The Gosh! Authority 08/04/10

Right then. Another post snuck in over the week which I’ll duly point out: The Mezolith Gosh! Exclusive Bookplate Edition Hardcover. Yep, we gone done it again. If you’ve not heard of Mezolith before Andrew describes it thusly:

“At its heart, Mezolith is about stories... Through the eyes of Poika, a boy of the cusp of manhood, we see the harsh life of the Kansa, a Mezolithic tribe who reside on the Western shores of the North Sea Basin, and hear the folk tales and myths that shape their understanding of the world.”

It looks lovely and if you head over to the Bookplate Edition post you’ll see pages some pages from it too. Only 200 of ‘em about so grab one soon if it takes your fancy.

Those of you holding off on Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin so as to get the collection instead – this is your week. Batman & Robin Deluxe Hardcover Volume 1: Batman Reborn has landed. It collects the first six issues of the series so you’ll be getting three illustrated by Frank Quitely and another three by Philip Tan. I linked to a Morrison interview back when issue #1 was imminent so you can head back that way for a refresher.

Also in this week’s hardcover swag is the first volume of Viking, a series described as a crime book for the 9th century. In an interview with CbR writer Ivan Brandon says of the first book...

“Remember Christopher Moltisanti trying to get ‘made’ in The Sopranos? Well, the first arc of Viking is about two young criminal brothers and the levels they'll go to make their way up the criminal food chain. And more importantly, the mistakes they make and the consequences of being overzealous. But you know, all of the above with spears instead of bullets.”

Nic Klein’s art is cracking and you’ll see some pages of it in amongst Brandon’s interview.

Then there’s Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels TP which is all about Ed Grey, a character Mignola says is set to become very important in the Hellboy series. This was Mignola’s “ham-handed, very American attempt” at pulling off English Victorian supernatural literature, something he’s always been a huge fan of.

“It's fun, it's got seances, it's got Jack-the-Ripper-like murders, it's got cops in those helmets with the little bull's-eye lanterns running around through gas-lit alleys. It's probably informed more by old movies about that kind of stuff. Even the color treatment has almost a black-and-white feel to it. I wanted something that was so atmospheric and touched on all the peculiarities of Victorian-era stuff because there isn't a plan to do another one of these Ed Grey stories in London, so I wanted to make sure we got all that stuff, all that feel, clearly established as an Englishman in London.”

More of that interview and funny American spellings this way.

The other notable trade this week is the fifth Gødland collection, Far Beyond the Bang. It begins with #25 – the beginning of the final year of the series by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli. Also by Casey is Avengers: The Origin #1, the first of a five-part miniseries that promises to reveal previously untold details of their historic meeting. Here’s a preview of Phil Noto’s pages.

Somewhere next to that on the new shelf will be New Avengers: Luke Cage #1 (of 3) by John Arcudi and Eric Canete, set in the seedier side of the Marvel Universe. Arcudi talks about it here, there’s a review here, and a preview too.

In other comics we’ll see the debut of Jonathan Ross’ and Tommy Lee Edwards’ Turf. It’s a hard boiled crime thriller set in Prohibition-era New York only there’s vampires and aliens added to the usual mix of booze, broads and bullets. You can see Ross yapping about it here, and a preview of it there.

From Pete Bagge you’ll get a brand new Hate Annual (that’s #8 if you’re counting, and not in the least bit annual). It’s got twenty brand new Buddy Bradley pages plus a motley collection of stuff from all over. CbR have a preview and detail its innards.

Marvel’s helpfully titled S.H.I.E.L.D. also debuts, which is not to be confused with DC’s Shield, an entirely other thing obviously. America didn’t have a Bank Holiday Monday so they got their comics on time, the result being a wealth of reviews all over the internet already. This one says “after only one issue I'm already comfortable calling S.H.I.E.L.D. the boldest, most creative and exciting Marvel comic on the stands.” So there you go. Writer Jonathan Hickman (interviewed by Newsarama) said:

“It primarily takes place in the 1950s, but it’s not that kind of story – it’s not a nostalgic fifties story. If anything, all the nostalgic bits are way back in time – the Renaissance, Egypt, Ancient Rome, and the Middle East at its intellectual height; Ancient China as well.

Time hopping is kind of an understatement – but the narrative is really tight. We’re telling the stories of a lot of different characters – really important men in the history of the world. We’re bringing them into the Marvel Universe and sprinkling our Jack Kirby/Stan Lee fairy dust over them and making it bigger.”

Preview pages to be found there as well.

And finally, the highly anticipated Brendan McCarthy Spider-Man/Dr Strange miniseries Fever has arrived. Comics Alliance have an exclusive preview of it here which looks completely brilliant and a bit mental too. McCarthy says he’s paying homage to Steve Ditko while trying not to be too slavish about it. He talks more about it on his website. (And hey! Look! A review!)

Last bit of news and then I’m off: There’s a Jonah Hex illustrated by Darwyn Cooke in the post. Exciting, no?

-- Hayley