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

5. THE SPIRIT VOL 2 HC
Written by Darwyn Cooke, Walter Simonson, Gail Simone, Jimmy Palmiotti and others; Art by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, Chris Sprouse, Jordi Bernet, Eduardo Risso and others
DC Comics
$24.99 | 176 pgs

Will Eisner’s The Spirit, a classic and highly influential comic strip from the Golden Age of comics, has become open to artistic interpretation of late. Frank Miller will have his take on the big screen soon but there’s no way it’s going to be as fun or as great to look at as Darwyn Cooke’s take in DC Comics’ new ongoing The Spirit book. This second hardcover volume collects issues #7-13, completing Cooke’s run on the series.

In addition to Cooke’s take on the character here we also get short stories from folks like Chris Sprouse, Jordi Bernet and Eduardo Risso.

4. THE ALCOHOLIC
Written by Jonathan Ames; Art and cover by Dean Haspiel
DC Vertigo
$19.99 | 136 pgs

Jonathan Ames is a novelist who, in addition to some fiction work, has published three collections of non-fiction columns originally written for The New York Press about his life experiences. In his first graphic novel, The Alcoholic, he writes about the fictional “Jonathan A.” who wrestles with writing and drinking and other out-of-the-ordinary daily problems that may or may not be similar to exploits the non-fictional Jonathan A. has experienced himself. Dean Haspiel, who has done some great work on Vertigo’s Harvey Pekar books as well as his own web comics over at ACT-I-VATE should be expected to do some outstanding work here too. See for yourself.

3. MY BRAIN IS HANGING UPSIDE DOWN
By David Heatley
Pantheon
$24.95 | 128 pgs

Like last week’s release, Sublife from John Pham, we get another graduate of the MOME school of artists (as well as other anthologies like Kramers Ergot and McSweeney’s) entering the publishing world in a big way with his first hardcover collection of stories. David Heatley is a weird egg who uses his simplistic-looking art style to tell brutally honest, at times cringe-inducing stories about himself. For instance, one story collected here entitled “Sexual History” obsessively details every sexual encounter Heatley has had since grade school. Another, called “Black History” examines his feelings about race by obsessively detailing every encounter he’s ever had with a black person. Heatley also, to great effect, has a number of dream diary stories like those that have appeared in MOME. Once again he’s not afraid to put every embarrassing thing he dreams about onto paper.

2. THE NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE
By Jesse Reklaw
Dark Horse
$15.95 | 256 pgs

Speaking of dreams, Jesse Reklaw found a unique way of getting some bang out of the narrative buck of dreams. As a cartoonist for the alt-weekly comic strip, Slow Wave, Reklaw asks his readers to email him their dreams and he turns them into 4 panel comic strips which he publishes with the dreamer credited as co-author. The Night of Your Life collects these little dream stories which contain familiar favorites like the one where you show up at school with no clothes on or the one where you’re in the Old West and Teen Hitler pulls a knife on some girl you just met.

Check out a few samples here.

1. TOP 10 SEASON TWO #1 (of 4)
Written by Zander Cannon; Art and Cover by Gene Ha
DC Comics
$2.99 | 32 pgs

When you say that title out loud it just sounds like numerical gibberish doesn’t it? If you’re not familiar with the original Top 10 series or any of it’s various spin-offs it’s a superhero book done in the style of a police procedural drama like Hill Street Blues or NYPD Blue and set in a world where everyone has superpowers. It’s the brainchild of Alan Moore who unfortunately is not the writer of this new series but original series artist Gene Ha does return for this new “season”. Writer, Zander Cannon, will be familiar to Top 10 fans as the artist of spin-off series Smax among other related books. Some familiar characters join some new additions like a new police commissioner and a rookie cop who will no doubt help lead new readers through this world.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

FOUR EYES #1
Joe Kelly and Max Fiumara begin a new series about a boy in Depression-era Brooklyn who is befriended by a dragon. Probably not the best time to put out a comic about the D-word but don’t hold that against these guys.

NO HERO #1
Another unique look at the dark side of superheroes from Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp. This one is about people that will do anything to get superpowers.

BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2008 HC
This year’s anthology is notable for it’s distinct lack of Paul Pope’s Batman Year 100 because DC’s legal department apparently felt it wasn’t “best” enough to stand with the likes of Chris Ware, Seth, Alison Bechdel and more.

I should have had these up over the weekend, although I must share blame with Diamond, who have been getting us our invoice pretty late lately, as they move their offices. But if you were waiting, the wait is over, yo!

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

5. BLACK SUMMER TP
Written by Warren Ellis; art by Juan Jose Ryp
Avatar Press
$24.99 | 192 pgs

So, would it be weird to gear up for this Friday’s first Presidential Debate by reading a book about a superhero that assassinates the President of the United States and starts a Civil War between the military and the scientifically-enhanced heroes it created? I guess that since the President depicted is more similar to our current President than either of our potential future ones then it’s probably okay.

Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp are true to form here as they deliver extreme superhero violence full of blood and guts and hi-tech machinery and then the blood and guts and hi-tech machinery get all blown up. Over and over again. This trade paperback collects the original mini-series.

4. TAMARA DREWE
By Posy Simmonds
Houghton Mifflin
$16.95 | 136 pgs

Posy Simmonds is a British cartoonist who has run two highly successful strips in the newspaper The Guardian that take 19th century romantic novels and give them a 21st century modernist spin. The first strip, Gemma Bovery (a reworking of Madame Bovary) was collected as a graphic novel to much acclaim and now her second strip, based on Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Maddening Crowd gets the same treatment.

A quiet, writers retreat is turned on it’s head when Tamara Drewe, a sexy gossip columnist, comes to town bringing along her sorrow at the recent loss of her mother and the drama of her recent break-up with her rock star boyfriend. Everyone from the local married men to a couple of teenage girls become infatuated with Tamara. Tamara Drewe is a British manners comedy in which the upper class gets all raunchy against their better judgment. The strip was done in the berliner format which you can see by viewing a page here at the Guardian website.

3. SUBLIFE #1
By John Pham
Fantagraphics
$8.99 | 64 pgs

Readers of the anthology MOME, may remember John Pham’s “221 Sycamore St.” which ran in the first few volumes of that book. Pham now has his own anthology, called Sublife, which will be printed twice a year from Fantagraphics and will contain serialized longer works accompanied by shorter, self-contained pieces. This first volume contains the first chapter of the previously seen “221 Sycamore St.” (about somewhat connected groups of people living out their bizarre lives at the title address) and “Deep Space” an equally weird sci-fi story.

The book is printed in two-color and it’s two kind of weird colors at that. You can preview a few pages here. Pham’s dream-like renderings and experimental style of storytelling should make this a challenging and maybe even disturbing read.

2. RED ROCKET 7
By Mike Allred
Image Comics
$16.99 | 280 pgs

Mike Allred, creator of Madman (that’s singular, nothing to do with the Emmy winning television series except for a penchant for 60’s-era aesthetics; in fact, if they make a Mad Men comic someday, Allred might be a good choice to draw it), published a labor of love about rock and roll a decade ago that is getting a 10th anniversary treatment here. In the original 7 issue limited series, Red Rocket 7, Allred told the history of rock and roll – from the 50s up to and beyond the grunge era – “through the eyes of the seventh clone of a man from a distant world”. The entire series is collected here with some extras. I ‘m pretty sure it does not contain the rock album that Allred recorded nor the movie called Astroesque that he filmed to accompany this book. It does have an intro by future Madman film director Robert Rodriguez though.

1. TEZUKA’S BLACK JACK VOL. 1 HC
By Osamu Tezuka
Vertical
$24.95 | 288 pgs

The flurry of repackaged Osamu Tezuka releases in the past year have been building towards this one. Black Jack, Tezuka’s manga series from the 1970’s is considered his third most famous work (after Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion) and has been translated and reprinted before but this hardcover deluxe edition marks a new reprint with a new translation and a new sequential ordering of the stories that it contains, based on Tezuka’s own preference. The series is made up of about 250 self-contained 20-or-so page short stories that all deal with a gifted but scarred surgeon named Black Jack who goes around performing wild surgeries and saving lives. Tezuka, who at one point in his life was a licensed physician, loved doing doctor dramas and poured plenty of realistic detail into some fairly unrealistic stories here.

Jog the Blog has an excellent review of this volume. If you don’t do hardcovers you can wait a week or two for the less deluxe-y softcover to arrive.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

ABSOLUTE RONIN
The $99 hardcover treatment for the classic Frank Miller book that most people have never read (myself included).

DAREDEVIL #111
“Jumping On Point” Alert! Also, Lady Bullseye, which I assume is a new character and not a post-op version of an old villain.

ABE SAPIEN: THE DROWNING
A spin-off of a spin-off.

BACK TO BROOKLYN #1 (of 5)
Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti do crime comics, Brooklyn-style.

MARVEL BOY HC
Grant Morrison and JG Jones’ much loved mini-series from the ’90s gets collected now that the character has shown up in Secret Invasion.

SHIA LEBEOUF IS LOOKING TOUGH! I’m hoping that I’m pronouncing his name correctly, so that that rhyme actually works. If not, please consider it blank verse: I’m like the e.e. cummings of comic shop blog posts!

But to business: we have a limited number of sneak preview passes to “Eagle Eye,” starring good ole Shia and Michelle Monaghan. The showing is this Tuesday, September 23 at 7.30 pm, although if you’ve ever been to one of these things, you know to show up early, as they give out WAY more passes than there are seats. Good news: each pass is good for two people, so at least there’ll be someone to talk to while you watch the lame movie trivia and eat too many Peanut M&M’s. Mm, now I’m craving Peanut M&M’s.

To claim your TOUGH pass (limit one per customer), just swing on by the store. We only have a few, so don’t delay.

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

5. ASTRO BOY VOL 1 & 2
By Osamu Tezuka
Dark Horse
$14.95 | 424 pgs

If you’ve always wanted to try Osamu Tezuka’s classic Astro Boy manga (on which the classic anime from the 1960s was based) then Dark Horse has a treat for you since they’re repackaging the series in a new, slightly more affordable edition. This first book actually collects the first two volumes of this 23 volume series for the price of one. Often called the “Mickey Mouse of Anime”, Astro Boy is actually a lot more like Pinocchio as it’s about a robot boy created by a government scientist in the likeness of his recently deceased son. Created with great powers, Astro Boy fights crime and evil robots while trying to understand what it is to be a real boy.

4. JANES IN LOVE
Written by Cecil Castellucci; Art and Cover by Jim Rugg
DC MINX
$9.99 | 176 pgs

DC’s Minx line, aimed at the growing teenage female sector of the comic reading audience, seems to be doing well since we’ve seemed to have reached the sequel stage of the line. Plain Janes was the first book released under this imprint last year and the same characters and creative team are back for Janes in Love (in fact a third book is already in the works too). The story is about a group of girls (all named Jane) that band together as a sort of grassroots guerrilla organization called People Loving Art in Neighborhoods – or P.L.A.I.N. – that commit “art attacks” around town. If that sounds a little reminiscent of terrorism to you it’s actually intentional as the book takes place in a world that is still a little shell-shocked from a real terrorist attack and could use a little art to relearn how beautiful the world can be.

This series has been praised for its appeal to its target audience and it’s message of spreading creativity. One criticism of the first volume was that some plot threads were left unresolved at the end but that is what this volume is for and the creators promise to pick up on those storylines.

3. BURMA CHRONICLES
By Guy Delisle
Drawn & Quarterly
$19.95 | 208 pgs

Guy Delisle is a French Canadian cartoonist who has made a name for himself by doing graphic memoirs that take place in countries that most people don’t get to visit too often. Previously in Shenzen and Pyongang he wrote about his experience in those countries while working for an animation studio. Now, he uses the opportunity of being married to a member of Doctors Without Borders to write about his stay in another country oppressed by a military regime – Burma.

Delisle tends to focus on the little things he sees in order to paint a thorough picture of life in these countries. Here, during his stay he encounters newspaper censorship, power outages, heroin use and other expatriates like himself getting by in a place that can be hard to get by in.

2. ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #12
Written by Grant Morrison; Art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant;
DC Comics
$2.99 | 32 pgs

Usually, I try to stick to recommending stand alone graphic novels or first issues so as to provide a good jumping on point for readers. I don’t think I’ve ever put a final issue of a series in one of these lists but I just have such a man-crush on this book that you’re lucky I haven’t listed all 12 issues here as they came out. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s run on this series has been an instant classic considered by many to be one of the best (if not THE best) Superman stories of all time.

Having faced twelve challenges (and met many variations of himself along the way), Superman squares off against Lex Luthor in this final chapter and it’s a testament to how well this book has been done that I’m not even totally sure he’s going to survive in the end.

1. LOCAL
Writen by Brian Wood; art by Ryan Kelly
Oni Press
$29.99 | 384 pgs

Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s excellent 12 issue series, Local, is now collected in hardcover and it might be interesting to see how this reads as a one volume story rather than it’s original monthly short story format. Intended to be a series of stand alone stories that would take place in a different city from issue, showcasing that city’s culture and landscape, the book at some point became a larger story about the life of it’s central character, Megan McKeenan. Each chapter jumps about a year or so in Megan’s life and finds her living in a different city but also in a different emotional place in her life.

The book stands out for a couple of reasons. Wood and Kelly do a tremendous amount of research on their locations (cities such as Richmond, Portland and Brooklyn) and it shows in Kelly’s detailed but expressionistic renderings of the locales. But it also rides on the strength of the Megan character who is a bit polarizing in her appeal. You’re probably either going to love her or hate her but either way that’s the sign of a really strong character.

HONORABLE MENTIONS!

GENE COLAN TRIBUTE BOOK
– This one’s for a good cause. The Hero Initiative reprints some classic Gene Colan work. Proceeds go directly towards helping Colan who has recently fallen ill.

GREATEST HITS#1
– Vertigo does a rare superhero book with some rare interior art by Preacher cover artist Glenn Fabry.

SUPERMAN: KRYPTONITE
– This story never seemed to get much talk when it came in the Superman:Confidential series (probably because of some long delays) but it’s Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale so how bad could it be?

In an effort to better serve you and to improve our ordering I thought it might behoove us to better explain how we pull books so you, the customer, can get exactly what you want. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and the answers to them:

1) Can I get all the covers to this title?
Well, the answer is both yes and no. The easiest way to get exactly which cover you want is to place a Previews order. That let’s us know exactly what you want and we can order accordingly. Because of the incredible number of variants coming out these days, and the added headache of trying to track which customers want which variants, it’s easier just to do this on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if you ask for “all covers,” that may or may not include the retailer incentive variants (example: the 1-in-75 Secret Invasion #1 variant, which retailed for over $75). For some of these we only get a limited number and often they are more expensive than the regular cover. If you really want a variant you can always send me an email at [email protected]. But the variants are first come first serve and I can’t guarantee that we will have a copy for you.

2) Why did I only get the first two issues of this mini-series?
For most mini-series that relate to a current title we pull the first two issues and by the third expect you to put it on your list if you want to keep getting it. For Ultimate Origins we pulled the first two issues of it for anyone who got an Ultimate title, but we only pulled the third issue for people who had “Ultimate Origins” on their list. That being said we don’t always pull mini-series for related titles. For some of the X-Men minis, like the new X-Men Manifest Destiny we only pulled for people who had “X-Men Manifest Destiny” and “X-Men Annual” on their list. We just didn’t think that everyone who wants X-Men would want X-Men Manifest Destiny. That is pretty much how we decide how to pull books. Will the people who get this title also want this other title? So the moral of the story is: If you want a particular book, add it to your list.

3) Can I add this one-shot to my list?
Most of the time for one shots we make that a Previews order. That means we add it to a separate list that is generated when the book comes in. A pull sheet is like a standing order for a title. A Previews order is a one time order. Previews comes out around the end of each month, and is the catalog for everything Diamond is shipping around 2-3 months in the future. There is an order form in each copy if you’d like to place an order, OR if we know you pretty well and you just want one or two things, we can take care of that for you.

4) Can I add trades to my list?
With trade paperbacks it is easiest and most effective to place a Previews order rather than to put it on your list. That way you get exactly what you want. For example, if you have Wolverine TP on your list does that mean you want any trade that has to do with Wolvie, including mini-series, hardcovers, original graphic novels, etc.? It can get confusing. But if you place a Previews order than we can get you exactly what you want and we don’t end up over ordering on any trades, which are much more expensive than your regular $2.99 comic.

5) Speaking of Previews, how do I place a Previews order?
It is super easy! If you see a book in Previews that you want then tell us and we can write it on the special order list and we will then put that into the database (those orders don’t stay on the special order list). Or if you make a lot of orders you can buy a Previews and fill out a consumer order form. That way you can take it home and look through it at your leisure.

6) Can I get all books written by a particular writer or artist?
Sadly, the answer is no. Our database doesn’t work that way. We pull books by title, not by writer or artist. And for that matter we can’t really stop pulling books for you after a story arc is over. You need to tell us to take it off of your list.

7) Can you pull ALL the Warhammer books and ALL Transformers titles for me?
We can if you add each individual title to your list. It is just too difficult to have a blanket pull list for Warhammer or for Transformers. Plus some might want Transformers Animated but not Spotlight. So for clarity’s sake we need you to put the individual title on your list. This not only helps us order the correct number, but keeps you from having a lot of stuff in your bag you don’t really want.

8) Do you offer a discount if I’m a subscriber?
We do! If you get 10 or more monthly titles (mini-series DO NOT count) then you get 10% off new comics and trades and 25% off regular back issues. There isn’t a discount on variants, silver and golden age back issues, or hot books. The discount does NOT apply if your bag is not EMPTY. We pay for books each week, so when you leave a lot of stuff in your bag for a long time, it makes Shelton sad (and poor).

9) How often do I need to come in to get my bag?
We really prefer for you to come in ONCE A MONTH. We always try to get in touch with you by email or phone before we cancel your bag. So if you don’t make it in very often make sure your contact information is up to date. If we can’t get in touch with you we are much more likely to cancel your bag. The most important thing is to keep in contact with us. If you haven’t been in to get your books in a while send us an email. We like to hear from you!

10) When will you cancel my bag?
We have on the reserve sheet that you sign when you start your bag that we hold books for 30 days and that we can cancel a reserve bag anytime at our discretion. Generally we’ll send you an e-mail (or call if we have no e-mail address) once 3 issues of the same title gets in your bag, meaning you probably haven’t been in in at least 2 months. If we don’t hear back from you within a couple of weeks, or haven’t made some other arrangements with you, we will likely cancel your bag and return your books to the shelf. If you’re out of town or are just feelign the economic blues and are definitely coming in, just let us know: we’re more likely to cancel your bag if we don’t have any information. Believe me, we’d rather sell these books to you than return them to stock, but the longer we wait, the less likely that we’ll be able to sell them to anyone!

11) Can I get all the issues of this big crossover event?
YES! For Secret Invasion we can pull all the crossover mini-series and the tie-in issues. That is the tie-ins that are solicited in Previews as tie-ins. BUT, it is an all or nothing for that though. You can add the individual titles if there are some you want and don’t want. But if you put “Secret Invasion X-Over” on your list (or “Final Crisis X-Over”, etc.) then you will get everything. If you only want one or two of the tie-in series–for instance, “Final Crisis” and “Final Crisis: Superman Beyond”, then just add those specific titles.

More questions? Let us know in the comments section below, or you can always get me by e-mail here.

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week. Provided the world doesn’t prematurely end today here’s what’s coming out today.

5. DUGOUT
Written by Adam Beechen; art by Manny Bello
Ait/Planet Lar
$12.95 | 88 pgs

Dugout is a new graphic novel that is apparently seven years in the making from Ait/Planet Lar and the same creative team of the publisher’s 2004 book Hench, Adam Beechen (recently of Teen Titans and other DC work) and Manny Bello.

Set in 1960, it concerns a down and out manager of a pro baseball team who sets up an exhibition game at a prison as a means of breaking his star pitcher out of the clink. This sounds like a fun book that combines two of America’s favorite past times: baseball and sticking it to the warden.

4. THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Scassa; art by Mike Perkins
Marvel
$3.99

Marvel has had some pretty good success with adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower and their method seems to be to roll out numerous mini-series to tell the story. In fact, there’s another Jae Lee illustrated Dark Tower mini starting this week as well called The Dark Tower: Treachery. The success of that series has led to Marvel adapting one of King’s most powerful and epic novels, The Stand into a series of 6 mini-series. It’s been a good 20 years since I read that novel but I remember being pretty blown away by it and I wasn’t alone as you can find influences from that book in many places, most notably on TV’s Lost.

Written by Roberto Aguirre-Scassa with much input from King himself, this first mini-series introduces the man-made virus nicknamed “Captain Trips” that devastates the world leaving two groups of survivors – one that follows the saintly Mother Abigail and another that is enraptured by the anti-Christ-like Randall Flagg. I can’t imagine this story won’t make for a good comic but it will be interesting to see whether the multiple mini-series format helps make this massive epic more digestible or less, well, epic.

3. SIXTEEN MILES TO MERRICKS AND OTHER WORKS
By Barnaby Ward
Frogchildren Studios
$29.95 | 208 pgs

Barnaby Ward is an exciting new creator who is releasing a collection of work through an animation company that he works for called Frogchildren Studios. Ward’s art is really interesting, showing influences of animation, manga, fashion illustration and European comics. This volume contains various illustrations and some short stories as well as one longer piece which the book draws its title from about a man who walks into an apartment and finds a strange but beautiful girl who leads him into more strange territory.

Check out a preview here at Ward’s website somefield.com

2. OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN HC
Written by Jonathan Lethem; art by Farel Dalrymple, Paul Hornschemeier and Gary Panter
Marvel
$29.99

The indie snob in me wishes that Marvel would do more books like this one. A literary superhero comic put together by an award winning novelist and a team of indie art superstars. This new premiere hardcover collects the recently concluded 10 issue mini-series that re-imagined Steve Gerber’s short-lived cult-classic 1970s comic about a young boy who learns he shares a destiny with a mute super hero from another planet. Lethem, perhaps best known for his novel Fortress of Solitude about a couple of kids growing up in Brooklyn on a steady diet of 1970s Marvel comics, is joined in his first comic outing by artists Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier and even a guest bit done by Gary Panter of all people. It all makes for an odd package from a publisher like Marvel.

1. GOTHAM CENTRAL HC
Written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka; art by Michael Lark
DC Comics
$29.99 | 240 pgs

Funny how it took until Ed Brubaker became an unstoppable superstar over at Marvel for DC to finally start showing some love to his and Greg Rucka’s highly praised but rarely read procedural crime drama, Gotham Central. The book petered out a couple of years back and has only been sporadically collected in trades. This new hardcover collects the first 10 issues which includes the first three story arcs (or cases as we’ll call them here). During it’s run, Brubaker and Rucka would alternate story arcs, cases and even characters with Brubaker handling the GCPD night shift and Rucka the day shift. The highlight of this collection is actually written by Greg Rucka which stars the character who would someday become the Question – Renee Montoya. In this award winning story, “Half Life”, Montoya’s life is turned upside-down when she is outed to her co-workers as a lesbian and gets kidnapped by Two-Face.

The real superstar of this book though is Michael Lark though who turns in some amazing, shadow-drenched artwork that brings the Gotham crime scene alive and makes you feel like you’re watching a great cop show that just happens to be set in Gotham City.

BONUS! Some Honorable Mentions:

Krazy & Ignatz 1943-1944: He Nods in Quiescent Siesta
At long last, the final volume of Fantagraphics’ Krazy Kat reprints.

Prince of Persia
Based on a popular computer game I’ve never heard of but it’s brought to you by the fine folks at First Second who rarely miss a step.

Batman: The Black Glove
Collecting the best part of Grant Morrison’s current run on Batman.

Bad Boy 10th Anniversary Hardcover
The new All-Star Batman and Robin may have been recalled this week but there’s always this old Frank Miller and Simon Bisley book to satisfy your fix.

Big Hero 6 #1
Chris Claremont does Japanese superhero teams.

Kick Drum Comix #1
Short stories from Jim Mahfood.

In case you were wondering, New Releases for this Wednesday’s books are now up here. Bon Appetit!

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week. This week new comics are actually shipping on Thursday because of Labor Day but let’s do this today anyway.

5. MARVEL APES #1
Written by Karl Kesel; art by Ramon Bachs
Marvel
$3.99

In case you didn’t know, Zombies are so last year. Same with Pirates. Apes are the new thing now. As someone who has studied the work of both Jane Goodall and Dr. Zaius, I’m a bit turned off by all these bandwagon jumpers that all of a sudden claim to have always been into monkeys. And they’ve only seen Project X once! If you only knew how much time I’ve logged sending letters trying to get BJ and The Bear released on DVD. Or how I drive around town blasting the Stones’ “Monkey Man” from my car stereo. I’m the real deal when it comes to all things simian.

Anyway, so this book looks pretty good. It’s pretty much like Marvel Zombies except instead of Spider-man being undead he’s a monkey. Cool!

4. ROBERTS #1 (of 2)
Written by Wayne Chinsang; art by Erik Rose
Image Comics
$5.99 | 48 pgs

Roberts is a new two issue mini about two old guys that get to know each other while living in a nursing home.

Wait, don’t stop reading! Let me finish.

One guy is the Boston Strangler and the other is the Zodiac Killer. The two serial killers rehash their past glories and then make a bet to see who still has what it takes.

The black and white artwork is by newcomer Erik Rose and judging by this preview on his website it looks pretty good. If you take him for his word, he drew it all using his and writer Wayne Chinsang’s blood.

3. BERLIN BOOK TWO: CITY OF SMOKE
By Jason Lutes
Drawn & Quarterly
$19.95 | 200 pgs

Holy cow! I’ve been waiting half my adult life for Jason Lutes’ second volume of Berlin to come out. Seriously though, when I first started getting back into comics way back in the early aughts, volume one was one of the first graphic novels I tried out. At this point I don’t even remember what the story is about except that it takes place in pre-Nazi Berlin.

If you love period pieces about interesting places set during a crucial moment in its history then you must give this book a try. While it explores the city during the fall of the Weimar Republic it does so through the eyes of two lovers named Kurt and Mathe. It’s the middle book of a trilogy that is turning out to be Lutes’ lifework and a test of patience for tradewaiters everywhere.

2. SECRET SIX #1
Written by Gail Simone; art by Nicola Scott and Doug Hazelwood
DC Comics
$2.99 | 32 pgs

Back during DC’s Countdown to Infinite Crisis, the most surprisingly enjoyable tie-in to that event was Gail Simone’s Villains United which introduced us to an all new version of the Secret Six. Since then there’s been a successful Secret Six mini-series that has now lead to a new ongoing series written by Simone and her Birds of Prey collaborator, Nicola Scott. The Secret Six is a team of super-villains that has had a somewhat revolving cast since it first appeared in Villains United but its mainstays include Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll and Catman whose reinvention from lame Wonder Woman bad guy to tough-with-a-sensitive-side anti-hero has made him the unofficial star of this team. Some new members will be added to the team in this series including a mysterious “A-list” Batman villain.

1. LOVE & ROCKETS: NEW STORIES
By The Hernandez Brothers
Fantagraphics
$14.99 | 100 pgs

The Hernandez Brothers have decided to take their long running comic, Love & Rockets, into the potential future of comics by eschewing the floppy format for an annual, 100 page digest of all new material. It seems like a big deal to me when major American comic book creators decides to publish their book in the manga method. Could an annual one-volume Amazing Spider-man in place of the current weekly 22 pagers be far behind? Yeah probably pretty far indeed but trade-waiters and bookshelf owners will be rejoicing in this move by the venerable indie creators. All three brothers – Jaime, Gilbert and Mario – have offerings in this introductory volume. Jaime, though takes up half the book with a new Penny Century story that takes her usual superhero leanings and goes full tilt with it.

If you’ve never read Love & Rockets, this could be a good place to start. Like any good ongoing comic, it’s built on decades of it’s own continuity but it’s not to hard to jump in, get to know the characters and catch up to speed pretty easily.

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

5 ACHEWOOD: THE GREAT OUTDOOR FIGHT
By Chris Onstad
Dark Horse
$14.95 | 104 pgs

The cream of the webcomics pile continues to rise to the top where it’s offered book deals and, who knows, maybe movies some day. It’s an interesting experiment in figuring out whether people will pay for what they can get for free and Dark Horse Comics has had some success with that recently thanks to Nicholas Gurewitch’s Perry Bible Fellowship. Will Achewood, a webcomic with almost as big a following, do as well in this market? If you haven’t read it, Achewood is an absurdist strip about a group of anthropomorphic stuffed animals that live together with their owner in a house in the fictional suburb of Achewood. This book collects the popular story arc, The Great Outdoor Fight. The humor of this strip isn’t really for me I think but it has a huge cult following and I’m all for webcomic peeps making money so hopefully people will check this out.

4. TALL TALES
By Al Jaffee
Abrams
$14.95 | 128 pgs

Al Jaffee is known to everyone who’s ever read Mad Magazine as the guy who did those brilliant fold-out cartoons. From 1957-1963 he did an innovative vertical, wordless comic strip for the New York Herald Tribune that is collected here in one volume.

Comedy Central‘s Stephen Colbert provides an introduction for the book which should be worth the price of admission alone.

3. NEW AVENGERS #44
Written by Brian Michael Bendis; art by Billy Tan
Marvel
$2.99

I don’t normally point out the odd issue of an ongoing series unless it’s a good jumping on point or a special stand-alone story. In this case, if you’re reading Marvel’s Secret Invasion series but you’re not picking up all the various crossovers and tie-ins (and seriously how could you – there’s just too many) you might want to check this one out because it looks like it’s going to fill in a big part of the Secret Invasion storyline by showing us how the whole Skrull takeover of Earth came about. Brian Michael Bendis, writer of Secret Invasion, has been setting up threads for this storyline in his books for years and one of the books that this draws heavily on is his Illuminati mini-series which revealed that various events in Marvel history had been secretly orchestrated by a committee of well-meaning but foolhardy heroes.

2. TYPHON
By Various
Dirty Danny Press
$24.95 | 192 pgs

This is yet another anthology book (we’ve had a lot of these this summer) but I happened to browse through this one at Heroes Con and man is it a crazy book. Forty two full color stories from various cartoonists, many of which are relatively unknown but include some names like David Chelsea, Tim Lane (who we saw last week with Abandoned Cars), Victor Cayro , Matthew Thurber, Hans Rickheit and Eric Theriault.

In the tradition of the great underground comic anthologies like Weirdo and Raw, this book allows the artists to do whatever the hell they want and let their ids spill out all over the page. It’s full of graphic sex, gross out humor, weird ideas and cool, modern cartooning from some fresh up and coming talent.

There’s some relatively NSFW previews here at the editor’s blog.

1. FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND #1 (of 2)
Written by Grant Morrison; art by Dough Mahnke and Christian Alamy
DC Comics
$4.50 | 40 pgs

I know this is the second week in a row that I’ve picked a Final Crisis tie-in as the top book but this one has got alternate-Earth Supermen and a special 3-D section with glasses included! Plus it’s written by Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison and has art by Doug Mahnke who previously collaborated with Morrison on Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein. This two issue mini deals with Superman trying to save Lois’ life after the events of Final Crisis and getting caught up in the even bigger problem of preventing the end of all reality.

By the way, speaking of Grant Morrison, if you’ve never read the greatest Superman book EVER then it’s your duty to disregard everything else on this list and pick up the new trade paperback collection of his All-Star Superman book which also comes out today.

Plus, there’s even more classic Morrison on the shelves with a $30 hardcover collecting the first 9 issues of his run on the relaunched JLA comic from somewhere around 1996. From a historical standpoint, this is a highly influential book that many would say kick started the whole “widescreen” action method of telling superhero comics. Personally, I have trouble getting past the artwork in this one but it’s pretty wild superhero fun, nonetheless.