December 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends:

    The December Previews catalog showcases the comics and products scheduled to arrive in February of 2012 and I've read the whole thing so that you don't have to, although I do encourage you to at least take a look through it next time you stop by the shop to pick up your orders. This newsletter is just words; the catalog has PICTURES! Anyway here is a list of the most popular and prolific creators and what we should expect to see from them in February:

AARON: Jason's brilliant creator owned series begins it's final arc, 'Trail's End' in 'Scalped' 56 with R.M. Guera's art. Over at Marvel Jason writes 'Wolverine' 301 with Logan fighting Silver Samurai with the artwork of Billy Tan, and 'Wolverine and the X-Men' 5 and 6, part of Regenesis where we find Kitty is pregnant and that the Jean Grey Institute has no financial means of support; art by Nick Bradshaw. At Marvel Max Jason writes 'Punisher Max' 22 with Steve Dillon's art and, sadly, this will be the final issue of the best run the psycho vigilante has ever had in my opinion.

ABNETT/LANNING: While writing science fiction novels, Warhammer novels and RPG rule books these guys manage to squeeze some comic books into their schedules as well. This month they'll be writing 'Resurrection Man' 6 with Fernando Dagnino's art at DC, a character they created. At Marvel they write 'Villains for Hire' 3 of 4, with Renato Arlem 'New Mutants' 37 with David Lopez and 38 with Leandro Fernandez plus their recent limited series is collected in the 'Annihilators' TP with Tan Eng Huat and Timothy Green II. Also collected is their 'Stan Lee's Soldier Zero' TP 3 and Dan Abnett writes the 'Warhammer 40K: Horus Heresy-Know No Fear' MMPB (mass market paper back) solo.

ADAMS: Neal writes and draws 'Batman Odyssey II' 5 of 7 and he collaborated on the writing of material collected in the 'Avengers: Kree Skrull War' HC.

ALLRED: Mike continues to illustrate 'I, Zombie' 22 and provides the cover art for 'Star Trek/Legion of Super Heroes' 5 of 6.

ARAGONES: Sergio writes and draws his 'Sergio Aragones Funnies' 8 and contributes art and story to both 'Bart Simpson Comics' 68 and 'Ralph Wiggum Comics' 1.

ARCUDI: John continues his long time collaboration with Mike Mignola as he co-writes 'BPRD-Hell on Earth: Long Death' 1 and 'Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand' 2 of 5 as well as material collected in the 'BPRD: Plague of Frogs' HC 3.

ASMUS: James writes 'Generation Hope' 16 with Ibraim Roberson's art and co-writes 'Captain America & Bucky' 627 with the classy retro art style of Francesco Francavilla.

AZZARELLO: Brian writes 'Spaceman' 4 of 9 with Eduardo Risso and 'Wonder Woman' 6 with Tony Akins at DC while his Vertigo series gets the deluxe treatment with the '100 Bullets' HC 2. He also co-wrote with Bruce Jones the material collected in the 'Hulk: Return of the Monster' HC, which, incidentally is the best run on the ongoing Hulk saga that I've yet to read; more 'X-Files' meets 'The Fugitive' than standard super hero content.

BARKER: Clive co-writes 'Hellraiser' 12 and his stories inspired the material in 'Hellraiser Masterpieces' 7 and 8.

BEDARD: Tony continues on 'Blue Beetle' 6 with Ig Guara and 'Green Lantern: New Guardians' 6 with Tyler Kirkham and co-writes 'DC Universe Online Legends' TP 2. He also co-wrote the material in the 'Flashpoint-World of Flashpoint: Wonder Woman' TP.

BENDIS: Perhaps our most prolific comic writer Brian will write 'Avengers' 22 with Renato Guedes and 23 with Daniel Acuna, 'New Avengers' 21 and 22 both with Mike Deodato, 'Moon Knight' 10 with Alex Maleev and 'Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man' 7 with the art of Chris Samnee as well as his own 'Brilliant' 5 of 6 with Mark Bagley. His work is collected in the 'Ultimate Spider-Man' HC 12 and the 'Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man by Bendis Premiere HC' 1. His 'Powers Premiere HC 10: Anarchy' is also offered. At Image his first work which he wrote and illustrated is offered in a new format, 'Torso' GN HC and he co-wrote material in the 'Hellspawn Complete Collection HC'. And in his spare time he wrote the 'Marvel Heroes RPG Basic Game'. America needs more people with Brian’s' work ethic!

BRANDON: Ivan writes the main story in 'Men of War' 6 with Tom Derenick and the back up is by John Arcudi with Richard Corben.

BRUBAKER: 'Winter Soldier' 1 and 2 will feature the art of Butch Guice and tell of Bucky and the Black Widow, the super spies and features Dr. Doom. Ed writes 'Captain America' 8 with Alan Davis and co-writes 'Captain America & Bucky' 627 and co-wrote material collected in the 'Captain America: Prisoner of War' TP. Working with his long time collaborator, Sean Phillips he continues his creator owned title at Image, 'Fatale' 2.

BUCCELLATO: Brian co-writes 'Flash' 6 with series artist Francis Manapul.

BUSIEK: 'Kirby Genesis' 8 is the only new thing from Kurt this month but he co-wrote the 'Thunderbolts Classic' TP 2 and his creator owned title is collected in the 'Astro City: Shining Stars' TP.

BYRNE: John writes and illustrates his continuing saga in 'Next Men: Aftermath' 40.

CAREY: At Vertigo Mike continues his award winning 'Unwritten' with issues 34 with M.K. Perker and 34.5 with Peter Gross while telling mutant tales at Marvel with 'X-Men Legacy' 262 featuring David Baldeon's art and previous stories are collected in the 'X-Men: Necrosha' TP and the 'X-Men Legacy: Five Miles South of the Universe' Premiere HC.

CASEY: Joe's work at Marvel is collected in the 'Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Ultimate Collection' TP and the 'Vengeance' HC wile he continues at Image with 'Haunt' 23.

CHAYKIN: Howie's just finished limited series, which he wrote and illustrated is collected in the 'Avengers: 1959' TP.

COOKE: Darwyn's artwork graces this years' 'Free Comic Book Day' tee shirt, available in a number of sizes, colors and sizes.

CORNELL: Paul writes 'Demon Knights' 6 with Diogenes Neves and Stormwatch' 6 with Miguel Sepulveda at DC.

COSTA: Mike writes 'Blackhawks' 6 with CAFU at DC and 'Cobra Ongoing' 10 at IDW while some of his previous work is collected in the 'Transformers TP 6: Chaos Police Action'.

DANIEL: Tony writes and illustrates 'Detective Comics' 6, he writes 'Savage Hawkman' 6 with Philip Tan's art and Tony provides the cover art for 'Demon Knights' 6.

DAVID: Peter writes more of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower-Gunslinger: Way Station' 3 of 5 with Laurence Campbell's art and continues his long run on 'X-Factor' 231 and 232 with Emanuela Lupacchino while his latest arc is collected in the 'X-Factor: Super Unnatural' Premiere HC.

DIDIO: DC editor in chief, Dan co-writes 'O.M.A.C.' 6 with art by Keith Giffen and co-writes the next arc in 'DC Universe Presents' 6; the previous arc focused on 'Deadman' and this one will be a 'Challengers of the Unknown' tale.

DIGGLE: Andy concludes his western tale at Marvel with 'Six Guns' 5 of 5 with artist Davide Gianfelice and his collaboration with Marvel editor in chief is collected in the 'Daredevil Reborn' TP. He also writes one of the stories that continues through issues 1768 through 1772 of the British anthology magazine '2000 A.D.'.

DIXON: Chuck continues his adaptation in 'Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time-Eye of the World' 22 and tells Hasbro style war stories in 'G.I. Joe II Ongoing' 10 and 'Snake Eyes Ongoing' 10. He also pens 'Infestation II: Transformers' 1 and 2 of 2 and his previous arc is collected in the 'G.I. Joe II Ongoing' TP 2: Civil War.

EDMONDSON: Nathan writes 'Grifter' 6 with Scott Clark at DC and his own ongoing war story 'Activity' 3 at Image with the art of Mitch Gerard.

ELLIS: Warren has finished his run on 'Secret Avengers' and has nothing offered this month.

ENNIS: Garth has a new series at Dynamite, 'Garth Ennis Ninjettes' 1 and, of course, it's ultra violent. It's a spin off from the 'Jennifer Blood' title and will be written by Al Ewing with Eman Casallos' art. He continues with 'Stitched' 3, 'Garth Ennis Jennifer Blood' TP 1 collects the first arc and the series continues with issue 12 although Garth is no longer writing it. 'Image Firsts: Darkness' 1 reprints that first issue that was by Garth and 'Dicks' 1with John McCrea's art is a colorized reprint featuring a couple of drinking Irish P.I.'s who don't have to try very hard to be offensive; this issue collects all the previous adventures which leads up to the new series, 'Bigger Dicks' to be offered next month..

FIALKOV: At DC Joshua Hale writes 'I, Vampire' 6 with Andrea Sorrentino. At Image he writes his creator owned 'Last of the Greats' 5 with Brent Peeples, at IDW he writes 'Doctor Who Ongoing II' 14 and he co-wrote the material collected in Marvel's 'Iron Man 2.0 TP: Asymmetry'.

FINCH: DC let David take a shot at writing and, unfortunately he couldn't meet his deadlines so now he's providing art and cover art and co-writing 'Batman: The Dark Knight' 6 and providing the covers for 'Birds of Prey' 6, 'Justice League International' 6 and 'Superman: Last Stand on New Krypton' TP 2.

FRACTION: Matt is writing 'Defenders' 3 with Terry Dodson, 'Invincible Iron Man' 513 with Savlador Larroca and 'Mighty Thor' 11 with Pasqual Ferry. He co-writes 'Battle Scars' 4 of 6 with Scott Eaton's art. His work is collected in the 'Fear Itself: Invincible Iron Man' Premiere HC and he co-wrote the material collected in the 'Invincible Iron Man TP 8: Unfixable'.

GAGE: At Dark Horse Christos writes 'Angel & Faith' 7 while at Marvel he continues on 'Avengers Academy' 25 and 26 with Tom Grummet; his work is collected in the 'Fear Itself: Avengers Academy' Premiere HC.

GAIMAN: A great story with incredible painted artwork by the brilliant Dave McKean finally gets the format it deserves with the 'Black Orchid Deluxe Edition' HC. Dave provided the covers for all the issues and collections of 'Sandman' and is also Neil's collaborator on the 'Coraline' and 'Mirror Mask' films and he also wrote and illustrated the 'Cages' graphic novel which I also highly recommend.

GATES: Sterling will NOT be writing 'Hawk and Dove' 6 with Rob Liefeld's art this issue; Rob will write and illustrate. Sterling's a contributing writer to 'Superman: Last Stand on New Krypton' TP 2 while, at Dynamite he writes 'Kirby Genesis: Captain Victory' 5.

GIFFEN: Keith left Marvel a while ago so I guess the all ages story he wrote for 'Super Heroes' 23 has been on a shelf for a while. He co-writes and illustrates 'O.M.A.C.' 6 at DC.

GILLEN: Keiron writes 'Journey Into Mystery' 634 with Richard Elson as well as 'Uncanny X-Men' 6 and 7 with Greg Land's art and the previous arc is collected in 'Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Men' Premiere HC.

GISCHLER: Victor will write 'X-Men' 24 with Adi Granov and 25 with Jorge Molina, still part of 'Regenesis', and his four issue limited series is collected as the 'X-Men FF' Premiere HC.

GLASS: Adam just writes 'Suicide Squad' 6 with Tom Raney's art this month.

GOLDEN: Michael co-wrote the material collected in the 'Star Trek Classics TP: TNG Enemy Unseen and he provides the cover art for 'Spawn' 216 and one of the variant covers for 'Darkness' 100.

GRAY/PALMIOTTI: Justin and Jimmy continue their work with Jonah Hex in 'All Star Western' 6 with Moritat and they write 'Ray' 3 of 4 with Jamal Igle. At Image Jimmy writes the 'Queen Crab' HC with Artiz Eiguren, described as David Lynch meets Stephen King.

GUGGENHEIM: Marc only has his own title this month: 'Nowhere Man' 3 of 4 with Jeevan J. Kang at Dynamite.

HAMA: Larry writes 'G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero' 175 as well as the 'G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Annual' 1.

HICKMAN: Troy continues his stellar run on 'FF' 15 with Juan Bobillo as 'The Fall of Doom' concludes, ending the Council of Reeds arc. 'Fantastic Four' 603 with Barry Kitson is 'Forever' part four: Galactus versus the Celestials. His first arc is collected in the 'FF by Jonathan Hickman' TP 1. He also writes 'Ultimate Comics: Ultimates' 7 with Esad Ribic where Falcon returns. The first arc is collected in the 'Ultimate Comics: Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman' Premiere HC 1.

HIGGINS: Kyle writes 'Nightwing' 6 with Eddy Barrows and 'Deathstroke' 6 with Joe Bennett.

HILL: Joe Hill and his father, Stephen King collaborated on an adaptation of Richard Matheson's 'Road Rage' 1 of 4 and the series will also feature 'Throttle', an original story written by King and Hill for comics. One of my customers was kind enough to loan me Joe's first novel, 'A Heart-Shaped Box' recently and it was brilliant; better than anything I'd read by his Dad, and Joe's 'The Cape' and 'Locke & Key' are also excellent so I'm very excited about this one.

HINE: David is teaming up with the zany Shaky Kane for a second series with 'Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred' 2 of 6. The first series was a blast and featured the creators in a bizarre conspiracy tale tied into the comic book industry.

HURWITZ: Greg completes 'Penguin: Pain and Prejudice' 5 of 5 with recent 'Spawn' artist, Szymon Kudranski.

JENKINS: Paul is co-writing 'Batman: The Dark Knight' 6 with series artist Brian Finch. At Marvel Paul's 'X-Men: Prelude to Schism' TP is collected.

JOHNS: Geoff writes 'Justice League' 6 with Jim Lee's pencils, 'Green Lantern' 6 with Doug Mahnke's detailed pencils p;us the surprise hit 'Aquaman' 6 with Ivan Reis. Also collected is Geoff's 'Flashpoint' TP.

JOHNSON: Mike co-writes 'Supergirl' 6 with frequent collaborator Michael Green and the art is by Mahmud Asrar. At IDW Mike writes 'Star Trek Ongoing' 6.

JURGENS: Dan writes 'Justice League International' 6 beginning the second arc with Marco Castiello's art, he and Dan Jurgens write 'Green Arrow' 6 with art by Ignacio Calero and some of his older work is collected in the 'Captain America by Dan Jurgens' TP 3.

KIRKMAN: Robert continues on 'Invincible' 90, 'Super Dinosaur' 9 and 'Walking Dead' 94 and he co-writes 'Thief of Thieves' 1 with Nick Spencer, art will be by Shawn Martinbrough and , from the three pages that I've read I think this is going to be a solid series. 'Invincible HC' 7 Ultimate Collection is also offered which collects 71 through 84.

KRUL: At DC J.T. Writes 'Captain Atom' 6 with Freddie Williams II providing the art and J.T.'s work is collected in the 'Justice League: Rise and Fall' TP. He also co-wrote material collected in 'Flashpoint-World of Flashpoint-Batman' TP and 'Red Robin: Seven Days of Death' TP. And at Aspen Entertainment he continues on 'Soulfire III' 8 with Jason Fabok's artwork.

LAPHAM: At Marvel David continues the insanity know as 'Deadpool Max II' 5 with series artist Kyle Baker. At Dark Horse David is adapting the novel trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan with 'The Strain' 3 featuring Mike Huddleston's art. At Avatar he writes his new ongoing werewolf series 'Ferals' 2 with Gabriel Andrade's art.

LEMIRE: Jeff continues to tear it up on 'Animal Man' 6 where we get to see Buddy's low budget indie super hero film. In 'Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.' 6 the team returns to Vietnam illustrated by Alberto Ponitcelli and Jeff writes, draws and provides the cover for his creator owned title 'Sweet Tooth' 30.

LEVITZ: Paul writes 'Legion of Super-Heroes' 6 and 'Legion: Secret Origin' 5 of 6 plus 'Huntress' 5 of 6 with artist Marcus To.

LISS: 'Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive' 529 ends the series and ends the best handling of this character I've ever read. This final issue features Lady Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, Falcon and Luke Cage and is illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough. Issues 519 through 524 are collected in the 'Fear Itself: Black Panther-The Man Without Fear' Premiere HC.

LOBDELL: Scott writes 'Superboy' 6 featuring Supergirl with R.B. Silva's pencils, 'Red Hood and the Outlaws' 6 with Kenneth Rocafort's art telling the story of Jason and Starfire's first meeting, and 'Teen Titans' 6 with Brett Booth's pencils guest starring 'Static' and the debut of 'Kid Flash's new costume. And at Aspen Press Scott writes 'Fathom IV' 5.

LOEB: Jeph writes 'Avengers: X-Sanction' 3 of 4 with artist Ed McGuinness.

LOPRESTI: Aaron pencils 'Justice League International' 6, he writes and illustrates the 'Robotman' story in 'My Greatest Adventure' 5 of 6 and provides the cover art for 'Marvel Adventures: Avengers United' digest sized TP, an all-age collection.

MARZ: At Image Ron writes 'Artifacts' 16 and his limited series is collected in the 'Artifacts Origins: First Born' TP.

McDANIEL: Scott writes and pencils 'Static Shock' 6 featuring fellow 'Milestone' alumni, 'Hardware'.

MIGNOLA: Mike continues his long time collaboration with John Arcudi as he co-writes 'BPRD-Hell on Earth: Long Death' 1 and 'Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand' 2 of 5 as well as material collected in the 'BPRD: Plague of Frogs' HC 3. (Did you notice that I just switched the names from the Arcudi listing?) Mike also continues the 'Lobster Johnson' story serialized in 'Dark Horse Presents' 9.

MILLAR: Mark has 'Kick-Ass 2' 7 of 7 with John Romita, Jr's art. Yes, it was originally a six part story and now it's seven and this final issue is double sized. There is also the 'Kick-Ass trading cards: 'Ass-Kicking Box'. The 'Judge Dredd: Crusade' TP features two stories, 'The Frankenstein Division' is one about creating the ultimate judge by combining parts of the best.

MILLIGAN: Pete writes 'Red Lanterns' 6 with Ed Benes' pencils, and 'Justice League Dark' 6 with Mikel Janin; I'm really enjoying this artist AND he can meet deadlines! Peter also continues his run on 'Hellblazer' 288 with Giuseppe Camuncoli. His experience writing Constantine has a lot to do with his success writing the 'Justice League Dark' title.

MORRISON: Grant writes 'Action Comics' 6 while 'Absolute Final Crisis' HC and the 'Batman Incorporated Deluxe HC' 1 collect some of his other fine work at DC. 'Steed and Mrs. Peel' 2 of 6 with Ian Gibson continues at IDW and the second story in the 'Judge Dredd: Crusade' TP that I'd just mentioned is by Grant and involves an international 'Judge' team up to find a scientist who has a message from God.

NELSON: Arvid writes 'Warlord of Mars' 17 and 'Lord of the Jungle' 3 and his work is collected in the 'Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris TP 2: Pirate Queen'.

NICIEZA: Fabian writes 'Legion Lost' 6 with Pete Woods' art.. He co-wrote the material collected in 'Red Robin; Seven Days of Death' TP.

OSTRANDER: John writes 'Star Wars: Agent of the Empire-Iron Eclipse' 3 of 5 and 'Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi' 0 and 1 of 5, a story telling the origin of the Jedi.

PAK: At Marvel Greg writes 'Astonishing X-Men' 47 with Mike McKone's art concluding the 'Exalted' storyline. He co-wrote the work collected in 'Fear Itself: Herc' Premiere HC. At Aspen Greg writes 'Dead Man's Run' 2, a prison break story co-created by Gale Anne Hurd, producer of the 'Walking Dead' programs and penciled by Tony Parker of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' fame, who you probably met at the Tucson Comic Convention last month.

PARKER: Jeff writes 'Hulk' 48 with Elena Casagrande's art and 'Thunderbolts' 170 with Kev Walker's art and the team versus King Arthur's Court.

PEREZ: George writes and provides the cover for 'Superman' 6 with art by Nicola and Trevor Scott and he is one of the contributing artists on the 'New Teen Titans Omnibus' HC 2. At Marvel he co-wrote material collected in the 'Avengers: Private War of Dr. Doom' Premiere HC and the 'Thing: Crown Affair' Premiere HC.

POWELL: Eric writes and illustrates 'Goon' 38 and provides one of the covers for 'Infestation II: Team-Up' a one shot featuring 'Bat Boy' from the 'Weekly World News'.

REMENDER: Rick is getting prolific at Marvel, writing 'Venom' 13 and 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 and 13.4, 'Uncanny X-Force' 21 and 22 and he takes over 'Secret Avengers' 22 and 23 now that Warren Ellis has finished his arc there. The 'Venom' comics begin 'The Circle of Four' arc featuring Red Hulk, Ghost Rider and X-23. Rick's work is collected in the 'Uncanny X-Force: Dark Angel Saga Premiere HC' 2 and 'Uncanny X-Force TP 2: Deathlok Nation'.

ROBERSON: Chris writes 'I, Zombie' 22 at DC, 'Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes' 5 of 6 and his creator owned title 'Memorial' 3 of 6 at IDW and 'Elric: The Balance Lost' 8 at Boom!

ROBINSON: James writes 'The Shade' 5 of 12 with artist Javier Pulido and his work is collected in the 'Justice League of America: The Rise of Eclipso' HC and 'Justice League of America: Dark Things' TP. He also co-wrote material collected in the 'Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton' TP 2.

RODI: Robert writes 'Thor: Deviant's Saga' 4 of 5 and his previous Asgardian work is collected in the 'Astonishing Thor' TP. He also writes 'Kirby Genesis: Dragonsbane' 2 at Dynamite.

RUCKA: Greg writes 'Punisher' 8 with Marco Checchetto's artwork while his previous work is collected in the 'Punisher by Greg Rucka' Premiere HC 1.

SEELEY: At Image Tim writes 'Hack/Slash' 13 and 'Witchblade' 154 and he co-wrote material collected in the 'Hack/Slash TP 10: Dead Celebrities' and 'G.I. Joe: Disavowed' TP 5.

SIMONE: Gail co-writes 'Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men' 6 with Ethan Van Sciver who also does the cover; interior art by Yildiray Cinar and Norm Rapmund. And of course Gail writes 'Batgirl' 6 with Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes' art. Boy, the comic book industry sure is an equal opportunity employer; I can't pronounce half of these names.

SLOTT: Dan writes 'Amazing Spider-Man' 679 with Humberto Ramos, 679.1 with Matt Clark and 680 with Giuseppe Camuncoli. I guess that's one way to meet deadlines; put a different artist on every issue!

SNYDER: Scott writes 'Batman' 6 with Greg Capullo's pencils and 'Swamp Thing' 6 with Marco Rudy at DC and continues 'American Vampire' 24 with Rafael Albuquerque. The horror series, co-written by Scott Tuft reaches is conclusion in 'Severed' 7 of 7.

SPENCER: At DC Nick writes 'Thunder Agents II' 4 of 6 with Wes Craig and Sam Kieth's art, at Marvel 'Ultimate Comics: X-Men' 7 and 8 with Carlo Barberi and he co-wrote 'Iron Man 2.0' TP 2: Asymmetry. At Image he continues my favorite new comic of the past couple years with 'Morning Glories' 18 and teams up with Robert Kirkman to create and write 'Thief of Thieves' 1 illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough.

STRACZYNSKI: J. Michael writes 'The Twelve' 9 and 10 with series artist Chris Weston. This is a twelve part series, issue eight came out in the fall of 2009 and I seriously never thought we'd see the finale. The first six issues are available in paperback and a 'Marvel Must Have' is being offered reprinting issues seven and eight; the team consists of time stranded heroes of WWII.

SWIERCZYNSKI: Novelist Duane continues on 'Birds of Prey' 6 with Javier Pina's art.

TOMASI: Peter writes 'Batman and Robin' 6 with Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray's art, and 'Green Lantern Corps' 6 with Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna, this issue concludes the war between the Corps and the Keepers.

TRUMAN: Tim writes and Tomás Giorello illustrates 'King Conan: The Phoenix and the Sword' 2 of 4 at Dark Horse. Few probably remember the 'Scout' series from Eclipse Comics but it was a post-apocalyptic story about the struggles between a Native America and 'the Man' that Tim wrote and drew. He doesn't draw much other than covers these days but he and his son, Ben have co-written a series and Tim is providing the art. It's a western horror tale, 'Hawken' 4 of 6. Remind me and I'll show you some of his 'Scout' work next time you're by the shop.

WAID: Mark writes 'Daredevil' 9 and Paola Rivera returns as the artist, and the 'Kazar by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert' TP 2 collects issues 8-14 of the 1997 series and includes the 1997 Annual that was written by Brian K. Vaughan. That's Mark's Marvel work; over at his 'Boom! Studios' he continues his two ongoing series': 'Incorruptible' 27 and 'Irredeemable' 34.

WALLACE: Eric writes 'Mister Terrific' 6 with interior art by Oliver Nome under a J. G. Jones cover.

WAY: Well, I know that Daniel will be writing 'Deadpool' 50 and 51, I know that Carlo Barberi will illustrate them, Dave Johnson will do the covers and that issue 50 is $3.99 but any further information is classified at this time according to Marvel. Rumors are that the series will end here and restart just titled 'Dead', so maybe they're going to kill the guy off...for a while.

WELLS: Zeb is writing the new title with Joe Madureira who has a history of missing deadlines; we got three issues from him but Greg Land will be providing the art on 'Avenging Spider-Man' 4. Zeb also writes 'Carnage USA' 3 of 5 with Clayton Crain's CGI style art and the previous series is collected in the 'Carnage: Family Feud' TP.

WHEDON: Joss' work with John Cassaday is collected in the 'Astonishing X-Men: Whedon Cassaday Ultimate Collection' TP 1.

WILLIAMS: J.H. Williams is co-writing 'Batwoman' 6 with W. Haden Blackman and the art will be by Amy Reeder; Mr. Williams will also provide the cover art for the 'Batman Incorporated' Deluxe HC 1.

WILLIAMS: Rob will write 'Daken, Dark Wolverine' 21 with Alessandro Vitti's art, the beginning of the final arc of this series and he also writes 'Robocop: Road Trip' 3 at Dynamite.

WINICK: Judd writes 'Batwing' 6 with Ben Oliver's art and 'Catwoman' 6 with Guillem March. Also the 'Big Book of Barry Ween: Boy Genius' TP collects all four volumes in one omnibus; Judd wrote and illustrated these hilarious stories and it's been out of print for a couple of years but, if you're not easily offended I think this is the funniest collection of comics that I’ve ever read.

WOLFMAN: Marv writes 'DC Universe Online Legends' 23 and 24, co-wrote the material in the 'DC Universe Online Legends' TP 2 as well as the 'New Teen Titans Omnibus HC' 2.

WOOD: Brian writes 'Northlanders' 49 and his Vertigo work is collected in the 'Northlanders TP 6: Thor's Daughter' and 'DMZ TP 11: Free States Rising'. He writes 'Supernatural' 5 of 6 based on the television show of the same name. At Marvel he writes 'Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega' 2 of 5 with the art of Roland Boschi. At Dark Horse he'll be writing 'Conan the Barbarian' 1 with Becky Cloonan's art; the first arc will adapt 'Queen of the Black Coast'.

YOST: Chris writes 'Scarlet Spider' 2 with Ryan Stegman, and he and Matt Fraction write 'Battle Scars' 4 of 12 and he co-wrote material collected in the 'X-Force: Necrosha' TP. He's also one of the three authors of 'Fear Itself: The Fearless' 8 and 9 of 12.

    That's the creator list so I'm going to go through the catalog and see what I've missed that I didn't already mention:

DARK HORSE: 'Mass Effect Volume 3: Invasion' TP is self explanatory. 'Murky World' is a one shot science fiction horror story by Richard Corben. The 'Megatokyo Omnibus' Volume 1 TP collects the first three volumes of the previous collections.

DC: 'Batman Beyond Unlimited' 1 is a 48 page comic with Adam Beechen and Norm Breyfogle telling the future Dark Knight story and the second feature will be the debut of the new 'Justice League Beyond' which will be written and illustrated by Derek Fridolphs and Dustin Nguyen. Josh Williamson and Samri Basri is the new team on 'Voodoo' 6, I think that I only mentioned two or three of the six 'Flashpoint' TP's offered. At DC's VERTIGO imprint the 'Shooters' HC is written by Eric S. Trautmann and Brandon Jerwa with the art of Steve Lieber and it's a story of the destructive aspect of war on the life of a man and his family.

IDW: The second 'Infestation' series is a two part limited series but has tie ins like 'Infestation 2: Dungeons and Dragons' 1 of 2 and cross overs with the 'Transformers', 'G.I. Joe', 'Ghostbusters' and just about every licensed property that they publish. They also offer a two part prequel to the upcoming 'G.I. Joe 2' film, 'Doctor Who Classics: Series IV' 1 of 6 continues the reprints of the British stories, the beautiful adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's famous tale is collected in 'The Last Unicorn: The Deluxe Edition' HC, Harlan Ellison's recent four part alternate universe series is collected in the 'Phoenix Without Ashes' TP and Jordi Bernet's archival work continues in the 'Torpedo' Volume 5 HC.

IMAGE: I've already mentioned 'Thief of Thieves' 1 (twice) but this is Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer so I'll say it again. 'Darkness' reaches 100, 'Glory' 23 picks up where the previous series left off and Liefeld provides the cover and 'Alpha Girl' 1 is the tale of a 17 year old girl trying to save the world from a plague of female man eating zombies created by a pheromone marketed by a third rate cosmetic company. 'No Place Like Home' 1 begins another harsh alternate version of Oz, 'Peter Panzerfaust' 1 tells of an American boy and a handful of orphaned French kids trying to survive in 1940 France after the Germans take their town and Brandon Graham's 'King City' TP collects all twelve issues in the golden age format.

MARVEL: It seems that I've covered all of Marvel's offerings above. They do have three posters that I didn't mention: 'Secret Avengers' poster by Arthur Adams, a 'Marvel Universe' poster by Nick Bradshaw and a 'Dead' poster that Marvel hasn't told me who will draw it and they haven't shown me the image but it has something to do with the end of the old and the beginning of the new 'Deadpool' series. They're also offering a 'Hulk' and a 'Hawkeye' action figure based on their 'Avengers' movie but they only show silhouettes of the figures.

    That's the 'big five' publishers and here are some highlights of what the smaller publishers are offering. ARCHAIA offers 'The Secret History: Games of Chance' HC, a 250 page original tale for those who've been following the 'Secret History' comics and the 'Genetiks' Volume 1 HC is a tale of genetic manipulation and corporate power featuring hyper-realistic art as employees provide blood samples and become the property of their employers. ARCHIE offers the fourth and final chapter of the Riverdale cross over with KISS, the second 'Mega Men' TP is offered as well as the 'Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis' HC. AARDEN Entertainment offers 'Multi-Verse' 1, a new magazine about comics featuring interviews, news, reviews and a bonus preview comic in each issue. ASPEN offers 'Shrugged II' 0 by Frank Mastromauro with Micah Gunnell's pencils. BLUEWATER offers biographical comics of the 'Saturday Night Live' comedians, one of 'Kylie Minogue, and 'Ron Paul'. At BONGO 'Ralph Wiggum Comics' 1 features Carol Lay and others and 'Sponge Bob Comics' 7 features James Kochalka and others. BOOM! STUDIOS offers a one shot 'Terror on the Planet of the Apes' originally serialized in Marvels' Planet of the Apes magazine in 1974 by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog. DYNAMITE offers 'Witchblade/Red Sonja' 1 and 'Warriors of Mars' 1 and 'Army of Darkness' 1; all three are new ongoing series'. DEL REY offers the 'House of Odd' GN, the second Odd Thomas novel by Dean Koontz' adapted to comics. METROPOLITAN BOOKS offers the 'Journalism' HC by Joe Sacco featuring short pieces from comics' top journalists' world travels. MOONSTONE offers 'Buckaroo Banzai' 1 and a new original story in the 'Justice Machine' HC. ONI PRESS offers 'Courtney Crumrin, Volume 1: The Night Things HC', the first volume that will collect all the tales chronologically and in color and another great all age book, 'Play Ball' by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir about one girl's quest to play ball on the boy's team. VILLARD BOOKS offers 'Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware Volume 1: Silent Partner' GN, the first adaptation of his crime novels and it's illustrated by Michael Gaydos; I'm a big fan of the novels and I think this one's going to adapt well.

Peace,

Charlie