10 things I like about COMICS (FOR AUGUST 2011)

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by KC Carlson

Flashpoint

1. DC COMICS: nothing individually exceptional this month, however the DCU seems to be wrapping up all their continuous storylines — including major ones like Flashpoint as well as aftermaths for both war of the eco-friendly Lanterns as well as Brightest Day. It’s practically as if they may be planning to begin whatever around once again next month with a whole lot of new #1 issues. however that’s crazy talk! nobody would do something that risky — or would they? So, feast your eyes on the most significant collection of LAST problems in comics history! DC fans, state goodbye to your bit friends! (I believe DC is missing a genuine bet by not providing away commemorative collectible reward handkerchiefs with the purchase of each issue. Oh well… Don’t Cry for Me, Justice league Antarctica!)

Punisher

2. marvel COMICS: The Punisher returns in an all-new series by Greg Rucka as well as Marco Checchetto, with two problems this month! . . . The “Fear Itself” storyline features the debut of the American Panther in Black Panther: The guy Without worry #522, so I assumption that wasn’t an April Fool’s joke! . . . The supreme world is reborn (third time’s the charm!) in the very first problem of supreme Comics Ultimates. (Did I stutter? Sorry.) This may be the very first Ultimates series that I enjoy, as it’s written by Jonathan Hickman. supreme Hawkeye (you saw him in the Thor movie!) debuts in his own supreme series this month also . . . The last problem of The amazing Hulks (until the next one) will be #635, wrapping up Greg Pak’s long as well as successful run on the series . . . The tricks of the Scarlet Witch’s murderous rampage in “Avengers: Disassembled” is lastly exposed in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #7, as well as half the marvel U. (Avengers, X-Men, X-Factor, as well as young Avengers) will be there. will you? . . . Marvel’s got two huge Omnibuses on tap this month — one featuring one of its finest super-teams (with one of its finest runs) as well as one of its strangest teams! The great four by John Byrne Omnibus volume 1 collects not only great four #215-28, #220-221, as well as #232-262, however likewise Byrne-illustrated, FF-related stories from the pages of marvel Team-Up, marvel Two-in-One, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Avengers, The Thing, as well as Alpha Flight! A whopping 1,084 pages of Byrneliciousness! The X-Statix Omnibus features every appearance (I think) of Peter Milligan as well as Mike Allred’s subversive media-loving X-Statix — all the method to the bitter, shocking end! 1,200 pages! Not suggested for reading in one sitting. You’ll break your lap, your wrists — as well as most likely your brain.

Snarked

3. ROGER LANGRIDGE PRESENTS: We’re happy as well as pleased to have two new Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show, Thor the Mighty Avenger) projects on the purchase type this month, both published by Boom! very first up is a extremely special preview problem of Langridge’s new job Snarked, a whimsical series influenced by as well as expanding upon the works of Lewis Carroll — particularly the Wonderland books. The #0 introductory special is only a dollar for a 32-page comic! If you haven’t already, please inspect out Roger’s interview with Roger (Roger, Roger), which has a four-page preview of the book! likewise this month, Boom! provides a new collection of Harvey award champion Langridge’s uncollected work, The show should Go On, a 224-page full-color softcover — including, for the very first time ever, all of his Mugwhump strips under one cover. Plus, Fred the Clown’s flying Parsnip! See the devil get outfoxed by the one as well as only Leppo! as well as behold the world’s mightiest swordsman, the Kabuki Kid! Gut-bustingly amusing in a extremely fine-tuned way! Don’t miss either project.

Archie: the very best of Harry Lucey

4. ARCHIE COMICS: IDW’s newest hardcover Archie collection — the very best of Harry Lucey volume 1 — has the prospective to be one of their extremely best. like his contemporaries in humor comics — Carl Barks, John Stanley, Floyd Gottfredson, Dan DeCarlo, Al Taliaferro, Bob Oskner, as well as others — Harry Lucey is overdue to be rediscovered. beginning his profession in comics in the 1930s, Lucey helped produce a few of the early MLJ superheroes (The Hangman as well as Madam Satan). however when original Archie artist Bob Montana moved over to the syndicated Archie comic strip, Harry Lucey transferred to Riverdale as well as began illustrating Archie as well as the gang in the comic books. (Lucey likewise filled in for Montana on the Archie strip when he was on vacation.)

While Dan DeCarlo receives credit rating for revolutionizing the Archie art style in the late1950s, mainly with his work on Betty & Veronica, Lucey ruled before that as well as well into the 1970s (He passed away in 1984.) While DeCarlo’s women were “cute”, Lucey’s were “saucy” (and often drawn sans garments — providing his inkers something fun to do). That wasn’t even his finest trick. Lucey was a trainee of fluid humor illustration, a master of frantic slapstick. Lucey’s stories are full of action, including flying bodies as well as fists. Frequently, somebody had a black eye by the end of of a Lucey story.

Another Lucey trademark: when one of the women plants a hot kiss on “Archiekins”, they hold his head tight in the liplock, however his feet fly up into the air, putting him parallel to the ground. Plus, he’s quite dizzy for a number of minutes afterwards, leaving him likely to accident into lampposts, mailboxes, or low-hanging tree branches. Or roam into web traffic or huge Moose’s fist, if he’s been smoochin’ on Moose’s woman Midge.

Lucey is an artist’s artist. Every discussion I’ve ever had with other comic book artists about Archie work either begins or ends with a discussion about Harry Lucey. There is a reason that his artwork anchored the flagship Archie title for many years in the 1950s as well as 60s.

IDW is collecting the extremely finest of his traditional work. You ought to checked out it.

Also this month, Archie Comics (the actual mothership) is publishing the very best of Archie, a huge 416-page collection of Archie stories hand-picked by Archie historians as well as experts, in addition to anecdotes, historical highlights, as well as special material from Archie creators. I’m dissatisfied that it’s being published in Archie’s present trade paperback format, which is smaller than basic comic book size (the volume is 5” x 7”), however because the cover cost is only $9.99 (and full color), I’m certainly not complaining. This is your comics value product of the month. Don’t miss out.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

5. teenage MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1: Well, why the hell not! the most well-known tribute to Renaissance artists continues, by Kevin Eastman as well as company! inspect out Roger’s recent interview with Eastman as well as get the facts from the guy himself.

PS Magazine: the very best Of The Preventive Maintence Monthly

6. P.S. MAGAZINE: the very best OF PREVENTATIVE maintenance MONTHLY: created by the U.S. army because 1951, PS, the Preventive maintenance Monthly is a magazine devoted to showing appropriate preventive maintenance methods. So why are we speaking about this here? since because its inception, PS has been a location where numerous popular comics creators have had work published, including will Eisner, Murphy Anderson, Joe Kubert, Dan Spiegle, as well as Mike Ploog. This specific 272-page hardcover (published in a digest-sized format) focuses on the very best of will Eisner’s long association with the magazine (227 issues). It shows the artist redefining his style between his earlier comic book work (The Spirit) as well as his later graphic book style. published by Abrams as well as extremely recommended.

Mad Fold-In Collection

7. THE mad FOLD-IN COLLECTION: I discover it extremely amusing that Chronicle books is collecting all 401 of Al Jaffee’s mad Fold-ins in a prestigious multi-volume, 208-page slipcased hardcover collection in immaculate condition. Not that the work — published in practically every problem of mad magazine because 1964, as well as still going today — doesn’t are worthy of such an fancy presentation. It many definitely does! I just believe it’s funny that such a beautifully created book is going to have every single page folded — that cracks me up! The mint condition freaks heads are going to explode. (Maybe that’s a great thing!) method to go, Al!!! great luck on the next 401!

Spider-Man Vault

8. THE SPIDER-MAN VAULT: originally published last year as well as then mysteriously withdrawn before distribution (except for a few unsuspecting Costco stores around the country — however not mine), The Spider-Man vault is a 192-page hardcover “Museum-in-a-Book” (without the funny smells) all about the fantastic Spider-Man. Written by occasional Spidey-writer Peter David (with an uncredited help by our buddy Bob Greenberger), it’s part extensive history as well as part ephemera collection of coolness — unpublished stuff, interoffice tomfoolery, potentially scripts excerpts as well as sketches, reproductions of giveaways, facsimiles of mystical annulment papers — it might be anything! perhaps even working Web-Shooters! (Nah, most likely not.) The Vault-style books are fantastic fun, as well as I am truly looking ahead to this one. even if it doesn’t have facsimile x-rays from Spider-Man: turn Off the Dark stunt people . . . speaking of Bob Greenberger, don’t miss his previews of DC’s night force collection as well as FF by Jonathan Hickman volume 1 — this month best right here at the Westfield blog.

Kirby: King of the Comics

9. SALE BOOKS: A number of extremely awesome books are now being provided for half cost (or more), providing you a second possibility for some great reads. Here’s just a quick listing — there’s much more info for you at the links: Kirby: King of the Comics HC. mark Evanier’s outstanding summary of the the profession of Jack Kirby . . . star Trek: A Comics history SC. A history of all the comic books as well as newspaper strips . . . James Bond: The history of the Illustrated 007 SC. A total comics history. Shaken, not stirred . . . In the studio HC. interviews with cutting-edge comics creators including, Burns, Crumb, Spiegleman, as well as Ware . . . animation America HC. A event of 250 years of American cartooning . . . Sesame Street: A event of 40 Years of Life on the street HC. A total history of the long-running as well as ingenious show . . . numerous other sale books are offered at the Westfield website.

DC Super-Pets: Pooches of Power

10. things IN strange PLACES: The Dark equine collectible “statuettes in a tin box” series is now creating a line of traditional marvel Characters, beginning with Spider-Man. Each statuette is 5 1/2 inches tall, restricted to 2,000 numbered pieces, as well as includes a special pin-back button as well as character booklet in each embellished tin box. If you haven’t seen them, these bit statuettes are extremely awesome . . . They may not be for everybody, however there’s a six-book series of youngsters books starring the DC Super-Pets — Krypto & Ace, Streaky, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Jumpa the Kanga, Topo the Octopus, as well as GL B’dg (although he appears like Ch’p to me) — all charmingly illustrated by small Titans’ Art Baltazar. Aw yeah, cute! . . . TwoMorrows’ change Ego #104 is a special problem celebrating the 50th anniversary of the great Four, featuring an all-new interview with Stan Lee!

AND NOW, A final TRIBUTE TO THE OLD DC COMICS!

BOO!

This is exactly how I’ll always keep in mind the old DC Universe. Not so serious, as well as not scared to make fun of themselves a little. I worry that we will never see its like ever again.

10.1 BATMAN BLACK & WHITE STATUE: BATMAN BY SERGIO ARAGONES: Seriously, I laughed for ten minutes when I saw this. This may be the only Batman statue I’ll ever requirement to own. It’s a extremely awesome statue, as well as I believe every comics fan ought to have one, however I’m mainly running this photo right here to ensure that everybody can see it, as well as ideally laugh like I did.

Comics ought to be fun!

See you soon!

KC CARLSON: truly needed a great laugh. Thanks, Sergio!

As always, WESTFIELD COMICS is not accountable for the dumb things that KC says. particularly that thing that truly irritated you.