ok, we didn’t have a chance to read anything yet this week, but these are the books we really wanna read…
rocket raccoon #2
nightworld #1
she-hulk #7
i was the cat
trillium
the complete elfquest vol. #1
the ring of the nibelung
jack davis drawing american pop culture
food wars!
40. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE
The new Image series from McKelvie & Gillen, a sort of bottomless bonus track to their dark-magic rock opera PHONOGRAM, is one of the most promising series to debut in 2014.
39. This NSFW Spider-Man Statue
This baffling statue, atop a South Korean shopping mall, gives new meaning to the phrase “web fluid.”
38. CHARLES SCHULZ’S PEANUTS: ARTIST’S EDITION
This beautifully designed collection of unaltered original Peanuts artwork brings us Charles Schulz’s earliest strips just as he made them — raw, unfiltered, and a little bit mean.
37. OUTCAST
The world-weary horror of Robert Kirkman’s story is brought to life by the atmospheric, choking tension of Paul Azaceta’s moody, worrisome artwork. A promising debut for what looks to be a truly frightening series.
36. This Animated Lobster Sculpture
Very lifelike. Keep it far away from butter sauce.
35. THE LEFTOVERS
This off-beat, darkly funny, sprawlingly intimate HBO series, based on Tom Perotta’s novel of the same title, follows life in a small town in the years following the Rapture.
wonton soup collected edition : before ORC STAIN and GODZILLA: HALF CENTURY WAR, james stokoe was chopping it up like some loco iron chef of comics. this long out of print collection serves up the full 7 course meal of wonton soup goodness.
rocket raccoon #1 : as a long, long time fan of this little critter, i can tell you that skottie young has delivered a pitch-perfect take here. lots of fun, and a good mystery brewing.
robocop vs terminator : a wacky pairing all the way around, with walt simonson in top form working off a frank miller script.
the maxx maxximized volume #1 : one of the most influential books of the ’90s is back, in a hardcover edition that sees sam kieth’s seminal artwork recolored and looking better than ever.
-chris stevens
40. DESTINO
This is what it looks like when Walt Disney and Salvador Dali sort of collaborate. Sure makes you wonder what could have come of a deeper partnership.
39. BASEWOOD
Another delicious fruit of the Kickstarter era. Never before would a work as personal and idiosyncratic as Alec Longstreth’s BASEWOOD have seen publication in such a beautifully produced oversized edition, a handsomely made book containing a flawlessly cartooned story of loss, survival and connection.
38. GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
OK, so none of us have actually gotten around to seeing it yet. But we’re so happy to have more Wes Anderson in the world that we’re listing it anyway.
37. MONSTERS & TITANS – the BATTLING BOY art book
Finally, we can see BATTLING BOY artwork the way it deserves to be seen: BIG.
36. This Terrifying Short Film
Watch if you’re sick of sleeping, and would prefer never to do it again.
35. New Wu Tang Album
They are pressing one single copy of their new double album, which will be sold to the highest bidder. Something tells me we won’t end up finding this one for $3 in the bargain bin of the Princeton Record Exchange, like we did with 36 Chambers in 1997.
40. UNDERTOW
With an intriguing premise from Steve Orlando and moody, expressive artwork from Artyom Trakhanov, we can’t wait to see where this new Image title takes us.
39. SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN
Following Hawkeye’s mix of humor, character-driven realism, and gleeful formal experimentation, SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN has quietly become one of Marvel’s very best books. Don’t let the secret out, but it almost seems like somebody over at the House of Ideas got it in their head that superhero comics are supposed to be fun…
38. This Shirt
Yeah, what if??
37. THE BUS
We detect some of the spirit of Winsor McCay in Paul Kirchner’s quietly masterful surrealist comic strip.
36. B + F
We were pleased to play host to Greg Benton and his huge, beautiful nightmare of a graphic novel. Greg is one of our favorite cartoonists and one of comics’ most righteous dudes, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.
35. INSECT BATH
True to its title, this new alt-zine style anthology series feels like a submersion in the creepy, underfoot world.
34. SPRING TRAINING
Baseball beckons, and with it a world made new.
i’ve got a couple of boxes of books from my personal collection here at the shop, and i went through them for the first time in ages today. these books still hold such wonder for me. stuff like…
on the surface it’s just about the goofiest book ever, but i must have read this 500 times. there’s the great paul smith cover and a script from j.m. dematteis that felt so real and relatable to my 8 or 9 year old self.
when i was a kid i felt like the x-men was my own private soap opera, and issues like this one were a big reason why.
these issues of gi joe that really built the snake-eyes/storm shadow relationship were so filled with mystery and excitement. to this day two of the coolest costume designs in comics.
batman & Ethe outsiders was probably my favorite super hero book outside of x-men when i was a little kid. frank miller, doing mike barr a favor i’m guessing, set the tone here with a great cover, and inside we get a classic old school confrontation between the team and a group of government-led goons called, yes, the force of july. glorious stuff.
i could probably write a 1000 words on how much i loved, and still love, the two gumby books arthur adams did in the 80’s. here arthur employs a slightly less ornate style than usual for him at the time, and the result is a delightfully pure cartoony look. even the little odds & ends arthur drew here–a bio pic of him as a scarecrow, a pin-up of gumby & pokey riding a dinosaur–are fantastic. these should be reprinted in a proper edition, not the sad shit show of a book like the digest version that came out a few years back.
practically forgotten today, atari force was a better book than it had any right to be. 30 years later it holds up as a fine read, particularly the first dozen or so issues penciled by the great jose luis garcia lopez. this issue, filled with all kinds of interesting critters, was a favorite.
my love of this little guy is well known amongst my pals. true story: my mom’s dad was an alcoholic ww2 vet who i saw in alternatingly sweet and scary visits. one of the last times i saw him before his suicide i stole $5 off his dresser drawer top. i bought this comic with it.
–chris stevens
40. Simon Stålenhag’s Sci-fi Suburbia
A Sweden turned inside out by science, yet still recognizably, nostalgically human.
39. MARK SHULTZ’S XENOZOIC TALES ARTIST’S EDITION
Dinosaurs, dino-sized. Thanks yet again, IDW.
38. LEGO Delorean
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! Because LEGO cars are not street legal.
37. Patton Oswalt trolling Twitter
“Eat the poor, disabled and hopeless. It’s the only way we can insure our future.”
I think he’s really onto something.
36. THE ANIMAL MAN OMNIBUS
Grant Morrison’s mind-bending genre-smasher is finally as heavy as it ought to be.
35. Real-life Patlabor
Because one real-life giant robot was not enough for Japan. Thank god.
34. Suggestions for Street Harassment
Hey HollabackPHILLY, let’s get on this:
Locust Moon Comics 