New Comics Day: Back Issue Annual #1; The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec; The Magnificent African Adventure, More

Our pick of new releases this week:

Back Issue Annual #1

For its first ever Annual, Back Issue magazine is pulling out all the stops with a special tribute to Silver/Bronze Age superstar Neal Adams! Presented are the best features on Neal from several long sold-out issues, including: a guided tour of Adams' Continuity Studios! Neal and Denny O'Neil discussing their seminal work on Green Lantern/Green Arrow! Adams on the evolution of Ms. Mystic! Plus Superman-centric and Batman-centric interviews with Neal, revealing behind-the-scenes secrets of his approach to those signature characters! There's Adams art galore throughout, including rare and unseen work, all behind an unused 1960s Adams cover. 

100 page magazine. Order from TwoMorrows Publishing.

Cryptology #10

Don’t turn your back for even a second, for I, the Cryptologist, have returned from the mire to bring you the latest issue of my despicable magazine! For fans of Neal Adams’ horror comics, I’ve got a wealth of his dark imaginings to share with you, plus never-before-seen things to pique your interest. Once you’ve savoured that, you’ll be fascinated to see Batman’s perilous encounters with the macabre, before I disclose some surprising actors who couldn’t resist the lure of the horror movie—one of them being Humphrey Bogart! Spiderbaby’s very own Beverly Washburn will venture into my lair to discuss her time in horror, as a prelude to my setting loose the spiders that terrorized cinema screens, comic books and the pulps. And before you go, I’ll throw in more of those lurid paperback covers along, with your regular dose of B-movie masterpieces and another selection from the Hammer archive. So if you enjoy the dark side, I dare you to step on into my creepy magazine with editor Peter Normanton, solely cooked up for you retro horror fans!

84-page magazine. Order from TwoMorrows Publishing.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Paris, 1911. One gloomy night at the Museum of Natural History, a pterodactyl escapes from its display and wreaks havoc upon the city. Enter journalist extraordinaire Adèle Blanc-Sec, who must use her wits and firepower to get to the bottom of this bizarre mystery. An enchanting antihero, Adèle is fearless, brash, and thoroughly ill-tempered, smoking and cursing her way through the case -- always barely escaping peril to tell her tale.

Masterful French cartoonist Jacques Tardi created his iconic The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec series in 1976. Set in the atmospheric Belle Époque Paris, the series features supernatural monsters, mad science, steampunk aesthetic, murder, humor, and delightful derring-do. This new collection of classic Adèle stories includes four episodes: "Pterror Over Paris," "The Demon of the Eiffel Tower," "The Mad Scientist," and "Mummies on Parade."

In celebration of Adèle's 50th anniversary, Fantagraphics is thrilled to re-issue these classic stories in luxuriously redesigned hardcover editions. While Fantagraphics published translations of the first four Adèle adventures 15 years ago, this new series will bring the complete 10 episode run of the series into English for the very first time. With an introduction by British journalist and comics historian Cynthia Rose.

196-page hardcover. Order from Bookshop.org.

The Magnificent African Adventure

Is life a stage, and do we just follow a script? Can we rewrite our roles, or must we play along according to the instructions of others? The two stories in this volume, An Author in Search of Six Characters and Days of Wrath, take place in Africa, which author/artist Milo Manara views as the bearer of insight and hope for the rest of the world.

Turning Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" on its head, Manara sets our favorite inept, globe-trotting hero-naif, Giuseppe Bergman (Manara's comics alter ego), off on another quest for adventure. An off-panel director hands out scripts and then disappears. (Are we watching a play or are we in it?) Dedicated to playing his role, Giuseppe is confused when others assert themselves and send the entire scenario spinning out of control. His sexy co-star, Lulu, cast as a bimbo, rewrites herself as the hero, leading us to ponder deeper matters, such as whether we possess true free will or we just think we do. (But watch out! Just when you think the answer is in sight, Manara flips the script once again.)

Giuseppe Bergman's second African adventure begins with Chloe, a winsome nymphet who asks many questions -- about the facts of life (and the fictions, too). Is she really that innocent? Or is she just drawn that way? Manara allows his characters to break the "fourth wall" as Chloe beckons us into an erotic, exotic Fellini-esque romp revolving around young Giuseppe's determination to return a kidnapped child to her tribe. His real motive? To break free and become the hero of his own story, rather than remain the hapless plaything of an omniscient narrator. Part tongue in cheek, part philosophical exploration, Manara lets Chloe wink in and out like a mischievous Tinker Bell, pushing events forward only to then pull them back -- as Giuseppe Bergman struggles to make sense of it all and become the hero he needs to be.

Artist/writer/creator Milo Manara skewers adventure comics and narrative convention itself in this absurdist, sophisticated satire. The Magnificent African Adventure, two complete stories in one volume.

176-page paperback. Order from Bookshop.org.