Happy New Comic Wednesday - ALL of the comics came out edition!

 Yup, it's Thanksgiving week, so that always means there's a plethora of comics that hit to insure that you've got sequential art entertainment to enjoy after your foodfest! Always a bang zoom day when Saga and Walking Dead come out! This week's new Image title, Black Science, is written by Rick Remender and we have a special cover edition as well! Second issue of Damian Son of Batman (an Elseworlds story) and we see what Barry (Flash) was doing during Zero Year!

 Infinity concludes this week and there's a lot of titles such as New Avengers, Infinity Heist, Infinity Hunt, and the Wolverine and the X-Men Annual (not pictured, but on the bottom right here with the camera flash, is the new issue of Wolvie and the X-Men)! Nova #100 (!?!), Superior Spidey (Doc Oct against Venom!), and a new issue of All New X-Men!

The Sandman Overture comic on the bottom left is the special edition that has behind the scenes on how this comic came together, with transparent lettering that really shows how amazing JH's art is! This Deadpool Annual has an art style that evokes what the new Hawkeye series looks like (and the new issue of Hawkeye is out!) so I can't wait to read it (and I don't usually read Deadpool, even though I've heard this new run has been a lot of fun)! There's really way too many comics that came out this week for me to talk about and I have to get back to reading some of them, so I hope to see a lot of you in a couple of hours!

Black Friday Sale, Alternate Reality Comics style! We'll be open from 6am-7pm with FREE Ronalds Donuts, FREE beverages, and the following sale specials detailed in the Ich Liebe Comics! blog entry below this entry!!

Black Friday Alternate Reality Comics Style!

Here's how we're gonna do up Black Friday this Friday (naturally - grin!), November 29th!:

We'll be open from 6am-7pm!

Start off your day with FREE Ronald (vegan) donuts & FREE beverages!

Here's the sales details that will be happening from 6am-noon!:

EVERYTHING 20% off!! That means comics, graphic novels, statues, t-shirts, pop vinyls, back issues, & more!

Here's the sale deals happening all day (6am-7pm)!!

50% off all variants!

50% off all one dollar & two dollar back issues!

50% off all comic book sets!

HUGE restock of $10 graphic novels!

20% off all graphic novels!

$20 gift certificate for every $100 spent!

We'll also have a BIG display of specially priced holiday items, such as action figures & other  pop culture items!

(% off sales do not apply to already on sale items)

Hope to see many of my Alternate Reality Comics friends!

New Comics Wednesday 11/20/13 - A Voice in the Dark & Afterlife With Archie edition!

 A Voice in the Dark, written and drawn by Larime Taylor is one of the best debuts I've read in a really long time! I'm pretty sure that anyone who picks up the first issue will be eagerly awaiting the next issue! Two other new series favorites have new issues out, Afterlife With Archie and Sex Criminals (and we still have the preceding issues)! The book on the bottom left is a new Fairest original graphic novel, with a who's who of great comic book creators contributing (and how about this awesome cover!?)! Harley Quinn #0, a lot of people have been awaiting this!

 The first Nowhere Men collection - can't wait to read this, I've heard so many good things about this title! Look, it's the other cool cover of the second issue of Afterlife With Archie!

Yes, I've got A Voice in the Dark #1 in two spaces up front this week because it's that good and I want to make sure people don't miss it (end of hype, can't wait to talk to people about this title!)! Also today, there's a GORGEOUS new over-sized hardcover original graphic novel from Dark Horse called The Fifth Beatle The Brian Epstein Story!

Woman Rebel The Margaret Sanger Story; Peter Bagge

Woman Rebel The Margaret Sanger Story is a new graphic novel biography written and drawn by cartoonist Peter Bagge (Neat Stuff, Hate, are two of his previous alternative comic series), published by Drawn + Quarterly. 

Margaret Sanger was a pioneering feminist who championed women's rights to birth control. Peter Bagge's biographical graphic novel on Margaret Sanger spans her birth in the late 19th Century, her role as a mother, wife, nurse, and educator. Margaret Sanger traveled the world promoting birth control and went on to found Planned Parenthood (the name of the organization was one she wasn't entirely happy with). Peter Bagge is mostly known as a cartoonist whose exaggerated art style one wouldn't think initially would be well suited for a serious graphic novel, but Margaret Sanger wasn't always a serious person and many of her "adventures" in her home life and traveling to promote birth control are humorous. Additionally, Peter Bagge's unique art style turns what could have just been an average biography into a graphic novel that is every bit as lively as Margaret Sanger appeared to be.

Happy New Comics Wednesday 11/13/13; Zero Year / Walking Dead edition!

 Another great Zero Year issue of Batman! With Zero Year tie-ins this week in the second issue of Arkham War, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Green Lantern Corps! Second issue Superman / Wonder Woman and the collected first arc of Injustice!

 Galactus is still hungry in Cataclysm, we get a new issue of All New X-Men (they get new outfits), and a GIANT size collection of new X-Men stories in X-Men Gold (so titled because of the creative talents involved)!

Okay, issue #115 of Walking Dead set up All Out War, but with this issue, things REALLY get in gear! And a new Walking Dead collection, volume 19, for those of you who get your WD comic fix this way! Unity #1 is out, starting up a big event in the Valiant universe and Manifest Destiny, a new image title looks really good! There's also some great graphic novels this week including a new Adventure Time hardcover and an over-sized Hip Hop history original graphic novel published by Fantagraphics!

War Brothers; Sharon E. McKay & Daniel Lafrance

War Brothers is a new graphic novel written by Sharon E. McKay, from her novel about child soldiers in Africa and drawn by Daniel Lafrance. While War Brothers is fictional, it is based on real events happening in Uganda and elsewhere around the world (sadly).

Everyone probably remembers the name Kony, from 2012, as his name was all over social medium platforms as the horrible leader of abducted child soldiers. The children central characters of War Brothers are abducted by Kony's soldiers from their school (which was protected, but they were overwhelmed) and forced to become soldiers for Kony's Lond's Resistance Army, really just a a more self important name than what Kony really is, a thug of the vilest order. While the children abducted in this story have to make some horrible choices to stay alive, like their real life counterparts, War Brothers is also a story of hope and courage in the face of evil, and shows that even if a child emerges from this nightmare, they still have a difficult road in front of them.

Reading War Brothers is difficult, put it should be read and is definitely one of the most powerful graphic novels of 2013. Here's a little video which uses art from the book to give you a better idea of War Brothers: http://vimeo.com/60125256

Palookaville Number Twenty One; Seth

 Palookaville, written and drawn by Canadian cartoonist, Seth, started off as a very irregularly published comic book, now it's an irregularly published handsome hardcover graphic novel series. Seth is one of my very favorite cartoonists (It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken being one of my all time favorite graphic novels) and I'm loving Clyde Fans, which we get another chapter of here in Palookaville Number Twenty One. As much as I love Clyde Fans, which is a fictional story about a traveling electric fan salesman, I wonder how much longer the story is and how long it'll take Seth to complete this story (maybe he's having a "race" with another great cartoonist, Jason Lutes, whose epic comic book narrative, Berlin, started probably about the same time as Clyde Fans, also has one wondering when we'll see the conclusion of said story - the race being who can hold out for the end appearing longer).

 

The above sequence is another story from Seth's Palookaville Number Twenty One, titled, Nothing Lasts, which is exactly about what it sounds like it's about. This story is drawn in Seth's more simplistic style, but it's no less a great reflective narrative on what most people would call mundane things occurring in life. The third "story" in this newest Palookaville book is called Rubber Stamp Diary and is more semi-biographical (?) musings by Seth, drawn using a few rubber stamps he had made, with really bad lettering (of which Seth apologizes for). I'd have to say that Rubber Stamp Diary is the only thing Seth has done, that I can remember, that doesn't resonate with me on any level.

Palookaville Number Twenty One is pricey ($21.99), but it is a gorgeous production (except in my opinion, the Rubber Stamp Diary middle section) and it is a good, long read that you'll want to revisit in the future if you like auto-biographical, slice of life sequential art narratives. For those of you who aren't already rapid Seth fans as myself, I'm sure there will be an uber nice collection of Clyde Fans whenever it gets completed and I'm sure that will be regarded as one of those benchmark works of this medium.

Dogs of War; Sheila Keenan & Nathan Fox

Dogs of War is a new graphic novel written by Sheila Keenan and drawn by Nathan Fox. Actually, Dogs of War contains three short stories featuring dogs that helped out during World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. These stories are works of fiction, but they're inspired by actual military history.

Dogs have assisted soldiers in wars throughout history and are called military working dogs (MWDs), but to the soldiers who are out in the trenches with these dogs they are like fellow soldiers to them and become their best friends. I think it would be hard not to tell good stories with this bond between man and animal in such difficult surroundings and Dogs of War doesn't disappoint, with my favorite being the tale of a soldier in the Vietnam War and his dog, Sheba. Great stories by Sheila Keenan and great art by Nathan Fox equal a great full color graphic novel suitable for all ages at a great low price of $12.99!

Happy New Comics Wednesday 11/6/13 - Forever Evil / Superman edition!

 Forever Evil is shaping up to be one of the better events in some time in my opinion! Aaron Kuder joins the creative team as artist on Action Comics - he's become a new favorite of mine! New chapters of Superman Unchained and Batman / Superman today also! Las Vegas' own, Gilbert Hernandez has a new graphic novel out, Maria M. and I'm looking forward to reading Trillium (if I haven't already read this before I post this entry - I start my Wednesday post on Tuesday night before I close for the night getting the shelves ready for New Comics Wednesday!)!

 A new X-Men title, with the return of Nightcrawler! Last issue of this incarnation of Captain Marvel! A super big collection of Hawkeye, collecting twelve issues! A new Hello Kitty, Longshot mini-series starts, and the end of the Ultimate universe continues with the first issue of Cataclysm! And fresh new red vines!

A new Luna title - Alex + Ada, as well as new issues of two Hickman titles, the third issue of Star Wars the Lucas Draft, and Ten Grand!

Bad Houses; Sara Ryan & Carla Speed McNeil

Bad Houses is a new graphic novel, published by Dark Horse Comics, written by Sara Ryan and drawn by Carla Speed McNeil. The characters and plot in Bad Houses centers around estate sales, which are sales of the contents / personal belongings of people who have died. I've heard of estate sales, but have never been to one  or really thought about what going to one entails. The title of this graphic novel, Bad Houses, comes from what one of the characters, Lewis, who works with his mother in preparing and conducting estate sales, describes as those houses that belonged to hoarders and are thus difficult to clean and sometimes hard for family members to reach an agreement on what will be going up for sale. But Bad Houses isn't primarily about these types of estate sales, rather it's a coming of age story of two people who meet at such as sale and the different motivations of those who go to estate sales (it can be like the "reality" show Storage Wars, but that's not always the case).

As good as the story and characters in Bad Houses are, this graphic novel wouldn't be as great as it is without the rich artistic talents of Carla Speed McNeil. Carla Speed McNeil usually writes and draws her own comics, called Finder, which are also collected in fine trade paperbacks by Dark Horse Comics. I was an Eisner judge several years ago and one of the comics up for Eisner consideration that year was Carla Speed NcNeil's Finder story arc titled Talisman, which Dark Horse has fairly recently turned into a gorgeous hardcover graphic novel (I believe a person could read Talisman without having read other Finder stories and appreciate it unto itself, but it'll make you want to seek out other Finder books). Carla Speed McNeil is one of my favorite cartoonists because all of her characters are varied, very expressive, and her story-telling is always a delight to gaze upon page after page. Her characters are funny, full of life, dramatic when they need to be, and Carla Speed McNeil has a great understanding of how clothes fit her characters as well as being able to render any background the story calls for, be it a fantasy one (which Finder largely is) or a realistic one as Bad Houses is. Bad Houses was a joy to read and look at, thanks Sara Ryan and Carla speed McNeil!