The Gosh! Authority 11/09/08

Stuck indoors with heavy rain? Good thing there’s comics to read! Here’s this weeks Gosh blog, to prove that every cloud does have a silver lining.

Before I get straight into it, I must remind you all it’s our Gilbert Shelton Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers signing this Saturday, 13th September. The man himself will be in our basement from 2pm to 4pm.

If you haven’t seen this wonderful collection yet, then you’re in for a treat. It collects all the Freak Brothers material in one bumper package; that’s 624 pages (including 224 in full colour) for only £20, an absolute steal! It also features an offer to buy shares in the upcoming Freaks movie, so if you’re a fan of the dazed and confused trio, then this book is a must.

If you can’t make it on the day, be sure to let us know and we’ll reserve you a signed copy; and it won’t cost you a penny more than the cover price.

Now to this week’s delivery!

After a quiet one last week and a mega one the week before, this Thursday brings us a medium sized week. Goldilocks will be pleased! This week has a bit of something for everyone, though Marvel fans will be particularly happy.

The biggest release of the week comes from not Marvel, DC, Dark Horse nor Image. Fantagraphics and the Hernandez brothers have answered their fans' calls with Love & Rockets – New Stories #1! With a 100 pages of all new material, Love and Rockets: New Stories reboots the beloved ongoing series into this new, annually produced format. This time around Jaime brings us a 50 page "Kirby-style slam-bang super-hero action" story featuring Penny Century, while Gilbert brings us a cavalcade of stories (six in total) including one written by the third Hernandez brother, Mario. This has been a long time coming, so if you're a long standing Love & Rockets fan, or if you're thinking of joining the party, this book will be a very reasonable £9.99.

Marvel once more have a slew of Secret Invasion titles shipping at once. The main Secret Invasion series hits with a bang, as the (kinda) classic Avengers reunite to deal with the bumpy-chinned threat. As the series hurtles towards its conclusion, Marvel have said that the last double page spread of this issue will send a chill down readers’ collective spine. I imagine it’ll be Spider-Woman running her nails down a chalk board.

As well as that, we’ve also got a brand new ongoing launching in the midst of the invasion with Deadpool #1. “The Merc with a Mouth” "returns to the Marvel U with a bang. Lots of quips, gore and funnies ensue from Daniel Way and Paco Medina.

Other Secret Invasion titles this week are Ms Marvel #30, Secret Invasion Inhumans #2,
Secret Invasion Runaways Young Avengers #3, and Secret Invasion X-Men #2.

The House of Ideas’ Stephen King world grows this week, with not only the new Dark Tower series starting up, but also the beginning of their adaptation of The Stand. Based on the best selling novel, The Stand: Captain Trips charts the outbreak and spread of the titular virus as it eradicates most of the world’s population. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four) and artist Mike Perkins (Captain America) bring the first part of humanity’s last stand.

Marvel also has two Magneto-themed series starting on Thursday. First up, Christos (House of M: Avengers) Gage and Andrea (Annihilation) Di Vito fill us in on the history of House of M, and how the Master of Magnetism took over the world. This series will give us a first look at House of M versions of Apocalypse and Bucky, and features Magneto’s first battle with the Sentinels. If you prefer your Magneto stories a little darker, Greg Pak and Carmine di Giandomenico bring us Magneto: Testament the same day. This story features Erik Lehnsherr as a young Jewish boy in 1935 Germany. Don’t expect a happy tale. Judging by di Giandomenico’s art on Daredevil: Battling Jack Murdock, it’ll be beautifully drawn.


The March to Ultimatum continues in Ultimate Origins (which I constantly call Ultimate Oranges) and Ultimate X-Men Fantastic Four Annual #1. In the former, the secret history of the Ultimate Universe is continued with the tale of Ultimate Hulk. We might also get more info on those strange cyclopean monoliths as well. In the Ultimate X-Men FF Annual, the X-men of the future come to kill the modern Fantastic Four. Who could possibly stop them? Why the future FF of course. But the team is unrecognisable from their current state, so what tore them apart? Answers within, hopefully!

If you prefer your books superhero-free, then this week also meets your needs.

I’m not going to bang on about Criminal, because let’s face it, if you’re not reading it you’re only hurting yourself. If you are late to the game, you can catch right up by getting the first 3 trades and last months issue (which we still have copies of). Then you can buy this week’s issue 5, the continuing story of an ex counterfeiter who’s been dragged back to his old life. Best book coming out month to month here, folks!

Thursday also brings my favourite comic, The Goon, back to our fair shores. The Goon is forced to team up with the (now blinded) Zombie Priest, as the Labrazio gang war steps up a notch. The series has been going from strength to strength and the monthly run will soon end. So enjoy Dark Horse’s best series while it’s still coming regularly!

We’ve uncovered a pile of early work by brothers Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, in the form of Rock N’ Roll. This hard to find one shot is your typical story of boy meets and loses girl; girl then gets offered up as a sacrifice to a monster; boy rescues girl. If you’re a fan of both brothers’ work on Casanova, and Gabriel’s art on Umbrella Academy, grab this while you still can!

Fans of classics, both comic and prose, have cause for celebration with my final two picks of the week.
First up the final volume of Fantatgraphics complete Krazy & Ignatz arrives, finishing the brick lobbing adventures of comics’ first Cat and Mouse duo. These volumes are gorgeous, and are well worth checking out.

If Oscar Wilde is more your bag, then Ian(s) Edginton and Culbard bring The Portait of Dorian Grey to life this week. This stunning, complete graphic novel adapts Wilde’s tale of a man who attempts to cheat death while enjoying a life of hedonistic delight. Edginton has proved his skill at this form of adaptation with Nevermore, and has proven his place as one of Gosh’s favourite writers time and time again. Culbard fans will delight at his first full graphic novel work, and if you’re unfamiliar with his work you’ll be longing for more once you feast your eyes on this.

News-wise, the Marvel machine has rolled into Vegas at the Diamond Retailer Expo and given out a ton of info on exciting new projects.

First up, Mark Millar's return to the Ultimate Universe begins in early 2009 with Ultimate Avengers. This series will run for two years with four 6 issue arcs, all by different artists. Though no-one’s been named yet, Millar has promised four of the best artists working in comics today. Millar claims that this series will be the equivalent of two events a year in the UU. The list of characters appearing include Ultimate Cap, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimate Blade, Ultimate Punisher, Ultimate Ghost Rider, Ultimate Spider Man, Ultimate Doc Doom, Ultimate Red Skull and (phew) Ultimate Kang, to name but a few.

Brian Bendis appeared and announced the next Marvel event, Dark Reign. Details on the series will be kept under wraps, but it’ll deal with the post Secret Invasion Marvel U. The announcement was also followed by the news that Bendis is leaving Mighty Avengers with #20, and starting yet another Avengers book (Dark Avengers) with Mike Deodato. Bendis also reassured fans that his Spider-Woman series with Alex Maleev is still coming.

Those of you worrying whether the quality of Marvel Zombies 3 would match the previous series need fear not! If you head here CBR bring us a preview of the gorgeous Kev Walker art and an interview with writer Fred Van Lente. Van Lente has a genuine love for comics and he’s a deft hand at creating engaging stories, combining humour and action perfectly. My theory is this mini could even out do the last two MZ titles. Don’t miss out, order yours now.

While Van Lente’s under discussion, the teasers featured in recent comics have been revealed to be for the writer’s new mini, X-Men Noir. Set in an alternate reality where the X-Men and other mutants are criminals in a 1930s New York, the four issue mini will feature art by Dennis (X-Factor) Calero. The story will be a noir-styled murder mystery, after the death of Jean Grey. In Van Lente’s own words: "The X-Men in this book are not superheroes...this is a crime series."

Those of your upset at Garth Ennis leaving the Punisher will be happy to know he’s back, if only for a six issue mini. The writer will re-team with Steve Dillon on a follow up to his comedic gore laden Marvel Knights series, with Punisher War Zone. It will feature the return of everyone’s favourite quadriplegic, Ma Gnucci.

And lastly, due to popular demand, we’re going to give you a competition this week! To celebrate the release of the new Love & Rockets volume from the mighty Los Bros Hernandez, we’re giving away a copy of the signed, limited edition hardcover of Volume 5: House of Raging Women. Please note that this item is rather old now, so it’s not in pristine condition, but it’s a genuine rarity, and a treat for any L&R fan. And the question this week is:

Who is this?
If you think you know, just comment on this post on our blog. If you can’t sign in to a personal account, you can comment anonymously – but don’t forget to leave your name in the comment itself! The first two people to comment with the correct answer win a copy of the book. Please note that the judge’s decision is final and that it is the responsibility of prize winners to arrange collection of the prize within a period of 14 days, after which any non-collected prizes will be offered to the runner-up.

That’s all for now guys and gals,

Matt