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PG Previews:

October 2010

Below are the comics, manga and graphic novels I’m most looking forward to based on publisher advance listings due to be released in October 2010 (although actual dates may vary).



100 Months
by John Hicklenton
Cutting Edge Press
£19.99

The publisher says:
John Hicklenton was one of Britain’s leading comic book artists, best-known for his militant revamp of 2000 AD and memorable depiction of Nemesis the Warlock. After a long and agonising battle with Multiple Sclerosis, John took his own life at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland on the 19th March 2010. His illness was the subject of More4’s documentary Here’s Johnny, broadcast in February 2010, with re-screenings to follow on More4 and Channel 4. 100 Months is an inspired mythological creation, a graphic novel of demi-gods, demons and apocalypse. Mara, vengeful Earth Goddess, takes to the killing fields of a planet ransacked by worshippers of the demonic Longpig, a personification of capitalism, red in tooth and claw. In her struggle, a rich and haunting metaphor for both, on one level, John’s illness, and the reality of environmental devastation, Mara confronts the dark Father Stone, mourns her Christ-like ally, The Carpenter (John’s visions of mass crucifixion recall Goya at his darkest), and faces death itself in the form of the Longpig. An intense, hallucinatory story with overtones of Dostoevsky’s Legend of the Grand Inquisitor and artwork of breathtaking intensity, 100 Months is the crowning achievement of a brilliant career, a true graphic novel that engages ultimate themes of life, death and salvation. Controversial, haunting and tortured in all senses, 100 Months will inevitably fuel debate around the issue of chronic illness and the patient’s right to end their life with dignity.

Paul Gravett says:
I interviewed John on a panel at the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival in 2008, where they also screened his documentary. John was a memorable person to meet and his contributions to the discussion were searingly honest. He showed some preview pages of this graphic and bowled everyone over with their painful power. Reading this will be an unforgettable and challenging experience.



Ayako
by Osamu Tezuka
Vertical
$26.95

The publisher says:
Osamu Tezuka, godfather of manga, here defies the conventions of his manga by utilising a completely original cast and relying solely on historical drama to drive the plot. Ayako, pulls no punches and does not allow for gimmicks as science-fiction or fantasy may. Instead Tezuka weaves together a tale which at its core simply focuses on a single family, a family that could be considered a metaphor for a rapidly developing superpower. Overflowing with imagery of the cold war seen through Japan’s eyes, this monumental work is regarded as Tezuka’s most political.

Paul Gravett says:
Now this is the way to publish Tezuka’s exceptional, intense family drama set during the aftermath of World War Two, in one big wallop, compiled into one hefty 704-page hardback.



CLiNT Magazine #1
by Mark Millar & various
Titan Comics
£3.99 / $6.99

Mark Millar says:
This is The Eagle for the 21st Century. I’ve worked on everything from Spider-Man comics to the Iron Man movie for Marvel in New York, but what really excites me is the gap I see in the UK market at the moment. There are absolutely no comic-books aimed at 16-30 year old guys and I think CLiNT has potential to make an enormous impact, bringing a new type of magazine to a new generation. I want this to be edgy and irreverent, the kind of thing guys will be passing around lunch-halls and common rooms, and there’s nobody I’d rather have creating new characters for CLiNT than Jonathan [Ross] and Frankie [Boyle]. They’re both brilliant writers and will surprise a lot of people with this stuff. The last thing you’d expect from Jonathan, for example, is a vampire strip, but he pulls it off amazingly. People are going to love this. We can’t say who else is involved at this stage. Jonathan, Frankie and I will have our stories serialized over the first six months, but we have the most insane line-up of creators ready to come in and join us. You’d be amazed how many people who work in film and television want to be comic-book writers. It’s very exciting and we think we’re creating something potentially enormous here.

Paul Gravett says:
The pre-pub hype goes on to declare: You weren’t around when Dan Dare was launched. You weren’t around for Judge Dredd. Get in on the ground floor now and be a part of comic-book history. Well, I was around for 2000AD‘s debut in 1977 and I will never forget being stunned by the first appearance of Judge Dredd in the second issue, so much so that I wrote a rave review of it and became a committed follower. And Eagle before it in 1950 was an astonishing all-new, all-original photogravure-printed supernova, unlike anything being published anywhere in the world at that time. You knew almost instantly that they were both changing British comics forever. I do have my doubts that CLiNT will really herald a new era and be the most important comic-book event in over thirty years. Besides, this claim conveniently erases Viz in 1979, Warrior in 1982, Escape in 1983 and Deadline in 1988, all significant British comics magazines which reached a young adult audience via the newsstands.

Now yes, it’s certainly great news to see a new British-published comic magazine coming out on the newsstands and into Tescos and Asdas to hopefully reach a wider public of comics newbies, mainly of 16-24 year-old blokes, for whom the oh-so-naughty, sweary-word, Eastwood-esque title will push their buttons - after all, everyone knows women don’t read comics, do they? So CLiNT is counting on these ‘Comics Muggles’ being blissfully unaware that three of the main features are reprints of stuff already published and available here (or very shortly) in comics shops as American comic books: Kick-Ass 2 and Nemesis (no relation to the phenomenal Mills & O’Neill’s 2000AD series) are from Marvel’s Icon (as will be Millar’s Superior), while Ross’s Turf is out from Image. Millar is having a lark with his nastier, topsy-turvy takes on the old superhero formulas, while Turf is a passable fun genre mash-up with some classy art by Tommy Lee Edwards, but sorry, it’s frankly too wordy and cries out for an editor’s red pencil to make it flow better as comics. Still Titan have made a fortune from repackaging American comics into supposedly British graphic novels and magazines - look at The Simpsons - and £3.99 does work out a bit cheaper than buying the individual imported pamphlets.

I’m much keener to see what little originated material appears here and what new, younger talents and characters CLiNT can surprise me with. They are actively looking, to give them credit, by auditioning newcomers on short complete stories, just like those Future Shocks in 2000AD. They also shamelessly want to sign up ‘a real iconic character’ and ‘a good title and a good vision of a lead character’. Let’s hope this is creator-owned, right? Of the small proportion of other new stuff, how much will stand-up comic Frankie Boyle’s Rex Royd be any different or better than 2000AD‘s tried and (t)rusted approach? Bluntly, just because you’re a comedy or TV celeb sadly doesn’t guarantee you can create original, innovative, or even entertaining comics - anyone remember Lenny Henry’s The Quest for the Big Woof? Alexei Sayle’s Geoffrey the Tube Train and the Fat Comedian drawn by Oscar Zarate was funnier and better. How about corralling Stewart Lee, that might be interesting? In their ‘Britain’s Got Comics Talent’ search, who knows, maybe they’ll find the next Alan Moore or Jamie Hewlett and the next V for Vendetta or Tank Girl? Now that might actually make comic-book history.

Hey, the first issue of CLiNT extruded through my letterbox this morning, so what’s it like and is it worth your £3.99 or $6.99? Well for starters you get only eight pages of Kick-Ass 2, not the whole issue. It’s by far the magazine’s strongest USP so it makes sense to stretch it out for as long as possible, although in the next week or two you’ll be able to read the whole first issue for $2.99 or £2.20 in comic shops, rather than waiting another two months for the rest of it. Your chummy editor Uncle Mark chimes in with ‘Please don’t tell me you watched it on pirate’, but what if you’ve not watched the Kick-Ass movie or read the graphic novel at all? You’re given no intro, no ‘what-happened-before’, so good luck to anyone unfamiliar with this storyline making much sense of this first slice of the sequel. As it is, ‘Mindy Recruits a Sidekick’ has a strangely shorter-looking Hit-Girl giving Kick-Ass a supposedly amusing punishing training session on the sly, before her black detective minder confronts her about the stash of weaponry hidden in her room and grounds her. He makes Mindy promise ‘No more gins, no more masks and no more secret training’, for her mother’s sake - fat chance of that. You get reprints of the whole 26 pages of Turf 1 and 23 pages of Nemesis 1 which do look rather good enlarged to A4.

How about any more new comics? Who knows what most people are going to get out of the first eleven pages of cover poster-boy Frankie Boyle’s Rex Royd. This only just about makes some sense, as one oh-so-harrrd lunkhead, an unnamed security guard, becomes one of many duped into thinking he is secretly the ‘real’ Rex Royd, slimy head of RexCorp, corporate clone-master and ‘Renaissance Man of Madness’. You get sweary words, one unarousing blow-job scene, some drug-taking, two panels of a Batman-lookalike being pulped, 16 mostly silent panels of violent deaths before a flat punchline. It’s not helped by Michael Dowling’s uninspired art, thin as gruel with large empty borders and bleeds on poorly proportioned pages. Then there’s the closing 3-page ‘Huw Edwards’ Space Oddities’ by Italian Manuel Bracchi (not the racing driver) - nice sub-Guy Davis art, instantly forgettable ‘twist-ending’. The editorial padding between the comics is slight and a bit desperate to shock though it can’t be X-rated: ‘Hot TV Mums’ has a few low-cut frocks and one bikini; there’s a Charles Manson ‘exposé’ about the stars he planned to bump off (but never did - brrrrrrrr); a ho-hum chit-chat with C-leb Alan Carr; and silly little wacky lists of ‘Princesses with Balls’ or ‘Weird Things Real People Have Shouted During Sex’. Surely any kidult geezer wanting this sort of sad material will go to other more daring, more transgressive trash like Nuts or Bizarre? It’s as if CLiNT can never go as far as it wants to - like its name. Frustrated and frustrating, it can never shout out that full, real, four-letter word. Making comic-book history? Not judging by this first salvo.     



Emitown
by Emi Lenox
Image
$19.99

The publisher says:
Emi Lenox has taken diary comics to a whole new level with Emitown, a breathtaking series of vignettes that document the travails of daily life, from the mundane to the miraculous. Image Comics is proud to present the first Emitown collection, which will be available this October. In Emitown, Lenox brings you into her world with superb cartooning, a brilliant cast of characters, and an innocent perspective often left on the cutting room floor of other diary comics. With a broad range of styles, every day is an adventure, from a morning breakfast burrito to metaphoric tales of superheroes and battlefields of love. Emi proves that life is never dull in her first annual collection of Emitown.

Paul Gravett says:
Raised on manga via her Japanese mother, Emi Lenox blends this influence with the US indie autobio approach in her webcomics, now from pixels to paper and print in a 400-page, two-colour softcover. Get to know her through her lovely, lively day-to-day comics journal.



Evelyn Evelyn
by Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley
& Cynthia von Buhler
Dark Horse
$24.99

The publisher says:
The tragic events surrounding the extraordinary lives of Evelyn Evelyn, a darling but unfortunate pair of conjoined twins. Including such noteworthy incidents as: the bizarre circumstances of their birth and subsequent bereavement; shocking encounters with depraved the acquisition and loss of loyal friends; and the terrible fate of Elephant Elephant; and concluding with the conjoined sisters’ rise to international fame as Internet celebrities, as told by the inimitably eloquent Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley and illustrated in lifelike detail and color by Cynthia von Buhler.

Paul Gravett says:
Suitably gothy-creepy in its high stripey stockings, this music-comics crossover should be shelved next to your copies of Salem Brownstone and Dame Darcy and Junko Mizuno’s comics. It will also be a lovely object, in two hardcovers inside a slipcase and accompaniment to the new Palmer/Webley album of the same name.



Fanzines
by Teal Triggs
Thames & Hudson
£19.95

The publisher says:
For more than 60 years, fanzines have been one of the most significant forms of self-expression. Often handmade and disseminated through underground networks, the fanzine is credited as being both the original medium for many of today s mainstream publications and the predecessor to the blogging craze. This highly visual compendium showcases the best, most thought provoking, and downright weirdest fanzines ever produced. With topics ranging from punk to personal politics, Fanzines includes both widely known fanzines as well as rare publications culled from passionate collectors. Spanning the history of the fanzine from the early experimentation with underground presses to contemporary and electronic fanzines, this is a comprehensive and unprecedented look at a fascinating phenomenon.

Paul Gravett says:
Symbolically, a single hand (male or female?) on a photocopy machine makes the arresting cover for this book. Teal’s timing could not be more perfect as there’s a real resurgence of hand-made, craft-based, ink-and-paper self-publishing going on now and of course the internet enables all of us to ‘Be the Media’. Not solely about comics, of course, this may well be relatively skewed towards Anglo-American output, but it will be an illuminating gleaning from the small press scene and provide valuable context and insight. Teal will be taking part in the 2010 Comica Festival as well.



Fist Stick Knife Gun:
A Personal History of Violence

by Geoffrey Canada & Jamar Nicholas
Beacon Press
$14.00

The publisher says:
Long before President Barack Obama called his work “an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children,” Geoffrey Canada was a small and scared boy growing up in the South Bronx. His childhood world was one where “sidewalk boys” learned the codes of the block and were ranked through the rituals of fist, stick, knife, and, finally, gun. In a stunning pairing, acclaimed comics creator Jamar Nicholas transforms Canada’s raw and riveting memoir. Nicholas’s fresh and edgy art pounds past its borders to reach a new generation of readers with one of the most authentic and important true stories of urban violence ever told.

Paul Gravett says:
Graphic novel adaptation of Canada’s significant streetlife testimony with art by Jamar Nicholas, one of the featured artists in Black Comix from Mark Batty, a PG Previews pick last month.



Forlorn Funnies Vol 1
by Paul Hornschemeier
Fantagraphics
$8.99

The artist says:
As for what’s in the first book, here are a few teasers / descriptions: Our principal concern of this volume, Obvious Amenities, is Act One of the story of Edward Molson, salesman. After the untimely osprey-induced death of a co-worker, Molson is thrust into a cross-country speaking engagement, a chance to revisit youthful diversions, and a potential extra-marital love affair. But for now, he has to walk his wife’s dog. Again. In Huge Suit and The Sea the deity / fate / deus ex machina Huge Suit - who first appeared in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - returns to his intervening ways, prodding and poking at the destiny of a relentlessly smiley boatman. The boatman travels from island to doomed island until taking on employment pulling ghosts into a basket. Soon enough the basket of ghosts is overflowing, and the locals send him, still smiling, back to the waters, where Huge Suit waits. The prose offering for this inaugural issue Whither Mountain Man?, joins a nameless protagonist on his search for a mythological beast sighted in the hills of an early 1900s Montana. But the neighboring hunters and mining interests have other plans, punctuated with rifles. The Epistemics (the beginning of what will be an ongoing serial) follows a team of military specialists and scientists in their role in the colonization of the planet Themis IV. In this first adventure, Tech Sgt. Artemis Tol is undergoing a bizarre ritual, the separation of the myriad creatures of which he is a composite, when The Epistemics must respond to a call of distress in one of the outlying camps. What they find in that camp is unlike anything they - a team made of clones, aliens, and grizzled space war veterans - have ever encountered. And Tol’s absence proves unimaginably costly.

Paul Gravett says:
If you’ve read Momma, Come Home, you know that Paul Hornschemeier is simply one of America’s most gifted young graphic storytellers and I’m not the only one looking forward to the return of his solo anthology. You can read an interview with him from Mome here.



Genius, Isolated: The Life & Art of Alex Toth
by Alex Toth
IDW
$59.99

The publisher says:
Alex Toth was a unique and singular talent, whose lifelong body of work was the envy of his peers, and had a profound influence on generations of both comic book and animation artists. This book is the first comprehensive biography of Toth, and is produced with the cooperation of his family. It is the most eagerly awaited visual biography of the year. Written by the Eisner Award-winning team of Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell who produced Scorchy Smith and The Art of Noel Sickles Genius, Isolated includes many examples of Toth’s art, from his earliest stories at DC in the 1940s, his defining work at Standard, his incomparable Zorro comics in the 1950s, examples from his thousands of drawings for animation studios, through his mature and some say best work, such as Bravo For Adventure, in the 1970s and ‘80s. A special section collects, for the first time, the complete Jon Fury pages that Toth produced while in the army, a section that alone is worth the price of admission. To flesh out the complete story of his life and art, Mullaney and Canwell have conducted wide-ranging interviews with dozens of Toth’s peers, friends, and family members.

Paul Gravett says:
I’ve got a lot of previous monographs and compilations on Toth (the name rhymes with ‘Both’, not ‘Broth’, btw) already on my shelves, but this sounds like the ultimate, utterly essential reference on the complex, phenomenally gifted comics creator and animation designer.



Gonzo:
A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson

by Will Bingley & Anthony Hope-Smith
SelfMadeHero
£14.99

The publisher says:
“If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.” The great American iconoclast, the great American outlaw, the great American hedonist. However you choose to view him, Thompson remains the high water mark for social commentators worldwide, and a truly fearless champion of individual liberties. This is his story.

Paul Gravett says:
I recommend checking out this first originated, British-made entry in SelfMadeHero’s new graphic biography line, started with great success last year by Germany’s Reinhard Kleist’s Johnny Cash bio. Certainly the previews look highly convincing. Bingley & Hope-Smith will be spotlighted during the 2010 Comica Festival.



Howl
by Allen Ginsberg & Eric Drooker
Harper Collins
$19.99

The publisher says:
First published in 1956, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl is a prophetic masterpiece - an epic raging against dehumanising society that overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges to become one of the most widely read poems of the century. Ginsberg’s legendary and groundbreaking epic poem is now a graphic novel - a tie-in to the major motion picture starring James Franco. Featuring graphics by acclaimed New Yorker cover artist Eric Drooker, Howl is a magnificent visual interpretation of a classic work by a seminal Beat writer and contemporary of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. For the last four years, Eric Drooker has worked as the Animation Designer for a film about Allen Ginsberg’s ground-breaking poem, Howl, that had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in February, 2010. The film is an unusual blend of live action and animation, and stars James Franco as Ginsberg; and features John Hamm (of Mad Men), David Strathairn, Mary-Louise Parker, and others. It’s been directed and produced by two-time Academy Award-winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Eric Drooker recognized that the artwork he created for the film would make a powerful book as well. This volume illustrates the full text of Ginsberg’s epic poem in the popular form of a graphic novel, and adapts the rich imagery from the film’s animated sequences. Howl: A Graphic Novel visualizes the poem stanza by stanza with actual frames from the studio’s animation. In the book’s introduction, Drooker tells the story of his friendship with Allen Ginsberg, and describes how he was ultimately hired to animate the prophetic poem.

Paul Gravett says:
Long thought to be unfilmable, Ginsberg’s poem finds new life on the screen and in comics. Using his expressionist, woodcut graphic style, Drooker is an ideal choice, a worthy heir to the tradition of passionate, purely visual narration pioneered by Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of Drooker’s originals from Flood! are being exhibited now till late August as part of the Silent Witnesses exhibition at The Collection in Lincoln.



Inkstuds
edited by Robin McConnell
Conundrum Press
$20

The publisher says:
Inkstuds is a collection of thirty interviews with North American alternative comic artists taken from the impressive archive that Robin McConnell has built up over the past 5 years on his radio show of the same name on CiTR, the radio station at the University of British Columbia, Canada. The interviews focus on the creative process and influences, but the subjects discussed often branch off in surprising and interesting directions. The artists chosen cover the range from the older generation of underground cartoonists to the new generation of the comics avant garde. This book is an invaluable resource, not just for comic enthusiasts but anyone interested in the artistic process. Featuring interviews with: Kate Beaton, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Jonathan Bennett, Chester Brown, David Collier, Jordan Crane, Rebecca Dart, Kim Deitch, Mary Fleener, Sammy Harkham, Jeet Heer, Jaime Hernandez, Jeff Lemire, Jason Lutes, Billy Mavreas, Françoise Mouly, Dan Nadel, Marv Newland, Anders Nilsen, Joe Ollmann, Gary Panter, Joe Sacco, Seth, Tom Spurgeon, Ted Stearn, Barron Storey, Jillian Tamaki and Carol Tyler. 296-page softcover, introduction by Jeet Heer.

Paul Gravett says:
I’ve been interviewed on Robin’s radio show a couple of times and always enjoyed myself. It’s rare in the media today that people who really know and love comics, creators and connoisseurs, get the chance to express their ideas and opinions with an engaged and engaging interviewer. Robin makes this possible and helms the proceedings, a pleasure to listen to and now to read. This book is simply the finest compilation of conversations with American and Canadian contemporary indie comics creatives you will find available anywhere. 



Japanese Animation
by Brigitte Koyama-Richard
Flammarion
£27.50

The publisher says:
A sweeping journey through the history of Japanese animation, tracing this cultural phenomenon from its origins in traditional art to the present day. A dominant force in its home country since the 1970s, Japanese animation has become a global phenomenon in recent years. But far from being a contemporary invention, anime draws on the same centuries-old artistic traditions that form the basis of manga. Widely disparaged when it first appeared in the West, today the real value of Japanese animation is recognized, and it has inspired international film directors. Fairytale, romance, adventure, fantasy, science-fiction: anime encompasses many genres and its current creativity knows no bounds. The author studies the evolution of Japanese animation through the centuries, retracing its history from painted scrolls to woodblock prints, to animated films, first in black and white, and then in color. A number of prominent artists are showcased including Tezuka Osamu, the godfather of anime and Hayao Miyazaki, founder of the world-renowned Studio Ghibli and creator of films such as Spirited Away the first anime film to win an Academy Award. Illustrated with over five hundred images, many rarely seen in the West, this book bridges the gap between art history and pop culture.

Paul Gravett says:
I’ve just received an advance copy and on first flick through this looks excellent, rich with information and iconography, a top-class companion to her 1,000 Years of Manga, also from French publishers Flammarion. A full review will follow.



Louis: Night Salad
by Metaphrog
Metaphrog
£9.99/$14.99

Sarah Martinez of Diamond Comics says:
In the tradition of Little Nemo, Scotland-based creative team John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs of Metaphrog have brought forward a fanciful adventure story.  Louis, the little hero from numerous previous Metaphrog titles, returns in a new stand-alone story perfect for young readers and the young at heart.  Desperately searching a cure for his sick friend and automated pet FC, Louis embarks on a dreamy journey that is both real and fantastic: glass trees, impossible cliffs, cities beneath the desert, and a library which holds all knowledge in the world await him in the pages of Night Salad. The art is hand-painted and vibrant, at once inviting and enchanting. Older readers will pick up on fascinating undertones as John and Sandra define a world where fruit must be assembled and all suburban houses are identical. If you love the unusual and delight in the unique, I highly recommend this title as a candy-colored touch of joy for your library.

Paul Gravett says:
Worth the wait, it’s great to have a new book from Glasgow’s metaphrog. I love Louis, an endearing individualist whose exquisitely crafted adventures are seemingly simple yet richly layered. John and Sandra will be taking part in Comica this year too!



Pang: The Wandering Shaolin Monk Vol 1
by Ben Costa
ICU Press
$19.95

The publisher says:
The Xeric Award-winning series kicks off as Shi Long Pang, a 17th century Buddhist warrior monk, journeys to find his lost brothers after the destruction of their temple. The fate of his order might rest on his shoulders alone, but life outside the temple won’t be easy - not with all the spies, corrupt officials, and pretty girls lurking around every corner. This is a full color, hardcover book, 192 pages (with an additional page of the story that won’t ever go online).

Paul Gravett says:
David (Tozo) O’Connell first alerted me to this webcomic as one of his favourites on the Caption digital comics panel I hosted recently in Oxford and he’s right, this is a fresh, intelligent online serial set in ancient China which you can now enjoy in book form.



Parker: The Outift
by Darwyn Cooke
IDW
$24.99

The publisher says:
IDW Publishing and award-winning creator Darwyn Cooke are pleased to announce that The Outfit, the second of Richard Stark’s Parker novels that Cooke is adapting, will be available nationwide in October. Cooke’s initial Parker release, The Hunter, has been a critical and popular success, appearing on over 50 best of the year lists as well as The New York Times best-seller list, and recently won a prestigious Eisner Award at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con for Best Adaptation From Another Work. The Outfit finds Parker riding high after evening the score with those who betrayed him in The Hunter. Disguised with a brand new face, life is good until a squealer turns Parker in to the Outfit for the price they put on his head… and suddenly this coast-to-coast crime syndicate discovers that all their bravado doesn’t measure up against one hard man.

Paul Gravett says:
Hard to imagine a better pairing than Stark and Cooke. The Hunter was a remarkable adaptation, which I reviewed here. The Outfit will surely equal if not top this.



Picture This
by Lynda Barry
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.95

The publisher says:
Lynda Barry singlehandedly created a literary genre all her own, the graphic-memoir-how-to, otherwise known as the bestselling, the acclaimed, but most importantly, the adored and the inspirational What It Is. The R.R. Donelley and Eisner Award-winning book posed, explored and answered the question “Do you think you can write”? Now with Picture This, Barry asks “Why do we stop drawing?” and “Why do we start?” It features the return of Barry’s most beloved character, Marlys, and introduces a new one, the Nearsighted Monkey. Like What It Is, Picture This is an inspirational, take home extension of Barry’s traveling, continually sold out, and sought after workshop, Writing The Unthinkable.

Paul Gravett says:
Barry is inspirational, as a speaker and a cartoonist, a pioneer of ‘autobiofictionalography’ as she called it. We ran some of her work back in the 1980s in Escape and judging from this 8-page pdf preview she’s on top form still. She makes you itch to get out your pencils, pens and paper and get drawing again for the sheer pleasure of it. 



75 Years of DC Comics
by Paul Levitz
Taschen
$200.00

The publisher says:
In 1935, DC Comics founder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, published New Fun #1, the first comic book with all-new, all-original comic material - at a time when comic books were mere repositories for the cast-offs of the newspaper strips. What was initially considered to be disposable media for children was well on its way to becoming the mythology of our time - the 20th century’s answer to Atlas or Zorro. Over 40,000 comic books later, in honor of the publisher’s 75th Anniversary, Taschen has produced the single most comprehensive book on DC Comics in an XL edition even Superman might have trouble lifting. Over 2000 images - covers and interiors, original illustrations (including Wonder Woman’s invisible jet!), photographs, film stills, and collectibles - are reproduced using the latest technology in digital reproduction to bring the storylines, the characters, and their creators to vibrant life as they’ve never been seen before. Telling the tales behind the tomes is 35-year DC veteran Paul Levitz, whose in-depth essays trace the company’s history, from its pulp origins through to the future of digital publishing. Massive foldout timelines and an in-depth appendix including biographies of the artists, writers, editors, publishers, and actors who cast the spell make this an invaluable reference for any comic book fan. You’ll find them all here.

Paul Gravett says:
Comic-book history nirvana or corporate self-congratulation run wild? Probably a bit of both, actually, and as such it will probably gloss over the less salubrious aspects of DC’s track record over these 75 years to this day. But it does promise some never-before-seen nuggets and at 650 oversized pages it will be a literal monument to this American success story.



The Gold of Their Bodies:
A Conversation Before Death

by Ashley Bickerton & Ignacio Noé
Other Criteria
£25 / $24.95

The publisher says:
An illustrated interview with the artist Ashley Bickerton and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, illustrated by Ignacio Noé. In a lively reinterpretation from transcript to comic book strip, Serpentine Gallery Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist’s interview with Ashley Bickerton is remodelled here as a comic strip set in the red light district of an anonymous Eastern metropolis. The pair are seen conversing in bars and moving through the colourful streets and strip clubs of the night as they discuss Bickerton’s early ambitions to be a writer, his passion for surfing, island life and dialects of the English language, amongst a raft of other interests and influences. An extensive anecdotal discussion and narrative leads the reader through the artist’s varied life. Ashley Bickerton was born in Barbados in the West Indies in 1959. He studied at the California Institute of the Arts before moving to New York, and became one of the Fantastic Four along with Jeff Koons, Peter Halley and Meyer Vaisman. Their work, known as Neo-Geo, caused a sensation, and the next few years proved intoxicating for Bickerton. Over the last twenty-five years, Bickerton has exhibited throughout Europe and America and his work is in several public art collections.

Paul Gravett says:
From Other Criteria, the London publishing house co-founded by Damien Hirst, comes their first comic, this surprising artworld graphic interview, with art by the striking Argentinian erotic comics illustrator Noé.



The Saga of Rex
by Michel Gagné
Image
$17.99

The publisher says:
The adorable little fox named Rex is plucked from his home world by a mysterious spaceship and transported to the arcane world of Edernia, where he meets Aven, an enigmatic biomorph with a flying saucer. Follow his epic journey as he travels through outer-worldly landscapes, faces strange perils, and makes surprising encounters. A story that is in turn adventurous, heroic, tragic, romantic, and wonderfully surprising, The Saga of Rex perfectly captures a vision of whimsy and wonder that will delight young and old. Michel Gagné‘s lush and colorful illustrations, combined with cinematic storytelling, have earned The Saga of Rex a worldwide following. For the first time, the complete and unabridged tale originally serialized over a period of seven years in the award-winning anthology, Flight, is now available in all its glory in a single 200-page volume.

Paul Gravett says:
Always a highspot in Villard’s Flight anthologies for me, The Saga of Rex is a wordless, timeless anthropomorphic fantasy, gorgeously illuminated. Enchanting.



The Sanctuary
by Nate Neal
Fantagraphics
$22.99

The publisher says:
An original, wordless graphic novel debut. In Nate Neal’s first full length graphic novel, the author explores the primal mysteries and sordid inner workings of a Paleolithic cave-dwelling tribe, creating an original silent reading experience by using symbols instead of words. When a mysterious nomad girl is offered up as an item of trade, she seeks refuge by forming a tenacious friendship with the local cave-painter turned outcast. Together they set out on a dangerous mission to bring truth to their corrupt tribe with the help of their new discovery (via some psychotropic mushrooms): drawings that tell a story. Subsequently, they become enmeshed in the violent power struggles and sensual intrigues between the alpha males and alpha females. In Sanctuary, art, inspiration, and communication is in conflict with tradition and law, and the novel dramatizes the moral imperative of man facing the truth even at the cost of his, and society’s, lives. Featuring its own delicately crafted Paleolithic language, The Sanctuary breaks new ground by bringing complex ideas to the page with primal immediacy and sophistication through Neal’s adroit use of pantomime storytelling that provide many layers of symbolism and meaning. This is a darkly comic journey through a prehistoric re-imagining of art and comics.

Paul Gravett says:
So pleased this is coming out, as I picked up the first three pamphlets of this series years ago in Jim Hanley’s, Manhattan, and was really struck by this daring undertaking. If we’re going to claim that the language of comics can be traced right back to our caveman ancestors painting onto cave walls, this is the graphic novel to prove it.



Tunes: A Graphic History of Rock ‘n’ Roll
by Vincent Brunner & various artists
Universe
$24.95

The publisher says:
Engaging as well as informative, Tunes traces the rise of rock and roll through the format of comics. Capitalizing on the immense popularity of the graphic novel, Vincent Brunner has assembled illustrators and cartoonists to visually depict the history of rock music through comics. This unique approach will not only appeal to those who grew up with the bands, but also to an entirely new generation of budding fans. Full of colorful personalities from larger-than-life divas to modest men who made it big, the story of rock is compelling and diverse. From Elvis and Little Richard to the British Invasion in the 1960s and onward through the eras of punk, heavy metal, new wave, and grunge, this series of black-and-white graphic depictions ranges from hilariously personal to absolutely wild. Each strip is accompanied by humorous yet informative text recounting the early struggles, successes, and challenges of each band. Also included is a selective discography for each band or artist, highlighting their biggest hits or most memorable songs. Vincent Brunner is a journalist who specializes in music and comics. He was music editor of Rolling Stone in France. Mathias Malzieu is the lead singer of Dionysos and also the best-selling author of a cult novel soon to be published in English, The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart.

Paul Gravett says:
Aptly, the cover of course is a homage to Crumb’s classic Janis Joplin LP cover Cheap Thrills. This is a translation of Brunner’s 2009 French collection Rock Strips from Flammarion with 33 top BD artists involved including Serge Clerc, Charles Berberian, Killoffer, Menu & Sattouf. Not maybe much really in depth here, more select vignettes, but stylishly presented.



Two Generals
by Scott Chantler
McClelland & Stewart
$24.95

The publisher says:
A beautifully illustrated and poignant graphic memoir that tells the story of World War II from an Everyman’s perspective. In March of 1943, Scott Chantler’s grandfather, Law Chantler, shipped out across the Atlantic for active service with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, along with his best friend, Jack, a fellow officer. Not long afterward, they would find themselves making a rocky crossing of the English Channel, about to take part in one of the most pivotal and treacherous military operations of World War II: the Allied invasion of Normandy. Two Generals tells the story of what happened there through the eyes of these two young men - not the celebrated military commanders or politicians we often hear about, but everyday heroes who risked their lives for the Allied cause. Meticulously researched and gorgeously illustrated, Two Generals is a harrowing story of battle and a touching story of friendship - and a vital and vibrant record of unsung heroism.

Paul Gravett says:
Chantler’s Northwest Passage, compiled from Oni in 2007, was something of a revelation, so it’s great to see him back here and with a mass-market mainstream publisher behind his latest work that mixes historical research with his own family background.



X’ed Out
by Charles Burns
Pantheon / Jonathan Cape
$19.95/£12.99

The publisher says:
Meet Doug, aspiring young artist. He’s having a strange night. A weird buzzing noise on the other side of the wall has woken him up, and there across the room, next to a huge hole torn out of the bricks, sits his beloved cat Inky. Who died years ago. But that’s no longer the case, as he slinks through the hole, beckoning Doug to follow. So he does. Now there’s no turning back. What the heck is going on? To say much more would spoil the creepy, Burnsian fun, especially since - unlike Black Hole - X’ed Out has not been previously serialised anywhere and will have readers guessing at every unnervingly meticulous panel. Drawing inspiration from such diverse influences as Herge and William Burroughs, X’ed Out is an engrossing new comic book fever-dream, from a true master of the form at the height of his powers.

Paul Gravett says:
Phew! I’ve read this and totally loved it. Burns is probably one of the very few American underground/edgy comix artists who grew up loving Hergé‘s Tintin and now channels it all back in this deliciously dark adventure-cum-psychodrama. The ending seemed a bit abrupt until Burns told me that it’s the first part of a trilogy. Full review to follow soon and Cape and I are hoping to bring Charles back over to London in the not too distant future for a Comica event. Meantime, he’s over in both Paris and Brussels this November for gallery show and signings.

Posted: August 22, 2010

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My Books

1001 Comics  You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett

Comics Unmasked by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning from The British Library









Comics Art by Paul Gravett from Tate Publishing