Diamond Previews September 2009

Haven't blogged in quite a while, but seeing all those Previews live-blogging posts recently made me want to try, too. So here's my take on the September 2009 Previews:


Dark Horse

• Dr. Horrible: Art by Joëlle Jones. Probably good then.


• Age of Reptiles - The Journey #1: Art looks interesting. Apparently this is already the third mini in this series. I missed the other two because they came out in 1993 and 1996, respectively.


• Star Wars - The Thrawn trilogy SC: I remember liking the style of adaptation for the first book (done by Olivier Vatine who also worked on some notable series like "Aquablue" for the French market), but not the other two. Even though I like some of the current Terry Dodson stuff, his style was barely recognizable back then (either because of it being an early work or because of the muddy inks/colors). Not sure if I need a complete collection now.


• Chobits Omnibus: Passed on the series back when. This might be a good way to get the complete series.


• other notable series: Groo, Usagi Yojimbo

DC Comics

• Lobo - Highway to Hell #1: New Lobo from Sam Kieth. Interesting and notable, but not my cup of tea.


• Cinderella - From Fabletown with Love #1: Haven't read any Fables yet. Didn't quite like the art. This looks better and being a mini, I'll probably check it out.


• other notable series: Red Herring, The Unwritten

CMX Manga

• Emma v10: Must have. Final volume.


• Dorothea v6: Also final volume.


• Go West! v4: Another final volume.


• Teru Teru x Shonen v6: Finally, not a final volume ;)


• Crayon Shinchan v10: Stupid fun.

Image

• Image United #1: Somewhat nice idea, but calling it "Crossover of the Century" seems a bit premature. And as I'm allergic to most crossovers, I won't buy it.


• I kill Giants - Titan Edition HC: Nice subtitle. Liked the series and bought the singles, but I'm not sure if I need a hardcover for it.


• Underground #3: Thought about buying it when #1 was solicited, but I'm waiting for the trade here.


• other notable series: G-Man, King City

Marvel

• The Marvelous Land of Oz #1: Wow, that was quick! It's already the first issue of the second Oz-adaptation by Shanower and Young. Must-have.


• Sky Doll - Doll's Factory #1: This is an artbook / short story collection.


• Kookaburra K #1: I quite liked the original three volumes of the Kookaburra series with art by Crisse back in 1997. Straight space-opera and good fun. Problem is: this isn't it. Why Marvel is starting their translation with this spin-off trilogy with art by Humberto Ramos, the third part of which isn't even published yet in France, is not quite clear to me. Well, at least you get one full original volume of 48 pages in each issue for less than a third of its original price.


• Strange Tales #3: Waiting for the trade here.


• Star Comics v1: Somewhat interesting from a historical point of view. Not quite sure if it's worth the price of admission.


• other notable series: X-Babies

Other publishers

• FCHS v1 GN: Very curious about this one, as I liked the preview here. Reminds me: I still haven't gotten the preview issue from FCBD this year.


• Dead Duck GN: The art looks nicely cartoonish here, but I fear the humor isn't quite for me. The author has a preview on his blog.


• Sherlock Ninja - The Curious Case of the Iron Monkey #1: It's not often that Ben Dunn does something outside NHS these days. This idea is just like him, though, mixing Sherlock Holmes with Ninjas. Sounds fun.


• A Christmas Carol: "Adapted by Rod Espinosa", says the subtitle. Which means: bought.


• Gunnerkrigg Court v2: I liked this series somewhat when I read the beginning some years back, but not enough to have bought the first volume. This is an online comic based here. Gotta catch up and see how it is these days.


• Supergod #1: I like Warren Ellis. Sometimes. I certainly don't like all his collaborating artists. Not sure about this one. The idea sounds intriguing (and reading him explaining it on page 206 was somewhat hilarious), but my budget isn't limitless. Tradewait probably.


• Freakangels v3: One of the definitely readable Ellis series.


• Sparky O'Hare - Master Electrician: I already have the German original of this. The original title was "Meister Lampe", which is what hares are called lyrically in old German fables, while "Lampe" also means lamp and "Meister" master, so the translation preserved the original pun somewhat. The "O'Hare" was obviously taken from the strip on the back of the book, BTW, where it was used as the name of an ancestor of the main character (see here, replaced by "Buck" in the translation). The book is reproduced in its original small size. The story consists of one-pagers in loose continuity in a rigid 2x2 panel grid and lives off its very own peculiar sense of humor. Instead of trying to describe the story and its appeal myself, I'll just link to the review by Forbidden Planet with more preview pages. Judging from their opinion, the humor seems to have survived the translation process quite intact. Pick of the month, I'd say.


• Bone one-volume SC: Whoa, 13th printing already. Good for them ^^;


• The Complete Alice in Wonderland #1: While I would have considered buying it with interiors like the cover, I'm even more intrigued after finding out that Brazilian artist Érica Awano actually favors a very manga-ish style. Samples of her earlier work look nice, they seem to be solid examples of global manga, but I'd love to see some samples of interior art for this series before preordering it. More here.


• Itazura na Kiss v1: Quite a few manga bloggers have been talking about it recently and the art looks pleasantly 80s to me. I'll have to check it out.


• Demons of Sherwood: I read the first pages of this online-comic a while back and liked them. It has grown quite a bit since then and the art and coloring has only gotten better. 146 of the 160 pages in this volume can still be found here.


• Bringing up Father v1: Another comic-strip collection by IDW, probably the first one I'll be buying, even with the high price-point and the less-than-stellar cover design.


• Love Buzz GN: Resolicited from Oni after half a year. Still looking good, still on my list.


• Alex Rider v3 - Skeleton Key: The third Alex Rider adaptation.


• Kat & Mouse v4: Brought back from limbo by Tokyopop. Glad to see it in print (and in print it already is), even though TP's motives may be somewhat questionable.


• Silent Möbius v2: Old-school Kia Asamiya style. Not sure if I'm still into that. The preview pics don't look bad, though.


• Loverboy - An Irwin Hasen story: Somewhat interested in this, as being by the author of "Dondi", but no additional info is to be found, so far.


• Detroit Metal City v3: Wasn't certain about this when it was licensed. The art didn't seem so great and I was unsure about the humor. Now I recently watched the live-action movie adaptation and it won me over. I'll have to check out v1 soon.


• Butterflies, Flowers v1: Best new manga this month. Check it out. Yoshihara is an outstanding artist and has her very own brand of twisted humor. She uses SD in a fashion that has to be seen to be believed ;)


• other notable series: Glamourpuss, Echo, Gold Digger, Gold Digger Tech Manual, Princess Resurrection, Hunter's Fortune, Nanovor, Rurouni Kenshin vizbig, Ooku, Children of the Sea, Yen Plus, Cat Paradise

~Althalus