Graphic novel news

Two very different short story collections have been released by Fantagraphics recently. The Squirrel Mother is the second collection of short strips by Megan Kelso, which mixes autobiographical ruminations with ponderings over the myth and meaning of being an American. Her drawing style is sparing and lightly touched, while her stories capture the highs and lows of growing up in America.

Scrublands is South African cartoonist Joe Daly's debut on the international comics scene, and features short strips of an almost hallucinogenic nature, deeply reminiscent of the work of underground artists like Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton.

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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - A Scanner Darkly.

Brian K. Vaughan's political drama reaches volume three with Ex Machina: Fact v. Fiction. In it, we see Mitchell Hundred, mayor of New York and former superhero, accept a call to jury duty. While he's away from office, however, a new superhero surfaces to usurp his position.

This story, unique to comics, is like The West Wing with a sci-fi twist. If you missed them, click on the links to read our reviews of volumes 1 and 2.

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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets.

The final two episodes of the epic Buddha saga have been released in the UK by HarperCollins. The seventh volume, Prince Ajatasattu, tells the story of how the Prince of Magadha believes that the Buddha's prophecy that he will one day kill his father is false, and tries to make Buddha pay for the rift he's caused between father and son. In the last volume, Jetavana, Buddha returns to Kapiluvastu, where he was born, to inspire and teach more followers and reveal the keystone of his philosophy.

You can keep up to date with our reviews of the series, which are a bit behind the publishing schedule, here. The series is available in the US in a hardback edition.

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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Stagger Lee.

David B.'s childhood memoir Epileptic, which recounts his life growing up with an epileptic brother, is now out in paperback from Pantheon. You can read our review by clicking on the book cover below, or order from Amazon using the links.

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Graphic adaptations of movies tend to vary in quality and, like most movie tie-ins, are more than likely rushed-out crap intended to cash in on an unwary but enthusiastic public. The graphic adaptation of the A Scanner Darkly movie, itself an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story, promises to break the mould however, featuring actual stills from the rotoscoped movie (itself designed to look more drawn than filmed) with additional text written by American Splendor's Harvey Pekar.

Set in a futuristic USA where drug taking is rife, an undercover cop tries to track down an evil drug pusher by taking on his persona - including his narcotic habits. But paranoia and insanity soon take hold leaving our policeman unsure of who is the real enemy.

The movie, starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Richard Linklater is out now in some cities in the US and Canada, and is due out in the rest of the world by the end of August.

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The previous volumes of Flight - an anthology of comics creators whose work appears more often in other mediums like illustration, animation or online comics - have achieved enormous critical acclaim. So it's with a little excitement that Volume Three is out. The stories vary in style, offering a something for everyone approach that editor Kazu Kibuishi believes will appeal to all readers, not just comic fans.

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There are two new classic Star Trek collections doing the rounds at the moment. If prefer your Enterprise uniforms in yellow, blue and red you'll opt for Checker's Star Trek - The Key Collection Volume 5, containing stories from the comic series originally published between 1977 and 1979, and considered too adventurous for using on screen. Fans of the crew's movie period, when they wore burgundy uniforms and bigger paunches, will prefer Titan Books' Star Trek: The Trial of James T. Kirk. This sees the Klingons put a bounty on Kirk's head that even his own Federation consider cashing in on for the sake of intergalactic peace.

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With Superman Returns out in the US and opening in the UK in a few days, you're likely to be overloaded with Superman hype. But just in case you want more superhero action, DC Comics and Titan Books have a range of new titles now available featuring the Man of Steel, Batman and your other favourite DC heroes.

Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee are two unique talents, and while both Lee and Azzarello's work on Batman have earned them five star ratings on this site, the thought of them working together on a Superman story is clearly something to get excited about. Be warned though, Superman: For Tomorrow Volume One is only the first of a two part series.

Superman also features heavily in JLA: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, which reprints eight classic superteam yarns from 1963 through to 2002; and the paperback edition of Bizarro World, which sees some of comics finest 'alternative' cartoonists have their wicked way with DC's characters.

Batman fans can revel in Batman: War Crimes, the follow up to War Drums and War Games; or Batman: Dark Detective, which brings back a creative team from the seventies to pull out all the stops and create a classic Batman yarn.

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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 - Buddha Volume 3: Devadatta by Osamu Tezuka.

Three books from DC's Vertigo stable have hit the streets in the UK via Titan Books.

Continuing Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's epic Y: The Last Man series comes the seventh book Paper Dolls. Yorick finally makes it to Australia in pursuit of his fiance, but is also discovered by an ambitious young journalist who suspects that revealing his existence to a world populated only by women could scoop her the biggest story of all time.

Brian Azarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets reaches volume nine with Strychnine Lives, collecting issues 59-67 of the ongoing monthly comic. This continues in the same vein with superbly dark tales of tragedy and revenge, with dialogue to die for and art to rival Frank Miller.

Last of our threesome is Hellblazer: Papa Midnite, a standalone spin-off story documenting the history of one of John Constantine's arch enemies. Papa Midnite is a voodoo legend, damned to walk the earth for hundreds of years, since he made a deal with the wrong type of ancient god around the time of the US civil war.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk