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Archive for the 'Hard Cover Book' Category

Apr

God Save the Queen

By seekerwh 0 Comments

If you liked Books of Magic, The Sandman, Wisdom or any other comic title presenting the Fairy and its odd inhabitants you might have heard of the upcoming release of Vertigo’s new hard-cover title, God Save the Queen. Well I don’t know what you’ve heard but this one’s a bit different than what we’ve encountered before:

The story is set in modern London where a bored, rebellious teenager, Linda, starts hanging out with a group of wild fairies. They introduce her to the ultimate fairy drug, Red Horse, a mixture of heroin and human blood and quite the dangerous high, and she soon finds herself drawn in a civil war from the alleys of London to the fields of Fairy, a fight between Queen Titania and her mad predecessor Queen Mab. A grasping story with cameo appearances of other Vertigo characters, what more would you ask?

The story seems extremely interesting of course but the element that captured mostly my attention was the creator team. Written by Mike Carey (Hellblazer, Crossing Midnight, Lucifer) and illustrated by John Bolton (the person who first designed Tim Hunter’s face in the Books of Magic, he has a strong resemblance to his older brother) this could be nothing less than a masterpiece, both of them carry along a big piece of recent comics history. Especially Carey, a living legend in comic narrating, is a creator whose work I try to follow closely, check out for instance the recent issue 229 of Hellblazer, a beautiful story about why you should never do a friend a favor. Now, if this one’s going to be as good as their previous books, I don’t know but the clues point that way, you can bet I’ll buy it the moment it’s released though (that would be April the 25^th). Punk/fairy is here to stay (cool name for a new gender)!

Apr

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Vertigo Comics, New TPB, Fables, DC Comics and Hard Cover Book Tags: DC Comics, Fables, Hard Cover Book, New TPB, Vertigo Comics.

This column has dealt with Fables again, but this time it’s not about the ongoing story, this is an event in the Fables Universe that took place a few months ago but it’s never too late to experience. 1001 Nights of Snowfall, a hard cover book with stories written by Bill Willingham and drawn by Charles Vess, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Michael Wm. Kaluta, James Jean, Tara McPherson, Derek Kirk Kim, Esao Andrews, Mark Buckingham, Mark Wheatley and Jill Thompson. Feeling dizzy? There’s more!

This is a collection of stories about the residents of Fabletown even before it was created, more information about your favourite characters and fill-ins of the stories we already partially knew. Snow White is imprisoned in Baghdad where the Sultan marries a woman every night and has her beheaded the next morning, to save her life she switches to the thing she know how to do best, story telling. Every night the story goes on and every morning the Sultan lets her live one more day until it is done, but how long will she survive before she succeeds in changing him? The well known tale of 1001 Arabian Nights is revived in this beautiful book where myths and legends meet their modern versions and tie in a tremendous outcome.

What really happened when Snow White married Prince Charming, why Bigby hates his father the North Wind, how was Flycatcher’s life destroyed during the invasion of the Adversary, the past of Frau Totenkinder (yeap, she once was young) and even more grasping stories in this filling hard-cover wonder, already in the bookstores and comics places, look up for it!

Apr

The Eternals

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Marvel Comics, New TPB, Neil Gaiman and Hard Cover Book Tags: Hard Cover Book, Marvel Comics, Neil Gaiman, New TPB.

There are a few things I discovered through comics more serious than just fun, and one of the best was the work of Neil Gaiman. I still haven’t found a world he created that I did not like, or even better sink into; I am currently reading his Anansi Boys and enjoy each page with the happiness of a six year old kid opening his present! His latest creation with Marvel was a tale of gods and humans, of how our world was created and some of those present in that moment still walking among us. The return of the Eternals!

The Eternals were introduced by previous marvel series, kind of indifferent if you ask me. Immortal beings that came to Earth million of years ago and offered the mammals they found here the potential to become humans, something like Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey opening scene, they were sent by other, superb entities called The Celestials that created and watched them. In this new aspect of the story by Neil Gaiman (Books of Magic, The Sandman, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Stardust) and John Romita Jr. (X-Men, Daredevil, Thor, Hulk) the Eternals are living as normal people with most of them having no recollection at all of their powers and nature, at least until certain events unlock their memories and begin a chain of events that might change the route of history!

This is a Gaiman story and the way I see it that’s the only credential it needs to be in my bookcase, but it is also a Romita Jr. book (he’s one of the best known Marvel artists) and it presents a story with unused potential which finally gets the depth it deserves. The 7 issues should be sold out by now (the limited series was originally planned to last 6 issues but one more was added) but if you are willing to give it a try, which I recommend, the hard-cover collection will by out this May, get your own copy!

Apr

Neil Gaiman – Stardust

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Vertigo Comics, Comic Movie, DC Comics, Neil Gaiman, Hard Cover Book and Stardust Tags: Comic Movie, DC Comics, Hard Cover Book, Neil Gaiman, Stardust, Vertigo Comics.

This is something I can’t make my mind upon, so help me on it, ok? If you haven’t read Neil Gaiman’s Stardust is it a good or a bad thing? When I tell you it’s one of my favorite books ever you might hurry to support the first opinion but you would be wrong, there is no expiration date on stories. I envy you fellow reader because you have the unique opportunity to live from the beginning the experience of getting lost in a Gaiman story, and if this article helps even one of you do that, well I’ll be a happier man!

Somewhere in the Middle Ages or shortly later there is a small village called Wall, in that countryside place there is, what a surprise, a wall no man is allowed to pass. That is the border between our world and Fairy, a land of magical creatures and wonders, and once every year there is a festival on the other side of it where humans and fairies sell, buy and trade possessions and experiences. This year young Tristran will attend the festival and furthermore, in an attempt to gain his only love’s hand he will promise to bring her a falling star they see together that dark night, so he will embark by himself in a journey that will put him in grave dangers and reveal him things about himself and the rest of the world he would never find out otherwise.

Neil Gaiman and artist Charles Vess (twice winner of the Eisner award) bring to us a fantastic tale about true and false love, magic and wonders, quests and pursuits. It is nothing like what you’ve read before, it can be read manically in one night, it is beautiful, addictive, mind blowing story telling, I loved every page of it!

Mar

Alan Moore – The Black Dossier

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Comic Movie, DC Comics, Wildstorm, Alan Moore, Hard Cover Book and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Tags: Alan Moore, Comic Movie, DC Comics, Hard Cover Book, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wildstorm.

Man, if you don’t know Alan Moore, you’re reading the wrong stuff here. One of the greatest ever in the business Moore created some of the best comics ever published, V for Vendetta, The Watchmen, Batman – The Killing Joke, Swamp Thing, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell and so, so many more, most of his stories made it to the big screen with usually catastrophic results. This one and the next blog will be dedicated to him and two of his upcoming pieces of work, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier and Wild Worlds.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a landmark in the comics community, a story so retro yet so close, borrowing elements from most of our favorite works of literature in a way so complex and elaborating and crafty you needed hours to find every hint and clue in every page. The League is a group of special people (in ways a lot different than the X-Men I assure you) recruited by the British secret service, responsible for the most peculiar matters. It includes Miss Wilhelmina Murray (from Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Captain Nemo (from Jule Verne’s 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea), Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man and many more characters appearing in the story, all of them previously created by other authors in famous books, all settled in a Victorian set (although there are rumors that there will be more Leagues in the future in other time settings).

In this new 208 page hard-cover book the story moves to the 1950’s, Mina Murray and the rejuvenated Allan Quatermain along with the new members of the League search for the , a file containing all the secrets of the League’s history, in an attempt to save it from utter destruction. New era, new characters, some of the old favorite ones, a worthy Alan Moore title, I’m thrilled! Oh yeah, there’s also a bummer in this, it won’t be available till October, patience my friends, patience…

Mar

The Fountain

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Vertigo Comics, New TPB, Historical Issue, Comic Movie, Hard Cover Book and The Fountain Tags: Comic Movie, Hard Cover Book, Historical Issue, New TPB, The Fountain, Vertigo Comics.

Most of you reading this article will have already watched the new film by Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream), The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Prestige, Van Helsing) and Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Enemy at the Gates, Constantine). Aronofsky’s controversial creation is something to love or to hate, and although I belong to the first category I must admit that there are much more in the Fountain than the movie offered, to live the entire experience there’s only one way, reading the graphic novel by Vertigo!

This is not a new idea by Aronofsky, the idea was one of his first but when he presented it to the studios it was cancelled in no time, no studio would make a film so different and uncategorized as this. After the tremendous success of Requiem and Pi though he could use his influence and soon the film came to life, still with many changes, budget cuts and scenario interferences, Darren seems to have said then:

“I knew it was a hard film to make and I said at least if Hollywood f**** me over I’ll make a comic book out of it.” He presented the original story to Vertigo and Kent Williams (Flinch, Havok and Wolverine – Meltdown) undertook the mission to put it on paper, Aronofsky saw the art and loved it and that was it, the Fountain was on its way to our bookshelves!

The scenario is quite complicated, 3 different stories told together I a frenzy montage speaking about love, death and immortality. A Spanish conquistador sent by his queen in 1535 to find the tree of eternal life in the middle of the Mayan civilization, a doctor looking for the cure of cancer to save his wife in 2005, a man and a tree travelling through space in 2645 inside a bubble looking for a dying star, different stories trying to tell the same thing which is different for each viewer, and that’s the beauty of the movie and even more the comic. Watch it, explore it, love it!