The Gosh! Authority 03/09/09

Forget comics – the biggest news this week is our Joe Sacco signing! No, it’s not happening this week; it’s at the end of the month. But look! – I made a blog post about it yesterday. So now you can write it in your diaries, perhaps re-read his brilliant books, and try to think of something to say when you get to the front of the line that won’t make you look like a wally. We musn’t forget to doff our hats to Jonathan Cape and ComICA for their help in bringing him over. There’s more to come signing-wise so watch this space.

My pick of this week’s swag is Strange Tales #1 (of 3) because of the gobsmacking list of creators. It’s a three-issue anthology showcasing classic Marvel characters re-imagined by indie hotshots such as Paul Pope (Heavy Liquid), Pete Bagge (whose Incorrigible Hulk is finally seeing print in this very comic!), Nicholas Bertozzi, Molly Crabapple, Nicholas Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship), James Kochalka (American Elf), Michael Kupperman (Tales Designed to Thrizzle), John Leavitt, Junko Mizuno (Cinderalla), Johnny Ryan (Angry Youth Comix), Jason (Hey, Wait...), and Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button). The ever brilliant Kupperman says:

“People are going to be very interested in the changes I've made to the Marvel canon. They're probably going to have to scrap everything they've ever published and start over. The new version of SECRET WARS is going to be called OVERT WARS.” More of that nonsense and fruit pies here, and an early review over here. Incidentally, follow this man on Twitter. He’s hilarious.

More re-doings of classic Marvel stuff can be found in Mystic Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special, this time by David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Young Liars). He’s taking on Golden Age Vision in a 22-page original story which you can see bits of here.

Another exciting #1 is Jeff Lemire’s bizarre Sweet Tooth. He’s the bloke responsible for the very excellent Essex County Trilogy (the collected edition you might have noticed appear on our shelves a fortnight ago) and his other fairly recent release, The Nobody. This new Vertigo series is about a boy born with deer-like antlers, one of a rare new breed of human/animal hybrids somehow naturally immune to the infection that devastated the world a decade earlier. Lemire says it’s “something like The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Mad Max with a sprinkle of Tim Truman's Scout thrown in for good measure.” More of that interview here and another one here. If that’s not enough to tickle your fancy then how about the price? At 75p it’s practically free.

The first issue of Daniel Way (Wolverine Origins) and Richard Corben’s (Heavy Metal) four-part series Starr the Slayer hits our new release shelf this Friday (that’s right, blame the Bank Holiday). You last saw Starr in Warren Ellis’ newuniversal but he originally began like this:

“Legend has it that Starr the Slayer came about because Barry Windsor-Smith desperately wanted to do Conan, and at that point Marvel was already publishing a Conan book. So as kind of a tryout, he did this story story called Starr the Slayer which featured a Conan-type character, but the twist was that Starr was the creation of a pulp writer named Len Carson and at the end of the story he actually came to life and killed Carson. So it tied itself off quite neatly and it was a good story. It looked incredible.” Loads more of that in an interview with Way and Corben at CbR.

That’s it for noteworthy issue #1s but if you liked Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s Last Resort #1 as much as we did you’ll be happy to see #2 out this week. It’s got another cracking Darwyn Cooke cover (speaking of which, have a look at these Cooke covers for Jonah Hex) and promises excessive violence, fiery death, rampaging zombies and a boat of topless women. Here’s an interview with Palmiotti and a review of the first issue if you missed it.

The final issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Incognito is out this week, bringing to a close one of the most twisted super-villain tales in recent memory. I tried to find you a preview but there ain’t one. You’ll just have to wait and see.

Richard Sala (Delphine) has a new stand-alone graphic novel out through First Second: Cat Burglar Black, about a girl who isn’t as retired from cat burglary as she thinks. Sala tells the story behind the book (which Dan Clowes calls a deranged masterpiece) and his midnight wanderings over at the :01 blog. In the words Newsarama’s J. Caleb Mozzocco, “it’s Richard Sala, so if it’s not totally awesome, I will be completely shocked.” Also at Newsarama is an interview with Sala himself.

Only one trade paperback was deemed blog-worthy this week: Brian Wood’s DMZ Volume 7 War Powers which sees Matty Roth (fresh off the boat from Staten Island) track down the source of the DMZ’s greatest urban legends. Here’s a review of the first issue in the book.

Another collection well worth your time is Nocturnals Volume 2: Dark Forever by Dan Brereton. Among other bits and bobs it collects The Dark Forever and Gunwitch: Outskirts of Doom (art by Ted Naifeh of Courtney Crumrin) which are two complete stories so this collection’s good for newbies and old fans alike. Preview here.

In manga we’ve got Summit of the Gods Volume 1 (of 5) which The Beat calls a must-read and A Distant Neighbourhood Volume 1, both by the award-winning Jiro Taniguchi. The latter is reviewed here and there.

Just before I sign off I’ll steer you in the direction of Alex Fitch’s Panel Borders. When Jill Thompson signed here last Autumn Alex interviewed her in the Gosh! office. It was originally broadcast in November of last year but the belated podcast has finally made its way onto the web and you can now hear her talking about Wonder Woman, Sandman, Scary Godmother, Magic Trixie and much, much more.

And that’s your lot.
-- Hayley