The Gosh! Authority 03/06/10

Greetings on this fine sunny Thursday. You should all be sitting in a beer garden going pink but on the off chance you still fancy huddling inside reading comics there’s a hefty load to carry home tomorrow. That’s right, tomorrow meaning Friday. Your typically wet Bank Holiday Monday has pushed everything outta whack which is a far less exciting statement than one involving volcanoes.

This week you’ve got the penultimate issue of new Demo on offer, which is a convenient excuse for me to remind you that we’ll have the shockingly talented Becky Cloonan signing in the shop this Saturday. She’ll be joined by Phonogram duo Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie and if you’re one of the first 100 attendees you’ll go away with a free jam print by the two-headed beast McCloonan. Full details in this post, and that's the final artwork at the top of this post.

Marking the imminent release of the Jonah Hex movie, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have gone done written an all new Hex graphic novel illustrated by the legendary Tony DeZuniga who co-created the character with John Albano back in the 70s. The story is one thought up by the original creators long ago but for whatever reason never happened. “This is Hex as he was imagined decades ago,” says Gray in an interview with Newsarama. If you’ve never read Jonah Hex this will probably be a good jumping on point for the monthly series. Loads of reviews on the web if you have a poke about. Like this one.

Another original graphic novel out this week is A God Somewhere, already making something of a rumble on the internet with brilliant review after brilliant review.

Written by John Arcudi (B.P.R.D, Wednesday Comics) and illustrated by Peter Snejberg (Starman, The Light Brigade) it’s the story of a man who develops superheroic powers after a mysterious accident all told from the point of view of his still very human best friend. Mike Mignola says A God Somewhere is "the most human take on the superhero story I have ever seen.” Arcudi and Snejberg talk about it with Comicbook Resources but they’re heavy on the spoilers so perhaps you’d better save it for afters.

Hot Rock is an adaptation of one of Donald Westlake’s novels entirely separate from Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series. This time it’s illustrated by bande desinée artist Christian “LAX” Lacroix and it looks bloomin’ marvellous. It’s not the first time this particular novel has be adapted (remember that Robert Redford film?) and it’s little wonder – this is a classic Westlake crime caper, full of black humour and style. Here are some of its innards:

Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (Blueberry Girl) team-up again for Instructions, a hardcover illustrated poem on how to survive a fairytale. Over at Green Man Press Vess talks about the art and shows pencil to painting evolutions. It’s a cracking poem (if you’ve not read it you can read it here) brought to life by a fairytale master. Go see the book trailer narrated by Gaiman himself, then touch the wooden gate in the wall you never saw before.

That’s it for books but I should point out that Grant Morrison’s Batman R.I.P. is now available in trade paperback, as is Final Crisis. About time too.

The weirdest thing on the shelf this week is without doubt the first issue of the new six-part series by David Hine (Spider-Man Noir, The Brave and the Bold) and Shaky Kane (2000AD), Bulletproof Coffin. Hine turns up in a lot of DC/Marvel stuff these days but Kane’s Jack Kirby-esque illustration’s a rarer treat. We haven’t anything from him in years but from the buzz on the internet it looks like Bulletproof Coffin will make up for it. They’ve revived a bunch of forgotten Golden Age superheroes (Coffin Fly!) and it looks completely mental.

“This comic is the book Shaky and myself have always wanted to buy, but no one was really doing it. It’s a satire of all the comics we love from the last 60 years, including the post modern comics of the 90’s. We mock but we do it with deep affection. It’s like taking the piss out of your Grandad. He may be old and smelly but you still love him,” says Hine.

“It’s about dead superheroes, stone-age girls in chamois leather bikinis, eyeball-headed psychics, bulletproof coffins with spiked tires, spirit walkers, secret attic rooms full of comic book collections, and resurrected GI’s!” says Kane.

More of that nonsense over at Newsarama and a preview of #1 at CbR. Bleeding Cool got their mitts on some images from later issues so you can have them too.

Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and Ashley Wood’s latest creation also stems from a love of old comics, as well as vintage films and long phone conversations about Leonard Nimoy’s In Search Of. Mystery Society #1 is about a pair of esoteric adventurers investigating occult conspiracies and government cover-ups, Area 51, etc. Niles talks (very) excitedly about it over at CbR and raves about the interior art by Fiona Staples (North 40). Plus it’s already sold out at the publishers and going to a second printing. Preview.

It’s almost unheard of for a G.I. Joe comic to get a mention on the Gosh! Blog but this one’s written by Max Brooks (Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z) and illustrated by Howard Chaykin (Dominic Fortune) and Antonio Fuso so it’s bloody well getting a mention. G.I. Joe Hearts and Minds #1 spotlights two different G.I. Joe and Cobra members every issue and first off the block is Spirit and Major Bludd. Review and preview.

In other comics news Hawkeye & Mockingbird get their very own ongoing series (preview) and there’s a the Serenity one-shot you might fancy. Called Float Out, it’s by writer/actor/comedian Patton Oswalt (The Goon, Batman, JLA, Dollhouse, Rattatouille) with art by Patric Reynolds who talks to Newsarama about it. Preview.

We’ve got a brand new issue of Martin Eden’s Spandex on the shelves in all its big gay glory and Eden tells us he’s also running an online gallery of Japan-related art with a Spandex twist. Loads of indie artists are involved so go see what’s doing over at the Spandex website.

Here we are at the end of the post and as a cherry on top you can have two pictures of two of my favourite comic creators signing in our basement last week. Eagle-eyed Goshers might even recognise three others in the frame. Could they be Rian Hughes, Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo at the front of the line?

I reckon so.

-- Hayley