Click the full post link below for a tentative list of titles due to ship next week.

Barack Obama #2 The First 100 Days
Batman The Brave And The Bold #7
Detective Comics #855
Billy Batson And The Magic Of Shazam #6
Birds Of Prey Platinum Flats TP
Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps #3 (Of 3)
Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy HC Vol 8
Complete Dracula #2 (Of 5)
Dark Reign
- Goblin Legacy DKR
- Hawkeye #4 (Of 5) DKR
- The Hood #3 (Of 5) DKR
- Lethal Legion #2 (Of 3) DKR
- Sinister Spider-Man #2 (Of 4) DKR
- Young Avengers #3 (Of 5) DKR
Dark Tower The Fall Of Gilead #3 (Of 6)
Essential Spectacular Spider-Man TP Vol 4
Fantastic Four #569
Fear Agent #27 1 Against 1 (Pt 6 Of 6)
Final Crisis Aftermath Ink #3 (Of 6)
Free Realms #1
Garth Ennis Battlefields Tankies #3 (Of 3)
Ghost Rider TP Last Stand
Glamourpuss #8
Invincible Iron Man Prem HC Vol 2
Justice League Of America #35
Justice Society Of America #29
Kid Colt #1
Last Days Of Animal Man #3 (Of 6)
Lone Ranger #17
Madame Xanadu #13
Marvel Zombies 4 #4 (Of 4)
Mice Templar Destiny #1
Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker #2
New Avengers #55 DKR
Northlanders #19
Northlanders TP Vol 2
Previews #251 August 2009
Proof #22
PvP TP Vol 6 Silent But Deadly
Rapture #3 (Of 6)
Scourge Of Gods Prem HC Vol 1
Secret Warriors #6 DKR
Son Of Hulk #13
Spawn #194
Spider-Girl TP Vol 11 Marked For Death Digest
Star Trek Archives TP Vol 5 Best Of Kirk
Star Trek Mission’s End #5
Star Wars Dark Times #14
Star Wars Legacy #38
Superman #690
Superman Batman Vs Vampires Werewolves TP
Teen Titans #73
Terror Inc Apocalypse Soon #4 (Of 4)
Terror Titans TP
Thunderbolts #134 DKR
Ultimatum #5 (Of 5)
Ultimatum Spider-Man Requiem #2 (Of 2)
Unknown Soldier #10
War Of Kings Ascension #4 (Of 4)
Wednesday Comics #4 (Of 12)
Werewolf By Night TP In The Blood
Wildcats #13
Wizard Magazine #215
Wonder Woman #34
Dark X-Men Beginning #2 (Of 3) DAX
Marvel Masterworks X-Men TP Vol 2
Wolverine Noir #4 (Of 4)
X-Men Forever #4
X-Men Original Sin TP

If everything had gone according to plan the first sentence of this week’s post would read: Darwyn Cooke’s The Hunter Bookplate Edition is now in store! Instead, thanks to delays at the printer and further delays thanks to Cooke being incredibly popular and busy at San Diego Comicon, we now have the books (which are very tasty indeed) but not the signed, numbered, Gosh! Exclusive bookplates which are currently on their way to Mr Cooke to be signed and numbered. So here’s what we’re gonna do: Given that you probably can’t wait to read the thing (and do head over to the wonderful World of Kane if you don’t know what I’m on about) you can go ahead and buy it, and we’ll stick your name on our bookplate reserve list while you go home and await further instruction. We’ll get one to you as soon as Cooke posts ‘em back. It’s like a military operation, this. Anyway, that aside, there are already enthusiastic reviews rolling in and if you’ve not yet laid eyes on the thing head directly to this preview without passing Go.

The other big graphic novel out this week is The Nobody by Jeff Lemire (The Essex County Trilogy) which sees an isolated village take in a stranger covered head to toe in mummy bandages. It’s based on H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man but a review over at CbR suggests it has more in common with the recent Swedish horror flick Let the Right One In. I’ve not read it yet so I can’t say, but I can tell you that there are preview pages at Lemire’s blog and they look smashing.

Another mention-worthy hardcover is Jeff Smith’s latest offering Little Mouse Gets Ready, a kids book with no nookies in it unlike last week’s Rasl #5. This one’s all about a little mouse getting dressed, wrestling with buttons, velcro, and underpant tail-holes. Judging from the previews it’s a lovely little book which you can tell yourself you’re getting for your kid or something.

The third issue of Gosh! favourite (premature? We think not) Wednesday Comics is hitting the shelves the day after Wednesday, as is the fashion outside the US. The series was previously mentioned on this blog here and here. We’re getting another bundle of #1s and #2s so if you thought you missed ‘em think again! You can buy all three in one go and roll around on their enormous pages in your underpants. Though my guess is you’ll probably want to keep them. They’re rather nice.

Forget your Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men – this crossover promises to ‘rock your face off’: It’s Dethklok Vs The Goon in a one-shot story by Eric Powell. Dethklok are a fictional/virtual death metal band from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse whose album has been a favourite of Powell’s for a long time. Powell says “…the only way this comic could be more metal was if the art were laser-imprinted onto slabs of iron.” It’s also a Dethklok story that’ll never be animated so if you’re a fan of the show you’d best grab a copy. I mention this only for non-Goon fans because Goon fans don’t need telling. Incidentally, you can read the rest of that Powell interview here, and if you didn’t check out the preview pictures from the animated feature (produced by David Fincher of Se7en, Fight Club and the rest) last time this popped up on the blog you can still seem them at Ain’t it Cool News.

Jason Aaron (writer of Scalped, Wolverine and object of Andrew’s fanboy affections) teams up with Mico Suayan (Moon Knight) and Travel Foreman (Cla$$war) in a series that gives the Immortal Weapons their very own miniseries. The focus of the five-issue run is the origin of Fat Cobra, of whom Aaron says…

[Of all the characters there’s] something about Fat Cobra seems the most colourful and outrageous. He’s just a big sumo guy whose most famous line is, “Bring me my wenches of waiting!” I like the chance to do the fun stuff, but also subvert it a little and show, like I said, sort of the dark side to his origin story. More of that here.

Incredible Hulk #600 is so exciting Marvel wrote the solicitation entirely in capitals. Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness and Fred Van Lente are all here, plus Tim Sale pops up in a Hulk: Gray #1 reprint. Preview!

And finally, I keep rabbiting on about it but they’ve got naff all in the way of a promotional budget: Go see Moon. It’s like one of those sci-fi films that don’t get made anymore. You’ll like it.

– Hayley

Click the full post link below for a list of items in store this week.

2000 AD Prog #1645
Judge Dredd Megazine #287
Aliens #2 (Of 4)
All New Savage She-Hulk #4 (Of 4) Dark Reign
Atomic Robo Shadow From Beyond Time #3
Avengers Initiative #26
New Avengers Prem HC Vol 10
Back Issue #35
Showcase Presents Batman TP Vol 4
Black Panther 2 #6 Dark Reign
Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps #2 (Of 3)
Boys Herogasm #3 (Of 6) (G. Ennis)
Captain Britain And MI 13 #15(Last issue!)
Conan The Cimmerian #12
Creepy Archives HC Vol 4
Cyberforce Hunter Killer #1 (Of 5)
Dellec #1
Dethklok Vs The Goon One-Shot
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? #1
Dr Who Magazine #411
Elephantmen TP Vol 2 Damaged Goods
Emily The Strange III #1 (Of 4)
Fall Of Cthulhu Nemesis #4 (Of 4)
Dark Reign Fantastic Four #5 (Of 5) DKR
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four TP 4
Farscape Gone & Back #1
Festering Romance GN (Renee Lott)
Final Crisis
- Aftermath: Dance #3 (Of 6)
- Legion Of Three Worlds #5
- Rogues’ Revenge HC
Flight TP Vol 6
Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash Nightmare Warriors #2
Fusion #3 (Of 3)
Futurama Comics #44
Gears Of War #9
Gemini #4 (Of 5)
George McManus’ Bringing Up Father HC
GI Joe #7
- Best Of Snake Eyes GN
- Movie Adaptation #4 (Of 4)
- TP Vol 1
Gotham City Sirens #2
Green Lantern #44 Blackest Night
Greetings From The Ocean’s Sweaty Face: 100 McSweeney’s Postcards (C. Ware/C. Burns et al)
Groom Lake #4
Guardians Of Galaxy #16
Halo Helljumper #1 (Of 5)
Hellblazer #257 (P. Milligan)
Immortal Weapons #1 (Of 5)
Incredible Hercules #131
Incredible Hulk #600
Invincible #64
Jack Of Fables #36
Jeff Smith’s Little Mouse Gets Ready HC
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files Storm Front II #1
Killapalooza #3 (Of 6)
Leonard Starr’s Mary Perkins On Stage TP Vol 6
Life And Times Of Savior 28 #4
Marvel 1985 TP (Millar/Edwards)
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53
Modern Masters SC Vol 21 Chris Sprouse
Ms Marvel #42 Dark Reign
Myspace Dark Horse Presents TP Vol 3
Nexus Archives HC Vol 9
The Nobody HC (Jeff Lemire)
Nova #27
Official Handbook To The Marvel Universe A To Z Prem HC Vol 9
Outlaw: Legend Of Robin Hood GN
Outsiders #20
Phonogram 2 #4 (Of 7) Singles Club
Power Girl #3
Project Superpowers Chapter Two #1
Red Sonja #46
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter HC (Darwyn Cooke)
Runaways 3 #12
Simpsons Classics #21
Sparrow HC Vol 13 Camilla Derrico
Spawn Origins TP Vol 2
Amazing Spider-Man #600
Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1 Power & Responsibility
The Spirit #31
Stan Drake’s The Heart Of Juliet Jones TP Vol 2
Star Trek Spock Reflections #1
Star Wars Vector TP Vol 2
Supergirl #43
Superman Chronicles TP Vol 7
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopedia Mythologica One-Shot
Tiny Titans #18
Transformers All Hail Megatron #13
Transformers Animated TP Vol 10
Union Station GN New Ed
Usagi Yojimbo TP Vol 23
Vampirella: Countdown To Second Coming One-Shot
Wednesday Comics #3 (Of 12)
Wildcats World’s End TP Book 1
Wonderful Wizard Of Oz #8 (Of 8)
Dark Wolverine #76 DKR
Deadpool Suicide Kings #4 (Of 5)
Wolverine First Class #17
Wolverine Origins #38
X-Force #17
Youngblood #9

MANGA

Berserk TP Vol 30
Naruto TP Vol 45
Suppli GN Vol 3 (Of 6)

Click the full post link below for a tentative list of titles due to ship next week.

Aliens #2 (Of 4)
All New Savage She-Hulk #4 (Of 4) DKR
Alter Ego #88
Atomic Robo Shadow From Beyond Time #3 (Of 5)
Back Issue #35
Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps #2 (Of 3)
Boys Herogasm #3 (Of 6)
Cable Classic TP Vol 2
Captain America Reborn #1 (Of 5)
Captain Britain And MI 13 #15
Cartoon Network Block Party #59
Conan The Cimmerian #12
Cyberforce Hunter Killer #1 (Of 5)
Deadpool Suicide Kings #4 (Of 5)
Dethklok Vs The Goon (One Shot)
Emily The Strange III #1 (Of 4)
Fall Of Cthulhu Nemesis #4 (Of 4)
Farscape Gone & Back #1
Final Crisis Aftermath Dance #3 (Of 6)
Final Crisis Legion Of Three Worlds #5 (Of 5)
Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash Nightmare Warriors #2 (Of 6)
Fusion #3 (Of 3)
Futurama Comics #44
Gears Of War #9
Gemini #4 (Of 5)
GI Joe #7
GI Joe Best Of Snake Eyes GN
GI Joe Movie Adaptation #4 (Of 4)
Gotham City Sirens #2
Green Lantern #44 Blackest Night
Groom Lake #4
Guardians Of Galaxy #16
Hellblazer #257
Invincible #64
Jack Kirby Collector #53
Jack Of Fables #36
Killapalooza #3 (Of 6)
Life And Times Of Savior 28 #4
Marvel 1985 TP
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four TP 4 3 2 1 Digest
New Avengers Prem HC Power Vol 10
Nova #27
Off Handbook To The Marvel Universe A To Z Prem HC Vol 9
Outsiders #20
Phonogram 2 #4 (Of 7) Singles Club
Power Girl #3
Project Superpowers Chapter Two #1
Red Sonja #46
Simpsons Classics #21
Spawn Origins TP Vol 2
Spirit #31
Star Trek Spock Reflections #1
Supergirl #43
Superman Chronicles TP Vol 7
Tiny Titans #18
Transformers All Hail Megatron #13
Transformers Animated TP Vol 10
We Kill Monsters #1 (Of 6)
Wednesday Comics #3 (Of 12)
Wildcats Worlds End TP Book 1
Youngblood #9

Right then. Comics. Here’s what’s on the menu today:

Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s controversial Lost Girls is now in one single hardcover volume, going for roughly half the price of the now out-of-print purple behemoth you probably struggled with on the tube. They haven’t shrunk the pages they’ve just stuck ‘em all in one nice cloth-bound, dust-jacketed block that will only break your toe if you drop it and not your whole foot. If you’ve somehow unbelievably and rather shamefully missed the furore and never set eyes on the thing, Top Shelf have put up 12-page preview for you. But mind how you go: there are (gasp!) willies in it.

More Moore? The Captain Britain by Alan Moore & Alan Davis Omnibus HC should do it, particularly if you’re upset over the ongoing series being canned. Captain Britain and the MI 13 #15 is going to be the last one you’ll see, and it’s supposed to show up next week. This omnibus is the first time the Moore/Davis run has been reprinted in total for the first time and there’s piles of it – 680 pages of the stuff! Over at the Mindless Ones they theorise that perhaps it was the lack of bad 80s hair that led to the demise of the current series.

Last week we had also Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? in hardcover so it’s only fitting that Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? HC should follow suit. His two-part ‘love letter to Batman’ is here, obviously, along with some other Gaiman/Batman stuff DC have rounded up: Gaiman’s Poison Ivy story in Secret Origins #36 (with Mark Buckingham), his whimsical secret origin of The Riddler in Secret Origins Special #1, and his Joker story in Batman: Black & White #2, illustrated by Simon Bisley. If you didn’t pick up the Caped Crusader story as it came out there’s a review here with lots of pages of Andy Kubert’s lovely artwork.

All Select Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special is worth a look this week not just for the Mark Guggenheim (Amazing Spider-Man) and the brilliant Javier Pulido (Robin: Year One, and Human Target) 1940s heroine Blonde Phantom noir piece (talked about here), but also for the bonus story by Michael Kupperman of Gosh! Favourite Tales Designed to Thrizzle. Kupperman takes on Marvex, the existentialist Super-Robot from the early days of Marvel who would undress in each story to show women he couldn’t date them on account of his being a robot. Kupperman promises to take it up a notch and Marvex will get his kit of twice. His first Thrizzle collection came out last week and because we like it so much we got in loads. And we still have some.

Another Gosh! Favourite is Black Jack creator Osamu Tezuka. This week sees the release of his adult-y series Swallowing the Earth, the story of an icy seductress called Zephyrus and a perpetually drunken sailor. Tezuka re-used some of the same characters in different stories so you’ll probably recognise some from the Buddha books. More of that kind of talk and a summary of the manga master’s career here and a preview here.

Blackest Night starts this week with Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night #1 (of 8), Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 (of 3), plus a tie-in Titans issue you might want to pick up. Geoff Johns talks about the series here. Speaking of Johns, his Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes story that ran in Action Comics #858-863 is collected in trade-paperback and reviewed here. Andrew highly recommends it too.

This week’s issue of Walking Dead has its usual bevy of zombies but as an added bonus it also has the entirety of Chew #1, which is a series causing quite a buzz. We didn’t order enough Chew #1 and then got lots of people asking for it. This must have happened everywhere, because its writer John Layman says…

“As a creator, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing that a lot of people are interested in reading your book. The flip side of this is there’s nothing more frustrating than hearing how people can’t get a hold of your book to read. So, Image and Robert Kirkman concocted this great plan to put Chew in a lot of people hands – and for the unbeatable low, low price of ‘free’.”

That said, the free preview’s in black and white so if you like it you may very well want to kick yourself (or us) for missing Rob Guillory’s colour artwork. Fear not! There’s second printings of issues #1-3 in the post. They should be with us in early August.

In non-shop news, the Kevin O’Neill exhibition at the Illustration Cupboard that I mentioned a while ago is on now! Apparently Moore and Pat Mills turned up at the opening last night and we’ve heard very good things about it.

Also, over at Panel Borders Alex Fitch talks to small press creator Paul Rainey about his comic There’s No Time Like the Present:

TNTLTP tells the story of a group of friends from Milton Keynes who suffer from the usual concerns of our generation – niche interests, unfulfilling jobs, difficulties with dating etc. – but in a world where time travel exists and the UK in the present day is a holiday vacation for patronising visitors from the future.

And if you like the sound of it we’ve all of his backissues.

I think that’s it for the week. I’ll see you Thursday.
– Hayley

Click the full post link below for a list of items in store this week.

Archie Double Digest #200
2000 AD Prog #1644
Agents Of Atlas #8
Air #11
All Select Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special(J. Palido/M. Kupperman)
All Star Companion TP Vol 4
Angel After The Fall HC Vol 4
Annihilation Classic TP
Artesia Besieged #3 (Of 6)
Astro City The Dark Age TP Book 1
Marvel Adventures Avengers #38
Mighty Avengers #27
Batman Streets Of Gotham #2
Batman: Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader? HC (Gaiman)
Beta Ray Bill Godhunter #2 (Of 3)
Blackest Night #1 (Of 8)(Geoff Johns/Ivan Reis)
Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps #1 (Of 3)
Brave And The Bold #25
Buck Rogers #2
Captain America #601
Captain Britain Moore Davis Omnibus HC
Creepy Comics #1 (B. Wrightson)
Dark Avengers #7 DAX (M. Fraction)
Dark Reign Mister Negative #2 (Of 3) DKR (Fred Van Lente)
Dead At 17 Afterbirth #2 (Of 4)
DMZ #43 (Brian Wood)
Doctor Doom TP Masters Of Evil GN
Enders Game HC Battle School
Enders Shadow HC Battle School
Essential Marvel Two In One TP Vol 3
Fables #1 Peter & Max Preview
Fables #86
Fall Of Cthulhu TP Vol 5 Apocalypse
Fallen Angel Reborn #1
Farscape D’argo’s Lament #4 (Of 4)
Final Crisis Aftermath Escape #3 (Of 6)
Franklin Richards School’s Out One-Shot
GI Joe Movie Adaptation #3 (Of 4)
Guardians Of Galaxy Prem HC Power Starhawk
Incognito #5 (Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips)
Incredible Hercules HC Smash Titans
Iron Man Armored Adventures One-Shot
JSA Vs Kobra #2 (Of 6)
Killer #9 (Of 10)
Last Resort #1 (J. Palmiotti/J. Gray)
Light Brigade TP New Ptg
Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers #3 (Of 4)
Lost Girls HC Single Volume Edition(A. Moore/M. Gebbie)
Madame Xanadu TP Vol 1 Disenchanted
Nexus Space Opera Acts 3 & 4
Olympus #3 (Christian Ward)
Phantom Generations #3
Preacher HC Book 1 (G. Ennis)
Punisher #7
Rasl #5 (Jeff Smith)
Resurrection Vol 2 #2
Scalped #30 (Jason Aaron)
Sherlock Holmes #3 (Of 5)(L. Moore/R. Reppion)
Simpsons Comics #156
Soulfire New World Order #3 (Of 5)
Amazing Spider-Man #599 DKR
Spider-Man Prem HC Torment
Star Wars Adventures TP Vol 2 Princess Leia & Royal Ransom
Star Wars Clone Wars #7
Star Wars Knights Old Republic #43
Steve Ditko Reader TP Vol 1 2nd Ptg
Super Friends #17
Super Friends Calling All Super Friends TP
Action Comics #879
Superman And The Legion Of Super-Heroes TP (G. Johns)
Superman Batman #62
Thunderbolts Prem HC Burning Down The House
Timestorm 2009 2099 #3 (Of 4)
Titans #15 Blackest Night
Unknown #3 (Of 4)
Vigilante #8
Walking Dead #63 (R. Kirkman)
War Machine Prem HC Vol 1 Iron Heart
Wednesday Comics #2 (Of 12)
Welcome To Forest Island HC
Werewolves On The Moon Versus Vampires #2 (Of 3)
When We Fall GN
World Of Warcraft #21
Deadpool #12 DKR
New Mutants #3
X-Factor #46
Young Liars #17 (D. Lapham)
Zeke Deadwood Zombie Lawman #1 Legally Dead

MANGA

Swallowing The Earth GN(O. Tezuka)

Click the full post link below for a tentative list of titles due to ship next week.

Action Comics #879
Agents Of Atlas #8
Air #11
All Select Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
Amazing Spider-Man #599 DKR
Annihilation Classic TP
Astro City The Dark Age TP Book 1
Batman Streets Of Gotham #2
Blackest Night #1 (Of 8)
Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps #1 (Of 3)
Brave And The Bold #25
Buck Rogers #2
Captain America #601
Citizen Rex #1 (Of 6)
Creepy Comics #1
Dark Avengers #7 DAX
Dark Reign Mister Negative #2 (Of 3) DKR
Dead At 17 Afterbirth #2 (Of 4)
Dead Space Extraction One-Shot
Deadpool #12 DKR
Deadpool Suicide Kings #1 – 3 (Of 5) 2nd Ptg
DMZ #43
Doctor Doom TP Masters Of Evil GN
Essential Marvel Two-In-One TP Vol 3
Fables #1 Peter & Max Preview
Fables #86
Farscape D’argo’s Lament #4 (Of 4)
Final Crisis Aftermath Escape #3 (Of 6)
Franklin Richards School’s Out
Gemini #4 (Of 5)
Incognito #5
Iron Man Armored Adventures
JSA Vs Kobra #2 (Of 6)
Light Brigade TP New Ptg
Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers #3 (Of 4)
Madame Xanadu TP Vol 1 Disenchanted
Marvel Adventures Avengers #38
Mighty Avengers #27
New Mutants #3
Olympus #3 (Of 6)
Punisher #7
RASL #5
Scalped #30
Sherlock Holmes #3 (Of 5)
Simpsons Comics #156
Soulfire New World Order #3 (Of 5)
Star Wars Clone Wars #7
Star Wars Knights Old Republic #43 Reaping Pt 1 (Of 2)
Super Friends #17
Super Friends Calling All Super Friends TP
Superman Batman #62
Thor & Hercules Encyclopedia Mythologica
Timestorm 2009 2099 #3 (Of 4)
Titans #15 BN
Unknown #3 (Of 4)
Unthinkable #3 (Of 4)
Vigilante #8
Walking Dead #63
Wednesday Comics #2 (Of 12)
World Of Warcraft #21
X-Factor #46
Young Liars #17