Saturday 3 February 2018

Previews Stuff

Hi, Everybody!

It's February, so that means it's time for the January previews roundup, wait a minute...

Diamond Preview Picks: January 2018

Travis Pelkie returns with his regular monthly selection for Cerebus fans of comics and books featured in the latest Diamond Previews catalog. Travis is co-founder of the Atomic Junk Shop, a site about comics and other fun pop culture. To see your comics featured here or at the Atomic Junk Shop feel free to send an email to Travis at: atomicjunkshoptravis [at] outlook [dot] com.

I'm pretty sure this is where Cher got the idea for the "Turn Back Time" video...
(W) Dave Sim, Sandeep Atwal (A) Dave Sim, Gustave Dore (CA) Sandeep Atwal
Can Batvark, Homophobe, be coerced into have a boy sidekick like on the cover? Spoiler Warning: No. Features Super-Cerebus, Batvark and...Vark-Mite? (or whatever the kid's name is); Trick or Treat; Psychosomatic (1863); Cerebus' Self-Help Book; Cyclothymia (1923); Product Placement; Maxwell and Mortimer's Covers Band; "The Cerebus Foundation" and more!
Travis sez: A phallic cover, or a fallacy cover?  I don't know what fallacy means, so I'll go with the first!

(W) Evan Dorkin (A/CA) Evan Dorkin
A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this trade paperback collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don't judge it-love it! Or else!
o The complete Milk and Cheese comics in an affordable trade paperback!
o A comprehensive book, featuring the comics, the covers to the issues, pin-ups, even the art for the Milk and Cheese trading card set that came out in 1995, spread across two pages.
Travis sez: One of the most fun indie comics around is collected in softcover.  If you're like me and missed the HC, go for this.  So much fun!


(W) Stan Sakai (A/CA) Stan Sakai
On his way to see Inspector Ishida, Usagi is confronted by Shogunate guards . . . a sign of the times. While unraveling a pair of murders in town later, Usagi and Ishida become wary as they find the corpses stripped of all identification-except for a talisman that leads to a startling discovery!
o Part one of seven-the perfect place to start!

Travis sez: The long-running series tricks people with a new #1 (where have I heard of that trick before?).  It's fantastic anyway, so it doesn't matter what the number on the cover is!

(W) Neal Adams (A/CA) Neal Adams
Sensei is down. Deadman is heading toward Nanda Parbat. Can Ra's al Ghul be far behind? Secrets will be revealed and horrors tested, and the reader can search for Ra's al Ghul on the cover. He is there. The plot thickens.

Travis sez: Neal Adams has a hidden Ra's al-Ghul head on this cover.  Can you find it?



(W) Sholly Fisch (A/CA) Dario Brizuela
You think Scooby and the gang have seen it all? Just wait till the gang's latest case leads them to the wackiest corners of the DC Universe, where they join forces with semi-simian private eyes Angel and the Ape, screwy superheroes the Inferior Five...and Stanley and his m-m-monster!

Travis sez: Who doesn't like Angel and the Ape, Inferior Five, and Stanley and his monster, let alone the Scooby gang?  People I don't want to know, that's who!

(W) Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird (A) Peter Laird, Dave Sim, Michael Dooney (A/CA) Kevin Eastman
Rediscover the underground roots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with this special collection of Mirage Studios' issues #8-11 along with the Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo Micro-Series one-shots by creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird! With annotations following each issue, this volume is perfect for fans to relive the glorious days of the Turtles' origins, as well as an excellent place for new readers to see where the TMNT phenomenon began. Issue #8 is the famous Cerebus crossover with Dave Sim.
Travis sez: Hey, this includes the Cerebus crossover issue!  Ooh, it's got annotations after each issue too....In glorious B&W!

(W) Todd McFarlane (A/CA) Jason Shawn Alexander
The re-creation of Spawn's arch villain THE VIOLATOR...A NEW LOOK! NEW POWERS!

Travis sez: Since we've been talking Spawn... looks like he'll hit #300 sometime next year!




(W) Jack Kirby (A/CA) Jack Kirby
It's the return of the King! In 1975, Jack "King" Kirby came back to Marvel and his iconic creation, Captain America, as writer, artist and editor. It was Kirby unleashed - and the results were groundbreaking. Kirby created an intricate storyline that built month after month toward America's Bicentennial and CAPTAIN AMERICA #200! The "Madbomb" saga featured an aristocratic cabal seeking to wrest control of the country by possessing the American people's minds and driving them to insane outbreaks of violence. It's an Orwellian adventure done Kirby-style, and there's nothing else like it! Also featuring an out-of-this-world alien Annual escapade, and Kirby's BICENTENNIAL BATTLES - an 80-page masterpiece encompassing American history from the Revolution to the Old West to both World Wars! Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #193-200 and ANNUAL #3, and MARVEL TREASURY SPECIAL: CAPTAIN AMERICA'S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES.
Rated T
Travis sez: It's Kirby's return to Captain America, including the Bicentennial Battles book!

(W) Audrey Niffenegger (A/CA) Eddie Campbell
Internationally bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger, and graphic artist Eddie Campbell, of such seminal works as From Hell by Alan Moore, collaborate on a wonderfully bizarre collection that celebrates and satirizes love of all kinds. With 16 different stories told through illustrated prose or comic panels, the couple explores the idiosyncratic nature of relationships in a variety of genres from fractured fairy tales to historical fiction to paper dolls. With Niffenegger's sharp, imaginative prose and Campbell's diverse comic styles, Bizarre Romance is the debut collection by two of the most important storytellers of our time.
Travis sez: Real life sweeties Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie Campbell (who undoubtedly still curses Dave Sim for breaking his drinking glass) have a book about love, which should be good.



(W) Terry Moore (A/CA) Terry Moore
When a UFO crashes into Samantha's junkyard, she is happy to make repairs and send the little visitors on their way. But E.T. is smitten with the Marine veteran and now an industrial giant wants to buy the land to install their anti-UFO weapon. With the help of her buddy Mike, a 600lb. gorilla, Sam is always prepared to defend those who can't defend themselves, but who will save Sam from the PTSD and shrapnel that threaten her life? To survive, Sam must ultimately face the greatest battle of her life - reality. Available in softcover and hardcover editions.

Travis sez: Terry Moore's most recent comic before bringing back Strangers in Paradise, this one sounds like fun, with aliens and gorillas and stuff.

(W) Neil Gaiman (A) Michael Zulli
AfterShock Comics continues to push boundaries by presenting its very first anthology collection featuring a slew of today's top writers and artists. Presented in the European Album format (same as the recent Animosity: the Rise hardcover for LCSD), this handsome hardcover features the creative talents of Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Charles Vess, Michael Gaydos, Andy Clarke, Andrew Robinson, Mike Carey, Jim Starlin, Phil Hester, Paul Jenkins, Dalibor Talajic, Bill Willingham, Travis Moore, Brian Azzarello, Francesco Francavilla, Cullen Bunn, Marc Guggenheim, Marguerite Bennett, Frank Tieri, Brian Stelfreeze and more! Cover art by John Cassaday! From the multiple Eisner and Havery Award-nominated editor of the classic Negative Burnanthology series.
Travis sez: Something of a new iteration of Negative Burn, this anthology features Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Bill Willingham, and more!  Good batch of creators!

(W) Fred Van Lente (A) Ty Templeton (CA) Mike Allred, Laura Allred
Another challenge for THE GREEN HORNET, his aide KATO, and their rolling arsenal, THE BLACK BEAUTY! On police records a wanted criminal, THE GREEN HORNET is really Britt Reid, owner/publisher of The Daily Sentinel. Reid and Kato have traveled to Central City to participate in the futuristic World's Fair, to get the skinny on the "Newspaper of Tomorrow," a device capable of predicting headlines before events happen! But isn't that a dangerous power for the press to wield... and say, who's that blue-suited skulker in the shadows?
Travis sez: Two cool characters, Ty Templeton art, and Mike Allred covers.  What more do you want?  Seriously, what more do you want?

(W) Julian Voloj (A) Thomas Campi
Everyone knows Superman, but not everyone knows the story of two youngsters from Cleveland who created Superman. Based on archival material and original sources, Truth, Justice, and the American Way: The Joe Shuster Story tells the story of the friendship between writer Jerry Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster, their creation of an American icon, and puts the work into the wider context of the American comic book industry.  Available in Softcover and Hardcover editions.
Travis sez: a biography of Canadian-American cartoonist Joe Shuster, who co-created a character you may have heard of...


(W) Jimmy Gownley (A) Jimmy Gownley, Various, Veronica Di Lorenzo
A new graphic novel series featuring original stories starring Disney Princess Rapunzel from the hit Disney Channel show Tangled: The Series, by New York Times-bestselling writer/artist Jimmy Gownley! After spending 18 years locked in a tower, Princess Rapunzel is thrilled to have new friends. To celebrate, she creates a holiday called Friendship Day. Friends are tasked with coming up with surprises and gifts for each other. For her best friends, Eugene and Cassandra, Rapunzel creates an elaborate puzzle. If they crack the code, they get the present! But when Pascal the chameleon gets snatched by an evil mastermind, it's up to Rapunzel to save the day. with or without her friends!

Travis sez: I know, what?  But it's our pal Jimmy Gownley writing some Disney comics, so now that we know he's rollin' in dough, we know who to hit up when we're short on rent money because we bought so many comics. ðŸ˜‰

(W) Jaime Hernandez (A/CA) Jaime Hernandez
How would a kitchen maid fare against a seven-headed dragon? What happens when a woman marries a mouse? And what can a young man learn from a thousand leaf cutter ants? Famed Love and Rockets creator Jaime Hernandez asks these questions and more as he transforms beloved myths into bold, stunning, and utterly contemporary comics. Guided by the classic works of F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, Hernandez's first book for young readers brings the sights and stories of Latin America to a new generation of graphic-novel fans around the world.

Travis sez: Xaime doing folktales?  I'm there!

The ultimate listing of Jack "King" Kirby's work! With a decade of extensively researched corrections and additions since the 2008 "Gold Edition," this final, fully-updated, definitive Centennial Edition clocks in at double its previous length, in a new 256-page Limited Edition Hardcover of only 1,000 copies to celebrate Kirby's Centennial! In addition to a detailed listing of all of Kirby's published comic book work (with dates, story titles, page counts, and inkers, plus reprints cross-referenced to help collectors locate less-expensive versions of key issues), it documents his work in: Pulp magazines, books, foreign editions, newspaper strips, fine art and collages, periodicals, fanzines, convention booklets, novels and short stories, essays, interviews, speeches and convention panels, art exhibitions, portfolios, posters, calendars, cards, stamps, stickers, radio and television appearances, audio and video recordings, animation, even Jack's unpublished work!
Travis sez: Only highlighting this one, because it's the King, but TwoMorrows has a full slate of awesome, as usual. 
More Diamond Previews picks at Atomic Junk Shop's regular Flippin' Through Previews column.

6 comments:

Jimmy Gownley said...

Hey! It's always cool being on AMOC! Thanks for the plug!

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

Pleased to see the Cerebus cross-over issue in the TMNT collection. I hope Dave sees a few bucks from that, and that they didn't ask him to sign a release on anything other than the original terms.

-- Damian

Travis Pelkie said...

No problem, Jimmy! Good luck with those comics!

Since the TMNT is through IDW, and they dig Dave, I would imagine that they might throw Dave some cash. Or at least don't screw with the original agreement.

And I'm working on the new Previews stuff already, so I'll try to get this to Matt sooner this month!

JLH said...

The whole reason Dave is involved with IDW with Strange Death and the like is because of their reprinting of Cerebus #8, I seem to recall.

Jeff said...

To JLH: Hmm.

I think it was because they approached him about doing covers.

IIRC, there's a guy there who thinks that Dave is pretty damn good.

Could that be it?

Travis Pelkie said...

I can't remember the chronology, but didn't IDW approach Dave about distributing the digital High Society first? Then that led to the cover books, then the licensed covers, etc?

Ted Adams is, I believe, the high muckety-muck at IDW that digs Dave's stuff.

I wouldn't be surprised if they had contacted Dave to let him know they would be reprinting the TMNT issue and reassure him that they made no claim on Cerebus, though. I seem to remember too that when IDW reprint the TMNT series in single issues, they skipped 8.