I really need to learn how to run a little faster. Not just in foot races (although I'm working on that), but away from people asking me to write things. Ninth Art editor Andrew Wheeler was being all innocent at first, asking if I'd like to write a guest Things To Come column while they sought a replacement for former regular columnist Chris Ekman. The next thing I knew, I was locked up in the Ninth Art's holding cells, with Wheeler chortling something about, "A new regular columnist, at last!"

Well, we'll see if I've managed to escape by this time next month, but until then, it's either reviewing the new issue of Previews for products shipping July 2004, or trying to list every Doctor Who episode in order, backwards, to kill time. Since I keep getting stuck on what episode was before "The Seeds of Doom", I guess Previews wins for now.

ABSTRACT STUDIOS

STRANGERS IN PARADISE PKT VOL 1 TP, by Terry Moore
MAY04 2161, p208, $17.95

So close and yet so far. Out of all of the books that are trying to reformat their trade paperbacks to leech off the manga market, the early issues of STRANGERS IN PARADISE seem like a natural choice. Moore's writing was sharp and fun, his art slick and pretty, and the stories featured the sort of situations that I can see teenagers just eating up. (It went really crazy in a not-so-good-way later on, but those original issues were a real blast.)

And then I looked at the details. 344 pages for $17.95? I hope this wasn't a tactical error. That's a big price tag for a spur-of-the-moment decision. Split it in half, have a lower price point, and I'd say this would be a natural for high sales. But like this... well, it's going to be an uphill climb.

ADHOUSE BOOKS

RETURN OF THE ELEPHANT, by Paul Hornschemeier
MAY04 2183, p211, $6.00

If you haven't been buying Hornschemeier's books, either as single issues in FORLORN FUNNIES, or collected as MOTHER, COME HOME, you're really missing out. Hornschemeier's books have a rare understanding of humanity and emotion that you can't find elsewhere, coupled with beautiful line art and colours that are pretty near perfect. And reading the description of this new one-shot, talking about "a disturbing story of heredity and secrets", plus knowing that AdHouse Books's normal high production quality will be going with it, and I'm already impatient for July to get here.

ASPEN MTL INC

FATHOM: CANNON HAWKE #0, by Olivia Chadha and Koi Turnbull
MAY04 2338, p230, $2.50

All right, I'm serious here. Are people even remotely interested in FATHOM these days? Doubly so when it's not Michael Turner drawing the book, when as far as I can tell, he was the sole draw?

I honestly can't imagine that this book is going to sell much for more than an issue or two, when everyone who used to buy FATHOM tells their local retailers that they aren't interested any more. Especially when you consider that it looks like they're abandoning the "people who like large-chested women in bikinis" demographic entirely for the "give us shirtless manly men" demographic. And trust me, that demographic is a hell of a lot smaller in the comic book direct market.

ATOMEKA

ATOMEKA A1 BIG ISSUE #0, by various
MAY04 2343, p231, $4.99

You know, sometimes I really try and get excited. Take, for instance, the return of Atomeka's A1 anthology. The original six-issue anthology was fantastic, a great mix of big names and new talent that knocked my socks off with each new instalment.

This new version of A1 could be just as great, especially since it's going to reprint Dave Gibbons and Ted McKeever's "Survivor" and one of Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse's "The BoJeffries Saga" stories. I should be jumping up and down, right?

I'm not. The solicitation text has me somehow strangely unexcited. And if a fan of A1 found the text a little dry, well, that's not a good sign. Jazz it up, guys, make sure people know that they need this book. I don't mean running a two-page ad where you list the names of people who once worked for you, either. Show us some art from the new creators working for you, not the same stuff we've seen before. Make it exciting.

BASEMENT COMICS/AMRYL ENTERTAINMENT

CAVEWOMAN: HE SAID, SHE SAID ONE SHOT GOLD FOIL WEB ED, by Devon Massey
MAY04 2391, p240, $8.95

He said, she said, everyone said the same thing; "Oh my god, her breasts are gonna explode." This is just really freaky. (And what's this with it being "bagged for protection"? Is it to protect you from Cavewoman's huge breasts? Or something more icky?)

DARK HORSE

SHADOW STAR VOL 6: WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU NOW? TP, by Mohiro Kitoh
MAY04 0053, p41, $15.95

Ok, take the basic idea of POKEMON, with teenagers getting fantastic creatures under their control. Then have them start using machine guns and poison gas to kill each other, in-between other physical and psychological assaults, and you'll start to get an idea of why SHADOW STAR is easily one of the best books that no one's reading. This is getting more and more messed up with each collection.

DAY ONE COMICS

ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS: BLOOP! #2, by Steve Conley
MAY04 2563, p268, $2.95

God, I love this comic. Conley's ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS really does live up to its name - it's full of inventive and crazy ideas and the sort of fun that adventure comics used to have. Conley spent all of last year creating free comics to give out at conventions, which was great if you attended those, but not so great if you're dying for your latest ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS fix. This new series has not only a story with series mainstay Argosy Smith, but also little green space monkey Bloop! Who doesn't love cute little green space monkeys, I ask you? Crazy people, that's who.

DC COMICS

BATMAN: THE ORDER OF BEASTS, by Eddie Campbell and Darren White
MAY04 0268, p100, $5.95

Darn it. I normally really wouldn't care about there being yet another Batman Elseworlds one-shot, but it's co-written and fully painted by Campbell. Personally, I'd rather see more ALEC graphic novels from Campbell, but I also can't begrudge Campbell the desire to get a nice big paycheque. It's probably too much to hope that people will read this and then track down ALEC, BACCHUS, or FROM HELL, but I can always hope. Meanwhile, I'll get the giggles every time someone says, "gasp, Der Fledermaus!" and look at the pretty pretty art.

DOOM PATROL #1, by John Byrne and Doug Hazelwood
MAY04 0303, p106, $2.50

Friends don't let friends buy new Byrne books. This looks truly horrendous. Do we really need yet another revamp of the Doom Patrol? Did anyone really demand this? Somehow I suspect not.

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

SCRAPBOOK: UNCOLLECTED WORK 1992-2004 TP, by Adrian Tomine
MAY04 2591, p287, $24.95

One of the few publishers to really aggressively go after the bookstore market these days is Canadian-based Drawn & Quarterly. The problem is, while most of D&Q's artists produce heartbreakingly beautiful comics, it also takes a long time for them to do so. I suspect we're going to see a lot of "previously uncollected short stories and other works" books from their stable of creators in order for them to keep making their bookstore push, but really, is that such a bad thing?

In the case of SCRAPBOOK, it doesn't look like it. As much as I like Tomine's OPTIC NERVE, with its painful observations on life and alienation, I'm even more excited about seeing all his short stories and illustrations from various magazines and publications that most comic readers haven't seen. From what few I've read, these are a great mixture of humour and drama, all carefully drawn in Tomine's own stripped down style.

FANFARE/PONENT MON

WALKING MAN GN, by Jiro Taniguchi
MAY04 2672, p306, $16.99

I know almost nothing about this book other than the publisher and the creator have both had real hits for me in the past. Fanfare/Potent Mon published YUKIKO'S SPINACH, a beautiful book by a Frenchman living in Japan, who somehow managed to blend the sensibilities of both countries into a single work. So, they've clearly got good taste in previous translation choices, and their production values are pretty good to boot.

As for the book itself, well, THE WALKING MAN is by the supremely talented artist behind ICARO. ICARO was written by Moebius, so I have no idea how good a writer Taniguchi is. But the art in ICARO was to die for. With amazing detail and a terrific grasp of architecture, I probably would've bought ICARO even if they'd forgotten to print all of the word balloons, so I've got really high hopes for WALKING MAN.

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

EIGHTBALL #23, by Daniel G Clowes
MAY04 2677, p307, $7.00

This is going to be heresy to some people, but I've been very hot-and-cold towards Clowes's works. I thought the GHOST WORLD stories were great, but DAVID BORING was a pretty apt title and a lot of his short stories have left me cold.

Then EIGHTBALL #22 came along in 2001 and was pretty near perfect, a stand-alone comic where each page was its own comic and yet connected to part of a greater whole. Well, it's been three years, which is long enough for me to remember Clowes's works that I didn't like, but not long enough that I can't remember how much I liked his last comic.

I'm not really sure what to make of the solicitation text that states that Clowes tells the story "of a teenager superhero as only he can, and it's sure to set mouths agape and tongues a-waggin'!" But you know, I'll give it a try and see just what happens. If nothing else, the new 9x12" format is a nice change of pace, and the cover makes me laugh for some unknown reason. Hopefully this will be another mark in the "like" column.

GT LABS

SUSPENDED IN LANGUAGE GN, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis
MAY04 2742, p314, $24.95

Whenever Ottaviani writes a new comic, I buy it. It's really as simple as that. Books like DIGNIFYING SCIENCE (short stories about women scientists) or FALLOUT (the story behind the creation of the nuclear bomb) have been both educational and interesting, the latter of which is so often missing in comics about the real world.

This time Ottaviani's focusing his attention on Niels Bohr, and if anyone can make the father of quantum mechanics interesting, it's Ottaviani. Having Purvis (best known for his one-man anthology VOX) as the main artist certainly doesn't hurt matters either, mind you. (Don't believe me? Check out an excerpt from the first chapter at the GT Labs website and see for yourself.)

IDW PUBLISHING

24 ONE SHOT #1, by JC Vaughn, Mark L Haynes, and Renato Guedes
MAY04 2756, p315, $6.99

I don't get it. Does Kiefer Sutherland show up at your house with a stopwatch and make you turn pages every one minute and fifteen seconds so you read all 48 pages in exactly one hour? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Oh god, or do you have to read each individual page for half an hour so you finish the book in 24 hours? Now I'm scared to even touch the comic.

IMAGE COMICS

THE DROWNED GN, by creators Lani Taylor-DiBartolo and Jim DiBartolo
MAY04 1413, p140, $9.95

Right as I was about to hand this article in to the editor, I got my hands on an advance look at THE DROWNED, by brand-new creators Lani Taylor-DiBartolo and Jim DiBartolo, and I decided to risk the wrath of the Ninth Art editorial team by going over my word limit to mention how fantastic this looks. Asylums, drowned witches, madness, hauntings, some really sharp art mixing pencils and ink washes, and I am so hooked it's not even funny. There's been a lot of talk about how Image Comics is losing a lot of its power, but with books like this on deck, I think people's opinions might be changing before too long. Trust me, you want to order THE DROWNED.

ONI PRESS

FOLLOW ME CLOSELY GN by Daniel Krall
MAY04 2848, p333, $9.95

MY DESTROYER VOL 1 GN, by Neelam Arora and Arthur Dela Cruz
MAY04 2850, p336, $14.95

SCOTT PILGRIM VOL 1: SCOTT PILGRIM'S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE GN, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
MAY04 2851, p336, $11.95

Oni Press is trying to bankrupt me here. New graphic novels by the creators of ONE PLUS ONE (Krall), KISSING CHAOS (Dela Cruz), and LOST AT SEA (O'Malley)? All in the same month? Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy to see new books by the people who made some of my favourite books from Oni in the past couple of years, but darn it, there really is too much of a good thing. At least I'm almost at the end of the catalogue. My wallet is starting to feel safe now...

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARNET DE VOYAGE, by Craig Thompson
MAY04 2957, p367, $14.95

TOP SHELF CONVERSATIONS #1, by Craig Thompson and James Kochalka
MAY04 2962, p370, $4.95

Me and my big mouth. Two more "must-get" books. I'm not sure which is more intriguing: CARNET DE VOYAGE, a 192-page travel diary by Craig Thompson (BLANKETS) about his travels through Europe and North Africa; or TOP SHELF CONVERSATIONS, a collaborative "jam" comic between Thompson and James Kochalka (MONKEY VS ROBOT), which just sounds too strange to be true. Oh heck, just buy them both.

VIZ

DETECTIVE CONAN VOL 1 GN: CASE CLOSED, by Gosho Aoyama
MAY04 2991, p378, $9.95

Phew! The end of Previews. This is a lot harder than I thought. Last but not least is Viz, bringing over DETECTIVE CONAN, arguably one of the most successful mystery series being published in Japan. The setup sounds more than a bit odd - Shin'ichi Kudo is transformed from a high school student into a kid by mysterious strangers, and becomes a detective to try and find who did it to him, but instead ends up solving every other case imaginable - but I've been assured that it's really quite good. Heck, if it's half as good as THE KINDIACHI CASE FILES (published by TokyoPop), the only other mystery comic I've read from Japan, we've got a winner.

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.