This week is brief, in words and comics content

LINK:  This seems to be "short films adapted from comics week".  Here's what seems to be a student film or something (it's pretty amateurish, if not bad or anything) that adapts the "Polaroid Boyfriend" issue of Local.  Not too bad.

Also, cool news from The Savage Critics, in that a bunch of new faces have been added to the lineup, including friends of the blog Tucker Stone and Dick Hyacinth, and also Sean T. Collins, David Uzumeri, and Chris Eckert.  Man, that site was can't-miss before, and now it's even better.  Rock on, internet!

New comics this week (Wednesday, 2/18/09):

Amber Atoms #1

A new Image series from creator Kelly Yates, this is about a girl who becomes a space hero, or something like that.  Looks nice.

Godland #26

Joe Casey and Tom Scioli keep the cosmic craziness rolling.  I need to read that last collection sometime.

The Great Unknown #1

Image is busy this week; here's a miniseries by Duncan Rouleau (most recently having done a Metal Men miniseries for DC that I still need to read) about a guy who has ideas stolen from his head and other weird stuff.  Looks pretty neat.  Here's an interview with Rouleau by Joe Kelly that also contains some preview pages.

Johnny Monster #1

And another one from Image, about a monster hunter.  It's by writer Joshua Williamson and artist J.C. Grande.  Could be fun.  Here's a preview.

Mysterius: The Unfathomable #2

Issue #2 of the magician series from Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler.  I'm really looking forward to reading the collected version of this.

X-Men #506

Here's this week's Matt-Fraction-in-servitude comic, with art by Terry Dodson.  I read the issue, and I've already forgotten what happens, although there seems to be a decent plot involving Beast and Angel putting together a science team that has to fight monsters.  Everything else is kind of take-it-or-leave-it though.

Zombies That Ate The World #1

Hey, it's another of those Humanoids books that Devil's Due is putting out.  This one originally came out in 2004 in Metal Hurlant, and it might have seen some sort of release stateside as part of that DC deal that wasn't very successful.  But here's a new version!  It's written by Jerry Frissen (Lucha Libre), with art by Guy Davis (BPRD), and it seems to be a humorous take on the whole zombie thing.  Two issues, I think.  I gotta check it out.

Baloney A Tale In 3 Symphonic Acts TP

From Drawn & Quarterly, it's the new book by Pascal Blanchet.  I never read his White Rapids, but it got a lot of acclaim, so I really should check it out sometime.  And probably this one too.  It's apparently an orchestral sort of story about a Russian butcher in a small village getting involved in an uprising against the local Duke.  I bet it doesn't have a happy ending.

Flash Gordon 75TH Anniversary HC

I saw this title and thought it might be a collection of the old Alex Raymond strip or something, but apparently it's just a special that's a follow-up to a recent miniseries.  Still, there are some interesting creators here, including Joe Casey, J.M. DeMatteis, Denny O'Neill, Len Wein, and Mike Cavallaro(!).  Probably not worth the price, but maybe worth a look?

Garth Ennis Battlefields Night Witches Vol 1 TPB

The collection of Ennis' recent miniseries about female Russian bombers in WWII.  I've been very interested in reading this and Ennis' other war stories from Dynamite, but I was waiting to buy a collected version instead of the singles.  I probably shouldn't have done so, because it looks like this trade, at $12.99, is more expensive than the three issues were at $3.50 apiece.  Lame.  Looks like I'll be hunting down back issues and getting the pamphlets for the other ones.  But that means I won't have to wait so long to read these things, so that's a bonus.

Johnny Boo Vol 2 Twinkle Power HC

James Kochalka does his kiddie stuff, and it's cute and fun and everything.  I don't normally read these, but I'm sure they are quite enjoyable.  Maybe I'll get them for my daughter at some point; it's never to early to start indoctrinating her into comics fandom.  If you want examples of the cuteness contained within, Caleb Mozzocco is your best source.

Pantomime SCAD Sequential Art Anthology TP

Here's a collection of comics by the stars of the future!  Top Shelf is releasing this third collection of stories from students at Savannah College of Art and Design, and it's probably pretty good.  Who knows, in a few years, this might be one to look back at and remember seeing some superstar in embryonic form.

Secret Identity The Fetish Art Of Supermans Co-Creator Joe Shuster HC

Leave it to Craig Yoe to put out this kind of semi-pervy book about comics luminaries of the past.  He's always coming up with that sort of thing.  I think the description of this book is all in the title, but you can always check out the Amazon page if you want more information.

Naoki Urasawas 20th Century Boys Vol 1 TP
Pluto Urasawa x Tezuka Vol 1 TP

Aw yeah, the Naoki Urasawa flood is hitting stores.  These might already be out in bookstores, but hopefully they'll be in comics stores now if you want to get them there (although who knows for how long, what with Diamond's latest fuckery).  I highly recommend both of them, since Urasawa rocks.  Here's my review of Pluto, and I should be getting to 20th Century Boys soon, although I imagine I'll be busy catching up on Monster, so watch for that.  Ah, a treasure of great manga awaits!

Shojo Beat Vol 5 #3 March 2009

I got this issue in the mail on time, so no waiting for my take this month.  I expect I'll have my review up this week, so stay tuned!

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And that's everything for this meager week.  We'll see what I get around to writing and when.  I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats waiting.