We've looked at
DC's and
Marvel's offerings for April. Here's a look at highlights from other publishers. Click the title links to order discounted books from Amazon.
CREEPY ARCHIVES VOL. 4Pulpy, smart, and scary, the stories in Creepy constituted some of the best short-form horror fiction ever told in comics. With legendary comics writer/editor Archie Goodwin both editing the magazine and crafting most of its storytelling, Creepy was at once a newsstand favorite with fright fans, and a vaunted showcase of fine comics art for serious fans of the art form. For decades, the only sources for these stories were the expensive collectible original issues. Now Dark Horse is collecting all of the original material from the history of Creepy magazine into a hardcover archive library that is garnering rave reviews from fans and critics alike! * Grab your bleeding glasses and crack open this fourth big volume, collecting Creepy issues #16-#20.
TRUMP: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
Launched in January 1957 by Harvey Kurtzman and Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, Trump partnered Kurtzman with many of his "usual gang of idiots" from his time at MAD - famous humor artists such as Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, and Wally Wood. They were joined by such dynamic humorists as Arnold Roth, comedians Mel Brooks and Doodles Weaver, and TV writer and novelist Max Shulman (creator of the character Dobie Gillis, who appeared in dozens of stories, a movie, and the popular TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis). Though it lasted only two issues, this first effort after Kurtzman's historic split from Mad was the breeding ground for the magazines Humbug and Help! - and would ultimately lead to the more than thirty-year run of Kurtzman and Will Elder's landmark character Little Annie Fanny in the pages of Playboy magazine. * Trump! reprints the only two issues of the magazine, released in January and March of 1957 and features the contributions of Harvey Kurtzman, Harry Chester, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, Wally Wood, Arnold Roth, Russ Heath, Mel Brooks, Doodles Weaver, Max Shulman, and many others.
SAGA OF SOLOMON KANE From his pulp-fiction origins in Weird Tales to his latest Dark Horse incarnation, Robert E. Howard's sixteenth-century Puritan adventurer has captured the imaginations of readers for decades. Now all of the Savage Sword of Conan short stories from the 1970s are collected for the first time: equal parts comics adaptations of Howard's formative tales and inspired new chapters from venerable scribes Roy Thomas (Conan the Barbarian) and Don Glut (Kull the Destroyer)! Follow along Kane's restless travels with pistol and rapier as he is compelled to be a weapon of God, ridding the world of evil wherever it may be found - from the jungles of Africa to the high seas, and whether cannibal, demon, vampire, or pirate! * Contains short stories from various Savage Sword of Conan and Conan Saga issues, and from Kull and the Barbarians #2 and #3, Marvel Preview #19, Monsters Unleashed, and Dracula Lives.
PRINCE VALIANT VOL. 1: 1937-1938Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Prince Valiant has previously been widely available only in re-colored, somewhat degraded editions (now out of print and fetching collectors' prices). Thanks to advances in production technology and newly available original proof sheets, this new series from the industry leader in quality strip classics is the first to feature superb restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster's original masterpiece. Comic strip aficionados will be ecstatic, and younger readers who enjoy a classic adventure yarn will be bowled over. Book One will be rounded out with a rare, in-depth classic Foster interview previously available only in a long out-of-print issue of The Comics Journal.
ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN Harvey Kurtzman had a Midas touch for talent, but was himself an astonishingly talented and influential artist, writer, editor, and satirist. Heralded as "One of the most important figures in postwar America" by the New York Times, Kurtzman's groundbreaking "realistic" war comics of the early '50s and various satirical publications (MAD, Trump, Humbug, and Help!) had an immense impact on popular culture, inspiring a generation of underground cartoonists. The first and only authorized celebration of this "Master of American Comics," The Art of Harvey Kurtzman includes hundreds of never-before-seen illustrations, paintings, pencil sketches, newly discovered lost E.C. Comics layouts, color compositions, illustrated correspondence, and vintage photos from the rich Kurtzman archives.
STAR TREK COMIC BOOK HISTORY Alan J. Porter Boldly goes where no book has gone before! Now for the first time the complete history of the Star Trek universe in comic books and newspaper strips all over the world. Written by pop-culture historian Alan J. Porter, author of the bestselling James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007, Star Trek: A Comic Book History features nine information-packed chapters detailing the history of Star Trek in comic books and newspaper strips from the first Gold Key comic books and English newspaper strip, to Marvel and DC's titles, and up to the present day.
BATCAVE COMPANION(Michael Eury, the writer/editor of the critically acclaimed The Krypton Companion, and Michael Kronenberg team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in The Batcave Companion! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight's progression from his campy "New Look" of the mid-1960s to his "creature of the night" reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Dennis O'Neil, and Neal Adams, and guest essays by Mike W. Barr and Will Murray. Contributors include Sheldon Moldoff, Len Wein, Steve Englehart, and Terry Austin, with a special tribute to the late Marshall Rogers. With its incisive introduction by Dennis O'Neil and its iconic cover painting by Neal Adams, The Batcave Companion is a must-have for every comics fan!
