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Top 25 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga:
September 2016
Can you feel the vibes? The vibrancy of global comics culture is demonstrated at its brightest in these imminent offerings. They range from never-before-seen debut strips by the great Will Eisner to Alan Moore’s long, and long-anticipated prose novel Jerusalem. Cultural icons like Adolf Hitler, Aleister Crowley, Elvis Presley, Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain and the Irishman hanged for treason Roger Casement feature in revelatory (semi-) or biographical graphic novels.
In particular, British comics past and present are in rude health, reviving at last the spooky classics in Misty, commemorating the 2,000th edition of 2000 AD, and with strong new works by Isabel Greenberg and Tom Gauld, while there are English translations of fine comics from France, Italy, Japan and Norway. Take a look below, I hope you find some comics to look forward to…
2000 AD #2000
by various
Rebellion
$7.99
The publisher says:
The British SF anthology 2000 AD makes history by reaching its incredible 2000th weekly issue, and it’s marked with a 48-special featuring a spectacular roster of writers and artists that have been integral to its continuing success. There’s a special one-off Dredd story from creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, Nemesis the Warlock and Torquemada return courtesy of Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill, Psi-Judge Anderson has another psychic case from Alan Grant and David Roach, gunmen Sinister Dexter hit the road, courtesy of Dan Abnett and Mark Sexton, a mysterious prisoner has a tale to tell in Rogue Trooper: Ghosts of Nu Earth by Gordon Rennie and Richard Elson, and brand-new identity-theft thriller Counterfeit Girl by Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo debuts. Plus, there’s interlude pages from Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon, Dave Gibbons, Robin Smith, and more. Plus, Rebellion is offering a PREVIEWS Exclusive edition of Prog 2000, limited to only 2,000 copies worldwide, with a wraparound cover by Glenn Fabry (click image above). 48pgs part-colour magazine
Aleister & Adolf
by Douglas Rushkoff & Michael Avon Oeming
Dark Horse
$19.99
The publisher says:
Media theorist and documentarian Douglas Rushkoff weaves a mind-bending tale of iconography and mysticism against the backdrop of a battle-torn Europe. In a story spanning generations, and featuring some of the most notable and notorious idealists of the 20th century, legendary occultist Aleister Crowley develops a powerful and dangerous new weapon to defend the world against Adolf Hitler’s own war machine spawning an unconventional new form of warfare that is fought not with steel, but with symbols and ideas. Unfortunately, these intangible arsenals are much more insidious and perhaps much more dangerous than their creators could have ever conceived. 96pgs B&W hardcover.
Becoming Andy Warhol
by Nick Bertozzi & Pierce Hargan
SelfMadeHero
$24.99 / £15.99
The publisher says:
Celebrated during his lifetime as much for his personality as for his paintings, Andy Warhol (1928–87) is the most famous and influential of the Pop artists, who developed the notion of 15 minutes of fame, and the idea that an artist could be as illustrious as the work he creates. This graphic novel biography offers insight into the turning point of Warhol’s career and the creation of the Thirteen Most Wanted Men mural for the 1964 World’s Fair, when Warhol clashed with urban planner Robert Moses, architect Philip Johnson, and Governor Nelson Rockefeller. In Becoming Andy Warhol, New York Times bestselling writer Nick Bertozzi and artist Pierce Hargan showcase the moment when, by stubborn force of personality and sheer burgeoning talent, Warhol went up against the creative establishment and emerged to become one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. 160pgs two-colour hardcover.
Billy Budd
by Jerome Charyn & François Boucq
Dover Graphic Novels
$19.95
The publisher says:
Inspired by Herman Melville’s novella, this graphic novel recounts a gifted and naïve young man’s recruitment by the Soviet secret service and his adventures in New York City as a spy. The tale begins in the aftermath of World War II, when a Ukrainian orphan with remarkable psychic powers is selected and trained by the KGB. Two decades later he arrives in the United States to lead a double life. Operating under the name Billy Budd, he conducts espionage while working with a construction crew that builds skyscrapers. Billy’s rescue of a co-worker and the resulting friendship lead the agent in the direction of a spiritual existence, a previously unimaginable possibility. But can Billy escape his Soviet masters? This edition features a new English translation by author Jerome Charyn, who previously collaborated with illustrator François Boucq on the acclaimed graphic novel The Magician’s Wife. An Introduction by Paul Pope, author and illustrator of Batman: Year 100, provides additional insights into this Cold War thriller. 144pgs colour paperback.
CBLDF Presents: She Changed Comics
by various
Images Comics
$14.99
The publisher says:
She Changed Comics celebrates the women who changed free expression in comics, with profiles of more than sixty groundbreaking female professionals and interviews with the women who are changing today’s medium, including Raina Telgemeier, Noelle Stevenson, G. Willow Wilson and more. She Changed Comics also examines the plights of women imprisoned and threatened for making comics and explores the work of women whose work is being banned here in the United States. More details on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund website. A must for readers of all ages, students, and educators. 160pgs colour paperback.
Elvis
by Philippe Chanoinat & Fabrice Le Hénanff
NBM
$19.99
The publisher says:
Stepping into Sun Studios in 1954 Elvis Aaron Presley recorded his first single That’s All Right. Little did he know he would soon revolutionise music and culture worldwide. This graphic novel biography starts with the story of “The King’s” humble beginnings in Mississippi, detailing, every step of the way, his meteoric rise to the stratosphere of stardom. It includes his service in the military, his extensive record as a Hollywood film star, his complicated family life, finally ending on the last days of the Hound Dog. Le Henanff’s striking photo-quality painting reconstructs Elvis’s life in a presentation that practically dances off the page. 88pgs colour hardcover
Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary: Vol. 1
by M.R. James & various
SelfMadeHero
$14.95 / £9.99
The publisher says:
Curl up by the fire and enter the sinister, supernatural world of Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936), the master of the English ghost story. Chillingly atmospheric, quietly terrifying, M. R. James’s stories explore the darkness just beyond the flicker of the candle, behind the creaking door. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Vol. 1 comprises graphic adaptations of four of James’s most compelling and unsettling stories, plunging readers into a world of pervasive, creeping disquiet—a world populated by vengeful phantoms, disturbing visions, and spectral works of art. The four stories are Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, Lost Hearts, The Mezzotint and The Ash Tree. Published on the 80th anniversary of James’s death, this is a graphic novel to be read on a winter’s night, a book to curl up with—but not a book for the fainthearted. 64pgs colour paperback.
Jack Kirby: Pencil And Inks: Artisan Edition
by Jack Kirby
IDW
$49.99
The publisher says:
Jack Kirby has been called the King of Comics, and rightfully so. For more than 40 years he was the most vital and groundbreaking artist in the medium. There have been dozens of books on Kirby over the years, including several oversized Artist’s Editions showcasing his original art. This book will present Kirby’s art in a new and unprecedented way, as side-by-side examples of his work, both in pencil and ink. Three Key first issues are showcased: The Demon #1, Kamandi #1 and Omac #1, along with a number of additional pieces presented. This is a perfect way to see Kirby art in its rawest form, from photocopies made from the original pencils as each page was completed, then next to it, the finished inks. We would almost call this a textbook of comic art except it’s too much fun. 160pgs colour hardcover.
Jerusalem
by Alan Moore
Liveright / Knockabout
$35.00 / £25.00
The publisher says:
Ten years in the making, comes a literary work Like no other, from the legendary author of Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. In the half a square mile of decay and demolition that was England’s Saxon capital, eternity is loitering between the firetrap housing projects. Embedded in the grubby amber of the district’s narrative among its saints, kings, prostitutes, and derelicts a different kind of human time is happening, a soiled simultaneity that does not differentiate between the petrol-coloured puddles and the fractured dreams of those who navigate them. Fiends last mentioned in the second-century Book of Tobit wait in urine-scented stairwells, the delinquent spectres of unlucky children undermine a century with tunnels, and in upstairs parlours labourers with golden blood reduce fate to a snooker tournament. An opulent mythology for those without a pot to piss in, through the labyrinthine streets and pages of Jerusalem tread ghosts that sing of wealth and poverty; of Africa, and hymns, and our threadbare millennium. They discuss English as a visionary language from John Bunyan to James Joyce, hold forth on the illusion of mortality post-Einstein, and insist upon the meanest slum as Blake’s eternal holy city. Fierce in its imagining and stupefying in its scope, Alan Moore’s epic novel, Jerusalem, is the tale of Everything, told from a vanished gutter. 1 map; 3 illustrations. 1,200pgs B&W hardcover.
Light
by Rob Cham
Magnetic Press Inc.
$19.99
The publisher says:
A pair of adventurers embark on an epic quest to collect five magic gems from deep inside the Earth and bring them to the surface to return colour to the world. On the way they carry fire-lit torches through secret places and endless passages, swim in crystal-clear waters, encounter strange beasts, and meet strange and mysterious hermits! Writer/artist Rob Cham creates beautiful and vivid illustrations that gradually evolve from black and white subterranean worlds to bright colourscapes. This inspiring all-ages story recalls retro video games and role-playing games, creating a one-of-a-kind mythos of magic lands and mischeivous creatures. 104pgs colour hardcover.
Misty
by Pat Mills & John Armstrong, and Malcolm Shaw & Brian Delaney
Rebellion
£14.99 / $19.99
The publisher says:
Welcome to my world of mystery and shadows where the unusual is usual…where the unexpected is expected. Moonchild: like her grandmother before her, Rosemary Black has discovered that she has the power to move things with her mind. A crescent shape on her forehead marks Rosemary as the Moonchild. While her jealous mother forbids her to use her new found abilities, the actions of a school bully push Ms Black closer and closer towards temptation and revenge. The Four Faces of Eve: Eve Marshall develops amnesia after an accident. Unable to remember anything about her past and haunted by nightmares involving the tragic deaths of three other girls, Eve sets out to discover the chilling truth of who…or what she really is. These eerie encounters are brought to you by Pat Mills, John Armstrong, Malcolm Shaw, Brian Delaney, cover artist Shirley Bellwood, and, of course, your friend, Misty. 112pgs B&W paperback.
Mooncop
by Tom Gauld
Drawn & Quarterly
$19.95
The publisher says:
The Guardian cartoonist relates the daily deadpan adventures of the last policeman living on the moon. “Living on the moon . . . Whatever were we thinking? . . . It seems so silly now.” The lunar colony is slowly winding down, like a small town circumvented by a new super highway. As our hero, the Mooncop, makes his daily rounds, his beat grows ever smaller, the population dwindles. A young girl runs away, a dog breaks off his leash, an automaton wanders off from the Museum of the Moon. Each day that the Mooncop goes to work, life gets a little quieter and a little lonelier. As in Goliath, Tom Gauld’s retelling of the Bible story, the focus in Gauld’s science fiction is personal—no big explosions or grand reveals, just the incremental dissolution of an abandoned project and a person’s slow awakening to his own uselessness. Depicted in the distinctive, matter-of-fact style of Gauld’s beloved Guardian strips, Mooncop is equal parts funny and melancholy. Gauld captures essential truths about humanity, making this a story of the past, present, and future, all in one. 96pgs colour hardcover.
Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection Vol. 1
by various
Ah! Comics
$17.99
The publisher says:
This award-winning collection of 13 short stories presents some of the finest comic book and graphic novel work on the continent. Moonshot brings together dozens of creators from across North America, including Michael A. Sheyahshe, Jeffrey Veregge and Stephen Gladue, to contribute comic book stories showcasing the rich heritage and identity of indigenous storytelling. From traditional stories to exciting new visions of the future, Moonshot is an incredible collection that will amaze, intrigue, and entertain. 176pgs colour paperback.
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
by Emil Ferris
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
In this debut, which takes the form of a fictional graphic diary, a 10-year-old girl tries to solve a murder. Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbour, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. 432 pgs colour paperback.
Otherworld Barbara
by Moto Hagio
Fantagraphics
$39.99
The publisher says:
In this classic science fiction thriller by one of the most influential manga writer-artists of all time, there are dream pilots, murderous cannibal nine-year-olds, and more. Fantagraphics Books is proud to present the first volume (of two) of Moto Hagio’s Otherworld Barbara, in which Tokio discovers a phantom island named Barbara. Then there’s a mysterious and missing geneticist, an eccentric clergyman, a grieving grandmother granted temporary youth, a psychologist killed by a freak tornado… Hagio offers a sci-fi explanation for these seemingly random paranormal elements, and makes it all matter with believable characters in complex and subtle relationships.This book won the “Nebula Award of Japan” (the Nihon SF Taisho Award) in 2006. 400pgs B&W hardcover.
Pocahontas: Princess Of The New World
by Loic Locaetelli-Kournwsky
Pegasus
$25.95
The publisher says:
A stunning interpretation of the unforgettable story of America’s greatest Indian princess, vividly illustrated as never before. Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, has been promised to her betrothed, Kokum, according to custom. At that very moment, three British ships arrive on the coast of America. It is 1607, and the life of Pocahontas―like the fate of the entire American continent―is about to change dramatically. With her great love of freedom―as well as her belief in understanding and tolerance between the two peoples―and by defying her father’s taboos, Pocahontas forges a relationship with the British colonists who have just disembarked. She secretly provides them with food and saves the life of the handsome Captain Smith . . . and falls madly in love. Set in pre-colonial America, this dynamic new graphic novel evokes the end of a way of life against the backdrop of territorial and amorous rivalries. Translated by Sandra Smith. 128pgs colour hardcover.
Ranx
by Stefano Tamburini & Tanino Liberatore
Dark Horse
$24.99
The publisher says:
The 80s Heavy Metal cult series, collected for the first time in English. Ranx is a sci-fi antihero, made of photocopier parts and ultraviolence. In a futuristic dystopia, he protects his girlfriend Lubna from vicious drug dealers on a brutal path of sex, carnage, and destruction. This volume collects all of the Ranx stories by Italian comic masters Stefano Tamburini and Tanino Liberatore. 192pgs colour hardcover.
Richard Corben says:
Ranx is a punk, futuristic Frankenstein monster, and with the under-aged Lubna, they are a bizarre Beauty and the Beast. This artist and writer team have turned a dark mirror to the depths of our id, and we see reflected the base part of ourselves that would take what it wants with no compromise, no apology—and woe to the person who would cross us. But it is all done with a black, wry, satirical sense of humour.
Snow White
by Matt Phelan
Candlewick Press
$19.99
The publisher says:
Award-winning graphic novelist Matt Phelan delivers a darkly stylised noir Snow White set against the backdrop of Depression-era Manhattan. The scene: New York City. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words “Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL.” In a moody, cinematic new telling of a beloved fairy tale, extraordinary graphic novelist Matt Phelan captures the essence of classic film noir on the page—and draws a striking distinction between good and evil. 216pgs colour hardcover.
Soft City
by Pushwagner
New York Review Comics
$35.00
The publisher says:
“Good morning everybody. . . ” So dawns a new day in Soft City, where pill-stuffed citizens sit in traffic, march off to work at Soft Inc., zone out in front of the TV news, and shop, shop, shop. The only graphic novel by the legendary Norwegian pop artist Hariton Pushwagner— completed in 1975, lost for decades, and never before published in the United States—is a scathing masterpiece in the tradition of Brazil and A Brave New World but with an off-kilter beauty all its own. Pushwagner gives us an epic, exuberantly intricate vision of a single day in a world gone wrong: a brightly smiling, disturbingly familiar dystopia of towering skyscrapers, omnipresent surveillance, and endless, distant war. Every face looks like the next, and language itself has gone soft: “Clean The Bomb The Happy Way”, blares the morning paper; “Heil Hilton!” barks an overlord on the news. Welcome to Soft City. Now don’t be late for work. 160pgs colour hardcover.
The Arab of the Future Vol. 2: 1984-1985
by Riad Sattouf
Metropolitan Books / Two Roads
$26.00 / £18.99
The publisher says:
The highly anticipated continuation of Riad Sattouf’s internationally acclaimed bestseller, which was hailed by The New York Times as “a disquieting yet essential read.” Riad, now settled in his father’s hometown of Homs, gets to go to school, where he dedicates himself to becoming a true Syrian in the country of the dictator Hafez Al-Assad. Told simply yet with devastating effect, Riad’s story takes in the sweep of politics, religion, and poverty, but is steered by acutely observed small moments: the daily sadism of his schoolteacher, the lure of the black market, with its menu of shame and subsistence, and the obsequiousness of his father in the company of those close to the regime. As his family strains to fit in, one chilling, barbaric act drives the Sattoufs to make the most dramatic of changes. 160pgs two-colour paperback.
The Lost Work Of Will Eisner
by Will Eisner
Locust Moon Press
$24.99
The publisher says:
Unearthed as part of a massive collection of pre-WWII newspaper printing plates, the mid-1930s comic strips Uncle Lotto and Harry Karry represent the earliest known cartooning of the great comics and sequential art pioneer Will Eisner. In these strips you can see the young Eisner’s imagination expanding, as he experiments with the possibilities of serialised storytelling and works through his numerous influences. The comics collected within document the genesis of one of the most iconic and brilliant cartoonists of all time. 72pgs B&W hardcover.
The Mighty One: My Life Inside The Nerve Centre
by Steve MacManus
Rebellion
$19.99 / £9.99
The publisher says:
1973, a twenty-year-old Steve MacManus joined Fleetway Publications in London as a sub-editor on one of the UK’s top adventure titles, Valiant. Within six years, he would rise to become editor of the company’s most celebrated weekly, 2000 AD, shepherding it through its ‘Golden Age’ as he commissioned numerous hit series such as The Ballad of Halo Jones, Sláine, Bad Company, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis the Warlock and more, ensuring its place as the most influential comic Britain has ever produced. For many he remains the definitive editor of the multi-award-winning SF anthology. Now, in this warm and witty memoir, MacManus lifts the lid on the fiercely creative environment that was British comics in the 1970s and ‘80s – from the hugely successful launch of Battle to the controversial censorship of Action, from the brief life of Starlord to the stellar rise of 2000 AD and Judge Dredd, he details the personalities at play and the corporate politics and deadline battles he and others engaged in on a daily basis. With keen insight, MacManus reveals how against all odds 2000 AD defined comics for a generation and became a global phenomenon – one that would spearhead a revolution in the graphic arts that is still felt today. 320pgs B&W paperback.
The One Hundred Nights Of Hero
by Isabel Greenberg
Jonathan Cape
£18.99
The publisher says:
From the author who brought you The Encyclopedia of Early Earth comes another Epic Tale of Derring-Do. Prepare to be dazzled once more by the overwhelming power of stories and see Love prevail in the face of Terrible Adversity. You will read of betrayal, loyalty, madness, bad husbands, lovers both faithful and unfaithful, wise old crones, moons who come out of the sky, musical instruments that won’t stay quiet, friends and brothers and fathers and mothers and above all, many, many sisters. 224pgs colour hardcover.
The Trial Of Roger Casement
by Fionnuala Doran
SelfMadeHero
$19.95 / £12.99
The publisher says:
In 1911, Roger Casement was knighted by King George V for his humanitarian work. Five years later, he was hanged for treason. The Trial of Roger Casement traces the astonishing downfall of an Irishman once feted for his humanitarianism but later condemned both as a revolutionary and as a homosexual. Fionnuala Doran follows Casement s efforts to gain German support for an independent Ireland, his drive to recruit volunteers, and his subsequent arrest in County Kerry. This politically charged and enlightening graphic novel pictures Casement’s three-day interrogation at Scotland Yard, his incarceration at the Tower of London, and his time in the dock at the Old Bailey. Hopes of a reprieve begin to vanish when his private diaries are seized and circulated by police, but Casement’s defiance never wavers: there, in the courtroom, he delivers one of the greatest speeches of all time. 120pgs colour paperback.
Who Killed Kurt Cobain?
by Nicolas Otero & Vérane Otero
IDW
$24.99
The publisher says:
The most iconic singer/songwriter of his generation, Kurt Cobain left behind a phenomenal body of work, legions of fans, and a mystery… a final letter addressed to “Boddah.” Now, award-winning creator Nicolas Otero brings the story of this note to life in the original graphic novel Who Killed Kurt Cobain?. Based on the French novel, Le Roman de Boddah by Heloise Guay de Bellissen, this adaptation – a work of fiction – recounts real-life events from Cobain’s life, as narrated by his childhood imaginary friend, Boddah. Through the eyes of Boddah, readers get a front row seat to the highs and lows of one of music’s most influential voices like they’ve never experienced before. Trace the arc of modern rock’s greatest icon from the dark clubs of Seattle to the bright lights of the world stage… and all the angst, horror, and thrill that came with that ride in this captivating graphic tale. 152pgs colour hardcover.
