Graphic novel news

Volume 9 of the ever-popular Conan series is out now, subtitled Riders of the River-Dragons and other stories. The book collects together more stories from the Marvel Comics series Conan the Barbarian, digitally recoloured for a more discerning modern audience.

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As any Star Wars fan will already know, there's more to the phenomenon than six films. Star Wars: The Comics Companion is a comprehensive guide to all the Star Wars graphic novels published, putting them into the context of the continuing Star Wars timeline. It provides a brief synopsis of each and includes a handy index of characters, places and technologies, making it an incredibly detailed and useful resource for collectors of Star Wars comics and memorabilia.

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The fourth volume in Alan Moore's Tom Strong series has just been released in a paperback edition in the UK. It sees Alan Moore spinning a classic time-twisting yarn that puts another hero in Tom Strong's shoes, Peter Hogan scripts a trip to the Moon, and Geoff Johns tells a tale of Strong's fanclub - the Strongmen of America.

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British followers of DC Comics's Vertigo imprint can catch up with the latest Hellblazer and Fables titles courtesy of Titan Books.

Hellblazer: Staring at the Wall brings John Constantine back into contact with the Swamp Thing, along with a motley collection of other magical folk, in an effort to save the world from the latest chaotic nightmare to threaten it's very being.

While Bill Willingham fans can look to the chunky sixth volume of their favourite series in Fables: Homelands, which sees the fairy-tales-in-exile face a new threat from the Adversary, mixed with a little Hollywood glamour.

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Titan Books' latest crop of titles via DC Comics hits British streets and it's quite a collection. Top billing must go to the latest volume in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis epic: Day of Vengeance by Bill Willingham and Judd Winick. If you're not attempting to keep up with the Crisis you might be more interested in DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. If the title sounds familiar you may have seen the previously published Across the Universe. This newer volume contains all the stories printed in Across, but adds in Superman classic Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow and Grovel fave The Killing Joke, making it a far more compelling package.

What about the villains? Well, Brian Azzarello is back scripting Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, which sees Luthor turning the world against Superman; while Batman: Ra's Al Ghul - Year One recounts Batman's first encounter with the enemy he confronted in the recent Batman Begins movie.

Also look out for Batgirl: Kicking Assassins, Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders and the long-awaited paperback edition of Superman/Batman: Supergirl - read our review here.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

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Read our review

Grant Morrison starts on the mammoth, four-volume task of pulling together seven of DC Comics' lesser-known characters into a coherent fighting force, without letting any of them meet one another. Watch out for a full review, coming soon.

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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Songs of our Ancestors 3: Tree of Love.

Volume 4 of Star Trek: The Key Collection has hit the shops. Collecting together issues 24 through 33 of the original comic book series, first published in 1974-5, this sees the original cast in adventures too fantastic for the show's limited special effects budget. Stories include The Final Truth, The Perfect Dream, Ice Journey and The Mimicking Menace.

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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - King of Crooks by Jerry Siegel, Ted Cowan and Reg Bunn.

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - The OMAC Project.

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Swamp Thing: Love in Vain.

The X-Files is back with volume two of the graphic novel series. Collecting stories from the monthly comic book, originally published around 10 years ago, it features seven new spooky challenges for Mulder and Scully to investigate.

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Read our review of The X-Files: Volume 1

This month's batch of manga from DelRey is now on the shelves. Volume 8 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle continues Princess Sakura's quest for her feathery memories; volume 4 of Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture sees a change in leadership at the Society; while Guru Guru Pon-Chan celebrates its third volume with some new rivals for the subject of the affections of our sometimes-puppy sometimes-girl heroine. Nodame Cantabile also reaches volume 4 with more musical fun and a bonus extra story from Nodame's past; and also look out for volume 2 of Love Roma, the continuing high-school romantic comedy.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Vimanarama by Grant Morrison and Philip Bond.

Grovel has been voted website of the week on Nerd Network, a newish magazine site published in Australia, which features fresh new writing on the entertainment industry and beyond. Check it out - they've clearly got great taste in websites...

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - The Freebooters by Barry Windsor-Smith.