Graphic novel news

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Smax by Alan Moore, Zander Cannon and Andrew Currie.

Newsarama has an interview with Jason, the Norwegian comics talent behind such work as Tell Me Something.

The monthly bombardment of UK titles from Titan Books has come around again, with some interesting titles hitting the stands. Perhaps most exciting is the hardback release of The Originals, a graphic novel by Dave Gibbons, most famous for his work on Watchmen. Volume 2 of Batman: Hush is now available in a more affordable paperback edition, or you can get your hands on a hardback version of Superman: True Brit. Click on the book titles to see our reviews. Also out from the Vertigo stable are Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers and Hellblazer: Setting Sun; while Star Wars: Empire Volume 3 - The Imperial Perspective and Hellboy: Weird Tales Volume 2 originally hail from Dark Horse. Aspiring comics writers may also be interested in Writers on Comics Scriptwriting 2, with useful advice from some of the industry's most successful writers.

Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Superman: True Brit.

A romantic comedy by Brian McLachlan and Thomas Williams. From the official press release:

"Nozomi's had it with the record store. If she has to help one more dumb customer or incompetent coworker, she's going to scream. Seth needs to be doing something else. He doesn't know what that something else is, but he's certain it has nothing to do with the office politics and corporate greed that drive his current employer. Each of them is looking for love, but how can you find "the one" when you still haven't found yourself?"

British fans of superhero supremo Mark Waid may have been waiting with baited breath for the collected edition of his Superman: Birthright series. Well, in stark contrast to Batman: Hush, and far more sensibly in our opinion, the entire 12 issue run has been collected into one great-looking volume by Titan Books. Available in shops now - look out for a full Grovel review soon.

Buy from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

If you fancy trying out some manga without restricting yourself to a specific title, you could try Manga Mover from Boychild Productions. From the official press release:

First issue features Sakura Mizuki, of recent hot manga The Spiral in a new story not even seen in Japan yet! Plus Misako Rocks of The Onion newspaper. Female creator Tomoko Amemiya for the first time in English. Plus a story by Sean Micheal Wilson of Angel of the Woods graphic novel, art by Juan Chavarriga who has recently signed to do some books for Platinum studios.

Issue one of Manga Mover is £4 UK, $5.99 in the USA, 68 pages, perfect bound. Available in shops via Diamond Distributors November Previews Catalogue (page 242); Redroute distribution or Smallzone in the UK; or direct from Boychild Productions.

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Epileptic by David B.

Philip Clark, writer and publisher of the 12-part Quantum: Rock of Ages series, has announced that it is to be collected as trade paperbacks. The first, collecting the initial four chapters of the series, is on sale now.

From the official press release:

Part Clerks, part Sliders, Quantum: Rock of Ages - Act 1 follows the adventures of Nick Vargas, a jaded musician turned record-store owner. Nick is unwittingly taken on the ultimate cross-time thrill ride due to a time experiment gone awry in an alternate reality. His goal is to reassemble the Quantum Silica - an ancient and powerful artifact that has been split into seven fragments - in order to repair time and space before all existence ends. During his quest he encounters other characters that are also affected by the bizarre gemstone. Each fragment of the Quantum sphere offers a unique power to Nick and his counterparts, and the Quantum needs to be reassembled before Nick can return to his record store reality. Toss in a diabolical nemesis and some quirky pop-culture humor, and Quantum makes for a highly enjoyable ride.

In addition to the magnificent art by Ozzy Longoria and James Rodriguez, Quantum: Rock of Ages - Act 1 also features bonus material: character bios, self-publishing tips, and a sketchbook of comicdom's hottest talent including David Mack (Kabuki), Jim Calafiore (Exiles), Mark Texeira (Sabertooth), Andy McDonald (NYC Mech), Jamal Igle (Green Lantern), Andy Lee (Marvel Team-up) and more!

[via Silver Bullet Comic Books]

The Eagle Awards were announced last week and Silver Bullet has the full list. Unique because they're short-listed by readers, a number of Grovel favourites won gongs, including:

Jim Lee (Favourite comics artist: pencils)
Scott Williams (Favourite comics artist: inks)
Alex Ross (Favourite comics artist: painted art)
Batman [DC Comics]
The Chronicles of Conan (Favourite reprint compilation)
Judge Dredd (Favourite comic strip to appear in a UK comic or magazine)
Neil Gaiman (Roll of honour)

Howard Chaykin is interviewed by Comic Book Resources about the forthcoming collection of his classic American Flagg series, to be published in December by Dynamic Forces.

ICv2 offers a sneak peak of what to graphic novels to expect from Marvel Comics' superhero stable through to May 2005.

There's a slew of new books available from Fantagraphics - see the information below direct from the press release. Also, if you're interested in information about the publisher, there's a feature on the Seattle Weekly website.

THE BUSH JUNTA

By various; edited by Gary Groth & Mack White

200-page black-and-white graphic album * $18.95

ISBN 1-56097-612-8

An international assemblage of world-class cartoonists take on the Bush administration in this historical account of high crimes and misdemeanors. This fact-based, impeccably researched work of comics journalism chronicles the Bush administration in the context of the Bush family dynasty that spawned it. Contributors to this historic comics documentary include: Carol Swain's look at Election 2000; Mack White's documentation of the events of September 11, 2001; Marcel Ruyters on the Bush-Nazi Connection; Carol Lay explores Karl Rove's role; Mark Landman looks at Dick Cheney; Ethan Persoff reads PATRIOT Acts I and II; and unveiling numerous other truths about the leader of the free world are a host of other cartoonists including: Kim Deitch, Jeremy Eaton, Hack Smith, Bill Griffith, Aleksandar Zograf, Larry Rodman, Spain Rodriguez and others.Introduction by documentary filmmaker and national radio broadcaster Alex Jones. Cover by acclaimed political cartoonist Steve Brodner.



FRED THE CLOWN

By Roger Langridge

192-page black-and-white graphic novel * $16.95

ISBN 1-56097-610-1

The signature creation of New Zealand cartoonist Roger Langridge, Fred the Clown is the thinking man's idiot. Fred has an eye for the ladies, as well as several other organs, but the only part of themselves they're willing to share is a carefully placed kneecap. Fred the Clown's misadventures are a curious balance of bleakness and joyful absurdism; the universe may dump on Fred from a great height, but he never gives up. Underlying it all is Langridge's own meticulous brush style. According to another New Zealand cartoonist, Hicksville creator Dylan Horrocks, "If Samuel Beckett had teamed up with the Goons and learned to draw like Tex Avery, the result would have been something very like the comics of Roger Langridge."



BLAB! Vol. 15

By various; edited by Monte Beauchamp

120-page graphic album in color and black-and-white * $19.95

ISBN 1-56097-613-6

Pop Art virtuoso Lou Brooks delivers the front and back covers to our latest annual serving of Blab!, while Juxtapoz magazine favorite Christian Northeast does the insides covers. Also: Sue Coe takes a look at the so-called Bird-Flu, Matti Hagelberg's tells us of an undead President of Finland; Jeffrey Steele writes about the Black Dahlia; Peter Kuper delivers a four-page, full-color, Little Nemo-inspired fantasy; plus, more from Blab! regular Gary "Teacher's Pet" Baseman, as well as Beauchamp's long-awaited piece on Kilroy (of "was here" fame), originally slated for Vol. 14.



THE COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY VOL. 4: DRAWING THE LINE

120-page graphic album in B&W and color * $18.95

ISBN 1-56097-597-0

The fourth volume in TCJ Library's ongoing series of lavish coffee-table-book collections of interviews drawn from the Utne Award-winning magazine's archives, this volume gathers together the epic, exhaustive interviews with four of the sharpest social commentators of our times: Ralph Steadman, Jules Feiffer, Edward Sorel, and David Levine. Each definitive conversation will boast the generous amounts of illustration that TCJ Library readers have come to expect from each volume, as well as a full-color gallery of rarely seen work.



LOCAS: A LOVE & ROCKETS BOOK by Jaime Hernandez

704-page B&W hardcover graphic novel * $49.95

ISBN 1-56097-611-X

BACK IN STOCK! One of the most humane, graceful and imaginatively inexhaustible artists in American popular culture, Jaime Hernandez has created in Locas one of the great American novels of the last 25 years, graphic or otherwise. Spanning a quarter-century, Locas tells the story of Maggie Chascarrillo, a bisexual, Mexican-American woman attempting to define herself in a community rife with class, race and gender issues. Maggie's story begins in the early-1980s Southern California rock scene, when it was shifting from the excesses of glitter rock to the gritty basics of punk and new wave. She quickly befriends Hopey Glass, a feisty anti-authoritarian punkette who quickly becomes Maggie's on-again, off-again lover and a constant presence in her life throughout the book. Maggie evolves from an angry young punk into a mature woman, encountering cruelties large and small and resigning herself to dashed hopes, shattered illusions, and even death with ironic acceptance over her 20 year story arc.

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - War Stories Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis.

ICv2 reports that The Rosen Publishing Group has lined up a series of graphic biographies about a handful of the top comic creators, including Neil Gaiman, Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Bryan Talbot. [Full story]