- Stephen on ESSENTIAL SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP

b o o k s f o r S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4

In The Shadow Of No Towers hc (£20-00) by Art Spiegelman - I've seen pages in various places. There were a few strips in the MCSWEENEY'S comic edition, some in the COMICS JOURNAL interview and there might have been some in one of the 9-11 benefit books. This is Spiegelman's reaction to not only the attack on the twin towers but also the public's reaction to the attack and, naturally, the government's part in all of this. The book is 9'x14' and each strip takes up a double-page spread. Previews here, here and here.

Complete Peanuts vol 2: 1953-1054 (£19-50, Fantagraphics) by Charles Schultz - Wow. Four hundred of the 730 daily and Sunday strips in the book have never been reprinted since their original appearance fifty years ago. The first book was beautiful and this one has Lucy on the cover. How cool is that?

Bush Junta (£12-50, Fantagraphics) by various. Time for some more Page 45 liberal-leftie propaganda, as we promote this timely collection of comicbook material from political and non-political cartoonists alike, each analysing a different element of George W. Bush's administration from start to (hopefully imminent) finish. Carol Swain, Mack White, Carol Lay, Marcel Ruyters, Mark Landham, Ethan Persoff, Kim Deitch, Spain Rodriguez and more hopefully find some new angles from which to preach to the converted.

Owly (£6-50, Topshelf) by Andy Runton - 'Owly is a kind, yet lonely, little owl who's always on the search for new friends and adventure. The first graphic novel in the series contains two enchanting novellas, 'The Way Home' & 'The Bittersweet Summer,' wherein Owly discovers the meaning of friendship, and that saying goodbye doesn't always mean forever. Relying on a mixture of symbols, icons, and expressions to tell his silent stories, Runton's clean, animated, and heart-warming style makes it a perfect read for anyone who's a fan of Jeff Smith's Bone or Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid.' The art style is sweet and big-eyed but, looking through the previews on his site (go to the store and click on a book) the content seems a little light.

Dead Herring Comics (£16-99, Topshelf) by Actus - The latest anthology from the Tel Aviv based cartoonists group. This time they include outsiders such as Art Spiegelman (another IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS preview), Suehiro Maruo, Blanquet, Ulif K and Etgar Keret.

Tamala: Life Is Punk (£61-99) - Oh, isn't it though. Chances are we won't be getting this but I love the contents. Tamala 2100 is a Japanese cute cat type merchandise figure and this is a big box set of fun. It includes 'a benefit schedule, a portable Tatla family Buddhist altar, four AD cards, and four original pictures of the cartoon cat.'

Collected Sequential hc (£16-99, Adhouse Books) by Paul Horschemeier - 'Issue four was also pivotal in that I began to stop caring about restraints and just producing stories that came into my head. The world is not necessarily better for this, but I certainly think I am. This issue contained things I would never before have been comfortable drawing or saying and it represented a massive step for me, more personally than artistically. In addition to this, I was starting to move beyond gag cartoons (a mistake move by some people's account) and creating longer stories, exploring the characters a little more fully.'

- the author, 2002

There's more here. Hornschemeier seems to be constantly searching for a way of expressing or at least new ways to tell stories. His book MOTHER COME HOME was possibly the least successful of his work, the serialisation was disappointing after the first issue of FORLORN FUNNIES, and it was good to see him return to experimentation with the fifth book. From what I've read of SEQUENTIAL, the work shows a promise that he's still trying to fulfil.

How To Go To Hell (£4-99) by Matt Groening; Road To Hell (£4-99) by Matt Groening. More skewed truths, handy hints and dubious insights to help you deal with a world in which hell usually is other people, even if they're a lot funnier through the eyes of THE SIMPSONS' creator.

Originals h/c (£16-99, Vertigo DC) by Dave Gibbons. Dave Gibbons provided a passionate introduction to a recent sampler of this original graphic novel, based as it is,on his teenage years as a Mod: 'Italian clothes, black dance music, fights, French haircuts, Lambretta scooters and amphetamine sulphate..' - c.f. the film Quadrophenia for their speed-fuelled, south-coast bank holiday battles with Rockers. (There was also a leftover contingent of Mods living in Shrewsbury, who once invaded our second-rate public school up on the hill, following at altercation on the Toll Bridge between a particularly stupid schoolboy ('Are you a Mod?') and a sharp young local (''Can you swim?'); it was the most excitement we'd ever had.) Thematically this graphic novel couldn't be anything but two-tone (black and white), but it's not quite set in historical reality, for here Gibbons is attempting to evoke the same idea without being specific. The solicitation copy's really very good: 'Lel and Bok - two best friends - want nothing more than to join the Originals, the top gang on the streets. Through them, they'll meet the high-speed world of hover scooters, all-night clubs and, for Lel, the girl of his dreams. But with the fast life comes tough foes, and tribal loyalty will teach them the unforgettable meaning of unforgivable loss. Neither a science-fiction story nor set in a mundane reality, THE ORIGINALS takes place in a world both familiar and strange, where the young are angry, loyal and fight for what they believe in. And the only thing more important than who your friends are is who your friends hate.' Now, you see, 'mundane reality' is where this project and I risk parting company, because I find nothing mundane about real life, am very keen on my straight fiction, and I'd have liked nothing more than to have seen a graphic novel specifically about life as a Mod at that point in British history. However, perhaps Quadrophenia has covered that ground as far as Dave's concerned, and I'm still looking forward to this enormously. Plus Dave (WATCHMEN) Gibbons certainly has the sharp, stylish line to pull the looks off. I remember getting a first glimpse of this at Bristol two years ago, so I'm not surprised it wades in at 160 pages.

Doom Patrol vol 2: The Painting That Ate Paris (£12-99, Vertigo/DC) by Grant Morrison & Richard Case, John Nyberg - Less sex-death and more goofy surrealism was the hallmark of Morrison's early Vertigo work and this was a fun thing. No exclamations of great meaning, just brain-slicing silliness and great lines.

Swamp Thing: Regenesis (£11-99, Vertigo/DC) by Rick Veitch & Alfredo Alcala - Not an easy task, following Alan Moore's stunning run on the title that made his name in the US. Veitch managed it by simply having great respect and love for the characters. The handful of stories that he did while Moore was away showed that he could cut it and, hey, he'd been doing the art for long enough so the transition was painless.

Smax h/c (£12-99, ABC/DC) by Alan Moore & Zander Cannon. Oh dear. I really think this should have gone straight to softcover, but at least it's the price of one. Errrm... From the pages of TOP TEN, big blue officer Smax is accompanied home by his younger female colleague - home being a fairytale dimension of small folk, gentle folk and dragons. Some fine fun to be had at first, and this really doesn't take itself too seriously. Moore plays with the tradition of fairytales, and reminds us that they aren't all sweetness and light. The mutual amorous love of Smax for his sister is played entirely straight, and Robyn is roped in as a decoy. But... I don't do twee, and although Zander may have seemed the obvious choice (REPLACEMENT GOD was his self-published effort, set in a similar world), it might have benefited from being grounded in something more concrete visually. Just for contrast. Or just to stop me nodding off. I think I can rest comfortable in the knowledge that Alan at least won't be writing in to complain when I say that after the first two issues this bored me rigid.

Hellblazer: Setting Sun (£8-50, Vertigo/DC) by Warren Ellis & Bradstreet, Frusin, Teran, Pulido & Romberger. Reprints Ellis' last four Hellblazer stories. It's been a while since anyone went postal at school, directors like Gus Van Sant are covering the subject in films, so why haven't DC chosen to include the story they declined to publish when they thought it was a little too close for comfort? Oh well, it's out there on the net somewhere, and very interesting it is too (early pencils from Jiminez, which must have been particularly disappointing for him).

Life Eaters s/c (£12-99, Wildstorm/DC) by David Brin & Scott Hampton. Norse Gods walk the Earth, and change the course of history. World War II. Painted by SPOOKHOUSE/LUCIFER artist. Completely failed to read it, but may be very good.

Little Endless Storybook h/c (£6-50, Vertigo/DC) by Jill Thompson. Now with added sketchbook and a look ahead to Jill's forthcoming Amerimanga project (THE DEADBOY DETECTIVES - mid-2005), I wrote this for the (barely less expensive) softcover three years ago...

Okay, it's not War & Peace. It's a bright little children's adventure in prose and pictures, as the long-suffering pooch Barnabus searches for his vague princess, Delirium, trying all her brothers' and sisters' realms as he goes. It's also watercolour heaven and as such rates for me as the best piece of Sandman material since Gaiman finished his story. Actually it's the only piece that comes close. Every single painting here is worth £4-99 on its own. There's sunshine and woods and tarpaulin shadow; grass that is green, bleached white statues, waves that are flooded in watery blue. You can feel that ocean breeze in his ears. All that and a doggie to die for - I'm so fey.

[Maybe if SMAX had come out then, eh?]

Scary Godmother: The Mystery Date Storybook s/c (£6-50, Sirius Entertainment) by Jill Thompson. Another SG hardcover becomes affordable. Scary Godmother has a mystery admirer. Hannah and Orson the boy-vampire can't resist trying to figure out who it is, but their attempts to unearth the suitor kindle a stampede of affection throughout The Fright Side, as all and sundry struggle to win her affection. So who was it originally. Whimsical children's prose, illustrated in watercolour.

Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish h/c - new CD edition (£11-99) by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean. Now available with Dave McKean screensaver and a recording of Neil reading the book. And it's a lovely book, with a very cool map and a lesson to all Dads out there: if you're not much fun, you may find yourself moving house. Several times.

Girl Genius vol 2 (£12-99, Airship Entertainment) by Phil & Kaja Foglio with Mark McNabb. Mad science adventure romance, recommended by Donna Barr.

Courtney Crumrin In The Twilight Kingdom (£7-99, Oni Press) by Ted Naifeh. 'Courtney's fed up with the human race [and it has to be said that most of the human cast are a complete of space], so it's a great gift when her Uncle shows her that there is a whole other society out there full of magical mages and ghastly goblins. Unfortunately for Courtney, the world of man always intrudes, and when her classmates play with the wrong toys, she has to lead them into the Twilight Kingdom to get them out of their pickle.' I think that just about sums it up for now, except to lavish praise once more on the black and white art.

Little Scrowley vol 1 (£7-50, Amaze Ink) by Todd Meister & Jen Feinberg. Naughty little tweeny goth title, quietly damning, with a style that puts me in mind of Aubrey Beardsley doing The Beatles' Yellow Submarine animation. Wrongly, I'm sure. Cats and ghosts and mothers on pills, and a vacuous fanny shopping to dress identically to her own dark herd, whilst damning those who do no different than she ('Oh Gawd! Can you believe little Miss Gap over there? Back to the suburbs with her.'). And so quick-march to the nearest Starbucks: 'I don't like it either, but nobody else makes Double Decaf LoFat Lattes like Starbucks. It's not like they use child labor or something.' Yes, it's one long, pathetic mewl of hypocrisy, self-absorption, self-pity and out-and-out ignorance in both common definitions of the word. Or at least that's what I wrote about the first issue. I wonder how it progressed? The pamphlet CHI, by at least one of these creators, is still in stock.

No Dead Time (£7-99, Oni Press) by Brian McLachlan & Thomas Williams. Two people, frustrated in their respective dead-end jobs (record store and computing) fall in love. We'll let you know.

A Few Perfect Hours & Other Stories From Southeast Asia & Central Europe (£8-50, Alternative Comics) by Josh Neufeld - ' Autobiographical cartoonist Josh Neufeld takes us on a dramatic tour of places as exotic and different as Thailand, Singapore, and the former Yugoslavia. Highlights include Neufeld and travelling companion Sari Wilson's stint as extras in a Chinese-language Singaporean soap opera, a train trip through war-torn Serbia, and a near-disastrous cave adventure in Thailand.

With gentle humor and a keen eye for the revelatory detail, Neufeld explores religion and spirituality, politics and personalities, and the mysteries of everyday life. His stories reflect the backpacker's conflicted feelings: a yearning for adventure mixed with homesickness and a sense of disconnection, trapped in a reality constantly in flux.'

Turtle, Turtle (£7-99, Alternative Comics) by Jed Alexander - 'Just off the coast of an unnamed Mexican town is Porta Tortuga, an Island that no one seems to remember but Cesar, a U.S citizen with a Mexican mother and a Jewish father who spent one unforgettably vivid day at the Island's Dia de los Phantasmas festival. And just what the Dia de los Phantasmas festival is or where the island can be found no one seems to remember either, or what happened that long ago summer of his childhood on an island whose inhabitants are convinced they live on a giant turtle. Cesar returns to Mexico to try and find the island and to try and decipher memories that he can't let go of, and to search for his father, who disappeared 15 years earlier, and what the adult Cesar discovers will both demystify these early memories, and reveal an even more impenetrable secret.'

Waterwise (£9-99, Alternative Comics) by Joel Orff - 'Imagine a cross between American Splendor and Alice in Wonderland...or imagine a cross between Carl Barks and Carlos Castaneda... In Joel Orff's new graphic novel Waterwise he explores these concepts and many more. This is the story of two old friends who are reunited for one night and wander together through a surreal, vaguely apocalyptic landscape, pondering life, griping about their circumstances, and trying to connect. Along the way they explore the nature of dreams, the fragile facade of civilization and the tenderness of a true friendship.'

Sticks & Stones (£8-99, Three Rivers Press) by Peter Kuper; The Jungle h/c (£10-50, NBM Publishing) by Upton Sinclair, adapted by Peter Kuper. 'The story of a giant Rock Man's volcanic birth and his subsequent attempt to lead a tribe of little rock people.' Kuper's a highly political creator (the second title here's an adaptation of a novel exposing the working conditions at the Chicago slaughterhouses of the early 20th century), so expect subtexts. He's also what I'd call difficult visually, all blocky and angular and very much into his browns and oranges, so you either love him or it leaves you cold. His wordless graphic novel from Vertigo, THE SYSTEM, which tells the story of a city living and breathing through its inhabitants was a masterly relay race of characters crossing paths.

Hellboy: Weird Tales vol 2 (£14-99, Dark Horse) by Craig Thompson, John Cassady, Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson and many, many, many more. As if HELLBOY wasn't weird enough in the first place. Mignola drops by to provide the cover, which is rather decent of him.

Hellboy: Odder Jobs (price unknown, Dark Horse) by Frank Dragon, Charles De Lint, Kim Newman, Guillermo Del Toro & Mike Mignola. Filmmakers and novelists contribute short stories, illustrated by Mike, to the fourth prose collection.

Beast Trilogy Chapters 1 & 2 (£9-99, Humanoids/DC) by Enki Bilal. Top French creator (NIKOPOL TRILOGY etc.) spearheads another wave of Euro releases, this one about a man with a perfect memory. The second chapter here was ranked as France's number one book for the summer of 2003. How jealous are you? Fantagraphics' first PEANUTS collection hit the New York Times Bestsellers list, true (and good on them), but Schultz was and remains a syndicated household name, and I just don't see a comicbook artist - certainly in Britain - achieving the same popular success. Critical success, yes, commercial success, no. At least not yet. (If I may run off on this one for a second, it occurs to me now, that maybe it's because the best are too good for popular thrills - FROM HELL etc. - and the most popularist just aren't good enough. Although obviously the main reason is that we've yet to regain the public's support for this medium, whereas the French never lost it. I don't care what anyone says: I love the French.)

Charland Anthology vol 1: Freddy Lombard (£11-99, Humanoids/DC) by Yves Chaland. Looks like TINTIN, but without the panache.

Liberty Meadows book 3: Summer Of Love h/c (£16-99, Image) by Frank Cho. Beautifully rendered cute animal and cheesecake crossover. Not a punchline in sight, but endearing all the same.

Superman: True Brit h/c (£16-99, DC) by Kim 'Howard' Johnson, John Cleese & John Byrne. Did you catch the 'John Cleese' there? Kim was responsible for Monty Python: The First 280 Years. I think you know what John Byrne's been responsible for. So now that we've established everyone's credentials, what can you expect? Plenty of publicity, a great deal of curiosity, but from the look of the three pages on offer, not a lot of subtlety. 'The Last Son Of Krypton's rocket ship crash-lands...' is a phrase I assume DC have permanently stored on some designated 'paste' key, for it forms the basis of so much of their output, followed here by the words '...in an English town even smaller than Smallville.' He's adopted by the Clarks who call him Colin (yes, I can't help smiling there either), and raise him to be quiet, polite and very, very cautious when it comes to his using his abilities, 'because the worst thing anyone can do is stand out in a crowd'. 'But when Colin grows up to become a mild-mannered reporter, working for The Daily Smear, a powerful tabloid newspaper dedicated to uncovering the biggest story of the century, he finds the key to his success may be in going public.' DC ends the solicitations with 'Whatever will the neighbours think?' but I'm more curious to see what the English tabloids are going to think, because it's just the sort of story they love to run ('FAWLTY POWERS!' - I swear I thought that up moments before spying it there in capitals on the main previews page, which means I can guarantee you at least one if not all of the sheep will go with that), and depending on what happens at The Daily Smear, it could be interesting to see what they choose to ignore.

Challengers Of The Unknown Must Die (£12-99, DC) by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale. There's a new Catwoman series by Loeb & Sale below, in the comics section. In the meantime here's their first collaboration, an 8-issue mini with a previously unpublished 12-page short from the same period. I don't know any more, sorry.

Plastic Man: On The Lam (£9-99, DC) by Kyle Baker - Plas is on the run, framed for a murder he didn't commit. How's he going to get out of this one? Baker stretches and bounces his art off the walls piling pun on visual pun. And for the original stuff you can have Plastic Man Archives vol 6 hc (£32-99, DC) by Jack Cole.

Batman: War Drums (£11-99, DC) by Bill Willingham, Andersen Gabrych & Pete Woods, Damion Scott, Brad Walker, Cam Smith, Troy Nixey. The stuff that precedes the current War Games crossover, taken from DETECTIVE COMICS and ROBIN. Robin's a girl now. Well, more of a girl than usual.

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives vol 1 h/c (£12-99, DC) by Bob Kane & others. Exactly the same hardcover usually on sale @ £32-99. These ridiculously affordable copies won't arrive with us until November 11th, but we do have to order them now, so please get your own orders in early. Reprints BATMAN #1-4, and DETECTIVE COMICS #33,34. (Hmm, mind you, that's still only 6 issues for £12-99, whereas we're currently running an offer on CEREBUS: HIGH SOCIETY, which is 25 issues long, at a mere £7-50. Overview in part B, but feel free to get order and receive one now.)

Batman: Hong Kong s/c (£11-99, DC) by Doug Moench & Tony Wong. Tony Wong has produced some very pretty Chinese art. Just not here, unfortunately. This is how I reviewed the hardcover, but without the references to it being a hardcover...

How many times are you prepared to endure the Bat or the Spider foiling a simple street robbery on a helpless young lady? Over and over again. There are four pages of it here, with absolutely no connection to the story - although it's not as if Moench has anything to say on any of the others. 'Doug Moench has been writing for over three decades,' they boast. So why isn't he any good yet? 'I... f-failed,' weeps Batman, falling to his knees like some dejected teenager after half a litre of Smirnoff and an hour browsing his ex-love's love letters. Come on, this guy's seen more friends and relatives butchered than my Uncle David's prize friesian cows. A simple 'Fuck...' would have been sufficient. The victim in question has just been found dangling upside down, quite dead after a kiss from a cobra that went horribly wrong. A lot of that happens during the course of this investigation, which takes Bruce Wayne to Hong Kong. There a young man finds himself stuck between two uncles on different sides of the criminal fence, and in possession of extraordinary abilities which allow him to twirl clunky gold nunchaku like a manic majorette, and pontificate in prime cod-philosophy: 'The hardest hate grows from love.' 'Just as you created Benny Lo with an act of life... you have now created Night-Dragon with an act of death --!' Or, more meatily: 'Looks like dragon and bat together... kick butt.' His dear mother's no more use:

'Perhaps it is better not to know... not to dwell on it... not to make the same mistake I did.'

'What mistake, mother? You're not making sense!'

'Your father, Benny... I... Never mind.'

'Is that the mistake you made? Marrying my father? Having a child by him?'

'No, Benny, of course not.'

'Then what? What happened between you? Why do you drop all these hints and then refuse to talk about him?'

'B-because... Because it advances the plot, my love. I'm going to be integral to its denouement.'

Batman/Judge Dredd Files (£9-99, DC) by John Wagner, Alan Grant & Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Carl Critchlow, Dermot Power, Jim Murray, Jason Brashill. Carl Critchlow? I don't remember that! All three crossovers in a single volume, with lots of painted art. (We have all three of Carl Critchlow's THRUD THE BARBARIAN currently in stock.)

Starman: Grand Guignol (£12-99, DC) by James Robinson & Peter Snejberg. Penultimate volume of superhero-ish series critically acclaimed by TRIPWIRE.

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Of Marvel Comics vol 1 h/c (£32-99, Marvel) by unnamed creators (isn't that interesting?). 264 pages of the earliest Marvel work, way before they were called 'Marvel' or had characters you appear to want to read about. The Sub-Mariner (this one), Human Torch (not this one), the Angel (not this one), Ka-Zar (yeah, probably this one, but Zabu by no means guaranteed). Or you can buy a story MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #8 & 9 as a one-shot @ £3-50 in which the Sub-Mariner (this one) does battle with the Human Torch (not this one). Unfortunately I don't think it includes the other pages, which promise the character 'Ferret'.

Ultimates vol 1 oversized h/c (£19-99, Marvel) by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch. Hmm, the whole of the first season - all thirteen issues - with magnified Bryan Hitch art, on the finest superhero series this side of WATCHMEN, you say? Yes, you could tempt me.

Avengers vol 5: Once An Invader (£9-99, Marvel) by Chuck Austen, Allan Jacobsen & Scott Kollins, C.P. Smith. Hmm, the last dregs of this grotty piece of rubbish, with plastic art by Scott Kollins, on the worst superhero series this side of MARVEL SUPERHERO SECRET WARS II, you say? That barge pole's staying right where it is.

Marvel Knights Spiderman vol 1: Down Among The Dead Men (£6-50, Marvel) by Mark Millar & Terry Dodson. First few issues of superior Spider-Man story in which someone learns Peter's secret, kidnaps Aunt may, and Spider-Man is cleverly manipulated by someone entirely unrelated to these events (possibly) into swinging in completely the wrong direction. High points include chatting to an Owl henchman about Crone's Disease, a prematurely interrupted Riker's Island joke, and an unfortunate encounter with the Avengers. It's Mark Millar - of course it's not straightforward.

Ultimate X-Men vol 9: The Tempest (£7-50, Marvel) by Brian K Vaughan & Brandon Peterson. Nope, I'm afraid I was right, and this isn't half as good post-Millar and Bendis. It's not remotely awful, but I'm afraid I can't rave. I quite liked the twist half-way through - if such it is, this hasn't finished yet - where Sinister looks as if he may have been talking to himself the whole time, but it's all a bit pedestrian or thrown in your face, and a potentially funny Northstar and Colossus visual gag (in the hospital) is lost through botched timing.

Daredevil vs Bullseye vol 1 (£10-50, Marvel) by Wolfman, Goodwin, Shooter, O'Neil, Miller & Brown, Kane. You have everything you need in the three Frank Miller Daredevil books already on sale.

Essential Super-Villain Team Up (£10-99, Marvel) by many. I quite like the idea that these cheap, black-and-white, big slabs of Marvel history are now being given over to material which would never again have seen the twilight of day whilst sanity prevailed at the company. (I'm not saying that sanity does prevail: a quick look at the number of new titles this month and it's instantly obvious that it's hardly the case - which might conceivably explain why this is on the schedule at all rather than, say, X-Men 'Onslaught' collections for which there's a substantial and vocal demand. However...) ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP and ESSENTIAL IRON FIST - there's nothing essential about either of those titles, nor indeed this one, which was pretty much bonkers from beginning to end. Dictatorial egomaniacs cooperate in the spirit of foul play to take over land and sea? I really don't think so.

Scenario One: 'Ah, ugly red nazi guy, I see you're looking a bit gullible this evening. Let me manipulate you into being somewhat dim.' 'Vy thank you, Herr Doom. Ve must have another Reich!' 'Hmmm, poooossibly not.'

Scenario Two: 'Ah, Prince Namor, you're looking susceptible this morning. Isn't Sue Richards lovely?' 'G'ah! Curse you, Doom, I will help you defeat the Fantastic Four!'

Scenario Three: 'Ah, Magneto, you're --' 'Quite capable of doubling a comic's sales on my own, thank you, Victor.'

I've said it before, they should stick to playing Risk.

Even More Fund Comics (£6-50, Comic Book Legal Defence Fund) by various. It's all for charity. Comics stories and art by Kurt Busiek, Jim Lee, George Pérez, Bill Willingham, Ron Garney, Andre Parks, Adam Hughes and more.

IDW Tales Of Terror (£10-99, IDW) by various. Steve Niles & Templesmith on a new 30 DAYS OF NIGHT story, Ashley Wood on a new LORE piece, bundled in with some others your less keen on, just so everyone gets paid.

CVO: Covert Vampire Operations (£12-99, IDW) by Alex Garner & Mindy Lee; Jeff Mariotte & Gabriel Hernandez. So Konami (video game company) give IDW their Metal Gear Solid to turn into a comic (see below) and IDW give Konami this to turn into a computer game: American Intelligence with fangs.

Dawn Of The Dead (£11-99, IDW) by Steve Niles & Chee. Adaptation of George A. Romero's second film in his zombie trilogy.

The Wang: The Big One (£6-50, Squid Works) by Stan Yan. Undergraduate anxiety, and at least one good reason why you shouldn't leave studying to the last minute. 4-page preview at www.squidworks.com. Rude, obviously.

Classic Dan Dare: The Red Moon Mystery (£14-99, Titan) by Frank Hampson. Classic EAGLE Sci-fi.

Magnus, Robot Fighter h/c (£32-99, Dark Horse) by Russ Manning, Kermit Schaefer, Don Friewald & Manning. Magnus: he fought robots, a lot, in the year 4,000. The series began in 1963 (it says here in COMICS BETWEEN THE PANELS, published by Dark Horse and available at all good comic shops @ £23-50), and ran for 21 issues. This is the lot. Not to be confused with the Valiant series in the 1990s. In fact nothing should be confused with a Valiant series - it inevitably leads to disappointment.

Kong: King Of Skull Island h/c (£16-99, Dark Horse) by Brad Strickland & Joe Devito. Ray Harryhausen (special effects god to all young boys who stared, slack-jawed at the creatures in Jason & The Argonauts etc.) provides the introduction to a reworking of the Kong legend, based on the original book. 'Within hours of the giant ape's plummet from the peak of the Empire State Building, his body - and Carl Denham disappeared. Twenty-five years later, Vincent Denham, the son of Carl Denham, makes a shocking discovery that leads him back to the site of this father's greatest adventure and to the answers that will unlock the century's greatest mystery and history's greatest miracle.' 96 pages.

Star Wars: Empire vol 3 - The Imperial Perspective (£14-99, Dark Horse) by lots. Just so you know (Mark may be covering this in part B, I'm not sure), the most recent STAR WARS TALES was taken over by people like Tony Millionaire (SOCK MONKEY) and Jason (HEY WAIT!). The Jason two-pager involved Darth Vader practising a speech, and was very funny. Back to this volume, and neither Tony nor Jason have anything to do with it.

Doctor Who: Dragon's Claw (£14-99, Panini Comics) by various. I'm reliably informed that Brian (ULTIMATES/AUTHORITY) Hitch is a design consultant for the new BBC series. They also have writers - quite the rarity since Nathan-Turner stepped on board and sank the ship back when.

Puttin' The Backbone Back: An Art Book By Jim Mahfood (£6-50, Image) by Jim Mahfood. Previously unseen sketches, strips and ideas (give me a straight line like that and it's difficult to resist) from the man I am still so desperately hoping reaches his full potential as a scathing social/media commentator on an Evan Dorkin level. BAD IDEAS #1 is still sitting on my desk, waiting to be read and reviewed, hopefully later this month. Jim also did GRRL SCOUTS and STUPID COMICS, some of which was very funny, some just very stupid. (Bit like these mailshots, then, if we only could manage the funny.)

Harvey Kurtzman: Retrospective Of A MAD Genius (£11-50). In 1954 Wertham published Section Of The Innocent, the Comics Code Authority was created, and Harvey Kurtzman created MAD Magazine. Only two of those events were connected. Here the Cartoon Art Trust give the man his due.

DC Comics Guide To Coloring & Lettering Comics (£12-99) by Mark Chiarello & Todd Klein. How do they do it, eh? Also in this series, three other volumes on Pencilling, Inking and Writing.

Pin-Up: The Illegitimate Art (£12-99, Dark Horse) by Jim Silke. First-person, prose account of life as a pin-up artist. Silke's been a glamour photographer, an art director in the music industry, and, of course, comicbook and pin-up artist. New, full-colour illustrations by George Petty, Coby Whitmore, Enoch Bolles, Al Parker, Rolf Armstrong, Jim himself and more.

The Art Of Usagi Yojimbo h/c (£26-99, Dark Horse) by Stan Sakai. Scores of previously unpublished pieces, full-colour paintings and a long out-of-print 12-page primer illustrating how Stan creates each of his Usagi stories, in the same, lavish format as the Miller and Mignola art books. Personally I'm hoping for plenty of sketches: the latest USAGI signed hardcover came through the other week, and as ever Stan made me smile with the fluid beauty of his penline, which swerved unbroken from the original sketch, straight into his signature. I wonder if there'll be stuff that has nothing to do with his ronin rabbit here?

25 Years of Viz (£20-00). That's the satirical British magazine, not the US manga publisher. Twenty-five years! My god, I'm old.

Will Eisner Companion h/c (£12-99, DC) by N.C. Christopher Couch, Stephen Weiner & Will Eisner. 176 pages of critical essays split into two sections: Eisner's SPIRIT work, and the stuff I adore. I can stare at the SPIRIT pages for hours, lapping up the designwork - the sheer mischief of some of the pages, where the titles become part of the backgrounds. I'm just not personally overexcited by that particular period or genre - or more accurately the genre in that particular period, which is my loss, I'm sure. His later fiction and semi-autobiography, however, are amongst my favourite graphic novels, whether he chooses to chronicle the metamorphosis of a street and its shifting population through an entire century (DROPSIE AVENUE) or his own thinly disguised life leading up to the draft of World War II (TO THE HEART OF THE STORM) - probably because they're all about social history and humanity. If there's a theme which runs throughout, it's that many lives are one long struggle to stay afloat (emotionally or financially), against the forces of politics, finance, competitiveness, mean-spiritedness or outright prejudice, although conversely few creators have offered characters with more life, energy or optimism in them, even when such optimism is cruelly crushed by strangers, family or friends. And of course it is all thoroughly Jewish, through and through (you can't look at a single page without understanding, implicitly, that the protagonists are Jewish), though none more specifically than THE NAME OF THE GAME - possibly my favourite - and FAGIN THE JEW - which I couldn't abide. Anyway, here are some writers who'll show what rubbish I'm talking. Their knowledge can't help but outstrip mine, although I'll give them a run for their money when it comes to a love of their chosen subject.

Comics Go To Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics (£12-50, Fantagraphics) by Fredrik Strömberg - Does exactly what it says on the tin. Looks at material from Hellblazer, Love & Rockets, Checkered Demon, Donald Duck, Dilbert, Stray Toasters, Preacher, Swamp Thing, Sandman, Lady Death, Tin Tin and others.

100 Artists See Satan (£16-99, Last Gasp) edited by Mike McGee - '100 artists showcase their conceptions of the world's all-time favorite bad boy, Satan, in this subversive response to the popular travelling exhibit '100 Artists See God.' As the popularity of angels arises, so does their oversaturation in the art world. This is a tongue-in-cheek balancing of the cultural phenomena of angels: 100 devilish works of art, sincere, irreverent, and parodic. Features the art of Mark Ryden, Robert Williams, Don Ed Hardy, Sandow Birk, Shag, Frank Kozik, Ed Ruscha, Rick Griffin, The Pizz, Alex Gray, Dan Clowes, and R. Crumb, just to name a few. Co-published with Grand Central Art Center.'

a l s o

Adventures Of Little Archie vol 1 (£7-50, Archie Comics) by Bob Bolling

Age Of Heroes (£9-99, Dark Planet) by James D. Hudnall & John Ridgeway

Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon vol 2 hc (£12-99, Checker Book Publishing Group) by Alex Raymond

Ashley Dust vol 1 (£8-99, Afterburn Comics) by Rick McCollum & Paula Robinson

Avengers/Thunderbolts vol 2: Best Intentions (£9-99, Marvel) by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Niciez & Barry Kitson, Tom Grummett

Batman In The Eighties (£12-99, DC) from many.

Bird vol 3 (£9-50, SAF Comics) by Carlos Trillo

Boy Vampire vol 4: The Resolution (£6-50, SAF Comics) by Carlos Trillo

Captain Marvel vol 4: Odyssey (£10-99, Marvel) by Peter David & Aaron Lopestri

Chocolate Thunder (£7-99, Oni Press) by Jeremy Love & Jeff Watson w/Robert Love & Jamar Nichols

Comic Adventures Of Felix The Cat (£8-50, Felix Comics)

Crossfire vol 1: Hollywood Hero (£6-50, About Comics) by Mark Evanier & Dan Spiegle

Dead @ 17 vol 2: Blood Of Saints (£9-99, Viper Comics) by Josh Howard

Dogwitch vol 2: Twisted (£9-99, Sirius Entertainment) by Daniel Schaffer.

Donald Duck Adventures vol 8 (£5-50, Gemstone) by various

Escalator (£8-60, Alternative Comics) by Brandon Graham

Fairytales Of Oscar Wilds vol 4 s/c (£5-50, NBM Publishing) adapted by P.Craig Russell

Fire Proves Iron: Grounded Stars (£6-50, Fire Proves Iron) by Michael Malbrough

G.I. Joe vol 5: Return Of The Serpentor (£8-50, Devil's Due) by Josh Blaylock, Brandon Jerwa & Brandon Badeaux, Tim Seeley

Gen 13: Ordinary Heroes (£9-99, Wildstorm/DC) by Adam Hughes & Mark Farmer

Gold Digger: Pink Slip (£6-50, Antarctic Press) by Thor Thorvaldson

Graphic Classics vol 10: Horror Classics (£6-50, Eureka) by various

I Love A Mystery! vol 1 (£7-50, Moonstone Books) by Cartlon E.Morse & Dan Sherwood

Jack The Lantern (£11-99, Castle Rain Entertainment) by Tim Vigil & Scott Lee

Jan Epoch And The Quicken Forbidden vol 2: Separation Anxiety (£9-99, AIT/Planetlar) by Dave Roman & John Green

JLA vol 14: Trial By Fire (£8-50, DC) by Joe Kelly, Rick Veitch & others

Kolchak: The Night Stalker vol 1 (£11-99, Moonstone Books) by various

Marvel Age Runaways vol 2: Teenage Wasteland (£5-50, Marvel) by Brian K Vaughan & Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa

Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol 4 h/c (£32-99, Marvel) by Roy Thomas & Werner Roth, Don Heck

Mystique vol 2: Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy (£11-99, Marvel) by Brian K Vaughan & Michael Ryan, Manuel Garcia

Myth Warriors (£6-50, Top Cow) by Robert Place Napton & Ph

Pervert Club vol 1 (£8-99, Radio Comix) by Will Allison

Silk Tapestry & Other Chinese Folktales hc (£8-50, NBM Publishing) by Patrick Atangan

Sinister Dexter: Gunshark Vacation (£9-99, DC) by Dan Abnett & others. From the pages of 2000AD.

Slowpoke vol 2: America's Gone Bonkers (£8-50, Alternative Comics) by Jen Sorensen

Star Trek: The Gold Key Collection vol 2 (£15-50, Checker Book Publishing Group) by Len Wein & various

Strangers In Paradise vol 2 pocket tp (£11-99, Abstract Studio) by Terry Moore

Superman: Man Of Steel vol 3 (£12-99, DC) by John Byrne, Marv Wolfman & others

Syphons (£9-99, Image) by Allen Curtis & Mark Beachum

Thanos vol 5: Samaritan (£9-99, Marvel) by Keith Giffen & Ron Lim

Thundercats: Hammerhead's Revenge (£9-99, Wildstorm/DC) by Fiona Avery & Carlos D'Anda. From the TV screen.

Transformers War Within vol 2: The Dark Ages (£11-99, Dreamwave) by Simon Furman & Andrew Wildman

Transformers: Trial By Fire (£14-99, Titan) by Bob Budiansky, Jose Delbo & Frank Springer

Vinny The Bug Man (£12-99, Now Comics) by someone

Voltron vol 2: Paradise Lost (£7-99, Devil's Due) by Dan Jolley. EJ SU & Clint Hilinski

White Lama vol 1: Reincarnation (£11-99, Humanoids/DC) by Alexandro Jodorowski & Georges Bess

Winsor McCay: Early Works vol 4 (£12-99, Checker Book Publishing Group) by McCay

Witches vol 1 (£6-50, Marvel) by Brian Walsh & Mike Deodato jr, Will Conrad

Wolverine/Punisher vol 1 (£8-99, Marvel) by Peter Milligan & Lee Weeks

Wonder Woman: Challenge Of The Gods (£12-99, DC) by George Pérez, Len Wein & Pérez, Bruce Patterson

m a n g a f o r S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4

Legal Drug vol.1 by CLAMP (£6-50, Tokyopop) ~ On the Tokyopop website you'll see this book has a suspicious 'leaf' motif on the cover, mysteriously absent from the picture in the current Previews catalogue. Instead there's a pill splitting the title in two. Why? Well, say hello to Kazahaya and Rikuoa, pharmacists. By day they work at an everyday drug store, but when night falls their boss has them filling out prescriptions for people with 'special ailments'. Things that cannot be cured with conventional medicine. Are just they peddling dime bags or is supernatural thrush their game? Did I mention these two young bucks have psychic abilities? Starting to see why they took the weed off the cover and replaced it with an an anonymous pill. Now to see if it's a placebo....

Intron Depot 4: Bullets (£32-99, Dark Horse) by Masamune Shirow. No art books shift faster or for longer here than Shirow's lavish lovelies. The creator of GHOST IN THE SHELL, APPLESEED etc., is renowned for his slightly naughty, nubile, biotech cybergirls. Here the emphasis shifts to his games designs - from the main characters and robots, to the vehicles.

Apocalypse Meow vol 2 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Motofumi Kobayashi. Great title, though.

A.I. Love You vol 5 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Ken Akamatsu

Aquarian Age Juvenile Orion vol 3 (£6-50, Broccoli Books) by Sakurako Gokurakuin

Armageddon vol 1 (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Hyun se Lee

Battle Royale vol 8 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Kouschun Takami & Masayuki Taguchi

Battle Vixens vol 4 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yuji Shiozaki

Black Leopard vol 5 (£9-99, Comicsone.com) by Wing Shing Ma

Boss vol 2 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Jae Won Im

Comic Party vol 3 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Sekihiko Inui

Couple vol 2 (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Jae Sung Park & Sung Jae Park

Crazy Love Story vol 1 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Lee Vin

Culdecept vol 2 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Shinya Kaneko

D.N.Angel vol 4 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yukiru Sugisaki

Dark Edge vol 1 (£6-50, Comicsone.com) by Yu Aikwawa

Demon Ororon vol 4 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Kizuki Hakase

Deus Vitae vol 3 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Takuya Fujima

Diabolo vol 1 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Kaoru Ohashu & Kei Kusunoki

Digimon Tamers vol 4 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Akiyoshi Hongo

Doll vol 2 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Mitsukazu Mihara

Dragon Fist vol 2 (£9-99, Ironcat) by Kenji Okamura

Dragon Knights vol 16 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Mineko Ohkami

Dragon Voice vol 1 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yuriko Nishiyama

Galaxy Angel Party vo l1 (£6-50, Broccoli Books) by Kanan

Geobreeders book 2 (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Akihiro Ito

Get Backers vol 5 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yuya Aoki & Rando Ayamine

Gunparade March vol 1 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Hiroyuki Sanadura

Hard Boiled Angel vo l2: Blue Angel II (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Hyn se Lee

High School Girls vol 1 (£6-50, Comicsone.com) by Towa Oshima

Hino Horror vol 12: Skin & Bone (£6-50, DH Publishing) by Hideshi Hino

Hino Horror vol 13: Zipangu Night (£6-50, DH Publishing) by Hideshi Hino

How To Be An Angel vol 1 (£8-50, Ironcat) by Kumiko Kikuchi

Ikeburo West Gate Park vol 2 (£8-50, Digital Manga Distribution) by Ira Ishida

Kamunagara: Rebirth Of The Demonslayer vol 1 (£6-50, Anime Works Publications) by Jajime Yamamura

Louie The Rune Soldier vol 3 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Ryuo Mizuno

Nadesico book 4 (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Kia Asamiya

Nanaka 6/17 vol 2 (£8-50, Ironcat) by ken Yagami

Now vol 4 (£6-50, Comicsone.com) by Park Sung-Woo

Passion vol 1 (£8-50, Digital Manga Distribution) by Shinobu Gotoh & Shoko Takaku

Peingenz vol 2 (£6-50, Comicsone.com) by Suh Gwong Hun & Park Sung Wood

Saint Marie vol 2 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Yang Yeo-Jin

Samurai Executioner vol 2 (£6-50, Dark Horse) by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima

Slayers: Lina Teenage Sorceress (£6-50, CPM Manga) by Hajime Kanzaka & Shoko Yoshinaka

Steel Angel Kurumi vol 8 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Kaishaku

Sweet And Sensitive vol 2 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Park Eun Ah

Those Who Hunt Elves vol 7 (£6-50, ADV Manga) by Yu Yagama

Tramps Like Us vol 2 (£6-50, Tokyopop) by Yayoi Ogawa

Trigun Anime vol 1 (£9-99, Dark Horse) by Yasuhiro Nightow

Vampire Princess Miyu vol 8: Dissention (£8-50, Ironcat) by Narumi Kakinouchi

We The People: A Call To Take Back America (£10-99, Coreway Media) by Thom Hartmann & Neil Cohn

Weapon Of The Gods vol 10 (£9-99, Comicsone.com) by Tony Wong

Worst vol 2 (£8-50, Digital Manga Distribution) by Hiroshi Takahashi

c o m i c s f o r S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4

Shouldn't you Be Working #2 (£3-99, Fantagraphics) by Johnny Ryan - Probably yes. The first issue was completed while he was working at a Seattle urology clinic although this one might have been done at another establishment. His ANGRY YOUTH COMICS are a shocking pit of scatological humour mixed with misanthropy and all the better for it and this should slide down a little further. Please check his site for examples.

Bart Simpson's Treehouse Of Horror #10 (£3-50, Bongo Comics) by Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Rob Zombie, C. Scott Morse, Tone Rodriguez, Ty Templeton & Chris Yambar - Hey! Why don't we get three metal dudes to write some Simpsons stories? And make sure that they're all horror-type metallers as well! Pencil it in for September? Okay!

A1 Presents: The Bojeffries Terror Tomes vols 1& 2 (£3-50, Atomeka) by various. And by various they mean complete no-namers like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse, David Lloyd, Steve Pugh, John Bolton etc.. Includes a Flaming Carrot/Mr. Monster crossover.

Catwoman: When In Rome #1 of 6 (£2-60, DC) by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale. The creative team responsible for all those primary colours recently (and HULK: GREY) returns to where they were most popular with the early years of Batman in LONG HALLOWEEN and DARK VICTORY. And although Selina was a key player there, the spotlight here is thrown directly onto the sultry cat burglar who continues to deal with the Falcone family... back in Rome. Please note: Batman and a whole load of Gotham's most dangerous denizens also make their presence felt. For more Loeb & Sale see CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN tpb above.

Superman/Batman #14 (£2-20, DC) by Jeph Loeb & Carlos Pacheco. Michael Turner's crowd-luring stint may be over, but rather cunningly Loeb won't let you leave that easily. I thought all the various storylines were going to be self-contained (though I'm sure that was my own presumption, I don't recall DC specifically claiming any such thing), but no, at the risk of spoiling things for current readers (SPOILER: DO LOOK AWAY NOW. DC HAVE PROVIDED EVERYONE READING PREVIEWS WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION, BUT I'M HERE GIVING YOU A GOOD TWO LINES - DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF YOUR SCREEN - TO LOOK AWAY, SHOULD YOU SO DESIRE...), in the aftermath of the previous issue, for one reason or another, 'the Earth wakes up to a brand new world order - one in which Batman and Superman rule with an iron fist. Humankind has a choice: obey or die!' Expect many opposing guest-stars, along with some solid art from Pacheco who's heading firmly in the Brian Bolland and Gary Frank direction. 5-part story arc.

Adam Strange #1 of 8 (£2-20, DC) by Andy Diggle & Pascal Ferry. Adam Strange went to space and had a family on a distant planet. Said planet and family are gone, and he's now on the run back on Earth. Andy writes THE LOSERS, and was responsible for the first few issues of the current SWAMP THING. The art's very... orange, but that's probably just the flashback.

Elric: Making Of A Sorcerer #1 of 4 (£3-99, DC) by Michael Moorcock & Walter Simonson. Definitive THOR artist (post-Kirby, I grant you, but Simonson made it feel a little more Norse to me) illustrates world-renowned fantasy novelist (and early Neil Gaiman literary hero) Michael Moorcock, for a previously untold instalment in his white-haired warrior's history. This isn't an adaptation, this is Michael Moorcock actually writing comics. We still have the trade paperback of P. Craig Russell's miniseries, which includes Neil Gaiman's autobiographical tale of childhood reverie and schoolboy companionship, also illustrated by Russell.

Hellblazer #200 (£3-25, DC/Vertigo) by Mike Carey & Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin, Leonardo Manco. John Constantine is married. To three different women from his past. What the hell's going on? Three separate stories. Possibly.

Pscythe #1 of 2 (£2-95, Image) by Mark Texeira. Ah, Mr. Texeira... Strange to remember that he used to be as much in demand at Marvel as any of the Image pioneers. He was like a stocky Mike Zeck inked over by Sam Kieth or Bill Sienkiewicz. His art style, I mean; I've never seen a photo of the man himself. Actually, I think he was inked over by Bill for some Wolverine stories. So: Lucifer's war, angels banished to hell, but one has a chance of redemption by inhabiting a human host and learning the lessons it failed to take on board either in Heaven or Hell. The vessel is an unsuspecting female bounty hunter.

Return Of Shadowhawk #1 (£2-25, Image) by Jim Valentino. You're kidding me.

Strange #1 (£2-60, Marvel) by J. Michael Straczynski, Sara (Samm) Barnes & Brandon Peterson. Is this really the mini-series Straczynski's been referring to throughout his run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN? Because that's supposed to be contemporary, and this is a reworking of his origin, I think. Oh, and this isn't a mini-series. Caution The Second: it's entirely possible that whoever Sara is, she knows exactly what she's doing. However, she's credited in the writing here alongside JMS, so, you know...

Black Widow #1 of 6 (£2-25, Marvel) by Richard K. Morgan & Bill Sienkiewicz. Bill Sienkiewicz on rare full art gig. Other than that I can't rightly say yet.

Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks #1 of 4 (£2-60, Marvel) replaces the current HULK series for a while, while they try to find some readers again. The Thing watches one too many Clint Eastwood films, and moseys on into town, spoiling for a fight. Fantastic form and gnarled textures by Jae Lee, who draws a far more credible Thing.

Bullseye: Greatest Hits #1 of 5 (£2-25, Marvel) by Daniel Way & Steve Dillon. Two Steve Dillon comics in a single month. Very happy. Bullseye's the bloke you don't want to beat at poker, being slightly short of temper, long on grudges, and with a unique approach to shuffling (the pack isn't what gets cut). He's also killed two of Daredevil's girlfriends already, although one's feeling a bit better now. (Elektra is one of seventy-two other new Marvel series this month; I nearly didn't mention the company at all in protest. As it is, there are several omissions, including JUBILEE, GAMBIT, NIGHTCRAWLER, WARLOCK, MARVEL AGE: HULK, MARVEL AGE: SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP and a host of MARVEL KNIGHTS 2099 one-shots - feel free to inquire.) This mini promises to reveal why the Bullseye isn't much of a world-class citizen.

Madrox #1 of 5 (£2-25, Marvel) by Peter David & Pablo Raimondi. Perfectly decent art for Peter David's return to X-FACTOR. Jamie Madrox has more than a split personality, in that he can split it between multiple bodies harvested from his own at the merest bump. Here he's found staggering off a bus, setting up a detective agency, and living in peace as a Shaolin priest. Which one's the real Madrox? Even Jamie hasn't a clue. David's early run on X-FACTOR was bright and cheeky, particularly when he played with Quicksilver. There's no Quicksilver here, and it's intended as a thriller, but hopefully the man still has some laughs up his sleeve.

The Drunk #1 (£2-25, Aposable Thumbs). Fame at last! Oh wait, it's about someone else. (The publisher forgot to mention who this is by. Insert your own joke.)

Comicana #1 (£3-50, APC) by Dan Boultwood. I'm surprised there aren't more comics about working in a comic shop. There's motorways of mileage in it, and if it's really any good, you have a subject matter so many potential readers can relate to (it's where they buy their comics, after all). The creators are both from Com.X (occasional publishers of CLA$$WAR etc.), and this sees a mysterious board game arriving in a routine comicbook delivery, which turns the shop assistants' lives upside down, 'opening a doorway to Hellish terror!' What, straight to John Prescott's bedroom? 'Comicbook retailing has never been so accurate - or dangerous.' You weren't around during the Pokemon craze, obviously.

Sonic The Hedgehog #141 (£1-60, Archie) by Various. Since we're on the subject of comicbook retailers, the only reason I mention this is because Martin 'Biff' Avere, owner of Ace Comics (www.acecomics.net - let's spread a little publicity around), in his role as fellow COMICS INTERNATIONAL columnist, makes monthly pronouncements on forthcoming releases, rating them out of 5 for both quality and sales potential. If I did the same, we'd be at diametric opposites 95% of the time. Now, I don't know if he does sway other retailers, but if he does, I want to swap jobs because Eddie Campbell would then be outselling FLASH internationally, and quite rightly too (he does here, obviously and effortless, at a good 8:1). However, Page 45 isn't a regular comic shop, so although I personally shake my head when it comes to Avere's diagonostics, his sales projections are almost certainly far more accurate across the board than any I would make. Plus - and we're getting to the point here - about a year ago, Biff came out with what I thought at the time was a ludicrous statement: that if a retailer bought in a dozen copies of SONIC any time it was offered or reoffered, they'd always sell, and we'd thank him for the advice. We'd never even been asked for a SONIC comic until then. Ladies and gentlemen, the man knows what he's talking about. We bought them, they sold, and - out of the blue - completely new families started asking for them. If there are any retailers reading who don't order the odd SONIC, please listen to Biff and try it. You'll make some young children and their parents very, very happy. (Cheers, Biff, I owe you a pint. If you're down next year at Bristol, I'll buy you a round. Hand on genuine heart.)

Fathom: Dawn Of War #1 (£2-25 Aspen) by Michael Turner & Talent Caldwell. Underwater Lovely Lady Fantasy. Caldwell's no Turner artistically (I nearly typed 'Caldwell's no Talent artistically' - which would have been mean. Yet accurate.), but I admire Michael Turner as a man enormously, so I flag this now. Plus, Michael's own FATHOM collection (all Turner, no Caldwell) is still in print, so if you've been enjoying his visuals on SUPERMAN/BATMAN, you will love that book.

Warren Ellis' Apparat Preview (£1-60 Avatar) by Ellis & Burrows, Ryp, McCubbin, McNeil. Warren's been mulling this idea over in public for a while now, though I confess I've lost track of what it's attempting to achieve. However, none of this matters just now, for what's on offer here are pages from each of the one-shots which will be included in the final project. As in, once more, you don't need it. You might want it though, because each page will be accompanied by a new essay from Ellis himself.

Belladonna #1 (£2-99, Avatar) by Brian Pulido & Clint Hilinski, Gypsy Preview (£1-60, Avatar) by Pulido & Paulo Sequeira, Killer Gnomes #1 (£2-60, Avatar) by Pulido & Eddy Barrows. Whilst Pulido fans may fret over the fate of LADY DEATH following her second publisher's plummet into, err, chaos, Brian himself appears to have found himself yet another, perhaps more suitable home at Avatar. They have a long-standing history of well-endowed ladies (with or without their kit on), plus Brian was always a fan of variant covers and Avatar is the very last company to stifle that sort of thinking. So, two fully-fledged first issues here, the first set in Ireland where the titular heroin rises from the grave to avenge her murder at the hands of some Vikings, the second being a work of horror which appears to involve the overly enthusiastic efforts of a garden gnome to protect its owner's garden. Oh, and the preview is, as ever, just that. My mother could use one of those gnomes. I don't think she'd be overly squeamish if it meant finally getting rid of those cats from her back yard.

Horrorcide (£4-50 IDW) by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith, Josh Medors, Chee. Regular Niles artists on irregular horror stories. You know the drill by now. It's the one deading into the back of your neck.

Periphery #1 (£2-60 OPP) by various. More Steve Niles, plus other writers and other artists who aren't Steve Niles.

Metal Gear Solid #1 (£2-99 IDW) by Kris Oprisko & Ashley Wood. For those with more constructive things to do with their spare time than myself, Metal Gear Solid is one of the top tier computer games in which you play Solid Snake, an expert in infiltration, espionage and whispering gruffly into an internally grafted headset. I'm not going into his extended family tree, but safe to say that nothing is ever straight forward, and every so often he'll stumble upon a genetically modified loon with a tricky ability, at which point stealth gives way to the lobbing of grenades, the hurling of insults and at least five reloads before success. So, here's something to read while you sit through the often interminable animation sequences, and they certainly nabbed the right artist. For added entertainment, see if you can sneak this into your house completely undetected, then read it in a ventilation duct whilst wearing nightvision in a radiation suit. (Thieves please note: stealth is not appreciated in the shop, and we'll be keeping our eyes open for large, meandering cardboard boxes. Although you may find yourself with a slight advantage if you try it when deliveries arrive.)

m e r c h a n d i s e f o r a u t u m n 2 0 0 4

Bettie Page Poker Set (£75-00, Dark Horse). 'If you play your cards right, you can sit opposite Bettie Page at the poker table!' Although it should be noted that the ultimate pin-up girl is now eighty-one (birthday April 22nd, should you want to send her a card), and this is not a free-entry prize competition. Inside the hinged, be-handled, smart wooden box you'll find 100 poker chips in different denominations, each graced with the face that launched well over a thousand... private consultations. Also, two decks of cards boasting Bettie on the beach, plus a different image for each of the face cards. Under the circumstances, then, strip poker is not recommended, unless you want to give away more of yourself than usual.

Destiny mini-bust (£45-00 DC) by Barsom based on Kevin Nowlan. From the pages of SANDMAN, comes the man with the Book in his Hand. If you break it by mistake - or indeed on purpose - you'll be compensated by finding a small fortune cookie inside.

Arthur Suydam: Alien Encounter Porfolio (£35-00, Image). 'Maxfield Parrish meets H.R. Giger,' declares art dealer Peter Koch (and bull). I can see the Giger, but where on earth Parrish is hiding is beyond me. Ten colour plates of blood, mucous, and unholy terror in a loose-leaf book. 11' x 17'.

Tim Burton Toxic Boy Squishy Toy (£8-99, Dark Horse). It's squishy, and almost certainly toxic.

Eager Beaver t-shirt (£16-99, Amaze Ink) by Woodrow Phoenix

Dawn: Periwinkle signed digital print (£22-99, Linsner.com) by Joe Linsner. Lime green and red hair? Almost certainly a crime.

UK Postage (overseas at cost):

£1-00 for the first comic (unless there's a book included in the package in which case it's just 25 pence), and 25 pence thereafter.

£1-00 each for Tokyopop or Lonewolf books, £1-50 each for other books or t-shirts.

'Behind The Panels', 'Cages', 'Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels' and 'Love & Rockets: The Complete Palomar' will cost a flat £5-00 postage, but anything ordered on top of them will of course be postage free, because.....

Maximum postage for all this lot is £5-00.

Posters and prints are sent separately @ £1-50.

Standing Orders:

To ensure that you never miss a single issue of a title you read, Page 45 provides a free standing order service either for personal collection or sending by post. All you have to do is tell us which titles you want, and we'll save them for you as they come out. You can visit or phone as often as you want, but we must hear from you at least once every three months, please. Single orders and reservations just as gratefully received as any others.

More information can be found in Comics International (£1-50), the Previews catalogue (£3-25), at www.ninthart.com and www.sequentialtart.com or indeed by e-mailing us at page45@page45.com

Want tips on producing your own comic? - Download the .pdf - http://www.reddingk.com/

Our web-site address is www.page45.com. Construction, design and management by Dominique Kidd.

Removal instructions: there is no way out. Oh, okay, just type 'remove' in the subject heading, and feel our desolation.

Page 45 is a comic shop.

We are:

Mark Simpson

Stephen L. Holland

Tom Rosin

Page 45

9 Market Street

Nottingham

NG1 6HY

Tel: (0115) 9508045

Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm.

We bask on Sundays, sorry.

Page 45 mailshots necked like crazy by Stephen and Mark. LEGAL DRUG passively smoked by Tom.

l e t t e r s

Congratulations to Marcus Cooper, kindest of customers, about to be married around the time you're reading this! The reception's in Bermuda, I hear.

From those who were actually invited.

Everyone's flying around the globe, it seems. Simon Robinson's in Houston, where he may have a problem:

Where I'm currently staying, they have cake for breakfast.

That's it. Just cake.

Wow.

'What sort of cake?' I asked.

All kinds of cake - it's incredible. Mr Kipling would, like, overload or something.

I will have a closer look this morning and give you a more detailed breakdown...

We've not heard from him since.

Devin Sykes ordered quality comics, then added:

P.S. A belated congratulations on that award thing you won. Page 45 is the only comic shop I use that doesn't make me feel embarrassed that I still like comics.

What on earth do the other comic shops do to you?!

It could be the bags, I suppose. When I used to shop at Bookscene in my University years (about the time of the Caxton Press, yes...), they sent me home with my finds in a brown paper bag. Which wouldn't have been so bad had half their stock not been wrestling magazines and porn (lawyers please note: I'm sure the situation has changed). But I have to admit I preferred that infinitely to my trips to Forbidden Planet where they ladled my comicbook wet dreams into the most garish plastic carriers I could envisage, replete with badly drawn Doctor Who characters etc..

Is there a sole out there who doesn't think Mark's designs for the Page 45 carriers are so very cool? They're a fashion statement. No images, just that sharp icon, address and web page, classically black on opaque white. 'Heyyy,' they say on the streets, 'You shop at Page 45? I am unworthy...' 'You're not unworthy,' I tell them, 'You're uninitiated. Get yourself down to Page 45, pick up a copy of MCSWEENEY'S, and you too can have hot sex with the fashion model of your choosing.'

And you wonder why we're doing so well.

I've just noticed that back in January I asked for a copy of 'Coffee is for Grown Ups' with a free badge. I've not had this yet - is it due out soon?

Don't know whether you know, but recently on BBC4's 'Battle of the Books' they put 'Complete Maus' up against 'Schindlers Ark' and the audience voted for Maus as the book they'd most like to read!

Cheers

Christopher [Powell]

Firstly, we have not only #1 back in stock, but a new issue too. Alas, no badges. Secondly, no, I didn't know that, but it's definitely made my month. Forget what I wrote in the BEAST TRILOGY preview, things are so looking up.

What's BBC4?

Talk about a strange coincidence...

Just received latest STRANGEHAVEN. In it, a pilot walks out of his plane crash in World War II, and into his wife's life 50 years later. His wife has aged, but he hasn't. She accepts him.

I'm proofing pages for the latest BOSOM ENEMIES. An officer walks out of a world he's been trapped in since 1944, and into his wife's life in 1970. His wife has aged, but he hasn't. She rejects him.

I've no doubt Gary and I have both been planning something for our characters' lives for some time, all unaware of each other's intent.

Usually, when more than one artist gets a spookily specific call from the muses, it's a direct link to something we'll all be discovering soon. The artists' and authors' radio towers are picking up the same signals, and we're getting the same messages.

Are the dead coming home?

Donna Barr

www.stinz.com

Well, Rob Liefield's back on X-FORCE.

Here's another coincidence: everyone's talking about STRANGEHAVEN this month...

Hi Stephen,

Firstly, many congrats to you, Mark, Thom and Dominique on your Diamond's Best Retailer award. Fully deserved.

I think someone wants a free plug.

DROWNERS #3 shipped to Diamond yesterday (June 28). I have a two pg. story in THE COMICS JOURNAL WINTER SPECIAL entitled The Shock Of Recognition. I'll also be contributing artwork to GSM's upcoming Strangehaven 10th anniv. edition.

Cheers,

Nabiel [Kanan]

www.new-flame.co.uk

Yep, someone wanted a plug. Couldn't believe it when I saw your piece in CJWS. How do you land that one? I -- Hold on, what's that about the STRANGEHAVEN 10th anniversary?

Well, Nabiel's just a BLABBERMOUTH. Didn't I tell him that it was TOP SECRET? Oh, maybe I didn't.

The biggest piece of Strangehaven gossip is that there will be ANOTHER ISSUE BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!

(note that I don't specify WHICH Christmas...)

The great thing about a tenth anniversary is that it lasts for a whole year.

Someone passed on Donna's e-mail about the coincidences in Strangehaven #16 to me, but I'd actually had the idea when I first started Strangehaven - you can see that it was clearly plotted out around the time of issue 6. So Donna's obviously a plagiarist. She must have been through my drawers.

Richard Humphreys, author of 'The Tate Companion to British Art' compared issue #16 to Eliot's 'Four Quartets.' My proof-reader Dave compared it to Potter (Dennis, not Harry). Donna Barr has compared it to Donna Barr. They're all wrong. I got the idea from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. One of those with Melvin the Martian in. I think.

-- Gary.

www.millidge.com

I've just finished reading STRANGEHAVEN #16 and if there are any stragglers out there, can I please implore you to give either this single issue or the first two books a go? There is nothing out there so quintessentially British as Gary's STRANGEHAVEN. You don't have to be into The Prisoner or Twin Peaks (often-cited comparisons) though if you are, you need these books. I've never even seen The Prisoner, but this stuff is so very, very clever.

Witness the changing of the plug. 'Changing of the plug?' Yes, someone changes a plug. Sounds rather random, but it's not. The visuals are very subtle, because they don't look quite right. Several pages on, and all is revealed. And talking about 'not quite right', the fighter pilot walking in on his wife was so well handled. £2-20 and you can see what I mean.

Time for some apologetic crawling, this time to singer-songwriter and comicbook creator Voltaire, whose most recent work, DEADY THE MALEVOLENT TEDDY, I did... somewhat savage.

For starters, I guess I should be thrilled and grateful that out of all

of the 'godawful shit' you receive, you should have chosen MY book to

be the beneficiary of the ONLY scathing review on your lengthy list of

reviews. That in and unto itself, I suppose must be some kind of accomplishment.

Well, I don't know think you could call my reviews of NEW X-MEN ACADEMY X of EXCALIBUR particularly complimentary, but I take your point.

Secondly, while I understand what a tremendously huge pile of books you

must have to go through, I question the legitimacy of a review based on

the first 6 pages of a 48 page book.

Again, good point. Which is partly why I owned up to it.

I have to blame myself for not deciding who my audience would be until the third story.

So TRUE, the first story (ie: the first 6 pages) and perhaps the second are ALL AGES

stories, engineered to not offend anyone. But by page 10 I could no

longer hold back the subversive, black humor that is so much at the

core of what I do. If you had read on I think you would have been

pleasantly surprised by lascivious and morally bankrupt references to

necrophilia, paedophilia and yes, there may even have been a reference

to 'ANAL RAPE' in there somewhere. (I don't think it was in your favored

form: 'Anal PRISON Rape'.. but I would be happy to consider adding that

one to the NEXT issue!)

Okay, cheers, MAAKIES wasn't my review!

Now, hating my drawing 'style' (if you can call it that) is fair enough

I guess. But I think you cheated your readers a little by not

mentioning some of the wonderful guests artists in this book like MARK

WHEATLY (Frankenstein Mobster-IMAGE) who does a wonderful DEADY MEETS

FRANKIE story in his trademark style. Anime superstar JUNKO MIZUNO

(VIZ) who contributed a gorgeous pin-up and CLIVE BARKER who was kind

enough to contribute a wonderful short story. I certainly don't think

that their contributions are 'puerile' or 'drawn in biro'.

But my guess is that you just never got that far in the book.

I didn't, sorry. Damn, but you're selling this well (interested parties please note, reorders have arrived and are on the shelves@ £3-99).

The next DEADY book DEADY THE TERRIBLE TEDDY comes out in October.

James O'Barr [creator of THE CROW] and Dan Brereton are amongst some of the talents who will

be contributing. Whether or not you will find MY drawings more

palatable are yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure.... the book

sure as HELL won't start with an ALL AGES story!

Sincerely,

Voltaire

voltaire@voltaire.net

www.voltaire.net

ps: ya might want to check out my earlier series Oh My Goth! 1997-2002

(compiled in the Oh My Goth version 2.0 trade. It's drawn with a

pencil, and YES A BIRO!!!! and a sharpie... but there is enough anal

rape humor in that book to make you not care!)

Ok, once more, not my review!

Oh My Goth is permanently in stock @ £16-50, right next to all things Vasquez & Dirge. From February 2001: '...There are a few excellent characterisations and confrontations which show [Voltaire] perfectly capable of Dorkinesque accuracy (white skateboarders all wearing tent-size bellbottoms hung just below their crotch, standard-issue icon t-shirts and woollen hats, yelling: 'I, like, hate goths, 'cause like, you know, they, like, kinda like, you know like, talk... funny.' 'Word, yo!' 'Yeah, and they like, you know, like... dress like, funny, yo! Hey! Nosferatu! Why can't you, like, be yourself?' 'Word, yo, like, be yourself!'), along with throwaway background signs (MacD's bins: 'Please help us pretend that we recycle') and then there's the odd giggle to be had from his top 13 lists (Top 13 Reasons you know that you're a b-rate goth: '#6 What's wrong with this picture? Vlad The Impaler, 520 Pleasant Valley Way')...'

Anyway, I apologised for being such a smart-mouthed piece of shit, whilst cheekily lamenting 'I suppose a signed copy of the cover art of 'Almost Human' is out of the question, then?' (It is to my mind the single finest piece of cover art ever to grace an album.) I also offered to print his letter.

Wasn't expecting this reply, though:

Thanks Stephen,

I appreciate it!

Please do include it in the letters section. And yes, you can add my website and email address. Thanks for being a gentleman! Can I send you a signed copy of Almost Human? If so, where should I send it?

Cheers!

Voltaire

voltaire@voltaire.net

www.voltaire.net

Is it just me, or am I completely undeserving?

A largely unbiased music review may follow shortly.

Okay, the letter column this time is a little long, I know, but here's a guy who's been doing more than his bit, but really needs a helping hand. This isn't charity, this is a guy who has sold fifty copies of each issue here (MIXY #1,2,3, OUR WORLD #1), without my permission or any promotion ('cause it ain't my thang), and whose work we enthusiastically restock because everyone in Nottingham bloody well demands it:

hey, i wondered if you could help me out a little, do you know of any distributors or publishers or shops even, that i could send my comics to, to increase distribution? its ridiculously irritating, im finding it really hard to do this on my own, there must be somebody out there who might be able to help me! the badge/comic idea is cool, im not sure when the next issue will be out, im not selling enough comics to pay for another print run... its all rather frustrating! they sell wherever they are stocked (which is amazing, never thought anyone would want to buy the things!) but without a list of all the shops in the uk, i cant get them to where they should be! anyway thanks again for your help and take care,

Chronic Fatigue

zombie_attak@yahoo.co.uk

And they do sell - Forbidden Planet took 250 of the first issue and have never looked back. Any retailers reading this who want more 'cute-but-dead' stuff to sell to their SQUEE and LENORE customers, please contact Chronic. The website is due online around the middle of July, and if all goes to plan it should be at www.manydeadthings.com (confirmation will come as soon as it's up and running). Any readers who want to buy t-shirts and badges, Chronic has those as well.

In the meantime any creators in a similar position - those not big enough to use Diamond yet - here's the advice I sent Mr. Fatigue:

Type out a professional letter (with all your own contact details) introducing your work (briefly, it can speak for itself), list the names and contact details of whichever retailers currently stock it, include any critical endorsements (don't make them up, it'll back fire on you badly) and send with a sample copy to:

Richard Davies

Red Route Distribution Ltd

10 Acklam Road

London

W10 5QZ

Then do the same for Cold Cut Distribution in America:

Cold Cut Distribution

220 N. Main St.

Salinas

CA 93901

USA

A great selling point for both distributors may well be 'NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH DIAMOND'.

For more distribution addresses, a clear description of how the big guys (Diamond Comics Distribution) operate, and lots of other invaluable advice, please check out THE CEREBUS GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING (£2-60, from all decent comic shops) by Dave Sim. If you want to continue contacting retailers directly, there's a useful (but by no means comprehensive) list of addresses in each issue of COMICS INTERNATIONAL (£1-50). Introduce yourself as above.

Chronic,

Good luck, let me know how it goes, and if successful I'm going to be expecting a dedication in your first trade paperback, as well as your first-born child.

Everyone else,

Thanks for your time.