Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for January 25 2012

COMICS

AUG111008 ABOUT LOVE GN $12.95

SEP110742 ANUBIS GN $9.95

NOV110719 ARCHIE #629 (ARCHIE MEETS KISS PT 3 ) $2.99

NOV110720 ARCHIE #629 (ARCHIE MEETS KISS PT 3 ) VAR CVR $2.99

NOV111027 ARISA GN VOL 06 $10.99

NOV110723 B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #221 $3.99

NOV110796 BART SIMPSON COMICS #67 $2.99

NOV111091 BETTIE PAGE IN DANGER #1 (MR) $9.95

NOV111151 BLACK BUTLER TP VOL 08 $11.99

NOV111153 BLACK GOD TP VOL 15 $11.99

MAY111109 BRENDA STARR REPORTER STRIPS VOL 01 $60.00

OCT111022 DARK SHADOWS #3 $3.99

SEP110745 DEVILS ISLAND GN $19.95

SEP111073 DF AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1 ROMITA SR SGN ED $19.66

AUG111028 DF UNCANNY X-MEN #544 GREG LAND SGN ED $19.63

SEP110736 DREAM REAVERS #3 (OF 4) $3.99

NOV111154 DURARARA GN VOL 01 $11.99

OCT110758 EXTINCTION GN (MR) $16.99

NOV110775 FANTASTIC LIFE GN $9.95

AUG100789 FATHOM BLUE DESCENT #4 CVR A ALEX SANCHEZ $2.99

AUG100790 FATHOM BLUE DESCENT #4 CVR B SCOTT CLARK $2.99

SEP111053 FINDER GN VOL 05 TRUTH I/T VIEW FINDER $13.95

NOV110910 GAME OF THRONES #5 (MR) $3.99

JUL111013 GARTH ENNIS JENNIFER BLOOD #8 (MR) $3.99

OCT111280 GFT ALICE IN WONDERLAND #1 A CVR ARTGERM (MR) $2.99

OCT111281 GFT ALICE IN WONDERLAND #1 B CVR EBAS (MR) $2.99

OCT111282 GFT ALICE IN WONDERLAND #1 C CVR RUFFINO (MR) $2.99

OCT111035 GREEN HORNET ANNUAL #2 $4.99

SEP111055 HIDEYUKI KIKUCHIS VAMPIRE HUNTER D GN VOL 06 $13.95

NOV111155 HIGH SCHOOL OF DEAD GN VOL 05 (MR) $13.99

NOV110814 INCORRUPTIBLE #26 $3.99

NOV110815 IRREDEEMABLE TP VOL 08 $16.99

OCT110961 JASON & ARGONAUTS CAMPFIRE ED $12.99

OCT111202 JUDGE ANDERSON PSYCHIC CRIME FILES TP $20.99

AUG111011 KABUKI GN VOL 04 GREEN (MR) $12.95

NOV110823 KEY OF Z #4 (OF 4) (MR) $3.99

AUG110955 KIRBY GENESIS #5 $3.99

OCT111140 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #182 $5.99

JUL110798 KUNG FU PANDA #4 (OF 6) $3.95

MAY111014 LAST PHANTOM #11 $3.99

JUN110810 LITTLE GREEN MEN TP SMALL PACKAGE BIG FUN $6.95

AUG111010 MOON & BLOOD GN VOL 02 (OF 4) $6.95

AUG111009 MR CONVENIENCE GN (MR) $12.95

SEP110746 MY BEST FRIENDS A BOOGER GN $6.95

OCT110962 NELSON MANDELA CAMPFIRE ED $12.99

AUG110861 NINJAS VS ZOMBIES #5 $3.99

OCT111060 ONLY SERIOUS ABOUT YOU GN VOL 02 (OF 2) $12.95

NOV111156 PANDORA HEARTS GN VOL 08 $11.99

OCT111182 POLLY & PIRATES TP VOL 02 $11.99

OCT111059 PRIVATE TEACHER GN VOL 02 (OF 2) (MR) $12.95

OCT111052 QUEEN SONJA #26 $3.99

NOV110937 ROBOCOP ROAD TRIP #2 (MR) $3.99

OCT111090 ROMEO & JULIET THE WAR GN $19.99

OCT111091 ROMEO & JULIET THE WAR HC COLL ED $29.99

NOV111036 SAILOR MOON TP KODANSHA ED VOL 03 $10.99

OCT111056 SECRECY O/T SHIVERING NIGHT GN $12.95

SEP110748 SHADOWLAW GN $14.95

NOV110979 SILENCE OF OUR FRIENDS GN $16.99

NOV111071 SIXTH GUN #18 $3.99

OCT111183 SPONTANEOUS HC $24.99

SEP111054 STORM FLOWER GN $12.95

AUG110791 STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE BERRY FUN #4 (OF 4) $3.99

AUG111198 STUFF OF LEGEND JESTERS TALE #4 (OF 4) $3.99

NOV110843 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #72 (MR) $2.95

NOV110867 TECH WATCH #1 $3.99

OCT111159 TINTIN YOUNG READER ED GN KING OTTOKARS SCEPTRE $8.99

OCT111160 TINTIN YOUNG READERS ED GN BLACK ISLAND $8.99

NOV110836 TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN #2 FACSIMILE ED (MR) $3.99

NOV111152 TWILIGHT MANGA TP VOL 01 $14.99

OCT111058 TYRANT FALLS IN LOVE GN VOL 05 (MR) $12.95

SEP111027 VAMPIRELLA #13 $3.99

SEP111260 WALLY WOOD STRANGE WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION TP $24.95

SEP111007 WARLORD OF MARS FALL OF BARSOOM #5 $3.99

NOV110758 WARREN ELLIS ATMOSPHERICS COLOR ED GN (MR) $7.99

NOV110759 WARREN ELLIS ATMOSPHERICS COLOR ED SKETCH HC (MR) $24.99

NOV110842 WORDGIRL GN VOL 01 COALITION OF MALICE (O/A) $7.99

NOV111157 ZOMBIE LOAN TP VOL 13 $11.99

MAGAZINES
OCT111657 CLUTTER MAGAZINE #16 $9.99
NOV111218 DIABOLIQUE #8 $9.98
OCT111340 FAMOUS MONSTERS ART COLLECTION VOL 02 $16.99
NOV111219 FANGORIA #310 $9.99
NOV111247 GIRASOL PULP DOUBLES THE SPIDER VOL 22 A CVR WOMAN $14.95
NOV111248 GIRASOL PULP DOUBLES THE SPIDER VOL 22 B CVR TRAIN $14.95
OCT111350 HOBBY JAPAN JAN 2012 #97 $16.60
DEC111274 JUXTAPOZ #133 $5.99
SEP111387 MEGAMI DEC 2011 #68 $16.60
NOV111180 NON SPORT UPDATE VOL 23 #1 $5.99
SEP111629 PLAYTIMES VOL 2 #3 $10.50
DEC111359 STAR WARS FIG COLL MAG #45 OOLA $14.00
DEC111360 STAR WARS FIG COLL MAG #46 TIE FIGHTER PILOT $14.00
NOV111241 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #30 NEWSSTAND ED $6.99
NOV111242 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #30 PX ED $6.99

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: TALES OF THE BATMAN: DON NEWTON

TALES OF THE BATMAN: DON NEWTON
DC COMICS

WRITERS: Dennis J. O’Neil, Bob Rozakis, Cary Burkett, Martin Pasko, Michael L. Fleisher, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway
PENCILS: Don Newton
INKS: Dan Adkins, Dave Hunt, Robert R. Smith, Kim DeMulder, Frank Chiaramonte
COLORS: Adrienne Roy, Jerry Serpe
LETTERS: Ben Oda, Todd Klein, Gaspar, John Workman, Milt Snapinn, John Costanza
COVER: Don Newton and Dick Giordano
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3294-8; hardcover
360pp, Color, $39.99 U.S., $46.99 CAN

[Tales of the Batman: Don Newton reprints stories from the following comic books: Batman #305-306, 328; Detective Comics #480, 483-497; The Brave and the Bold #156, 156, 165.]

Tales of the Batman: Don Newton is a recent DC Comics hardcover collection that gathers the work of the late comic book artist, Don Newton. Once an art teacher and fan and amateur artist, Newton had a brief, decade-long career as a professional comic book artist. Newton drew for Charlton Comics and Marvel Comics, but did most of his professional work for DC Comics. Newton died in 1984, at the age of 49, as he was set to become the series artist on Infinity, Inc., a spin-off of the 1980s DC Comics series, All-Star Squadron.

One of the characters with which Don Newton was most associated was Batman. Beginning with Batman #305 (cover date November 1978), Newton drew Batman and related characters in almost 80 stories that were published over a seven year period. DC Comics has gathered 22 Don Newton-drawn Batman stories in Tales of the Batman: Don Newton. These stories were published during a two-year period from late 1978 to late 1980 and were published in three Batman comic book titles, Batman, Detective Comics, and The Brave and the Bold (a Batman team-up book).

Don Newton’s compositional style reminds me of Jim Aparo, while his graphic design and page layout clearly show the influence of Neal Adams. Newton wasn’t a copycat, though; the way he composed the contents of his panels was and still is distinctive. Most of the stories here feature Dan Adkins inking Newton, but I prefer Dave Hunt, who inked the first three tales in this book. Hunt makes Newton’s figure drawing look gorgeous and smooth and made each element in a panel stand out, while Adkins’ inks allows Newton’s eccentricities free reign, which isn’t always a good thing.

The Batman of the late 1970s still retains some of the influence of Denny O’Neil (who wrote several of the stories in this book). O’Neil’s Batman is an ominous figure, more like the avenging wraith that appeared in the first Batman stories back in the late 1930s. However, I think the Batman in these Newton stories is most influenced by the work of writer Steve Englehart, who presented Batman as a “Darknight Detective.” In fact, this Batman is more detective than “Dark Knight.”

Newton is perfect for this kind of Batman, who creeps around inside, deftly crossing the threshold into buildings, hallways, rooms, laboratories, and other interior and living spaces. Of course, the Batman in these stories also swings over roofs, jumps on moving vehicles, and has no problem kicking as in his urban playground.

There is an awkward nature to the way Newton draws, but once again, that serves his stories well. Limbs flail and smash into things, which give a strong physical sense to Newton’s fight scenes. That’s why the fight in “The Perfect Fighting Machine” (Detective Comics #480) really looks like a fight to death – one that Batman might lose. Newton’s Bronze Tiger in “The Vengeance Vow” (Detective Comics #480) captures Bruce Lee’s movement in the static visual medium of comic books probably as best as anyone can. For an odd bit of physicality, Newton stages a fight between Batman and some thugs in the narrow rows between movie theatre seats (Detective Comics #487).

DC Comics sent me a copy of Tales of the Batman: Don Newton for review, and this is one of the instances when I feel a bit guilty about that. Why? It’s because after reading this book, I realized that I would have been happy to buy it. As with many DC hardcover reprint collections, the interior pages are made of coated or enamel paper stock. The reproduction of the comic book art is solid, and the restored color pops on the page. Only the reproductions of The Brave and the Bold stories can be described as poor.

With this book, DC Comics has made Newton, who is practically obscure now, seem like someone special. For awhile, Newton was special, because he got the plumb assignment of drawing Batman comic books on a regular basis. And you will also believe in Newton’s noteworthiness when you see Tales of the Batman: Don Newton.

A-

43rd NAACP Image Awards Nominations: Literature Categories

The NAACP Image Award an award bestowed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The award honors outstanding achievements by people of color in film, television, music, and literature. The awards are voted on by members of the NAACP.

The 43rd NAACP Image Awards winners will be announced in a ceremony, February 17, 2012 and broadcast live on NBC.

LITERATURE CATEGORIES

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction
• "A Silken Thread" - Brenda Jackson (Harlequin Kimani Press)
• "Boundaries" - Elizabeth Nunez (Akashic Books)
• "Say Amen, Again" - Reshonda Tate Billingsley (Gallery Books)
• "Silver Sparrow" - Tayari Jones (Algonquin Books)
• "The Plot Against Hip Hop: A Novel" - Nelson George (Akashic Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction
• "Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America" - Melissa Harris-Perry (Yale University Press)
• "Super Rich" - Russell Simmons (Gotham Books)
• "The Cosmopolitan Canopy" - Elijah Anderson (W. W. Norton & Company)
• "The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place" - Hill Harper (Gotham Books)
• "Who's Afraid of Post- Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now" - Toure (Free Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author
• "2Grieve 2Gether: A Journal from the Heart Helping Survivors & Supporters Navigate the Healing Process" - Denise Hall Brown (2Lift 1Up Publishing)
• "A Defining Moment" - Patricia Duncan (IJABA Publishing Inc.)
• "The Loom" - Shella Gillus (Guideposts Books)
• "The Strawberry Letter" - Lyah Le Flore (Ballantine/Random House)
• "We the Animals" - Justin Torres (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/Auto-Biography
• "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother" - Janny Scott (Riverhead Books)
• "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" - Manning Marable (Penguin Group (USA)-Viking)
• "My Song" - Harry Belafonte (Knopf)
• "No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington" - Condoleezza Rice (Crown Publishers)
• "The John Carlos Story" - John Carlos, Dave Zirin (Haymarket Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional
• "A Year to Wellness and Other Weight Loss Secrets" - Bertice Berry (Freeman House Publishing)
• "Living My Dream: An Artistic Approach to Marketing" - Synthia Saint James (Create Space)
• "Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy, & Social Justice in Classroom & Community" - Quraysh Ali Lansana (Teachers & Writers Collaborative)
• "The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships from the Inspired Word of God " - T.D. Jakes (Atria Books)
• "Too Important to Fail: Saving America's Boys" - Tavis Smiley (Author), Juan Roberts, (Illustrator) (SmileyBooks)

Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry
• "Afro Clouds & Nappy Rain: The Curtis Brown Poems" - James Golden (iUniverse)
• "Head Off & Split" - Nikky Finney (TriQuarterly Books / Northwestern University Press)
• "Honoring Genius: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice" - Haki Madhubuti (Third World Press)
• "Intimate Thoughts" - Darrin Henson (Author), Anna Saunders (Illustrator) (Godzchild Publishing)
• "Last Seen" - Jacqueline Jones Lamon (University of Wisconsin Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Children
• "Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band" - Kwame Alexander (Author), Tim Bowers (Illustrator) (Sleeping Bear Press)
• "Before There Was Mozart" - Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator) (Schwartz & Wade Books / Random House Children's Books)
• "Heart and Soul" - Kadir Nelson (Author/Illustrator) (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books)
• "White Water" - Michael S. Bandy (Author), Shadra Strickland (Illustrator) (Candlewick Press)
• "You Can Be A Friend" - Tony Dungy (Author), Ron Mazellan (Illustrator) (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Little Simon)

Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens
• "Camo Girl" - Kekla Magoon (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Aladdin)
• "Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary" - Jerdine Nolan (Author), Sadra Strickland (Illustrator) (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Paula Wiseman Books)
• "Jesse Owens: "I Always Loved Running"" - Jeff Burlingame (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)
• "Kick" - Walter Dean (HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books)
• "Planet Middle School" - Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

23rd GLAAD Media Awards Comic Book Nominees

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) promotes the image of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people in media. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their accurate representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

GLAAD just announced the nominations for the 23rd Annual Media Awards. There are 116 nominees in 25 English-language categories, and 35 Spanish-language nominees in 10 categories. For a full list of nominees, go here.

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 24, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square; in Los Angeles on April 21 at the Westin Bonaventure; and in San Francisco on June 2 at San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

Here are the nominees in the sole comic book category:

OUTSTANDING COMIC BOOK

Avengers: The Children's Crusade by Allan Heinberg (Marvel)

Batwoman by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman (DC Comics)

Secret Six by Gail Simone (DC Comics)

Veronica Presents: Kevin Keller by Dan Parent (Archie Comics)

X-Factor by Peter David (Marvel Comics)

http://www.glaad.org/

Japanese Science Ficiton Novel, MM9, Also an eBook

NATURAL DISASTERS OF HIGH “MONSTER MAGNITUDE” THREATEN JAPAN IN MM9, NEW FROM VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT

Special Team Of Scientists Must Save Japan In A Gripping New Novel From The Author Of THE STORIES OF IBIS

VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint brings a fantastic new tale of science fiction and giant monsters to North American readers with the release of Hiroshi Yamamoto’s novel MM9, available now. The release will carry an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $16.99 CAN. An eBook edition is also available on the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store for $8.99.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

The Japan of MM9 is beset by natural disasters all the time: typhoons, earthquakes...and giant monster attacks. A special anti-monster unit called the Meteorological Agency Monsterological Measures Department (MMD) has been formed to deal with natural disasters of high “monster magnitude.” The work is challenging, the public is hostile, and the monsters are hungry, but the MMD crew has science, teamwork...and a legendary secret weapon on their side. Together, will try and save Japan, and the universe!

“Hiroshi Yamamoto takes on the perennial Japanese science fiction theme—the giant monsters known as kaiju,” says Nick Mamatas, Haikasoru Editor. “The B-movie monsters we know and love are basically treated like meteorological disasters along the lines of hurricanes or earthquakes by the MMD, who measures the “monster magnitude” of the various threats and uses both science and folkloric knowledge to try to save Japan from constant repeated attack. Yamamoto knows his science as well as pop culture—MM9 is both a loving parody of Japanese icons like Ultraman and Godzilla, but gives an intriguing and wild answer to the question of how such enormous creatures could exist without the laws of physics kicking it. The book was very popular in Japan, and the cinematic nature of Yamamoto’s storytelling made it easy for Japanese television to adapt into an action-adventure- science fiction TV show.”

Hiroshi Yamamoto was born in 1956 in Kyoto, Japan. He began his career as a writer and game designer with the game development company Group SNE in 1987. He gained initial popularity with titles such as February at the Edge of Time and the Ghost Hunter series. His first hardcover science fiction release, God Never Keeps Silent, became a sensation among readers and was nominated for the Japan SF Award. Other novels include Day of Judgment and The Unseen Sorrow of Winter and THE STORIES OF IBIS (which is published in North America by VIZ Media’s Haikasoru). Aside from his work as a writer, Yamamoto is also active in various literary organizations as an editor of classic science fiction anthologies and as president of To-Gakkai, a group of tongue-in-cheek "experts" on the occult.

For more information on MM9 and the Haikasoru imprint, please visit the dedicated website at http://www.haikasoru.com/.

Gilbert Hernandez's Fatima Debuts June 2012

DARK HORSE ORIGINALS MAKE WAVES!

MATT KINDT AND GILBERT HERNANDEZ RETURN WITH NEW PROJECTS!

Dark Horse Originals is proud to announce two new amazing series from critically acclaimed creators Matt Kindt and Gilbert Hernandez!

Matt Kindt, the most original voice in genre comics, outdoes himself in his bold new espionage series, Mind MGMT. Reporting on a commercial flight where everyone aboard lost their memories, a young journalist stumbles onto a much bigger story, the top-secret Mind Management program. Her ensuing journey involves weaponized psychics, hypnotic advertising, talking dolphins, and seemingly immortal pursuers, as she attempts to find the flight’s missing passenger, the man who was Mind Management’s greatest success—and its most devastating failure. But in a world where people can rewrite reality itself, can she trust anything she sees? If you think you know what Matt Kindt can deliver, you haven’t seen anything yet!

Comics luminary Gilbert Hernandez envisions his strangest, most thrilling future yet in Fatima: The Blood Spinners, a horrifying new take on zombies! A drug called “spin” offers the wildest trip imaginable, followed by its users’ inevitable, rapid deterioration into undead flesh eaters. Despite the side effect, the drug is so popular that the human population is dying out! With no cure to be found, the beautiful, lovesick Fatima may be the only thing standing between the survivors and the apocalypse. Get ready for four issues of zombies, drug lords, and gorgeous women!

Also, announced last week was multiple Harvey and Eagle Award winner Peter Bagge’s Reset, which leads off the Dark Horse Originals variant-cover program.

Reset #1 is on sale April 18, 2012, and features a variant cover by Matt Kindt!

Mind MGMT #1 is on sale May 23, 2012, and features a variant cover by Gilbert Hernandez!

Fatima #1 is on sale June 20, 2012, and features a variant cover by Peter Bagge!

Afterschool Charisma: The New Adventures of Hitler

I read Afterschool Charisma, Vol. 5

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps and comics).