IDW Preview Review for September Part 2 of 2

Blondie Vol. 01 HC by Chic Young (w & a)
Celebrating Blondie's 80th anniversary, IDW's Library of American Comics presents Blondie like you've never seen her before. This book collects the early strips by Chic Young for the first time ever, beginning with the first ones from October 1930. Blondie Boopadoop is a light-headed flapper who meets Dagwood Bumstead, the heir to a wealthy, high society fortune. Dagwood's parents are aghast and refuse him permission to marry the blonde, but their son is in love. He and Blondie hatch a scheme-the voracious Dagwood goes on a hunger strike for 28 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes and 22 seconds. This first volume chronicles the amazing and hilarious courtship, and concludes with the spectacular wedding in February 1933! $49.99
Lee: Forget everything you know about the current crappy Blondie and then read this! These are great comics and you will immediately see why Blondie was so popular. It’s depressing that a strip this good has devolved into the crap it is today. This is highly, highly recommended.
Jim: I was going to say pass, but Lee is pushing me to say yes on this book. Lee is big fan of the older strips and I'm guessing it most have been a great strip to hang around so long after the strip has been crap for decades.

Popeye Vol. 01: Best Comic Book Stories by Bud Sagendorf HC
There are three genius incarnations of Popeye, the comic strip by E.C. Segar, the animations by Max Fleischer, and-unknown to many-the brilliant 1940s and 50s comic book stories by Bud Sagendorf! Comics historian Craig Yoe collects and beautifully packages the best of the best of Sagendorf's thrilling and roll-on-the-floor laughing tales. See the Sea Hag, Bluto, and, of course, Olive Oyl, Wimpy, and Sweepea join Popeye in exciting adventures-and brilliant comic book stories. Sagendorf worked as Popeye's creator Segar for many years, learning all the craft, soaking in the zaniness and the uniqueness that is the One-eyed Sailor. Sagendorf penned these tales with love and skill-even adding some of his own unique characters. $29.99
Lee: This is really, really interesting because Fantagraphics just finished, or is about to finish, reprinting all the daily Popeye comic strips. Which raises the question, who has the rights? It doesn’t matter to me because this is all good.
Jim: The comic was different from the strip. I'm passing on this, but the price point is the right amount.

Singularity 7 SC (new printing) by Ben Templesmith (w & a & c)
Revisit artist Ben Templesmith's (30 Days of Night) first solo creation! Earth is forever changed one dark summer night when tiny alien machines known as nanites drift down from outer space. They transform a normal human into a god-like being known as the Singularity, who drives the remnants of humanity underground and to the brink of extinction. Now Earth's only hope lies in the hands of a rag-tag group of specials - humans mysteriously immune to the nanites' destructive power. The odds are stacked against them, but will a defector from the other side grant them the edge they need to prevail? $19.99
Lee: I don’t know how I missed this the first time but I won’t a second! Templesmith proved to be an excellent author with the Wormwood series so this should be good. It will likely be uneven because it’s his first attempt but I’m betting it’s still better than average.
Jim: I swear I read this and passed on it and I can't for the life of me remember if it was any good or not. I know the art was decent, but my vague impression is this was uneven.

Lone Justice Vol. 01 SC by Robert Tinnell, Mark Wheatley (w) Mark Wheatley (a & c)
He's been the city's greatest champion, battling tirelessly to keep us safe from harm. But what could spell the end for Lone Justice? What could destroy the hero of the century? In the days of the Great Depression, a man born to wealth and power finds himself fighting injured and disillusioned against evil, authority, and the law. When a man loses everything he discovers what he stands for. A violent, gut-wrenching tale for our time! $19.99 Read the story here.
Lee: I picked this because I love Wheatley’s art and because he’s a great guy. Every year at the Baltimore Con he’s always, bar none, the nicest of people. And for that alone I will support his work. But, this was originally a webcomic published over at Comicmix which is not getting the tpb treatment. I read a couple of issues and it was fun read.
Jim: Mark is a nice person and fun to talk to, he makes meeting a creator a pleasant experience. I agree with Lee, it makes it easier to support their work when you know them. I hope this is out at Balto-Con, be nice to buy it from Mark.

Lee: Slightly off topic but this book started as a webcomic but what should the authors do with the web material? If they leave it up do they lose book sales? If they don’t leave it up then they don’t have previews. It’s an interesting delimma. Obviously Lone Justice is still up on the ComicMix site, but over at DH, Jason Little, author of Motel Art Improvement Service, took all of his webcomics down except for a 10 page preview.Jason Little
Jim: It is an interesting question. Ellis and Duffield's Freak Angels is still on the web and the collections supposedly do brisk sales. Sinfest I believe also has the entirety of its run still on the web and has various collections for sale. I wonder if each generates a different audience and the book people will use it for a preview and web people will not buy the book regardless. With the advent of iPAD it makes the choice of leaving it up for free even harder.

We Will Bury You Vol. 01 SC by Brea, Zane Grant (w) Kyle Strahm (a) Ben Templesmith (c)
1927: The first talkie ended the silent film era, the first man completed a solo transatlantic flight, and? a zombie virus decimated the human race. Two unlikely heroines use their unorthodox skills to survive as a zombie infection spreads through the streets of New York and beyond. Brea Grant (Heroes) and Zane Grant promise the worst breakup ever and an epic conclusion to this flesh-eating tale. $17.99 A five page preview at CBR here and see the artists portfolio here.
Lee: This certainly sounds interesting. I like the premise of zombies in an older time because it presents a chance to potentially see something new. Strahm’s art is strong and well suited for the material. And, finally, the reviews were pretty good. I’ll probably take a chance.
Jim: I'll wait for your review. I'm tired of every "star" writing a comic book.

Top 100 Horror Movies SC by Gary Gerani (w) Steve Chorney (c)
For the first Fantastic Press offering, it's horror against horror in the ultimate scary movie match-up. Screenwriter/film historian Gary Gerani (Pumpkinhead) presents and evaluates the cinema's most celebrated shockers, from silent classics to today's gleefully audacious gorefests. This super-colorful overview contains over 600 rare visuals, and features a brand new introduction by celebrated horror movie director Roger Corman (three of his groundbreaking horror films are among our Top100?can you guess which ones?). $24.99
Lee: This falls under into the ‘if I have any extra money’ category. I love list books and I love horror movies so this is an easy winner for me. But, the chance of me having time to watch any of the movies on the list in the next 10 years is slim so I’m not rushing to buy this.
Jim: This collections are fun if you are a big fan of the genre and the price point is the right number.

Lee: I have to say this month was a huge success for IDW. There was a ton of older material and lots of new material too. Marvel/DC better start improving their products because IDW is taking more of my money than they are.
Jim: IDW seems to have a true business plan and are doing a great job executing against said plan. I'm curious to see if they will ever decide to try and grow anything that is actually owned by IDW.