Digital Comics: Digital new releases available from your local comic book shop are marked below. [DIG] = Digital version available. [DIG/P+] = Print-Plus digital/print combo pack available. Click here for a complete list of this week's Digital New Releases. For more information, go to www.digitalcomicsreader.com.
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
NOV121275 ACG COLL WORKS ADV INTO UNKNOWN HC VOL 04 $47.99
MAR131261 ACG COLL WORKS ADV INTO UNKNOWN SLIPCASE ED VOL 01 $119.99
APR130964 ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 03 $14.99
APR130815 B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #234 [DIG/P+] $3.99
SEP121087 BARNABY HC VOL 01 $35.00
APR130987 BETELGEUSE TP VOL 03 OTHER $11.95
APR130812 BETTY & VERONICA #266 REG CVR [DIG/P+] $2.99
APR130988 BLAKE & MORTIMER GN VOL 13 CURSE OF 30 PIECES OF SILVER PT 1 $15.95
APR131277 BLOODSHOT (VU) #12 HARBINGER WARS REG ANDRASOFSZKY $3.99
APR131375 BOYS OF STEEL THE CREATORS OF SUPERMAN YR SC $7.99
APR131253 BURNING BUILDING COMIX HC $19.95
MAR131379 CHILDREN OF THE SEA TP VOL 05 $14.99
MAR131290 COMP FLASH GORDON LIBRARY HC VOL 03 FALL OF MING (RES) $39.95
FEB131140 CRATER XV HC $19.95
APR130757 CRYPT OF HORROR #18 $29.95
APR131047 DARK SHADOWS YEAR ONE #3 $3.99
APR131102 DF DEJAH THORIS & GREEN MEN #1 EMERALD CITY EXC $19.99
MAR131116 DF DEJAH THORIS & GREEN MEN #4 RISQUE CVR $18.99
MAR131127 DF REGULAR SHOW #1 EXC CVR $10.00
DEC121082 DF THOR GOD OF THUNDER #1 AARON SGN ED $29.99
APR131100 DF VAMPIRELLA STRIKES #1 COMICSPRO EXC $50.00
AUG121098 DF WARLORD OF MARS #25 RISQUE RED EXC (MR) $14.99
FEB131073 DOMINO LADY BLONDE BOMBSHELL TP $25.95
JAN131055 EVIL ERNIE #6 $3.99
JAN130878 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT IRIS VOL 3 #4 CVR A LEI $3.99
JAN130879 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT IRIS VOL 3 #4 CVR B PANTALENA $3.99
APR130935 EXTERMINATION TP VOL 02 $14.99
APR130867 EXTINCTION PARADE #1 (MR) $3.99
APR130869 EXTINCTION PARADE #1 END OF SPECIES CVR (MR) $3.99
APR130868 EXTINCTION PARADE #1 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99
DEC120776 FAILURE GN (MR) $21.95
APR130938 FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #15 [DIG] $3.99
APR130859 FATHOM ELITE SAGA #1 CVR A MARION [DIG] $3.99
APR130860 FATHOM ELITE SAGA #1 CVR B CALDWELL $3.99
DEC121182 GABBA GABBA HEY RAMONES GRAPHIC GN $24.95
DEC121041 GAME OF THRONES #15 (MR) $3.99
APR130911 GAME OF THRONES HC GN VOL 02 (RES) (MR) $25.00
APR130783 GEARHEARTS STEAMPUNK GLAMOR REVUE #7 $3.99
APR131346 GFT MADNESS OF WONDERLAND TP $12.99
APR131338 GFT UNLEASHED VAMPIRES ETERNAL #3 A CVR MALSUNI (MR) $3.99
APR131339 GFT UNLEASHED VAMPIRES ETERNAL #3 B CVR QUALANO (MR) $3.99
MAR130781 GOLD DIGGER #201 [DIG] $3.99
APR131039 GREEN HORNET LEGACY #38 $3.99
MAR131275 HAGANAI I HAVE NO FRIENDS GN VOL 03 $12.99
APR131274 HARBINGER (VU) #13 HARBINGER WARS REG ZIRCHER $3.99
FEB131141 HECK HC $19.95
APR130942 HELLRAISER DARK WATCH #5 (MR) [DIG] $3.99
MAR131277 KISSES SIGHS & CHERRY BLOSSOMS PINK COMPLETE COLL TP (MR) $18.99
FEB131074 LAI WAN DREAMWALKER TP $9.99
JAN130821 LAST ZOMBIE #2 THE END [DIG] $3.99
MAR130903 LEGEND OF OZ WICKED WEST TP VOL 02 $17.99
APR130919 LIBERATOR #1 $3.50
APR130817 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #30 REG CVR [DIG/P+] $3.99
APR130989 LUCKY LUKE TP VOL 31 VS PINKERTONS $11.95
APR130990 LUCKY LUKE TP VOL 32 RAILS ON PRAIRIE $11.95
APR131174 NO 6 GN VOL 01 $10.99
APR130920 OCCUPY COMICS #2 $3.50
APR131147 PRIMATES FEARLESS SCIENCE OF GOODALL FOSSEY & GALDIKAS HC $19.99
JAN131086 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #35 $3.99
MAR131266 ROY THOMAS PRESENTS PHANTOM LADY SLIPCASE ED VOL 01 $69.99
FEB138566 SAFE AREA GORAZDE HC SPECIAL ED (MR) (NOTE PRICE) $25.00
APR131175 SANKAREA GN VOL 01 UNDYING LOVE $10.99
APR130926 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #8 (RES) $3.50
APR130927 SIMPSONS COMICS #203 $2.99
APR131193 SIXTH GUN #32 $3.99
APR131194 SIXTH GUN SONS O/T GUN #4 $3.99
APR130828 SONIC SAGA TP VOL 03 EGGMAN EMPIRE [DIG] $11.99
APR130824 SONIC UNIVERSE #53 REG CVR [P+] $2.99
APR130930 SPONGEBOB COMICS ANNUAL GIANT SWIMTACULAR #1 $4.99
MAR138385 SUICIDE RISK #1 (2ND PTG) $3.99
APR130991 THORGAL GN VOL 08 WOLF CUB $11.95
APR131041 VAMPIRELLA STRIKES #6 CVR A JOHNNY D $3.99
APR131042 VAMPIRELLA STRIKES #6 CVR B NEVES $3.99
FEB130964 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #26 (MR) $3.99
APR131057 WARLORD OF MARS TP VOL 03 (MR) $19.99
APR130819 WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #30 [DIG/P+] $5.99
APR130992 XIII CINEBOOK ED GN VOL 17 IRISH VERSION $11.95
APR130910 ZEBRAFISH SPF 40 HC $19.99
MAGAZINES
MAR131268 2000 AD PACK MAY 2013 $26.25
APR131771 COLOR INK DIY ART PERIODICAL VOL 17 $10.00
MAY131807 COLOR INK DIY ART PERIODICAL VOL 18 $10.00
APR131380 COMIC SHOP NEWS #1357 PI
APR131382 COMIC SHOP NEWS SUMMER 2013 PREVIEW PI
MAR131476 DIABOLIQUE #16 $9.98
FEB138547 DOCTOR WHO BOOKAZINE #1 THE DALEKS $19.99
FEB131290 HOBBY JAPAN MAY 2013 $16.60
JAN131431 MEGAMI APR 2013 $16.60
APR130699 MONSTERS UNIVERSTIY MOVIE SPECIAL $9.99
JAN131432 NEWTYPE APR 2013 $16.00
APR130697 PHINEAS AND FERB MAGAZINE #18 $4.99
BOOKS
MAR131309 DAN SPIEGLE LIFE IN COMIC ART SC $17.95
APR131327 DISSOCIATION OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA SC $8.99
MAR131455 DOCTOR WHO WHO OLOGY OFFICIAL MISCELLANY HC $19.99
APR131364 DONT PIGEONHOLE ME 2 DECADES MO WILLEMS SKETCHBOOK HC $40.00
FEB131289 GOTHIC & LOLITA BIBLE #46 $35.00
APR131415 MAD GOBLIN SECRETS OF NINE NOVEL $12.95
APR131396 ROGUE TOUCH SC $14.99
APR131397 SHE HULK DIARIES SC $14.99
MAR131495 WALKING DEAD POSTER COLLECTION $24.99
MAR132224 WARHAMMER 40K MACHARIAN CRUSADE ANGEL OF FIRE SC $14.00
MAR132226 WARHAMMER 40K THE SOUL DRINKERS FIRST OMNIBUS SC $17.50
MAR132228 WARHAMMER HEADTAKER SC $14.00
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
I Reads You Review: X-Men #1
MARVEL COMICS
WRITER: Brian Wood
PENCILS: Olivier Coipel
INKS: Olivier Coipel and Mark Morales
COLORS: Laura Martin
LETTERS: VC’s Joe Caramagna
COVER: Olivier Coipel with Laura Martin
28pp, Colors, $3.99 U.S. (July 2013)
Rated T+
Marvel Comics’ Marvel NOW initiative (which began in Fall 2012) is the major re-launch of the publisher’s comics line. Within that major re-launch have been several re-launches, and one of the big unveilings is a new comic book entitled, X-Men.
The new X-Men is written by Brian Wood and drawn by Olivier Coipel. That is a major creative team, but the really big news about this new X-Men title is that it features a female-only lineup. This new X-Men comic book stars Storm, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rachel, Rogue, and Jubilee.
X-Men #1 (2013) begins with Jubilation Lee (Jubilee, of course) on the run, and in possession of an infant. Someone is following her, and she calls for the X-cavalry. Meanwhile, John Sublime shows up at The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning in Westchester, New York. He has a tale of impending doom to tell.
Writing the X-Men means recycling the ideas of other writers, ideas that were first published decades ago. What Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and Chris Claremont wrote can be and has been rehashed, re-imagined, remade, and re-jiggered into countless new comic book stories. This has gone on for decades and can go on for many, many more decades.
Along comes Brian Wood. He is one of those writers that can take someone else’s concept and write new stories that are as fresh and as innovative as the original idea. See him do it on Dark Horse’s new eponymous Star Wars comic book with artist Carlos D’Anda. Wood’s new X-Men is the freshest take on the franchise since Grant Morrison shocked us with New X-Men 13 years ago.
One of the elements that made Morrison’s New X-Men so bracing was the art by Frank Quitely. Wood has an artist collaborator who is still ascending. Olivier Coipel, the French comic book artist, has not yet reached his creative peak, but he is a good storyteller. His pretty, eye-candy style is made even prettier by Laura Martin’s dazzling colors.
Coipel is making X-Men a stimulating, refreshing read. Also, amazing is that he is the first “artist of color” (or how about “Black guy”) to be the series artist (and not a guest artist) on a main or “flagship” X-Men title in the 50-year history of the franchise. When you consider that people associated with Marvel have evoked Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to describe the X-Men, it is ridiculous that it took this long.
By the way, no African-American or Black writer has been the series writer for Uncanny X-Men or X-Men. Is this an accident or is it because the powers-that-be over the years just wanted it that way? Well, I guess Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel are as bold as it’s ever going to get.
Any way, I like X-Men #1. This is just the first issue, but I already think that the 2013-launched X-Men is a fabulous comic book.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
Arata the Legend: Ghosts of Muroya
I read Arata: The Legend, Vol. 14
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Review: HIS FAVORITE Volume 4
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga
CARTOONIST: Suzuki Tanaka
TRANSLATION: Ivana Bloom
LETTERING: Annaliese Christman
COVER: Suzuki Tanaka and Fawn Lau
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4358-1; paperback (June 2013); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
194pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK
What if a guy says he loves you? What do you do if you don’t think he takes anything, even love seriously?
Suzuki Tanaka, the creator of Love Hurts, also produced the boys’ love manga series, His Favorite. Boy’s love (also known by the acronym, BL) depicts romantic relationships between male characters. His Favorite can be classified as “shounen-ai,” the subset of BL that does not feature explicit depictions of sex between male characters.
His Favorite focuses on Yoshio Yoshida, an awkward high school student, and Takahiko Sato, the hottest guy in school and a guy madly in love with Yoshida. However, Yoshida thinks that Sato is not really serious about anything, especially love. Meanwhile, all the girls in school are crazy about Sato, and they think that Sato and Yoshida are just really close friends. That’s why they insist that Yoshida help them get closer to Sato.
His Favorite, Vol. 4 (Chapters 13 to 16) opens with a trip to the “House of Horrors,” a haunted house attraction at an amusement park named, “Gorilland.” Yoshida wants no part of a haunted house because he is too afraid. Sato just wants an opportunity to get close to Yoshida. Their female classmates want to use the attraction to get closer to Sato, and they’ll hurt anyone who gets in their way.
Then, go back to Yoshida and Sato’s middle school past. One was cool and popular; the other was a misfit about to be sent abroad. Next, Seijuro Nishida is madly in love with Yoshida, and now, he will wait no longer. It leads to a showdown at “Hell’s Pass.”
As boys’ love manga goes, His Favorite is light-hearted fare. The energy that fuels this series isn’t even hot-and-heavy petting, let alone actual sex. His Favorite is fueled by comedy hijinks. Yoshio Yoshida is so comical that it is difficult to imagine him sexualized or even depicted in a sex act. This may be boys’ love, but I hardly think that I can call this a gay comic or comic about gay teens.
That’s not to say that His Favorite is not enjoyable. I especially enjoy the throng of high school girls that wants Sato so badly, yet the girls cannot recognize the truth that is practically in their faces everyday. The best part of His Favorite Volume 4 is the story of Yoshida and Sato’s past, which is a surprisingly good character piece. In fact, it is an oddity in the silliness that surrounds it. That story is the reason I’m giving this volume a grade of “B” and not something below that.
B
www.SuBLimeManga.com
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
Friday, June 14, 2013
Review: A GAME OF THRONES: The Graphic Novel Volume 2
BANTAM BOOKS/RANDOM HOUSE – @randomhouse
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics
WRITER: George R.R. Martin
ADAPTATION: Daniel Abraham
ART: Tommy Patterson
COLORS: Ivan Nunes
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
ORIGINAL SERIES COVERS: Mike S. Miller, Michael Komark
COVER: Tommy Patterson with design by Charles Brock, Faceout Studio
ISBN: 978-0-440-42322-5; hardcover (June 11, 2013)
240pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN
A Game of Thrones is the 1996 novel from science fiction and fantasy author, George R.R. Martin. The novel is the first book in Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels, which are the basis for the HBO television series, “Game of Thrones.”
Dynamite Entertainment is producing a comic book adaptation of A Game of Thrones. The comic book adaptation of the novel is expected to run over 24 issues of about 29 pages per issue. The writer responsible for adapting George R.R. Martin’s prose into comics form is science fiction and fantasy novelist, Daniel Abraham (who sometimes collaborates with Martin on fiction). The artist is Tommy Patterson, who has drawn comic books for Boom! Studios and Zenescope Entertainment. Mike S. Miller has provided the cover art for most issues of A Game of Thrones the comic book.
Bantam Books is collecting the comic book adaptation as A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel. A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2, to be released shortly (as of this writing), will collect A Game of Thrones, issues 7 to 12. The book also contains some back matter. “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2” illustrates how a section of Martin’s novel is transformed into 5 pages of A Game of Thrones #9.
In A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2, the action takes place in the icy north of The Wall, the valley of the Eyrie, the decadent south and the capital city of King’s Landing, and the Dothraki’s sacred Vaes Dothrak. Much is happening. Lord Eddard Stark, the King’s Hand, continues to investigate the death of Jon Arryn, the previous Hand. Stark’s wife, Lady Catelyn Stark, accuses the dwarf Tyrion Lannister of trying to kill her son, Brandon (“Bran”), and of another possible murder.
In the barbarian lands, the young princess, Daenerys Targaryen, has found the unexpected in her marriage to Dothraki warlord, Khal Drogo. Meanwhile, her petulant brother, Prince Viserys (who calls himself “The Dragon”), continues to demand that the Dothraki help him reclaim his inheritance as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms from King Robert Baratheon. Meanwhile, the Lannisters continue to plot against everyone.
When I first read A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1, I was not familiar with anything related to A Game of Thrones, except that I’d heard of the television series. I did not know that the novel was being adapted into comic book form until Random House sent me a review copy of the first graphic novel in early 2012.
I did not expect much from that first experience, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Thus, I have been anticipating Random House sending me the second collection of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel for several weeks now, and they have sent it.
Based only on my readings of the comic book, I see A Game of Thrones as a great big character drama and an epic soap opera, told as historical fiction. The comic book, as written by Daniel Abraham, captures the epic scope of A Game of Thrones – the large cast and the expansive setting and background – by giving the reader an intimate view of all the major players. Abraham also focuses closely on bit players in the moments they make a direct impact on the narrative. Abraham engages the readers by narrowing the focus on character conflicts, motivations, and relationships.
In Vol. 1, I thought Tommy Patterson was a good artist, but I found his storytelling to be inconsistent. Now, the awkwardness I noticed in some scenes is gone. Patterson’s style is consistent and his compositions results in clear storytelling. Patterson captures everything that is big, grand, and expansive about A Game of Thrones, but his pencil has a laser focus on detailing the characters, both their physicality and personality. Graphically, visually, and pictorially, Patterson brings the characters to life with the skill of someone doing this much longer than he has.
The result of Abraham and Patterson’s efforts is one especially good comic book. Yes, you can call it a “good read,” but add “x 2” to that. As for the back matter: this book offers five pages from A Game of Thrones the novel. Then, the editors show how those pages of prose become a script, thumbnails, pencil art, lettered art, colored art, and finally 5 pages of A Game of Thrones #9.
Fans of all things A Game of Thrones will want A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, so will readers looking for a good fantasy comic book.
A
www.bantamdell.com
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
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