Another big HeroesCon Guest List update this week: and still another three updates’ worth to go… and growing! But this one is particularly juicy–check out these names:

CLAYTON HENRY is an up and coming penciller with a slick slick style, as seen on Uncanny X-Men, Exiles, or Incredible Hercules. Clayton is attending his first-ever HeroesCon, so be sure and welcome him!

MARK MORALES is no stranger to HeroesCon… and probably no stranger to you either, as inker of Secret Invasion, Thor, New Avengers… the list goes on!

BUDDY PRINCE is a Charlottean who’s also no stranger to HeroesCon, but is appearing on our Guest List for the first time this year. Besides his work on multiple sketch cards for the Marvel Masterpieces series, Buddy’s also worked on the comic Night.

SEAN SHAW is another returning guest–you can catch his work all over, on titles like Grimm Fairy Tales, Shi, Gen 13, and more.

And also attending her first HeroesCon this year, writer JENNIFER VAN METER, who collaborated with our buddy Cully Hamner on Black Lightning: Year One, not to mention her work on JSA Classified and Hopeless Savages. Welcome to Jen!

Okay–still more to come, although I was unable to get to the big Indie Island update I had planned this week. It’s order form week, so Shawn and I (mostly Shawn) are struggling to get all our numbers together. But next week! Next week! See you then!

When it was first announced (a while ago) that writer Gail Simone was going take over Wonder Woman, I’ve gotta admit that I got excited. I was hoping that the lady who turned the once-mediocre Birds of Prey into a must-read could turn around a book starring one of DC’s flagship characters — a book whose quality fluctuated wildly over the years and various creative teams.

But once the first few issues of Simone’s stint hit the stand, I read the comics and thought they were decent, but nothing mind-blowing. Checking out the latest issue (No. 30), however, its seems that she’s finally found her footing.

So what’s working now and what didn’t work before?

In interviews done before she started writing Wonder Woman, Simone promised to finally prove that Diana was the world’s greatest warrior. But if you look at the writer’s initial story arcs, she really didn’t show DC’s favorite Amazon doing anything all that “great.” On top of that, she surrounded her with supporting characters — like a group of talking gorilla’s and the super-spy Nemesis — who seemed to hog the page more than the star of the comic.

Issue 30, on the other hand, shows Diana sans any sidekicks, talking tough and doing things you’d expect a warrior to do (I don’t really know any warriors, but you get the point). There’s a scene in the issue where Wonder Woman goes all Jack Bauer on the Cheetah and later she stomps members of the Secret Society — both instances show the character in a whole new light, without betraying the core fundamentals of the classic hero.

Simone has also succeeded in finally creating some villains tough enough to stand up to Wonder Woman … and we all know that villains make a superhero. One bad lady by the name of Genocide sports an awful costume, but her back story and powers present a unique foil to the Amazon Princess.

All in all, I’d say Simone is at last living up to her own promises — and also to the inherent potential that has always existed in the character of Wonder Woman. Here’s hoping they don’t fire the writer and replace her with some fly-by-night dude like Kevin Smith.

Yes! We’ll be talking about this much more between now and then, but coming up the first Saturday in May is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! If you’ve never been to one of our Free Comic Book Day jamborees before, it basically works like this:

1) There’ll be between 20-25 different books, all of which will be FREE.

2) You can have one of each, while supplies last (we order less of some books than others), and as long as we feel like you’re old enough for that book.

3) NO CATCH!!

And if that’s not enough, try this on for size: we’ll also be hosting 14 different artists, who’ll be signing autographs and doing free sketches from 1-5pm! OMG!! They’re so cool, I’ll list them again:

MARK BROOKS (Spider-Man)
CHRIS BRUNNER (Gotham Central)
SHAWN CRYSTAL (Deadpool)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic)
SANFORD GREENE (Method Man GN)
CULLY HAMNER (The Question)
ADAM HUGHES (Wonder Woman)
JASON LATOUR (Loose Ends)
BUDD ROOT (Cavewoman)
CHRIS SCHWEIZER (Crogan Adventure Series)
ANDY SMITH (Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein)
ALLISON SOHN (Star Wars trading cards)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (The Ride)
KARL STORY (Tom Strong)

OMG OMG!! If you’ve never been to one of our Free Comic Book Day shindigs before, you can find some pictures of past shindigs right here. But here’s a teaser below, taken from across the street from our store last year:

Alright, at long last it’s here! If you’ve purchased a Small Press Table or Booth for HeroesCon 2009, that IMMENSE list is up now on both our Guest List page and Small Press page. There’s a lot of returning people AND new faces, so it should be a great mix this year–most of all, there’s just a TON of them!

As a reminder, Small Press Tables and Booths are sold out. While we took a few waiting list names last year, this year we’re not accepting any–we’re REALLY sold out! If for some reason we make more tables available, we’ll announce it here on the blog AND on our Heroes Hotline newsletter, so keep your eyes peeled for that! And thanks to everyone who’s purchased space!

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week.

5. AMERICAN JESUS TP VOL 01 CHOSEN
Written by Mark Millar; art by Peter Gross
Image Comics
$9.99 | 72 pgs

It’s been something like 5 years since Mark Millar’s second coming comic Chosen originally came out but I guess the reason it’s finally being collected now is that Millar plans on releasing a sequel soon to what he is now calling the American Jesus trilogy. And like a lot of Millar stuff since Wanted, it’s been optioned by Hollywood.

This first volume American Jesus introduces us to a twelve year old boy in the mid-1980’s who discovers that he has Christ-like powers, which is a pretty heavy thing for a kid to deal with. If that doesn’t sound like the cynical Mark Millar who once had Captain America kick a man while he was down, well, stick with it – there’s a twist.

4. CECIL & JORDAN IN NEW YORK: STORIES BY GABRIELLE BELL
By Gabrielle Bell
Drawn & Quarterly
$19.95 | 112 pgs

Indie comics creator Gabrielle Bell is best known for her autobiographical graphic novel Lucky which told her true life experiences of being a starving artist in Brooklyn. This new collection of short stories shows the more surreal side of Bell’s work such as the title story which is about a young woman who turns into a chair so that she won’t bother others around her. Bell is actually collaborating with visionary director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) to adapt this story into a short film called Interior Design.

Cecil and Jordan and the other stories collected here all appeared previously in anthologies such as MOME and Kramer’s Ergot.

3. DAREDEVIL: LADY BULLSEYE
Written by Ed Brubaker; art by Clay Mann and Michael Lark
Marvel
$16.99

While writer Ed Brubaker garners a lot of attention for his creator owned books Criminal and Incognito and his recent Marvel books Uncanny X-men and Immortal Iron Fist, he’s been quietly racking up a solid run on Daredevil picking up where longtime writer Brian Michael Bendis left off a few years back. Brubaker has had Daredevil facing such classic enemies as Mister Fear and The Enforcers but in this volume he introduces a brand new villain. Well, sort of brand new. Actually, a female version of Daredevil arch-enemy Bullseye. This new Lady Bullseye combines all the things Daredevil fans love – martial arts, the Yakuza and the Hand.

2. A DRIFTING LIFE
By Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.99 | 856pgs

Yeah, that’s right, that says 856 pages. That’s a lot of comic right there. But even more noteworthy than the length is that this a NEW work from Yoshihiro Tatsumi, the famed godfather of gekiga, a term he used to describe his more adult-oritented, alternative style of manga. Tatsumi’s work grew in popularity in Japan in the 1960s but has only recently been published in the U.S. thanks to a series of hardcover reprints starting with The Push Man And Other Stories which was fostered by American indie cartoonist Adrian Tomine.

A Drifting Life is Tatsumi’s autobiography telling of his life as an artist in post -WWII Japan. It’s a behemoth of a read but will likely reveal some insightful details on not only the birth of the gekiga movement but on life in this period in Japan’s history as well.

1. THE MUPPET SHOW #1 (of 4)
By Roger Langridge
Boom! Studios
$2.99

In one of the most perfect pairings of artist and content since Michelangelo depicted the birth of man, Roger Langridge adapts The Muppet Show into a four issue mini-series from Boom! Studios. Langridge is best known for his own creation, Fred The Clown. He is a master at absurd and slapstick humor and brings his sensibilities to the Muppets while perfectly retaining everything we used to love about the classic TV show.

Amidst the various comedy skits performed in-comic for the show, the story involves the muppets trying to cheer up Kermit the Frog who seems to be in a bit of a funk.

Check out this great looking preview.

OH, BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

SHOWCASE PRESENTS AMBUSH BUG TP VOL 01
Ambush Bug fans will rejoice at this phonebook size collection of his classic exploits.

TED MCKEEVER LIBRARY HC VOL 03 METROPOL
Collecting McKeever’s 12 issue series about an apocalyptic battle between angels and demons.

PLANETARY #1 SPECIAL EDITION
The latest installment of DC’s plan to reel in the Watchmen movie audience to check out other sophisticated fare from the catalog. Next up, a reprint of Warren Ellis’ classic sci-fi, pulp X-Files series, Planetary.

TOP TEN SPECIAL #1
Another special set in Alan Moore’s superhero/cop show universe but sans-Moore. Zander Cannon writes with Chinese artist Da Xiong providing the art.

Guy Davis is one of those artists’ artists, who’s not only loved by the readers of his comics, but by most working professionals in comics as well. He first garnered critical acclaim with his creator-owned series Baker Street; but many comics readers (me included) first discovered his work through Sandman Mystery Theatre, which ran for around 50 issues or so in the mid-90’s from Vertigo. But Guy’s probably most famous as the regular artist on the popular book B.P.R.D., nine volumes of which have already been published, with the tenth in the works. He also drew The Zombies That Ate The World, now being published in English for the first time by Devil’s Due Press.

Guy is a pretty extraordinarily nice guy, as his consent to this interview is ample evidence of. Thanks for sharing some time with our readers, Guy!

GUY DAVIS: Thanks for the wonderful intro, Dustin!

DUSTIN HARBIN: You’ve got one of the more distinct, recognizable (and much admired) styles in comics–where did it evolve from?

GD: I don’t know–how’s that for an honest answer! [laughs] I didn’t read a lot of comics growing up, and when I started drawing comics professionally back in ’86, I remember that one of the things that people would nail you on is if you swiped an artist’s style. So my style, for good or bad, is just something that probably evolved by trying to do my own thing and have something that was unique to me.

DH: Wow–I won’t say it came out fully formed, but it was different right off the bat for sure. I thought for sure there was a lot of European influence–I think I thought you were French until a couple of years ago.

GD: My style definitely switched gears when I discovered European comics! At first I had a really heavy animation, japanimation type style going on–especially back around ’86 when I was pencilling a fantasy series called The Realm. But when I started doing Baker Street a few years later, I discovered Tardi, Moebius and Schuiten and that really inspired me to where if you look at the 10 issues of Baker Street I did you can see my style change the most between those issues.

DH: Oh man–that Tardi reference totally makes sense. I’m super-excited about that new series of Tardi translations coming out this year.

GD: I can’t wait to start being able to actually read these Tardi books! I’ve been picking up his work over the years in French, and his style and storytelling is tops but it will be nice to actually read the whole story!

DH: You were already pretty distinctive when you were on Sandman Mystery Theatre–I think I was sold as much on how the art supported the whole period setting of the story, as I was on the story itself.

GD: Thanks! Sandman Mystery Theatre was a lot of fun to draw and work on with Matt [Wagner] and Steve [Seagle]. I love old movies and pulp stories, so I was happy to have an excuse to use a lot of reference I had gotten along the way for the 30’s and 40’s. It was a huge learning experience too, my first mainstream work-for-hire job and the deadlines were crazy and tight on that series. So I learned to make art choices quick and turn work around fast to meet the deadlines–and looking back I probably made a lot of the wrong art choices along the way, but learning from mistakes is still the best teacher to me.

DH: Well, you’ve certainly done enough pages since then to learn from… which ties in nicely to my next question.

I’m not trying to be too flattertatious or anything, but B.P.R.D. is one of those books that EVERYBODY reads, from superhero fans to indie fans to whomever. What do you think the appeal of this book is, outside of its ties to Hellboy? What keeps it fresh–not only for readers, but for YOU, drawing hundreds of pages of B.P.R.D. stories over the years?

GD: Thanks! As far as the appeal goes–Mike [Mignola] has come up with a great cast of characters from Hellboy and Abe through the rest, and I was a fan of the first BPRD: Hollow Earth mini-series before I was lucky enough to get to work on it.

For me personally working on it–both Mike and John [Arcudi] keep it fresh and entertaining with all the great ideas and storylines they come up with. Whether it’s wendigo’s or frog monsters and the Black Flame–who would complain about getting to draw all that! And for me, each storyline had a different feel from the last–so Garden of Souls was different in tone and feel to what I would get to do on The Warning or Killing Ground.

Also John really makes these characters come alive, so after drawing them for a few mini-series now it’s been nice to get to draw how they’ve changed in their relationships and interaction with other characters.

DH: Is there an untapped audience out there for frog violence?

GD: Definitely–we’re your one stop read for all things frog violent!

DH: How much input do you have into the design of things–your art is so crammed with texture and detail, not to mention all the architecture and clothing and uniforms and so forth.

GD: The initial designs I do are shown to Mike, John and Scott Allie who all chime in before the finished version–but most of the final designs are worked out between me and Mike. Usually I get a series outline or script to an upcoming storyline and work up some initial designs for characters or settings and then I send those to everyone for approval–sometimes it pretty much works out with the first sketch, like on the character of The Black Flame and other times it will go back and forth with me trying different things and Mike sending sketches with ideas like we did with the Victorian cyborgs in Garden of Souls.

Most of the other smaller stuff, background architecture and settings come out just in the pencils and if something needs to be reworked I change it before inks.

DH: Okay, I know it’s obligatory, but I have to ask you about the tools that you use. You’re a nib guy, right?

GD: Yeah, I ink pretty much everything with a [Speedball] 22B nib. I really like the look of brushwork but I don’t have the steady hand for using it on finer details, so I use a #3 or #4 brush for things like hair, trees, rocks or to spot in shadows. But the rest is all quill.

DH: What do you think a nib gives you that a regular disposable pen (a Micron or brush pen, for instance) couldn’t provide?

GD: Early on before I used the nibs, I tried a technical pen but hated how it skipped alot. I’m not a slow inker (as it probably shows) so the quill lets me work more fast and expressive, it also gives me more variety of line weight. I like sketching in pens and I do convention sketches using a pen and markers which feels nice and flows easy, but I never tried it for finished work~ probably just out of habit really and more personal preference for how it feels to work with each. I’m not a tool snob, if someone wants to use tech pens, brushes or markers and it works for them~ that’s great! All that really matters is how it looks printed, and I use a lot of white out to prove that point!

DH: Do you use a lot of white-out in your art? You have such a loose style, I guess it makes sense that you’d go out of the lines sometimes.

GD: I do use it pretty freely. I don’t set out to make mistakes, but everyone does and I change my mind and try different things out on the page as I go–and if it doesn’t work or I screw up then I just white it out and try it again. For other tools of the trade type talk: I pencil using a B lead, which is soft and lets me get loose with the pencils and more expressive. Paper wise I pretty much use what Dark Horse sends me, but I guess if I have a choice I’d pick a smooth surface for inks. Black Magic ink and Pentel pen-white for the white out!

DH: Wow, I think there’s enough info in those three paragraphs to start a career in cartooning!

Okay let’s change the subject, or I’ll quiz you about nibs and brushes and ink all day. This new book of yours, The Zombies That Ate The World–that was originally published in French, right? Through Les Humanoides? I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve looked lovingly for months through my copy of one of the French albums.

GD: Yeah, the Zombies books were done for Les Humanoides Associes, originally it was a short story written by Jerry Frissen that saw print in an issue of their Metal Hurlant around 2004, but they liked the idea and how it turned out and that short turned into a serial and then it started coming out as original graphic novels with the fourth volume that saw print last year.

DH: Is it a one-time thing, or can we expect to see more after this initial series ends?

GD: That fourth volume had an ending but left it open for more stories to follow. The four French volumes are being reprinted in English now, broken up into 8 comic issues.

It was a really fun series to draw, Jerry has a great and twisted sense of humor and it was fun to draw the series in a different more cartoony style than I do on BPRD or The Marquis.

DH: Okay, don’t kill me, but I’ve never read Baker Street OR The Marquis before–which one should I read first? I need more Guy Davis!

GD: Well, I know what comps to bring you at the next Heroes Convention! The Marquis and Baker Street are pretty different, if you want devils and madness horror stories go with The Marquis. If you want a punk retelling of Sherlock Holmes type mysteries, then there’s Baker Street.

I would push The Marquis since I’m currently working on new stories and also so I can plug that The Marquis is now at Dark Horse and a huge new collection of the existing stories is slated to come out in September. It’s called The Marquis: Inferno and it’s a monster at over 300 pages, and includes a new 54 page sketchbook section along with a full color cover gallery–all the guest covers and foreign edition covers, great covers to Danse Macabre that were done by Mike Mignola, Matt Wagner, Teddy Kristensen, Kelly Jones and Charles Vess. The book is purposely done in black, white and greys–but Dave Stewart came on to recolor the Hell scenes that were just a red plate before. I’m really proud at how the books shaping up and Dark Horse is really putting a lot into this edition.

And hopefully all that will lead to more new Marquis graphic novels starting in 2010; I really want to finish off the Marquis which had 3 more series plotted out that tells the whole story. But alongside all that I’m already gearing up for the next BPRD mini-series after Black Goddess along with some other side projects at Dark Horse that I can’t really hint at.

DH: I’m putting Marquis on my “must-buy” list right now, Guy! You’ve already given me too much stuff already! I’m looking forward to seeing you again at HeroesCon. You’re going to be there all three days this year, right?

GD: All three days this time~ sorry I had to skip out early last time, but I had a great time last year and I’m really looking forward to going back.

DH: I can’t wait. One of the great crimes of HeroesCon is that we invite all these great artists and writers, but none of the staff ever get to hang out much because we’re all so busy running around!

GD: I want to see you sitting behind a table one of these year so I can dig through your portfolio!

DH: One of these years Shelton will wise up and fire me, and then I’ll finally have the time!

Hey, I’ve got one last question that Mark Burrier sent us through Facebook (if you don’t know Mark’s work, he’s an AMAZING cartoonist and illustrator). Mark wants to know: “How do you feel the market for your art has changed over the years?”

GD: Great stuff~ now Mark’s a guy who knows how to use a brush!!

That’s a tough question really, I’ve gotten a lot more interest for my work since BPRD started, and besides the connection with Hellboy which is a lot more high profile, I think BPRD has given me an opportunity to do more of the type of comics I wanted to do. I mean I’m a monster-art type of guy and I like horror and surreal stuff. So early on finding an outlet or work-for-hire type job was a lot harder because editors didn’t really know what to put me on; It seems like the market itself has grown to accept a lot more diversity and I’ve been lucky to carve out a small niche and hang on through the years.

DH: Well, if that market ever dries up, Guy, you can always come work here at Heroes. And by “work here at Heroes”, I mean doodle on stuff for us all day. In the mean time, thanks for taking time out of what must be a PACKED schedule to talk with us! Looking forward to chatting in person at HeroesCon!

GD: Thanks Dustin! See you at the show!

You can find out more about Guy Davis at his website. And of course, you can meet him this summer at HeroesCon, June 19-21. If you’ve never met him before, Guy’s a pretty shockingly friendly guy, for someone who draws demons and frogs and zombies all day.

Alright alright alright! Our chums over at The Dollar Bin, the Southeast’s fanciest comics podcast, have posted the audio of our recent Iron Man discussion group, including Matt Fraction‘s guest appearance via telephone! It sounds AMAZING, although Adam’s sound equipment is so sensitive that you can even here me at the register 30 feet away ringing people up.

For those of you who’ve never been able to experience a Discussion Group first-hand, head on over to the Dollar Bin’s site and check out the audio. And while you’re there, feel free to delight in their archive of panels from last year’s HeroesCon! And while you’re double-there, just delight in the Dollar Bin in general!

A few months ago, I wrote (in the pages of the newspaper I edit, Creative Loafing) that X-Force was one of my favorite comic books of 2008. Shortly thereafter, a blogger at Newsarama.com made fun of my pick.

I guess I’m not supposed to like a comic like X-Force. But I do. And I’m proud of it.

And, really, what’s not to like? I mean, if you like comics starring spandex-clad heroes, that is, there’s a lot to like.

The comic features an interesting mix of heroes from the X-corner of the Marvel Universe (guys and gals like Warpath, X-23, and Archangel, among others) and shows them doing what readers have wished the X-Men would do for decades: putting down the bad guys permanently. Honestly, how many times can the world’s most popular mutant heroes get impaled, poisoned and shot before they say enough is enough?

And while the heroes are interesting, X-Force’s villains are even more enthralling. Since the first issue, writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost have thrown a legion of classic bad guys at the team — from the Demon Bear (ala the old New Mutants series) to Bastion to the Purifiers, Magus and even Cameron Hodge. I come from the school of comic reading that says a hero is only good as the villains he/she faces … which makes the X-Force crew pretty freakin’ good at what they do.

Now, those great qualities aside, is X-Force a perfect comic book? Of course not.

One of my biggest gripes with the book is the use of the character Wolfsbane. The shape-shifting hero from the old New Mutants series has always possessed a ton of potential, but in X-Force she seems to be the resident punching bag. And in the latest issue she’s been reunited with her old-time lover from Asgard. I thought I was reading a high-octane action comic, not Young Heroes in Love.

One other complaint: If you’re gonna be a black-ops team of heroes willing to murder your enemies, then don’t whine about it. I’m sure it’s difficult to create stories about people who have little regard for human/mutant life (at least when it comes to their foes), but I’d like to see everyone involved with the book just be courageous and wholeheartedly take a bloodthirsty walk on the wild side.

Still, despite these gripes, I really dig X-Force.

So there.

Carlton Hargro is Editor-In-Chief of Creative Loafing. You can read more of his writing at their website.

“Davis, Doran, Glass, and Moreno” sounds like a trio of three acoustic guitar players and one dude with a recorder. Only one of them is American, and at least one is Welsh. Very popular in Scandinavia. Wait, what was I talking about?

OH YES!! Check out this sweet addition to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List I just TOTALLY made:

GUY DAVIS: OMG Guy Davis! I love this guy–he and Cliff Chiang could have sweetness contests, but I’m sure they’d spend the whole time nominating each other for the prize. Guy is the uber-admired artist behind B.P.R.D., as well as the recent Zombies That Ate The World, and a zillion more. I’ll say more about Guy next week–I’ll be interviewing him for this blog!

COLLEEN DORAN: Colleen is like the Queen of Comics–besides being an artist over the years on books like Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, she ALSO created the space epic A Distant Soil AND is a constant collaborator with luminaries like J. Michael Straczynski and Warren Ellis, with whom she’s working on the forthcoming Stealth Tribes. She’s a popular guest at HeroesCon, and we’re super excited to welcome her back!

BRYAN J.L. GLASS: Bryan is making his second trip to HeroesCon this year. Bryan is the co-creator of The Mice Templar with Mike Oeming, and is also writing the upcoming Riftwar adaptation of Raymond E. Feist’s popular fantasy series.

CHRIS MORENO: can do just about anything, and work in about any style. WITNESS his work on titles like World War Hulk: Frontline, Toy Story, and Paul Jenkins’ Sidekick! Chris has become a perennial guest, and a hot stop for those collecting sketches and commissions!

Whew! I’ll be doing another update before the end of the week, and the stack of additions is STILL GROWING! Also this week, the list (so far) of all those persons who’ve purchase Small Press Tables! Stay tuned!

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week (and by every Wednesday I mean every Wednesday that I feel like doing it, hence my recent absence).

5. AZARAEL: DEATH’S DARK KNIGHT #1 (of 3)
Written by Fabian Nicieza; Art by Frazer Irving; Cover by Guillem March
DC Comics
$2.99 | 32 pgs

With Bruce Wayne missing and presumed dead and the Battle For The Cowl mini-series raging on with the heirs to the throne fighting it out to become the new Batman, DC does what it does best and milks the story for another mini-series. This one focuses on obscure one-time Batman Azarael who himself was last seen dead a few years ago but is now back for at least three issues.

The reason to check this out is for the art by Frazier Irving. Fans of Grant Morrison will remember his painterly style from the excellent Klarion the Witch Boy mini-series. Irving is one of the more interesting artists working in superhero comics and will surely bring some noteworthy style to an otherwise un-noteworthy mini-series. Writer Fabian Nicieza is no slouch either though and Azarael has a loyal fan base that will be happy to see his return.

4. AIR VOL. 1 LETTERS FROM HOME
Written by G. Willow Wilson; art by M.K. Perker
DC Vertigo
$9.99 | 144pgs

My personal comics credo is that it’s always worth picking up the first trade of a new Vertigo series. For the reduced price of $9.99 you get the first 5 or so issues of what is almost always an interesting drama aimed for the more sophisticated genre fiction fans. The early reviews of G. Willow Wilson’s ongoing series Air were decidedly mixed but you can’t really judge these books until they finish their first story arc so that you have more of a sense of where the creators are going with it and this one has been gradually picking up a growing base of impressed readers.

It’s about a flight attendant with an inconvenient fear of flying named Blythe who runs into a vigilante group trying to take back the skies from the terrorists. But there’s more to their game then that as Blythe soon learns. Terrorism, romance, exotic locales and some crazy sci-fi madness all come together in this first collected volume of issues 1-5. And if you like what you read here you can also pick up issue #6 for only a dollar this week.

3. THE ADVENTURES OF BLANCHE
By Rick Geary
Dark Horse
$15.95 | 104 pgs

Rick Geary is a veteran cartoonist who has made a name for himself chronicling true stories of murder in the 19th century in his A Treasury of Victorian Murder series. He draws in a clean, black and white style inspired by Edward Gorey that is perfect for telling nostalgic yet somewhat dark stories.

The Adventures of Blanche is an older work by Geary that was long out of print but now gets a hardcover treatment from Dark Horse. It’s about a young woman in the early 20th century who while traveling with her piano teacher ends up learning shocking secrets about the New York subway system, gets caught up in a labor struggle in the motion picture industry in Hollywood and discovers a murder in Paris.

2. TRANSMETROPOLITAN #1
Written by Warren Ellis; Art by Darick Robertson, Jerome K. Moore, Keith Aiken, Ray Kryssing, Dick Giordano, Kim DeMulder and Rodney Ramos
DC Vertigo
$1 | 32pgs

DC Comics has been very smart with how they’re trying to capitalize on the desire of some Watchmen moviegoers to find out what else is out there that they might enjoy in the comics world. With their After Watchmen website they present a nice selection of graphic novels (all from their catalog of course) that might appeal to people who liked the gritty sophistication of Watchmen. In addition they’ve been putting out some $1 comics of the first issues of some of these choices.

This week they give us the first issue of the highly regarded (and highly messed up) sci-fi series, Transmetropolitan. This is the book that first made Warren Ellis (Planetary, Fell) famous and helped define his cranky, shock-heavy style and his cynical vision of the future. It’s about a 23rd century outlaw gonzo journalist named Spider Jerusalem (modeled very much after Hunter S. Thompson) who investigates weird stories such as this one about people who have cosmetic surgery to turn themselves into aliens.

1. MY MOMMY IS IN AMERICA AND SHE MET BUFFALO BILL
Written by Jean Regnaud; art by Émile Bravo
Fanfare/Ponent Mon
$25.00 | 120 pgs

Five year old Jean is starting first grade in a new school and feels alone not only because he doesn’t know anyone but because he’s not really sure why his mother isn’t with him and his dad and brother anymore. The truth about his mother slowly dawns on him as he goes about his days fighting with his brother, adjusting to school and making friends. Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo are adept at getting in the head of a child protagonist and portraying the world as a first grader might see it.

The oddly titled My Mommy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill is a recollection by the author, Regnaud, of his childhood told in charming little snippets illustrated by the popular French children’s comics artist Emile Bravo. The publisher, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, has been translating some high quality manga of late but this is their first translation of a European comic.

OH, ALSO THERE’S…

GROOM LAKE #1
A tale of aliens from Zombies Vs. Robots Vs. Amazons writer Chris Ryall and Fell artist Ben Templesmith. (Corrected)

RAWBONE #1
A tale of pirates from famed British comics writer Jamie Delano (Hellblazer) with art by Max Fiumara.

SQUADRON SUPREME: THE PRE-YEARS
Potentially worth checking out if you liked the moral ambiguity of the superheroes in Watchmen. Though this collects the less highly regarded and eventually aborted Marvel Knights version of the series. Not the original Max series which was rife with violence, nudity and government conspiracy.

TOR: A PREHISTORIC ODYSSEY
Collecting the famous Joe Kubert’s recent return to his caveman creation.