Comic Cuts: Upcoming Books

With so many books of my own coming out in September I'm not sure I should be plugging other people's work. Sadly, I'm hoisted on my own petard since I like to think of "Comic Cuts" as a news column and not just my chance to vent off about the building work going on around me (says the man whose curtains still fall down every morning. Grrrrr!).

For a bit of fun, before we get to a couple of books that are due out, I thought I'd check Amazon's bestsellers and see if I could compile a Top 20 for the best-selling British graphic novels (i.e. collections of stories of UK origin rather than British editions of American GNs). So, as of tonight (Monday, 14th July)...

1. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol.10. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437689), 15 Jun 2008.
2. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 08. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437276), 15 May 2007.
3. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265790), Dec 2005.
4. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 02. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265839), Feb 2006.
5. Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files 04. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437511), 15 Jan 2008.
6. Rogue Trooper: Realpolitik. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265944), Aug 2006.
7. Dan Dare: Reign of the Robots. Titan Books (ISBN 978-1845764142), 25 Apr 2008.
8. Rogue Trooper: To the Ends of Nu Earth. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265804), Jan 2006.
9. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437092), Dec 2006.
10. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1905437080), Nov 2006.
11. Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files 03. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437382), 6 Sep 2007.
12. Modesty Blaise: Green Cobra. Titan Books (ISBN 978-1845764203), 26 Sep 2008.
13. The Complete Nemesis the Warlock: Vol. 2. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1905437420), 15 Aug 2007.
14. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265871), Apr 2006.
15. Warhammer 40,000: Blood and Thunder. Boom Studios (ISBN 978-1934506318), 29 Apr 2008.
16. Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics, ed. Peter Normanton. Robinson (ISBN 978-1845296414), 24 Jan 2008.
17. Rogue Trooper: Fort Neuro. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437160), Jan 2007.
18. Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, ed. Paul Gravett. Robinson (ISBN 978-1845297107), 26 Jun 2008.
19. Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files o2. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 978-1905437290), 15 Jun 2007.
20. Leviathan. Rebellion/2000AD (ISBN 1904265650), Oct 2006.

... which I think pretty much proves that we are still a Dredd-worshiping nation and when two or three squax dek Thargo are gathered together in His name, they shall be judged. With the Christmas season almost upon us, I imagine that things will change over the next couple of months and, if I remember, I'll try to compile another Top 20 in a few weeks time to see whether things are beginning to change.

Onto the upcoming releases...

James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 by Alan J. Porter. Hermes Press (ISBN 978-1932563184), 29 Sep 2008.
Now for the first time, the complete history of the illustrated James Bond is chronicled by pop-culture historian Alan J. Porter in "James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007". Before Bond became world famous with his movie series, the character was the subject of successful English newspaper strips and later in comic books. "James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007" examines it all, covering Bond's newspaper strip and comic book appearances from the 1950s to the present.

Author Porter has been keeping readers of his blog up-to-date on the book's progress and has even published a couple of sample pages of the book. Porter is the author of The Unauthorized Batman Collectors' Guide, published a few years ago by Schiffer Publishing.

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways, ed. Daniel Tatarsky. Orion (ISBN 978-1409100140), 18 Sep 2008.
After Dan Dare, the most famous and fondly remembered part of the Eagle comic was the cutaway. Basically, these were beautifully detailed drawings of the inner workings of pretty much anything: from steam trains, jet liners and racing cars, to oil wells, suspension bridges and tube lines beneath Piccadilly Circus. The Eagle had a team of three or four artists, but the king of the cutaway was undoubtedly L. Ashwell Wood, whose forensic attention to detail—be it a cross section of the Cutty Sark or a grand landscape of how electricity is generated—enthralled a generation of school boys.