Previews

What the heck, everyone else does it. A XOMBI collection with all five issues of the John Rozum/Frazer Irving romp and GONE TO AMERIKAY, the Derek McCulloch/Colleen Doran GN about the Irish immigration would top our wish list. Lots o' fill-ins in the New 52 creatives as deadlines take their toll. But it was all in the plan.

Back when the deeds of Kyrax2 were making the rounds, we'd tagged a post we never got around to spotlighting by author Diane Duane, who lists her bio as "30+ years in print, 50+ novels, assorted TV and movie work, the NYT Bestseller List a few times, blah blah blah. Also: the Young Wizards series, 1983-2010 and beyond"--the kind of long-lasting, multi-media resume that superior writers build up. In a post on her blog about DC's women troubles, Duane talked about being a comics reader and creator over the years:

From today's just concluded Image panel, Chew #20 includes 8 extra pages at no extra cost. We've been given an exclusive preview of pages from the issue, below. In addition, Chew #23 has been announced with the title "Big League Chew" -- it's out in October and includes a zombie-fied front cover.

Via BOOM!'s mailing list, Chip Mosher has a pretty clear suggestion that shows just how publishers are living on a copy here and a copy there. With DC's massive relaunch coming up a lot of retailer dollars are going to be tied up elsewhere so a book like Roger Langridge's SNARKED needs every little boost:

DC has released am image (click for larger) to mark the release of FLASHPOINT #1 today. You need to be a bit more versed in DC lore to know how entirely shocking this image is, but there is a monkey, and that's always good. There are also different versions of Batman, Wonder Woman, and so on. Alternate universe, ho! What we do know: FLASHPOINT, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert, kicks off tomorrow, featuring the Flash and ushers in a slightly ..."Different" world for DC. Which we've seen before but you know...it always works for a new generation. Retailer Larry Doherty of Larry's Comics in Lowell, Mass, himself no stranger to attention, went on yesterday's "#comicmarket" retailing discussion to say that FLASHPOINT will be the book of the summer. Selected tweets:

NOT inked with a giant pen but incredible nonetheless, 10 pages of Jim Woodring's first ever Frank graphic novel, CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS. For those unfamiliar with Woodring's work, it is set in a strange world of hope and cruelty, where strange creatures enact tales as deep as time, not even needing words. Few artists of any kind have ever limned the subconscious with such terrifying accuracy and beauty.

Vancouver-based Colin Upton is something of a Canadian comics legend. He's been producing rough-hewn, Rabelaisian mini comics since the 80s that deal in equal parts with autobiography and history. A few years ago he was diagnosed with diabates, which prompted a massive lifestyle change, resulting is so much weight loss that when I saw a picture of the new Colin I didn't even recognize him.

Vancouver-based Colin Upton is something of a Canadian comics legend. He's been producing rough-hewn, Rabelaisian mini comics since the 80s that deal in equal parts with autobiography and history. A few years ago he was diagnosed with diabates, which prompted a massive lifestyle change, resulting is so much weight loss that when I saw a picture of the new Colin I didn't even recognize him.

Wow! Lots of great books coming out this month!

While comics dealing with cancer have usually been true life tales -- Mom's Cancer or Our Cancer Year -- AN ELEGY FOR AMELIA JOHNSON takes a more unusual tack, following the two best friends of a dying woman — a slightly egotistical documentary director and a self-absorbed journalist -- as they journey to bring her last words to the people she cares about. But if you think this is going to be a weepy about a saintly sick person...you are wrong.

Longtime readers of The Beat will know we are big fans of Toby Cypress's strange but beautiful art, seen on things like Killing Girl and The Schizophrenic. It turns out he's launching his own small press company, Punkrock*Jazz to publish his own work, starting with the long -awaited RODD RACER a Fritz Lang/Frank Robbins/Milton Caniif story about fast cars, crizy cities and a young racer who gets more than he bargained for. Back in the day, they would have called it "Widescreen" but then the screens got too small.

An astonishing icepunk adventure by the great French cartoonist Jacques Tardi is coming in March from Fantagraphics. It looks incredible.