Whoa, two whole days this week without an update to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List? What gives?! Relax, relax… we’ve been dotting some other I’s and crossing some other T’s–one T in particular that finally got crossed this week was that we are now at last Twittering. So if you want the latest HeroesCon news in little 140-character or less bursts, feel free to begin following us!

A tweet I’ll be twittering in just a moment is today’s Guest List update, including more of our HeroesCon “family” members. This is really turning into one of our best ever Guest Lists, too, with peeps from all over the comics industry. Witness:

CHRIS BRUNNER just gets better every year, especially now that he lives around the corner from our store and we get to see him all the time. YOU may have seen him in the pages of Gotham Central, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, The Ride, or one of a billion trading cards. Don’t miss his upcoming book Loose Ends from our buddies at 12 Gauge Comics, created with Jason Latour–that reminds me, I need to get Jason added to this fershlugginer list.

RICHARD CASE is one of our oldest friends, although he’s not all that old. Although he’s a quiet guy, he packs a lot of mojo into his drawing hand, with past work on Grant Morrison‘s now-classic Doom Patrol run, Sandman, and inking over the late great Mike Wieringo on Sensational Spider-Man. These days Rich is a concept artist at Red Storm Entertainment.

JOHN FLOYD has worked with some of the best in the business, including Joe Sinnott, Barry Windsor-Smith and more, on titles including Birds of Prey, Trinity, Silver Surfer, Rune, and more.

CRAIG ROUSSEAU is the co-creator of The Perhapanauts, with fellow buddy and guest Todd Dezago. He’s also worked on Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Season 2, Marvel Adventures Superheroes, Batman Beyond, Impulse, and many more!

CHRIS SAMNEE is attending his third consecutive HeroesCon, and gets a little more famous each time. These days his dance card is pretty full, and includes art on The Mighty, Area Ten, Dead of Night: Devil Slayer, Daredevil: Blood of the Black Tarantula, Checkmate (*draws breath*), Queen & Country, Capote in Kansas…

RENEE WITTERSTAETTER is also no stranger to HeroesCon, or to comics–she’s worked on titles including Superman, Conan, She-Hulk, and many more. Most recently she’s written The Art of Michael Golden and Tex: The Art of Mark Texeira.

Rounding out today’s update in the cleanup position is KELLY YATES, whose creator-owned Amber Atoms series is still new enough for you to grab up all the issues. Kelly’s also been in Doctor Who: The Forgotten, The Perhapanauts, Fear Agent, and many more.

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

5. DETECTIVE COMICS #853
Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Andy Kubert and Scott Williams; Cover by Andy Kubert; Variant sketch cover by Andy Kubert
DC Comics
$3.99 | 48 pgs

After a bit of a delay we finally get the second and final part of Neil Gaiman’s “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” story that began in the last issue of Batman. If you’re coming in late, Batman is dead and they’re having a funeral for him. Except this doesn’t seem to be the Batman (or the Bat-continuity) that we’ve been following recently. It’s more of an amalgam of the kooky elements of Bat-history (very much like what we’ve seen Grant Morrison do in his recent run on the title).

It’s a weird little story very much inspired by Alan Moore’s classic end-of-Superman tale “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” from the mid-80s. Neil Gaiman needs no introduction of course and probably neither does the artist on this book, Andy Kubert so it’s a given that a lot of people will be checking out where this story goes in this issue.

4. DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: BATMAN — THE ANNUALS
Written by Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton and others; Art by Lew Sayre Schwartz, Dick Sprang and others; Composite cover by Curt Swan and others
DC
$39.99 | 256 pgs

Speaking of wacky Batman stuff, DC also has this collection of stories from a number of Batman Annuals that came out in the early 60s. This is full of the kind of stuff that used to make Dark Knight fans shudder with embarrassment but thanks to Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman and the Cartoon Network and a growing ennui with gritty, depressing Batman stories this kind of thing has come back in vogue. Legendary writers and artists like Bill Finger and Dick Sprang bring you crazy tales with shirtless Batman and Robin in the jungle, fighting an octopus and wearing kilts for some reason. And that’s just what you can glean from looking at the cover. If you’re a fan of the new Brave and the Bold series on Cartoon Network than this is where the inspiration from that show came from (this and hallucinatory drugs I’m sure).

3. SCALPED VOL. 4: THE GRAVEL IN YOUR GUTS
Written by Jason Aaron; Art by Davide Furno and R.M. Guera; Cover by Jock
DC Vertigo
$14.99 | 144pgs

Since it’s a generally slow week for new stuff I’ll take this opportunity to quickly point out that Scalped is one of the best ongoing comics out there right now. It’s a dark crime drama set on a decrepit and drug-addled Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Dash Bad Horse is the prodigal son come home after years away from “the Rez” to take a job as a local law enforcer. Which actually means working for shady Casino owner and manipulator of all things on the Reservation, Chief Red Crow. But Dash has more than one agenda in this complicated tale of murder, drugs and dysfunctional family issues.

The latest trade paperback comes out this week and it focuses on Red Crow and the one man he has to answer to: Mr. Brass.

2. I AM LEGION #3 (of 6)
Written by Fabien Nury; art by John Cassady
Devil’s Due
$3.50 | 32 pgs

Attention anyone who bought the DC Humanoids graphic novel I Am Legion back in 2004 and always wondered what happened next: This is what happens next.

DC had reprinted the European comic (originally published by Humanoids) illustrated by Planetary and Astonishing X-men artist John Cassady in a graphic novel format but it only contained the equivalent of the first two issues of the story. Then DC abandoned the poorly selling line and left the handful of American readers of this book hanging.

Now, here in 2009, Devil’s Due has picked up the Humanoids mantle and is releasing this series in comic format. Issue #3 continues where DC’s graphic novel left off so now’s the time for readers of that book to get back into this supernatural thriller about Nazis and a young Romanian girl with the power to tilt the war in their direction.

The artwork, as you might expect from Cassady, is breathtaking.

1. VIKING #1
Written by Ivan Brandon; art by Nic Klein
Image Comics
$2.99 | 24 pgs

The newest crime comic to hit the stands takes place in one of the most brutal periods of crime history: the 9th Century. Ivan Brandon (Cross Bronx) and Nic Klein (who’s done a lot of painted cover work for Marvel) collaborate on this ultra-violent viking tale about two brothers fighting their way to top of the Norse mob.

Though the concept is novel the real attraction here is the unique art by Klein. As you can see from this preview, his work here is a unique mixture of styles that seems part EC Comics, part Neal Adams and part – oh, I don’t know – Genndy Tartakovsky maybe? It’s striking and should make a big splash, appealing to fans of Brian Wood’s Norhtlanders, Ed Brubaker’s Criminal and Jason Aaron’s Scalped.

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

5. 100%
By Paul Pope
DC Vertigo
$39.99 | 256 pgs

Following up on their hardcover treatment of Heavy Liquid a few months back, Vertigo continues their repackaging of their Paul Pope library with 100%, arguably his most popular and acclaimed book. If you’ve never read any of Pope’s stuff, this is a good place to start. It’s a sexy and stylish cyberpunk drama set in 2038 following the lives of six interconnected New Yorkers. Pope’s style is a fusion of Japanese and European styles and has made him not only popular with us comics people but with commercial advertising and NY fashionistas as well (check out the work he’s done for Diesel if you haven’t already).

There’s some sketches and some new material included in this new printing.

4. THE DYLAN DOG CASE FILES
Written by Tiziano Sclavi; art by various
Dark Horse
$24.95 | 680 pgs

Though most American comics readers have probably never heard of Dylan Dog, this Italian comic, first published in 1986, has been a huge success in Europe and is soon to be made into a motion picture called Dead of Night starring Brandon (Superman) Routh. Dark Horse is releasing the first English version of this series in a decade by dropping a 680 page brick on us complete with a new Mike Mignola cover.

Dylan Dog is an ex-cop and paranormal investigator living and working in London. He is accompanied by his partner, Groucho, looks exactly like Groucho Marx and his former boss, Inspector Bloch, who acts in the skeptical Skully role of the non-believer in all things supernatural. What makes Dylan Dog interesting is his numerous hangups. After losing
his wife he wears the same outfit all the time, he’s afraid of bats and heights and is claustrophobic and he seems to have an Oedipus complex in that he is constantly falling in love with women that resemble his dead mother.

Check out a preview here.

3. ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING: HOW TO TURN YOUR DOODLES INTO COMICS
By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost
First Second
$12.95 | 112 pgs

There’s a lot of how-to books out there for aspiring comic creators but none quite like this. Aimed at a much younger audience than theory books like Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, this new book teaches kids cartooning skills within the context of a story in which a princess tries to make a cartoon but doesn’t think she’s good enough to do it. The cartoons are light and kid-friendly but the information it passes on is useful for artists of any age. It’s written by James Sturm (Golem’s Mighty Swing) who is the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies. With this book he collaborates with two newcomers and former students of his, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost.

Read a little preview here.

2. RAMPAGING WOLVERINE #1
Written by Joshua Fialkov, Christopher Yost, Robin Furth, Ted McKeever; art by Paco Diaz Luque and Ted McKeever
Marvel
$3.99

Back in the ’70’s Marvel put out an black and white magazine called Rampaging Hulk that I actually have fond memories of (though if I were to re-read it now I’m sure it wouldn’t seem as great as it did then). It featured out-of-continuity Hulk stories that were slightly more mature in hopes of pulling in the audience of the popular TV show of the time. I guess with the new Wolverine movie coming out you could say that might be the thinking behind this new magazine-sized comic that borrows everything from that Hulk book including the adjective.

There are three stories included in this first issue and the creative teams are a bit unusual for a Wolverine comic. Joshua Fialkov is the writer of the acclaimed series Elk’s Run and Ted McKeever is known for his creator-owned sci-fi books like Metropol. I think Wolverine battles pirates in one of these stories which seems topical right now though I think they are of the South Pacific rather than the Somali variety.

If you’re love for Wolvie is so strong that a magazine-sized black and white comic just won’t be enough of a fix for you than this is your week. This is not the only Wolverine comic hitting the stands by any stretch of the imagination. You’ve also got Wolverine Noir #1 in which Wolverine is re-imagined as a hard-boilded detective in 1930s New York. Wolverine: Logan written by Lost and Y: The Last Man writer Bryan K. Vaughan with art by 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso and of course the latest issues of Wolverine proper and Uncanny X-men.

1. 100 BULLETS #100
Written by Brian Azzarello; Art by Eduardo Risso; Cover by Dave Johnson
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 32 pgs

This is it, the final issue of the excellent crime/conspiracy thriller 100 Bullets. They always said it would aptly end at the hundredth issue and here it is. Myself, I’ve been holding off on reading the last few story arcs until this whole thing came to an end so that I can go back and start re-reading the whole epic tale from the beginning to try to sort through all the twists and turns. If you haven’t read any of it yet than take this new release as a sign that it’s time to start at the beginning. In fact, I’d expect some nice hardcover collections to start hitting pretty soon, so maybe hold off a little bit longer.

A book that started off pretty unassumingly about a mysterious man who shows up offering various people a briefcase containing everything they need to get revenge on the person that ruined their life slowly built into a complicated web of a story about assassins, secret organizations and Manchurian Candidate-style hypnotic suggestion. Brian Azzarello writes with the tough guy flair of crime writers like Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy. Eduardo Risso illustrates it all with drenching, black shadows and expressionistic gestures. Dave Johnson captures the essence of each chapter succinctly in an intriguing cover image. They were an amazing team and you know what? None of them ever missed an issue.

STILL, THERE ARE ALSO THESE…

ALEX TOTH GOES HOLLYWOOD
This might be a little hard to find but it collects works adapted from Hollywood and television properties by the great master, Alex Toth. Stuff like Roy Rogers
HERBIE ARCHIVES VOL 3
The third and final volume of these golden age reprints
ESSENTIAL DAZZLER
Reasons this is essential: Paul Chadwick is credited as one of the creators in this volume. Reasons this may NOT be essential: Every story has Dazzler in it.

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

5. CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1
Written by James Robinson; Art by Marcos Martin
Marvel
$3.99

Can you believe it’s been 70 years already? To celebrate, Marvel provides a one-shot containing a new story and a classic reprint. James (Starman) Robinson gives us a tale that goes way back here. Back to before Steve Rogers even became Captain America. In addition, we get to read a classic early Cap story by his creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The real draw for me though is underrated artist Marcos Martin (Amazing Spider-man) who provides the art for Robinson’s story. His cartoony style is reminiscent of Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale and exudes more energy using less lines than most superhero artists could do if they tried.

4. THE DESTROYER #1
Written by Robert Kirkman; art by Cory Walker
Marvel
$3.99

Robert Kirkman rejoins Cory Walker, his original artist on Invincible for a new 5 issue mini-series published in Marvel’s mature readers MAX line. Kirkman has chosen to use this series to update an old Golden Age hero no one’s ever heard of who apparently is the first superhero ever created by Stan Lee (as far as I know this isn’t an April Fools Joke but you never know today). Keen Marlowe, once known as the superhero The Destroyer, finds out he is dying and decides to take as many bad guys with him as he can in the time he has left.

Kirkman is wildly popular due to his two Image creations – Invincible and The Walking Dead but his Marvel work has been kind of spotty. Under the freer reign of the MAX line though and with an obscure, blank slate character he’ll probably be able to be the Robert Kirkman we love.

Here’s a preview.

3. BOODY. BIZARRE COMICS OF BOODY ROGERS
By Boody Rogers
Fantagraphics
$19.99 | 144pgs

Never heard of Boody Rogers, huh? You’re not alone. The last few years have taught us though there is a wealth of forgotten comics creators from the early days of the medium whose weird and imaginative work may not have caught on with readers in the 1940s but is comic gold for ironic hipsters and comic historians alike. Retrospective books like I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets! introduced us to twisted golden-age genius Fletcher Hanks and Dan Nadel’s anthology Art Out of Time showcased many obscure creators from comics past including Boody Rogers.

This new book, devoted entirely to Rogers’ work, contains many warped stories with goofy looking monsters and sexy babes. Allot for roughly 24 hours time after reading this to readjust to your own boring reality.

Here’s a slideshow preview.

2. THE FLASH: REBIRTH #1
Written by Geoff Johns; art by Ethan Van Sciver
DC
$3.99 | 40pgs

Back in 2005, Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver made 30- and 40-something fanboys ecstatic by bringing back the One True Green Lantern – Hal Jordan – in Green Lantern: Rebirth. It was an exciting series full of surprises and some interesting retcons that helped set the stage for the new Jordan-focused Green Lantern series that Johns is still writing.

Lightning is striking twice, so to speak, with this new mini-series by the same creative team that hopes to bring Barry Allen back to his rightful mantle of the One True Flash. In some ways his task could be harder here as the current Wally West Flash has been pretty popular for many years thanks to Johns himself who had a long and popular run on the Flash title, making Wally West a very human and likable character. Plus, Barry Allen famously dying at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths is one of the most important moments in the modern DC universe that some fans may not want undone. But, don’t discount us pre-Crisis fanboys and our nostalgia for the way things were. Plus, don’t you want to live in a world where no one stays dead?

1. SEAGUY: THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3)
Written by Grant Morrison; Art and Cover by Cameron Stewart
DC Comics
$3.99 | 40pgs

For a small but vocal minority of the comic book community, this book is the most anticipated release of 2009. I’d count myself as part of that group. Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart’s first Seaguy series was a bizarre story about a somber hero dressed in a diving suit and accompanied by a cigar chomping fish named Chubby Da Choona who embarks on an adventure to save a sentient food from the corporate evil of Mickey Eye and impress the bearded girl that he pines for. Beneath it’s seemingly obtuse plot lay Morrison’s commentary on the cynical business of superhero comics.

Hardcore Morrison fans loved it but no one else really bought it. Morrison had always planned the first series to be part one of a trilogy and rumor has it he bargained with DC to help write their weekly series 52 in exchange for reversing their decision not to publish any further Seaguy adventures.

In this new 3-issue middle volume, Seaguy has become bitter and has grown to hate the sea. But the world needs him so hopefully he can pull himself together.

Here’s a preview!

ALSO:

CARS: THE ROOKIE #1
I failed to mention last week that Boom! Studios released a new Incredibles comic. This week they give us another Pixar book. It’s a Cars mini-series that tells the early days of Lightning McQueen

PREACHER #1 SPECIAL EDITION
The latest After-Watchmen recommendation from DC. It’s the first issue of their classic Vertigo series about a Texas preacher, a vampire, some angels and a guy named Arse Face.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE #1
If you’re really interested in seeing what Jane Austen’s classic novel is about you should probably read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES but who knows, this could be good too.

HO ! THE MORALLY QUESTIONABLE CARTOONS OF IVAN BRUNETTI
Title probably says it all there.

JONAH HEX: BULLETS DON’T LIE TP
How’s this for a lineup? Art by Darwyn Cooke, JH Williams III, Jordi Bernet and Richard Corben.

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.

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.

In the past decade Marvel has increased its focus on the Avengers, bringing that title into the forefront of its publishing efforts and expanding the number of related titles in the Avengers family of books. Many of the recent years’ company wide crossover events (i.e. House of M, Civil War and Secret Invasion) have had their genesis in the primary Avengers title, New Avengers. Yet in spite of Marvel’s placing a greater importance on the Avengers family, many new customers have expressed confusion as to what titles they should read, how all the titles relate to each other, and where a good place to start reading might be. So in the interest of clarification I offer a few brief summaries of who’s doing what, what characters appear in each title, what each book focuses on, and other Avengery quandaries.

First off, it should be noted that the initial issues following the Secret Invasion tie-ins were all designed to be transitional issues introducing new characters, rosters and creative teams. So these would be an ideal place to start reading if you’re interested in seeing what’s going on in this part of the Marvel Universe. New Avengers #48-50 introduce a new roster which feature some returning characters (Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ronin, Spider-man), and introduce new members as well (Ms. Marvel, the new Captain America, and potential members/supporting characters Jessica Jones and Mockingbird). This series, still written by Marvel mastermind Brian Michael Bendis, continues to play the same role it always has: this is still a ‘new’ Avengers team that has no ties to the government or other agencies. They continue to rebel against corrupted authorities and taking care of threats and situations that might otherwise get overlooked. They are also still on the run from those authorities who would wish them imprisoned or worse. The artist on the series for the next few months will be Billy Tan before recent Ultimate Spider-man artist Stuart Immonen takes over. With Bendis and Immonen on yet another of their best selling titles, Marvel has a creative team that is known for its timeliness and its potential for having a long, well-crafted run on the title.

Mighty Avengers #20-22 not only act as an epilogue to Secret Invasion, but introduce a completely new roster, focus and creative team. The series initial creative team of Bendis and artist Frank Cho, while great on paper, was plagued by lateness, a slightly odd roster of characters, and occasional uneven storytelling. Post-Secret Invasion, Bendis has passed the writing duties off to Dan Slott, and the art is being handled by Khoi Pham. The new creative team seems intent on making their book more classic in terms of roster and focus. That new roster is led by Avenger co-founder Hank Pym, now calling himself the Wasp in the aftermath of Secret Invasion. There is another giant character in Stature, former Young Avenger and daughter of another Ant Man. There is a classic Avenger in Scarlet Witch. There is a shield-wielder in U.S. Agent, a mythological god in Hercules, and two androids in Vision and Jocasta. So there are plenty of Avenger archetypes in this book. If you’ve not tried Mighty Avengers because you didn’t like the first few issues or heard negative comments about certain story lines in the book, I’d urge you to try out the title again, especially if you were a fan of the Avengers title in the ’70’s and ’80’s.

Avengers: The Initiative, thanks to Secret Invasion, is a title that is understandably up in the air as far as its direction is concerned. This title was a direct result of Marvel’s Civil War series, and had consistently good story lines and an interesting concept from the beginning. Writer Dan Slott has passed the torch to Christos Gage, a capable writer who has been co-writing the book for months. Original artist Stefano Caselli has moved on to the Secret Invasion spin off series Secret Warriors, written by Jonathan Hickman. The book still contains a large, varied cast of characters, including but not limited to Tigra, Taskmaster, the New Warriors, Gauntlet and several new characters introduced throughout this series. Issues #20-22 wrap up the Secret Invasion tie-ins and lead into a new storyline called “The Initiative Disassembled.” With the status of the Initiative program made irrelevant in a post Skrull-invaded Marvel Universe, it will be interesting to see how Christos Gage and artist Humberto Ramos change the direction of the title, and whether or not the Initiative as a whole can continue to exist in a Marvel Universe controlled by villains.

The newest Avengers title, Dark Avengers, is also written by Bendis with art by Mike Deodato, Jr. While Bendis has in the past been one to draw out story lines over several months (such as the mystery behind the identity of the first Ronin), with Dark Avengers he lets readers know who the characters are and what their motivations will be, all within the span of the first issue. There was not a need to draw out the issue of the characters’ identities this time around, as it was fairly obvious from initial promotional art. Dark Avengers is essentially a revamped take on the Thunderbolts concept: what if villains masqueraded as heroes? Not to worry, it’s doubtful that this will end up being a grand redemption tale. This is a title firmly cemented in the new post-Secret Invasion/Dark Reign era. Villains have the spotlight; they have control. The only question remaining is how they’ll use/abuse that power, and to what extent they’ll exert their will on humanity and super-humanity in the Marvel Universe.

All these titles have some interaction with each other, but each has it’s specific function. In other words, you don’t have to read them all in order to understand any one of them. That being said, this is a good time to start reading any of the Avengers books if you haven’t already. If you’d like even more of the story, check out the one shots Secret Invasion: Requiem, which offers a nice introduction to the new direction of the Mighty Avengers. Dark Reign: New Nation offers sneak peaks at upcoming Avengers-related titles and miniseries, and Secret Invasion: Dark Reign picks up immediately following Secret Invasion, and plants the seeds for the primary direction of Marvel titles in ’09. And if you want to go back even farther, there are trade paperback versions of Civil War, Secret Invasion, and recent Avengers titles all available at our store.

by Peter Tomasi and Andy Kubert
reviewed by Carlton Hargro

OK, I’ve got to make a confession: I love The Outsiders. I’ve always loved the Outsiders — ever since the group appeared as Batman and the Outsiders back in the 1980s.

Yes, I realize that the Outsiders is one of the lamest teams to ever grace a comic series. I guess I have a soft spot for cornball characters — and the Outsiders corner the market on some of DC’s most Z-list heroes: Metamorpho, Black Lightning, Katana and a few more. But I love them; at the end of the day, I’m just attracted to the possibility of greatness inherent in all these nobodies.

Over the years, DC has tried its hand at several different incarnations of the team. Some were awful (the version with the Eradicator, for example) and some were somewhat enjoyable. (Although it initially lacked any of the team’s original lineup, Judd Winick’s version wasn’t so bad.) But I think the latest reboot of the series, helmed by writer Peter Tomasi, might be the best take on the series since … well, ever.

So what is Tomasi doing right? First, his team of Outsiders embraces the past by bringing back the entire original squad (Halo included) — and he brings back the old guys with their recently added changes intact (Geo-Force, for example, makes reference to stabbing Deathstroke). To that nostalgic mix, he adds a few new cast members: one old character (the Creeper) and one (sort of) brand-new guy (Owlman).

Second (and maybe third), Tomasi has also introduced two cool elements that make the team more than just a collection of lovable losers. I won’t spoil these elements, but I will hint that he’s created a link between all of villains that have ever plagued the Outsiders (the Duke of Oil included).

So look , I’m digging The Outsiders right now. You may be all engrossed in the latest ultra-modern comic of the moment, but I think you’ll enjoy this new approach to a few not-so-cool heroes.

Carlton Hargro is the Editor-In-Chief of Creative Loafing Charlotte. For more Hargrifficness, check them out online.

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

5. THE GREAT UNKNOWN #1
story, art & cover DUNCAN ROULEAU
Image Comics
$3.50 | 32 pgs

Duncan Rouleau is a writer and artist who is possibly best known for his recent Metal Men series for DC or his run on X-Factor for Marvel or for being part of the Man of Action artist collective that created the Cartoon Network series Ben 10. His new mini-series for Image Comics is The Great Unknown in which a guy named Zach Feld begins to think that someone is stealing his thoughts when he starts seeing the things he dreams up out in the real world. Is he crazy or is this really happening? It’s a weird sci-fi drama that deals, at least metaphorically it seems, in intellectual property disputes.

Here’s an interview with Rouleau in which he claims this book is an autobiography about how he was the first to start using the word “NOT” at the end of sentences way before other people started using it. Some nice preview images too.

4. CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI:13 TP VOL 01 SECRET INVASION
Written by Paul Cornell; art by Leonard Kirk
Marvel
$16.99

Captain Britain and MI:13 is a new Marvel series getting it’s first traded collection this week. The series spawned from another Paul Cornell written book called Wisdom which received a lot of critical acclaim, most of which has followed along to this new book. It also launched itself with the help of Secret Invasion, the big Marvel crossover event in which Skrulls take over the Earth. This first volume deals heavily with the Earth’s Skrull issue as a team of British superheroes is formed by the secret British intelligence agency, MI:13, to defend the Kingdom from the shape-shifting alien invaders.

Captain Britain is one of those longtime Marvel characters who seems to have performance issues with his own series. It’s always best to pair him up with other heroes like they’ve done in the past with the Excalibur books. Here he’s joined by various UK-themed heroes like Union Jack and Black Knight as well as some British spy characters like Pete Wisdom and John The Skrull (a former member of the Skrull Beatles, it seems).

3. ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD #1
Written by Jerry Frissen; art by Guy Davis
Devil’s Due
$3.99

Although I’m a devoted reader of Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead and am anxiously looking forward to attending this Friday’s screening here in Charlotte of Night of the Living Dead (featuring a discussion with George Romero) I’m a bit over the whole zombie comic fad.

However, this is an exception on par with Kirkman or Romero. A European zombie book with art by Guy Davis! Davis’ work can most recently be seen in the monster-ridden series B.P.R.D. where he’s proven to be a master at both atmospheric creepiness and subtle comedy. Devil’s Due Publishing has been attempting to bring translated reprints of the European Humanoids books to the US and this ongoing series originally started out in the popular sci-fi anthology Metal Hurlant. It’s a comedy that takes place in the year 2064 when the zombie apocalypse has gotten past the point of no return so the government instates a policy that gives zombies the right to ‘live’ among the still living.

2. PLUTO VOL. 1 (of 8)
By Naoki Urasawa
Viz Media
$12.99 | 200 pgs

Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese Mangaka creator who has been riding on a recent wave of popularity in the U.S. due to the recently concluded translations of his serial killer drama, Monster. This week Viz Media begins reprinting two other Urasawa books that have been very popular in Japan.

The first is Pluto, an 8 volume series inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy. Urasawa picks up on some minor characters from that book’s “The Greatest Robot on Earth” storyline and explores Tezuka’s world in his own way. The story is a gritty murder mystery in which a robot detective named Gesicht investigates a string of robot and human deaths that may be the first murders committed in years by a robot.

1. 20th CENTURY BOYS VOL. 1 (of 24)
By Naoki Urasawa
Viz Media
$12.99 | 216 pgs

The second Urasawa book is 20th Century Boys, a book he originally published simultaneously with Monster and which runs to about 24 volumes. This one has gotten a bit more critical praise than Pluto and received many awards during it’s original run.

Inspired by the works of Stephen King (notably It – you’ll recognize the similarity shortly) the story concerns a group of friends who find themselves connected through memories of their childhood to a string of mysterious disappearances and a sinister worldwide conspiracy. The sci-fi mystery plays out across four different eras ranging from the 1960s to the year 2014 and addresses themes of coming of age and growing into adulthood.

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

5. 08: A GRAPHIC DIARY OF THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Written by Michael Crowley; art by Dan Goldman
Three Rivers Press
$17.95 | 160 pgs

The 2008 campaign already seems like last year’s news, which I guess it is, but now is the time to start examining what really happened and recapping all it’s iconic moments. Whether or not a graphic novel is the best way to do this or not I’m not so sure, but this new book attempts it with a nice, newsy sense of graphic design. Artist Dan Goldman (Shooting War) takes all the now-classic imagery that made up the last two years worth of news cycles (Palin’s wink, Joe the Plumber, the crazy chick with the backwards B on her face) and recreates them in a style that mixes pop art with CNN info-graphic overload. Here Goldman teams with Michael Crowley, a journalist from the New Republic, as they give the ’08 campaign the old 9/11 Report treatment.

Check out a bunch of pages.

4. AGENTS OF ATLAS #1
Written by Jeff Parker; art by Carlo Pagulayan and Jason Paz
Marvel
$3.99

Jeff Parker’s original Agents of Atlas mini-series from a few years ago was a surprise hit with fans and critics alike. Therefore he now gets a shot at an ongoing series starring the members of a supergroup consisting of characters from the pre-silver age of Marvel (back when it was called Atlas) who have been brought to present day as a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. task force. The team consists of little known 50s-era characters Namora, Venus, Marvel Boy, Gorilla-man and M-11 as well as the team leader, Jimmy Woo.

3. I SAW YOU…COMICS INSPIRED BY REAL-LIFE MISSED CONNECTIONS
Edited by Julia Wertz
Three Rivers Press
$12.95 | 192 pgs

Here’s a good idea if I’ve ever heard one. Take a personal ad from a local paper or from Craigslist and turn it into a short comic. As the solicitation for this book suggests “these posted stranger sightings and chance encounters lay bare the truths and oddities of real-life loneliness and attractions and bring out the voyeur in the best of us.” Julia Wertz, creator of the auto-bio webcomic The Fart Party, has assembled a collection of creators that range from newcomers like Laura Park to veterans like Peter Bagge for this anthology of stories of love connections, both heartfelt and strange. With contributions from folks like Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, David Malki, Alec Longstreth, Aaron Renier, Jesse Reklaw and many more.

2. SECRET WARRIORS #1
Written by Jonathan Hickman and Brian Michael Bendis; art by Stefano Caselli
Marvel
$3.99

The recent Secret Invasion mini-series brought classic espionage tough guy Nick Fury back in full force to the Marvel Universe and Secret Warriors brings him back on a monthly basis as he leads a new team of top secret superhumans in a post-Invasion world where villain Norman Osborn is in charge of Fury’s former agency, SHIELD.

The interesting thing about this series is that it brings Jonathan Hickman, writer of the highly acclaimed independent series Nightly News, into Marvel’s stable of creators. Here he teams up with Brian Michael Bendis on plot, most likely so that Bendis can pull in specific plot threads that he’s been devising for years within various Marvel books. My guess is that the title of this series probably alludes overtly to Bendis’ Secret Wars series which dealt with a lot of secret-ops stuff going on in the MU. Hickman is one of the most exciting new creators out there and joins people like Matt Fraction and Bendis himself in a group of talented writers that have proven themselves on their own books and are now leading the direction of the entire line of Marvel books.

1. SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 5: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE UNIVERSE
By Bryan Lee O’Malley
Oni Press
$11.95 | 192 pgs

Probably the first highly anticipated book of 2009 hits the stands this week. If you haven’t tried out Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series yet then by all means start with volume one and catch up quickly. The fifth volume comes out this week in the continuing story of the affable 20-something Scott Pilgrim who has fallen in love with the cute and mysterious Ramona Flowers but in order to win her heart he must defeat her evil exes in classic video game style.

This book has it all – martial arts, a video game-like points system, romance, rock and roll, recipes and a very modern and unique manga-like sense of storytelling.

In this penultimate chapter in the Scott Pilgrim saga, things start to fall apart for our hero as Ramona’s exes begin to pair up and his own exes start to stir trouble of their own.

AND THEN THERE WAS…

I AM LEGION #1
Second try for us Americans on this series. A few years back DC published a graphic novel of the first part of this European science fiction book illustrated by John Cassady(Planetary). But they never finished the reprints. This time Devil’s Due Publishing starts small by reprinting it in floppy format.

JERSEY GODS #1
A nice Jersey girl meets a God of War and they get married and move down the street from her parents. Some nice looking Jack Kirby meets Darwyn Cooke art from Dan McDaid graces this odd new Image book.

CAPTAIN AMERICA THE TRUTH HC
A new hardcover collection of this newsworthy mini-series that retcons the history of Captain America by showing that before Steve Rogers was injected with the Super Soldier serum it was first tested on African American soldiers. Artwork by Kyle Baker in his most cartoony style.

ASTONISHING TALES #1
A new anthology series from Marvel. The first issue features the daring choice of launching a series with a Wolverine/Punisher team-up. Who’d have ever thought of putting those two characters together, huh? What a risk Marvel is taking there.

INDIANA JONES FURTHER ADV OMNIBUS TP VOL 01
Dark Horse delivers a huge volume of reprints from the old Marvel book that came out in the post-Raiders era. Features art from people like John Byrne and Howard Chaykin.