The Gosh! Authority 17/12/08

Hello folks!

Wee Hayley Campbell’s a bit crook this week, so it’s Andrew here, stepping in for an intimate little (and I mean little) How Late tête à tête.

First up, in case you’re unaware, we’ve got that whole Christmas / New Year donnybrook starting next week! As usual, shipping days will be going slightly awry, particularly given the big days fall on a Thursday this year. So, without further ado, our Christmas hours and new comics days will be as follows:

Christmas Deliveries and Hours

Monday 22nd 10am - 6pm

Tuesday 23rd 10am - 6pm New Comics Day
Wednesday 24th 10am - 2pm Early Closing
Thursday 25th Closed
Friday 26th Closed
Saturday 27th 10am - 6pm
Sunday 28th 10am - 6pm
Monday 29th 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 30th 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 31st 10am - 4pm New Comics Day. Early Closing.
Thursday 1st Closed. Nursing sore heads.
Friday 2nd 10am - 6pm Normal Hours Resume

Please note that on the new comics days, we will only be receiving the delivery at some point that morning, so if you’re planning on coming in before lunch, please ring ahead to check.

On to the comics!

Remember Beanworld? Running from the mid-Eighties through to the early Nineties, Larry Marder’s Tales of the Beanworld was one of the best titles to come out of the black and white explosion of the time. Mixing a simple, iconic art style with layered, complex storytelling, the Beanworld still has devoted (and sometimes mildly scary) fans the world over. Fans who will no doubt be ever so slightly excited that this week sees the release of the Beanworld Holiday Special. Mr Spook, Professor Garbanzo and all your other favourite eco-friendly nutballs are back! Nice! Read about Larry Marder’s excitement over on his blog. Not sure what it is? Wiki those mothers!

Too weird? How about Dark Reign New Nation? A one-shot which introduces the major players for a raft of upcoming series. Nick Fury chimes in with his Secret Warriors, it’s the welcome return of Jeff Parker’s Agents of Atlas, War Machine has another chance to get it right, Clint Barton and Bobbi..err..whatsername are reunited as Ronin & Mockingbird and (phew) it’s the return of the Skrull Kill Krew (who presumably are now retired)! Get it while it’s hot!

Speaking of hot, or at least things which should be hot, why don’t you take this pre-Christmas opportunity to pick up the first paperback of Rick Remender’s excellent End League (as drawn by Matt Broome)? Fresh this week, Ballad of Big Nothing feels like a Justice League Elseworlds pitch that was a little too dark for editorial. The last group of super-heroes struggles to survive in a dystopian world ruled by villains. DC hero analogies abound, with a few other familiar archetypes for good measure. Highly recommended, folks!

Read any good crime fiction lately? The rebirth of David Lapham (he of the much lamented Stray Bullets) continues with the release of Silverfish in softcover. Feeling for all the world like a Stray Bullets two-parter, this original graphic novel features betrayal, psychosis and murder. Perfect for a Christmas afternoon then!

Marvel’s supes-meet-scum miniseries continue with the first issue of Spider-Man: Noir. Young Petey Parker is a rabble-rouser in depression-era Noo Yawk, fighting against the corruption of gang boss The Goblin (catchy). It’s Spider-iffic pulp fiction as you like it! Written by David Hine and Fabrice Saplosky, with art by the excellent Carmine Di Giandomenico.

Hellblazer hits the 250-issue mark this week, which when you think about it is quite the milestone! The Little Vertigo Title That Could features an all-star line-up of creators to help celebrate, including (deep breath) Brian Azzarello, China Mieville (!), Dave Gibbons, Jamie Delano (and well it should), Peter Milligan, David Lloyd, Eddie “Dad” Campbell, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Rafael Grampa (who did an excellent book the other week called Mesmo Delivery) and the mysterious “others”. Looks good!

Tales to Suffice? Tales to Suffice! The first issue of a new humour series from Mort Finkleman via Slave Labor Graphics looks quite promising, and might be just the thing to break up your reading this week. I don’t know about you, but I sure need a good laugh at the moment. Ray Gunn: Space Sleuth? Corporate Zombie? I’m there. Check it out.

How do you like your Thor? King-Sized? Giant-Sized? How about GOD SIZED? Yes, this week sees the conclusion of Matt Fraction’s myth-tastic Thor tales in Thor: GOD SIZED Special #1. Featuring Thor! Loki! The Executioner! Liberace! Doug Braithwaite! Dan Brereton! Marko Djurdjevic! What more could you want? Seriously, Fraction’s one-shots have been great reads, so I’m expecting this to be one of the picks of the week. You know you want it: Thor, GOD SIZED!

Final word on new stuff from an ill Hayley, then it's back to Andrew:

Good job Andrew wrote the blog while I coughed pathetically on my sickbed. I don’t think anyone would have accepted ‘Hayley Campbell is unwell’ as a post. Anyhoo, here's my bit.

Andy Riley of Bunny Suicides fame dropped in this week to give us a pile of his incredibly rare and very funny mini-comic Lucky Heather! Gosh exclusive, innit. I think there’s about 23 in existence, or something, probably due to the fact that he printed them off his computer then ran out of ink. And the pages are double-sided which means he would have cried at least twice while trying to work out which way to put the bastard pages in. Here’s a couple of cartoons from the wee book which you can own for a measly two quid:

In case you missed it, here’s a mid-week post about Dan McDaid and what we think of him. And with that, I’ll slink back to the shadows. Adios! And if I don’t see you before then, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

(And I hope all you indentured servants have a lovely Boxing Day)

Andrew. xx