New This Week: July 26, 2006

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:


The Pick of the Week is Ted Naifeh's Polly & The Pirates collection from Oni. Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin series is one of my favorite comics of recent years, and his Polly has been garnering great reviews. Plus, pirates are all the rage again this summer!


In other comics:

Abstract have a new Strangers in Paradise (#83).

AD Vision have the seventh Cromartie High School volume.

Boom! have the Black Plague one-shot.

DC have Grant Morrison's return to Batman (#655); the softcover of the Hellblazer: All His Engines OGN; the tenth Lucifer collection; the first Testament collection; an Astro City Special; the debut of the Jack of Fables spin-off; and new issues of 52 (week 12), Action Comics (#841), American Way (#6), Birds of Prey (#96), Blue Beetle (#5), Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre (#3), and Hawkgirl (#54).

Fantagraphics have the return of Linda Medley's Castle Waiting to serial comics, with the story that picks up after the recent collection (I think most of it reprints the final two issues of the first series, but since only about 17 of us picked up those issues, this will all be new to you!)

IDW have the latest bout of Spike vs. Dracula (#4).

Image have a new issue of Gødland (#12); and if your store didn't get in Casanova #2 last week, it should be there this week.

Lobrau have a new issue of Troupydoops (#3).

Marvel have the final issue of Avengers & Power Pack Assemble (#4); and new issues of Captain America (#20), Daredevil (#87), Powers (#19), and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (#8).

Thrill House debut Shark-Man.

TokyoPop have a lot of stuff, including a new volume of Fruits Basket, which I understand a lot of you kids like.


That should be plenty enough comics for you to choose from. Enjoy!

Super Covers Week Delayed

Blogger is being annoying and not uploading images today, so Super Covers Week will be delayed until things return to normal. Best laid plans and all that :(

Aquaman Pilot

The not-picked-up Aquaman pilot is available for purchase in iTunes.

I haven't watched it yet, but rest assured I will soon...

Super Covers Week: Lex Luthor: Badass!

This week, I'll be following the time-honored comics blogosphere tradition by doing what all bloggers do when they're short on time/ideas/etc.: posting covers!

Each day I'll be posting Superman covers, each centered around a specific theme.

Today's theme is: Lex Luthor: Badass!

Everyone knows that Lex is Superman's arch enemy, but just how arch is he? Let's take a look at the ways that the evil genius has kicked Superman's ass over the decades:

(click on covers for larger images!)



One thing you'll learn about Lex Luthor is that the man loves rays. Death rays, Kryptonite rays, red sun rays--the list is endless. Here on the cover to Action Comics #131, Luthor uses a ray machine to send Superman to the 4th Dimension! Which is, um time or something. Not sure what good it's going to do, but Lex is sporting his evil grin and Lois sure looks worried!




How much does Lex hate Superman? On the over of Action Comics #249 he drinks a serum to make him emanate Kryptonite rays from his pores and then, to stop the Man of Steel dead in his tracks, creates a device that transforms lead into glass. Dude: just patent that one invention, and you're golden!




Oh no--Lex Luthor has super powers! Not sure what those powers are, but one of them is definitely not super fashion sense, according to the cover to Action Comics #298. Why does he think that purple and green go together? I swear, that accident that caused his hair to fall out must've also left him color blind.




Superman #149 may be the greatest silver age Superman story ever. In this 'imaginary' story (as the man says, aren't they all?) Luthor reforms, turning his scientific genius away from hating Superman to curing the world's diseases and the such. But as you might guess from the cover (and I don't think I'm giving anything away here) it's all a ruse to get close enough to Superman to spring a Kryptonite death trap. And then Superman dies! Really. There's a funeral and everything. And it's all done in the span of a one-issue story. Gripping stuff.




Superman #292: man, that boy sure holds a grudge!




Into the bronze age now, with a spectacular Neal Adams cover to Action Comics #466. Can an adult Lex Luthor beat a Tween of Steel?




I never really liked the Luthor armor. Besides the dodgy color scheme, George Perez's costume designs are very much of-the-moment and start to look dated really fast. That said, despite the fact that Luthor doesn't actually get gigantimous in the story, the cover to Superman #386 shows that Gil Kane sure could draw a mighty fine picture.




Lex dusts off an old red sun ray and uses it to try to kill Superman's cousin on the cover of Superman Family #214. Man, the hate sure does run deep, don't it? I do love the look of insane glee on Lex's face.




The post-Crisis Lex Luthor was a different sort of character all together. No longer an evil genius, Lex was now an evil captain of industry (foreshadowing Enron et al. by a good decade and a half). In Superman #2, Luthor turns his vast resourcecs over to discovering what the link is between Superman and a certain mild-mannered reporter. When the results come in, Luthor dismisses them, as he believes that anyone with the power of Superman would never stoop to posing as a mere mortal.




You know what was cool about the post-Crisis Luthor? The Kryptonite ring. Purely defensive, it kept Supes at bay until the slow radiation poising cost Lex his hand and eventually his life (he got better...) Plus, it made for great bling, as the cover to Superman's Nemesis: Lex Luthor #1 shows.




Of course, he's not above rolling up his sleeves and whopping the Man of Steel with a chunk of red Kryptonite either, as the cover to Superman #49 shows.




I'm not sure yet if I like the current 'New Earth' version of Lex Luthor. He's a combination of the silver age and post-crisis versions, with a criminal mastermind bent. Still, on the cover to Superman #653 he gets to lord over Metropolis in a giant Kryptonian crystal mecha, so that's kind of cool.


That wraps up our look at Lex Luthor: Badass. Come back tomorrow for more Super Covers!

New Library Comics: Week of July 17, 2006

Here's a list of the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Crash comics (Columbus, Ohio : 1996) Crash comics. /Columbus, OH : Thomas Williams, c1996- no. 5-7

Green, Justin. Musical legends : the collected comics from Pulse magazine /San Francisco, CA : Last Gasp, [199- - 2004?]

Heuvel, Eric, 1960- A family secret /Zaandam : Eric Heuvel, c2005.

Miller, Frank, 1957- Batman : year one /New York : DC Comics, c2005.

Newgarden, Mark. We all die alone : a collection of cartoons and jokes /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2005.

Siegel, Jerry, 1914- Superman : Sunday classics, strips 1-183, 1939-1943 /New York : Sterling, c2006.

Vasquez, Jhonen. The B.A.C. : bad art collection /San Jose, CA : Slave Labor Graphics, 1996. no. 1

Vellekoop, Maurice. A nut at the opera /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2006.

Yet Another Music Moment: YAMR Updated!

Yet Another Music Radio--my very own streaming radio station--was updated over the weekend with an all-new playlist; and thanks to an increase in available storage space, it's bigger than ever! Still sticking with the alt-country theme, it features over five hours of music from the following artists:

16 Horsepower; Adrienne Young & Little Sadie; Allison Moorer; Amy Rigby; Beaver Nelson; BR549; Brian Lillie and the Squirrel Mountain Orchestra; Bruce Robison; Buddy Miller; Calexico; Continental Drifters; Dolly Parton; Elizabeth Cook; Equation; Garrison Starr; Gillian Welch; Hadacol; Jack White; Jay Farrar; Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins; Jenny Queen; Johnny Cash; Josh Rouse; Joy Lynn White; Julie Miller; Julie Roberts; Kasey Chambers; Kate Campbell; Kathleen Edwards; Kelly Willis; Kevin Gordon; Kim Richey; Kris McKay; Laura Cantrell; Loretta Lynn; Lori McKenna; Lucinda Williams; Lucy Kaplansky; Lyle Lovett; Mandy Barnett; Maria McKee; Mark O'Connor; Matraca Berg; Maura O'Connell; Michelle Malone; Miranda Lambert; Miss Mary Ann & The Ragtime Wranglers; Nanci Griffith; Natalie Farr; Neko Case; Nickel Creek; Old School Freight Train; Patricia Vonne; Patty Griffin; Pinmonkey; Rhonda Watson & Mickey Dean; Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder; Robert Earl Keen; Rodney Crowell; Ryan Adams; Shawn Mullins; Sonya Hunter; Stacey Earle; Star Room Boys; Steve Earle; The Be Good Tanyas; The Coal Porters; The Dead Reckoners; The Duhks; The Gourds; The Mavericks; The Volebeats; The Waifs; Todd Snider; Uncle Tupelo

So crank up the speakers on your computin' machine and come on down yonder and give us a listen!

Nobody's Watching?

Nobody's Watching is a failed pilot for The WB; but according to this press release it's become such a hit on YouTube that NBC is picking it up as Webisodes and ordering scripts for a potential mid-season replacement.

The show might possibly be the most meta show ever developed. It's a single-camera show about a reality series about the making of a sitcom. It's not laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it is amusing and enjoyable. Certianly better than most of the drek that ends up on network television. (I just finished reading Bill Carter's Desperate Networks, and based on that I find it incredible that any quality programs make it to air at all!)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Russ Manning draws Tarzan battling the vicious apes of the high preiestess La on the cover of Tarzan #159

(Standard disclaimer about vicious apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Journals for Academic Papers on Comics

A recent thread on the Comix Scholars list centered around which academic journals typically have papers relating to comics. Here's the list that developed:

* International Journal of Comic Art
* Journal of Popular Culture
* Journal of American Culture
* ImageText (online)
* Media Culture & Society
* Rhetoric Review
* International Journal of Cultural Studies
* Feminist Studies

Most respondants concured that the quality of the comics-related articles in the Journal of Popular Culture and Journal of American Culture were low on the whole, although you can find a few gems.

New This Week: July 19, 2006

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:


The Pick of the Week is Manhunter #24 by Marc Andreyko, Jesús Saíz and Fernando Blanco. The title has been given a reprieve from cancellation, and now is the time to start buying it. All fans of exciting, intelligent super-heroics should give this comic a look.


In other comics:

Antarctic have the fifth Gold Digger Perfect Memory.

Dark Horse have a new issue of Conan (#30), a new Usagi Yojimbo collection (vol. 20), and a collection of the old Caliber series Sudden Gravity.

DC have Gilbert Hernandez's new OGN Sloth; the zero issue of the Justice League of America re-launch; and new issues of 52 (week 11), Bite Club: VCU (#4), Catwoman (#57), Checkmate (#4), Hellblazer (#222), Shadowpact (#3), Supergirl and the Legion (#20), and Testament (#8).

Fantagraphics have a new issue of The Comics Journal (#277).

Gemstone have the second volume of Carl Barks' Greatest DuckTales.

Image have the debut of Elephantmen; the second issue of Casanova; a big Walking Dead hardcover; and a collection of the old Caliber series Red Diaries (read more about it on PWCW).

Ludovico have the final issue of Living in Infamy (#4).

Marvel have new issues of Eternals (#2), Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#10), Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe (#3), Runaways (#18), She Hulk 2 (#9), and X-Factor (#9).


Kind of a short list this week, but I'm sure you'll find something you'll like!

New Library Comics: Week of July 10, 2006

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Africa comics : antologia delle migliori storie a fumetti del Premio Africa e Mediterraneo : riflessioni sui diritti umani, storie e cronache. /Sasso Marconi (BO) [i.e. Bologna] : Africa e Mediterraneo : Lai-momo, [2002]

Baker, Kyle. You are here /New York, NY : DC Comics, c1999.

Capp, Al, 1909- Li'l Abner : dailies /Princeton, Wis. : Kitchen Sink Press, c1988- vol. 9

Doucet, Julie, 1965- Leve ta jambe, mon poisson est mort! = Lift your leg, my fish is dead! /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly Publications, 1993.

Edginton, Ian. H.G. Wells' The war of the worlds /Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Comics, 2006, c2005.

Espinosa, Rod. Neotopia /San Antonio (Tex.) : Antarctic Press, 2003- vol. 2

Hanuka, Tomer. The placebo man /Gainesville, Fla. : Alternative Comics, 2005.

Hernandez, Gilbert. Luba : the book of Ofelia /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphic Books : Distributed in the U.S. by W.W. Norton and Co., 2005.

McLachlan, Brian. No dead time /Portland, OR : Oni Press, 2004.

Ruijters, Marcel, 1966- Sine qua non /Amsterdam : Oog & Blik, c2005.

Slate, Barbara. Sex, lies, and mutual funds of the yuppies from hell /New York, NY : Marvel Comics, c1992.

Slate, Barbara. Son of yuppies from hell /New York, NY : Marvel Comics, c1990.

Stassen, Jean-Philippe. Deogratias, a tale of Rwanda /New York : First Second, 2006.

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- Maison ikkoku /San Francisco, CA : Viz Comics, c1993- vols. 12, 14

Trondheim, Lewis. A.L.I.E.E.E.N., archives of lost issues and earthly editions of extraterrestrial novelties /New York : First Second, 2006.

Vertigo : first taste. /New York, NY : DC Comics, 2005.

Watson, Geoff. A lot of love /San Jose, CA : Slave Labor Graphics, c2002.

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! PWCW on Harlequin's plans to relaunch its manga line. I still think it's a good idea, even if the first round didn't take off. At least the trade dress is better. Now if they'll just stay away from the colored ink...

ITEM! Beth Davies-Stofka writes a pretty good Superman Returns Superman-as-Jesus column for broken frontier: "Jesus Christ Superman."

ITEM! Mike Sterling gives us the low-down on The Winslow

ITEM! For those of you who purchase your manga at chain bookstores, Borders has a sale on all Viz mnaga: buy 3, get 4th free. Through July 24.

SNAP! Returns

Good news! The good folk at Green Brain Comics have announced that SNAP! will be back for a second go around, once again bringing a taste of a mini-comix and small press festival to our little corner of southeast Michigan (Dearborn, to be precise). I went last year and it was a great show; I met lots of good artists and picked up some good comix too. (recap 1, recap 2, recap 3, recap 4)

If you're in the area, circle Saturday, November 4, 2006 on your calendars and plan on attending!

New This Week: July 12, 2006

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Ait/PlanetLAR's collection of the early issues of Shatter by Peter Gillis & Mike Saenz. Back in 1985 Shatter was the very first comic with artwork completely done on computer (a first-gerneation Mac) which gives it a novelty factor, but it's a darn good action/cyberpunk yarn too. (preview)


In other comics:

Antarctic have a 2-DVD set collecting every Gold Digger story ever done by Fred Perry. That's well over 100 issues of fun adventure!

Archie have a new issue of Sabrina (#77).

Boom! have the second issue of the Hero Squared Ongoing.

Dark Horse have the bargain-priced first issue of The Escapists.

DC have the debut of Garth Ennis's A Man Called Kev; and new issues of 100 Bullets (#74), 52 (week 10), DMZ (#9), Fables (#51), Firestorm (#27), and Superman (#654).

Drawn & Quarterly have two hardcover GNs from French cartoonists Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian: Get a Life (preview) and Maybe Later (preview).

Illusive Arts have the sixth issue of Dorothy.

Image have a new issue of The Walking Dead (#29) and the long-awaited final issue of Hawaiian Dick: The Last Resort (#4).

Marvel have a digest collection of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane; and new issues of Kabuki Reflections (#6), Squadron Supreme (#5), Thunderbolts (#104), and Ultimate Spider-Man (#97).

Oni have a new edition of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Lost at Sea.

Vertical havea paperback edition of the second volume of Tezuka's Buddha.

Viper have a collection of Oddly Normal.


As always, you're sure to find something to suit your tastes this week!

New Library Comics: Week of July 3, 2006

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Aihara, Miki. Tokyo boys & girls /San Francisco, CA : Viz Media, c2005- vol. 1

Bliss, Pam. Dog & pony show : cartoon stories /Valparaiso, IN : Paradise Valley Comics, 2001.

Capp, Al, 1909- Li'l Abner : dailies /Princeton, Wis. : Kitchen Sink Press, c1988- vols. 7-8

Clowes, Daniel. Art school confidential : a screenplay /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics Books, c2006.

Katchor, Ben. Julius Knipl, real estate photographer : the Beauty Supply District /New York : Pantheon Books, 2000.

Manjula Padmanabhan. Double talk /New Delhi : Penguin Books ; New York, N.Y. : Penguin Group (USA), 2005.

Manning, Tom. Runoff /Richmond, VA : Oddgod Press, c2003- vol. 1

Moore, Alan, 1953- A small killing /Urbana, IL : Avatar, c2003.

Morrison, Grant. Skrull Kill Krew /New York, NY : Marvel Comics, c2006.

Myrick, Leland. The sweet collection /Pasadena, CA : Adept Books, c2000.

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Buddha /New York, NY : Vertical, 2003- vol. 7

Tinsley, Kevin. Stonehaven : milk cartons & dog biscuits /Brooklyn, NY : Stickman Graphics, c2004.

Vollmar, Rob. Bluesman : a twelve bar graphic narrative in the key of life and death /Lincoln, CA : Absence of Ink Comic Press, 2004- vol. 1

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

We took a week off due to the holiday weekend, but we're back with a vengeance with the cover of Mighty Mouse #165. A super-powered mouse fighting ape-creatures on Mars? This is why I love comics!

(Standard disclaimer about Martian apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Random Thoughts on Superman Returns

Potential mild spoilers--stop reading now if that worries you

I actually saw Superman Returns over a week ago, but as you may have noticed blogging has been a bit sparse here over the past week. So now I'm playing catch-up with the rest of the comics blog-o-sphere:

* I rather liked it. Didn't love it to pieces, but liked it. It's either a 3.5 or a 4 on the Dave rating scale.

* I nearly had a nerd-gasm when the opening titles swooshed by in that late-70s S:TM style.

* While it was positioned as a sequel to the Richard Donner Superman films, in many ways it was really a remake of S:TM, down to the story and plot structure. It was trying to have its cake and eat it too. While I appreciated some of the refer-backs and references, I'd have appreciated a bit more originality in the plot.

* I bought Kate Bosworth as a love interest, but not as a Pulitzer-level reporter. It was like they were casting for just half the role.

* Brandon Routh, however, pulled off both sides of his role. Three really, as Clark Kent on the farm was different from Clark Kent in Metropolis.

* Kevin Spacey was a great Lex Luthor. Through his delivery and eye and facial expressions he brought more to the role than was on the page.

* As I recall it, Luthor's plan wasn't to sell new real estate. It was to create a huge disaster while at the same time creating a motherload of Kryptonian technology that he alone would control. And it was clear that he was a bit insane. Of course it wasn't a logical plot--if Luthor thought about it logically, he'd make a killing with patents and IPOs.

* I rather liked the fact that Superman didn't throw a single punch and only used his powers defensively or in rescue mode. With all his power, Superman has to show restraint or risk becoming a dictator/ruler/evil overlord.

* Yes, the Christ-imagery was laid on thick in some places. But it has long been part of the Superman mythos, just not usually played up to this extent. Both Superman and Jesus come out of the Jewish savior/messiah theology/mythology; in a Campbellian way they both emerge from the same archetype. Neither Jesus nor Superman should solve our problems, even though they could with just a wave of their figurative hands; instead, they "show us the way" but we have to save ourselves.

* The special effects were spectacular. Seemlessly integrated, it was almost as if Superman really were flying around. I really liked how the take-offs and landings were done--no coming in off a trampoline or anything. This movie really raises the bar for how a super-hero movie will look in the future.

* I'm really scratching my head trying to figure out where the PG-13 rating came from. FilmRatings.com says "for some intense action violence", but except for the scene with Luthor's thugs beating the smack out of Supes, this was probably the least violent super-hero movie ever. Compare the level of violence in X-Men 3 to Superman Returns--both got the same rating. Just another example of how screwed up the CARA system is.

* There was apparently a lot of footage that ended up on the cutting room floor, a lot of it Smallville stuff. Hopefully it'll show up on the DVD.

* Were a fan of the movie to walk into a comic store looking for Superman comics, there would be a lot of good accessible stuff to hand him or her: The Superman Returns prequel comics; All Star Superman; and even the current story in Action Comics & Superman, with Supes returning after a year-long absence and fighting Lex Luthor in a plot involving Krytonian technology.

* Has anyone seen the IMAX version? If so, would it be worth seeing it again in that format?


I may have more thoughts later. It was a good movie. If you're inclined to go see it, do so.

New This Week: July 6, 2006

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:


The Pick of the Week is the Little White Mouse Omnibus Edition by Paul Sizer. Little White Mouse is a fun comic about Loo, a girl mechanic who gets marooned as the only living person on an abandoned space station. Thankfully there are plenty of robots and other surprises to keep her company. It's been a favorite of mine for years, and now the whole story is available in one big omnibus edition!


In other comics:

About Comics have the third issue of Licensable Bear.

Antarctic have a new issue of Ninja High School (#139).

Ballantine have the third Flight anthology.

Boom! have the second issue of Talent.

Dark Horse have a collection of BPRD: The Black Flame; the Dark Horse Twenty Years 25¢ book; and new issues of BPRD: Universal Machine (#4) and The Goon (#18).

DC have the seventh Fables collection; Showcase Presents The Elongated Man; the trade collection of Top Ten: Beyond the Farthest Precinct; the debut of Garth Ennis's Battler Britton mini; the debut of The All New Atom; and new issues of 52 (week 9), Detective Comics (#821), Jonah Hex (#9), Secret Six (#2), and Y, the Last Man (#47).

Image have the long-delayed final issue of Pigtale (#4), and the second big hardcover Invincible Ultimate Collection.

Marvel collect Supreme Power: Hyperion; a new Franklin Richards comics; Peter David on Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (#17); Ed Brubaker on Uncanny X-Men (#475); and new issues of Marvel Team-Up (#22) and The Punisher (#35).

There are also several books from TokyoPop that aren't on the Diamond shipping list, but are showing up in my DCBS packing list (Fool's Gold, Zapt, Riding Shotgun). Go figure...

New Library Comics: Week of June 26, 2006

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:


Aragones, Sergio. Shootin' Mad /New York : Warner Books, 1979.

Baker, Kyle. King David /New York : DC Comics, c2002.

Collier, David, 1961- The Frank Ritza papers /Montreal, Quebec : Drawn & Quarterly, 2004.

Estes, Max. Coffee and donuts /Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf, c2006.

Friends of Lulu presents broad appeal : an anthology of comics for everyone /Pasadena, CA : Friends of Lulu, c2003.

Hall, Jason. Mephisto and the empty box /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2001.

Jouflas, Ted. Filthy /Seattle, Wash. : FantaGraphics, c1999.

Konig, Ralf. Maybe-- maybe not /New York : Ignite! Entertainment, 1998.

LaBan, Terry. Eno and Plum : a Cud Comics collection /Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Comics, 1997.

Langridge, Andrew. Zoot suite : being a collection of fine comical strips /Seattle : Fantagraphics Books, 1998.

Martin, Don. Mad's Don Martin steps further out /New York : Warner Books, 1975.

Matt, Joe, 1963- Fair weather /Montreal : Drawn and Quarterly ; San Francisco : Distributed in the USA and abroad by Chronicle Books, 2003.

Mills, Pat. The Redeemer /Nottingham : Games Workshop, 2000.

Osborne, Rob. 1000 steps to world domination /San Francisco, CA : AiT/Planet Lar, c2004.

Pratt, Hugo. Corto Maltese : una ballata del mare alato /Roma : Lizard, 1998.

Reiche, Volker. Strizz /Frankfurt : Frankfurter Allgemeine, 2005.

Rius. Los Agachados de Rius : seleccion de la gran historieta de los anos setentas. /Mexico, D.F. : Grijalbo : Random House Mondadori [distributor], 2004.

Rius. Mis supermachos /Mexico : Random House Montadori, c1990

Scanlon, Mitchel. The legend of-- Hellbrandt Grimm /Nottingham : Games Workshop Publishing, 2002.

Sexy chix. /Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Books, 2006.

Sim, Dave, 1956- Cerebus /[Kitchener, Ont.] : Aardvark-Vanaheim, c1987

Sim, Dave, 1956- Church and state /[Kitchener, Ont.] : Aardvark-Vanaheim, c1987 vol. 1

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- InuYasha /San Francisco, CA : Viz, LLC, c2003- vol. 25

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Phoenix /San Francisco, CA : Viz, c2003- vol. 6

Towle, Ben. Farewell, Georgia : four folktales /San Jose, CA : SLG Pub., 2003.

Wagner, Matt. Grendel : the devil inside /Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2004.

Review: Poppie's Adventures

Poppie's Adventures: Serpents in Paradise
by Julie Yeh & Jack Hsu
Way Out Comics, $6.95

Young Poppie Field decides to take time out from college and falls into a job as a travel writer. On assignment to Hawaii, Poppie has visions of relaxing on the beach during the day and dining at swanky resturants by night. But when she meets up with her photographer, James "Ham" Hamamura, she ends up on an adventure holiday instead, and the two of them stumble into a secret plot by a serpent cult to introduce snakes into the island's ecology.

While clearly aimed at a young audience, this Xeric-winning comic has a lot to recommend it to all ages. Both Poppie and Ham are fun and engaging characters, though they are quite different and that leads to some friction along the way. And there's enough peril that of course they end up working together. Hsu's art is appropriately cartoony but not too much so, and he has a good sense of pacing and storytelling. If there are any faults here it's that once or twice Yeh has her characters go into lecture mode to explain background necessary to the plot; but after a couple of panels that passes and the plot gets back underway.

Poppie's Adventures is recommended for kids who are ready to move past Scooby Doo and are looking for a story in the Nancy Drew mode, or for anyone of any age who enjoys a lighthearted mystery/adventure.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)