On The Shelves: 9/21/05

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My weekly look at select comic books being released tomorrow, 9/21/05. The full shipping is list available at ComicList.

[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]

ARCANA STUDIO
Dead Men Tell No Tales #1 (Of 4), $3.95
Starkweather Vol 1 TPB, $9.95

Thanks to 100 Girls, anything Arcana puts out gets an automatic look, though Dead Men sounds like something I'd take a peek at regardless. Didn't realize it was going to be four bucks, though! The first four issues of Starkweather were interesting, but there was something missing that I just couldn't put my finger on.

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS
Betty #150, $2.25
Sonic X #1 (Of 4), $2.25

I've joked in the past that I was going to review an Archie comic for Buzzscope at some point, and this just may be the week. Betty #150 is a milestone! Remember when comics used to do special "collector's item" issues for something like this? Wonder what the "X" in Sonic X stands for. Is the hedgehog venturing into Conker territory?

AVATAR PRESS
A ridiculous amount of Lady Death crap...

I'm told this stuff is big with the goth kids, right? No wonder they get beat up in school! (Sorry, Omar!)

BLISS ON TAP
God The Dyslexic Dog #4, $3.50

Winner for best title of the week, in this case for the comic and the company!

COMIC CAVALCADE
Lady Death Abandon All Hope Comm Cvr #2 (Of 4), $5.99
Lady Death Abandon All Hope Gold Foil #2 (Of 4), $5.99
Medieval Lady Death Belladonna Comm Cvr #1, $5.99
Medieval Lady Death Belladonna Gold Foil Ed #1, $5.99

You can not escape [Lady] Death!

DARK HORSE COMICS
Conan #20, $2.99
Goon #14, $2.99

Conan is a mainstay on my pull list. I've been tempted to try The Goon, but I'm wary. Anyone want to personally vouch for it?

DC COMICS
Batgirl #68, $2.50
Batman Jekyll And Hyde #6 (Of 6), $2.99
JSA Classified #2 Second Ptg, $2.50
Seven Soldiers Mister Miracle #1 (Of 4), $2.99

Still hanging in there with Batgirl and the Jenkins/Lee mini, but other than that...bleh! JSA Classified #2 includes an incredibly ridiculous explanation for Power Girl's peekaboo cleavage, and Mister Miracle lost me when DC yanked Pascual Ferry from art duties after one issue because he apparently has a Marvel exclusive announcement waiting in the wings. So much for me giving Morrision's self-indulgent comics hipster-approved crossover a try. Stupid! (Comics hipster? Is that an oxymoron?)

DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
GI Joe Snake-Eyes Declassified #2 (Of 6), $2.95

The first issue was decent enough to keep me riding the not-quite nostalgia wave.

DIGITAL MANGA DISTRIBUTION
Lets Draw Manga Bodies & Emotions TPB, $19.95

An entire book on drawing big eyes and motion lines? I keed, I keed!

DORK STORM PRESS
Dork Tower Coll Vol 1 Dork Covenant TPB New Ptg, $15.99

I used to like this when I subscribed to Dragon, so I might pick this up at some point. Not this week, though.

ETERNAL ENTERTAINMENT LLC
Lady Death Abandon All Hope #1 S/N Ed, $15.00

How exactly does Lady Death come out under three different publishers?

GIRL TWIRL COMICS
Janes World #21, $4.95

GIRL TWIRL wins runner-up for best name of the week!

IMAGE COMICS
Girls #5, $2.99
Shadowhawk #5, $3.50

Saw the Luna Brothers in Baltimore on Saturday and felt bad for disliking Girls so much. The comic, I mean, which is written like they're not terribly familiar with real girls. ShadowHawk's first arc was decent, but I think I only kept up with it because Scott Wherle takes over the writing with this issue and he did a pretty good job with the ill-fated Blacklight.

MARVEL COMICS
Black Panther #8, $2.99
Captain America #10, $2.99
Machine Teen #5 (Of 5), $2.99
New Avengers #10, $2.50

**Sigh** First the totally unnecessary House of M tie-in, now an X-Men crossover? Meanwhile, Hudlin's first arc ended without resolving the question of where the hell this series fits into the larger Marvel Universe. I don't usually harp on continuity, but WTF!?! He better address it in this issue or I'm dropping it and will pick up the run on eBay or something to keep my larger Black Panther collection intact. New Avengers is also on the chopping block, depending on how Bendis resolves the Sentry's presence. Honestly, I'm not hopeful.

MOONSTONE
Silencers Black Kiss TPB, $14.95

Read some good things about this series, despite the Image relaunch tanking after one issue, and it's written by the same guy who writes the entertaining Action Philosophers.

SPEAKEASY COMICS
Rocketo #2, $2.99

After three separate false starts, Rocketo #1 continues to sink further into my to-read pile. The landscape saddle-stitching annoys me and the story just wasn't grabbing me. Sorry, comics blogiverse.

Magazines
Comics Buyers Guide Dec 2005 #1611, $5.99
Lo Fi Oct 2005 Vol 2 #1, $5.95

Midtown actually got CBG last week, and I'm still enjoying it as my Wizard substitute. Picked up an old copy of Lo-Fi a few weeks ago and liked it, despite its trying a little too hard and busy page layouts seemingly inspired by Wired. It's the closest thing out there to the magazine I'd do if I started one, so it's as much for research as for leisure.