The Gosh! Authority 30/07/09

If you picked up I Shall Destroy All Civilised Planets! and delighted in the surreal mayhem therein (and who didn’t) you’re going to have to grab a copy of You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! to make your life complete. These two volumes collect Fletcher Hanks’ entire career in comics – that’s all three busy years of it before he went wrong and disappeared. In fact, there’s twice as many stories and POETIC JUSTICE! in this book than the last. Editor Paul Karasik spoke to Dan Nadel about it all here, and potty-mouth Rod Lott at Bookgasm says ‘Holy. Effing. Sh*t.’ It’s completely insane and very funny and will probably encourage you to indulge in a spot of unnecessary exclamation pointing. Preview!

Speaking of exclamation points, Larry Marder’s Beanworld HC Vol 2 A Gift Comes! is another one you’ll want. Marder’s Beanworld was one of the best things around in the mid-eighties/early-nineties before he gave it all up for a proper job at Image. He’s since come to his senses, got a blog, and there’s even new Beanworld in the post. This is the second of Dark Horse’s classic Tales of Beanworld collections (and handsome ones they are, all rescanned from original artwork) featuring 12 long-out-of-print issues that will bring you bang up to date with the goings on of Beanworld. The subsequent volumes will all be new stuff.

If you’re a regular here at the Gosh! Blog you’ll already know that British cartoonist Dan McDaid is not only a favourite of ours, he’s also a thoroughly nice chap. In fact, Nat wrote a thing about him long ago. His collaboration with Glen Brunswick (of Image’s Killing Girl and The Gray Area) is going great guns with five brilliant issues already been and gone. Missed ‘em? Grab the very first Jersey Gods trade I’d Live and I’d Die for You – all five issues are in it, plus all the alternate covers by Darwyn Cooke, Paul Pope, Mike Allred and Erik Larson. There’s even an ‘art of Jersey Gods’ wossname featuring loads of unseen stuff. He’s always putting new art up on his blog so it’s worth checking in regularly and at Jersey Gods’ very own blog too.

The Summer 2009 edition of MOME has arrived and, as usual, it’s packed. There’s the first 20-page chapter of a new graphic novel called Wild Man by T. Edward Bak whose stuff you will have seen in Best American Comics 2008 and also in a comic that’s been hanging around the Gosh! indie shelves: Service Industry, an oversized and (accidentally) autobiographical book about his post-high school jobs in restaurants. Tom Spurgeon liked it so much he read it three times in a row. There’s also the third and final chapter of Gilbert Shelton’s Last Gig in Shnagrlig, plus stuff by Tim Henlsey (Kramers Ergot), Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button), Andrice Arp, Sara Edward-Corbett, Conor O'Keefe, Noah Van Sciver, Robert Goodin, Paul Hornschemeier (The Three Paradoxes), Bookslut review, and a 16-page comic by Max of Bardín the Superrealist fame.

Another offering from Fantagraphics is Sergio Ponchione’s Grotesque #3 which is one of those lovely-looking Ignatz books that now have their own shelf in the Gosh! basement. If you’re a fan of weird Lynchian fantasy you should definitely check it out.

A trade worth a look this week is Northlanders: Volume 2: The Cross and the Hammer which collects Ryan Kelly’s entire six-issue arc before Vasilis Lolos (PIXU) took over. Kelly talks about it here and there’s a review of #11 (the first in the book) here.

When Jason Aaron (Scalped, Wolverine, you know the drill) was asked if he had any favourite issues among the stuff he’d done he said (among other things)“issue #26 of Ghost Rider, the one where I brought back the Orb and Doghead and all the villains”. I mention it only because it’s that very issue which kicks off the latest Ghost Rider trade-paperback, Last Stand. Incidentally, Aaron’s first issue of new five-part series Immortal Weapons is still available in the shop if you missed it last week.


Lots of issue #1s out this week so here’s a quick round-up!:

- Mice Templar Destiny #1 is the first of an eight issue series and looks to be a very good jumping-on point for newbies. Check here for a preview/recap.
- Roman Dirge’s Lenore Volume II #1 is the first new Lenore in over two years. Dirge wanted it to be plain ol’ #14 but the powers that be thought it would be better off as Volume II #1 because they like to simplify/complicate things.
- Citizen Rex #1 (Of 6) by Mario and Gilbert Hernandez gives you a ‘sexy view of the future’ (straight from the Dark Horse’s mouth). There’s robots, beautiful women, and scandal. Also, a preview.

The San Diego Comic-Con’s done and dusted (and yet I haven’t heard of even one drunken cartoonist punch-up) (yet) but we can’t let it pass without pointing you to the annual Fables one-pager illustrated by the very lovely Mark Buckingham who probably hasn’t punched anyone, ever. And have you heard Jeff Smith’s doing more Bone?

If you want more comics news pick up a copy of the Tripwire Annual ’09 for exclusives on Stan Lee, Joe Kubert, Bill Morrison of Bongo Comics, painter Phil Hale, storyboard artist Trevor Goring and more. There’s also stuff on Tintin, the anniversaries of Marvel, Batman and Alien, plus Wednesday Comics, Solomon Kane, and new strips from Roger Langridge, Kev Mullins, and lots more.

And finally, if you’re still not sold on Darwyn Cooke’s The Hunter, I challenge you to look at these pages on the World of Kane; if you still don’t want one you’re beyond help. As I said last week, it’s out now but still bookplate-less for another week or two.

And that, I think, is it.
-- Hayley