Sorry for the delay getting this one up.  I do sometimes take small vacations.  Occasionally.

It’s time for our monthly walk-through of Diamond’s Previews catalog.  As usual, we’ll start with the book I noticed that you might’ve missed.  Then we’ll mention the stuff in the front of the catalog that you’ve likely seen.

Cerebus Archive #2 has zombie and Obama variant covers. Dave Sim succumbs to the unbridled power of Barack Obama, comics biggest star! Aardvark Vanaheim ships it.

Scott Morse and friends’ latest installment of the Ancient Book series is The Ancient Book of Sex and Science, from AdHouse Books. Watch for a cabal of Born Agains to burn these heathen theories of procreation and stem cells! (I kid, oh you of religious persuasion and skin thin.)

Boneyard’s Richard Moore latest series, Fire & Brimstone, gets a trade paperback from Antarctic Press if you missed it the first time around.

Atomic Book Company has the second volume of Julia Wertz’s Fart Party. I’ve only heard good things about vol. 1. Really should read it for myself one of these days …

Warren Ellis fans: Anna Mercury 2 #1, Gravel #13, Ignition City #3, Frankenstein’s Womb and Wolfskin vol. 1 from Avatar. Umm, nothing else to say about that. I’m not one of you, but that’s a ton of comics.

The great Bill Shatner, star of the film classic Incubus, lends his name to the latest Bluewater Productions title to make me gasp with laughter: William Shatner Presents: Tek War #1.

Simpsons Comics #155, Bart Simpson Comics #48 and The Simpsons Super Spectacular #9 are Bongo Comics first Simpsons title crossover since 1994. Dude, if you bought every single Final Crisis and Secret War tie-in, you’ll be relieved to know that you can afford this one for a less than a Hamilton.

Boom Studios and Steve Dupre begin the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The book is, obviously, the inspiration for the flick Blade Runner, which most people like, and Dick is one of the few sci-fi writers I just adore. I’ll probably reread the novel rather than buying this, but some of you probably will want to check it out, so I’m passing it on.

The second volume of First Second’s translation of the powerful Korean coming-of-age drama by Dong Hwa Kim will hit stores. The first book, The Color of Earth, was amazing, and I suspect this new book – The Color of Water – will be just as sexual, literate and beautifully drawn.

Yumemakaru Baku and Jiro Tanigushi collaborate on Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s The Summit of Gods vol. 1, the tale of legendary lost Mount Everest climbers George Herbert Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine, the duo who may have reached the summit three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary. “We’d like your knighthood back, Mr. Hillary,” the Queen was heard to ask when she saw the solicit for this one.

Fantagraphics offers Peter Bagge’s Everybody is Stupid Except for Me and Other Astute Observations; Locas II: Maggie, Hopey and Ray, a second hardcover edition to follow on the previous Jamie Hernandez-authored Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories compendium (which is awesome); and You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, a second book of Fletcher Hanks comics. I’m still in shock that anybody was able to finish reading, much less enjoy, the first Fletcher Hanks book and demanded more. Fortunately for those boys at Fanta, I can’t turn down Los Bros material, so they’ve still got me hooked.

Barack Obama: The Road to the White House, from Jeff Mariotte and Tom Morgan, is at IDW. Mercury Comics has Alex Ross’s “Time For a Change” Obama Print. I told you: Barack Obama, the biggest character in comics right now! Dude has more titles than the X-Men!

Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen goes hardcover at Oni Press.

Poseur Ink is publishing Side B: The Music Lover’s Comic Anthology, with contributions from Jeffrey Brown, Brandon Graham, Ryan Kelly, Jim Mahfood and more. I have no clue what to expect from it, but the title appeals. A Neil Young reference will probably guarantee them my $23.

If you, dear reader, have never checked out Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s magnificent series Nexus (my all-time favorite superhero comic), Rude Dude has a #1, must-have book for you. Nexus: As It Happened Book 1 collects the original three black and white Nexus magazine issues, as well as the first four issues of the color Capital Comics series. As It Happened is softcover, black & white (you’ll have to buy Dark Horse’s excellent Nexus Archives to get the color version), 216 pages. And it’s freakin’ brilliant. If you haven’t read Nexus, this will be the best $10 you spend. Yeah, it’s only ten bucks, so you have nothing to complain about.

The Age of TV Heroes is resolicited from TwoMorrows. Interviewees include Adam West, Lynda Carter, William Katt, Jack Larson, Nicholas Hammond and more small screen heroes.

Flight vol. 6 from Villard is the latest collection from editor Kazu Kibuishi, and Vertical brings us the sixth volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack.

In the front half of the catalog:

Dark Horse gives us a new Predator series by John Arcudi and Javier Saltares. They seem to be paying attention to the Alien and Predator franchises again, so hopefully that’s a good sign. Werewolves on the Moon: Versus Vampires #1 (of 3) doesn’t sound like my thing, but Dave Land writes, and the Fillbach Brothers draw, and I know the kids like these genre crossover thingees. The Art of Tony Millionaire is what you think. The aforementioned Nexus gets collected in Nexus Archives vol. 9, bringing together Next Nexus #2-4 and Nexus #53-57. Having given up the role of Nexus, Horatio finds himself hunted by the new Nexi! Good, good times. Several Usagi Yojimbo trades are back in print – I have them, now you have no excuse not to have them as well. Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba are among the contributors to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires. Good creators, but I still don’t care. New Star Wars and Mask omnibuses as well, in a busy month from Dark Horse.

DC wants you to notice Batman and Robin #1, by Grant Morrison and frequent (though only committed to the first arc, as I understand it) collaborator Frank Quitely. Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III begin their Batwoman-centric collaboration on Detective Comics, with issue 854. Justice, one of the greatest indulgences in modern comics history, gets Absoluted. If you, unlike me, felt that it was worth more than the $20 I paid for it, you can get it for $99 now. The Sandman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby is probably the most interesting superhero-ey book from DC in the catalog. DC’s most exciting books, however, are definitely in the Vertigo section, with Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos’s Filthy Rich and Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries being the initial offerings in the new crime fiction line of graphic novels from Vertigo. Wilt, the final 100 Bullets trade, and Disechanted, the first Madame Xanadu collection, also hit shops, so if you’ve been trade waiting, wait no more.

Comic shops will find on their shelves Joseph Michael Linsner’s latest, Dawn: Not to Touch the Earth, and Greg Capullo returns to draw Spawn #193, with Sam & Twitch guest starring. Whoopee. The most enticing book from Image this month is Pug, a new ogn by Derek McCulloch (whose Stagger Lee was one of the best books of the last few years) and Greg Espinoza. If you haven’t read Stagger Lee, read it; then you’ll definitely want to see what McCulloch has cooking next. McCulloch also teams with artist Jimmie Robinson for the hardcover children’s comic T. Runt! from Image. Looks adorable! Vertigo editor Jonathan Vankin collaborates with writer/artist Arnold Pander on a new manga-inspired, action-intense graphic novel, Tasty Bullet. Back to Brooklyn collects Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti’s latest creative partnership.

At Marvel, I count at least six Avengers titles (not counting solo titles of Avengers members, because I’m never sure if certain characters should count), twenty-four X-Men titles (counting Wolverine solo projects, but not Wolverine guest-appearances), twelve Dark Reign titles (and another four tie-in titles)., and five War of Kings crossover issues. To be fair, there is considerable overlap among those categories. Overall, I found EIGHTY titles that are part of Marvel’s shared superhero universe (only counting titles that ship multiple issues this month once). Eighty is an absurd number of titles; by contrast, DC has 45 DCU titles (these counts include Marvel Adventures and Johnny DC books, but not Wildstorm, in case you buy that Earth 50 gibberish), and I think DC could use some pruning. Just thought somebody should count. I will be getting the softcover Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four vol. 2, however.

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