Off The Shelf: Hello, Cruel World

At first, Hello Cruel World by Indianapolis artist Ron Braun seems to simply follow a small group of friends as they struggle to adapt to life after college, but things start to go a little supernatural after a mysterious stranger appears in their lives!

Fans of all things zombie and vampire will love this collection that features the entire run of the Hello Cruel World and Dakk Waggitt, Platypus For Hire! comic strips, original concept sketches, guest and fan art, promotional material, never-before-seen strips, celebrity fan photos and much more.

You can get your own copy for only $9.99 here and if you use the coupon code FALLBOOKS at LULU and you can get another 20% off that price!

References:

• Toon-It-Up, Graphic Novels
• LULU Store, Hello, Cruel World

Off The Shelf: Dead Man's Run

Written by acclaimed 'Hulk' writer Greg Pak and Art by Tony Parker, Walking Dead producer Gale Ann Hurd, and Tony Parker, penciller of the Eisner-nominated 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Phillip K. Dick), comes this winter's biggest blockbuster new series - DEAD MAN'S RUN!

They call the prison 'Hell.' And they just might be right. The nation's toughest soldier heads into the world's most deadly maximum security lock-up and uncovers a world of terror and temptation beyond his darkest dreams. Featuring a brand-new 12-page story that sets the stage for next month's upcoming premiere of DEAD MAN'S RUN #1, make sure to get in on the ground floor of this newest exciting Aspen hit series!

Complete with an additional sketchbook section showcasing the astounding artwork of series artist Tony Parker, never before seen character designs and sketches, and surrounded by a stunning new cover, this special zero issue is definitely not to be missed!

References:

• Greg Pak.com, Pak Buzz
• PDX Comic Geeks, Dead Man's Run #0
• Friends of The Dallas Public Library, Greg Pak Nov. 4th!

Off The Shelf: Take A Joke

Volume #3 of the notorious Angry Youth Comix serves up some of the most pointedly politically incorrect strips from Johnny's Ryan's work - including the infamous "Rape Tank" bit from Angry Youth Comix Vol. 2 #14 plus Loady, Sinus, Waqi Iraqi and the whole demented gang.

Artist Johnny Ryan's Angry Youth Comix was originally self-published and released as a series of ten issues from 1994 to 1999. In 1998, Ryan's work came to the attention of Peter Bagge, creator of Hate comics, who introduced the material to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics where the series was picked up and published by Fantagraphics starting in 2001.

This 160 page color and black and white collection also features some of Ryan's more bizarre ventures into talking condiments, sci-fi ass assassination (it exists), time machines and even horror - which for the record has always been a pretty strong component of his work.


References:

• Wikipedia, The Angry Yutes
• Johnny Ryan, Angry Youth Comix
• Hyper Geek, Johnny Ryan's Take A Joke

Off The Shelf: Mad Man

The Allred's Mad Man series combines many genres (sci-fi, superhero, horror) with an emphasis on carpal tunneling defying artwork.

A lot of the time, if you tell anyone that you "like comics" you'll end up with the ol' glassy eyed stare. A befuddling fog rolls right over your hapless listener, as you gleefully describe what gives you the jollies about comics. As you drone on they'll inevitably tune out as they wonder why in the name of God a grown man is gibbering on about some called Mr. Natural, Art Adams or Galactus in a less than healthy manner.

What kept me in comics, while my friends and family went about their lives in the real world of dead end jobs, sports bars, offspring and being married were books like Mad Man. Mad Man is a character created by Mike Allred, a former tv reporter and rock guitarist turned artist and illustrator. Mad Man made his first appearance in a one-off called Creatures of the Id in October of 1990. After going through another four years of limited release one-shots and mini-series Mad Man was given his own title run of 20 issues at Dark Horse from 1994 to 2000. Seven years after the Dark Horse run ended, in 2007, in a time when comics were finding it harder and harder to compete with World of Warcraft, XBox and iGadgetry Madman Atomic Comics 1 through 17 were released by Image up until 2009.

Mad Man is enjoying another Renaissance in 2011 with IMDB reporting a movie being in production for 2012. However, dubiously, there's no "official" word on whether this film is live-action or animation...



References:

• Wikipedia, Mad Man
• Blogspot, Allred Art!
• AAA Pop, Allred HQ

Off The Shelf: Swallow Me Whole

Swallow Me Whole is a 216 page graphic novel by Nate Powell. First published by Top Shelf Comix in 2008, the book was the 2009 Eisner Award winner for Best Graphic Novel, winner of 2008's Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut and nominated for an L.A. Times Book Prize.

The book deals with a family strained with dysfunction and mental illness. It's has gotten a lot of positive reviews from national and international reviewers. Forbidden Planet, a web zine in the U.K., calls Swallow Me Whole a: "- hypnotically dark tale that slowly, quietly and masterfully tells a story that will demand multiple readings. All the way through Swallow Me Whole there’s a desperate sense of lives spiralling out of control." The New York Times in a rare turn towards the accurate called the book: "Scaldingly dark ... Powell’s flowing, impressionistic artwork, with its ravenous expanses of negative space, swirls the reader’s perspective through his characters’ perceptions...".^[0]

Powell's art style uses a thin line to describe form and sparse color to create depth. He describes himself on his site See My Brother Dance as: " - born in 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas... began self-publishing comics and zines in 1992 at age 14, and graduated from The School of Visual Arts (in New York City) in 2000." Today, Powell lives and works in the Bloomington, Indiana area and also play venues around America as part of an alt-rock band called Universe.

Notes:
[0] = Quote directly from Douglas Wolk's 2008 review of Swallow Me Whole for The New York Times.

References:

• See My Brother Dance, Art + Comics by Nate Powell
• Blogspot, See My Brother Dance
• Top Shelf Comix, Swallow Me Whole
• Forbidden Planet, Tales of Extraordinary Madness
• Daily Crosshatch, Nate Powell Interview

Off The Shelf: Hard Rock Heroes

This 240-page graphic novel was released in March of 2010 by Blue Water Productions who also published Female Force: Margaret Thatcher, Logan's Run and have a Joan Jett comic coming out in June. This Hard Rock book features the biggest, dumbest bands in mainstream rock from 1980 to 1990.

This book, based on the unauthorized biographies originally put together by Todd Loren who was killed at age 32 in San Diego in 1992, covers that special time in music when big hair and men-in-women's make-up ruled mainstream rock with a curling iron, mopey choruses and dopey-eyed fans who affirmed the fact that yes, every rose really does have a thorn, player.

While this humble writer (and a few others) ran screaming from Glam Rock to bands like Dinosaur, Slayer, Ministry and the Butthole Surfers - America was dominated by bands featured in Hard Rock Heroes: Skid Row, Poison, Guns 'N Roses, Megadeth and Tesla - the absolute worst of cock/glam rock scene.

The book is terrible, but it's terrible in a way that will make your sides aches as you watch Ozzy mistakenly scarf on a live bat in Iowa or the boys from Poison "show just how much heart a band can have". There are also a few treats/fun facts for fans of Metallica, Faith No More and Pantera in the book which has art by many different artists including Dave Biggs (Megadeth), Lyndal Ferguson (Snotley Crue) and Mark Erickson (Black Sabbath and Ozzy).

References:

• Blue Water Productions, Home
• Amazon,Hard Rock Heroes

Off The Shelf: Torso

In Depression era Cleveland circa 1935, a series of unbelievably grisly murders took place that to this day have never been solved. The killings involved the brutal dismemberment of 14 men and women who were reduced to anonymous torsos. Many of the "Butcher's" victims were known only as John Doe. A total of seven John Doe torsos were recovered in the Cleveland, Ohio area never to be identified.

Brian Bendis and Marc Andreyko re-create the story of The Cleveland Torso Murders by focusing on investigator Elliot Ness, famous for going on the offensive against organized crime in Chicago and hired as a Public Safety Officer for Cleveland. Elliot Ness spent the final years of his career in law enforcement futilely attempting to solve the Cleveland Torso Murders. The mini-series won the 1999 Eisner Award for Comic Book Excellence.

The six comic mini-series was originally published by Image/Jinx in 1998 and 1999 and is now available in one complete 280 page collection at Amazon. Additionally, two new books dealing with the Cleveland Torso Murders, Murder Hath No Tongue and Broken Rosary, are schedueled for 2010 releases.

References:

• GCD, Jinx: Torso
  
• Comic Reader, Torso Collection


• Prairie Ghosts, Torso Killer

Off The Shelf: Foolkiller

In 2008 MAX, an imprint of Marvel, recruited a band of artists and writers including Gregg Hurwitz, Paul Azaceta and Tomm Coker. Together, they revamped a forgotten minor Marvel villain whose first appearance was in Man-Thing #3 way, way back in March of 1974 into a bad ass in 2008.

In Foolkiller's previous 70's incarnation, "Tricky Dick" Nixon was pretending to be President, Viet Nam was raging and Marvel had been generally "toned down" to appeal to the kiddies.

In 1974, Foolkiller was an early proto-type for the anti-hero - a figure closely resembling the Ballisk-snuffing Scourge(s) and the character that Frank Miller's Punisher eventually became - but with noticable differences. In his original incarnation, Foolkiller was a wide-brimmed hat sporting, Bible-banging annihilator of humanity who killed fools with his trusty "purification gun" - a laser powered by Jesus beams.

This first Foolkiller, aka Ross Everbest, was inspired by a faith healer named Reverend Pike who had cured Everbest of his childhood paralysis. As a result, Everbest became an evangelist with the Reverend as his mentor. Both soon became very popular.

However, things took a bloody turn when, after catching Reverend Mike in a drunken orgy, Everbest killed his former hero and mentor then preserved the good Reverend's corpse in formaldehyde. Everbest then went about using the two-faced preacher's money to fund his own vigilante activities. First step, don a flamboyant Zorro-like costume. Second step, kill fools. Simple. Step two went pretty OK for awhile until Everbest was killed when his mentor's glass preservation container exploded, sending glass shards into many of his vital organs. Youch!

Now in 2008, Foolkiller is Mike Trace, a man who trudges through a series of rat's nests populated by brain-damaged narcotics addicts, white supremacy groups, and so-called modern "superheroes" who are in the city for lucrative Hollywood movie contracts. In the modern Foolkiller's world, deserving criminals are executed in ironic Saw-type ways with semi-clever notes left behind for the police to decipher. Not a bad read at just $3.99 American a pop.



References:

• Wikipedia, Foolkiller
• The King of Comics, Foolkiller: White Angels #5
• Marvel Universe Appendix, Foolkiller I
• Marvel Wikia, Foolkiller II