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New Comics Collected Editions: Superman Silver-Age Omnibus Vol. 1, Teen Titans, 'Masters of the Nefarious: Mollusk Rampage'
Coming Up: 'Wally Wood’s EC Stories Artist’s Edition'
Out Sept. 24. Available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
Wally Wood is the comic art equivalent of Paul McCartney or Elvis, one of the true all time greats. From his brilliant work at EC Comics, Mad Comics and Magazine, to Thunder Agents and his classic early Marvel Daredevil stories, he is firmly entrenched on the Mt. Rushmore of comic artists!
Focuses on one of the all-time greatest comic book artists at the absolute peak of his creative powers: Wally Wood. EC Comics was quite likely the finest comics line ever produced, and Wood, as one of its mainstays, set an incredibly high artistic standard. This volume contains a wonderful selection of stories in original art form by Wood, including My World, Came the Dawn, Mars Is Heaven, He Walked among Us, and more. Additionally, there is a fantastic gallery section of covers by Wood. If you’ve never seen Wood original art, you’ve never seen Wally Wood!
Coming Up: 'The Atlas Artist Edition No. 2: Al Williamson Vol. 1 "The City That Time Forgot" And Other Stories'
Out Oct. 8. Available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
The second volume in Fantagraphics’ series of lavish, over-sized volumes collecting the best work of single artists for the pre-superhero 1950s Marvel Comics, spotlighting industry stalwart Al Williamson (EC Comics, Star Wars, Flash Gordon).
After becoming a professional comics artist in 1948 at the age of 17, by 21 Al Williamson was well-regarded enough as a Western and science-fiction illustrator to be recruited for the EC Comics staff roster - the absolute peak of the field in the 1950s, and a team rarely challenged since. After the Comics Code forced EC to reduce their business, Williamson found himself at the door of Atlas Comics, the largest employer of freelancers in the field.
From 1955-60, Williamson would draw 99 stories for Atlas (both solo and with help by "Fleagle Gang" studio cohorts Angelo Torres and Roy Krenkel, plus Gray Morrow and Ralph Mayo) in mostly western and fantasy genres, with a smattering of war, romance and "jungle girl adventure". He flourished on Westerns, freely and loosely rendered four-page morality plays, many scripted economically by Stan Lee. With his extensive oeuvre subsequently based mostly in newspaper strips (including Flash Gordon, Secret Agent Corrigan, and the syndicated Star Wars, at George Lucas' own request), or working largely as an inker, his Atlas stories collectively are the largest single body of work Williamson would ever do as a primary creator for one company. Fantagraphics is proud to present this Al Williamson Artist Edition to finally showcase this distinct period of his remarkable career.
Full-color illustrations throughout
Coming Up: 'The Atlas Comics Library No. 5: Police Action'
Out Nov. 19 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
Before focusing on tales of justice via superheroes under the Marvel banner, the publisher covered ground-level crime across a range of comics titles and true-crime magazines. Under the Timely imprint from 1947, and Atlas from 1951, up to eleven graphic series including Justice Comics, Official True Crime Cases, All-True Crime, Crime Cases, Crime Can't Win, Crime Must Lose, and Crime Exposed all muscled each other and competitors for space on the newsstands.
For the first crime-themed volume in Fantagraphics' ongoing project to restore and resurrect pre-Marvel pulp classics, the Atlas Library has selected a book that debuted as the genre peaked, just before a Senate hearing and the institution of the Comics Code banned the use of the word "Crime" from even appearing in a comic's title. Escaping that fate, Police Action had a seven-issue run of violent and noir-ish morality plays, pitting the officers of the law against the forces of urban malevolence, and was produced by the cream of the Atlas freelance roster, including Joe Maneely, Robert Q. Sale, Gene Colan, Art Peddy, Mort Lawrence, Werner Roth and Bob Powell.
Rounding the volume off, also presented is a post-Code one-shot, Police Badge #479, a snapshot of the industry's attempts to adapt to new strictures on the genre: here we view "our boys in blue" in the fight against rank corruption, highlighting the work of Don Heck and Joe Maneely.
Coming Up: 'DC Versus Marvel Omnibus' - Collects Comics Company Cross-overs
Out in August. Pre-order it now from Amazon.
Details:
Superman vs. Spider-Man? Batman vs. Captain America? The X-Men meeting the Teen Titans?
These unlikely encounters between the iconic superheroes of DC and Marvel have dominated theoretical fan conversations across comic book shops, message boards, and everywhere in between for years—and in rare but memorable instances, have been made reality through special comics stories co-presented by the two publishers, blurring the lines between the two fictional worlds!
For years, these stories have been out of print and out of reach for most readers—but they’re making their return in DC Versus Marvel Omnibus, collecting everything from 1976’s Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man to 2000’s Batman/Daredevil!
DC Versus Marvel Omnibus includes stories from some of comics’ most revered talents, including Denny O’Neil, George Pérez, Dan Jurgens, Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Gerry Conway, John Romita Jr., and more. DC and Marvel fans alike can’t miss these thrilling pieces of unearthed comic book history!
DC Versus Marvel Omnibus is a companion volume to DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus, presenting the unforgettable one-shots that combined DC and Marvel’s heroes, villains, and mythologies.
This volume collects Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, DC Special Series #27, Marvel and DC Present: Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Batman/Captain America #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Superman/Fantastic Four #1, Incredible Hulk Vs. Superman #1, and Batman/Daredevil #1.
New Comics Collected Editions: Moon Knight, Doctor Who, Donald and Mickey, More
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New Comics Collected Editions: Batman, Conan, Eerie, Luke Cage
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New Comics Collected Editions: The Question Omnibus Vol. 2, Handbook of the Marvel Universe Omnibus, Marvel February 1964 Omnibus, More
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Coming Up: 'The Atlas Comics Library No. 4: War Comics Vol. 1' (The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library)
Out Aug. 13 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
Forged in the crucible of the Korean War, and produced by veterans of the Second World War, this volume's eight issues present the brutality and grimness of armed combat by some of Atlas' most notable war artists and future comics stars including Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Dave Berg, Jay Scott Pike, Mike Sekowsky, Vern Henkel, Allen Bellman, Pete Morisi and Norman Steinberg.
Propaganda abounds from the very first story, published in War Comics #1 in September 1950: "Peril in Korea," a primer explaining why the USA joined the conflict. Other highlights include Colan's "The Chips are Down" and "Victory," Heath's "Alone" and "No Survivors," Maneely's "Stormy Weather," Henkel's "Total Destruction," and Berg's “The Infantry's War."
Originally a trial spun off from the publisher's "Men's Adventure" publications, in the nine years to follow, Atlas went on to produce 533 comic book issues with war content, across 34 different titles. War Comics is where it all began ― unseen in decades, scanned from the original books, restored and packaged as one large, beautiful hardcover volume.
Coming Up: 'The Atlas Comics Library No. 3: In the Days of the Rockets!' (The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library)
Out May 28 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
In the vein of earlier comics-to-multimedia stars Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, Atlas Comics launched their own pulp hero in 1951, looking ahead to the futuristic year 2000. Across five issues of Space Squadron (and one of Space Worlds), headline talents including George Tuska, Werner Roth and Allen Bellman (with back-up features by Joe Maneely, Christopher Rule, George Klein and Vern Henkel) showed Captain Jet Dixon and his Space Squadron blasting into action, facing cosmic threats like "The Armada of Death," "The Space Demons," "Terror from the Deep," "The Temptress of Jupiter," and "The Midnight Horror."
Come 1953, Hank Chapman and Joe Maneely gazed further into the future, envisioning the distant year 2075 and the adventures of Speed Carter, Spaceman. Scripted throughout by Chapman, Maneely launched and drew the first three issues before handing off one issue each to Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska and Bob Forgione, with back-up features by John Romita, Maneely, and Bill Savage. As other aspects of the Atlas line leaned into the peak of pre-Code horror, the Captain of the Space Sentinels and young cadet Johnny Day battled monstrous aliens with stories including "The Space Trap," "A Slaughter in Space," "Die, Spaceman, Die," and "The Thing in Outer Space."
Unseen in 70 years, scanned in high resolution, restored to perfection and packaged as one extra-sized, beautiful hardcover volume, In the Days of the Rockets! will open a wormhole to the early cold-war four-color era of futuristic science fantasy.
Coming Up: 'The Complete Web of Horror'
Out June 23 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
In 1969, a feisty new comics magazine emerged to rival the popular horror magazines Creepy and Eerie: Web of Horror. Conceived by a plucky, independent publisher, Web of Horror showcased instant classics of horror and science fiction by such rising stars of comic art as Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Bruce Jones, Ralph Reese, Frank Brunner, Roger Brand, and Wayne Howard, as well as seasoned veterans such as Syd Shores and Norman Nodel, illustrating stories written by Otto Binder, Nicola Cuti, and others.
Now, over 50 years later, Fantagraphics presents the complete Web of Horror in one expertly edited and designed volume. In addition to all three published issues, this collection includes over a dozen stories intended for subsequent issues that have been rarely or never-before published, several long thought to be lost and recently unearthed. Among these “lost” stories is Wrightson’s “The Monster Jar,” lovingly restored by Frederic Manzano.
The Complete Web of Horror also features a wealth of historical and contextual essays, including the Foreword by original Web of Horror editor and science fiction novelist Terry Bisson; an account of the magazine’s origin by the late Clark Dimond; the history of the magazine’s rise and baffling demise by collection editor Dana Marie Andra; reminiscences by fanzine publishers Robert Lewis and Robert Gerson; and an Afterword by Richard J. Arndt.
Coming Up: 'Love and Rockets: The Sketchbooks'
Out April 23 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
Both Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez developed their skills as artists in public, in the pages of Love and Rockets, and as quickly as any artists ever have. The first issue showed two promising young tyros; by the fourth, both brothers were clearly among the foremost cartoonists of their generation. But not all of that development took place on the main stage of their shared magazine. They built up to their 1981 self-published debut with years of experiments, fan art, zine illustrations, early short comics, and gig posters, and continued to work out in personal sketchbooks after establishing themselves as the preeminent cartoonists they became.
Fantagraphics published two volumes of this nascent or private drawing in 1989 and 1992. Now, this deluxe hardcover collects the work from these two volumes with other rarely-seen artwork for a new generation of admirers. It's presented as a dual-sided flip book with one cover, and one half of the book, featuring Jaime's work and a second cover, and other half of the book, highlighting Gilbert's work. The Hernandez Brothers’ mastery of comics is seen on every page of the thousands of pages of Love and Rockets they’ve drawn over the last 40 years. Here, for the first time in three decades, see the work they put into becoming those artists.
New Comics Collected Editions: Iron Fist Omnibus, Weird Science Archives
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New Comics Collected Editions: Rom Omnibus, Marvel Two-in-One Epic Collection, Creepy
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Coming Up: 'Space Western Comics: Cowboys vs. Aliens, Commies, Dinosaurs, & Nazis!'
Out in September and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
With stories by Walter Gibson, famed creator/writer of The Shadow pulps, and art by John Belfi, Stan Campbell, and Lou Morales, Space Western Comics were one of the weirdest, most fun comics series of the '50s and are collected and restored here, including a "lost" story! Profusely illustrated intro by Eisner-award winning comics historian Craig Yoe. To Arizona . . . and beyond!
New Comics Collected Editions: Joe Maneely Atlas Artist Edition, Black Panther - Look Homeward, Avenger
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New Comics Collected Editions: John Romita Spider-Man Dailies Artist Edition, Madame Web, Epic Doctor Strange, More
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New Comics Collected Editions: John Byrne X-Men Artist's Edition, Wonder Man Omnibus, Dr. Strange by Mark Waid
New Comics Collected Editions: Epic Iron Man, Savage Sword of Conan
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Coming Up: 'Dave Cockrum's X-Men Artist's Edition'
Out in July 2024. Pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
This collection is a celebration of some of the most explosive art in X-Men history. Included in this stellar Artist’s Edition are more than 100 pages from Dave Cockrum’s initial run, selections from his return to the series, and an amazing gallery of sketches and covers. See the Giant-Size X-Men #1 cover as the artist originally imagined it!
An Artist’s Edition publishes scans of original art at a high resolution and prints it at the same size it was drawn. While appearing to be in black and white, these images were scanned in color, allowing the viewer the best possible look at the artist’s intentions. You are able to see blue pencil notations, corrections, margin notes, and all the little nuances that make original art so unique and special. The only better way to view comic art is if you were standing over the artist’s shoulder as they were laboring at their drawing table.