNY X-MEN #5 $3.99

NOV110533 VENOM #12 $2.99

NOV110668 WINTER SOLDIER POSTER $8.99

OCT118158 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #2 2ND PTG BACHALO VAR XREGG (PP #1001) $3.99

NOV110549 WOLVERINE PUNISHER GHOST RIDER OFF INDEX MU #6 (OF 8) $3.99

NOV110624 X-23 PREM HC VOL 02 CHAOS THEORY $19.99

NOV110644 X-FACTOR TP VOL 12 SCAR TISSUE $19.99

AUG110685 X-MEN BY CLAREMONT AND LEE OMNIBUS HC VOL 02 DM VAR ED $125.00

Leroy Douresseaux on Vertigo Crime's COWBOYS (OGN)

COWBOYS
DC COMICS/VERTIGO

WRITER: Gary Phillips
ARTIST: Brian Hurtt
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Lee Bermejo
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1534-7; hardcover
192pp, B&W, $19.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN

If my count is correct, Cowboys, by writer Gary Phillips and artist Brian Hurtt, is sixth (and the latest) Vertigo Crime graphic novel. Vertigo Crime is the banner under which Vertigo (a DC Comics imprint) publishes crime fiction in comics form.

Cowboys is set in a large, Los Angeles-like city and focuses on law dogs who work at the street level. First, there is Deke Kotto, an African-American(!) street cop with an eye for the ladies, a bad marriage, and a tragic event that changed his family. Then, there is the straight-laced Tim Brady, an FBI agent with a good marriage.

However, both serve demanding bosses. Captain Warren Tsong has his eye on being the next police chief, so he goads the versatile Deke, who can work both the gritty streets and the white collar suites, to deliver on big cases. Brady serves Special Agent-in-Charge Penmore, a racist fat ass who targets Muslims.

Tsong inserts Deke into the world of corporate espionage and white collar crime in order to snare Ian Scarpagio. Scarpagio runs Windscape Limited, a venture capital firm with some shady investors. If Deke, undercover as David Cates, can turn Scarpagio into a big arrest, Tsong believes his own big future is made.

Penmore has targeted Imam Aziz, whom he believes to be a radicalized American convert to Islam. Aziz is related to Mig Coles, a record mogul who may be using his Jamm Joint Records for dirty business. Penmore would love to bring down these two successful Black men, and sends Brady in undercover to infiltrate Mig’s empire as a Jewish wannabe player named Dan Roth.

Deke and Brady don’t know each other. So they don’t know that their separate assignments are actually connected. But is that connection tenuous or is it strong enough to strangle both men?

One could describe Cowboys as having an embarrassment of riches. There are too many characters, too many subplots, and too many settings. You can practically see artist Brian Hurtt’s (Hard Time, The Sixth Gun) struggles to squeeze all the elements visually and graphically into the story. It seems as if some of the panels are near bursting from story elements packed in so tightly. There is enough material here to create an ongoing Vertigo comic book series or AMC television crime series.

I’m not criticizing it, though. Cowboys, for all its crowded narrative, is a rock-solid page-turner. There aren’t many comic book writers who can offer both scenes of hardboiled crime action and moments of nuance and subtlety that tell a story within the main story, as Gary Phillips does. A good storyteller with a sturdy compositional sense, artist Brian Hurtt has the style and chops to dominate the crime comics genre.

Cowboys is simply a good read. It is a crime and character drama with lots of twists and turns, but best of all, it captures in a most surprising way the cynicism of our age. A justice system used as a personal fiefdom, innocent lives wrecked for naked ambition, and unabashed greed: one would think that Phillips and Hurtt were trying to write the great American novel. I’ll settle for a really good American graphic novel.

Fans of crime comics and Vertigo Crime must have Cowboys.

A-

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for April 27 2011

DC COMICS

FEB110136 ACTION COMICS #900 (NOTE PRICE) $5.99

FEB110252 AMERICAN VAMPIRE #14 (MR) $2.99

AUG100294 BATMAN BLACK & WHITE STATUE JOKER BY LEE BERMEJO $80.00

JAN110265 BATMAN INCORPORATED #5 $2.99

OCT100344 BLACKEST NIGHT PORTFOLIO SET #2 $29.99

FEB110122 BRIGHTEST DAY #24 (NOTE PRICE) $4.99

FEB110241 CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #59 $2.99

JAN110319 DC COMICS PRESENTS NIGHT FORCE #1 $7.99

FEB110152 DETECTIVE COMICS #876 $2.99

JAN110255 FLASH #11 (FLASHPOINT) (RES) $2.99

JAN110329 FLASH REBIRTH TP $14.99

FEB110128 GREEN ARROW #11 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99

FEB110118 GREEN LANTERN EMERALD WARRIORS #9 (WAR OF GL) $2.99

FEB110247 INFAMOUS #4 (OF 6) $2.99

JAN110330 JONAH HEX TALL TALES TP $14.99

FEB110126 JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #24 (BD) (NOTE PRICE) $4.99

FEB110179 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #50 (NOTE PRICE) $4.99

FEB110244 MAD MAGAZINE #509 $5.99

JAN100406 MASS EFFECT SER 1 GRUNT AF PI

JAN100407 MASS EFFECT SER 1 SHEPARD AF PI

JAN100404 MASS EFFECT SER 1 TALI AF PI

JAN100405 MASS EFFECT SER 1 THANE AF PI

FEB110263 NEW YORK FIVE #4 (OF 4) (MR) $2.99

JAN110431 SANDMAN TP VOL 05 A GAME OF YOU NEW ED (MR) $19.99

FEB110268 SCALPED #48 (MR) $2.99

JAN110335 SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN LANTERN TP VOL 05 $19.99

FEB110165 WONDER WOMAN #610 $2.99

FEB110188 XOMBI #2 $2.99

DEC100308 Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 05 (MR) $29.99

Leroy Douresseaux on Andy Diggle's RAT CATCHER

RAT CATCHER

DC COMICS/VERTIGO

WRITER: Andy Diggle

ARTIST: Victor Ibañez
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Lee Bermejo
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1158-5; hardcover
184pp, B&W, $19.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN

I recently read my first Vertigo Crime graphic novel. Released a few weeks ago, it is entitled Rat Catcher. It’s a graphic novel from writer Andy Diggle (The Losers, Hellblazer) and Spanish artist Victor Ibañez, with black and white art. If my count is right, this is the sixth graphic novel released under the “Vertigo Crime” umbrella – the crime graphic fiction shingle of Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics.

Rat Catcher is the first Vertigo Crime comic book that I’ve read, so I can’t say how much it is like the earlier releases. What I can say is that Rat Catcher isn’t crime fiction in that Donald Westlake/Jim Thompson way or even in that Raymond Chandler/Dashiell Hammett way. Rat Catcher is a crime thriller, or more specifically an FBI thriller.

Rat Catcher largely takes place in West Texas, the “badlands of West Texas,” as the story and advertising for the book emphasize. A white supremacist, drug lord named Earl Rawlins rules supreme. Rawlins has just had an informant in his drug distribution system killed, and that killer is someone known as the “Rat Catcher.” The Rat Catcher is sort of like a boogeyman story for FBI agents, a mysterious figure who kills people about to enter the Witness Protection Program after informing on Rawlins.

The chase begins in a burning Federal safe house with a pile of burning bodies inside. Soon two FBI Special Agents, William Lynch and Moses Burdon, are separately on a race to discover the truth. All the players in this game carry secrets, one more deadly than the others.

In a quote for Rat Catcher, Ian Rankin, a novelist who wrote the Vertigo Crime graphic novel, Dark Entries, says that “Moral ambiguities abound.” Not really. In Rat Catcher, murder comes in two flavors: those who got it coming and those who are merely victims. This fast paced narrative focuses on shocking twists and turns and the sudden impact of a bullet, so it doesn’t have time for ambiguity.

Rat Catcher feels like an action movie more than it does crime fiction of the prose or comic book variety. This is not a criticism. Diggle drops his readers into a clever ruse, and then, delivers the action movie thrills better than some action movies do. Although his storytelling is good, artist Victor Ibañez seems almost hard-pressed to keep up with Diggle’s blood-fueled death race with his chunky graphic style. I do feel a bit shitty about saying this: Ibañez isn’t a perfect fit for this story.

I don’t know what other Vertigo Crime comic books are like, but I wonder if they raise hell like Rat Catcher.

B+