The Gosh! Authority 10/12/08

I’ve misjudged the timing and have prematurely reached Quality Street saturation point. Soon I’ll have my usual chubby Christmas cheeks and will look even more like a Jack Kirby’s Big Barda, says Will Kane. But there are other things to look forward to other than rapid expansion - some of which are in this very post! But before we get on to that, here's a feast for your EYES, not yer big face. *

David B. (Epileptic) takes a risk with his new book Nocturnal Conspiracies: Nineteen Dreams in which he illustrates dreams he had between December 1979 and September 1994. Usually I’d rather scoop my own eyeballs out with a plastic spoon than hear about someone else’s dreams, but this looks quite interesting. He says in an interview for the Comics Journal…

"Upon awakening, before jumping out of bed, I rerun the dream in my head like a movie, and then I write it down. The drawing part is tricky, because there's nothing more imprecise than a dream. As soon as you try to nail down one element, it slips away. What I mean is, like for instance the Eiffel Tower or my father or a friend, the places or the people that emerge from my subconscious can only be evoked by the drawing. I re-create them, based on the impression that I came away with, but I don't add any conscious elements. There is no re-writing of the dream, just graphic embodiment."

It’s all drawn in his heavy-lined style with blue spot-colour like his work in Mome. There’s a preview for you over here.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1 (of 8) does what it says on the tin, but retells the story of Dorothy like never before. Eisner Award-winning writer/artist Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) and fan-favourite artist Skottie Young (New X-Men) did the work on this one, and Marvel were so impressed with the art that they’ve released a preview sketchbook for free! But you’ll have to jump through a few annoying hoops to get there. Alternatively, you might want to give up on that entirely and go straight to the preview of #1.

The second Previews Exclusive hardcover edition of Gosh-favourite Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack finally puts in an appearance this week, and includes a bonus story that hasn’t even been included in Japanese reprints. This volume has all the stuff that was in Vertical’s second softcover edition, but the extra pages are well worth the few extra quid. Here, have a sample story!

Another nice-looking hardcover is Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Dailies, collecting over 900 of the original science-fiction dailies based on the creation of Philip Francis Nowlan and initially drawn by Dick Calkins. Beginning on the 7th of January 1929, these strips were a precursor to Star Trek, Star Wars, and just about everything else you see walking about at conventions eating hotdogs. They’re reprinted here in 9’x12’ landscape, two to a page, and the Sundays are here too. Comics historian Ron Goulart has written an essay on the strip that’s presented here in a 16-page colour section with a load of documentary materials and unseen artwork.

Hardcovers abound! King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table are reincarnated in Mike W. Barr (JLA Classified) and Brian Bolland’s (Judge Dredd) 1980s classic Camelot 3000, now collected in a deluxe oversized hardcover edition. All twelve issues of the series are here, as well as the expected supplements we like in a big collection – a brand-spanking new cover and unseen preliminary artwork by Bolland, as well as developmental ideas from Barr.

Trade-paperback Batman: Joker’s Asylum collects all five one-shots – Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy – narrated by the Asylum’s leading homicidal maniac, all written by top creators like Gosh-favourite Jason Aaron (Scalped), Joe Harris, David Hine (Civil War: X-Men), and illustrated by Jason Pearson (Body Bags), Andy Clarke and Juan Doe. Five tales of insanity and evil in one handy volume.

If you fancy a bit of Viking mayhem on an epic scale, then The Darkness: Lodbrok’s Hand one-shot is for you. Phil Hester and Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Mice Templar) dunnit, and there’s an interview with Hester along with some preview pages over at Comic Book Resources.

And if you’ve been enjoying Alex Ross’ Project Superpowers keep an eye out for Death-Defying ‘Devil #1 this week, written by Joe Casey and illustrated by Edgar Salazar! It bridges the gap between Project Superpowers Chapters One and Two, and sees the apostrophe’d ‘Devil go after a terrorist organisation known as The Claw. Salazar wants to tell you all about it on CBR.

Brit-pop fans will be excited to see the second series of Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie’s magical musical mind-bender, Phonogram. Expect mystic goings-on wrapped in more musical reference than you can shake a stick at. A good week, too, for Ennis-ites with outrageous horror series Crossed hitting its second issue while Punisher War Zone sees the Ennis/Dillon team reunite for the kind of black-humoured tale that characterised their Marvel Knights run. I wonder if they’ll blow up any more polar bears.

You want more? How about a David Lapham penned 30 Days of Night mini-series? Or Secret Invasion Dark Reign by Bendis and Maleev? It’s a one-shot, sequel and prequel all wrapped into one. If you ask it nicely it may - just may - also be able to wash your dishes and fix you a good cup of coffee.

Holy moly! It’s Final Crisis #5! Be sure and tune in to Grant Morrison’s wavelength as we inch ever closer to the climax of DC’s 2008-defining epic.

Back to reality and even in the name of charity, last of all there’s the Hulk 100 Project trade-paperback, which is a bit like last year’s Ultimate Spider-Man 100 Project, but green. If you didn’t win any of the auctions for The Hero Initiative’s original Hulk #1 covers, don’t cry – now you can have ‘em all. We’re told there’ll only be one printing of this collection so you’d better get in quick! Everyone’s in this - J. Scott Campbell (Amazing Spider-Man), John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows), Terry Dodson (Uncanny X-Men), Dale Keown (The Incredible Hulk), Joe Quesada (Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day), John Romita Sr. (Spider-Man) and Jr. (Kick Ass) and more.

Tally-ho,
-- Hayley

* Which is my nice way of saying feel free to help yourself to complementary Christmas choccies at the end of the counter from this Thursday. Please, take them before we scoff the lot.