Reviewing the Mail: Week of 8/2

I'm a bit crunched this week, since I'm typing this on Saturday night while packing for an early-morning flight Sunday morning to sunny Anaheim, California. Sunday is going to be a busy day, so this needs to get done now if it's to get done at all.

I made a run to the comics store this past week, so this list will be in two sections. The first, longer part will include things that came in the mail, and the second, shorter (but choice) section will be of books I just had to spend my own money for.

The first list:

There's a new Flight anthology, fifth in the series, edited as always by Kazu Kibuishi and published by Ballantine Books. Like the earlier volumes, it collects new short comics stories by animators from studios like Pixar and DreamWorks. It's over three hundred and fifty pages of brand-new, full-color comics for $25, and it was officially published on July 22nd.

Robert Silverberg's 1971 novel Son of Man -- from right in the middle of his best, most inventive and prolific period -- has just been reprinted as an attractive trade paperback from Pyr with a great moody John Picacio cover. I haven't actually read this one, so I might just have good excuse to do so.

Raymond Briggs' 1980 graphic novel Gentleman Jim -- one of the earliest works to use that term -- has just been reprinted by Drawn & Quarterly. It's also already in stores, and is the story of a toilet cleaner who decides he wants to better his station in life.

I have here a novel (by Sean Williams) based on a story (by Haden Blackman) based on a game (by LucasArts) based on a series of movies (by George Lucas). Sounds like the supply chain is getting awfully long and thin to me, but I don't think anyone is asking me to begin with. The book is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which Del Rey is publishing in hardcover on August 19th at $26.00. That's good timing, since the game itself has a street date of September 16th, giving all those gamers almost a month to read 319 pages. (And, even moving their lips, they should be able to do that -- I kid, I kid.)

First Second has the third book in Grady Klein's The Lost Colony series coming in October -- Last Rights. I haven't seen the earlier books, but it appears to be some kind of at least vaguely historical story set on a secret, Utopian island.

Also in October from First Second is Chris Blain's Gus & His Gang, the story of the adventures of three outlaws in the Old West -- particularly their amorous adventures. This one looks like a lot of fun, so I might not be able to wait until October to review it. (And maybe the title will be solidified by then -- the galley says Gus & His Gang, with the subtitle "A Letter from Natalie," but online booksellers have the title as Gus: A Letter from Natalie. Anyway, the first word in the title is Gus and the title looks like that big clump of red off to the left.)

Aurora, one of the medium-sized manga publishers, sent me a package this week with five of their July books:

• Nephilim, Vol. 2, the sequel to the book I just reviewed for my "Manga Friday" column this week at ComicMix. It's by Anna Hanamaki.
• Pretty Poison is by Yutta Narukami, and is from the Luv Luv imprint, which presents redikomistories -- sexy, romancey tales written for adult women (so the sex leads to strong, loving relationships, unlike those disreputable hentai stories). It looks to be about that romance staple, the girl torn between a nice guy and a bad boy.
• Oh, My God!, Vol. 1 is from the Deux line, which published yaoi (gay romances for a female audience). This one, by Natsuho Shino, is only rated 16+, so it probably has less obvious sex than most yaoi. The story's about yet another typical high school student who -- and this happens to me all the time -- accidentally awakens an amnesiac god from a sword lying around the family house.
• A steamier yaoi book is Mister Mistress, Vol. 1, by Rize Shinba -- it's rated for adults only, comes shrinkwrapped, and has a big "Explicit Content" label on it. (It's still intended for women, so I'm sure it won't be that explicit.) It's got another one of those typical teenage boys, except this one has a problem: he's got an incubus hanging around his house, feeding off his sexual energy. (And any of you who have been teenage boys will know just how much energy that is.)
• Also in the steamy yaoi area is the second volume of Kiss All The Boys by Shiuko Kano; I looked at the first volume a few weeks ago, and haven't had any obvious signs of gay panic arising from the experience.

Pyr has brought back Mike Resnick's 1987 novel Stalking the Unicorn, which featured a detective in the modern world dealing with various folkloric creatures, several years before that became a massive subgenre. (Timing, in publishing as in many fields, is everything.) Resnick has also written a new sequel, Stalking the Vampire, and seems game to turn this into a continuing series if the audience agrees. Both books have lovely covers by Dan Dos Santos; I've decided to show off Vampire because it's a bit more dynamic. Both of these books are publishing in August, so they should be on their way to stores if not available already.

And the list from the comic shop:

Harper's gigantic reprinting of Scott McCloud's first comics project, Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection. I remember it as one of the great adventure comics of the '80s, so I'm thrilled to have it between two covers and to have an excuse to go back and re-read it.

I also found the first volume of Manga Sutra by Katsu Aki, for an upcoming "Manga Friday" all about sex in manga. (If anyone has any other suggestions -- there will probably also be a redikomi and a yaoi book -- let me know. If anyone publishes anything in that area and wants in, definitely let me know.)

Guy Delisle's Shenzhen, because I liked his Pyongyang recently. (And I was reminded of him since he's got a book on Burma coming up in September -- I don't know if its possible to sustain a career by traveling to oppressive Asian countries and creating book-length comics about them, but it looks like Delisle is the world's best shot at that.)

The second collection of Timothy Truman's excellent series Scout was also recently published, and I grabbed that immediately. This one collects issues 8 through 16 of the original series, which implies that one more volume will be forthcoming to finish it up. (And then maybe two books to collect Scout: War Shaman. And then -- can a man dream? -- maybe Scout: Marauder will finally appear.) Whatever happens later, at least this book is out.

Turning from the serious to the not-serious, I also was thrilled to see Julia Wertz's The Fart Party, a collection from her webcomic of the same name. If Peter Bagge's Buddy Bradley were ten years younger and a chick, he'd be Julia Wertz -- I'm not sure that's great news for her, but her bigfoot style and violent, boozy subject matter makes it good for us.

And last is the massive (and expensive) hardcover of Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! series -- which makes me notice that there's a lot of '80s reprints this time around -- which finally emerged from Dynamic Forces last month. The new color and the printing had better live up to the hype (and the price); I haven't cracked the shrinkwrap yet. But I remember these as great, cracking stories, despite all the ways Chaykin has tried to dilute it and do the same idea since.