The monster that was Big Hero 6 makes it manga. She-Hulk gets a proper send-off. And Hit is a hit!
By MENACHEM LUCHINS, owner, Escape Pod Comics, Huntington, L.I.
Collections this week are pretty wonderful, if you ask me. We get not one, but TWO Dr. Who collections in hardcover, collecting Titan Comics’ new 10th and 11th Doctor series. Both really capture the essence and fun of their respective protagonists. We’ve also got Image Comics Big Hard Sex Criminals, another hardcover, this time collecting both trade volumes of the immensely popular series and chockful of extras! If time-travel or time-stopping isn’t your cup of tea there’s also Marvel Comics’ She-Hulk Vol. 2, wrapping up Javier Pulido and Charles Soule’s wonderful run on the character.
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On the “graphic novel” front (don’t get me started about that term… what a misnomer!) we’ve got the wonderful Darryl Cunningham and Michael Goodwin taking a thoughtful stab at explaining how Ayn Rand’s objectivism has shaped our society in Abrams ComicArts’ The Age of Selfishness. On the more family-friendly front, someone at Marvel was smart enough to realize that their Oscar-winning film Big Hero 6 could actually use a comic that was SOMETHING like the movie and have released a manga version of the movie through Yen Press.
Speaking of manga, we’re lucky to be getting a newly combined version of Junji Ito’s famed Gyo (Viz Media). Ito is a master of fear and his Uzumaki is one of my shop’s best-selling manga in its complete volume, which this Gyo edition matches in both in size and format. Boom Studios is also hooking us up with another non-English comic that you may have missed with Arthur de Pins’ March of the Crabs. Originally in French, this Art Deco-style book looks at what happens when one group of crabs, fed up with always walking side to side, decide to finally MOVE FORWARD. On the “classics” front, Fantagraphics continues it’s reprint of Carl Barks’ Disney work with Donald Duck: Sheriff of Bullet Valley and IDW/Top Shelf gives us the next chapter of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s Nemo, the spin-off title from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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And where would we be without #1s — or at least first chapters of new arcs? So many new stories coming out! Alex De Campi’s Grindhouse (Dark Horse) launches a new story with issue #3! This time we get the return of Garcia, the eye-patch-wearing, shotgun-toting hero of the FIRST Grindhouse story, back for more bloodshed and action. The new story arc for Jim Zub’s Wayward (Image) starts as well this, with issue #6. Not caught up on this amazing slice-of-life meets Japanese spirits series? Well, lucky you: The first trade paperback hits this week too — and for only $10!
Actually, most of the #1s I’m excited about are returns, in a way… We’ve got Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood reimagining that ’80s classic of crime, Miami Vice in IDW’s Miami Vice: Remix. And Sophie Campbell and Kelly Thompson take on another ’80s classic, Jem and the Holograms, for the same company. Both of these books look like nothing we’ve ever seen from these franchises and that’s exciting — who wants a re-hash of something from their childhood, unless it’s an interesting and audacious take, as these look to be? Speaking of audacious, that’s the perfect word to describe my #1 of the Week. Last year, Bryce Carlson and Vanesa Del Rey blew us all away with their tightly written and gloriously painted Hit, a noir tale that hit on all cylinders. Now, they’re back with Hit: 1957 (Boom!). Two years after the events of the first book, we get to see what comes next. Honestly, if you love well-crafted story and lushly painted art, this book is a MUST.
