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Comic Books

Rocket Raccoon Remembered

With the recent success of Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy title (and much anticipation for the upcoming film version), lots of folks are suddenly becoming interested in the character of Rocket Raccoon — in fact, he’s considered to be the breakout star of the series, along with his friend Groot the tree-man. Well now, Marvel is finally revisiting the origins of Rocket Raccoon with a new full-color trade paperback due this August, Rocket Raccoon: Tales from Half-World. As written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola (with a new cover by Steve McNiven), this collection brings together issues 1 – 4 of the original Rocket Raccoon series, highlighting his adventures (with his walrus pal and his otter girlfriend) as the guardian of the Keystone Quadrant. At one point, Bucky O’Hare even makes a guest appearance! Marvel has more on their web site. Also, the rocket-booted procyonid plays a big part in the new Nova: Origins Premiere Hardcover — also in full color, and also coming in August. Rocket Raccoon and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy teach young Sam Alexander the art of being a super-powered guardian of space and time! Check it out at Forbidden Planet.

image c. 2013 Marvel Comics

Prepare for the Battle of the Endor Moon

Love them or loathe them, the Ewoks became a big part of the lore of the Star Wars universe, both during and after the original movie trilogy. Now this October comes a brand-new full-color trade paperback from Dark Horse Press, looking to tie up some loose ends. “Until now, the Ewoks had been able to ignore the arrival of the Empire’s stormtroopers on Endor. But when they discover their rivals, the Duloks, have been enslaved and a legendary beast has been awakened, the Ewoks realize they may have to prepare for war—as soon as they figure out how to survive the beast!” Written and illustrated by Zack Giallongo (with art help by Braden Lamb), Star Wars: Ewoks — Shadows of Endor links up events and characters from the Ewoks animated TV series with the events in Return of the Jedi.

image c. 2013 Dark Horse Press

Pogo’s First Appearance

Well now, you learn something new every day… This is from the publisher’s press release: “Walt Kelly’s Pogo, acknowledged as one of the most important and influential comic strips of all time, first appeared not in newspapers but as a feature in the Dell comic book anthology Animal Comics, in its first issue, in 1942. The complex, multi-layered, character rich world of Pogo and the Okefenokee Swamp started in these early stories. Now, fans of Pogo can experience it all from the beginning with Hermes Press’ reprint of the complete Dell Comics Pogo. Volume 1 features all of the Animal Comics Pogo stories together with complete reprints of Pogo’s appearances in Dell’s Four Color comics. With Hermes Press’ complete reprint of the Dell Comics Pogo, admirers of this ground-breaking comic feature can now witness the strip’s evolution, in an archival hardcover, digitally reconstructed to perfection.” Unfortunately you’ll need to wait for October to see Walt Kelly’s Pogo: The Complete Dell Comics, Volume 1 (in hardcover) but you can pre-order it at Barnes & Noble.

image c. 2013 Hermes Press

The Local Monster Needs An Upgrade

Monster on the Hill is a different sort of all-ages graphic novel, coming this July from Top Shelf Productions. “In a fantastical 1860s England, every quiet little township is terrorized by a ferocious monster — much to the townsfolk’s delight! Each town’s unique monster is a source of local pride, not to mention tourism. Each town, that is… except for one. Unfortunately for the people of Stoker-on-Avon, their monster isn’t quite as impressive. In fact, he’s a little down in the dumps. Can the morose Rayburn get a monstrous makeover and become a proper horror? It’s up to the eccentric Dr. Charles Wilkie and plucky street urchin Timothy to get him up to snuff, before a greater threat turns the whole town to kindling.” All of this brought to you in full color by artist and storyteller Rob Harrell. There’s a pretty good preview of it at Whatcha Readin’.

image c. 2013 Top Shelf Productions

The New Dog in Town

It’s never easy to move into a new town — whether you’re a human, or a dog, or whatever. “Bacon is a lazy French bulldog who loves Westerns, and has a secret friend who happens to be a cat. When he and his owner move to a new neighborhood, Bacon embarks on quest to get to know all of the neighboring dogs. He soon discovers that they are a collection of weird and rather particular animals. Humorous and witty, the escapades of Bacon and Friends are translated from a popular Spanish web comic.” A comic written by Josep Busquet and illustrated by Ximo Abadia Perez, in fact.  This softcover black & white collection is coming out from Kettledrummer Books at the end of July, and it’s available for pre-order at Sci Fe Genre.

image c. 2013 Kettledrummer Books

For Those Who Like Their Werewolves Evil…

Straight from the Press Release at Previews magalog: “George RR Martin returns to comics with his World Fantasy Award winning story, Skin Trade!  With scripting by Martin’s long-time partner, Daniel Abraham, and art by horror legend Mike Wolfer, Skin Trade is set to be one of the must have comics this summer. Private investigator Randi Wade sees the ravaged remains of innocent victims that have been savagely murdered and skinned alive.  As the mysterious secrets of the Blackstone Manor begin to be uncovered, she gets ever closer to the monstrous truth…werewolves are real!” Look for it monthly in full color from Avatar Press, starting this July.

image c. 2013 Avatar Press

Up Against The Spikey One!

Coming this August, Archie Comics presents the 2nd Volume of collected Sonic the Hedgehog stories, this time titled Best of Sonic the Hedgehog: Villains. ” This deluxe new installment to the smash-hit ‘Best of Sonic’ series celebrates twenty years of comics, specials and mini-series with the baddest baddies the Sonic comics have to offer! Heroes are only as good as their villains, and Sonic’s world hosts some of the most fearsome and loathsome characters you love to hate! Root for the bad guy (just this once) in this Best of Villains collection featuring DR. EGGMAN, IXIS NAUGUS, the BABYLON ROUGES and many more in a must-have for any Sonic fan! Plus all-new cover art from Ben Bates with acclaimed painter Dave Devries, and insights from the Sonic creative team!” You heard ’em. Check out this full-color hardcover collection at Amazon.

Image c. 2013 Archie Comics

Adventures in Ugly

After their first appearance in 2001 at San Diego Comic Con and other conventions, the fuzzy little “Ugly Dolls” have become a pop toy phenomenon of their own. Now Viz Media have announced the very first Ugly Dolls series of full-color graphic novels for young readers, starting with Ugly Doll: Goin’ Places this July. From the official press release on Comic Book Resources: “VIZ Media’s Ugly Doll graphic novel series will transport readers to a diverse universe where ‘ugly’ just means unique and different, and celebrating who you are inside and out is the new beautiful. Join Wage™, Babo™, OX™, Ice-Bat™ and their Uglydoll pals as they express themselves through laughs, tears, love and adventure!”

image c. 2013 Viz Media

A Little Sympathy for Trolls

Jay P. Fosgitt is a commercial and comic-book artist — among other projects he was the illustrator of Old McMonster’s Haunted Farm (written by Brent Erwin), which we made note of here previously. Now one of Jay’s latest projects (as writer and illustrator) is a full-color comic called Bodie Troll. “Jay’s creator-owned, all-ages comic set in the mythic village of Hagadorn and featuring a grumpy little troll named Bodie. While he aspires to be big and scary, he’s actually cute and cuddly, which confounds his attempts every time.” It’s available now from Red 5 Comics. Check out Jay’s web site to find out more about this and other projects, as well as his commission rates. Yes he does.

image c. 2013 Jay P. Fosgitt