by Josh Crawley

In case you missed it, last Wednesday we posted an interview by me with Athena Voltaire‘s Steve Bryant about his Kickstarter-funded business model, among other things. For my first real interview (not that I recall ever doing a fake interview), it’s not too shabby.

In highly-related news, an Athena Voltaire Kickstarter campaign update (unless another pledge comes in before I finish this column): 84% funded 18 days in. That’s awesome! Remember: if Steve goes above that, it just means he can spend even more time making some kick-ass comic books!

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

IDW goes premiere! See page 139! IDW has debuted a new design to go with their new place in the catalog; I like!

Felix the Cat the Great Comic Book Tails

As I look at our listing for this, I realized something missing in our new site’s design that the print Previews catalog listing has: ISBN (978-1-60010-705-4), trim size (7″ x 11″), and page count (224). Since I see their “standard” trim size graphic novels don’t have a trim listed, I think it’s safe to say this is slightly over-sized, similar to DC’s Deluxe Edition hardcovers or Marvel’s Omnibus size. All of that hullabaloo aside, I’m looking forward to this because I’ve never actually seen any of these, but I’ve always thought Felix’s design was great.

Negative Burn Volume 1

200 pages at 6″ by 9″ (over 10,000 square inches!) of anthologized comic goodness. While I know anthologies don’t appeal to many people for a variety of reasons, they really are a great way to sample a great variety of material and to find something new that you may not have realized you were missing out on, and Negative Burn always has a high caliber of talent.

And now I jump back to the front of Previews…

Troublemaker Book 1

This was listed last month, so I’m not quite sure why they’re listing it again. I’m going to be a little less lazy, because I’m actually going to go find what I wrote for it and copy & paste it so you can read it again (post-coolant leak): Other than the art by Joëlle Jones (note to self, read Token), the book has a female lead who’s a mechanic? Awesome! Wonder if she could fix my coolant leak.

Usagi Yojimbo Volumes 8: Shades of Death, 9: Daisho, and 10: Brink of Life & Death are back in print; finally! Though it would be nice if they weren’t taking 4 months to get shipped out.

Eerie Archives Volume 5

…has one of those amazingly gorgeous Frank Frazetta covers.

Bettie Page Girl of our Dreams by Dave Stevens Statue

Sadly, this statue doesn’t look quite as much like Dave Stevens art as it should. It looks like someone decided her curves weren’t “21st Century scrawny & lanky” enough and they stretched out her arms, torso and thighs to make them lankier.

Or sometimes a beautiful drawing should just be left as that: a drawing.

Batman Beyond #1

Terry McGinnis!

Detective Comics #866

Stand alone Denny O’Neil -penned tale!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #13

Bruce Wayne’s returning! In my mind, the sole reason is so Paul Dini can continue this great Tommy Elliot/Bruce Wayne feud we haven’t seen since Heart of Hush.

Also, isn’t that an awesome trifecta of Dustin Nguyen covers (with two issues drawn by him!)? If you said yes, you are correct.

Power Girl #13

Sami Basri’s artwork is amazing, but I honestly haven’t cared too much for Judd Winick’s work in quite some time.

Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold hardcover

Every single one of these stories I’ve read by Straczynski & Saiz has been great! If you aren’t reading these, you probably should be. The Flash & Blackhawks story was just nominated for an Eisner Award, so that isn’t just baseless hype.

Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story hardcover

I’m a fan of 2-color comics, and I’ve heard good things about Incognegro (also by Mat Johnson, which I should read very soon), so you should buy this! Well, not really my logic, but maybe you got a laugh out of it.

Fables: Covers by James Jean (new printing hardcover)

No mention is made as to whether or not this has the handful of covers not in the original edition, but I really hope that’s the case since it’s ten dollars more than that edition only a couple of years later.

Madame Xanadu #24
So you read my Madame Xanadu Disenchanted review and decided to start picking up single issues, right? Great idea! This issue is the start of a new storyline, and each issue showcases off the talents of some great artists, culminating with series regular Amy Reeder Hadley!

Ame Comi Heroine Series: Artemis PVC Figure

I’m a sucker for cool figure repaints as it is, but Artemis?! Aw yeah! Sadly, this is tough for me to decide, because I wasn’t overly fond of the sculpt around the mouth and nose area.

Batman: Under the Red Hood DVD Red Hood Maquette

When I first saw this, my first thought: That’s an awesome Slade-can’t-call-him-Deathstroke-the-Terminator from (the Cartoon Network, not that I recall another) Teen Titans cartoon! Then I realized it was from one of those Batman stories I didn’t really care for. Honestly, it still looks killer! (Ha ha! Assassination pun!)

Seems like this is taking forever. I considered breaking this up, dear reader, but I want to do a Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (A.K.A. C2E2) report next week, so I will be soldiering on! Already did IDW, so on to Image, new home to Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash! Why the move from Devil’s Due? For a quick overview, check out Rich Johnston’s Bleeding Cool article.

Hack/Slash: My First Maniac #1
Seeley & Nei Ruffino
Jenny Frisson
You can’t go wrong with either cover, but if I had to choose, I’d go with the Frisson cover. Tim will get over the hurt feelings.

Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1 (new printing)

Since I hadn’t actually bought any Hack/Slash in quite some time, I decided to pick up the omnibus editions, but then they went out of print. This might be a late birthday present to myself.

Hack/Slash Volume 3: Friday the 31st (new printing softcover)

This is especially nice to see, since we have every other volume in stock at the store. Plus, Seeley isn’t making you choose one format over another (regular volumes vs. omnibus). I hear variety is the spice of life!

Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark #1

“They got mixed up!” The title says all I need to know!

Okay, this is taking too long. I’m through Image (sorry, Top Cow, you’ll get more love soon; promise!). The trek through the rest of Previews will be swift this month.

Starkweather: Immortal hardcover

I met Dave Rodriguez & Patrick McEvoy way back in the summer of 2007 at Wizard World Chicago when we all had books on the Archaia Comics schedule (though I was just lettering). Long story short, this is a well-written, great looking book that got delayed for quite some time due to the Archaia Comics restructuring (for lack of a better term). For a look at the cut-from-the-collection behind-the-scenes digital painting tutorial by McEvoy, go over to deviantArt!

Darkwing Duck #1

Let’s get DANGEROUS!

Uncle Scrooge #392

New Gizmoduck?!

Patricia Briggs’ Alpha & Omega: Cry Wolf Volume 1 #2

Order the set to be sure you get the Jordan Gunderson cover!

Last Airbender Movie Adaptation graphic novel

I really hope this movie does well, but I also hope the artwork looks as good as the solicitation cover for this adaptation.

Sorry I babbled so much. It would have been even more if there weren’t some freaky convergence of all the things I have going on right now taking up so much time.

If you see me at C2E2 or the Retailer Summit beforehand, say “Hi!”
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Josh Crawley is the tenured Master of Disaster (whether he’s heroic or evil remains to be seen) for Westfield Comics, not to be confused with Josh Crawley, the keyboardist for Everclear.

http://www.twitter.com/joshcrawley

josh@westfieldcomics.com

Westfield Comics
ATTN: JOSH
7475 Mineral Point Rd STE 22
Madison WI 53717