Hi all! Here’s hoping the late delivery didn’t result in shaking and cold sweats for the comic fans of the capital! Still, not to worry, we’ve got more than enough in this monster of a week to calm those shakes! Most significantly, there’s that most welcome of items – a new Hellboy paperback in the form of the Darkness Calls collection. The more astute of you will remember that this is no ordinary collection, either! This collection boasts, on its title page, our exclusive bookplate featuring original artwork by Duncan Fegredo, signed by both him and Mike Mignola! It’s a big event for us and we’d love you to be a part of it, so grab these beautiful treats while they’re still around.

Pride of place in the single issue releases goes to the biggest event of the week – Final Crisis #1. Yeah, everybody’s bored of THE BIGGEST EVENT EVER YOU JUST CAN’T MISS IT, but this is the biggest thing Grant Morrison’s ever been in control of at DC, so it ought to be entertaining at the least. The preview pages that have been floating around suggest two things – firstly, that this is Morrison on top form, drawing the reader in with suspenseful writing rather than putting them off with abstruse references to obscure tie-in titles, and secondly, that artist JG Jones is seriously putting the effort in. Give it a try, it looks genuinely interesting.

And speaking of Morrison at his best, here comes All-Star Superman #11 like a bolt from the blue. It’s one of the best things DC’s had on the shelf since New Frontier, and delivers in every department, checking all the boxes on the messianic superhuman list. Action, adventure, excitement, characters you can love and hate (sometimes at the same time), and some gorgeous artwork. What’s more, this is the second-last issue of Morrison and Quitely’s big storyline! Don’t give up now!

Marvel’s biggest release of the week must be 1985 #1, kicking off Mark Millar’s ‘Narnia of comic books’ epic. Once upon a time this was going to be a photo-comic, with big money invested in models, costumes and photography equipment, but apparently unsatisfactory results led to the enlisting of artist par excellence Tommy Lee Edwards. I only mention that because it’s such an amusing little oddity, and here’s hoping that somewhere there are photos of people in Ultron costumes leaping around on a dock somewhere. But to the point – the concept’s intriguing and the artwork looks gorgeous, and this is Millar writing in a more gentle tone than normal, which often results in some of his best work (see Superman Adventures). Grab a copy and revisit YOUR childhood as a pop culture junkie. Go on.

Yet again I’m going to give a plug to Thor, which I can only describe as business as usual, but with an addendum that this is an extremely good thing. J Michael Straczynski is still working the good sense of humour, high-adrenaline action and strong characterisation that’s made this series a real joy. Coipel’s back on the artwork, so get ready to start drooling over epic vistas, hideous frost giants and beautiful princesses rendered in divine detail.

Oh, and what’s more, this week’s Marvel Comics Presents #9 should be worth a look as well, as it features an unexpected standalone 8-page story written by newcomers Mark Parsons and Tom Cohen and drawn by none other than rip-snorting Hulk series artist Ed McGuinness!

Image brings out two fine indie superhero books this week, Firebreather #1 and Astounding Wolf-Man #6. Firebreather is probably the most obscure of these titles, being as it is the re-launch of a character who’s only had four issues of a title before. But don’t let that fool you, Phil Hester’s great concept of the half-human son of a Fing-Fang-Foom-alike dragon really paid off before and it’ll most likely pay off again. What’s more, after his brilliant turn in Next Issue Project #1, I’m really keen to see how artist Andy Kuhn handles his return to this title. Wolf-Man is another Kirkman blast, whose concept is similarly straightforward – a werewolf superhero. So far events have progressed in the less-than-smooth manner you might expect, with the teammates of a murdered superhuman hunting down the Wolf-Man for revenge. I’m hopping up and down with excitement already. Seriously, it’s embarrassing.

And speaking of embarrassing, there’s an embarrassment (seamless link) of trade collections releasing from DC this week.

First up there’s Jack Kirby’s OMAC HC, collecting the King’s classic stories of genetic experiment Buddy Blank, straining against the shackles of a totalitarian government in a world he never made. Sorry, got carried away there. This book, in the eminently readable Fourth World Omnibus style, collects eight issues of Kirby at his prime, preaching pacifism through robot carnage. The whole world’s gone Kirby-mad of late, and not a moment too soon. From any one of these recent hardcover collections, even the most jaded reader can see how well his ideas and his vibrant style have dated, and OMAC is no exception. Grab it if you want a cheaper introduction to these omnibuses, or if you love superhero sci-fi in any form.

There’s also a new Fables collection out, and I’m sure by now that I don’t need to tell you how good that series is, and it’s probably the same with Tom Strong Book 6 in paperback, you know how good all this is already. Oh, which reminds me – after plugging it blindly last week, I caught up on the issues of Scalped, and my colleagues are right, it really IS that good, with a particularly heart-wrenching conclusion to the latest storyline. Twisted allegiances and raggedy old truths that just don’t sit right any more – this is the business, and exactly what you want from a publisher of ‘mature’ comics.

In the news this week – Disney has decided to reinvigorate its comics wing by striking a deal with media titans Ahmet Zappa, Harris Katleman and Christian Beranek. It’s big money, and hopefully that means big talent. No titles or creative types have yet been announced, so stay tuned for future developments!

For all those Alan Moore fans who thought that movie maker Zack Snyder would never attempt to capture some of Watchmen’s wilder moments, good news! He’s followed up on his projected plans to film a complete version of the Tales of the Black Freighter pirate comic for release on DVD at the same time as the Watchmen movie. The two will later be edited together for DVD release to form an extra-long ‘megamovie’. Sounds like a one-film movie marathon worth attending to me. Not content merely to revitalise DVD business the world over, Snyder also announced Warner Bros’ plans to release the complete Watchmen comic book as a series of filmstrip webisodes in advance of the film’s release, with voiceover narration in audiobook style. Here’s hoping that the film’s half as good as all this effort suggests!

And now for this week’s competition! We’re celebrating the release of Final Crisis by giving away two copies of the hardcover collecting all of JG Jones’ covers to 52. These were a fine assortment of beautifully-drawn, strikingly-designed weekly wonders, and this collection presents them all along with design sketches and notes from the artist! To win this prize you need only show that you love DC’s multi-layered history as much as Grant Morrison does, by telling us…

Who is this?

If you think you know, just comment on this post on our blog. If you can’t sign in to a personal account, you can comment anonymously – but don’t forget to leave your name in the comment itself! The first two people to comment with the correct answer win a copy of the book. Please note that the judge’s decision is final and that it is the responsibility of prize winners to arrange collection of the prize within a period of 14 days, after which any non-collected prizes will be offered to the runner-up.

That’s all for this week, so happy reading!
- Tom

Hello! This week the Gosh Authority’s pole position goes to the Superman Escape From Bizarro World HC, written by Superman mainstay Geoff Johns and drawn by Eric Powell, creator of The Goon. While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Legion story that followed it in Action Comics (understandably, being only three issues long), this arc still stands up as exceptional and the artwork alone justifies it. Eric Powell’s interpretation of Bizarro-World and its inhabitants is rivalled only by Frank Quitely’s recent efforts in All-Star Superman, and he does a surprisingly good job of portraying the clean-cut Supes at his blemish-less best to boot. It’s a heap of fun, with an assortment of classic Bizarro stories thrown in to round out the collection, and is well worth any Bizarro-fan’s time. Or should I say: it am not worth any Bizarro-fan’s time.

Many of you crazy kids out there will be pleased to see that Scalped #17 has arrived (not me, I’m still on the trades), but you might also be thinking that it is about chuffing time. Still your raging tempers, though, because we’ve got the mainline gossip from artist R.M. Guéra that the reason it took so long to come out is because it’s an extra-special issue, and he had to take the time to get it just right. How can we possibly be so in touch with the intricate details of the process of such a high-profile artist? We found out while arranging our exclusive Scalped bookplate! Keep an eye on the blog for more news on that coming very soon indeed!

Otherwise, Marvel dominates the new release schedule, with an assortment of other gems. First up is Incredible Hercules #117. If you’ve ever felt that the industry was lacking a comic featuring a genius kid and a drunken demigod tearing around the country wreaking bitter revenge on the unfeeling government that wronged them, then you literally can’t miss out on this series. If you wanted this hypothetical comic to tie in with the latest big event, it might actually approach criminal negligence not to pick this (and the previous) issue up right now. But seriously, folks, writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente have done a great job carving out a fun story in their own little corner of Secret Invasion, and new series artist Rafael Sandoval is doing an excellent job replacing Khoi Pham. Grab it; it is – in a strange way – the best Hulk title currently on the racks.

Time for a quick nod to a title you might have missed from last week – Genext #1. While you might mistake it for just another post-Messiah Complex X-title, don’t be misled! This is in fact the sequel to the immensely popular X-Men: The End, brought to you by that series’ mastermind, Chris Claremont.

There’s also the second issue of Dan Slott and Marcos Martin’s arc on Amazing Spider-Man. From the number of issues left of the first part of this story, I can tell you’re not really listening to me out there. However annoyed you were at One More Day, no matter how uninspiring you’ve found… certain recent storylines… anything with Dan Slott’s name on it is always worth a look. What’s more, this is Marcos Martin drawing Spider-Man! That doesn’t happen nearly enough! Did you SEE Doctor Strange: The Oath!? It was gorgeous! Anyway, as I say, we’ve got plenty of copies of last week’s first part of the storyline, so catch up in time to grab these next two issues. And then go buy Doctor Strange: The Oath and Batgirl: Year One. Go on!

But you don’t get off that easy, folks. Time for more unashamed comic-pushing with the much-awaited arrival of Hawaiian Dick #4. After two fine miniseries (Byrd of Paradise and The Last Resort), I did wonder how the title would survive the leap of becoming an ongoing series, but the short-term answer appears to be ‘very well’. It’s not like the title’s changed very much, it’s still the perfect daiquiri-esque blend of private snooper noir, tropical tiki voodoo and post-war politics, only now brought to you by artist Scott Chantler. At least, that was the original pitch, but it turns out that original co-creator and artist Stephen Griffin is still working his lowbrow art magic with back-up stories written by his own good self. There’s just no downside, folks!

By far our most exciting indie arrival of the week is Monster Truck, by long-time favourite Shaky Kane. Described by Gosh staff member Nathaniel Metcalfe as a ‘four-colour pop culture explosion for the eyes’, this book collects some truly inspired insanity from a creator of whom we don’t hear nearly enough these days. What’s more, our copies came from the man himself and they’re all signed! The book also contains more than four colours, but we’ll let young Metcalfe off on that one.

The news this week starts on a low note, with word that one of the all-time great cartoonists from the original Mad Magazine Usual Gang of Idiots, Will Elder, passed away last Wednesday at the age of 86. Alongside Harvey Kurtzman, Elder helped set the tone of Mad from the very first issue with his madcap style, anarchic humour and layer upon layer of background gags. The latter of these was such a popular element that it garnered the nickname ‘chicken fat’ and remained a Mad mainstay. Later, after a string of ultimately unsuccessful humour magazines, Kurtzman and Elder created the wildly popular Little Annie Fanny, which ran in the back of Playboy magazine for 26 years. Elder will be remembered for the huge body of work he left behind and the revolutionary vein of humour he helped America tap into.

On a more positive note, there has been a tremendous outpouring of support for comic book art great Gene Colan in the form of an online auction of donated art. After Colan’s recent liver failure, he and his wife Adrienne were left with formidable medical bills which they are struggling to meet, prompting comic creator Clifford Meth to organise the fundraiser. Among the earliest contributors of signed items were such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, Mark Evanier and Peter David, with many, many more following. More information can be found at Meth’s blog here: http://thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com. Keep an eye on that link, as information as to the channel and date of the auction will be going up soon.

Now to our competition! This week we’ve got two copies of the Vertigo hardcover original graphic novel Cairo to give away. In true Vertigo style, it blends real-world concerns with folktale background to produce a magical realist thriller packed full of guns, ghosts and gibbons (okay, no gibbons) from acclaimed illustrator M. K. Perker and Cairo-based journalist G. Willow Wilson. To win a copy, all you need to do is answer the following question:

The creators of Cairo have a new ongoing Vertigo series in the works – what’s its name?

If you think you know the correct answer, just comment on this post on our blog. If you can’t sign in to a personal account, you can comment anonymously – but don’t forget to leave your name in the comment itself! The first two people to comment with the correct answer win a copy of the book. Please note that the judge’s decision is final and that it is the responsibility of prize-winners to arrange collection of the prize within a period of 14 days, after which any non-collected prizes will be offered to the runner-up.

That’s all for the week – happy reading!
- Tom