Daytripper - looks to be a great new Vertigo series!

Today the first issue of Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon's new Vertigo series, Daytripper, and a very strong debut it is. From what I can gather from reading interviews with Ba and Moon, each issue of Daytripper will be fairly self contained, even though each issue will make up a bigger story that they are telling. Daytripper's central character is Bras, a writer, with Daytripper being the story of his life. I think a person could read the first two pages of this first issue and know whether this is the kind of story they usually gravitate towards, but even if it's not, I'd bet that those who read the whole first issue of Daytripper will be back for the next issue.

For an interview with Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon (who previously collaborated with Gerard Way on the Eisner winning Umbrella Academy) click on www.newsarama.com and scroll down their features page.

the road to god knows...

the road to god knows... is a new graphic novel written and drawn by Von Allan, of which I just received my store copies yesterday. This is a really strong debut featuring great characters and a fine illustrative style about a subject, mental illness / schizophrenia, that is close to creator Von Allan, as his mother lived with this. The central character of the road to god knows... is Marie, a teenage girl whose mother is schizophrenic. As if it's not awkward enough just being a teenager, Marie lives alone with her mother (her father doesn't live with them), but Von Allan's the road to god knows... doesn't sensationalize his characters or the subject matter, rather he just portrays how people try to live with this. While the road to god knows... has some sad scenes, this graphic novel isn't overwhelmingly sad, thanks to the addition of another character, Kelly, who is a great friend to Marie.

The Bronx Kill - advance look

no spoilers following:

Last week I received an advance copy of The Bronx Kill, a new Vertigo Crime graphic novel written by Peter Milligan and drawn by James Romberger. Of the Vertigo Crime graphic novels written to date this is my favorite thus far and features some of the best writing that I've read from Peter Milligan (Shade The Changing Man, Enigma, Face, The Extremist, The Eaters, Human Target) in some time. I'd rank The Bronx Kill up there with the best of two of my favorite crime fiction / mystery novelists, Max Allan Collins (Stolen Away, Butcher's Dozen) and Lawrence Block (A Ticket To The Boneyard).

The Bronx Kill is about a writer / novelist, Martin, who is in a writing slump until something happens to his wife and then the book he's working on starts to mirror / seem to influence events that are occurring. The characters, style of writing, and plot development within The Bronx Kill, read very much like a novel which just happens to be illustrated to great effect by James Romberger (Seven Miles A Second), an artist who we don't get to see enough of.

Look for The Bronx Kill in finer comic book stores March 17th (wow, until I just now looked that up, I hadn't remembered it being that far away from release!).

A Distant Neighborhood vol. 2

Last week the second, concluding volume of A Distant Neighborhood arrived and I'll say without any qualifications that it, like all of Jiro Taniguchi's comic book / manga creations, easily ranks at the top of the finest in this medium (he's also written and drawn The Summit of the Gods, The Walking Man, and The Quest For The Missing Girl).

I posted a blog entry on the first volume of A Distant Neighborhood on Thursday, October 1st, but to recap, A Distant Neighborhood is one of those "person gets to go back to their past as their younger self - would what they do in the past change what happens in their future" stories and the conclusion is every bit as satisfying as the road that leads to it. Does Hiro (the character who ends up in his past as his fourteen year old self) manage to find out why his father left his family from that time period and is he able to alter the way that plays out (yes the second volume answers these questions, but I'm not going to deprive anyone of discovering those answers for themselves by revealing them here)? I really can't see anyone glimpsing at Tangiguchi's art (cover shown above) and not wanting to immerse themselves into his books.

Holiday graphic novel sale!

Here at Alternate Reality Comics, I don't have any $600.00 plasma television sets or $500.00 washer & dryer sets for Black Friday, but I like to think my graphic novel sale is even more exciting (grin)! The sale starts today and runs until the end of December, so come on by if you're not exhausted from going to the big box stores or want to avoid that scene altogether. Just my way of putting the reading back into the holidays and pricing graphic novels at a price point that gives people's pocketbooks a break (also as thanks for patronage at my store throughout the year).
Details of the sale are spelled out pretty clearly here at the store and I'm fairly certain that anyone, regardless of what kinds of comic books they like, will find a graphic novel for a ridiculously low price to gift to others (or have a hard time not keeping for themselves!).

End of my crass commercialism blog entry, thanks for considering Alternate Reality Comics for your gift getting needs and I hope all of my friends and people who read Ich Liebe Comics have a wonderful rest of the Thanksgiving weekend!

Thankful all year round

I had a great Thanksgiving today thanks to all of the prep Kate did making the big meal (that included Tofurky, which seriously everyone should try), the company of our friend Rob, and Kate's brother John.

I'm fortunate to live in a country in which much is possible that isn't possible in so much of the world. I know some people view people giving thanks on Thanksgiving as being similar to large expressions of love on Valentine's Day, but I think that giving thanks on Thanksgiving Day should just be the punctuation day of thanks that we give all year long for the people (and things) we are thankful for (just as I view Valentine's Day day as the punctuation day for expressing love to our loved ones).

In no particular order (because it is somewhat silly to give rankings on thanks and many of the following are obvious regarding where they'd be ranked regardless of which order I place them in) today I especially reflected on the following people and things in my life I'm thankful for:

My wonderful, beautiful, smart wife, Kate, who understands, loves, and tolerates me, Kate's family, whom I embrace as my family, our cat trio, AMP (Alucard, Moto, and Pixie), all of whom daily comfort and amuse us, my many friends that, while we don't often get together as often as I or they wish, comfort me just knowing that they consider me their friend and like being around me, the many people I've met through having my comic book store, whom I consider friends also as I see many of them on a weekly basis (and seriously I'm not just saying that in a capitalist sense), and the comic book industry with all its levels, be it creators, publishers, distributors, and the comic book retail community, all of which is the key component that has made it possible for me to be as thankful as I am and to have the people around me that I have.

The think I'm not thankful for on a personal level is my faulty memory which has probably caused me to omit someone or something from my above thanks that I'm going to go "Doh" about within five minutes after posting this entry.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, please hug and say thanks to your loved ones for / from me.

Steve Niles signing - awesome!

Yesterday, Alternate Reality Comics hosted a signing with Steve Niles and a great time was had by all. Thanks for everyone who showed up to share with Steve Niles how much entertainment his comics / prose work have provided to them. Thanks especially to Steve Niles and the lovely Micheline for coming to my store and making existing and new Steve Niles fans really happy!
There was a steady flow of people throughout the two hour signing, great conversations about Steve Niles' many great comics, such as: 30 Days Of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Giant Monster, Batman Gotham County Line, The Ghoul, and Freaks of the Heartland (the man is a writing machine!) was engaged, and people supplemented the Steve Nile comics / graphic novels they already had by purchasing more at my store (mucho thanks).
As per usual I wish I'd taken more photos, but I was busy making sure that the signing was running smoothly and helping people that were buying the new comics that arrived yesterday (much thanks also to Jim McKenzie for helping me out with the register - I would have been especially crazy if it was just my wired lo carb Monster drinking self at the shop!). I As I've mentioned before, I probably should have someone else taking photos, but last night as I was thinking about the whole taking of photos at signings and not wanting to be too intrusive, I realized that in the future I should just ask my signing guests if it's all right for photos to be snapping away during the event (something that seems like an obvious yes, but one shouldn't assume things and it really is, in retrospect, easy enough and courteous to just ask).
Again, thanks to all who made the Steve Niles signing successful and a great way to kick off the holiday season here at Alternate Reality Comics!