November picks

November is almost here, so it's time to see what is on offer for those of us who just like to sit indoors and read comic books while the raining is pouring down on the poor souls lost in the fall darkness. Unfortunately, November is a pretty bad month for so-conservative-it's-almost-fascist Marvel zombies such as myself. In fact, I only managed to find three books that I find vaguely interesting, and none of them are really must-buys. I guess I'll be catching up on some of the stuff I haven't read yet like Annihilation and Iron Fist this month.

The first book is Avengers: The Initiative Vol. 2. I recently reviewed the first book in this series, and if the second book keeps up the quality while answering some of the questions asked in the first book, it should be pretty good.

Young X-Men Vol. 1: Final Genesis will be a try-out for me. Marvel has released a lot of titles featuring young and original characters in the last couple of years, Avengers: The Initiative being an example of this, and I think they've had a pretty good track record so far.

Finally we have X-Men: Legacy - Divided He Stands, which is a tie-in to Messiah Complex, so I guess I'm getting this. Oh God, I'm a sucker for these things...

I should also point out the Daredevil by Frank Miller TPB. Miller's Daredevil is still one of my favorite comic book runs ever, his sense of visual storytelling reached fantastic heights during this run. Too bad that's all gone now... I have the original issues, but those who don't have these in any format should definitely put it high on the list.

To make up for my pitiful ignorance regarding non-Marvel publications, I have asked my friend Michael Lindal to tell about his picks, and here's what he has to say:

Buffy the Vampire Season 8 is of course executive produced and sometimes written by the TV-shows mastermind and Eisner Award winner Joss Whedon. It’s the official continuation of the show and is easily one of the most enjoyable reads on the stand at the moment. The third volume is called Wolves at the Gate and is written by Drew Goddard (Buffy, Lost, Cloverfield). Buffy and Dracula go to Japan. And if that doesn’t excite you, then nevermind. There is also a stand-alone story written by Whedon. Series regular Georges Jeanty provides artwork.

Also from Dark Horse is The Umbrella Academy written by Gerard Way with masterful artwork by Gabriel Ba. This highly original and quirky superhero book has been out in trade paperback for a while now, but November sees the release of the insanely tricked out hardcover edition. If you like that sort of thing. Umbrella Academy is worth it.

Warren Ellis has, along with artist Paul Duffield, created a weekly web comic called Freakangels and it’s actually rather good. You can read it on the web for free, but if you like your books to be, well, actual books, then you’re in luck as Avatar is now publishing the first volume. You could also just click here and read it for free.

http://www.freakangels.com/

November is of course the month before Christmas (seriously, it is. Look it up in a calendar or on Wikipedia) and while most record companies are putting out vast numbers of Greatest Hits collections, the comic book publishers are dusting off several classics and releasing them in juicy, tasty hardcovers. This blog might be called tpbreviewer, but sometimes a hardcover is the way to go. Neil Gaiman’s classic Sandman finishes its series of Absolute Editions with the fourth volume. The first three volumes were beautiful, so this should be a safe bet. DC is also releasing a Deluxe Hardcover of Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland, which is a good old fashioned fun comic book. Also from DC is a new hardcover edition of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen. This will probably be the first of many reprints of this masterpiece in the near future. There is even a rumour of a reprint of the insanely gorgeous Absolute Edition sometime next year. So deck the halls and start buying. ‘Tis what Christmas is all about.