Over at SF Site as part of our bi-weekly Nexus Graphica column, Mark London Williams and I produced our annual foray into the best reads of the previous year.
Click on the image to learn more about each title.
Be sure to check out the latest Nexus Graphica for our thoughts on each selection.
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Cover by Kibuishi
Promo copy:
The highly anticipated second volume to the critically acclaimed Explorer series, The Lost Islands is a collection of seven all-new stories written and illustrated by an award-winning roster of comics artists, with each story centered around the theme of hidden places. Edited by the New York Times bestselling comics creator Kazu Kibuishi, this graphic anthology includes well-written, beautifully illustrated stories by Kazu (the Amulet series), Jason Caffoe (the Flight series), Raina Telgemeier (Drama and Smile), Dave Roman (the Astronaut Academy series), Jake Parker (the Missile Mouse series), Michel Gagné (The Saga of Rex), Katie and Steven Shanahan (the Flight series), and up-and-coming new artist Chrystin Garland.
The previous volume Explorer: The Mystery Boxes ranked among my top ten graphic novels of 2012.
Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet)
Kazu Kibuishi’s follow-up anthology to the award-winning Flight series, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes continues in much the same vein with an eclectic mix of beautiful stories geared toward readers of all ages. While the seven shorts, all centered around mysterious boxes, feature excellent art and superior storytelling, several of the tales excel. The creepy opening contribution “Under the Floorboards” by Emily Carroll, the clever “The Keeper’s Treasure” by Jason Caffoe, Rad Sechrist’s charming “The Butter Thief,” and Kibuishi’s foreboding “The Escape Option” showcase some of the best of the form.
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Mark Russell
Cartoons by Shannon Wheeler
Promo copy:
God Is Disappointed in You is for people who would like to read the Bible… if it would just cut to the chase. Stripped of its arcane language and its interminable passages of poetry, genealogy, and law, every book of the Bible is condensed down to its core message, in no more than a few pages each. Written by Mark Russell with cartoons by New Yorker cartoonist Shannon Wheeler, God Is Disappointed in You is a frequently hilarious, often shocking, but always accurate retelling of the Bible, including the parts selectively left out by Sunday School teachers and church sermons. Irreverent yet faithful, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to see past the fog of religious agendas and cultural debates to discover what the Bible really says.
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
by Darryl Cunningham
Promo copy:
Is hydro-fracking safe? Is climate change real? Did the moon landing actually happen? How about evolution: fact or fiction? Author-illustrator Darryl Cunningham looks at these and other hot-button science topics and presents a fact-based, visual assessment of current thinking and research on eight different issues everybody’s arguing about. His lively storytelling approach incorporates comics, photographs, and diagrams to create substantive but easily accessible reportage. Cunningham’s distinctive illustrative style shows how information is manipulated by all sides; his easy-to-follow narratives allow readers to draw their own fact-based conclusions. A graphic milestone of investigative journalism!
Fascinating use of the graphic medium. More on this later. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Scott Snyder and James T Tynion IV
Art by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Jason Fabok, Rafael Albuquerque, Becky Cloonan, and Andy Clarke
Cover by Greg Capullo
Promo copy:
• After a series of deadly discoveries, Bruce Wayne has learned that the Court of Owls is real — and a deadly threat out to control Gotham City!
• Unleashing their deadly assassins known as the Talons, Batman must stop the insidious Court of Owls before they claim the city for their own. In doing so, The Dark Knight will uncover dark secrets — not just about the city he’s sworn to protect, but about the history of the Wayne family.
• Collects BATMAN #8-12 and BATMAN ANNUAL #1. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
by Ben Katchor
Promo copy:
From one of the most original and imaginative American cartoonists at work today comes a collection of graphic narratives on the subjects of urban planning, product design, and architecture—a surrealist handbook for the rebuilding of society in the twenty-first century.
Ben Katchor, a master at twisting mundane commodities into surreal objects of social significance, now takes on the many ways our property influences and reflects cultural values. Here are window-ledge pillows designed expressly for people-watching and a forest of artificial trees for sufferers of hay fever. The Brotherhood of Immaculate Consumption deals with the matter of products that outlive their owners; a school of dance is based upon the choreographic motion of paying with cash; high-visibility construction vests are marketed to lonely people as a method of getting noticed. With cutting wit Katchor reveals a world similar to our own—lives are defined by possessions, consumerism is a kind of spirituality—but also slightly, fabulously askew. Frequently and brilliantly bizarre, and always mesmerizing, Hand-Drying in America ensures that you will never look at a building, a bar of soap, or an ATM the same way. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Scott Snyder, James T Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Judd Winick, Peter J. Tomasi, Duane Swierczynski, Gail Simone, Scott Lobdell, Kyle Higgins, Justin Gray, and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art by Greg Capullo, Jason Fabok, Tony S. Daniel, David Finch, Marcus To, Patrick Gleason, Travel Foreman, Ardian Syaf, Kenneth Rocafort, Guillem March, Eddy Barrows, and Moritat
Cover by Greg Capullo
Promo copy:
• In this new hardcover, evil spreads across Gotham City as Batman’s allies, including Red Robin, Batwing, Robin, Batgirl, the Birds of Prey, Nightwing and even Catwoman find themselves in a battle coming from all sides.
• The Court of Owls makes its move against justice in this sprawling tale of corruption and violence.
• Collects BATMAN #8-9, BATMAN ANNUAL #1, DETECTIVE COMICS #9, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #9, BATWING #9, BATMAN AND ROBIN #9, RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #9, BIRDS OF PREY #9, BATGIRL #9, NIGHTWING #8-9 and ALL-STAR WESTERN #9. Continue reading
In Fall 2010, twenty-eight of my friends and I compiled the Uncanny Un-Collectibles: Missing Comic Book Trades, a list of 52 comic series that deserved to be collected. In April 2012, I revisited the six part bitchfest to see if any of our wishes had been granted. I reported that six of the titles had been collected: Sugar and Spike, the Murphy Anderson and Neal Adams Earth-2 1960s Spectre stories, All-Star Squadron, Levitz/Giffen Legion of Super-Heroes, Flex Mentallo, and Chase.
Let’s see what’s changed in the year since.
Collects SHOWCASE #20, 21, 25 and 26 and RIP HUNTER: TIME MASTER #1-15
Published July 18, 2012
The comic that my father forbade me to read because of the way it distorted history. The early issues — before the team started wearing spandex — featured incredibly cool stories in which aliens turned out to be meddling in most of the important events in human history. The art was fun at worst, and at best, when Joe Kubert was at the helm, it was fabulous.
This would be a good candidate for the current Showcase Presents black and white titles from DC.
Collects SHOWCASE #27-29 and SEA DEVILS #1-16
Published May 23, 2012
It remains utterly baffling to me why DC has not devoted one of their Archive Editions to the Sea Devils. While the stories were, of course, ridiculous, they were no more so than those in Strange Adventures or Green Lantern or any of the other DC comics of the day. And the art was staggeringly beautiful, Russ Heath at his finest — King Neptune riding a giant seahorse, the Octopus Man with a monstrous octopus on an anchor-chain leash — and the wonderful colors, with everything blue-shifted (the team’s red wetsuits are purple underwater, etc.). This needs to be reprinted in full color on good paper.
Pretty pathetic especially when compared to last year’s new collections.
Come on publishers, get on the ball and collect these excellent comics!
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Andrea Sorrentino
Promo copy:
• Welcome the new team of writer JEFF LEMIRE and artist ANDREA SORRENTINO!
• As Ollie struggles to come to terms with the loss of his fortune, his company and his heritage, he discovers a shocking truth about his father that ties to his time stranded on an island before he became Green Arrow.
• Plus: Green Arrow battles the deadly archer known as Komodo!
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Gene Ha, and Carlos D’Anda
Promo copy:
The Justice League is the greatest force for good the world has ever seen. But not everyone sees them that way.
Their never-ending battle against evil results in casualties beyond its super-powered, costumed combatants. The League’s attempts to safeguard innocent lives cannot save everybody. Unbeknownst to Earth’s greatest champions, their greatest triumph may contain the seeds of their greatest defeat.
For heroes are not the only people who face tragedy and are reborn as something greater than they were before. Villains can take this journey, too.
And once they start out on this dark path, the road could lead straight to the destruction of the Justice League….
The New York Times bestselling team of Geoff Johns (Green Lantern) and Jim Lee (Batman: Hush) are joined by artists Gene Ha (Top 10) and Carlos D’Anda (Deathblow) for JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL. 2: THE VILLAIN’S JOURNEY, collecting issues #7-12 of the series. Can the world’s greatest super heroes survive a voyage deep into the heart of darkness? It all ends with one of the most shocking … and surprising moments in DC history!
by Jeff Lemire
Promo copy:
Gus’s journey comes to an end and the fate of the hybrids is revealed in the final issue of the acclaimed Vertigo series!
Earlier this week, Mark and I unveiled the second half of the annual Nexus Graphica best graphic novels of the year. I’m not going to reveal all the books here (though astute readers may glean the selections from the images above), so you best visit the column for the full skinny.
