Eddie-torial Comments

Updates (Comics-related)

Links Added

I just edited my Previews post to add some links to stuff. I didn't have time to do that yesterday. The Junko Mizuno link goes to one of her older works. I couldn't find any art from her new one on Viz' site.

But they do have the first chapter of Alice 19th up to be read. I haven't had a chance to go through it, but at a glance, it looks like it might be a more traditional magical girls tale. Something more akin to Cardcaptor Sakura than Fushigi Yuugi, which doesn't change my interest in the book. I like Yu Watase's work to begin with, and Viz hasn't done much magical girls stuff. Except for the always fun Wedding Peach and the weird but wonderful Utena, I cannot think of anything else in that genre they've published.

By the way, take some time to check out the new Top Shelf site if you follow the link in the previous post. (Or the one in this post, for that matter.) It's been redesigned and they've got some special sales going on to celebrate.

There's an interview about The Chosen with Peter Gross at Newsarama. The
dialogue in the art samples doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence that Millar is going to rise above his usual level of shock for shock's sake. Sigh! Describing the book as the "Ultimate Jesus" doesn't help either.

Still, the cover to issue 2 is really cool!

A couple more comments about Previews and then I'll shut up.

I don't get the hard copy. It's just too bulky, unwieldy, and depressing. I look through the text version at Comic Book Resources. It's easier to deal with and I can create a pull list using copy and paste. I figure that if a book description doesn't grab me, then having pages of promo art probably wouldn't help its case.

The only drawback is that sometimes CBR takes a week or two to get the catalog up. If that happens, I go to Westfield for their abbreviated version. I miss some stuff that way, but I still don't have to mess with the actual catalog.

If something sounds intriguing, but I'm not totally convinced, then I'll hit Google and see what turns up. These days, just about every aspiring small press comics cartoonist has a web page.

Other Previews Commentary on the Web:

Comics Worth Reading: Johanna Draper Carlson does a Previews run through at her review site, complete with snarky comments. She tends to stick to the tried and true with her selections, rarely looking at anything new or experimental. It's a bit too cautious for my taste.

Ninth Art: Chris Ekman does a nice run down each month that's fairly reflective of my own tastes. His knowledge base is broader than mine, so he will often turn up something I missed.

Pipeline: Augie De Blieck Jr. does a Previews review as part of his column at Comic Book Resources (link above). It's worth reading, if only to see what truly good stuff he manages to ignore every time out. He tends to make a big deal about the wealth of stuff to be found outside the premiere publishers and then proceed to ignore everything but Crossgen and Oni (and only certain Oni genre books at that). The only reason to read Pipeline is for the laughs.

CWR and Ninth Art both have announcement lists that will let you know when the sites have been updated. Makes waiting for the Previews run through pretty painless.