Independent Preview Review for May Part 2 of 2

As promised Part 2.

GEMSTONE PUBLISHING
LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK VOL. 01: 2ND PTG SC - Full Color. by Don Rosa.
All twelve chapters of Don Rosa's celebrated Eisner Award-winning The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck series, detailing the biography of the World's Richest Duck, are presented in an affordable trade paperback edition! Also available is The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion, presenting the pre-chapters and in-between-chapters of Rosa's sprawling epic! 256 pages. (7x10)
Lee: In case you missed it the first time, here’s your chance to get it again. Some of the best action adventure stories written. It’s better than Ultimates and Red Hulk at this point. Don’t let it get past you just because it’s about a Duck.
Jim: Quack, quack, quack. I know that this material is beloved by many, but I have never cared about it.

HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE
BODY COUNT SC - Full Color. by Kevin Eastman & Simon Bisley.
Casey Jones and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Raphael, find themselves caught up in the middle of an international family murder/revenge/assassination plot, complete with gansters, thugs, secret agents, double agents and more spent shell casings than the D-Day invasion! 112 pages. (7x10,) Publisher Rating: MATURE THEMES.
Lee: Bisley drawing scenes of mass destruction and carnage. This is sooooo aweomse!
Jim: Yeah, he’s right.

HERMES PRESS
ANDRU AND ESPOSITO'S GET LOST SC - Full Color. by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito.
Love Harvey Kurtzman's original MAD? Then you will have to have Ross Andru and Mike Esposito's historic satire and parody magazine, Get Lost. Originally released in 1953, Get Lost delivered three groundbreaking, laugh-filled issues before Bill Gaines sued the magazine's distributor, shutting down production of the magazine. Even though Gaines lost the lawsuit, Andru and Esposito never produced more Get Lost. Hermes Press' historic reprint collects all three issues of the magazine on heavy coated matte paper together with an introductory essay by noted pop-culture historian Ron Goulart, an interview with Mike Esposito, and tons of documentary material in one volume. For this archival edition Hermes Press has painstakingly reconstructed Get Lost's artwork using the original black-and-white line art and recoloring it from scratch. Mike Esposito says it "looks better than the original." MAD's most noteworthy competitor is a treasure to behold for fans of Alfred E. Newman as well as comic book collectors, fans, and anyone looking for a good laugh. 160 pages.
Lee: Honestly, I am really torn on this one. On one hand I really want the material but on the other some of the trades from Hermes haven’t had the best reproduction lately. But I really want it.
Jim: Then get it, but this is another one that is not for me. Some historical books should just stay in the archives. I do not think everything deserves to be reprinted.

IDW PUBLISHING
COMPLETE NEXT MEN VOL. 01 SC - B&W. by John Byrne (w & a & c)
In the 1990s, acclaimed writer/artist John Byrne created an all-new world of superheroes and explored their impact on the planet in a realistic way, a book that quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed titles in his storied career. Now John Byrne's Next Men is being collected in its entirety in thick B&W. volumes that offer 300 pages of story and art. Volume 1 collects the 2112 graphic novel, the #0 issue, and the first 12 issues of this masterful run. 432 pages. (7x10)
Lee: I like that fact all publishers are making these phone book sized reprints but 400+ pages of Byrne is an awful lot of JB. From what I can remember this was good but I’m not sure I want to read all 400 pages of it.
Jim: Next Men was a very good comic and if you never read it, this is a good way to read it. I personally think that Next Men needs color to really make it work.

KNOCKABOUT COMICS
BOLLAND STRIPS SC - B&W. by Brian Bolland.
This collection of short strips takes readers away from the guns and testosterone, and into a world of wit and whimsy exclusively Bolland's own. Includes a new 20-page The Actress and The Bishop story, along with their other classic adventures, set in a strange suburban idyll. Mr. Mamoulian is Bolland's alter ego; an observer of life in a state of constant bemusement. 112 pages.
Lee: It’s hard to believe that Bolland started in the British Comix scene. That’s right he’s more Crumb than Kirby. Anyway, I’ve managed to read some of these stories over the years and they’re both… good and interesting. It’s not superheroes that’s for sure. Beautiful to look at no matter what.
Jim: This one is an easy buy for me. Brian Bolland is one of the best artists to ever grace a comics page. I hear that DC is reprinting Camelot 3000 and I just hope they do it justice.

MICROCOSM PUBLISHING
WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE SC - B&W. by Ken Dahl.
The comics work of Ken Dahl from 1997 to 2007 are collected in this graphic novel anthology! Includes all of his minis, short stories, anthology works, and unpublished work including such titles as Taking a Ride, Gordon Smalls Goes to Jail, No! and Blind Fart! A 2006 Ignatz winner! 128 pages. (5x8)
Lee: (Editor’s Note) – Apparently Lee was struck mute by this book.
Jim: Looking at the cover this looks to be a send up of what America has become. Just looking at the cover tickles my funny bone. Maybe worth checking out.

OPTIMUM WOUND COMICS
REX GN - B&W. by Danijel Zezelj.
Danijel Zezelj's (Hellblazer) dark psychodrama is translated into English for the first time. A hero cop is framed by his superiors and charged with stealing and trafficking narcotics, sentenced to prison for 7 years. While in prison, all of his humanity is stripped from him and he escapes to seek revenge. 80 pages. (7x10)
Lee: Anything by Zezelj is worth getting. I have a couple of trades that collect his foreign material and I love them. This will be no different.
Jim: First off the company name cracks me up. Second Zezelj is very, very, very dark with his work. At times it becomes almost impressionist or a Rorschach test, but it is also good work and worth the price. This baby is only $10.

REBELLION
JUDGE DEATH - YOUNG DEATH: BOYHOOD OF A SUPERFIEND GN - Full Color. by John Wagner & Pete Doherty.
Journalist Brian Skuter's got an interview with Judge Death! Probing deep into Death's past, he'll find the boy behind the monster - and the whole, horrible truth about the most evil force in Judge Dredd's world! Out of print for over a decade, now Rebellion has brought back a true classic. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll beg for mercy! 96 pages.

Lee: Judge Death stories are always great. John Wagner has such a great handle on the black humor of the character that there tales never fail to satisfy.
Jim: I really, really want to see a high quality reprint of some of the Judge Dredd material. When Brian Bolland was drawing the series and others during that time frame, the book was a home run.

SIMON & SCHUSTER
CHIGGERS HC - B&W. by Hope Larson.
It's summertime, and 13-year-old Abby is at camp. It promises to be a great time - she's planning to spend a lot of time with her friend Rose, who is now a cabin assistant, and she'll be bunking with Beth, a girl she met the summer before. But Rose turns out to be too busy with her new cabin assistant duties to spend any time hanging out with Abby. And Beth seems to have developed a persona that's almost too cool for Abby to get. Then Shasta arrives on the scene. She's pretty, she's fun, and she enjoys exactly the same books and games Abby does. Unfortunately she also rubs Beth and Zoe, Abby's other cabinmate, the wrong way. What happens next will be familiar to any girl who's ever been torn between friendships. This is a classic summer camp story of the friendships and betrayals among girls that epitomizes what it's like to be female, nerdy, and adolescent in America. 176 pages. (6x9)
Lee: Since I have a young girl, this looks great to me. Partly to get for her to read later and partly for me to understand just what little girl go through growing up.
Jim: Ahhh, Lee is getting in touch with his feminine side. That is so sweet (gag, cough).

STUDIO 407
NIGHT & FOG #1 - [of 4] Full Color. by Alex Leung, Matthew Bradford & Roberto Castro.
Linked to a terrible secret from the past, an accident in a government lab turns a nearby village's inhabitants into creatures that seem impossible to kill. A small group of survivors must hold out for the night until a special rescue team can arrive and save them from these unstoppable monsters that have not only been made real, but are also made to perfection! 36 pages.
About the author http://lambiek.net/artists/c/castro_roberto.htm
Art at usuarios.lycos.es/castrostudio2000/
Lee: The old trapped-until-dawn story. I love these! It sounds just creepy enough to be fun and the artist looks great so it might be worth looking into.
Jim: I agree this might be a nice little series to check out.

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
SUPER SPY GN - Full Color. by Matt Kindt.
Super Spy is a super-deluxe, full-color collection of 52 interwoven spy thrillers about cyanide, pen-guns, heartbreak, and betrayal. Spanning the countries of Spain, France, and Germany during World War II, each story follows the everyday life of a spy, exploring their small lies and deceptions, as well as the larger secrets they hide. A gorgeous full-color graphic novel that not only reveals the nature of espionage, but how an individual can be lost in a world of lies and deception, and still manage to find redemption. 336 pages. (6x9)
Artist at http://www.supersecretspy.com/
Lee: I picked up my copy of this over the summer at the Baltimore convention and it was great. It’s a series of intertwining tales all about spies and the effect of spying on peoples lives. It’s a great story with some great twists and turns.
Jim: Wow this is an old book, I thought we were talking about new stuff. People who I know who have read this book, love it.

TOUCHSTONE
JEFFREY BROWN'S LITTLE THINGS: A MEMOIR IN SLICES SC - B&W. by Jeffrey Brown.
Little Things is a collection of autobiographical short stories from beloved comics artist Jeffrey Brown, author of the critically acclaimed graphic memoir Clumsy. Drawn with the trademark scratchy simplicity that has made Brown's name in the comics world - catching the attention of everyone from Ira Glass to USA Today - the stories show how the smallest and seemingly most insignificant parts of our everday lives can end up becoming some of the most meaningful. Funny and poignant, they deal with every aspect of daily life - friendship, illness, death, work, crushes, love, jealousy, car crashes, and even fatherhood-through the specific lens of the life of Jeffrey Brown that has made his many fans fall in love with him. Life leads him to meet a cute girl at a rock show and struggle with Crohn's disease. Experience the thrill of discovering a new band, and pulling shifts at Barnes & Noble. As each story loops into others, Little Things brings meaning to the parallels parallels and connections in our lives and those close to us, which we overlook in the day to day, and day after day. 352 pages. (5x7)
Lee: I read about Jeffrey Brown in recent “The Comics Journal” article. He sounded interesting and the sample pages that were presented looked really good too. The hype for the book is quite accurate and if you into slice-of-life books this is a great place to start.
Jim: Okay.

Lee: Well, lots to look at again. Hopefully you found something exciting.
Jim: We missed covering it, but Radical Publishing is a new publisher with some books hitting the stands and they are going to be $1 each, so check them out.