I've stared at this opening paragraph for about ten minutes now and still have no idea what to say. November's not a bad month for comics, but at the same time it's not the sort of time where you jump up and down at the sheer wealth of amazing books heading in your direction.

Having written this column for well over a year now, I do find myself wondering: do people really see things like this, or Johanna Draper Carlson's write-ups, and add things onto their pre-order lists? I sincerely hope so, because wading through all the solicitations in Previews is a truly daunting task and it's easy to miss things once your eyes start glazing over.

More importantly, companies often depend on their initial pre-orders to help define their print runs. Going back to print usually costs more than that first, large printing, so if you can figure out how many you need the first time through it results in a little more profit for the publisher as well as the retailer. Plus, it's always nice for your local retailer to know just how many people want a book that's hitting shelves in a couple of months, because that lets them know when it's something they would otherwise be scrambling to restock when instead they could be ready and waiting for the rush of customers.

You all know all of this, right? Right? I'm not talking to myself again, am I? God, I hope not. My eyes are positively burning after reading all nine million pages of the November solicitations. I'd hate for it to be for nothing.

VIZ

NANA VOL 1 by Ai Yazawa
SEP05 3280, p370, $8.99

If there's one reason to buy the new SHOJO BEAT anthology, it's Ai Yazawa's NANA. The story of two radically different women both named Nana who end up living together doesn't sound terribly exciting, but trust me, it is. Yazawa's talent was revealed to me in her amazing work on PARADISE KISS where it was proven that the saga of going to school for fashion design could be riveting, and NANA continues that trend of creating characters that you just can't get enough of. Add in some gasp-worthy art (how does she do it?) and, well, there's a reason why the first issue of SHOJO BEAT opened with a 100-page introduction to NANA. It's just that good.

(And if you need a second reason to buy the new SHOJO BEAT anthology, it's the volleyball saga of CRIMSON HERO, of which the first collection is also being released in November. Check that out as well.)

TOKYOPOP

ARK ANGELS VOL 1 by Sang-Sun Park
SEP05 3106, p333, $9.99

This is a book that I really want to like, but I'm a bit hesitant about. I'm grabbed by the premise of three young girls from another world (named after Noah's sons from the Old Testament) who have arrived on Earth to save all of its creatures from extinction - but there's someone else trying to stop them even as the sisters try to blend in with today's society. However, I was really underwhelmed with the writing in Sang-Sun Park's TAROT CAFÉ series. Consider me hesitantly interested.

ONI PRESS

LOCAL #1 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly
SEP05 3052, p312, $2.99

I think it's safe to say that Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan's 12-issue DEMO was a huge success. I also think it's safe to say that lightning can strike twice in the case of LOCAL, Wood's new 12-issue series about life in smaller towns and cities. I like the fact that, as with DEMO, each issue will stand on its own - but this time there will also be a character that appears in all 12 issues to link them together. The line-up of locations is good (Portland, OR; Richmond, VA; Halifax, NS; Austin, TX; Madison, WI, and so on) and Ryan Kelly's art collaboration (with Peter Gross) for LUCIFER has always been strong. This is definitely a book to get.

STRANGETOWN #1 by Chynna Clugston and Ian Shaughnessy
SEP05 3055, p313, $2.99

I love me some Chynna Clugston comics (BLUE MONDAY, SCOOTER GIRL, QUEEN BEE), so a new quarterly series co-written and drawn by Clugston? Sold. The description's good enough that I'll just reproduce it here wholesale:

Ten-year-old Vanora Finnar washed onto the Oregon shore in 1973. Nobody in the coastal town of Grangeton knows where she came from, nor does anyone bother to ask. In 'Strangetown', as the locals call it, odd is the norm and anything ordinary might as well be extraordinary by its rarity. Now in her 20s, Vanora must figure out what you do if you're too strange for Strangetown.

What else can I say? I'm there.

MARVEL COMICS

SENTINEL #1 by Sean McKeever and Udon
SEP05 1945, pM45, $2.99

Yay! I loved Sean McKeever and Udon's 12-issue SENTINEL series from a couple of years ago, where a teenager finds and rebuilds a Sentinel robot to be his friend... but ends up discovering that tinkering with a mutant-hunting killing machine isn't always such a bright thing to do. Now on the run with his Sentinel while trying to find the mother that abandoned him as a child, things having gotten easier in some ways, and harder in others. McKeever and Udon did a great job with the earlier incarnation of this book, and I've got no doubt that the new series will be just as much fun.

X-FACTOR #1 by Peter David and Ryan Sook
SEP05 1967, pM61, $2.99

I remember reading and loving Peter David's run on X-FACTOR years ago, a great mix of humour and drama using characters that no one would have ever thought could be made interesting. It looks like David's going to see if he can replicate that a second time, and I'm intrigued. Ryan Sook is definitely an attraction, and just thinking about David's old X-FACTOR stories has made me a bit nostalgic for them. (Good thing Marvel's also soliciting a collection of David's first five issues for November as X-FACTOR VISIONARIES, then.) I think this is definitely going to be worth giving a try.

ESSENTIAL X-FACTOR VOL 1 by Bob Layton, Louise Simonson, Jackson Guice, Walt Simonson, and others
SEP05 2007, pM92, $16.99

If you've never read the original X-FACTOR comics, you're in for... well, a surprise, and not a good one at first. There's no nice way to put it so I'll be blunt, here: the first five issues of X-FACTOR by Bob Layton and Jackson Guice are some of the worst comics to ever be wildly popular. I have nothing nice to say about them, from Cyclops suddenly abandoning his wife and child to the general ham-fisted writing. (And let's not forget the mystery villain cloaked in shadow off in the background, whom Layton and Guice had apparently intended to be the Owl. Ooh, I sure am scared now.)

Then, starting with the sixth issue, Louise Simonson took over writing, Walt Simonson quickly showed up on art, and the book did a complete 180-degree turn. Not only was it well written and drawn (and as an added bonus, the Owl was instead revealed to be the debut of Apocalypse), but the Simonsons don't just ignore everything that had happened up until then. Suddenly the consequences of Scott abandoning his family hit home, to say nothing of the idiotic idea that the team should help mutants by posing as high-profile mutant hunters, which really just stirred up anti-mutant sentiments.

In short, this is going to be one of the strangest Essential volumes from Marvel in a long time. If you're planning on buying it, just be warned that it starts out truly horrendously, but recovers before long.

IMAGE COMICS

IMAGE COMICS HC by Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino
SEP05 1663, p131, $24.99

"All previous orders have decomposed". What can I say? It's nice to see a publisher have a good sense of humour about a hideously late book.

DEATH JR TP by Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh SEP05 1675, p141, $14.99

This was a fun little book that I'm not sure that many people paid attention to. You should, though; Ted Naifeh's art was spookylicious, and Gary Whitta's writing was such a perfect match I originally thought it was Naifeh writing the book. Death's son, just trying to live a normal life and go to school, is adorable, and his misadventures with his freakish friends as they try to stop an accidentally unleashed monster are fun, pure and simple. Definitely worth your time.

DOWN #1 by Warren Ellis and Tony Harris
SEP05 1737, p169, $2.99

Wow, wasn't this announced something like five years ago? Next thing you know, we'll be getting that long promised Warren Ellis and John Paul Leon book. Well, probably not.

At any rate, though, this book sounds like it's playing to both Ellis and Tony Harris's strengths; a police officer is sent into a corrupt part of the city where the last officer to enter five years ago is now the head of the corruption himself. It sounds like a modern updating of Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS (which, of course, was also transformed into the movie APOCALYPSE NOW), and that's something I applaud. The story of HEART OF DARKNESS was a good one, and since Conrad's writing style sets my teeth on edge (and I had to read it for no less than three different classes at university), anyone else making it into something a bit more enjoyable gets a big thumbs up from me.

IDW PUBLISHING

MAZE AGENCY VOL 1 TP by Mike W Barr, Adam Hughes, and Rick Magyar
SEP05 2981, p292, $24.99
SMOKE VOL 1 TP by Alex de Campi and Igor Kordey
SEP05 2982, p292, $24.99

Bless you IDW for not one but two collections of really good books in the month of November, just in time for the holidays. Alex de Campi and Igor Kordey's SMOKE was fantastic, feeling almost like a forgotten old Alan Moore project about corrupt government agencies and assassins. It was a sharp debut for de Campi, and easily the best art from Kordey I've ever seen.

But wait! There's more! Mike W Barr and Adam Hughes's THE MAZE AGENCY is, from all reports, one of the best mystery comics ever, and based on the calibre of the creators attached to it I tend to believe them. It's one of those books that I've been meaning to hunt down old issues of for ages, so IDW has spared me the time and effort involved. Really, I'd be surprised if people weren't happy with either one of these books.

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

NIGHT FISHER by R Kikuo Johnson
SEP05 2940, p281, $12.95

Fantagraphics calls NIGHT FISHER "the most excited graphic novel debut of 2005", and I think they may be onto something here. What I've seen of R Kikuo Johnson's works in short stories has been really promising, a gorgeous dark ink line coupled with a real understanding of how to write realistic and intriguing characters. The art samples in the ad in Previews just reinforces my belief that this is going to be great, with beautiful images that can make both swimming in Hawaii and riding in a car look attractive. This is definitely a book to keep on your radar.

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

WIMBLEDON GREEN: THE GREATEST COMIC BOOK COLLECTOR IN THE WORLD HC by Seth
SEP05 2912, p274, $19.95

I don't ever remember seeing Seth write and draw comedy before, so I must admit that I was a little dubious about this promise of the over-the-top adventures of the self-proclaimed greatest comic book collector in the world. Then I went to San Diego where Drawn & Quarterly was giving out a little preview strip of the book and... well, I laughed my head off. Turns out Seth has a real talent for comedy, and what sounded a bit questionable before is now getting a big thumbs up from me. It's nice to see what happens when Seth doesn't write and draw a brilliant-yet-depressing story for a change.

DC COMICS

BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN #1 by Matt Wagner
SEP05 0207, p57, $2.99
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
SEP05 0218, p63, $2.99

I can't say that I 'follow' many characters like a lot of comic book readers; readers of this column will have certainly figured out that for me it's all about the creators. So while the idea of an early tale of Batman or an "all-star" version of Superman in and of itself isn't terribly exciting, the idea of Matt Wagner, Grant Morrison, and Frank Quitely working on these characters sounds spectacular.

I've got to give DC credit, they're doing a great job of making me buy books starring their flagship characters. I'll buy anything that Wagner or Morrison and Quitely work on, and these new titles are no exception to the rule.

JONAH HEX #1 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Luke Ross
SEP05 0242, p73, $2.50

Don't get me wrong, I applaud DC for diversifying a bit and starting up a new JONAH HEX western series. But... and maybe it's just me... all I can think is "dead in 12 issues", no matter how good the series may or may not be. I hope that if it is good the comics market proves me wrong, but I just have a bad feeling about this. A non-superhero book at DC Comics that's not under the Vertigo imprint just seems doomed from the start.

MANHUNTER VOL 1: STREET JUSTICE TP by Marc Andreyko, Jesus Saiz, and Jimmy Palmiotti
SEP05 0253, p79, $12.99

On this particular page in Previews I think most of the attention will go towards the new LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES collection. The reality, though, is that the book to keep an eye on is MANHUNTER. Marc Andreyko's clearly having a blast writing this book, with DA Kate Spencer finding a suit of armour that allows her to become the Manhunter... and to discover that balancing one's day job and extracurricular activities is easier said than done. It's a nice mix of courtroom drama and super-powered adventure, and while I didn't think it would work, I've been quite pleasantly proven wrong.

DMZ #1 by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli
SEP05 0304, p106, $2.99

I was about to write that November's solicitations for Vertigo were the most boring I've ever seen, but one book redeemed them: DMZ. The idea of a series where Middle America rose up in a new civil war and the frontline became Manhattan? Sold. It's a sharp premise that has a ton of potential, and having it told through the eyes of a photojournalist trapped in the heart of the DMZ sounds promising. I'm not familiar with Riccardo Burchielli's art, but the two pages of samples seem nice, and writer Brian Wood has proven before that he knows New York. This'll be a book to watch.

DARK HORSE

HARLEQUIN PINK: A GIRL IN A MILLION TP by Betty Neels and Kako Itoh
HARLEQUIN VIOLET: RESPONSE TP by Penny Jordan and Takako Hashimoto
SEP05 0013 and SEP05 0014, p18-19, $9.95

This is either going to be huge or a tremendous flop, the pairing of Harlequin Romance novels with manga artists. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say huge; the sample art looks promising, the price point is correct, and if there's one thing that Harlequin knows it's how to find writers that will appeal to their audience. I also have to say that I love the idea of the line being colour-coded, with pink being simply "romantic", while violet is a bit more "sensual". This is definitely a new product line to keep an eye on.

SHADOW STAR VOL 7: VICTIM'S EYES, ASSAILANT'S HANDS TP by Mohiro Kitoh
SEP05 0020, p24, $15.95

That's right, I'm talking about SHADOW STAR again. Quite frankly, I'm going to keep doing it until this criminally ignored series gets the attention it deserves. This is a wonderfully twisted series about a bunch of children who all become bonded to "shadow dragons", strange shape-shifting alien beings that do the children's every will. What looks at first to be a sweet and innocent story quickly takes a turn for the more dramatic; Kitoh knows that if you gave a group of kids this opportunity, it would be only a matter of time before things got ugly. I never know what's going to happen next in SHADOW STAR, aside from that it'll be amazing. Trust me, read this book.

SEXY CHIX TP
SEP05 0027, p31, $12.95

Oh, Dark Horse. How can you get something so right and yet so wrong? I love the idea of an anthology with creators like Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, Gail Simone, Roberta Gregory, Carla Speed McNeil, Sarah Grace McCandless, Laurenn McCubbin, and Colleen Coover. But the title? Oh dear. And the cover being a photo montage of the creators? Well, let's think about it for a minute: what would the reaction be if there was an anthology called SEXY STUDS with pictures of all the men on the cover?

I want to like this book, and I suspect based on the creator line-up that it's a book I'll be re-reading again and again. But it's almost like Dark Horse wants to make as many readers cringe as they possibly can.

BEST SELLERS ILLUSTRATED

SHYGIRL VOLUME 2 by Stephen Stern and Bill Maus
SEP05 2825, p244, $13.99

If she's so shy, maybe she could put on a little more clothing? Wow. This is cringeworthy on so many levels, just for the cover alone, that it hurts.

(The publisher seems determined to not make the cover to Volume 2 available, so here's the one for Volume 1 instead. Then just imagine that Volume 2's is worse. I know, I know, but it's true.)

AVATAR PRESS

WARREN ELLIS'S APPARAT VOL 1 TP by Warren Ellis, Jacen Burrows, Laurenn McCubbin, Carla Speed McNeil, and Juan Jose Ryp
SEP05 2774, p240, $12.99

Collecting the first wave of Apparat books - four "first issues" of imaginary new series - you absolutely have to get this even if only for Ellis and McNeil's FRANK IRONWINE. A fantastic comic from start to finish, it's one of the few "rookie cop paired with grizzled veteran" books that I can wholeheartedly recommend, and one that made me a little sad that there aren't future instalments down the line.

That's not to say that the other books aren't good too; QUIT CITY with Laurenn McCubbin's art was a strong collaboration, and SIMON SPECTOR is easily the best book that Jacen Burrows has worked on. This is a sharp little collection.

LADY DEATH 2005 BIKINI SPECIAL
SEP05 2775, p240, $3.99

Isn't that what every issue of LADY DEATH is? I mean, really.

(But hey, on the bright side, there's a leather-bound edition for $24.99.)

AMAZE INK/SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS

RANKLECHICK AND HIS THREE LEGGED CAT SC by Rikki Simons and Tavisha
SEP05 2703, p224, $19.95

All right, this is not technically a comic; it's a prose novel with numerous illustrations. Its genesis was a comic, though, one that was a real delight to read. The ghoul Ranklechick, who lives his life in the bizarre Europan Zoo, is a really funny character, trapped in a world where anything and everything can happen. Rikki Simons and Tavisha have a fantastic sense of humour, and the fact that we're getting more RANKLECHICK stories makes me jump up and down with glee. If you liked their work on books like SHUTTERBOX or REALITY CHECK, then you absolutely need to check out RANKLECHICK.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS

PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE TP by Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka
SEP05 2687, p221, $14.95

When I first started reading PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE, about an afterlife for suicides, in the pages of BIPOLAR, I was so entranced that I ran out and bought author Etgar Keret's collection of short stories that the story PIZZERIA is based on. Keret's writing is cleverly sharp, something I should have known from his writing in Actus Tragicus's JETLAG graphic novel. Add in Asaf Hanuka's art (and he's so good that it makes me wonder why it's only his brother Tomer Hanuka that gets the attention) and this is a really fantastic, thought-provoking book. A huge thumbs up from yours truly.

AIT/PLANET LAR

FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE by Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders
SEP05 2669, p213, $17.95

What better book to end this round up of upcoming publications than FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE? I had the good fortune to see some advance pages of FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE out at San Diego this year, and let me tell you right now that I am overjoyed to see this slated for publication. Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla trying to bring about world peace, but having to stop the evil forces of Thomas Edison and JP Morgan? If this isn't a winner of an idea I don't know what is, and Matt Fraction's writing in LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS and REX MANTOOTH has more than proven what a real talent he is.

If that's not enough, I think it's more than safe to say that everyone will be talking about Steven Sanders once FIVE FISTS hits stores. He's got a gorgeous, slick art style; a real find, and perfect for this book. AIT/Planet Lar has a real winner here, and it's timed perfectly for the holiday buying season. Nothing says Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Spaghetti-Monster-Day quite like FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE.

Greg McElhatton writes reviews for iComics.com, and has also written for anthologies, magazines, web sites, and technical manuals.

This article is Ideological Freeware. The author grants permission for its reproduction and redistribution by private individuals on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice.