The Dreamer #1

Lora Innes

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The award-winning webcomic The Dreamer saw print this past week, through IDW Publishing. The book, by Lora Innes, follows high school girl Beatrice Whaley, a popular drama nerd whose crush has finally noticed her in a big way. But following a recent dream where she's transported to 1776 during the American Revolution, she can't seem to get a man from the past out of her head. His name is Warren and he's part of Knowlton's Rangers, a group of teachers, farmers, etc. turned soldiers, and he courageously saves Beatrice's life from the enemy and sweeps her off her feet. I can definitely see the appeal of the book - there's high romance, an interesting contrast between her life in high school and the dreamscapes of war, and the art is charming (although a bit stiff at times). By the conclusion of the first issue of the series, the characters are still a bit flat, but that could certainly change as the story progresses, just as the art could get a little more solid (there is some really nice art here, I just wish it were a bit more consistent). There are just a few things keeping this book from being something really great and I hope to see them ironed out over the next few issues - this is a six issue mini-series, so there's still a good chunk of story to go. And thus far, it's a fun story that bounces between slice-of-life and high adventure.

In Stores 11/19

Here are the best-sounding books shipping to comic shops tomorrow! Kind of a light week...

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Pick of the Week

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Jack Kirby's The Demon Omnibus HC - From the early 1970's, this collects the entirety of the original beloved 16-issue series by Jack Kirby in a nice deserving format. That's 384 pages for just $50!

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Other Noteworthy Releases

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Daniel X: Alien Hunter GN

Dead Space HC

Fables (Volume 11): War and

.....Pieces TP

Fuzz and Pluck: Splitsville HC

Heroes (Volume 2): Standard

.....Edition HC

Lagoon HC

Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus HC

Spider-Man: Kraven's First Hunt Premiere HC

The Spirit Special #1

Star Trek: The Last Generation #1

Swallow Me Whole

The Walking Dead (Volume 4) HC

The X-Files #1 (of 6)

X-Men: Magik: Storm and Illyana Premiere HC

Young X-Men (Volume 1): Final Genesis TP

Youngblood (Volume 1) HC

Manga Monday: Astral Project

Astral Project (Volume 1)

marginal & Shuji Takeya

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Astral Project in a new manga from CMX, written by the author of Old Boy (as marginal is an alias for Garon Tsuchiya). The book is about Masahiko, whose sister has just died. He doesn't get along with his family, but takes a keepsake from his sister's room - an unlabeled CD that was in her player that must have been the last thing she listened to before she passed away mysteriously. On the CD is some jazz music that sends Masahiko outside of his physical body. He finds he can fly across the skies and move objects, unseen by others in his astral form, and can repeat the experience whenever he listens to his sister's CD. But this ability also raises plenty of questions, about his sister's death, about where the CD came from, and it only gets more complicated when he realizes that he's not the only one with the ability to leave his body.

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I was really impressed with this manga. It's a great story, has a cool protagonist with a real past and a dark attitude, and contains some really intriguing mysteries. The art's a little "moody," I guess is how I would describe it, and it really fits the tone of the book overall, kind of creepy with a lot of exploration yet to be done in this world that's being built of shadow-lives and creatures floating in the night sky. And there's something really kind of freaky about the jazz music from the CD and where it comes from, especially as the mystery surrounding it gets a little more in-depth. But even looking passed the mysteries of Masahiko's sister's death and his new-found abilities, there's a lot of stuff going on with Masahiko himself and the people he interacts with. This is a great debut volume.

The Acme Novelty Library #19

Chris Ware

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The latest installment of Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library opens with a short science fiction tale called "The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars," a disturbing little story about a pair of couples who are sent to Mars to establish a settlement. Not long after their arrival, things go wrong, as the first supply ship doesn't arrive. This is a pretty engrossing story, but quite strange, with the protagonist doing some pretty awful things. Within the context of this volume, this science fiction story is actually a short work written by Rusty Brown's odd father, W.K. Brown, for which he received some acclaim. The rest of this installment of Acme Novelty Library then shifts focus to follow not Rusty Brown, but secondary character W.K. Brown himself, mostly delving into his past just before getting friendly with his wife. W.K. Brown is odd and awkward, as we've seen throughout the initial chapters of this series, and this just goes one step further to illustrate how pathetic and lonely he is. It is interesting stuff, don't get me wrong, but following the intense "The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars," this was actually pretty tame stuff, and a little boring and straight-forward in comparison. I like the awkward scene that the book ends on - a great note for a pathetic character, that I kind of hope we don't revisit too extensively in the future, at least not to this degree. This is my least favorite of the Acmes I've read to date, but it's still far and away better than most graphic novels released in any given year. As usual, the art is crisp and clever, designed masterfully, and brimming with more emotion than you'd expect upon a glance. I love the intricacies of many of the panels, although we don't get as much of that in this volume as volumes past. It's just unfortunate that the book began in such a strong, solid place that the rest of the book was rather dull in comparison.

Previews: January '09 Comics

I've been sick, so it took awhile for me to get around to doing a long post like this one, but finally, here are the noteworthy books shipping to comic shops in January, from items found in Previews Catalogue...

Dark Horse

B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess #1 (of 5) - A new B.P.R.D. tale!

Clover Omnibus Edition - The manga has been out of print for a long time, so here's an omnibus edition of the classic story by supergroup CLAMP!

DC Comics

The Compleat Death Deluxe Edition HC - Both Death mini-series by Neil Gaiman, as well as short stories from various places featuring the fan-favorite character. Only $34.99.

Final Crisis #7 - The final issue of Grant Morrison's epic crossover!

The Losers by Jack Kirby HC - Jack Kirby's World War II stories are collected for the first time!

Drawn & Quarterly

Kaspar GN - Quebec artist Diane Obomsawin's first translated work to English follows the life of Kaspar Hauser, a man surrounded by mysteryduring his stay in Nuremberg in the early 19th century.

Fantagraphics Books

Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers - In the same vain as the recent Fletcher Hanks book, here's a book focusing on the lowbrow Boody Rogers.

Luba HC - This is the follow-up hardcover to the gigantic Palomar HC that was released a few years ago. A huge graphic novel containing the post-Palomar stuff from Gilbert Hernendez.

Supermen! The First Wave of Comic-Book Heroes (1939-1941) - A collection of 22 offbeat early superhero stories by creators such as Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Jack Cole, and Fletcher Hanks.

IDW Publishing

Locke & Key: Head Games #1 - A sequel to the horror comic by novelist Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.

Star Trek: Countdown #1 - The comics prequel of the new J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek film leads up to the film this summer.

Image Comics

American Jesus (Volume 1): Chosen TP - Mark Millar and Peter Gross's tale of a boy who realizes he's the returned Jesus Christ!

Marvel Comics

Captain Britain and MI-13 #9 - The return of one of my favorite Marvel characters, original Excalibur founding member, Meggan!

Captain Britain by Alan Moore & Alan Davis Omnibus HC - These are some of the most underrated superhero comics out there. I LOVE Alan Moore and Alan Davis's Captain Britain, and I also LOVE Alan Davis and Jamie Delano's Captain Britain. This contains both of those plus other goodies.

***Pick of the Month***

Daredevil: Born Again Premiere HC - Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's much-lauded Daredevil tale gets some love.

Dark Avengers #1 - A new series launching under the banner of Marvel's newest crossover event Dark Reign, this is another Avengers title (on top of Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, and Avengers: The Initiative, not replacing any title).

Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death TP - The first Anita Blake comic that isn't a direct adaptation from the prose novels, this collects the two issues of The First Death that look into Anita's past, as well as the Guilty Pleasures Handbook.

Punisher #1 - A relaunch of Punisher in wake of Secret Invasion, coming out of Dark Reign.

Ruins #1 - Warren Ellis paints a picture of the ruins of the Marvel Universe.

Secret Invasion: War of Kings - Leading into another Marvel Universe crossover, this is the final issue of the "prelude" titles to War of Kings.

Secret Invasion TP - A collection of all eight issue of the main mini-series.

The X-Men Omnibus (Volume 1) HC - Collecting the first 31 pages of The X-Men!

X-Men: Original Sin Premiere HC - This was kind of a mini X-Men crossover that delved into when Wolverine originally joined the X-Men.

X-Men: Proteus Premiere HC - I'm not sure this really deserves a prestige format, but this is considered a classic X-Men arc, I guess...

Tokyopop

Orange - Tokyopop launches its new line of full-color comics with this title and Pixie.

Viz Media

20th Century Boys (Volume 1) - With the final volume of Naoki Urasawa's Monster looming in the near-future, Viz is releasing not one, but two new manga translations by the master of suspense!

Otomen (Volume 1) - From the creator of Blank Slate comes a series about a boy who loves girly things, and does his best to hide that fact.

Pluto (Volume 1) - This is the other new series by Naoki Urasawa being released, a reimagining of Osama Tezuka's Astro Boy.

Misc.

Be a Nose! The Art of Spiegelman Sketchbook - uh...a freaking Art Spiegelman sketchbook!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw HC - The insanely popular children's comic from Jeff Kinney!

Teenagers From the Future SC - A collection of essays focusing on The Legion of Super-Heroes from scholars and fans. Foreward by Matt Fraction.

Heidi Klum is awesome!

In Stores 11/12

Here are the most exciting books shipping to comic shops this week!
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Pick of the Week
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (Volume 3): Wolves At the Gate TP - The latest collection of Joss Whedon's season eight of Buffy gets collected this week, this one written by Drew Goddard of Cloverfield fame, featuring the return of Dracula into the main slayer's life, and many other shocks and surprises. A very good read.
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Other Noteworthy Releases
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Batman: Cacophony #1 (of 3) -
.....Kevin Smith's return to comics...
.....er, they did get the finished scripts
.....before publishing this issue, right?
Black Terror #1
Civil War HC
The Cleaners #1 (of 4)
The Dreamer #1
Fables Covers by James Jean HC
Fruits Basket (Volume 21)
Hulk (Volume 1): Red Hulk Premiere HC
Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front #1 (of 4)
JLA/Avengers TP
New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection (Volume 3) -
.....Final volume
Powr Mastrs (Volume 2) GN
Push #1 (of 6)
Salt Water Taffy (Volume 2): Climb Up Mt. Barnabus GN
Savage Dragon #140
Ted McKeever Library (Volume 1) HC

Manga Monday: We Were There!

We Were There (Volume 1)

Yuki Obata

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When Nanami Takahashi begins to go to a new school, all she wants is to make some new friends. Things don't go exactly as planned at first, but before long Nanami finds herself among friends and falling for an aloof boy, despite herself. Motoharu Yano also happens to be the most popular boy in school and seems determined to frustrate Nanami to no end. As the book proceeds, we see more of a tender side to Yano, however, and learn that things are much more complicated than they appear on the outside. That being said, it's kind of hard not to fall for Yano a little bit. This book actually won the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award, and it's no wonder with the beautiful art and the slow build of emotions and tension. I wasn't so sure I'd like this book from the initial chapters sampled in Shojo Beat a few months back, but I decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did in the end. This is a fun romantic story and I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing this budding romance unfold in the forthcoming installments.