Friday, March 01, 2013

Indies Preview for April Part 2 of 3

Continued from yesterday...

Avatar Press Uber #0 (regular cover) by (w) Kieron Gillen (a/c) Canaan White
Kieron Gillen unveils his epic new monthly series, launching with a special double-sized issue! 1945. Germany is in ruins. The war in the west can only be days away from ending. Threats of wunderwaffen to be unleashed by the dying Reich have become laughable. There are no miracle weapons here. It's over. It has to be over. It's not. There's been stories which have mixed enhanced humans and World War 2 before. There's never been one like this. See super beings in a whole new light as Gillen presents an epic new series that not only rewrites history, it redefines the genre. Superstar writer KIERON GILLEN (Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men) delivers a brutal alternate timeline tale of super humans first appearing during WW2. The Nazis have the Uber. The Allies don't. Double-size first issue at a special price! Uber is a new ongoing monthly comic series! FC, 48 pgs, FC, $3.99  See White's page and see samples of his art here.
Thomm: Super Nazis isn’t exactly a new concept, nor is having them come to power. Johns did it with LOSH in the future, for example. “What if Germany won the war?” is a long time speculation ranking up there with “What if the Confederacy won the war?” All that being said, this could be interesting. I’m not a big Gillen fan so I’ll wait to see what the reviews have to say.
Lee: Yeah, yeah it's been done before but that doesn't mean it gets old.  I love the alterna-history stuff.  It's a weakness.  But, Kieron Gillen has been turning some good work on the X-men so it should be good.


D. E./Dynamite Entertainment
Miss Fury #2 (cover B - Renaud) by (w) Rob Williams (a) Jackson Herbert
Transported through time to 2013, the original pulp heroine is tasked with hunting down cloaked Nazi secret agents in modern-day Washington. But as she suffers ever worsening mental flashes back to the 1940s and to a war-ravaged future, Miss Fury is forced to question her own sanity. Is any of this real? What are the giant triangular craft hovering over future Manhattan? And is the man she's supposed to assassinate really a Nazi agent, or is this just murder? 32 pgs, FC, $3.99
Lee: If this is Rob Williams from 2000AD fame, then the series has a great writer. Herbert is one of my new heroes after his work on Shadow. It's certainly worth looking at.
Thomm: Maybe, but the blurb is making my head hurt. Are there non-mental flashbacks? How can a flashback be to a future? Editing, please.

Fantagraphics Books
New School HC by (w/a/c) Dash Shaw
From the author of Bottomless Belly Button comes a stunning new graphic novel set in a fantastical amusement park. New School follows a teenage boy's search for his brother, which leads at first to wonderment and delight but ultimately to alienation and disillusionment. Unlike anything in the history of the comics medium, New School is at once funny and deadly serious, easily readable while wildly artistic, personal and political, familiar and completely new. 340 pgs, FC, 8.5x11, $39.99  Visit Dash here.
Thomm: I’m not seeing how this is unique in comics. Alienation and disillusionment cloaked in humor is a common comic book theme going back to at least Spider-man.
Lee: It's all in the execution.  And, since this is about indie previews I'm pretty sure this is the epitome of indie books.  Shaw has a good voice and his work is highly recommended.

Humanoids Inc
Pietrolino HC by (w) Alejandro Jodorowsky (A/C) Oliver Boiscommun
The graphic novel adaptation of a theatre play originally written by the ever multi-faceted Alexandro Jodorowsky (The Incal, The Metabarons) for the famous French mime Marcel Marceau. A tale of love, art, and treason set in Nazi-occupied France, it is here beautifully brought to life by prolific European artist and frequent Humanoids contributor, O.G. Boiscommun (The Book of Jack). 96 pgs, FC, 8.5x11, $29.95
Lee: It’s a clown with boxing gloves! What’s not to like????  Not to forget, it's got one of craziest writers in the business, Jodorowsky!  I'm sold.  
Thomm: As soon as I saw Metabarons I knew Lee would be loving this one. Add the clown, and it’s a lock. Now, for several of my friends who fear clowns this would get a very different reaction.

Kettledrummer Books
Recounting Streets HC by (w/a/c) Juan Berrio
Composed of urban vignettes, the illustrated tales presented give a whimsical and humorous portrayal of a city. A parade of familiar characters comes in and out of focus through the storytelling-dog walkers, doormen, shopkeepers, cell-phone obsessed passersby-to paint a relatable picture of modern living. Such stories as a man crossing paths with a lamppost, a girl watering potted plants in a window, and a young man who finds an interesting advertisement in the street are told through vibrant color illustrations with plenty of visual puns and fanciful humor. 200 pgs, 6.5x6.5, PC, $24.95  Visit the artist here.
Thomm: A curious cover choice for a book touted as having vibrant color illustrations. Why pick a cover that has no color and is the antithesis to vibrant? Odd.
Lee: Yeah, the cover isn't really helping this one.  Berrio's art is really cool and you should look at his site because it's nothing like the cover.

Tyrex GN by (w/a/c) Mauro Entrailgo
An offbeat tale with wonderful character-driven humor, this cartoon follows Tyrex, the victim of a rare mental disorder that prevents him from removing the mask he uses in his professional wrestling career. Tyrex shares an apartment with three friends: Ralph, a fellow wrestler, sex aficionado, and womanizer; Atom, permanently stingy and frugal; and Higueras, a bald-headed punk with charisma and a unique outlook on life. 60 pgs, FC, 6.5x9.5, $15.95  Visit the artist here.
Thomm: Now that’s a much better cover. It really brings forth the whimsy that seems to be the modus operandi of the story. And, hell, it’s just plain funny on its own. It’s certainly not what I pictured when I first read the description without the cover in view. I was thinking more luchador mask than Barney.Lee:  I picked this solely based on the cover.  It's so different that I had to talk about it.  Entrailgo has been doing online strips for a while now so I'm betting he can handle this.  Another book worth taking a chance on.

Panini UK Ltd
Doctor Who: Nemesis of the Daleks DC by (w) Paul Cornell (a/c) Mike Collins
In this, the much-anticipated second volume of comic strips collecting the seventh Doctor's complete adventures from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, the famous Time Lord has his most exciting adventures yet, throughout the infinity of time and space! With stories by celebrated writers Paul Cornell (Demon Knights) and Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy), these stories include Nemesis of the Daleks, Stairway to Heaven, and Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer. 196 pgs, b-w, 8x11, $24.99
Lee: I was trying to remember where I first saw Abslom Daak, and I finally remembered that it was in the back of the old Captain Britain magazine from the late 80’s. I don’t know if it’s any good but I remember it being very pretty to look at and him having chainsaw sword.  It's hard not to like chainsaw swords.
Thomm: I’ve been watching Doctor Who since the Tom Baker years but I missed the seventh and eighth incarnations altogether. I don’t know if this will pique my interest enough.

The conclusion later today

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