Sunday, January 01, 2012

Recent Releases: September - December 2011

September 2011

The Beano and the Dandy Celebrate Dennis the Menace.
D. C. Thomson ISBN 978-1845354602, 12 September 2011, 144pp, £12.99. [£8.99 from Amazon]
Menaces and Minxes of all ages will enjoy this premium pack. A luxury book with a fantastic DVD of classic Beano animation, plus a fabulous reproduction of The Beano comic from 1951 featuring the first ever Dennis the Menace comic strip!
__A best ever selection of Dennis the Menace strips, covering his unruly life from 1951. A wonderfully illustrated timeline of Britain’s wildest boy and The Beano and Dandy comics themselves. A must-have for collectors.
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The Best of The Victor Book for Boys ed. Maurice Heggie.
Prion ISBN 978-1853758188, 1 September 2011, 144pp, £12.99. [£8.44 from Amazon]
2011 is the fiftieth anniversary year of The Victor comic, Britain's 'top boys' paper for War, Sport and Adventure'. Following 2010's successful publication of The Best of the Victor, Prion's sequel is this rip-roaring anthology of the best stories from The Victor Book for Boys, which was the bestselling DC Thomson annual published from 1964 to 1994. In its heyday in the 1960s The Victor sold over half a million copies a week, with The Victor Book for Boys selling over a quarter of a million copies a year. DC Thomson's long-serving editor Morris Heggie has selected the very best and most evocative two-colour stories and picture stories from the 31 annuals to make one crackingly good nostalgiafest that will appeal not only to Britain's millions of grown-up Victor fans but also to their children who can be introduced to these Best of British comic-strip adventure yarns for the very first time.
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The Broons and Oor Wullie Rare Vintage Comic Strips.
D. C. Thomson ISBN 978-1845354619, 12 September 2011, 144pp, £12.99. [£8.99 from Amazon]
This is a premium pack, a luxury book packed with rare content, plus an exclusive CD of The Broons Family Party music, and an exclusive Oor Wullie calendar based around his very own tartan.
__Classic cartoon stories from the beginning of Scotland’s longest running soap, plus nostalgic features and photographs making this a wonderful trip down memory lane. This is a celebration of 75 years of The Broons and will be a must-have for collectors.
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Erotic Comics: A Graphic History: Volume 2 by Tim Pilcher.
Ilex ISBN 978-1907579691, 3 October 2011 [released in September], 192pp, £16.99. [£14.44 from Amazon; the hardcover edition from 2009 is currently available for £13.36]
Softcover edition. The liberating underground comix of the 1960s heralded an explosion in the genre of erotic comics, and this volume picks up the story to show how European, American and Asian artists have explored the graphic possibilities of the form in the years since. Well-known names covered include Melinda Gebbie, Giovanna Casotto (whose work graces the cover), Tom of Finland and Milo Manara. This provocative title covers the erotic comics explosion in the mid-80s; the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender comics scene; UK and European comics creators since the 70s; and Japanese hentai. The book features an exclusive foreword by Alan Moore, multi-award-winning writer of Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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Flesh: The Dino Files by Pat Mills, Geoffrey Miller, Kevin O'Neill, Ramon Sola & Jamie McKay.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992261, 15 September 2011, 272pp, £15.99. [£11.99 from Amazon]
Think that a meteorite collision with our planet was responsible for making the dinosaurs become extinct? Wrong! By the 23rd Century, man has drained the planet's resources bare, but thanks to time-travel technology, the Trans-Time Corporation send rangers - such as cowboy Earl Reagan - back to the days when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. The rangers round up these magnificent creatures and blast them back into the future so we can get real flesh back on the menu!
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Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files Vol. 18 by John Wagner, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, et al.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992254, 15 September 2011, 304pp, £21.99. [£16.49 from Amazon]
Mega-City One: the future metropolis bustling with life and every crime imaginable. Keeping order are the Judges, a stern police force acting as judge, jury and executioner. Toughest of all is Judge Dredd. He is the law and these are his stories. Volume 18 in this exciting, best-selling series collects together more old school Dredd from the pages of 2000 AD, including the Wagner-scripted classic, Mechanismo.
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OCTOBER 2011

1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett.
Cassell Illustrated ISBN 978-1844036981, 3 October 2011, 960pp, £20.00. [£10.40 from Amazon]
Over the centuries, comic books and their offshoots, such as graphic novels, and bandes dessinees have evolved into a phenomenally popular, influential, and unique art form with which we can express our opinions, our fantasies, our nightmares, and our dreams. In short: comics are emphatically no longer just for kids. This diverse, constantly evolving medium is truly coming into its own in the 21st century, from Hollywood's blockbuster adaptations of super-powered caped crusaders to the global spread of Japan's manga and its spinoffs, and from award-winning graphic novels such as Maus and Persepolis to new forms such as online webcomix. But comics also have a long and rich history, dating back at least to the Swiss teacher Rodolphe Topffer in the early 19th century, and far earlier in China. 1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die is the perfect introduction to this dynamic and globally popular medium. There have been other guides to the best comic books, but none has embraced every genre and scoured the globe to glean the very greatest works of sequential art, graphic literature, bandes dessinees, tebeos, fumetti, manga, manhwa, komiks, strips, historietas, quadrinhos, beeldverhalen, and plain old comics. This authoritative guide is organized according to the year of first publication in the country of origin. An opening section acknowledges pioneering pre-1900 masterpieces, followed by sections divided by decade, creating a fascinating year-by-year chronicle of the comics medium worldwide.
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Baggage by The Etherington Brothers.
David Fickling Books (DFC Library) ISBN 978-0385618571, 6 October 2011, 64pp, £9.99. [£7.49 from Amazon]
Baggage tells the tale of Randall, a happy-go-lucky but disaster-prone lost property officer working for the Tram service, deep in the heart of Triptych City.
__Randall's weary boss has presented him with an impossible ultimatum: either he locates the owner of the oldest item stored in the immense lost property warehouse by the end of the day, or he’s out of a job!
__So begins an adventurous journey through a wondrous city. Randall’s enquiries attract a myriad of bizarre, often amusing, and sometimes dangerous characters. Clues are uncovered where and when he least expects them, and help arrives from the strangest of quarters.
__But wherever Randall goes, trouble is sure to follow. Will he succeed in his impossible mission? And even if he does, just how much of the city will be left standing?
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Best of Alex 2011 by Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor.
Prion ISBN 978-1853758270, 13 October 2011, 88pp, £9.99. [£6.29 from Amazon]
Another annus horribilissimus for Alex, although the new coalition government offers a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel and bankers are 'allowed' to claim bonuses again. Alex and his ilk are not quite viewed as the lowest-of-the-low any more.
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British Comics: A Cultural History by James Chapman.
Reaktion Books ISBN 978-1861898555, 15 October 2011, 320pp, £25.00. [£23.75 from Amazon]
British Comics is a unique cultural history of British comic papers and magazines, from their origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. It shows how comics were transformed in the early twentieth century from adult amusement to imaginative reading matter for children, and relates the rise of the major comic publishers and the emergence of the mighty duopoly of Amalgamated Press and D.C. Thomson that would dominate the industry for half a century. Beginning with the first British comic 'superstar' Ally Sloper - 'A Selection, Side-splitting, Sentimental, and Serious, for the Benefit of Old Boys, Young Boys, Odd Boys generally and even Girls' - whose various misadventures reflected the emergence of a middle-class leisure economy in the late nineteenth century, British Comics goes on to describe the heyday of comics in the 1950s and '60s, when titles such as School Friend and Eagle sold a million copies a week, and analyses the major genres including schoolgirl fantasies, sport and war stories for boys. The author charts the development of a new breed of violent comics in the 1970s, including the controversial Action and 2000 AD, and also considers the attempt of an American comic publisher, Marvel, to launch a new hero for the British market in the form of Captain Britain. He goes on to document the appearance in the 1980s and '90s of adult-oriented comics such as Warrior, Crisis, Deadline and Revolver and alternative comics such as Viz, and concludes by considering the work of important contemporary comic writers including Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Ian Edginton, Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis. British Comics explains what children and adults thought of their comics and why some titles prospered while others failed, and also maps the changing structure of the comic publishing industry and how comic publishers, writers and artists have responded to the tastes of their consumers. Ultimately, the book argues that British comics are a distinctive kind of publishing that is different from (and certainly not inferior to) American, French and Japanese comics. An invaluable reference for comics collectors and fans world-wide, British Comics is a fascinating and thorough history that showcases the major role that comics have played in the imaginative lives of British juveniles - and some adults.
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Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Anderson Vol. 5 ed. Chris Bentley.
Signum ISBN 978-1904674207, October 2011, 160pp, £14.99.
From its launch 1965, TV Century 21 (later known simply as TV 21) was the smash-hit British comic of the 1960s. Its in-house tie-in with the science-fiction puppet series created by Gerry Anderson's Century 21 Productions guaranteed success with young fans excited to read more about their TV heroes, in an era before video technology enabled viewers to relive favorite TV shows at will. Thunderbirds, Lady Penelope, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, and Joe 90 all burst forth in full color from the magazine's packed pages, in stories illustrated by such giants of the comic industry as Frank Bellamy, Don Harley, Mike Noble, Ron and Gerry Embleton, and "Cervic," the pen-name used by the team of Carlos Pino and Vicente Alcazar. This superb showcase of Anderson's most popular characters will be an essential purchase for all Anderson fans and all enthusiasts for classic British comics.
NOTE: This book appears to have been available only very briefly in October 2011 (see here from message 190).

Charley's War: Hitler's Youth by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun.
Titan Books ISBN 978-0857682994, 28 October 2011, 112pp, £14.99. [£11.24 from Amazon]
In this explosive new volume of never-before-collected comic strip, Charley comes face to face with a young corporal who will eventually change the face of the world as leader of the Nazi party: Adolf Hitler. The eighth action-packed volume of Charleys War is rich in the detailed minutiae of the terror-punctuated existence of a Tommy.
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Commando: 50 Years a Home for Heroes by George Low.
Carlton ISBN 978-1847328496, 13 October 2011, 176pp, £19.99. [£12.99 from Amazon]
50 years of Commando...home for heroes...and still going strong! And now you...yes, YOU...can advance shoulder to shoulder with the bravest and the best through six of the finest Commando stories ever...brought together in this battling book for all Commando fans out there! When the toughest of the tough get going, the action accelerates from page to blistering page. Can you cope with the pressure? Are you sure? Good, because we're also going to unleash the stinging power of 50 full-colour covers on you as well. That's one for every hard-fought year, and you'll need nerves of steel to get in close...combat close...to pick out the finer details of these startling illustrations. You just know it will be well worth the risk. And all the gen from the classified documents which shield the secrets of Commando comic books will be there too for you to explore and enjoy. The truth is revealed about the 50-year fight from day one of a carefully planned and well executed campaign to bring you the best of the action to rock you right back on your heels. You've proved you can take all that's thrown at you by reading this far, so don't miss out on this mother of all battle books. Remember what they say. Who dares wins...and that could be YOU!
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Cover Story: The DC Art of Brian Bolland by Brian Bolland.
Titan Books ISBN 978-0857684721, 28 October 2011, 208pp, £29.99. [£18.89 from Amazon]
This new hardcover collects covers of legendary artist Bian Bolland. Featuring highly detailed and meticulous craftsmanship combined with dramatic takes on the worlds best-known superheroes, Bollands work has been featured on Green Lantern, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Zatanna and the Vertigo series The Invisibles and Animal Man.
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Cradlegrave by John Smith & Edmund Bagwell.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992469, 13 October 2011, 96pp, £13.99. [£8.99 from Amazon]
After serving eight months at a Young Offenders Institution for arson, Shane Holt returns to his home on the Ravenglade Estate during a long, hot summer. Plagued by the ASBO generation, the estate has seen its fair share of problems but nothing comes close to the horror that lurks within Ted and Mary's council flat...
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Defoe: Queen of Zombies by Pat Mills & Leigh Gallagher.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992476, 13 October 2011, 144pp, £14.99. [£8.99 from Amazon]
1669, three years after the Great Fire has devastated London. From the ashes rose an army of the undead hungry for human flesh. Titus Defoe and his elite squad of zombie hunters protect the living from the legions of reeks. Now they face their greatest foe - La Voisin, the Queen of the zombies!
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Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner.
David Fickling Books (DFC Library) ISBN 978-0857560278, 6 October 2011, 48pp, £9.99. [£6.69 from Amazon]
Super Animal Adventure Squad comprises two hilarious stories for you to enjoy: ‘The Teatime of Doom’ and ‘The Case of the Baboon Bandit’! Join Agent K, Bearbot, Irwin, Rex and Beesley as they battle to solve two thrilling crimes.
__In ‘The Teatime of Doom’, our heroes are faced with a Level 6 Cake Emergency as cakes suddenly disappear from bakeries across the country. Without a mid-afternoon treat, the very icing of society would dissolve! Can the SAAS recover the precious pastries in time, or will they come to a sticky end?
__In ‘The Case of the Baboon Bandit’, pirates have stolen the world’s most valuable treasure, the Jade Baboon of Rangoon. Does the squad have what it takes to defeat the Dread Pirate Green Beard? Cutlasses, cookery and comedy capers abound in this brilliantly funny follow-up!
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November 2011

Blackhawk by Gerry Finley Day, Alan Grant, Massimo Belardinelli, Alfonso Azpiri & Ramon Sola.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992599, 10 November 2011, 288pp, £14.99. [£8.99 from Amazon]
In 50 BC, an African warrior enslaved by the mighty Roman army defies fate to become a an officer of Auxiliaries for the empire. With his faithful desert hawk in tow, 'Blackhawk' is instructed to enlist a hundred men willing to serve under him. The exploits of Black Hawk and his rag tag army of misfits were legendary. Starting to gain the respect he richly deserves, the warrior is suddenly plucked from the Earth and transported across the galaxy to battle in an alien arena!
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The Boss by Patrice & John Aggs.
David Fickling Books (DFC Library) ISBN 978-0857560261, 3 November 2011, 64pp, £9.99. [£8.69 from Amazon]
Meet the crime-fighters from Class Five.
__When Nas and Bella overhear a crook planning a daring robbery at the castle, they know just who to tell. The Boss is the smartest kid in school. Never outsmarted or outwitted, he's marshalled his class into a crime-fighting unit that could run rings round Interpol. And with the class heading for a field trip to the castle that very day, it's the perfect chance to find out what the thieves are up to - and just maybe catch them red-handed...
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Dracula (Original Text, abridged).
Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332259, 21 November 2011, 144pp, £10.60. [£7.94 from Amazon]
Dracula (Quick Text). Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332266, 21 November 2011, 144pp, £10.60. [£9.55 from Amazon]
This is the classic novel brought to life in full colour! Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece was first published in 1897, and has spawned so many classic films, all based on the character he invented when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Like "Frankenstein", the films have pushed the characters into the very fabric of our society, so it is with great pride that we bring you a visual treatment that is true to the original - made even more exciting by the wonderous talent that is Staz Johnson
Order from Amazon: Original Text, Quick Text.

Mazeworld by Alan Grant & Arthur Ranson.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992483, 10 November 2011, 192pp, £17.99. [£9.79 from Amazon]
30 years after the British parliament suspended the death penalty, the gallows have returned and Adam Cadman finds himself being the first person to be hanged since 1964. But as his life drains away, Adam is transported to a strange, new place populated by warriors and mystical beasts; the bizarre Mazeworld! The long sought after story by Grant and Ranson is finally collected in a stunning edition.
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December 2011

Alan Moore: Conversations edited by Eric L. Berlatsky.
University Press of Mississippi ISBN 978-1617031595, 1 January 2012 [but released November or December 2011], 240pp, $25.00. [£22.09 on Amazon]
British comics writer Alan Moore (b. 1953) has a reputation for equal parts brilliance and eccentricity. Living hermit-like in the same Midlands town for his entire life, he supposedly refuses contact with the outside world while creating his strange, dense comics, fiction, and performance art. While Moore did declare himself a wizard on his fortieth birthday and claims to have communed with extradimensional beings, reticence and seclusion have never been among his eccentricities. On the contrary, for long stretches of his career Moore seemed to be willing to chat with all comers: fanzines, industry magazines, other artists, newspapers, magazines, and personal websites. Well over one hundred interviews in the past thirty years serve as testimony to Moore's willingness to be engaged in productive conversation. Alan Moore: Conversations includes ten substantial interviews, beginning with Moore's first published conversation, conducted by V for Vendetta co-creator David Lloyd in 1981. The remainder cover nearly all of his major works, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Marvelman, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, From Hell, Lost Girls, and the unfinished Big Numbers. While Moore's personal life and fraught business relations are discussed occasionally, the interviews chosen are principally devoted to Moore's creative practices and techniques, along with his shifting social, political, and philosophical beliefs. As such, Alan Moore: Conversations should add to any reader's enjoyment and understanding of Moore's work.
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Insurrection by Dan Abnett & Colin Macneil.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992490, 8 December 2011, 128pp, £13.99. [£8.39 from Amazon]
Mega-City One mining colony K Alpha 61 has declared independence from the Big Meg and renamed itself Liberty. This act of defiance has angered the Justice Department's Special Judicial Squad. In a bid to stop further colonies from rebelling, war is inevitable...
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