Naughty And Nice; Bruce Timm

Tomorrow there's a lot of great comics coming out, such as Justice League, Flash, Aquaman, Bulletproof Coffin, Walking Dead, Fantastic Four, and Unwritten, being that it'll be New Comic Wednesday, but for sheer (pun intended - grin!) eye candy wonderment, all of them will pale when stacked alongside Bruce Timm's new art book, Naughty And Nice!

Bruce Timm first made his name known to comic book art lovers everywhere as the visual creator of Harley Quinn and for his work on the Batman Animated series of the 1990s.

Naughty And Nice, The Good Girl Art Of Bruce Timm (actually all of the gals within probably aren't that good, if you know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) is $50.00, but it's also 300 pages of glorious full color over-sized Bruce Timm illustrations that you won't see collected anywhere else and really, if you have any idea of how much Timm's original art sells for, well this is the bargain of the day!

Whispers; Joshua Luna

Have you read Ultra, Girls, or Sword by the Luna brothers? If you have, you already know that any new comic book project by the Luna brothers will surely be good and different. This week the first issue of Whispers came out from Image, written and drawn by Joshua Luna, the first time either of them has worked alone (to my knowledge), and I'm going to call it easily the best new series of this young year (Brubaker and Phillip's Fatal, also published by Image and released last week, is also great)!

All of the Luna brothers' comic book projects are vastly different from the one they'd mostly recently finished, and Joshua Luna's Whispers, is no exception. The central character, Sam, has been having dreams, which he thinks aren't really dreams and also starts being able to sort of astrally project himself to different places and people (and being invisible at the same time). With the way this first issue unravels, I can't imagine anyone not picking up following issues, seriously this gets going right away! And this may be the first comic book featuring a main character who has OCD (and this is a big part of the first issue)!

Daredevil #7; Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera

This week, another great issue of the new Daredevil arrived and like the previous six issues of the relaunch, it's FANTASTIC! After two great long runs by Bendis and Bubaker, they were followed by writer, Andy Diggle, for a run that didn't leave much of an impression on too many people. Now we have a Daredevil comic that is lighter in tone (Daredevil works really well with a grittier, dark tone, but it's been time for a change for a long time) written by Mark Waid and drawn by Paola Rivera (with some alternating issues by the also excellent Marcus Martin - actually his last issue was #6 as he's going to be doing a creator-owned title with Brian Vaughn next year) and is one of the best reviewed comics of the past year.

If you haven't read this new Daredevil series yet, the first collection comes out in late January (and here at Alternate Reality Comics, I have most of the issues in stock), but this latest issue, is a great stand alone story that a person could read without having read the preceding issues. Daredevil #7 is also a wonderful story that is perfect for the holiday season and works as a great chaser after reading Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon's dark, demented, Punishermax (which is also fantastic, the best Punisher ever, in my book!)! Waid & Rivera's Daredevil will most certainly receive multiple nominations from the Eisner Awards next year!

Miracleman #9; Alan Moore & Rick Veitch

Sorry to be continuing to tease people (well those of you who haven't / aren't able to read Moore's seminal superhero epic Marvelman / Miracleman) - see entry below for an earlier tease - but I just reread Miracleman #9 (that fell off the back of a truck - grin!) and I wanted to share some thoughts upon having done so. And before I go on, I'm not going to get into the long sordid reasons of why Marvelman / Miracleman is not in print (please go over to Wikipedia for some details) and no, I don't have the whole run to sell here unfortunately.

Miracleman #9 is the issue in which Michael Moran's (Miracleman) wife has their baby and in only sixteen pages, Alan Moore and artist Rick Veitch really toke the sequential art medium to a new level of greatness, beauty, and maturity. Consider the following descriptive prose by Alan Moore of Mike Moran delivering his baby:

"The moment swells, an organ chord, deep and prolonged, adrenaline sharpens my perceptions until each instant glitters like a diamond."

Another thing I'd like to share from Miracleman #9 is the inside front cover publisher editorial page called The Penumbra, written by Catherine Yronwode (similar to Marvel's old Bullpen Bulletins page), in which one of the items was about Alan Moore: "This popular writer, once known among long-suffering editors for his ultra messy manuscripts, has bought a new typewriter!" - This comic came out in 1986, so obviously this was before computers (and even before word processors) replaced typewriters as that upon which practically everyone uses, but reading an item like that really reminds one of how much has changed in just 25 years! For you kids reading this, who don't know what a typewriter is (grin), you can look that up on Wikipedia also!

The Silence of Our Friends; advance tease, no spoilers

Today I got an advance copy of The Silence of Our Friends, a new graphic novel about the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, written by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos and drawn by Nate Powell, published by the fine folks at First Second. The Silence of Our Friends doesn't come out until the end of January, but having read it just now, I want to strongly suggest that you look for this graphic novel, based on true events, when it hits finer comic book stores next year.

While I'm being a graphic novel tease, I also want to put out a little advance tease for some exciting changes that will be happening on my Alternate Reality Comics website and Ich Liebe Comics! blog by early January 2012. I haven't been posting here as much as I'd like and I really do appreciate all of my Ich Liebe Comics! readers and would like to apologize for my lackluster posting here of late. Having said this, my Alternate Reality Comics website, which will be newly designed by my artist friend, Ron Horsley, will definitely turn this all around in a positive way (actually I'm happy with the way my website and blog look presently, but the new versions will be less static) so I hope you all are looking forward to these changes as much as I am to share them with you!

Mi Barrio; Robert Renteria & Shane Clester

Mi Barrio is a new graphic novelette (it's only 55 pages in length and I think only works greater than 100 pages should be called a novel or graphic novel) written by Robert Renteria and illustrated by Shane Clester from Renteria's novel, From the Barrio to the Board Room. Mi Barrio is about Robert Renteria's growing up in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles and how he was able to transcend his environment and not repeat the cycle that so many of those in his situation succumb to.

While Mi Barrio isn't very long it still is a good, inspiring story of what is possible through hard work and determination.

Alternate Reality Comics' Black Friday Sale!!

Alternate Reality Comics will be opening this Friday, November 25th (Black Friday), at 8am to get our Black Friday sales going! We'll also have FREE vegan donuts from Ronalds and FREE beverages on hand as part of our appreciation for Alternate Reality Comics' patrons / friends!

Here's the lowdown on Alternate Reality Comics' Black Friday sales! (going on from 8am until 7pm)!:

All graphic novels / trade paperbacks / hardcovers, will be on sale for 25% off the entire day!

A special display within the store will be devoted to graphic novels / hardcovers that are on sale for only ten dollars (this section isn't part of the 25% off graphic novel sale because of this sections already low price)! Buy two of the ten dollar graphic novels / hardcovers and receive a third one for FREE!!

ALL action figures will be on sale for $14.99! Buy any four (any combination of figures) for only $54.99!!

Our variants editions are normally low priced, but on Black Friday they'll be on sale for 50% off the marked price!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving Day and I hope to see you for our biggest Black Friday sale to date! A great selection of comics and graphic novels, along with free donuts and beverages, is there a better way to get in the mood this gift-giving season (and I like to think you'll also find some great priced items for your own gratification!)!?