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Editor's Choice:
 STEPHEN KING: THE DARK TOWER - THE BATTLE OF TULL
Marvel Comics HB
Acclaimed artist and Eisner Award nominee Michael Lark (Daredevil, Gotham Central) joins the superstar writing team of Peter David & Robin Furth for Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – The Battle Of Tull . Lark joins the acclaimed team of Peter David, Robin Furth and Richard Isanove in the select group of creators entrusted by Stephen King himself to bring the adult adventures of his most personal creation to life in Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – The Battle Of Tull! Longtime fans and newcomers alike are sure to be amazed as Lark’s take on the grit and grandeur of Mid-World this June with an outright merciless tale that sets in motion the fateful journey of Roland Deschain. “I have nothing but respect and admiration for Stephen King and the chance to work on the Dark Tower is a wonderful privilege,” said Lark. “I only hope that I can come close to conveying his vision – a daunting task, but a challenge that I'm enjoying tremendously. It has allowed me to explore the darker aspects of my art and really start pushing some of the boundaries of my own style. And who doesn't love drawing cowboys and horses?!” The Man in Black has lured Roland to a barren saloon town and, once there, he’ll realize than even a stone cold killer is no match for the horrors of the Dark Tower! Why does a dead man still walk the streets of Tull and, why are this town’s living, breathing citizens a far greater threat? The baddest man in Mid-World is about to find out that the true price of his quest can only be paid in spent shells and innocent blood. After seven volumes of background history, Marvel at last tackle the first chapters of King's ground-breaking and seminal work which began with the immortal words: The Man in Black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed... And they celebrate the beginning of the world's finest fantasy series in style, with the fantastic artwork of Michael Lark - a distinct change in style from the rather strange and wonderful artwork of the previous volumes. I have one problem with this volume, however, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the content, which is simply sublime. It is with the cover. Why, oh why have Marvel changed the spine? The first seven volumes look like just that - volumes in a series, uniform, dark and subtle. Now, with THE BATTLE OF TULL, they plonk a dirty great red Marvel logo at the top. Why would they do this? We all know it's a Marvel publication, and in doing this they have marked this volume as being totally different to the others. It stands out like a sore thumb, it doesn't look uniform, and it doesn't look right. Someone at Marvel must have taken an executive decision to do this, and it was the wrong decision. Now to the content: the story is told beautifully, as always, and lends itself perfectly to graphic novel, or comic book adaptation, although I don't remember Allie, the woman Roland beds in Tull, as being quite as savagely scarred as Lark portrays her. His Roland, however, does look a little ordinary, and not at all the same style of portrayal as the previous books. I guess this is a continuity problem. If you commission a new artist, you have to allow him to portray the protagonist in his own way. I would have preferred to see a Roland who looked a little more like Eddie in Marvel's other Stephen King adaptation, THE STAND. But other than that, it's perfect. It enhances one's enjoyment of the books by helping you to visualise things, one of the great benefits of comic book art. A great addition to the collection, but they should have left the spinal design well alone.
 TOM TULLY & JOE COLQUHOUN: JOHNNY RED - RED DEVIL RISING
Titan Books HB
Britain's best-loved aerial combat comic returns in a gorgeous library
edition! Continuing the adventures of Johnny Redburn, discharged from the RAF
for striking an officer. Taking to the skies in a stolen Hurricane, he meets the
Falcon Squadron of the 5th Soviet Air Brigade, and begins his fight against
Germany from the other side of the Iron Curtain! The classic series by Tom Tully
(Roy of the Rovers) and Joe Colquhoun (Charleys War) includes a feature by
comics legend Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher, War Stories).
 JOE JUSKO: THE ART OF JOE JUSKO
IDW Publishing HB
Back in print! This book offers readers and fans a chance to witness Joe
Jusko''s immense and phenomenal career from the past 25 years, offering glimpses
of previously never-before-seen material from his files and sketchbooks, his
enormously popular comic work, covers and illustrations from his book publishing
career, as well as beautifully reproduced images of his personal favorites and
insights into his life and creative process.
Joe Jusko is, quite simply, utterly brilliant, and this book showcases his work to perfection. Inspired by the great John Buscema and Frank Frazetta, his early work in high school exhibits such fantastic promise that it's difficult to believe that he was, for a time, a New York policeman. For me, his Vampirella paintings are the best there are. He makes her look like the girl next door you always fancied, totally beautiful and innocent-looking, yet seductive and at the same time unavailable. If you know the legend of Vampirella, you'll know what I mean. She's a refugee from an alien world where they drink blood, and she's so far removed from Dracula and Stephen King's monstrous vampire in Salem's Lot you wouldn't believe it. And no one does her quite like Joe. The same goes for his Conans, his Lady Pendragon and Red Sonja, and for his Tarzans, and his Dejah Thorises and John Carters, and it's no surprise to me that his paintings adorn the WARLORD OF MARS and WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS comics that have taken the world by storm in the run-up to the March 2012 release of the John Carter film. This most magnificent book even contains Joe's reasoning behind his depictions of the Green Tharks of Mars's anatomy, and it's no surprise to me that the tharks in Andrew Stanton's forthcoming blockbuster are similar to Joe's - it would be great to hear that he had maybe advised the directors of the film on how the tharks should look! I've been raving about Joe Jusko's paintings (and his sequential comic book art too, of course), for more than ten years now, and this amazing book, more than 300 pages, contains some of his very finest work. He is modest and unassuming, raving himself about Buscema and Frazetta, and one of his pictures, of LA OF OPAR with JANE PORTER semi-naked on the altar (in a scene from THE RETURN OF TARZAN, and exactly how Burroughs wrote it and how I pictured it in my head - the stuff of dreams) is a trade-off with the inimitable FRANK CHO for a Cho piece he himself craved) and shown below, is just one of many highlights in this fantastic book. I'm used to handling and reviewing books by and about fantasy artists - just in the December issue I had the great Christopher Foss, and the month before the equally great DREW STRUZAN. But this massive, heavyweight tome of Joe Jusko paintings is utterly sublime - the icing on the cake. It's a fine art book, showcasing the genius of one of the world's greatest living artists. I knew the book would be stunning, I knew that most of the paintings in it would just blow me away. He is amazing, he is, for me, the people's fantasy painter. He is a living legend. Below are just a couple of paintings from the book. You'll understand what I mean when you see them, I guess... I have to say that this is the perfect excuse for me to be able to exhibit a couple of Joe's stunning paintings as part of a review, in Books Monthly - I've waited for this moment since I discovered him all those years ago! A-ma-zing!
Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Book Distributors
 THE DYNAMITE ART OF ALEX ROSS
Dynamite Entertainment HB
Alex Ross has made his home at Dynamite Entertainment for the past several
years with the creation of his own universe in Project Superpowers. Having
produced many other illustrations for Dynamite comic books like Green Hornet and
Vampirella, and having reunited with his Marvels collaborator, Kurt Busiek, with
Kirby: Genesis, there can be no argument that Alex Ross is as popular and
dynamite as ever! Collecting all of Alex''s Dynamite cover and interior art in
one complete hardcover volume, along with commentary and special bonus material,
this is a package not to be missed!
Alex Ross did the cover for the first issue of WARRIORS OF MARS comic. I recognised his style immediately, because he is one of the very best photo-realistic fantasy art painters in the world, and this is another amazing book, this time from DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT showcasing his brilliant portfolio of comic book characters and paintings. The spiel above refers to the book collecting all of his Dynamite cover and interior art in one complete volume, and yet I believe there may be another volume in the making, because it seems somehow incomplete. I know that his Superman and Batman paintings are for DC Comics, and that he's probably also done stuff for Marvel too, but there's a hint at the back of the book that there is more to come... Ordinarily this book would be my Editor's Choice for January - it just happens to come at a time when I have the amazing Joe Jusko book to hand, thanks to Diamond Book Distributors, and whilst I love Alex Ross's work, Joe would always win for me. No offence, Alex, just a personal preference! I used to rave about BORIS VALLEJO, and at the time he was producing his best work, with ERB covers for ACE BOOKS in the 1970s, he was untouchable. But the muscle-bound heroes and heroines of his later years, heavily influenced, I would guess, by his wife JULIE BELL, have lost him ground as Joe Jusko and younger artists have surfaced. I still love Boris. He is unique, and will possibly remain the most popular. But the new kids on the block, showcased in these two amazing volumes reviewed in this issue, are going to take some beating. ALEX ROSS is brilliant. JOE JUSKO is brilliant-plus, sort of like "A" grade and "A*" for Jusko. These are books I will pore over again and again, drinking in the beauty of the colours and the subject matter - here again, I have to say that Joe Jusko wins hands down, because the vast majority of his works are paintings - cover art, whilst Alex's art is more comic-book orientated. I am proud and privileged to own both, and to have both arrive in one package courtesy of my very good friends at DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIBUTORS was like a perfect dream. These are not just popular art, they're fine art. They are artworks the people want, the kind of paintings that influence their dreams. Nowadays comics and pulp fiction are acceptable literature. Back in the 1970s, they were frowned upon by the establishment and dismissed as second-rate. I believe it was Edgar Rice Burroughs and Frazetta and Boris's paintings that changed that perception and encouraged thousands of talented young artists to pursue their dreams. Two of the very finest artists working today are Joe Jusko and Alex Ross. These two fine art books showcase their talent, their commitment, and their pure genius.
Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Book Distributors
 RED SONJA: REVENGE OF THE GODS
Dynamite PB (Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors)
Defeat is eating away at the trickster god Loki. He hates being banished to
the barbaric, backward lands of Hyboria. He hates the food, the wine, the
women... and he hates Red Sonja most of all for putting him in the position! He
dreams of revenge, and putting this backwater land under his heel. Sometimes
dreams come true. The sequel to Red Sonja: Wrath of the Gods, this trade
paperback collects the 5-issue series, along with bonus material and a complete
cover gallery.
Larger-than-life warrior-woman who briefly appeared in a Conan story by Robert E Howard now has her own series of comic-book adventures and her trade-mark silver chain-mail bikini (barely adequate to protect her, you would think, from her adversaries and from the weather of Hyperboria and Cimmeria) are the stuff of male dreams. This adventure showcases her perfectly - the drawing is exquisite (though not of the standard of the painters, notable Joe Jusko and Boris Vallejo, of course) and the facial expressions in particular are a joy to behold. Brilliant.
Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Book Distributors
 1001 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE
Cassell Illustrated Softback
Over the centuries, comic books and their offshoots, such as graphic novels,
and bandes dessinees have evolved into a phenomenally popular, influential, and
unique art form with which we can express our opinions, our fantasies, our
nightmares, and our dreams. In short: comics are emphatically no longer just for
kids. This diverse, constantly evolving medium is truly coming into its own in
the 21st century, from Hollywood's blockbuster adaptations of super-powered
caped crusaders to the global spread of Japan's manga and its spinoffs, and from
award-winning graphic novels such as Maus and Persepolis to new forms such as
online webcomix. But comics also have a long and rich history, dating back at
least to the Swiss teacher Rodolphe Topffer in the early 19th century, and far
earlier in China. 1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die is the perfect
introduction to this dynamic and globally popular medium. There have been other
guides to the best comic books, but none has embraced every genre and scoured
the globe to glean the very greatest works of sequential art, graphic
literature, bandes dessinees, tebeos, fumetti, manga, manhwa, komiks, strips,
historietas, quadrinhos, beeldverhalen, and plain old comics. This authoritative
guide is organized according to the year of first publication in the country of
origin. An opening section acknowledges pioneering pre-1900 masterpieces,
followed by sections divided by decade, creating a fascinating year-by-year
chronicle of the comics medium worldwide.
A stonking great book on a subject dear to my heart - comics. At one time they were a dirty word, and there are still people who believe that comics are cheap and nasty, second-grade, second-class, cheap literature that has no place in our world. These people are wrong. This wonderful book is a celebration of a brilliant art form - just look at all the wonderful adventure films that have been inspired by comics - we would not have had Indiana Jones without comics, that's a certainty. I don't always agree with the author's choices - personal tastes have to come into any selection like this, of course, that's only natural. I was surprised, however, that there was no mention of RED SONJA, JOHN CARTER OF MARS, DEJAH THORIS, or the brilliant Marvel adaptations of the Stephen King classics THE STAND and THE DARK TOWER. But those would be my personal choices, and not the author's, and in any case, I am reading them before I die, so that's OK! The illustrations are superb, the descriptions are second to none - this is, as I say, a brilliant celebration of the comic book, comprehensive and entertaining. Absolutely stunning. Be warned, though, it's a massive book, and the softback binding isn't really up to the job - I've already had to shore mine up with magic tape. If you're planning on reading this book, take good care of it, because it could do with being a hardback, and is quite fragile in its softback state. Don't let that put you off buying it - it's great!
 THE BEST OF THE VICTOR BOOK FOR BOYS (Published by Carlton - Available to buy from all good bookstores and online)
2011 is the fiftieth anniversary year of 'The Victor' comic, Britain's 'top
boys' paper for War, Sport and Adventure'. Following 2010's successful
publication of "The Best of the Victor", Prion's sequel is this rip-roaring
anthology of the best stories from "The Victor Book for Boys", which was the
bestselling DC Thomson annual published from 1964 to 1994. In its heyday in the
1960s "The Victor comic" sold over half a million copies a week, with "The
Victor Book for Boys" selling over a quarter of a million copies a year. DC
Thomson's long-serving editor Morris Heggie has selected the very best and most
evocative two-colour stories and picture stories from the 31 annuals to make one
crackingly good nostalgiafest that will appeal not only to Britain's millions of
grown-up Victor fans but also to their children who can be introduced to these
Best of British comic-strip adventure yarns for the very first time. Published in hardback by Prion, £12.99. Available to buy from all good bookstores and online.
If you wanted to recreate an authentic 1950s/1960s Christmas then this is the way to do it. No one does this sort of thing better than Carlton/Prion. This is the second Victor book they've produced, this one is a replica of the kind of annual we used to get at Christmas - over 150 pages of top-flight entertainment, with picture strip and text stories featuring all our favourite characters from the Victor comic. You would read it while the grown-ups snored their way through Christmas Day afternoon, stuffed full of turkey and booze (the men having come back from the pub too late to appreciate the cooking skills of Mums, Aunts and Grans), and then you'd read it again, from cover to cover, and you'd keep coming back to it for days afterwards. Top value, unlike the cheap, shoddy annuals they publish nowadays - I'm not knocking the publishers - they're only publishing what the public apparently wants. But you can pick up annuals like this from the 1950s and 1960s every week at car boot sales for anything from £1 to £5, and they are fantastic value. Mind you, having said that, reading was a major part of our lives back then, for there was little TV, no computers, no MP3s, no games machines other than those you found in the seaside arcades. I loved receiving annuals at Christmas, they kept me amused for weeks, and when I'd finished mine, I'd pinch my sister's and read hers - anything to read was something to be treasured. Now Carlton/Prion have turned the clock back and produced a fantastic replica annual, once more an item to be treasured. Above all, to be read, but then to be treasured. Worth its weight in gold, this one, and a strong contender for my book of the year, which is revealed on the home page...
 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS
Dynamite Comics PB (Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors)
Martians live forever - everyone knows that. So what was Dejah Thoris doing
all those hundreds of years before John Carter arrived? Four hundred years
before the events of Warlord of Mars took place, Dejah''s nation of Helium was
divided into two warring city-states. An unscrupulous overlord from afar
encouraged that rivalry to his own advantage, until he discovers a terrible
secret from Mars''s ancient past beneath Dejah Thoris'' capital. A secret to
kill for! Collecting the first five issues of the hit series in one volume, with
bonus material and a complete cover gallery from artists such as Art Adams, Joe
Jusko, Paul Renaud, Sean Chen, and Ale Garza. Amazing artwork of near-naked female warriors - next year it will be all about the John Carter of Mars movie, and in preparation, Dynamite have commissioned two comic book series, Warlord of Mars, which tells the original story of how John Carter made the transition from a cave in Arizona to an ancient Mars populated by six-limbed green Martians and humanoid red Martians.. but everyone now knows, or they should, that all the indigenous population of Mars is long-lived, and this beautiful trade paperback relates the previous adventures of Princess of Helium Dejah Thoris, and her family as they battle with not only another faction of red Martians but also the Green Martians, the tharks, and everything else the planet has to throw at them. The artwork depicts the red Martians in just about exactly the way I pictured them when I first read the Martian series. The amazing Joe Jusko provides one set of fantastic cover artwork, with Paul Renaud a second set, and I'm torn between which I like best. Utterly captivating, just what fantasy fans dream of, a feast of naked female warriors, a great story, so colourful. Grateful thanks to Diamond for providing me with a review copy!
Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Book Distributors
 WARLORD OF MARS
Dynamite Comics PB (Review copy Kindly supplied by Diamond Comics Distributors) PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT
The original warrior of Mars comes to Dynamite! Warlord of Mars is an
enhancement of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs story, Princess of Mars. If you
thought you knew the story, think again! Featuring John Carter, an ex-cavalry
officer in the Confederate Army who finds himself mysteriously transported to
Mars, joined on his adventures by Tars Tarkas, his Martian comrade, and Dejah
Thoris, a Martian Princess. Collects the first 8-issues of the hit series, along
with bonus material and a complete cover gallery featuring such great artists as
Alex Ross, Joe Jusko, J. Scott Campbell, Lucio Parrillo, and more.
Brilliant! With the John Carter of Mars movie just 4-5 months away, this is a timely reminder of how visually stunning Edgar Rice Burroughs's original story is. The book A PRINCESS OF MARS describes the red Martian princess as wearing nothing except her jewellery, and in this terrific visualisation in graphic novel form, Arvid Nelson gives us just that. We know that the film can't go that far, and that the costumes will be rather more conservative, but at least with this beautifully printed trade paperback from Dynamite, you get a feel for what Burroughs had in mind a hundred years ago when he first conceived the idea of John Carter and the love of his life Dejah Thoris. My only regret is that it's a paperback, and probably won't stand the test of time in the same way the Marvel Stephen King collections will.. But hey, it's getting Burroughs noticed in a way we wouldn't have thought possible a few years back.
Review copy kindly supplied by Diamond Book Distributors
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Graphic Novels and Comic Book Reviews
