Batman’s global franchising of his crime-busting, justice-pursuing operation kicks off in this week’s Batman Incorporated #1 by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette. Although you may want to start with Morrison, David Finch and Scott Williams’ Batman: The Return, the $5, 56-page one-shot serving as a bridge between the old status quo and the new one.
Batman Inc #1 is unfortunately going to be one of DC’s few $4, 22-page comics before they scrap their flirtation with that price point and format in favor of a $3, 20-page price point and format.
I guess Batman needed to raise a little extra money to help cover his incorporation costs…?
Best American Comics 2010: The annual anthology is required reading for comics fans and would-be comics fans—in the case of the latter, as a guide to the state of the medium and industry; in the case of the former, as fodder for arguing with your friends about. Series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden are joined by guest editor Neil Gaiman, and if he can bring a significant portion of his prose audience to the anthology this year, then this could be a pretty damn influential book. It’s a $23, 350-page hardcover (And if you don’t have the scratch yourself, be sure to bug your local library to order a copy!)
CBGB: This $15, 110-page collection of Boom’s anthology miniseries set in and inspired by the legendary rock club is a trade paperback, which makes this the CBGB TPB. Creators include Rob G and Chuck BB. And plenty of others, whose names don’t include letters that rhyme wth the title, like Ana Matronic, Kieron Gillen, Sam Humprhies, Dave Crosland, Kim Krizan and a Mr. Sheldon.
Dan Brereton: The Goddess & The Monster: Comics auteur Dan Brereton, responsible for The Nocturnals, Giantkiller, Thrillkiller and some of the most distinctive painted comics of the last few decades, gets a slick 145-page, $30 hardcover collecting his illustrations and other artwork. Given Brereton’s skills, I can’t imagine this would be anything other than gorgeous-looking.
The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories: Prolific editor Craig Yoe and publisher IDW’s latest collaboration is a $35, 180-page hardcover collecting short Christmas comics. It should be pretty great, and I say that not simply because it has the word “great” right there in the title. No, I say it because of the list of creators whose work is included, like Walt Kelly, John Stanley and Dan Noonan. Put me down for one, Santa.
Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil: Mike Mignola re-teams with Richard Corben for a special one-shot featuring the big red guy going into two different, deadly buildings—a carnivorous house and a pagan temple. Sound good? Looks good.
Osborn #1: Do you miss the once omnipresent Marvel villain Norman Osborn yet? If so, Marvel’s got a book for you this week! Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and pencil artist Emma Rios launch a five-issue miniseries check in with Osborn after the events of Siege (and during the events of Spider-Man’s new “Big Time” status quo) in an over-sized book which apparently also includes a Warren Ellis-written back-up.
Shockrockets: Kurt Busiek, Stuart Immonen and Wayne Von Grawbadger’s 2000 six-issue sci-fi action miniseries from Image Comics is now a $25, 160-page hardcover from IDW. It’s about about a squadron of elite pilots defending the earth from aliens invaders in planes that blend the tech of the two civilizations and, as I recall, was rather critically acclaimed at the time.
Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist: This $30, 270-page collection the title artists’ childhood drawings, sketches and comics—created between the ages of two and 28—is edited by parents Robert Crumb and Aline Kominksy Crumb and sounds so interesting and peculiar that it practically demands being picked up and flipped through tomorrow, if your local comic shop has a copy. You can flip through a couple of those pages at publisher W.W. Norton’s homepage.
What I Did: Fantagraphics collects another trio of Jason stories in the trilogy format they’ve been re-releasing some of his work in. This $25, 270-page hardcover includes Hey, Wait, Sshhhh! and the long out-of-print The Iron Wagon. You can download a pretty substantial preview here.
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Obviously are in agreement with anything you reported. Your reason ended up being surely favored to know precisely. I inform you, I commonly get irked while individuals examine factors that they obviously have no idea about. You managed to hit the nail directly on the top and pronounced out as much as possible with out consequence. , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
January 17th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
I very delighted to find this site on bing, just what I was searching for : D also saved to bookmarks .