The Comics JourneyMan: New Release Guidepost, Week of 12/9/2009
At Fantom Comics beginning 12/9/2009
The Unwritten #8 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint)
This story has been excellent so far, while being a fairly blatant take-off on the Harry Potter franchise but with enough interesting twists built in to make it completely unpredictable. Bottom line: If you have ever enjoyed a comic book, and are a fan of the Harry Potter books, you really shouldn't miss this comic. Unfortunately, the first 5 issues are about to be released in trade paperback in early January, about a week before issue #9 comes out. So it will be difficult for a reader to catch up immediately. The best strategy would be to start a subscription with issue #11, and then grab the first two trades. Alternatively, this could be a good one to just follow in trade paperback, which will come out with new volumes every 5 or 6 months.
Muppet Show #0 (Boom! Studios)
My 5 year old daugher and I have been keeping up with the Muppet Show comic since it first debuted as a miniseries earlier this year. It's fantastic to see a comic book take on the format of a variety show, mixing "on stage action" with typical Muppet backstage zaniness. This is the first issue of a new monthly series, so this is the perfect jumping-on point. There are two trade paperbacks from the previous two miniseries (The Muppet Show TP and The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson) to catch up on as well. Looking forward to more Muppets...
Toy Story #0 (Boom! Studios)
Uh oh, look out. It looks like Boom! Studios is having some great luck with their Disney properties also. Similar to the Muppet Show, Toy Story is getting it's own monthly title after a recently successful miniseries.
Citizen Rex #6 of 6 (Dark Horse)
This is the last and final issue of this mini-series (coming soon to a trade paperback near you), and I have no idea what to expect. This is my second experience with Los Brothers Hernandez, as they are known, and part of the fun of this one is that it is a challenge to figure out what exactly is going on. Citizen Rex has been compared to a David Lynch film in the way this book leaves you scratching your head a bit, wondering what just happened and what is coming next. Not sure how to explain it other than to say it is set in the future amidst debates on robots rights and human rights.
Daytripper #1 of 10 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint)
This is a collaboration involving Gabriel Ba, the artist half of the duo involved in The Umbrella Academy (this is a shameless plug for a great offbeat super hero book - check it out). Since the comic book medium is one that more often than not relies on collaboration between a team of creators, I am picking up this book to see what Ba brings to the table when paired with a different partner, in this case Fabio Moon whom I am unfamiliar with. Both main creators have won awards as artists, so it will be interesting to see what happens when the artists are in control of drawing and telling the story. This one promises to be a slice-of-life book set in Brazil, with an obituary writer as the main character.
Pilot Season: Murderer #1 (Top Cow)
This one looks like finally out this week. See my comments on Pilot Season in last week's column.