The Gosh! Authority 28/01/09

Hello! Me again, here with your weekly infodump. There’s bad news, good news, and news of upcoming projects in this ‘ere post. I even tell you what to do on your weekend. Disappointingly, I don’t get to mention Bong Dazo. So I’ll just do it there for fun.

On the shelves this week is the newest and final Bone colour edition Crown of Horns which sees Jeff Smith’s Bone saga takes its darkest turn yet. If you’ve not had a look at these Scholastic editions (available in soft and hardcover) you’re in for a treat. Apparently it took Steve Hamaker five years to colour all nine volumes and from the looks of things it was well worth it. You can see some of his lovely work over at the Boneville site.

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline has been adapted into a stop-motion feature film by the astonishingly talented Henry Selick (he of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach fame) and this week we’ve got the book to tell you all about it! Stephen Jones, a friend of Gaiman’s and winner of dozens of fiction awards, compiles hundreds of rare and exclusive tidbits including photographs (family and otherwise), illustrations, production designs, concept drawings, and interviews with the cast and crew. It even features a foreword by Scary Trousers himself, who recently said on his blog that this was the first Coraline trailer that he really liked. The film’s out in the States next month, but the UK has to wait until May.

Fan-favourite Jonathan Hickman’s (The Nightly News, Pax Romana, A Red Mass From Mars) Transhuman is collected in its first trade paperback this week. It’s been said by fans that ‘if the next watershed-type comic - the next Watchmen or Dark Knight - is going to come from anyone it’ll be Jonathan Hickman’. This trade collects issues #1-#4 of the series about superhuman genetic engineering, the first of which was reviewed by Valerie D’Orazio (of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger) on her blog back in 2008. And she rather liked it.

If you’ve been following Garth Ennis’ Battlefields: Night Witches you’ll be pleased to know his next one’s in the post. Dear Billy #1 is a three-issue mini-series about wartime and such, but I’ll let Ennis himself tell you all about that, before you pop over here for a preview.

Lots of DC news this week! Showcase Presents House of Mystery Volume 3 gives you another dollop of classic horror from the likes of Jack Oleck, Steve Skeates, Sheldon Mayer, Michael Fleisher, Alex Niño, Ruben Yandoc, Nestor Redondo, Gerry Talaoc and Bernie Wrightson. Then Final Crisis concludes in issue #7 of the Grant Morrison epic! You may have heard that this one’s not illustrated by J. G. Jones like the rest of the series, but Doug Mahnke (Batman) instead. See what you think of his take on the series in this ‘ere preview. Speaking of Grant Morrison, Flash: Emergency Stop came out in trade-paperback last week (another of those I should have mentioned at the time and didn’t) which collects his and Mark Millar’s (Civil War) entire Flash run, with art by Paul Ryan and John Nyberg. It’s a 1990s fast-paced epic, don’t you know. You have to say epic if it’s Morrison, according to the internet.

Also out in trade-paperback is Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s (that bloke again) Batman: The Man Who Laughs, telling the story of Batman’s very first encounter with the villainous Joker. It’s reviewed here by Comics Bulletin.

So that’s what’s out and here’s what’s coming: DC Comics have announced the creative teams for the Origins and Omens stories in February. I was going to copy it from their email and stick it up here, but as usual Newsarama got there first.

Other things of interest on the web include Alex Fitch’s Panel Borders which is broadcast as part of the show Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM. This month Alex spoke to artist and writer Marc Ellerby, who’s done a lot of autobiographical small press stuff as well as a back-up strip for the latest issue of Kieron Gillen’s Phonogram. You can hear the entire extended podcast here and if you like the sound of him you can go see his stuff in an exhibition called Drawn! which is on until the 8th of February. There are loads of people involved, as well as a couple of little known Hergé illustrations. (Speaking of which, anyone seen this?) Alex also had a chat with my favourite Raymond Briggs (as opposed to the other one, obviously. What a stupid thing to say.) which can be heard here. Incidentally, if you’ve not read Gentleman Jim it was re-released a while back and we’ve got copies in the shop. It’s heartbreakingly lovely and very, very funny.

Then if you’re after something small pressy, head over to the Alternative Press Fair for comics, zines, and delightful misc on Sunday the 1st of February (that’s this weekend, folks) at the St. Aloysius Social Club. It promises to ‘bring together the worlds of alternative comics, zines, self-produced art-books, poetry and DIY/punk culture for one amazing day, like a great colourful blancmange that you can’t eat.’

Our own Will Bingley interviewed Adrian Tomine in the lead-up to his upcoming visit, and the results can be seen here on Don’t Panic! Remember to stop by the shop on Tuesday the 3rd of February from 12:30pm to 2pm to get your books signed by the man himself.

And finally, we’re sorry to say it’s finally happened – Woolworths has gone belly-up taking their pick n mix with them, a two minute tube ride costs a year’s wages and the price of comics has gone up. We’ll be sure to have a proper list of new prices up by next week’s post, scout’s honour.

But not to end on a downer, we’ve got an A3-ish print of the lovely Jill Thompson Magic Trixie artwork (seen here) to give away! We had it on our wall for a bit but need the space for something else. If you’d like it for your wall send an email to info@goshlondon.com telling us exactly why you would be the perfect recipient. You’ve got until Sunday to come up with a good reason, so get writin’!

Goodbye!
-- Hayley, who can’t say ‘Goodbye!’ without thinking of Laurel & Hardy.