Printed at 11″ x 17″, this thing is going to be more than 2.5 times larger than your standard edition comic and filled with a who’s who of top talent: Paul Pope, Neil Giman, Joe Kubert, Walter Simonson, Brian Azzarello, Kurt Busiek, Eduardo Risso… how can you go wrong. Heck, at $50 this thing only costs a little bit more than the weekly newsprint edition. Yet somehow, I know there will be complaining.

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Page 98 – DC/Wildstorm – Mysterius the Unfathomable TPB
art by Tom Fowler.
144 pgs – Colour – $17.99

A quirky, off-beat book which allows Tom Fowler’s full, cartoony style to sing.

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Page 144 – Image – Spawn #200
some art by Todd McFarlane.
48 pgs – Colour – $3.99

Wow. 200 issues. Remember when the Image 7 broke away? McFarlane, Lee, Silvestri, Liefeld, Larsen, Valentino, Portacio shook up the industry and my little fanboy heart beat so strongly. 17 years later and Spawn is at 200 concurrent issues, far ahead of runner up Larsen’s 157 Savage Dragon issues. Congratulations, Todd!

And if you think that the Image 7 have no burn with comic readers these days: Image United #1 was recently released and sold out despite a large overprint.

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Page 204 – Blind Ferret Entertainment Inc – Least I Could Do! Beginnings volume 1 Hard Cover
writing by Ryan Sohmer
art by Lar DeSouza.
32 pgs – Colour – $19.95

A recent addition to Least I Could Do are the full-size Sunday-style interludes featuring the misadventures of a young Rayne.

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Page 210 – BOOM! Studios – The Incredibles #7
art by Marcio Takara.
32 pgs – Colour – $2.99

Page 211 – BOOM! Studios – Wall-E #3
story by J. Torres.
32 pgs – Colour – $2.99

A couple of spin off books from the Disney-based movies of the same name. These are kid friendly entries from BOOM! Studios which would fall into that ‘all ages’ reading category, a topic which has been making the rounds lately.

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Page 231 – Douglas & McIntyre – RED: A Haida Manga Hard Cover
story and art by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas.
120 pgs – Colour – $22.95

This book is way off the beaten path for traditional readers of superhero-centric comics, but I have no doubt that this will work will have Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas firmly entrenched with Seth’s George Sprott, Darwyn Cooke’s Parker: The Hunter, and Jeff Lemire’s The Nobody & Sweet Tooth in one of the most contested Cartoonist of the Year sweepstakes yet.

I firmly maintain that his wonderful Flight of the Hummingbird was overlooked last year, yet this new, ambitious project, RED: A Haida Manga is going to push the boundaries. I’m thrilled to see that a new, revised-edition of ‘Flight’ is being released in 2010: The Little Hummingbird.

Read my short interview with Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas.

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Page 231 – Drawns & Quarterly – Dirty Dishes GN
story and art by Amy Lockhart.
96 pgs – Colour – $14.95

Animator and artist Amy Lockhart brings us the weird and semi-grotesque world of Strawbaby. Like RED, another non-traditional comic which contains her ‘creative process’; images, paintings, sculptures and comics.
Check out some of Amy’s films here and here.

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Page 231 – Drawns & Quarterly – Stooge Pile GN
story and art by Seth Scriver.
80 pgs – Colour – $14.95

I don’t know much about Seth Scriver, but D&Q describe him as part of the Marc Bell / Amy Lockhart school, or movement, of doodlers. If you dug Hot Potatoe, this might be up your alley. A small preview of this book is found here.

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Page 235 – Fantagraphics – Scream Queen Sand and Fury
story and art by Ho Che Anderson.
144 pgs – 2 Colour – $16.99

A new and expanded edition of Scream Queen Sand and Fury.

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Page 236 – Groundwood Books – Skim GN
story by Mariko Tamaki.
art by Jillian Tamaki.
140 pgs – B&W – $12.95

A softcover version of last years hit, well worth the acclaim. It’s books like these that reach out to new markets. A buzz book that will have non-comic readers coming into a comic book store to find it or will have current comic readers tracking down something they wouldn’t normally read. It’s good for the industry and it’s good for the comic business.

This book is featured all throughout the Previews. But, hey, Diamond!  And, hey, Groundwood!  Skim was Winner of the 2009 Joe Shuster Writer of the Year award and 2009 Doug Wright Best Book award. Think you could mention that in your ad? And Diamond is a sponsor of the Joe Shuster Awards, too!

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Oni Press is loving the Canadians this month! Every single one of these books are great.

Page 257 – Oni Press – The Annotated Northwest Passage Soft Cover
story and art by Scott Chantler.
272 pgs – B&W – $15.99

Hooray! Back in print and with a soft cover, too! This is a great, great book that you should read. Really.
If you need more convincing, contact The Dragon: #1 pimp of Northwest Passage.

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Page 258 – Oni Press – Love Is A Foreign Language volumes 1 & 2
story by J. Torres.
art by Erik Kim.

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Page 258 – Oni Press – Lost At Sean
story and art by Bryan Lee O’Malley.

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Page 259 – Oni Press – Scott Pilgrim volume 1
story and art by Bryan Lee O’Malley.

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Page 272 – Top Shelf Productions – Essex County HC & SC
story and art by Jeff Lemire.
512 pgs – B&W – HC$49.95 / SC$29.95

Another awesome book that you should read, containing three wonderful tales of grief, pain, torment, reconciliation, despair and hope. I will go on record as saying that, for me, Ghost Stories (the second story in the book) is the best comic of the last 5 years.

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Page M74 – Marvel – X-men: Pixie Strikes Back #1 (of 4)
story by Kathryn Immonen.
32 pgs – Colour – $3.99

Kathryn has been writing some great comics these past couple of years and I think this book has sleeper hit potential. The all-girl baby X-teens and the wackiness of high school? Awesome.

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Page M78 – Marvel – X-men Forever #17 & #18
art by Tom Grummett.
32 pgs – Colour – $3.99

What can I say, I dig this book. Even I don’t entirely know why, but I will say that even with it’s own thick continuity issues, X-men Forever just seems a lot easier to follow than the current X Universe. And for all you retailers looking for all-ages superhero comics that were just like the ones you grew up reading: this is probably the only one that exists.

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Page M97 – Marvel – Strange Tales Hard Cover
some story and art by Jay Stephens.
200 pgs – Colour – $29.99

Another super-awesome line up of talent. This anthology book is a compilation of the Marvel mini-series. And it was awesome. Highly recommended.

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Page M111 – Marvel – Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Ultimate Collection TPB
art by Stuart Immonen</strong.
312 pgs – Colour – $34.99

Back in print and all under one cover! Yes! Even includes the letters page, filled with hilarity. This book is an easy sell and a highly recommended read.

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Non-Canuck notables (aka: books that are in the Previews that I want to point out).

Page 31 – Dark Horse – The Tale of One Bad Rat
Back in print! Hooray! This is a great book by British cartoonist Bryan Talbot and well deserving of your attention.
136 pgs – Colour – $19.99

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Page 42 – Dark Horse – Hellsing volume 10
The last chapter in this hugely successful series. Gorgeous, hilarious, confusing, horrifying, frentic, this series by Kohta Hirano has been a wild ride.
192 pgs – B&W – $13.99

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Page 277 – VIZ Media – Pluto volume 8
The last chapter of this awesome story. Urasawa took a 76 page Tezuka story and fleshed it out over 2000 pages. Spectacular pacing and characterization, this series, along with Monster and 20th Century Boys, show why Urasawa is the greatest comic storyteller working right now. All 3 series are masterful.
256 pgs – B&W – $12.99

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