Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
During the 1990s The Tick from Ben Edlund and New England Comics was the hottest comic property going.  The black and white comics were a smash success that led to an animated cartoon and a live action television series.
Of course it was the comic books that started it all: Edlund had created the Tick in high school as first appeared in the New England Comics (NEC) newsletter; they are a large chain of comic stores.  A …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Jiminy Christmas! column.
Why are publishers still producing dust jackets?  The technology has been around for a good century or so to print whatever you want right on the book cover.  In fact the dust jacket was meant as a protection for the book binding of the 19th century and was discarded immediately.  It wasn’t until the early 20th century that fancy designs and artsy materials appeared on the dust jacket to attract potential buyers and has …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
I’m a big Mike Mignola fan, admiring his work since Marvel Fanfare.  The Amazing Screw-On Head was a one shot comic published in 2002 but somehow I missed it so I was anxious to pick up The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects hardcover.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

When Emperor Zombie threatens the safety of all life on earth, President Lincoln enlists the aid of a mechanical head. With the help of associates Mr. Groin (a faithful manservant) …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Dan Brereton has been pigeon-holed as an artist of horror and horror comics.  Image has published Dan Brereton: The Goddess & The Monster, a hardcover art book collecting various horror illustrations.  Let the pigeon-holing continue.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

After more than 20 years, DAN BRERETON, award-winning comics creator and painter, collects his best works for the very first time in this beautiful full-color hardcover volume. THE GODDESS & THE MONSTER features 144 pages of …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
I was a faithful fan of Dark Horse’s Conan relaunch with Cary Nord as artist but after he left I drifted away.  Came across Conan: Cimmeria or Conan Volume 7, depending how you interpret the spine and title page of the book, at my local comic shop and it looked intriguing.  It’s a collection of Conan The Cimmerian issues 0-7 which tells a split story, written by Tim Truman with art by Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben.  …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
I was perusing the new books at my local comic book shop and came across Siege: Embedded in softcover.  I noticed it because Chris Samnee had done the art: he’s been making a name and is doing the art on the recent Thor all ages series that I’m waiting to see in a trade paperback.  I gave it a quick thumbing and added it to my buy pile.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

The SIEGE of Asgard has begun! …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Long time comic fans will recognize Xenozoic Tales as a long running black and white story told by Mark Schultz, or adapted to the little screen as the animated Cadillacs And Dinosaurs.  I had thumbed the various issues and collections but never had the urge to pick it up.  Flesk Publications has released Xenozoic, the complete collection of all stories to date in one hefty 352 page trade paperback.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Forced into hiding by …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
This one was a long time coming from its original French issues.  I picked up the first DC Humanoids imprint issue in 2004, but that cross publishing deal collapsed.  Devil’s Due Publishing picked up the series and published it as six issues in 2009 but the announced hardcover collected edition didn’t see light of day as Humanoids was entering the North American market again in September 2010 with I Am Legion, a 176 page 7.75×10.5″ …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Fantagraphics and Kim Thompson are back with another Jacques Tardi translated work: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Volume 1. Appearing in the early 1970s and published as single volumes in French around 1976, Adele Blanc-Sec has a cult following that we’re now privy to. Thompson is a translation whirlwind, working through a good amount of foreign material for our English-speaking audience. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Both a rip-roaring adventure series set in pre-World War I Paris and …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
The Scorpion is an excellent European series from Enrico Marini and Stephen Desberg about a treasure hunter during the Renaissance.  Cinebook has been publishing English translations for a few years now and recently shipped volume four: The Treasure Of The Templars.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

On the run from both agents of the Vatican and Ottoman authorities, the Scorpion is forced into uneasy alliances to continue his quest. Riding towards the Holy Land, the motley …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
This book wins for longest title this year by a mile.  Fire & Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, And The Birth Of Marvel Comics is a biography of Bill Everett complete with lots and lots of art.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Written by Blake Bell and compiled with the aid and assistance of Everett’s family, friends, and cartoonist peers, Fire and Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner & the Birth of Marvel Comics is an intimate biography of a …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Few people need an introduction to Frank Miller’s seminal take on Batman in his 1986 series Batman: The Dark Knight.  It’s heralded as the birth of the modern comic, along with The Watchmen, and exposed a lot of people to comics through its massive sales in a collected volume.  Three collected editions were released that year: a softcover trade paperback, a hardcover and a signed hardcover.  The softcover trade and hardcover were released by Warner Books …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
During a flip through Previews a few months back I noticed a solicitation for The Marvel Art Of Joe Quesada: 240 pages dedicated to Quesada’s work at Marvel.  Since all his early work that I enjoyed happened at DC with The Ray and Azrael I skipped it, but a big discount brought the book back into focus and in my hands.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

For the last decade, Joe Quesada has guided Marvel and its characters …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Boom! Studios has just released 7 Psychopaths trade paperback; this series completely slipped under the radar and I only spotted it because of Sean Phillips doing the art.  Originally published by Delcourt in French three years ago in that large beautiful European format as a sixty-three page hardcover, Boom! decided to shrink it down for the North American market to standard comic book size and split it up into three issues and then make this …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
The title says it all.  Fables: Covers By James Jean is a 9×12″ hardcover collection of James Jean’s covers of seventy-four monthly issues, ten trade paperbacks, one on-shot and one graphic novel.  If you enjoy Jean’s work then pick up this book.  Nuff said.

Wait a minute, that sums it up but it’s the details and package that make this a stand out volume not only because of the content but the way it’s delivered.  Let’s start …

I’m an on and off Matt Wagner fan: his drawing I usually enjoy but his storytelling as a writer has me on the fence.  When he started Madame Xanadu I thumbed the first few issues but couldn’t commit; now that the first ten issues are collected as Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

The first ten issues of the hit series from writer Matt Wagner and rising star artist Amy Reeder Hadley are collected in this new trade paperback! Madame Xanadu’s powers of sight can change the course …

I was perusing bargains and came across Gangland trade paperback from Vertigo, a collection of a four issue 1998 mini series I never heard of.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Mixing realism with humor, GANGLAND presents an entertaining and surreal look into the violent world of gangs and organized crime. These fourteen felonious tales of malice and duplicity explore the motivations of men uniting for illicit gain through violence, murder, and intimidation. Featuring made gangsters, suburban wannabes, and alien enforcers, this provocative book includes stories of a …

After I stopped collecting weekly comics and focused on collections instead the first few months were relatively light since I was waiting for recent issues to be collected.  During that time I picked up a few titles that were off my beaten track: older newspaper comic collections or foreign material.  One such book is It Was The War Of The Trenches by Jacques Tardi.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

World War I, that awful, gaping wound in the history of Europe, has long been an obsession of Jacques Tardi’s. (His very first—rejected—comics …

Originally published under my Bound Together column at Comic Book Daily.
DC Comics announced yesterday in its retailer newsletter Direct Channel #104 that it will stop shrink wrapping most hardcovers beginning in December.  Here’s the blurb:

Please note that starting with books arriving in stores in December, DC Comics will no longer shrink-wrap most hardcover titles.
DC will continue to shrink-wrap titles priced at more than $50.00 US, as well as titles that include extra materials such as sell sheets or cards.
This serves two purposes: it reduces packaging which cuts cost and can …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Fan Expo 2010 is done for me. None of my Sunday goals were reached and the show remained packed; no last day slow down. It’s solid for the retailers but as a buyer I like bargain hunting at the end with dealers who don’t want to haul merchandise home.
I wasn’t able to track Tim Bradstreet down so no sketch from him. Ethan Van Sciver still had a long list of sketches …