On the Shelves: 12/28/06

Reading is fundamental. Don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit!

My weekly, semi-informed look at select comic books being released Thursday, 12/28/06 follows. 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]

It was nice to see Public Enemy promoting their comic book alter egos a while back; I just wish the comic book was actually good.

ARCHAIA STUDIOS PRESS
Artesia Vol 1 Ltd Ed HC, $24.95
Killer #2 (Of 10), $3.95
Okko Cycle Of Water #1 (Of 4), $3.95

Sweet! The First Book of Dooms was one of my favorite reads this year and this new hardcover edition could technically qualify it for my upcoming Best of 2006 list. *** The Killer #1 was an intriguing start, another example of Archaia’s great eye for quality material, and I’m looking forward to reading more. Okko gets automatic buy status thanks to that very track record.

DC COMICS
Batman #661, $2.99
Batman And The Mad Monk #5 (Of 6), $3.50
Blue Beetle #10, $2.99
Blue Beetle Shellshocked TPB, $12.99
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #6 (Of 8), $2.99

It makes me sad to not have a regular dose of Batman on my pull list, so Ostrander, Mandrake and Wagner are ensuring he remains properly represented, with solid tales of Dark Knight goodness that don’t make me embarassed for him. *** If you’re not reading Blue Beetle, then you’re missing out on one of the few good things to come from Infinite Crisis. It’s the Spider-Man concept done right, without any of the ill-conceived grit that usually comes along when DC attempts to riff on the Marvel template. Glad to see they’re supporting it with a relatively quick TPB collecting the first six issues. *** Uncle Sam… has so far lived up to the promise of its first issue, as Palmiotti and Gray work their spin on the Civil War concept in a more sensible, and timely, manner than Millar and company have.

DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
Nightwolf The Price #3 (Of 5), $2.95

A solid, offbeat original mini-series from Devil’s Due with ongoing potential that will hopefully get a TPB collection and reach a much wider audience.

MARVEL COMICS
All New Off Handbook Marvel Universe A To Z #12, $3.99
Dabel Brothers Free Sampler, AR
Daredevil #92, $2.99
Heroes For Hire #5, $2.99
Immortal Iron Fist #2, $2.99
Moon Knight Vol 1 Bottom Premiere HC, $19.99
Winter Soldier Winter Kills One Shot CW, $3.99

I generally resist the collector’s mentality, but the Handbook roped me in for its full run purely because I had to have the whole set. I’m killing comics! *** I’m not familiar with the Dabel Brothers’ work at all, but am curious, so this free sampler, while oddly timed, is a great idea. *** Ed Brubaker owns my soul, I think, as not only am I now following three characters I’ve never had any particular interest in because of his writing skills — Captain America, Daredevil and Iron Fist — I’m even looking forward to his Bucky/Winter Solider one-shot and expecting it to be good. Meanwhile, has anyone seen Jason Todd recently?

MOONSTONE
Night Driver GN, $12.95

The $.99 preview of this a while back piqued my interest a bit, but something about Christopher LaGasse’s artwork didn’t quite work for me. I’ll give it a flip-through anyway to see if my opinion has changed any.

PENNY FARTHING PRESS
Captain Gravity And The Power O/T Vril, $19.95

Captain Gravity was one of last year’s best under-the-radar comics that not enough people read, so I’m glad to see Penny Farthing publishing (re-offering?) a collection during the “down season” when retailers will hopefully give it some front-facing play while waiting for the next surge of their Marvel/DC bread-and-butter.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.