Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 22, 2017

DARK HORSE COMICS

NOV160081    ART OF MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA HC    $39.99
JAN170131    BLACK HAMMER #7 LEMIRE VAR    $3.99
JAN170130    BLACK HAMMER #7 ORMSTON MAIN    $3.99
JAN170120    BTVS SEASON 11 #5 MAIN MORRIS CVR    $3.99
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JAN170134    DEPT H #12    $3.99
NOV160095    EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS PELLUCIDAR AT EARTHS CORE TP    $12.99
JAN170136    EMPOWERED SOLDIER OF LOVE #2    $3.99
NOV160083    MASS EFFECT ADULT COLORING BOOK TP    $14.99
JAN170128    REBELS THESE FREE & INDEPENDENT STATES #1    $3.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 22, 2017

IMAGE COMICS

DEC160751    ARCLIGHT TP (MR)    $14.99
JAN170719    BEAUTY #13 CVR A HAUN & RAUCH (MR)    $3.99
JAN170720    BEAUTY #13 CVR B TOLTON (MR)    $3.99
JAN170721    BIRTHRIGHT #23 (MR)    $2.99
JAN170722    BLACK ROAD #8 (MR)    $3.99
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JAN170824    EAST OF WEST THE APOCALYPSE YEAR TWO HC    $49.99
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JAN170730    FEW #3 (MR)    $4.99
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JAN170713    SEVEN TO ETERNITY GIANT SIZED ARTISTS PROOF ED    $24.99
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JAN170770    VIOLENT LOVE #5 CVR A SANTOS (MR)    $3.99
JAN170771    VIOLENT LOVE #5 CVR B SANTOS (MR)    $3.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for March 22, 2017

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

DEC161185    ALTERS #5 (MR)    $3.99
JAN171789    ANIMAL CRACKERS HC GN    $15.99
JAN171788    ANIMAL CRACKERS PREQUEL HC GN CIRCUS MAYHEM    $15.99
JAN171977    ANNO DRACULA #1 (OF 5) CVR A MCCAFFREY (MR)    $3.99
JAN171978    ANNO DRACULA #1 (OF 5) CVR B MANDRAKE (MR)    $3.99
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NOV161522    DF BATMAN TMNT #3 DF EXC HAESER SGN    $27.00
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JAN171200    DOLLFACE #3 CVR A MENDOZA (MR)    $3.99
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DEC161625    FIRE THE ZORA NEALE HURSTON STORY HC    $21.95
JAN171861    FORGET ME NOT GN VOL 07    $10.99
JAN172200    FRUITS BASKET COLLECTORS ED TP VOL 11    $20.00
JAN172175    GOODNIGHT PUNPUN GN VOL 05 (MR)    $24.99
DEC161553    GREAT DIVIDE #6 (OF 6) CVR A MARKIEWICZ (MR)    $3.99
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JAN171581    HEATHEN #2    $3.99
JAN172204    HOW TO RAISE BORING GIRLFRIEND GN VOL 05    $13.00
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JAN171864    IN SPECTRE GN VOL 03    $10.99
DEC161678    INTERVIEW HC    $24.99
JAN171232    INVISIBLE HANDS #1 (OF 3)    $3.99
DEC161862    JUDGE DREDD EVERY EMPIRE FALLS TP    $25.00
JAN171657    KISS #6 CVR A PARILLO    $3.99
JAN171658    KISS #6 CVR B WILSON    $3.99
JAN171659    KISS #6 CVR C PHOTO    $3.99
JAN171895    LETTER 44 #31    $3.99
DEC161504    LIFE DEATH AND SORCERY #4    $3.99
JAN171474    LUMBERJANES #36    $3.99
JAN172176    MASTER KEATON GN VOL 10 URASAWA    $19.99
JAN171936    MIGHTY TITAN #6 (RES)    $3.99
NOV161878    MONIKA GN VANILLA DOLLS    $16.99
DEC161877    MONSTER MUSUME I HEART MONSTER GIRLS GN VOL 04 (MR)    $12.99
NOV161134    NINJA HIGH SCHOOL TEXT BOOK TP VOL 03    $49.99
DEC161878    OTHER SIDE OF SECRET GN VOL 04 (MR)    $12.99
OCT161295    OVER GARDEN WALL ONGOING TP VOL 01    $14.99
JAN171583    POWERLESS #1    $3.99
SEP161282    PRESIDENT EVIL (ONE SHOT)    $3.99
JAN172209    PRISON SCHOOL GN VOL 06 (MR)    $20.00
DEC161197    REICH #5 (OF 12) (MR)    $4.00
NOV161245    RUST TP VOL 02 (OF 4) SECRETS OF THE CELL    $14.99
DEC161879    SERVAMP GN VOL 09    $12.99
NOV161500    SERVING SUPES #7    $4.99
JAN171821    SHIKARI FORCE HUNTERS TP VOL 01    $12.95
JAN171393    SIMPSONS COMICS #238    $3.99
JAN171479    STEVEN UNIVERSE ONGOING #2    $3.99
JAN171480    STEVEN UNIVERSE ONGOING #2 SUBSCRIPTION SYGH CVR    $3.99
JAN171706    STICKS ANGELICA FOLK HERO HC    $21.95
OCT161738    TALES FROM THE CRYPT #2    $3.99
JAN171707    TERMS AND CONDITIONS    $14.95
JAN172177    TERRA FORMARS GN VOL 17 (MR)    $12.99
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DEC161787    THAT WOLF BOY IS MINE GN VOL 04    $10.99
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DEC161798    TREASURY OF XX CENTURY MURDER COMPENDIUM HC (MR)    $27.99
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DEC161888    UNTAMED II #3 (OF 4) CVR A BERGTING    $3.99
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NOV161501    WHITE #3 (OF 4) (MR)    $4.99
DEC161587    WILL EISNER SPIRIT CORPSE MAKERS #2 (OF 5) CVR A FRANCAVILLA    $3.99
JAN171335    WORLD OF ARCHIE JUMBO COMIC DIGEST #67    $6.99
JAN172044    WORLD WAR X #4 (OF 6) CVR A DI MEO (MR)    $3.99
JAN172045    WORLD WAR X #4 (OF 6) CVR B PERCIVAL (MR)    $3.99
JAN172046    WORLD WAR X #4 (OF 6) CVR C SALGADO (MR)    $3.99
JAN171411    WWE #3 MAIN CVR    $3.99
JAN172113    X-O MANOWAR (2017) #1 CVR A LAROSA    $3.99
JAN172114    X-O MANOWAR (2017) #1 CVR B ROCAFORT    $3.99

MAGAZINES
DEC161738    HEAVY METAL #285 CVR A BERTMER (MR)    $8.95
DEC161739    HEAVY METAL #285 CVR B GRIC (MR)    $8.95
DEC161740    HEAVY METAL #285 CVR C JEAN (MR)    $8.95
JAN172351    SCARY MONSTERS 2017 YEARBOOK MONSTER MEMORIES    $10.95
JAN172364    WALKING DEAD MAGAZINE #20 NEWSSTAND ED    $9.99
JAN172365    WALKING DEAD MAGAZINE #20 PX ED    $9.99

BOOKS
DEC162178    BEST THERE IS WHAT HE DOES EXAMINING CHRIS CLAREMONTS X-MEN    $16.99
JAN172280    CAPED CRUSADE BATMAN & RISE OF NERD CULTURE SC    $17.00
JAN172321    DARTH VADER & FAMILY COLORING BOOK    $14.95
DEC162206    FASCIST LIZARDS FROM OUTER SPACE KENNETH JOHNSONS V    $19.99
JAN172278    GOLDMINE RECORD ALBUM PRICE GUIDE 9TH ED    $29.99
DEC162207    HOW HE-MAN MASTERED THE UNIVERSE TOY TO TV TO BIG SCREEN    $19.99
JAN178009    LEGEND OF ZELDA BREATH OF THE WILD STRATEGY GUIDE HC    $39.99
JAN178010    LEGEND OF ZELDA BREATH OF THE WILD STRATEGY GUIDE SC    $24.99
JAN172326    MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS HIDDEN TREASURES HC    $40.00
JAN172179    ORBITAL CLOUD SC NOVEL (MR)    $16.99
DEC161685    TAKE THAT ADOLF SC FIGHTING COMIC BOOKS OF WWII    $29.99
JAN173217    WARHAMMER 40K DANTE HC    $27.00
JAN173220    WARHAMMER 40K SHRIKE    $19.00
JAN172337    WARREN THE 13TH & WHISPERING WOODS YA NOVEL    $16.95

Review: A CONTRACT WITH GOD - Centennial Edition

A CONTRACT WITH GOD And Other Tenement Stories
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY – @wwnorton

[This review was originally posted by Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Will Eisner
ISBN: 978-0-393-60918-9; hardcover (March 7, 2017)
224pp, B&W, $25.95 U.S., $34.95 CAN

Introduction by Scott McCloud; December 2004 Preface by Will Eisner

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories is an original graphic novel written and drawn by legendary comic book creator, Will Eisner (1917 to 2005).  It was first published in 1978 and is composed of four comic book short stories that revolve around several poor Jewish characters who live in a tenement apartment building in New York City, apparently sometime between World War I and World War II.

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (often referred to only as A Contract with God) was not the first graphic novel published in North America, but it was a seminal graphic novel because of its influence on other comic book creators to produce work that was more ambitious than standard superhero fare and children's comics, both in terms of content and format.

2017 marks the centennial of Will Eisner's birth.  In celebration of what would have been Eisner's 100th birthday, W.W. Norton & Company is publishing what is essentially a “Will Eisner Centennial Edition” of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories.  This new edition is a hardcover book and contains the four stories from A Contract with God reproduced in high-resolution from Eisner's original art boards.  This book also includes “Introduction to the Centennial Edition” by Scott McCloud (a comic book creator and friend of Eisner); the essay “A Brief History of A Contract with God;” and Will Eisner's “Preface,” written in 2004 for a 2005 edition of the book published by Norton.

The narrative of A Contract with God is a short story cycle of four stories.  The stories are mostly set in a tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue, the Bronx, New York.  Tenements were apartment buildings built to accommodate the flood of immigrants that flowed into New York after World War I.

The title story, “A Contract with God,” opens the book.  It focuses on Frimme Hersh, a devout Hebrew man who grieves the loss of his adopted daughter, Rachele.  Hersh believes Rachele's death is a violation of his “contract with God,” violated by the Almighty himself.  Hersh rebels against his previous life, but years later decides he needs another contract with God.

Eisner's creation of the entirety of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories was driven by his grief over the loss of his own daughter, Alice, but especially the story, “A Contract with God.”  I think the central message of this story is about man's foolish belief that he can actually not only initiate a contract with God or eternity, but also dictate terms and conditions.  I cannot tell if Eisner wishes to convey acceptance or resignation to fate and God, but the sense of futility is obvious here, while also being wearily hopeful.  Life goes on...

The second story, “The Street Singer,” is set in the 1930s and focuses on Marta Maria (not her birth name), an opera singer who long ago abandoned her career, and a street singer named Eddie.  Their chance meeting gives birth to hopes of a career revival for one and a debut for the other, but a simple error on both their parts endangers their bold plans.

Other than the 10 pages that depict Marta and Eddie's meeting and their sexual and professional consummation, I am not crazy about this story, although I like it.  However, those ten pages contain some of Eisner's best page and individual panel design of his late career as a graphic novelist, especially that two-panel page in which Eddie walks into Marta apartment and then, enters her boudoir.

The third story is “The Super,” which is about Mr. Scruggs, the mean superintendent of the tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue and his fateful encounter with Rosie, a poppet who might be one of the youngest femme fatales ever in comic books.  I am not a big fan of this story either, but it has some of Eisner's best cartooning of the human figure an exemplified in Mr. Scruggs.

In his post World War II work on his foundational comic book, The Spirit, Eisner frequently showed off his dexterity in cartooning the human figure in motion.  He matches that with the “The Super.”  This story opens with two masterful full-page illustrations, one suggesting Scruggs walking and the other a magnificent pose showing off Mr. Scrugg's physicality and his ability to intimidate using the threat of his physical prowess.

The final of the four stories is “Cookalein.”  The term refers to a kind of resort farm in the Catskill Mountains; 150 miles north of New York City.  City residents went to such places for summer vacations, and in this story, a wife and her two sons travel to a “cookalein” one summer.  However, marital stress lines between the wife and her husband, who will follow his family to the “cookalein” sometime later, grow wider, while the older of their two sons, Willie, has a life altering experience one hot summer night.

I have lost track of how many times I have re-read and perused all four of these stories in whole and in part, especially “Cookalein,” which is one of my all-time favorite Eisner works.  I had long hoped that Eisner would expand on this story, making it a larger, self-contained work or perhaps as a long-running serial featuring all the main characters from the story.

Over my many years of reading articles about A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories, I have come to understand that some comic historians and aficionados consider this work to be the pinnacle of Eisner's career.  I don't.  I consider Eisner's post-WWII work on The Spirit, his comic book published as a newspaper insert during the 1940s and early 1950s, to be his best work.  I do think that A Contract with God is the height of Eisner's comics that are his personal expressions, both as a storyteller and as an artist working in the comics medium.  This graphic novel may also be the best blending of Eisner's expression of pre-World War II Jewish American culture in New York City with his own history as a boy and then as a young man before WWII.

I can say that I love A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories even with my mixed feelings about some of the stories.  In the times that I have read or looked over A Contract with God since Will Eisner's passing, I find myself missing him something fierce... although I never met him.  Anyone who reads graphic novels has not really read graphic novels until he has read A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

-------------------

Review: CHAOS CAMPUS #0

CHAOS CAMPUS: SORORITY GIRLS VS ZOMBIES #0
APPROBATION COMICS

[This review was originally posted in Patreon.]

WRITER/LETTERS: B. Alex Thompson – @ApproBAT
ARTIST: Anita Zaramella
COLORS: Anita Zaramella
POST-SCRIPTING/POLISH: John P. Ward
COVER: Anita Zaramella
28pp, Color, $9.99 U.S.

Rated: Teen 13+

“The Keeper of Souls” created by B. Alex Thompson and Ant'Juan Avri; “Faint” and “The Stranger” are courtesy of DreamRealm Entertainment

“Sisters in Arms”

Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies is a horror-comedy comic book series created by B. Alex Thompson and published by Approbation Comics.  The series is set in during a zombie apocalypse and follows the adventures of three members of the sorority, Epsilon Alpha Zeta Upsilon (EAZY):  ass-kickin’ Jaime Schaeffer, brainy Paige Patton, and sexy Brittany Miller.

Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies – Extra Credit is a spin-off series.  Approbation published a Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con exclusive edition of Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies – Extra Credit #6 and entitled it Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies #0.  Extra Credit #6 was written by B. Alex Thompson and drawn and colored by Anita Zaramella.

Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies #0 (a.k.a. Extra Credit #6) finds the three heroines polishing off a zombie attack.  Jaime decides to go on a resource run for supplies where she runs into members of “The Ravagers” gang.  Jaime won't have to take on these hoods by herself, as another ass-kicking young woman happens on the scene.  She calls herself “Faint,” and she has some dark secrets.

Chaos Campus is quite good at referencing lots of pop culture.  The last issue I read prior to this one, Chaos Campus #11, summoned the film, The Matrix, 1980s girl-group, The Bangles, and even an old NBC public service advertisement.

Chaos Campus: Extra Credit #6 focuses on some other things this series does well:  the occult, Satanism, and dark magic.  Chaos Campus is one of the funniest zombie comedies that I have ever encountered, and it even pokes fun at slasher horror, which it does quite well.  As this series advances, however, it embraces more aspects of dark fantasy.

I have to give B. Alex Thompson credit.  I have always thought that Chaos Campus had the potential to offer an expansive mythology and narrative.  The hard part is actually making that potential pay off, and Chaos Campus: Extra Credit #6 shows that Thompson is indeed cashing in on what his comic book can be.

A-

www.ApprobationComics.com
www.AlexThompsonWriter.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-------------------

Review: ANONYMOUS NOISE Volume 1

ANONYMOUS NOISE, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Ryoko Fukuyama
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: JN Productions
LETTERS: Joanna Estep
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9420-0; paperback (March 2017); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Created by Ryoko Fukuyama, Anonymous Noise is a new shojo manga from VIZ Media.  It focuses on a talented singer and her unrequited love for the former neighbor who sang with her.

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 5) introduces Nino Arisugawa.  Once upon a time, when her parents fought, she found comfort in singing with Momo Sakaki, a boy who was her next door neighbor.  Then, Momo suddenly moves away.  Nino soon finds comfort in a young songwriter, Kanade “Yuzu” Yuzuriha, who calls Nino “Alice.”  He tells her that she should sing instead of scream, but he soon moves away.

Six years later, Nino is in high school, and she makes a shocking reunion.  But just around the corner, unbeknownst to her, there is the possibility of another reunion.  Plus, a hot teen pop band needs her.

The Anonymous Noise manga has themes and subplots that involve singing, songwriting, bands, and apparently the music industry.  The lead characters and some of the supporting characters have musical, singing, and/or songwriting talent, but don't kick out the jams just yet.

Anonymous Noise Volume 1 lays down the beat, but the melody and chorus on this new manga is probably about teen angst and young love.  There is also so much unrequited love that I get the feeling that creator Ryoko Fukuyama is weaving more than one love triangle, and it seems as if these triangles will overlap and maybe even clash.  I won't give this manga a grade at this time, but I think it has potential to offer drama with a capital D.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

------------------------

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 15, 2017

DC COMICS

JAN170228    ALL STAR BATMAN #8    $4.99
JAN170229    ALL STAR BATMAN #8 CAMUNCOLI VAR ED    $4.99
JAN170230    ALL STAR BATMAN #8 FRANCAVILLA VAR ED    $4.99
JAN170233    AQUAMAN #19    $2.99
JAN170234    AQUAMAN #19 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN170239    BATMAN #19    $2.99
JAN170240    BATMAN #19 VAR ED    $2.99
DEC160379    BATMAN EGO AND OTHER TAILS DLX ED HC    $39.99
JAN170246    BATWOMAN #1    $2.99
JAN170248    BATWOMAN #1 BLANK VAR ED    $2.99
JAN170247    BATWOMAN #1 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN170367    CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #6 (MR)    $3.99
JAN170368    CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #6 VAR ED (MR)    $3.99
JAN170347    DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #24    $3.99
JAN170267    GREEN ARROW #19    $2.99
JAN170268    GREEN ARROW #19 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN170271    GREEN LANTERNS #19    $2.99
JAN170272    GREEN LANTERNS #19 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN170279    HARLEY QUINN #16    $2.99
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