Comics and Magazines for Diamond Distributors for December 21 2011

COMICS

AUG111173 2000 AD #1755 $5.00

AUG111174 2000 AD #1756 $5.00

OCT110809 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #159 $2.99

OCT110811 B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #220 $3.99

OCT111272 BETRAYAL KNOWS MY NAME GN VOL 02 (MR) $18.99

OCT110812 BETTY & VERONICA #257 $2.99

OCT110986 BOYS BUTCHER BAKER CANDLESTICKMAKER #6 (MR) $3.99

OCT111171 BUBBLES & GONDOLA HC (O/A) $16.99

OCT111209 BUZZBOY SIDEKICKS RULE TP $14.95

SEP111236 CLINT #12 (MR) $6.99

SEP111010 DARK SHADOWS #2 $3.99

JUL111126 DARK SHADOWS COMP SERIES HC VOL 03 $49.99

MAY111067 DF DAREDEVIL #1 ROMITA SR SGN ED $69.99

MAY111066 DF DAREDEVIL #1 WAID SGN ED PI

JUL111076 DF INCREDIBLE HULKS #635 HAESER REMARK ED $49.99

JUN111085 DF INVADERS NOW #5 ROSS EXC CVR $14.99

JUL111080 DF JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 JURGENS SGN ED $29.99

AUG111026 DF KIRBY GENESIS CAPT VICTORY #1 ROSS VIRGIN EXC $10.00

JUN111084 DF PUNISHER #1 ROMITA SR SGN PI

MAR111121 DF ROCKETEER #1 ROSS LTD SGN CVR (MR) $29.99

APR111017 DF ROCKETEER #2 ROSS LTD SGN CVR $29.99

MAY111057 DF ROCKETEER #3 ROSS SGN SKETCH CVR $29.99

JUN111083 DF ROCKETEER #4 ROSS SKETCH CVR SGN ED $29.99

AUG111033 DF WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH #8 RISQUE RED CVR $14.99

AUG111029 DF X-MEN #1 HAESER SKETCH ED $49.99

SEP111286 DOROHEDORO VOL 05 (MR) $12.99

OCT111269 DROPS OF GOD GN VOL 02 $14.95

OCT110937 DUCKTALES #1 GET A SKETCH SDCC VAR CVR $9.99

OCT111192 EAST MEETS WEST #3 (RES) $5.95

SEP111285 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST TP VOL 27 (OF 27) $9.99

OCT111286 GIANT-SIZE GFT 2011 HOLIDAY ED A CVR DEBALFO $5.99

OCT111287 GIANT-SIZE GFT 2011 HOLIDAY ED B CVR SEJIC $5.99

OCT111097 GRAPHIC CLASSICS GN VOL 22 AFRICAN AMERICAN $17.95

JUL111031 GREEN HORNET #20 $3.99

OCT110915 HELLRAISER MASTERPIECES #4 (MR) $3.99

OCT110921 INCORRUPTIBLE #1 ARTIST EDITION $3.99

JUL111231 INTREPID ESCAPEGOAT #3 (OF 3) CURSE O/T BUDDHAS TOOTH $3.99

AUG111047 JASON CONQUERS AMERICA (ONE SHOT) $4.99

OCT111041 KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #5 $3.99

OCT110923 KEY OF Z #3 (OF 4) (MR) $3.99

OCT111275 KOBATO GN VOL 05 $11.99

OCT111142 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 05 (NEW PTG) $12.99

AUG111095 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 34 $14.99

FEB110773 LADY MECHANIKA #3 CVR A BENITEZ $2.99

FEB110774 LADY MECHANIKA #3 CVR B TAN $2.99

OCT111151 MARDOCK SCRAMBLE GN VOL 03 $10.99

AUG111128 MOONSTONES MODERN MYTHS BLACKEST TERROR #1 $2.99

OCT111277 MY GIRLFRIENDS A GEEK GN VOL 05 $11.99

OCT110869 NELSON GN $24.99

OCT110926 PLANET OF THE APES #9 $3.99

SEP111624 POP-SEQUENTIALISM GREAT COMIC BOOK ART SC $10.00

JUL111226 RICHELLE MEAD DARK SWAN STORM BORN HC VOL 01 $19.95

SEP110747 SCROOGE & SANTA GN (RES) $14.95

OCT110892 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #6 $3.50

OCT110894 SIMPSONS COMICS #185 $2.99

OCT110821 SONIC UNIVERSE #35 $2.99

AUG110754 SPEED RACER CIRCLE OF VENGEANCE #2 (OF 4) $3.99

OCT111162 STREAKERS GN (MR) $7.00

JUL111232 STUFF OF LEGEND JESTERS TALE #3 (OF 4) $3.99

SEP111103 TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #7 (MR) $4.95

SEP111290 TENJO TENGE GN VOL 04 (MR) $17.99

SEP111235 THE PACK #2 (OF 3) (MR) $4.50

OCT111135 TINAS MOUTH EXISTENTIAL COMIC DIARY GN $18.95

AUG110740 UNBELIEVABLE THE MAN WHO ATE DAFFODILS GN (MR) $17.99

AUG110987 VAMPIRELLA #12 $3.99

SEP110815 WOLFSKIN HC VOL 02 HUNDRETH DREAM (MR) $27.99

SEP110814 WOLFSKIN TP VOL 02 HUNDRETH DREAM (MR) $19.99

OCT110965 XXXHOLIC GN VOL 18 $10.99

AUG111132 ZOMBIES VS CHEERLEADERS #5 $3.99

MAGAZINES
MAY111367 007 MAGAZINE ARCHIVE SEAN CONNERY PART 2 $18.00
SEP111349 BACK ISSUE #53 $8.95
MAY111673 BRICKJOURNAL #16 $8.95
AUG111320 CLASSIC MARVEL FIG COLL MAG #160 BLACKHEART $14.00
AUG111321 CLASSIC MARVEL FIG COLL MAG #161 THE PUPPET MASTER $14.00
AUG111322 CLASSIC MARVEL FIG COLL MAG SPEC ODIN $32.00
AUG111330 DC BLACKEST NIGHT FIG COLL MAG #15 LYSSA DRAK $14.00
AUG111331 DC BLACKEST NIGHT FIG COLL MAG #16 ARISIA $14.00
AUG111332 DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #94 HOURMAN $14.00
AUG111333 DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #95 BATGIRL $14.00
AUG111334 DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG SPECIAL MR MXYZPTLK / BAT-MITE $22.00
SEP111367 DR WHO MAGAZINE #441 $9.00
JUL111385 FANGORIA #309 JAN 2012 $9.99
OCT111362 LOCUS #611 $6.95
OCT111344 RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE #118 $9.95
SEP111392 SFX #216 $10.99
OCT111372 STAR WARS INSIDER #130 SPECIAL NEWSSTAND ED $7.99
JUL111439 STAR WARS VEHICLES COLL MAG #74 EWOK HANG GLIDER $18.00

"Joe Jusko: Maelstrom" Available for Pre-Order

Much Anticipated Joe Jusko Sketchbook Announced: Second in a series!

New York, NY- The much anticipated second Joe Jusko Sketchbook from Eva Ink Publishing is in the current/upcoming Diamond Catalogue, and is available for ordering either via Diamond or via Eva Ink Publishing (http://www.evainkartistgroup.com/)

"Joe Jusko: Maelstrom" is a lush 48 page, full color book, and showcases works by Jusko not featured in any other sketchbook or artbook! A great follow up to last year's book "Joe Jusko: Savage Beauty."

Jusko is undoubtedly one of the best known Fantasy, Pin-Up and Comic Artists in the world today. His career has spanned over 30 years, starting with the sale of his very first cover for Heavy Metal Magazine in 1977 at the age of 17. Since graduating that year from NYC's High School of Art & Design, Joe has worked for almost every major comic book publisher, producing hundreds of images for both covers and interiors.

His work has appeared on paperback book covers, calendars, posters, t-shirts, toy packaging and innumerable trading cards, most memorably the multi award winning 1992 Marvel Masterpieces Trading Cards. The popularity of that set has been credited with initiating the painted trading card boom of the 1990's, and led to his groundbreaking 1995 Art of Edgar Rice Burroughs trading cards. Those 125 paintings have made him the most prolific Burroughs artist ever, producing art based on almost every major book by the famed author. He is currently the cover artist for the "John Carter of Mars" series.

In addition to his work at Marvel over the years, Joe has produced art for many other companies and characters, including DC Comics, Crusade Comics, Innovation Comics, Harris Comics, Wildstorm Comics, Top Cow Productions and Byron Preiss Visuals, to name just a few. He has produced storyboards for ad agencies and advertising campaigns for such notable clients as the World Wrestling Federation, where he designed the art for the 1991-1992 Royal Rumbles and Wrestlemania VII.

His recent work includes monthly painted covers for Dynamite Comics' adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' WARLORD OF MARS, covers for VAMPIRELLA and a 4 issue WOLVERINE/HERCULES minis series as well as numerous independent publishers. His 2005 fully painted graphic novel based on Lara Croft, the heroine from the Tomb Raider video game series, won a Certificate of Merit from the prestigious Society of Illustrators, into which he was inducted in 2007. His hardcover "Art of Joe Jusko" book was released by Desperado Publishing in May, 2009 to rave reviews, and "Savage Beauty" his first in a series of hardcover sketchbooks from EvaInk Productions was released as of November 2010. He's currently developing a graphic storytelling property with Steve Niles' (author of "30 Days of Night").

His work has earned him myriad awards and honors, including two "Favorite Painter" Wizard Fan Awards, multiple trading card awards, a Golden Lion Award from the Burroughs Bibliophiles (previous recipients include Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo) and a Chesley Award nomination for best cover in 2001.

Joe's original paintings are held in collections worldwide, a fact that never ceases to amaze and humble him.

This new sketchbook on this prolific painter, "Joe Jusko: Maelstrom" is available in two editions:

Signed Edition: $39.99
ISBN:978-1-4675-0474-4

Sketch Edition: $124.99
ISBN: 978-1-4675-0475-1

The print run is limited to 1,000 copies.

Contact us at: evaink@aol.com for more details. Payments are accepted via paypal or via credit card when ordering directly from Eva Ink.

For more information, feel free to drop us a line. And if you don't own "Joe Jusko: Savage Beauty" yet, ask about acquiring both books, and receive a 10% discount via the Eva Ink store.

http://www.evainkartistgroup.com/ and www.witterstaetterwrites/blogspot.com

Arata The Legend: Kugura's Palace

I read Arata: The Legend 5 / Name Your Link

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has free comics).

"One Piece" Art Book Due in Early January 2012

JOIN THE STRAW HAT PIRATES AND DIVE INTO THE ARTWORK OF EIICHIRO ODA IN THE NEW ONE PIECE COLOR WALK VOL. 2 FROM VIZ MEDIA

New Full Color Art Book Features Illustrations From The Bestselling Manga Series Of All Time And Includes Works Never Seen Before Outside Japan

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced the release of a new collection of manga (graphic novel) creator Eiichiro Oda’s artwork from the bestselling pirate adventure, ONE PIECE, with the publication of the ONE PIECE COLOR WALK Vol. 2 on January 3, 2011. The new art book is rated ‘T’ for Teens and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN.

Color images and special illustrations from one of the world’s most popular manga are offered in this vivid new art collection. The book features behind-the-scenes info on how certain characters were designed and also includes an interview with Eiichiro Oda where he discusses his history and evolution as a manga artist. The book also includes a bonus postcard and in-bound full-color poster!

In the ONE PIECE manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens), Monkey D. Luffy is inspired as a child to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer "Red-Haired" Shanks. But Luffy's life changes forever when he accidentally eats the cursed Gum-Gum fruit, and gains the power to stretch like rubber – but at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on an epic adventure... One guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary "One Piece," said to be the greatest treasure in the world.

“ONE PIECE is the most popular manga series in Japan and continues to be the bestselling manga series of all time with more than 240 million volumes sold to-date,” says Alexis Kirsch, Editor. “This new edition of ONE PIECE COLOR WALK Art Book features a big selection of Eiichiro Oda’s artwork rendered in vivid full color. Oda’s illustrations are imaginative, playful, and often dramatic, and most have never been seen before outside Japan. We invite fans to savor all the character and cover art contained in this wonderful new edition!”

Eiichiro Oda began his manga career at the age of 17, when his one-shot cowboy manga Wanted! won second place in the coveted Tezuka manga awards. Oda went on to work as an assistant to some of the biggest manga artists in the industry, including Nobuhiro Watsuki (RUROUNI KENSHIN), before winning the Hop Step Award for new artists. His pirate adventure ONE PIECE, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, quickly became one of the most popular manga series in Japan and also enjoys a major worldwide following.

More information on the ONE PIECE manga series is available at http://onepiece.viz.com/. The ONE PIECE manga series may also be read digitally through the VIZ Manga App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, or through VIZManga.com for desktop/laptop computers or any internet-enabled device.

House of Five Leaves: Maple

I read House of Five Leaves 5 / Name Your Link

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has free comics).

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews ANY EMPIRE (OGN)

ANY EMPIRE
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARTOONIST: Nate Powell
ISBN: 978-1-60309-077-3; hardcover
304pp, B&W, $19.95 U.S.

Rating: Mature readers (13+)

Nate Powell is the Arkansas-born, now Bloomington, Indiana-based illustrator and graphic novelist known for his self-publishing and DIY musical efforts. His 2008 original hardcover graphic novel, Swallow Me Whole, won an Eisner Award in 2009 in the category of “Best Original Graphic Novel.” 2011 saw the release of a new hardcover original graphic novel, Any Empire, which according to the publisher, Top Shelf Productions, “examines war and violence, and their trickle-down effects on middle America.”

Any Empire’s lead character is Lee Powell, a small-town, middle school kid. Lee is often lost in violent fantasy scenarios – most of which involve characters from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Sullen and withdrawn, Lee can also be inquisitive and friendly, which causes his parents (including his father who is an officer in the United States Air Force) some concern.

Lee’s friend is Donnie Purdy, who simply goes by “Purdy,” a boy who is even more sullen than Lee. In fact, Purdy’s attachment to violent scenarios is downright visceral compared to Lee’s musings of consequence-free violence. Purdy is attached to twin brothers, Matt and Mark, little bullies with a penchant for animal abuse. When a series of turtle mutilations comes to light, a local girl named Sarah plays Nancy Drew to catch the culprits. Eventually, Lee, Purdy, and Sarah separate, but their dark histories of violence collide and reunite them in adulthood.

Nate Powell doesn’t necessarily dig deeply into the characters of Any Empire. What he does is delve into the role of violence in their lives, and violence is the dominant theme. Woven into the fabric of Any Empire is violence between children, violence against animals, the depiction of violent and dark emotions that people feel towards others, the insidious nature of violent entertainment aimed at children, and the all-obliterating violence of war between nations and states.

One thing that a reader can get from this graphic novel is that characters don’t just resort to violence; it’s also the tool of choice in their work box. This narrative, however, is not without a ray of hope. There is a scene late in the story that runs for two pages and part of a third page, in which Lee and his father grapple with war and violence. Papa Powell says something that is not said often enough – at least not in a meaningful way (as he does) – in my (fake) humble opinion.

I remain impressed by the way Powell’s compositional technique creates black and white art that shimmers on the page the way black and white Film Noir glistens on the screen. His quicksilver graphical storytelling dances across the pages and reaffirms that the simplicity of black and white art combined with lettering and word balloons can be as transfixing as any color comic book created with software. With Any Empire, Nate Powell assures his place as a great American graphic novelist.

A-

http://www.seemybrotherdance.org/
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/

Review: SWALLOW ME WHOLE (OGN)

SWALLOW ME WHOLE
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARTOONIST: Nate Powell
ISBN: 978-1-60309-033-9; hardcover
216pp, B&W, $19.95 U.S.

Rating: Mature readers (16+)

Swallow Me Whole is a 2008 graphic novel from cartoonist Nate Powell. Previous work by the musician and graphic novelist include Please Release (Top Shelf Productions, 2007) and Sounds of Your Name (Microcosm Publishing, 2006). Swallow Me Whole is the story of step-siblings and their struggles with mental illness. The book received the 2009 Eisner Award in the category of “Best Original Graphic Novel.”

I received a black and white, photocopied galley of Swallow Me Whole from Top Shelf. I struggled to finish the book. My struggles had nothing to do with Swallow Me Whole being a bore. Powell offers dense visual narratives that can be not only complex, but also difficult to decipher.

Along with a handful of young and gradually rising cartoonists like Jordan Crane and Carla Speed-McNeil (who has actually toiled in near obscurity for years), Nate Powell takes an approach to the graphic novel that recalls Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, Chester Brown, and Daniel Clowes, in which the reader must not only read the text in the word balloons, but must also absorb and interpret the actual comic book art. The art isn’t just drawings; it’s both a narrative and a carrier of ideas, philosophies, commentaries, etc. Through the art the reader is also expected to feel what the characters are feeling, which can be troubling when one is trying to feel a troubled characters.

Powell’s work reminds me of Charles Burns (Black Hole) comix in that everything drawn onto the page, including the lettering, is part of this communication of story and ideas. Because of this, I would say that Swallow Me Whole reminds me of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, in which everything placed on the pages (and covers): drawings, colors, and lettering transmitted stories, ideas, and messages, as well as it evoked sensations and feelings in the reader. Watchmen was meant to fire up the old noodle and get the reader thinking and engaged.

Swallow Me Whole is a sensory reading experience, although I wouldn’t necessarily call it the Watchmen of alternative comics, but could it be… Swallow Me Whole focuses on step-siblings Ruth and Perry – primarily Ruth. They are children of a blended family living in Wormwood, Arkansas, and their high school years are a journey into the dark corners of adolescence. Powell, however, isn’t dealing with such formulaic teenage melodrama as rebellion, sexual awakening, conformity, gangs, or the prom.

Swallow Me Whole is less about the external matters of being an adolescent and more about the madness of boredom and the discombobulating of the interior life. Ruth suffers from apophenia, a mental condition in which she sees patterns and connections in random, meaningless, and unrelated data, data which, to her, obviously doesn’t seem unconnected. Perry also hallucinates, seeing and hearing a small wizard connected to his drawing pencil, a wizard that demands Perry prepare for an important quest. While Perry struggles to extricate himself from the wizard, Ruth isn’t so sure that she should medicate her condition just to fit in with everyone.

Powell composes his art with a quirky line (that recalls Bill Loeb in Journey) and inks in fluid, smooth brushstrokes that seem to pour like batter from a large clay jar. Beyond surface appearances, Powell saturates the art in blacks and shadows that trickle, flow, drench, flood, and finally submerge the drawings. He dots the art with a steady spell of word balloons that combines to tell this story. As I said before, everything on the pages communicates.

There is a two-page sequence featuring Ruth sitting in the passenger seat of a car in which Powell alters the way he composes and inks this page and the manner in which he creates a varying degree of difficulty in reading the word balloons. Powell arranges this sequence in such a way to characterize and shape Ruth for the reader – to suggest her shifting mental state within the space of this one sequence. Powell not only wants the reader to know that Ruth and Perry have mental issues; he’s also determined to take the reader share them. He wants us to feel like them, to think like them, and ultimately to experience a sense of Ruth’s unraveling and Perry’s struggles.

Swallow Me Whole is not escapism because Powell is offering more than a story. He wants the reader to live through Ruth and Perry, and though Swallow Me Whole may come across as too complex and the story so elusive, he is not content with merely acting for you. Swallow Me Whole is about feeling the textures and sensations of the mental struggle. It’s amazing that someone can do this with drawings on a page.

Websites of note:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/
http://www.harlanrecords.org/
http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/