We shouldn’t just collect or flip books, we should also read them. A good story can make your purchase well worth the money spent if you ask me. After all, we buy books to read for entertainment right? Even if you can’t flip them, reading is just as rewarding.
We tend to focus on mostly the floppy copies each week and kind of ignore the trades and hardcovers that come out week after week.
These can be one off books, collected editions or special editions. I go into these picks of mostly just the solicitations provided from the publishers. These are the ones that caught my attention for this upcoming week.
I love the old space stories. To see what’s become true of our space exploration by writers to what we imagined and believed would be the possible from decades ago.
So this first pick is a must pick up, the old Pre-Code Classics.
Pre Code Classics Space Adventures Slipcase Ed
This bumper-full line-up from Charlton Comics’ fearsomely far out and appropriately titled other-worldly Space Adventures comic from the 1950s has everything you could imagine.
For fans of Quatermass, I Married A Monster From Outer Space, and Dan Dare, this volume of goodies near on demands that you dig out that old goldfish bowl and your holstered interstellar raygun. Writers and artists include Al Fago, Lou Morales, Frank Frollo, Albert Tyler, Art Cappello, Dick Giordano, John Bell and Stan Campbell.
Collects issues #1-5 (July 1952 to March 1953).
Jeff Lemire is one of the top writers and creators out there. With a unique style of art as well, he’s one of the few that can write and draw in today’s industry.
These collected trades are what I look forward to, to dive into the stories with more content in one sitting. So with that said, here’s the continuing with the story line trade pick.
Gideon Falls TPB Vol 03 Stations of the Cross
The hot horror series that WIRED magazine named one of the best books of 2018 returns from the creative team that BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS said ‘will go down as one of the greatest comic teams of all time!’
After the mind-blowing events of the second arc, our story heads right through the looking glass.
Father Burke tracks a vicious killer named… Norton Sinclair? And when that killer can travel through time (and space!), readers are in for a wild ride. Collects GIDEON FALLS #12-16
I picked up the first few issues of Gideon falls but stopped to pick up the trades for the very reason I stated early, to read more at a time to really enjoy the story.
This next pick just sounds awesome from the title alone. You can tell, I really dig the old comics in collected editions. Finding these books is not so easy so when you want to just read them, this is the way to go.
This volume continues Sadowski’s biography of the famed Mad cartoonist. It includes scores of letters between Wolverton and his editors and publishers and excerpts from his personal diaries, providing documentary insight not only into Wolverton’s day-to-day life and career, but also the inner workings of the early comic book industry.
It is also chock full of Wolverton’s comics stories from this period, including 17 science-fiction and horror tales fully restored and never before collected in a single volume. Full-color illustrations throughout.
I have yet to read any of the Hit-Monkey books, so this is on my radar to check out. It’s hard to believe this is a Marvel book as well.
Want to hire a hitman who is also a monkey? Just ask for Hit-Monkey! A troubled soul, set upon a path of vengeance he does not understand. An assassin without equal, trained in the most secret of killing techniques. A flesh-and-blood specter, haunting the worst the world has to off er. He’s a primed-and-ready primate. A simian sharpshooter. A monkey…with a gun!
Now, bear witness as he first dons his trademark suit and tie – and the legend of Hit-Monkey is born! Bullets will fly when he takes on Bullseye in a truly unmissable showdown. And when Hit-Monkey hits the big city, he drives Deadpool and Spider-Man bananas!
Can Deadpool do what it takes to rid New York of this terrifying new menace – or will he wilt under his anthropoid adversary’s soulful gaze?
I’ve been waiting for this one to read. I’ve played the game (which I need to pick up and start playing again), as a life long Spider-Man fan, this is right up my alley since I have not been impressed with the current Amazing Spider-Man title.
Experience the amazing adventures of MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN! Showered with worldwide acclaim, the blockbuster game has everyone’s spider-sense buzzing! Now, relive the emotional and shock-filled story that spins favorite characters, including Mary Jane, Aunt May, Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius and Miles Morales, into an all-new and unexpected web of drama, spectacle and classic Spidey action in the Mighty Marvel Manner!
After years of seeing Wilson Fisk escape criminal prosecution, the wisecracking web-slinger finally has the opportunity to team with the NYPD to help arrest his fearsome foe. But how will the mysterious Mister Negative’s ascent to power bring Peter Parker’s civilian life and Spider-Man’s superhuman world crashing together? Includes all-new story moments never seen in the game – and bonus behind-the-scenes content! Collecting MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: CITY AT WAR #1-6. Rated T
The pick because I missed last weeks due to NYCC. This is a no brainer being a war junkie.
The EC Archives: Frontline Combat Volume 2 HC
Legendary writer/artist/editor Harvey Kurtzman collaborates with some of the greatest artists of all time in Wally Wood, John Severin, Alex Toth, and many others to create some of the most essential war stories ever told!
In these classic EC tales, we are taken to war in the true grueling and horrific light that few comics of the time dared to show!
Collecting Frontline Combat #7-#12–in fully remastered digital color.
That’s it for this weeks trade and hardcover picks.