It’s looking like a worthy week at the comics shop, with plenty of interesting titles on the way.
I’m particularly excited about The Squirrel Mother Stories (Fantagraphics). I love short-form comics stories, and Megan Kelso’s work looks really appealing. Tom Spurgeon’s review made me even happier that I pre-ordered this.
The second volume of Anne Freaks (ADV) shows up. I thought the first was a pretty riveting piece of nihilistic comedy, and the art is gorgeous.
CMX provides the concluding volume of Monster Collection, which is better than it has any right to be. I mean, it’s based on a video game and features a fair amount of fan service, but it’s got a great sense of humor, endearing characters, and some pretty exciting action.
Tales of Woodsman Pete (Top Shelf) certainly has the week’s most charming title, and it was apparently a big hit at MOCCA over the weekend. (Speaking of MOCCA, I wouldn’t have been able to resist adding a “Vote for the Cutest Couple of Comic Creators” poll in PW Comics Week’s photo parade. Then I would have stuffed the ballot box with votes for Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, even though they aren’t, to my knowledge, that kind of couple.)
Back to Top Shelf, I thought the preview copy of Renée French’s The Ticking was beautiful and disturbing, and it is for the content, but the final product is absolutely gorgeous. Top Shelf sent one my way, and it’s a really lovely object in its own right. It’s a really nice production for an endearingly unnerving comic.
Come to think of it, lots of good stuff came in last week while I was out of town, too.
Evil Twin’s Action Philosophers! Giant Sized Thing collects the first three issues of this funny, informative comic at the very ethical price of $6.95. If you’ve been meaning to give these books a look, this is a great way to do it.
I always find the work of Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá lovely to look at, but the stories can run on the slight side. That was partly the case with their new collection, De: Tales (Dark Horse), but some of the pieces really had impact. My particular favorites were a retelling of a tense encounter on a Paris subway, a cleverly structured urban slice-of-life look at a typical Saturday, and a really moving story of an unusual reunion that goes a long way towards converting me to magical realism by being just the right mix of magical and realistic.
One of the nominees for MangaCast’s Best Manga Award is Ai Yazawa’s Nana (Viz – Shojo Beat). The third volume showed up last Wednesday, and I think the title is really building in strength as Yazawa fleshes out her characters and their setting. It didn’t have the immediate, gripping impact of Paradise Kiss (Tokyopop), but it’s more than engaging enough to keep me reading.