Indie Solicitations for April, Part Three

I'm having a cover-art-extravaganza sort of morning. I mean, the kind where I want to call my LCS like, right this second, and tell them to get me these books as soon as possible. I'm fidgeting in my chair. Hoo, what a great way to wake up.

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Found the cover for the Mouse Guard issue I mentioned yesterday, in a forum on the publishers website:



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AND caught a gander at AiT's upcoming Continuity, written by Jason McNamara with art by Tony Talbert (the Less Than Hero team), and colored by the ol' Swiss Army Knife of Comics himself, In The Trenches' Josh Richardson:



If McNamara's half as razor-witted on the page as he is in real life, this is gonna be a wild book. Seriously, you've never had a real challenge until you've tried keeping up with this guy in a conversation.

This also marks Richardson's first professional coloring gig, which is righteous. I'm digging it; anybody getting kind of a Mahfood vibe?

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Okay, on with the Indie Solicitation Love!

I'm still curious to see what Devil's Due publisher Josh Blaylock will bring to the table with his How to Self-Publish Comics ...Not Just Create Them series, issue number three of which is coming in April (p. 258). The series is broken down into "phases" of self-publication, with this issue focusing on printing and marketing. Seems like a really promising idea for a series, and I'll certainly be taking a look. Really, the only other material like this on the market are the guides from Dave Sim and Larry Young, and as excellent as those both are, it'll be cool if Blaylock can cover some new ground.



Devil's Due also brings us LO-FI Comics & Entertainment Magazine 25 Cent Special (p.268), featuring an Amazing Joy Buzzards cover. I'll be curious to see what this magazine's all about - I haven't ever read it before, and it promises "indie comic book and pop culture coverage," which could go a number of ways.



Need to take a second here to complain about something. On page 274 of this issue of Previews, Jim Kuhoric does a Staff Picks feature to spotlight Image Comics' Sight Unseen graphic novel. Now, that in itself is cool, 'cause I'd probably have skipped that over without the special shout-out - Kuhoric definitely did that book a solid there. But he also writes, "A story this good was meant to be told on the big screen." Which, frankly, I think is kind of lousy. I really wish comics could get past the whole "second class movies" identity. Perhaps there's context I'm missing - Sight Unseen is a horror book, and elements of that genre certainly benefit from being on film - but in general, I think we need to stop thinking of how our great comics "should be" something else, because that kind of thinking only reinforces the idea that it's a cultish medium with limited appeal and potential - an idea that, of course, is complete bullshit. Again, though, I thank Kuhoric for drawing my eye to a cool new book.



Smug as I was about my review of Kevin Huizenga's Ganges #1, I did enjoy it. So I'll be sure to check out Or Else #4, coming from Drawn & Quarterly (p.275); I enjoyed some of the minutia in Ganges, and this promises "a day in the life of Glen Ganges as he interacts with a squirrel, discovers a beetle in the basement, and see a pigeon get hit by a car." [sic] The price point looks a little more attractive here, as well, with 80 pages for six bucks.



I remember noticing Action Philosophers a while back, but never actually caught one of the issues. So it looks like my second chance is a fine one, with Action Philosophers Hate The French! #1 sounding right up my alley. After all, I hate the French myself (except you, Franck!). The publishers have a big preview up on their website of the entire Rene Descarte section of the book, which is also cool. Looks like a sort of Philosophy Digest sort of thing, which could be clever and funny and educational (?!?) - I suppose I'll find out.



Took me a second to re-read the solicit, and I only did it because Graeme told me to, but the A.L.I.E.E.E.N. softcover (p. 279) looks promising. Coming from is coming from :01 First Second (which features a freaky photo of the creator if you do a little digging) and includes aliens pooping, which pretty much sold me right there. I mean, who doesn't want a comic with aliens pooping? Nobody I want to know. Note that this also continues the 96-page-OGN-at-$13-price-point trend that Larry's been blazing for several years now.



Graeme's always on about Eddie Campbell, isn't he? I hated, hated, hated his Elseworlds Batman one-shot a year or so ago, but that probably wasn't the kind of material he's naturally suited to, anyway. This looks more promising: in The Fate of the Artist GN (p. 280), also from First Second, "Campbell conducts an investigation into his own sudden disappearance." A combination of humor, surreal metacommentary, and tender examination of the author's relationships would be peachy, if you please.



Hey! How come nobody told me that Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) was working on an adaptation of Adventures in Oz (p.292)? Fuck you guys for leaving me out! But props to IDW for bringing me this gorgeous looking trade paperback with five of Baum's classic Oz stories taken up by somebody who sees books and movies and thinks to himself, "Hey, this would make a great comic!" Because that is the kind of attitude comics needs. Forty bucks is a little steep for my casual weekly purchasing, but this one goes right to the top of the wish list.



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Boy, the deeper I get into this fucking magazine, the better it gets. A while back, I posted a request for new indies - I'm not reading enough, I said. Well, as the feller says, God helps those who helps themselves. So I gotta thank James Sime for hooking me up with this copy of Previews and myself for taking the time to go through it. It's well worth the effort, folks, trust me.

Part four, wrapping up my read this month, comes tomorrow. What have you guys been getting excited about? Drop a line and let me know if I'm missing anything!