21 February 2006

On the Shelves: 2/22/06

Support GOOD Comics! Try something new EVERY month!

My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 2/22/06. 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]

PICK OF THE WEEK

Bluesman: Vol. 1


ALIAS ENTERPRISES LLC
Lions Tigers & Bears TPB, $9.99
Lullaby Wisdom Seeker Vol 1 TPB (AA), $9.99


LT&B piqued my interest when it first came out, but I never picked it up. Interesting to see that Alias didn't let the TPB go over to Image along with Vol. 2, but considering it was one of their best-reviewed series, I'm not surprised. Lullaby started off strong but faded towards the end. I suspect it might read better all in one shot, though, and for $9.99, I just may give it another try.

ANGEL GATE PRESS
Atlas 123 For Superheroes HC, $5.99
Atlas ABC For Superheroes HC, $5.99
Atlas Superheroes Guide To Planets HC, $5.99


Are these kids books? The titles, and $5.99 for hardcovers would seem to suggest as much. My son loved SUPERHERO a while back, so I'll have to give these a look.

ARCHAIA STUDIOS PRESS
Mouse Guard #1, $3.50
Robotika #2, $3.95


Robotika #1 was pretty, and had an interesting premise, IIRC, but the annoying word balloons that printed
d l
i i
a k
l e
o
g t
u h
e i
s
totally ruined it for me. Mouse Guard also looks interesting, and has gotten some solid buzz, so I'll give it a flip-through. Archaia's earned that based on the well-done The Lone and Level Sands.

BLACK INC! IMPRINTS
Roach #1, $2.95


Finally! Rich Watson made this his BUZZ BOOK OF THE MONTH for November, back in his first "What's A Nubian?" column, and I've been anxious to check it out ever since. Its creator, Robert Roach, is up for the Rising Star Award for Best Self-Publisher in the inaugural Glyph Awards, for outstanding achievement in black comics, taking place in May, for which I am one of the judges.

CASTLE RAIN ENTERTAINMENT
Jack The Lantern 1942 One Shot, $3.95


Sometimes a title just grabs me. Whether or not I'll remember it on Wednesday will be a test of its cover design.

DC COMICS
American Way #1 (Of 8), $2.99
Batman #650, $2.50
JLA Classified #17, $2.99
Vigilante #6 (Of 6), $2.99
Warlord #1, $2.99


This isn't the OYL Batman, right? None of those are due until after Infinite Crisis #5 is released, yes? Three Kings is one of my favorite movies, so American Way is a must-read for me. JLA: Classified was surprisingly good, and I've been looking forward to Warlord since it was first announced.

DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
GI Joe Sigma 6 #3, $2.95


Andrew Dabb's a versatile one, yes? The toys for this are too much, though. I'll always be a fan of the 3-3/4" action figures I used to shoplift from Caldor back in the 80s. Now those were the days!

IMAGE COMICS
Intimidators #3, $3.50


I missed #2, so if it's sold out tomorrow, I may have inadvertantly switched to "waiting for the trade" on this one. Sorry Neil! :-(

MARVEL COMICS
All New Off Handbook Marvel Universe A To Z #2, $3.99
Black Panther #13, $2.99
Black Widow 2 #6 (Of 6), $2.99
Captain America #15, $2.99
Iron Man The Inevitable #3 (Of 6), $2.99
Storm #1 (Of 6), $2.99


ANOHotMU = SUCKER! In a way, you might argue the same for both Black Panther and Storm, though I'm actually enjoying Hudlin's looser take on BP now that he's thrown almost every one of Marvel's "major" black heroes into the mix. Iron Man: The Inevitable has been great so far, and Frazier Irving is quickly becoming an artist who'll get me to check out something purely from his name being attached.

NBM
Bluesman Vol 1 GN New Ptg, $6.95


Finally! I've been wanting to read this for a while now.

TOKYOPOP

Just a side note that I received my copy of Manga, TPs free promotional magazine, last week, and while I can't say it's directly led to my buying any specific manga yet, it's definitely been keeping certain titles on my radar. Image could benefit from producing a similar magazine promoting their varied slate of comics direct to potential buyers.

Magazines
Comics Buyers Guide May 2006 #1616, $5.99
Previews Vol XVI #3, AR


My 3-issue, $5 trial subscription to CBG is over, and between their backstarting my order (causing me to get back-to-back issues one week apart, the previous and current month), and my completely losing interest in the bulk of their content, I think I'm officially dropping it. Internet only for me, I guess! Also, my Previews experiment is dead-in-the-water as the thought of flipping through it again is terribly unappealing. Of the million good reasons I'd never open a comic book store, I'm thinking dealing with Previews ranks in the Top 3.

4 comments:

Chee said...

[I missed #2, so if it's sold out tomorrow, I may have inadvertantly switched to "waiting for the trade" on this one. Sorry Neil! :-(]

Dont assume theres GONNA BE a trade. When folks dont buy the singles, it doesnt bolster sales enough to allow for one. That being said, you should be able to get #2 at the Midtown/Buzzscope booth this weekend and I'll even sign it for ya!

-Kleid

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez said...

Yeah, I suck! I haven't been able to make it to Midtown on Wednesday for the past month and a half or so and have been given quite the object lesson in the value of pre-ordering, with several things I assumed would be there sold out by Thursday. That's what I get for dissing Previews!

I'll definitely pick up a signed copy this weekend, though. And I just added it to my Midtown pull list, so no more killing innocent comics for me!

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez said...

They're not bad, but they're too bulky to slip into your socks! Not that I advocate such things...

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez said...

You know, I actually did make a movie with my GI Joes. 10-minute, stop-motion, Super 8 blockbuster; complete with special effects and me doing a Mel Blanc, acting out all of the characters. (Okay, the close-up on the light bulb representing an explosion may not have really been all that special...) No girl-on-girl action, though. I was a young and innocent lad back then.

My kingdom for a time machine!