The Gosh! Authority 05/11/08

As the first post of November shuffles quietly in from the cold everyone’s out flinging fireworks and burning things. Or perhaps you’re at home tucked up with your Horlicks re-reading big hairy Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. However it finds you, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know it’s a fairly low-key one after the last monumental delivery.

That said, there is a nice big hardcover to weigh you down – Dean Motter’s Mister X Archives all fully restored! This volume collects the entire masterpiece featuring early art by Jaime Hernandez (Love & Rockets), Dave McKean (The Graveyard Book), Ty Templeton (Batman Adventures), Paul Rivoche, and Seth (It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken)! When it first appeared twenty-five years ago this film noir oddity was like nothing that had come before it and probably nothing since. It’s 384 pages long and features a foreword by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan).



Also in restored hardcover is Fantagraphics’ Popeye Volume 3: Let’s You And Him Fight! It’s the third of six volumes collecting all of EC Segar’s strips, this one spanning from 1932 to 1934. As well as the usual dailies and Sundays there’s a never-reprinted two-week World’s Fair sequence in which Wimpy and Popeye visit the World’s Fair in Chicago, leaving Olive Oyl behind because “she ain’t wide-minded” like wot he is.

Next up is The Sandman: Dream Hunters #1, the first of a 4-issue comics miniseries based on the multi-award winning prose novella that Neil Scary Trousers Gaiman (The Graveyard Book) wrote over a decade ago. P. Craig Russell (Sandman, Coraline graphic novel) has adapted and illustrated the story of the young monk and shape-changing fox and if you liked his work on Coraline you’re bound to want this one too. Head over to Comicbook Resources for a preview, or to The Beat if you want to see him talking about it.

Then there’s Daredevil by Frank Miller/Klaus Janson Volume 1 in trade-paperback! Miller (Sin City, 300) redefined the classic hero when he began his run in 1979, and by the time he left it in 1983 he had been cemented as one of the biggest and most influential stars in the industry. These days Hollywood starlets talk about what great pals they are with him in Wizard magazine. This is the first of three huge trades written by Miller, Bill Mantlo (Alpha Flight), Roger McKenzie (Creepy) and David Michelinie (Iron Man: Legacy of Doom), with artwork by Miller and Klaus Janson (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns).


After last week’s Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch one-shot, Mike Mignola fans will also be happy to know there’s a new B.P.R.D trade-paperback out! This ninth volume, the aptly sub-titled 1946, collects the arc set in the wake of WWII, in which Professor Trevor Bruttenholm unravels the mystery of the Nazi Occult Bureau’s Project, Vampir Sturm.

Then there’s the second issue of Top Ten Season Two, and if sales on the last one are anything to go by you’d better get in quick! This series of four issues by Zander Cannon and Gene Ha (both of the original Top Ten line-up) is sans the bearded one, but the reviews of the first issue have been very good. Here’s one, f’rinstance.

Joe Kelly’s (Uncanny X-Men) Four Eyes #1 also got a great big pile of good reviews, which is nice, and #2 is shaping up to be even better than the first! In this instalment, Enrico witnesses his first dragon fight and learns the truth about his father’s death. If you missed it the first time around, here’s the preview to the first issue I linked to ages ago.


Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann present a world overrun by Darkseid’s Anti-Life Equation in this week’s Final Crisis instalment, Resist #1! The only hope for survival depends on one-time JLA mascot Snapper Carr, Mr Terrific and Checkmate. Newsarama have an interview with co-writers here and a preview too!

The end is nigh in Jeph Loeb’s (Ultimates 3) new Ultimate event series Ultimatum #1 (of 5), with art by David Finch (X-Men: Messiah Complex). Everything is climatically doomed unless the assemblage of the Ultimate U’s mightiest can do something about it. This one features the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Ultimates, the Hulk and more all saying no to plastic bags and such.

The X-Men and Spider-Man have teamed up again in X-Men Spider-Man #1, the first of a 4-part series by Christos Gage (Thunderbolts, House of M: Avengers) and Mario Alberti (Credits). In this issue, Kraven the Hunter and the Blob attack! Preview here.

Then in Wolverine: Chop Shop, Logan’s about to wake up minus a kidney or two! He might need those. Here’s a preview of the story written by Mike Benson, with art by Roland Boschi.

You can cross off Part 3 on your New Krypton checklist after you’ve picked up the Adventure Comics Special featuring The Guardian #1. Written by James Robinson, with art by Pere Perez, this issue follows on from last month’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #1 and reveals the true origin of the Guardian of Metropolis. Want more Superman? The new trade-paperback Superman Vs Brainiac collects all of their greatest battles as drawn by Curt Swan, Gil Kane (His Name Is...Savage), George Perez (Crisis On Infinite Earths) and more.


Gigantic #1 (of 5) examines America’s consumer-based culture when a gigantic armoured alien appears from nowhere and smashes stuff up. Written by Rick Remender (Fear Agent, The End League) and illustrated by Eric Nguyen (X-Men, Sandman) this series is packed with sci-fi thrills and superhero action and promises to make more sense than that first sentence.

Another miniseries begins with Kull #1! The first of six issues written by Arvid Nelson (Rex Mundi) adapting Robert E. Howard’s story ‘The Shadow Kingdom’ sees the recently self-crowned Kull seeking to unite the land of Valusia. Be sure to check out the cover on this one because it (along with Conan the Cimmerian #1 and Solomon Kane #1) is the first time Joe Kubert’s illustrations of Robert E. Howard’s heroes have seen print.
Preview here.

The last of the miniseries-based news is the release of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti’s (Jonah Hex) Terra #1 (of 4)! After being shelved temporarily, the miniseries featuring art by Amanda Connor is finally being let out into the world. Here’s an interview with the guys on Newsarama.

Breaking news in comics! DC has just announced the cancellation of three titles: Robin, Nightwing and Birds of Prey. The February-shipping issues are scheduled to be the very last ones. Oh dear. Head on over to Newsarama for the full story.


And just so this post doesn’t end on a downer: If you missed out on our Gilbert Shelton signing back in September you’re in luck! We’ve got a limited bookplate edition of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus, with all new artwork created for the plate and signed by Shelton himself. As we’ve said in the past, this is the definitive collection of the definitive underground comic: 624 pages (including 224 in full colour) for only twenty quid. Come grab a Gosh! exclusive!

-- Hayley