Saturday 4 November 2017

Diamond Preview Picks: November 2017

Here a selection of good looking comics heading in to your local comic store in January (or there abouts) as listed in the Diamond Previews Catalog for November. I'm always keen to know what other comics Cerebus readers enjoy, so let us know what you're currently reading in the comments section below. Thanks!

Watchvark #1
by Dave Sim & Sandeep Atwal
Aardvark Vanaheim, $4.00
In Stores: 31 January 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV171094

The publisher says:
Everyone in hell is re-reading Watchmen (yes, "again"); first appearance of Dr. Jacobson, Watchvark and OHIP; Watching Men; deconstructing Rorschach. Also reprints online strips from September-October 2016 including the conclusion of Aardvark-Vanaheim Civil War: Cerebus vs. The Renegade Super-Poets; Todd McFarlane's Grey Hulk; Super-Cerebus and Batvark Team-Up; photoshop Village People tribute bands (C! M! Y! K!); Tex Avery Film Festival; True History of The Graphic Novel session 16; Teena Teen Queen;  Third Circle of Hell Memorial Day Rodeo; Senator Cerebus; more Nietzsche; Dante's Botox injection; FONDOO!; re-imagining The Lizard and more! 


Master Race & Other Stories
by Bernard Krigstein & Others
Fantagraphics, $29.99
In Stores: 31 January 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV171665

The publisher says:
This volume collects most of Bernard Krigstein's work for EC, including his two most highly regarded stories: "Master Race" and "The Flying Machine. Others include: "Slave Ship," "The Monster From The Fourth Dimension," and 28 other crime, horror, war, and science fiction stories. Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library, Master Race and Other Stories also features essays and notes by EC experts on these superbly crafted, classic masterpieces. 

...I feel safe in saying that Mr. Eisner is universally recognised as the single greatest pioneer in the "language" of comic-book storytelling, the innovator of many of those techniques and "breakdowns" which (as Mr. Spiegelman rightly asserts) Bernard Krigstein used to such good effect in his own work - work which occupies a place of undisputed high rank in the pantheon of "comic-book greats", (albeit on a plateau which is widely agreed to be somewhat below that of Will Eisner)...


The Goat Getters
by Eddie Campbell & Others
IDW, $49.99
In Stores: 21 March 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV170560

The publisher says:
With more than 500 period cartoons, The Goat Getters illustrates how comics were developed by such luminaries as Rube Goldberg, Tad Dorgan, and George Herriman in the sports and lurid crime pages of the daily newspaper. This wild bunch of West Coast-based cartoonists established the dynamic anatomy and bold, tough style that continue to influence comics today, as well as their own goofy slang that enriched the popular lexicon. The Goats Getters also captures early twentieth century-history through the lens of the newspaper comics: the landmark 1910 boxing match in Reno, Nevada between Jim Jeffries, the "Great White Hope," and Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion; the nationwide race riots that followed; the San Francisco graft trials that culminated in the shooting of the Federal Prosecutor; and the trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of architect Stanford White, a crime of passion that centered on Thaw's wife, show-girl Evelyn Nesbitt Thaw-all were venerated or vilified by Nell Brinkley, Jimmy Swinnerton, and their fellow directors of the ink and newsprint stage.


The Canadian Alternative:
Cartoonists Comics & Graphic Novels
by Dominick Grace & Eric Hoffman
PYR Books, $65.00
In Stores: 24 January 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV172160

The publisher says:
This overview of the history of Canadian comics explores acclaimed as well as unfamiliar artists. Contributors look at the myriad ways that English-language, Francophone, indigenous, and queer Canadian comics and cartoonists pose alternatives to American comics, to dominant perceptions, even to gender and racial categories.


The Epic Of Gilgamesh
by Kent Dixon & Kevin Dixon
Seven Stories Press, $19.95
In Stores: 24 January 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV171889

The publisher says:
The most complete Gilgamesh in translation, including the new discoveries from tablet V. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the Uhr epic - the hero's journey, quest, and education - inscribed onto damp clay tablets several millennia before Odysseus or the priest of Ecclesiastes found their voices. Sumerian versions of the epic date back almost 5000 years. It is a Bildungsroman of a bad king learning to become a proper human being and therefore a wise king, and to do so, besides defeating lions and monsters and surviving great physical and emotional suffering, he must face, and answer, the first (and last) great question: mortality. Translated into English and presented here in its entirety as a graphic novel, this version of The Epic of Gilgamesh is a father/son project by scholar and translator Kent H. Dixon and his son, the comix artist Kevin Dixon, who bring a fresh take on this great work.


Good News Bible: The Complete Deadline Strips
by Shaky Kane
Fantagraphics, $34.99
In Stores: 31 January 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV171668

The publisher says:
This major retrospective of comics and illustration from essential British cartoonist Shaky Kane collects the entirety of his work from the classic '90s magazine Deadline for the first time. Heavily influenced by the great Jack Kirby, Shaky produces comics that combine intensity and bombast with a psychedelic and unmistakably British cynicism.


Corto Maltese: The Golden House of Samarkand
by Hugo Pratt
IDW, $34.99
In Stores: 21 February 2018
Diamond Order Code: NOV170555

The publisher says:
Corto Maltese sets out on another globetrotting adventure after the discovery of a Byron manuscript in a mosque on the Isle of Rhodes. Set in the years 1921-22, the action soon shifts to Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Caspian Sea, following the footsteps of the legendary Silk Road, as Corto Maltese searches for the fabled treasure of Alexander the Great. A parade of fascinating characters are introduced, including the Whirling Dervishes, Joseph Stalin (with whom Corto is on a first-name basis), the Hashinin sect of assassins, the Turkish general Enver Pasha, and the return of Venexiana Stevenson and Rasputin (who has just escaped from the dreaded prison known as "The Golden House of Samarkand").

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Cerebus completists take note: there is an article on Cerebus in The Canadian Alternative . (Also chapters on Seth, Chester Brown, Jeff Lemire, Nina Bunjevac, Kate Beaton, Michel Rabagliati, and others).

Jeff said...

Dom, I ordered "The Canadian Alternative" from my LCBS a few days ago. Hardcover.