Liz’s Comic Picks of the Week

Here are my top comics for the week. If you haven’t read any of them yet….. get on it!

Orchid issue 6 by Tom Morello. Dark Horse Comics.

With the rebel leader’s imminent execution forcing their hand, Orchid and Simon—with a few new allies in tow—must act now or see one of their last symbols of hope destroyed. But attempting to liberate anyone from dictator Tomo Wolfe’s clutches may be the bold act that gets them all killed.

Awesome story! This is one that I look foreword to every month. To get up to speed on this title Dark Horse will be releasing a trade paperback in July that will contain the first 4 issues of the series. This is a must read!

Ragemoor issue 1 by Jan Strnad. Dark Horse Comics.

Ragemoor! A living castle, nurtured on pagan blood, harborer to deadly monsters! A fortress possessed of its own will and ability to change itself, with the power to add and destroy rooms and to grow without the help of any human hand. Its owner is mad with jealously, its servants aren’t human, and its secret’s horrific!

* From the creators of Mutant World!

* A gothic nightmare à la Poe and Lovecraft!

“Richard Corben and Jan Strnad are like the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee of post-EC monster comics, responsible for classics like The Last Voyage of Sindbad and Mutant World. To see the two of them back together and a project like this is just exciting as hell.”  —Mike Mignola (Hellboy, B.P.R.D.)

An Mr. Mignola couldn’t have said it better. Great story with beautiful art. Creepy as hell and can’t wait to read the rest.

Dark Horse Presents issue 10. Dark Horse Comics.

Evan Dorkin is unleashed in House of Fun, and Steve Niles weaves another web of paranormal intrigue in Criminal Macabre: They Fight by Night. Three brothers in a grim, postwar England of the future are given experimental suits that could make them the saviors of mankind-—that is, if they can ever get past their obsessions with film, violent video games, and porn in Colin Lorimer’s UXB!

Brian Wood’s The Massive finishes up, Carla Speed McNeil begins an epic new arc of Finder: Third World, Al Gordon and Thomas Yeates’s centennial celebration of Tarzan concludes, and a new prose story by Andrew Vachss with illustrations by Geof Darrow!!

Reason for this pick is simple CRIMINAL MACABRE baby! Yep gotta love Cal and Mo’loch. Funny as hell! The other stories in the issue are good too.

Alabaster Wolves by Caitlin R. Kiernan issue 1. Dark Horse Comics.

International Horror Guild Award-winning author Caitlín R. Kiernan brings one of her most enduring and popular creations to comics!

For nearly as long as she can remember, Dancy Flammarion has fought monsters, cutting a bloody swath through the demons and dark things of the world, aimed like a weapon by forces beyond her control or questioning.

• A new comics series by Caitlín R. Kiernan with art by Steve Lieber.

This is the first thing I have read by the author and it is pretty good. Not sure how it stacks up with her novels, but I am willing to give her a try.

Smoke and Mirrors issue 2. IDW Publishing.

ENTER THE WORLD OF MAGIC! With just his slight-of hand skills, stage magician Terry Ward finds himself in a world he didn’t make—a world where sorcery is real! When he befriends a kid from this world, will danger come calling? You bet it will!

This is an interesting little series. In the future everyone has magical abilities and use them for mundane living. Enter an illusionist from who knows where yet to teach his skills to a young apprentice. No this isn’t a Star Wars you goofs! The story gives you enough information about the characters and leaves you wanting to read more. Plus as a bonus there is a magic trick included with each issue!

Hellraiser Annual issue 1. BOOM! Studios.

The secrets of the Cenobite War revealed! The first year of Clive Barker’s long-awaited return to Hellraiser has been full of jaw-dropping events and new characters, forever changing the landscape of the classic horror universe. Now, only in this annual, learn the shocking secrets behind those seismic shocks to the Cenobites, the Cottons, and the hierarchy of Hell! This all new story will give clues to future storylines, so no Hellraiser fan can miss it!

Never read Hellbound Heart and only saw the first movie, but I am more and more intrigued by the Hellraiser mythology. This annual gives you a little backstory on Elliott Spencer aka Pinhead. Also it ties the movie storyline into the comic so that we can see some favorite cenobites origins.

Lord of the Jungle issue 3. Dynamite Entertainment.

Panthers, crocodiles, snakes, pirates… Jane Porter and her fellow castaways have been through a lot since they were stranded in the African jungle. But now they face an even greater threat – the vicious troop of apes who killed Lord Greystoke over twenty years ago. All the while, “White Skin”, a mysterious wild man, lurks just out of sight. Whether he is a friend or an enemy remains to be seen. And what is his connection to the seaside cabin Jane and her companions have come to call home? Find out in Lord of the Jungle #3: The Call of the Primitive!

I LOVE Edgar Rice Burroughs and Lord of the Jungle is a great adaptation of the Tarzan stories. Go get em jungle man!

There are a bunch more great comics that were released, but I can’t list them all. All of our comic inventory can be found in our eBay store.

HAPPY READING!!!

SOUNDTRACK TO THE END OF THE WORLD by Anthony J. Rapino up for PRE-ORDER!

SOUNDTRACK TO THE END OF THE WORLD by Anthony J. Rapino (signed limited hardcover edition)

A suicidal nudist strolls into traffic. An eccentric Buddhist claims he can occupy other people’s bodies. All the while, whispers of a new form of entertainment blow through town. Prompted by these strange occurrences, Marty Raft, a not-so-gentle giant, investigates and discovers underground clubs peddling music that induces an out-of-body experience. Marty and a wannabe comedian, Corey, set out to prove these special frequencies are nothing more than a hoax, or at worst, a mass-drugging.

Instead, they uncover a secret with world-ending possibilities.

If you can hear the music, it’s already too late.

FOUND YOU BY MARY SAN GIOVANNI IN STOCK!

FOUND YOU by Mary San Giovanni (Signed Supercell edition

ONLY 85 copies, the scarce Thunderstorm Books “Supercell” line.

In the town of Lakehaven, New Jersey, an evil has returned from between dimensions. It is looking for vengeance. It is looking to destroy, body and soul. Dave Kohlar and his friend Erik fought an evil like it once before, and they were nearly killed trying to defeat it. They had hoped that it was over, and their lives could be peaceful and happy. But this kind is different; it is hungrier, it is angry, and it is very, very strong. With loved ones falling prey to its all-encompassing hate, Dave and Erik and some new friends look to close the door on it for good.

New Comic Graphic Novels and Trade Paperback Pre-Orders

w00t! There are a bunch of great trades and graphic novels up for pre-order at the Bad Moon Books site, but here are my top picks….

Orchid by Tom Morello. Dark Horse Comics. Trade Paperback.

When the seas rose, genetic codes were smashed. Human settlements are ringed by a dense wilderness from which ferocious new animal species prey on the helpless. The high ground belongs to the rich and powerful that overlook swampland shantytowns from their fortress-like cities. Iron-fisted rule ensures order and allows the wealthy to harvest the poor as slaves.

Delve into the first chapter of Orchid, the tale of a teenage prostitute who learns that she is more than the role society has imposed upon her.

Written and created by musician Tom Morello!

The Guild: Knights of Good by Felicia Day. Dark Horse Comics. Trade Paperback.

Set before the first season of the show, these hilarious stories delighted fans and newbies alike and introduced plots that influenced the show itself, including season 5’s back story of Tink, originally hinted at in these pages. Featuring a huge variety of comics’ best artists as well as many of the talents key to the web series, and leading directly to the moment Zaboo unexpectedly appears at a startled Codex’s front door in episode 1, this collection comprises a true “season 0” of The Guild! Collects the one-shots The Guild: Vork, The Guild: Tink, The Guild: Bladezz, The Guild: Clara, and The Guild: Zaboo.

Written by Felicia Day, with the series’ director, producer, and actors!

Featuring art by Darick Robertson, Becky Cloonan, Kristian Donaldson, and more!

Leads directly into The Guild Season 1!

House of Night by P.C.Cast & Kristin Cast. Dark Horse Comics. Trade Hardcover.

Until recently, Zoey Redbird was an average high-school student worrying about grades, boys, and breakouts. But priorities have a way of changing when you’re Marked as a vampyre, enroll in the vampyre academy House of Night, and have to figure out a whole new social hierarchy, affinities for elemental magic, and physiological changes that make you crave blood! Collects issues #1-#5 of the series.

Follow Zoey, and her group of devoted friends, as they turn to The Fledgling Handbook, a historical vampyre tome, in hopes of better understanding this big, new world of vampyrism.

The magical world of New York Times best-selling authors P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast comes to comics!

Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days. Vertigo. Trade Hardcover.

The classic collection of Vertigo tales from New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman is collected in hardcover for the first time! Providing tantalizing glimpses into the fantastical worlds he would create and nurture, NEIL GAIMAN’S MIDNIGHT DAYS collects some of the accomplished author’s earliest work.

These tales star the Golden Age Sandman, Morpheus, Swamp Thing and John Constantine, from SWAMP THING ANNUAL #5, SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATRE, HELLBLAZER #27, WELCOME BACK TO THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1 and more!

The Cape by Joe Hill. IDW Publishing. Trade Hardcover.

Every little boy dreams about putting on a cape and soaring up, up, and away… but what if one day that dream were to come true?

Eric was like every other eight-year-old boy, until a tragic accident changed his life forever. The Cape explores the dark side of power, as the adult Eric – a confused and broken man – takes to the skies… and sets out to exact a terrible vengeance on everyone who ever disappointed him.

This critically acclaimed, Eisner-Award nominated story, written by Jason Ciaramella, based on the short story by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill, with art by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel, will linger with you long after you turn the last page, and force you to ask yourself the question: “What if?”

Hellraiser, Volume Three by Clive Barker. BOOM! Studios. Trade Paperback.

Hellraiser Volume Two featured the most shocking turn of events in the history of the series – here’s what happens next! Kirsty Cotton is now the priestess of Hell. She and the Harrowers have been reborn as the most gruesome Cenobites of all – will they remain heroes, or be corrupted by the pleasures of the underworld? Meanwhile, the former Pinhead now walks as a man again. Captain Elliott Spencer will search the globe for the keys to Heaven, but who does he have by his side?

NEW NEIL GAIMAN BROADSIDE THE RHYME MAIDENS!

THE RHYME MAIDENS 1-1-11 by Neil Gaiman (signed limited broadside)

These hand-printed broadsheets were made in celebration of the wedding of Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer. The poem was written by Neil Gaiman about the night before their wedding. Fifty unique folios contain two versions of the same broadsheet: a proof copy and the final edition that were printed in a limited edition of 250. The typefaces used are Granjon, Dyer, Willow and You Murderer. The embossing was done from polymer plates that were mounted type high and then squeezed through the press by hand. The paper is acid free 250 gm archival Rising Stonehenge. The wood engravings are incised on end grain maple and were made by George A.Walker who also designed and hand-printed the whole project on his Vandercook SP15 proof press in the winter of 2012.

Here we offer the 250 copy limited edition broadside, SIGNED BY GAIMAN AND GEORGE WALKER!

Heavily embossed and signed by Neil Gaiman and George Walker.

Spotlight on Abaddon Books Tomes of the Dead

If you want to know why I am spotlighting Abaddon Books check out the previous blog post.

Okay, so the next series of books that I want to show you is the Tomes of the Dead series. Yep, zombies! Now I know there is going to be a collective groan amongst readers with, “not more zombie stories hasn’t it been played out” and to that I say, Nope!

This series doesn’t have the usual end of the world apocalypse (okay may one of them does), these stories have medieval zombies, detective zombies, guru zombies, viking zombies, military created zombies and a bunch more.

Here is a little taste of what the series is about

Tomes of The Dead is a collection of some of the very best eyeball popping, gut munching, zombie fiction around, groaning with horror and excitement. Each book will explore the zombie genre in new and thrilling ways. Join us in these worlds of the dead and remember to leave your sanity by the door!

And here are some covers for you visual peeps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here is the link to our site for Abaddon Books and here is the code ABS20

Spotlight on Abaddon Books Pax Britannia

I have been meaning to do a blog post on Abaddon Books for a while, but this and that and some more of this came up. Well finally I have some time to spotlight one of my favorite publishers.

What I like most about Abaddon Books is that they have a very eclectic taste in genres. They publish everything from zombies, steam punk, apocalyptic, fantasy, crime noir and science fiction. Since they publish a wide variety of shared world series I thought I would just do the top three favorite’s over the next three days, ya know to introduce you to some titles that you may never have heard and some new authors too!

So for the first day I am doing the shared world series Pax Britannia. Here is a little description of what the series is about

In the closing years of the 20th century the British Empire’s rule is still going strong. Queen Victoria is about to celebrate her 160th birthday, kept alive by advanced steam technology. London is a fantastical sprawling metropolis where dirigibles roam the skies, robot bobbies enforce the law and dinosaurs are on display in London zoo. Welcome to Magna Britannia, a steam driven world full of fantastical creations and shady villains. Here dashing dandies and mustachioed villains battle for supremacy while below the city strange things stir in the flooded tunnels of the old London Underground.

Sounds pretty cool huh?

The reason this is my favorite of the series is the blend of steam punk and horror with a dash of the science fiction for flavor. One genre doesn’t overshadow the other they blend to make a pretty kick ass story with plenty of action, adventure and intrigue.

OK, enough blathering. Here are some of the covers for the series for you visual people. Also at the end of the post there is a code and a link that you can use to purchase some of these awesome books. The code will get you 20% off any of the Abaddon Books titles on our site and the link will take you directly to the page. I have made it too easy for you not to try the Pax Britannia series.

Tomorrow’s shared world series will be The Afterblight Chronicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here is the link to our site for Abaddon Books and here is the code ABS20

Happy Reading!