June 6 2012

We’ve had a few sparse weeks, this one is a little beefier.

Favorites

Dial H #2: I continue enjoying the chaos of this book, and seeing all of the throwaway superhero ideas that might otherwise not have a home.  I’m also interested in the development of the lead character – is the Dial going to be the catalyst that helps him pull together, or will he continue his slow skid through life?

Defenders #7: Defenders is just oodles of silly fun in a 32pg booklet.  This book is helping me understand how much I ought to have read Immortal Iron Fist when it was coming out.  It’s a halfway home for the Red She-Hulk character.  Namor, Dr. Strange and The Silver Surfer are there.  Black Cat is cameo-ing it as we speak!

Surprises

Harbinger #1: This title is coming from a more modern angle than I thought it would.  X-O Manowar feels more nostalgic, but while I’ve never read the original Valiant universe outside of Dr. Mirage and Archer & Armstrong, if you covered up the Valiant Entertainment logo and said it was a different indy publisher, I might not blink.

Creator-Owned Heroes #1: Both of the titles in this sorta-kinda anthology hooked me; one with a strong action-oriented concept and Phil Noto art, and the other with the promise of interesting characters bonded together by muscle cars and the apocalypse.  I skipped the backup material because I am a Philistine.

Trades

Watchmen SC & HC: We are just rolling in these right now to celebrate the launch of the Before Watchmen series of titles!  Buy a Minutemen #1, get 15% off the original collection that started it all!

Boys v11 SC: I want to say ‘okay guys, this is the volume where The Boys gets extra serious’, but really after volume one they’re ALL like that.  But guys, this is the volume where The Boys gets extra serious, omg.

May 16 2012

Favorites

Saga #3: All of the characterization in this book is worthwhile, and the art and action keep pace.  I’m also happy to see a continuing series of strong last page cliffhangers; I’ve developed a thing for them lately.

Hardcore #1: Robert Kirkman serves up a great sci-fi concept and then cranks up the pressure on the main character, hard.  This was almost a ’surprise’ but I ended up liking the setup too much.  The second issue should hold as much if not more action than the first.

Surprises

Dancer #1: The book makes a good use of darkness and has lots of tension, with a very neat twist at the end.

Trades

Are You My Mother HC: Alison Bechdel does the closest she can to a follow-up to her acclaimed graphic novel, Fun Home.

Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince HC: P. Craig Russel’s transcendent adaptations of these classic stories (as well as his opera adaptations) are always a welcome sight to me.

May 9 2012

Sorry it’s been slightly less than weekly lately, we’ve had some hectic weeks!

Favorites

The Pro (new printing): This one shot is a certain kind of perfect.  The Pro is just nasty, raunchy and bitterly funny, handling its core idea of turning a prostitute into a superhero in an entertaining way.  The new printing adds a short where The Pro meets The Ho – hilarity ensues.

Alabaster; Wolves #2: The talking bird is without a doubt my favorite character.  I haven’t read the books, so there’s a whole bunch of unanswered questions for me, but I’m fine with that most of the time when I’m reading a story, and I’m fine with it here.

Surprises

Night of 1000 Wolves #1: Well, this more or less is exactly what it looks like and sounds like.  Wolves come, people start dying.  Ferals set me up to think this would be all twisty and weird, but it’s so far a straightforward supernatural horror book.

Trades

Manara Erotica v1 HC: Thick.  Tempting.  Probably won’t get printed like this again for some time.

Megalex HC: This looks like just the sort of thing that justifies Humanoid press’s existence, an Alejandro Jodorowsky story with stunner Euro-style art in a tidy package.

April 18, 2012

Favorites

The Shadow #1: The Shadow is a mysterious, psychic asshole.  Since the author is very good at writing magnificent bastards, this is going to work out very well, I think.  While the plot is winding up, we’re treated to a view of atrocity, perhaps the Shadow’s view on the world, and then we get to see him operate.

Resident Alien #0:  An alien in a small town is cajoled into a local medical practice to cover for a murdered doctor.  It’s like Doc Hollywood meets Space Invaders, but with a murder mystery instead of a ‘cocky young turk turned around by folksy wisdom’ plotline.  …well.  Half the Young Turk story.

Surprises

I missed two issues of Conan the Barbarian with the Becky Cloonan art!!  What is wrong with me?  So I caught up on them today and it was ~amazing~ and men were wrecked.  There was great prose included about the wrecking of men.  The strength of the writing, art and especially the pacing makes this series a treat.

Trades

Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland HC: A posthumously published work, snapshotting exactly what it says in the title.  Those who liked American Splendor or simply like Harvey Pekar will find something in this trade.

April 11, 2012

Favorites

America’s Got Powers #1: This book ended up being a fair amount bleaker than I expected, but has about as much potential as I thought.  I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.

Saga #2: Second verse just as good as the first; my only complaint is they spoiled the best joke for me in a sneak peek.  It was perhaps my fault for looking!

Surprises

Secret #1: Issue one and I already feel knee-deep in corporate espionage!

Alabaster Wolves #1: This comic has even more charm and interest than the preview let on, and the preview was pretty good.  I’ve always liked dark fantasy where the monsters talk things out at least a little, and the conversation in the book is entertaining.

Trades

TMNT Ultimate Collection HC v2: More of the bold original series collected in a firm hardcover format!

April 4, 2012

Busy day with customers, so it’s another shorter week!

Favorites

Whispers #2: The subtlety in the faces in this book makes the conversational, close-in nature of most of this issue’s action really work.  New supernatural elements are introduced; we’ll see if the main character’s narcissism and anxiety block him from understanding.

Surprises

Grimm Fairy Tales: April Fool’s Special: Boy this book just 100% says what I’m thinking and I loved that.

Trades

Flex Mentallo; Man of Muscle Mystery HC: Back in print, so I can finally read it!  It’s fascinating to see both how little and how much Frank Quitely’s art has changed, and I can’t help but feel like I’m reading some predecessor to Sea Guy (and to a MUCH lesser extent The Filth), but with much, much less surrealism.  The Hero of the Beach will always be there for you!

March 28 2012

This is sort of a weak week for me, consider this a half-week!

Favorites

New Deadwardians #1: Is the culture done with zombies yet?  GOD no.  Of course not.  But New Deadwardians is not entirely the same old same old zombie apocalypse story, there’s a stiff upper lip to it, and a punny name.  Characters can also survive zombie bites by partaking in a cure, though they’ll still be undead.  Next issue – the Young!

Surprises

Choker #6: Surprise the first; the book finally finished!  Holy crap!  Surprise the second; there will be more!  Holy crap!  For those who didn’t catch onto Choker about…two years ago?  It’s a delightfully nasty detective comic with superhumanity thrown in.  And drugs that turn you into vampires.

Trades

Dororo Omnibus sc: There’s actually a fair amount of Tezuka available in new-ish printings, but I ordered this one for its themes and the amazingly odd collage cover.  25$ gets you a tome’s worth of manga genius!

March 21 2012

Favorites

Prophet #22-23: I read these back to back today and was truly impressed.  The art and bare as-it-is science fiction blended together well.

Super Crooks #1: What’s it like in an America where the super heroes have things all sewn up?  What does a crook have to do to get by?  Why do they even try?  And how will things go wrong when they try to escape into a grander scale of super crime?

Surprises

No surprises this week, I guess I saw it all coming.

Trades

Gonzo: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas rent my brain back in the day.  Now I can re-expose myself to the drug-induced horror and wonder in comics form!

Judge Bao HC: It’s a kung fu movie in a compact comic book!  The art has an amazing texture and the story is well rooted in the setting, this was a fun read.

March 14, 2012

Favorites

Saga #1: The art is solid and sells the fantastic visuals of the story well, which is doubly good because so far the story is kickin’.  Robots, fairies, goat men and war IN SPAAAAACE, I’m stoked.  It sounds silly here, but in execution Brian K. Vaughn is doing a very good job of building worlds and characters.

Nancy in Hell: On Earth #2: I can’t help it, she’s a 1980s scream queen with a chainsaw.  The comedy, gore and cheesecake of this title makes it just like the baconweave of comics – so bad for you, so hard to look away from.

Surprises

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #6: There will be a follow-up series later this year!  Huzzah!

Trades

Womanthology HC: So many people worked on this book, and so many people funded it on Kickstarter.  It’s amazing considering just that, but it’s also a big, fantastic hardcover.  There’s too much here for me to comment on it in specific; it will gladly devour small chunks of your time because there’s 320 pages of shorts.

Crime Does Not Pay Archives HC: Pre-Comics Code nastiness!  See all the violence and moral panic!  Own a piece of comics history!

February 29 2012 – Leap Blog!

Such a light week this week!  I’m not even kidding, our new shelves are at about half capacity.  So lonely shelves.

Favorites

Orc Stain #7: Orc Stain is back!  Huzzah!  Hoorah!  Zazu is pleased with this development!  More smashing, more genitalia fixation, more bizarre organic megastructures, more living things as technology and MORE ORCS.

Batman Beyond Unlimited #1: I enjoyed seeing the Beyond universe’s Justice League, as well as Old Superman.  Old Batman still pushes Terry from scene to scene, making for an active, if frantic title.

Surprises

There was not enough stuff to surprise me with this week.  Lord of the Jungle #2 remains readable, but very quick.  Sad that a book this thin is 3.99.

Trades

Embroideries GN: The author of Persepolis tells us all more stories about the women in her family!  For those left wanting after Persepolis 2.