Comic Cuts: Recently Published

An excuse to relist a couple of items I've previously listed as they're now out and I know some people don't like to order books in advance (especially as the recent Titan listing looked as far forward as March 2009!).

CARLTON

• Low, George (Ed.), Rumble in the Jungle. The 12 best jungle-fighting Commando comic books ever. London, Carlton Books ISBN 978-1844420025, 12 May 2008. Stories set in the jungles of Malay and Burma are, like all other Commando comics, packed with action and adventure. But there is something about these plots that really get the writers in top gear and they pull out all the stops. Who couldn't get enthusiastic about ambushes, impenetrable undergrowth, mysterious caves, deep river gorges flooded by monsoons, samurai swords, slithering snakes, fiendish fevers, strange cries in the night, menacing idols, dangerous insects and animals added to the usual threats from bullets and bombs?Featuring such stories as "Jungle Madness", "Grudge Fight", "The Black Pagoda", "Halt - or Die!", "Danger Everywhere!" and "Jungle Sniper", this carefully selected anthology will transport you into a world of sweat, swamps and where our ever invincible allied heroes battle bravely and honourably to victory.

Actually out in May but I've only recently received a copy.

REBELLION / 2000AD

• Judge Anderson: Shamballa. ISBN 978-1905437672, 15 Jun 2008. Judge Anderson and a team of scientists travel deep beneath the Himalayas to the mysterious city of Shamballah to search for a solution to the cataclysmic events that are threatening to tear the planet apart. This is just one of the exciting stories in this collection, gathering together the very best of the Alan Grant and Arthur Ranson strips. Features the work of 2000AD legend Arthur Ranson and expands on the ever popular Judge Dredd universe.

• Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol.10. ISBN 978-1905437689, 15 Jun 2008. 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 10 in this exciting, best-selling series collects together more classic Dredd from the pages of 2000AD, including "The Art of Kenny Who?" and "Block Rite"!

ROBINSON

• Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, edited by Paul Gravett. ISBN 978-1845297107, 26 June 2008. Here is the first ever popular collection of crime comics - the 25 best graphic short stories in the crime genre, spanning all the colours of noir, from classic American newspaper strip serials and notorious uncensored comic books to today's global graphic novel masterpieces. This must-have collection is fully loaded with some of the greatest writers and artists in comics publishing, including Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Max Allan Collins, Johnny Craig, Alex Toth, Joe Kubert, Bernie Krigstein - plus adaptations of/collaborations by famous crime writers, such as Dashiel Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Lesley Charteris and Raymond Chandler.Meet a gallery of hard-boiled, iconic heroes and killers inside including: Dashiell Hammett's smooth operator Secret Agent X-9, Will Eisner's masked mystery man The Spirit, Mickey Spillane's heavyweight tough-guy Mike Hammer, Frank Miller's scarred and brutal Marvin from Sin City, Munoz and Sampayo's brooding ex-cop Alack Sinner, Abuli and Bernet's venal hitman-for-hire Torpedo 1936, Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty's femme fatale investigator Ms. Tree, and Charles Burns' Mexican wrestler and defective detective El Borbah. Reviewed here.

TITAN BOOKS

• James Bond: The Paradise Plot. ISBN 978-1845767167, 27 Jun 2008. The legend continues! Stand by for more adventures with the world's greatest and most famous secret agent, James Bond, as some of his most thrilling missions are collected for the first time ever in a deluxe collectors' library edition!In this latest action-packed volume, Bond teams up with fellow 00 agent Suzi Kew once again on another sun-soaked escapade, "The Paradise Plot". Not seen since its original publication in a British newspaper, this ultra rare adventure finally returns to print! This new, never-before-collected edition also features Lawrence and McLusky's rarely seen story "Death Mask!", plus a new introduction by one of the Bond girls and an exclusive feature on rare and unusual James Bond comics from around the world!

• The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s, edited by David Leach. ISBN 978-1845769482, 13 June 2008. He's back! Britain's most famous fantasy footballer, Roy Race, makes his long-awaited return, in this first bumper volume collecting the very best of Roy's thrilling escapades! Featuring the cream of Roy's matches and adventures from the '70s and '80s, this incredible collection will be a must-have for footie fans of all ages! Thrill once more to the roar of the crowd, as Roy and Melchester Rovers face trials and tribulations on and off the pitch!As featured in the recent BBC 'Comics Britannia' documentaries, these are the tales that endeared "Roy of the Rovers" to a generation, and provide the ultimate introduction to the best football comic ever created! Reviewed here.