Graphic novel news

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Black Hole by Charles Burns.

We'd have to admit that TV and movie tie-ins rarely get our pulses racing but Titan Books has a couple available in the UK that might be of interest. Surprise box-office hit Shaun of the Dead has had a graphic make-over; while the success of 24 has also spawned a cash-in - this volume collects the comics previously published as 24: One Shot, 24: Stories and 24: Midnight Sun. Both books are available in the US from IDW Publishing.

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Titan Books' large format, hardbacked reprints of classic British comics continue to impress. World War I classic Charley's War sees the publication of the long awaited second volume 1 August 1916 - 17 October 1916, originally published in the weekly comic Battle. From the pages of Lion comes King of Crooks, reprinting classic strip The Spider, written by the creator of Superman and counting Alan Moore amongst its fans. Lastly comes the latest volume in the Dan Dare series, Prisoners of Space, reprinting the original comics from The Eagle.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - Beg the Question by Bob Fingerman.

Peter Kuper's dramatic illustration of nine Kafka short stories has been reissued by NBM's ComicsLit. Fans of Kuper's superb adaptation of The Metamorphosis, who haven't already seen this in hardback, should add it to their Christmas lists immediately.

Also from ComicsLit, look out for Trailers by Mark Kneece and Julie Collins. This tells the story of a teenager, charged with hiding the body of a man his mother has killed. Which probably wouldn't be so bad if the local dogs and assorted trailer-trash would leave him to it.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

If you're interested in how graphic novels are put together, check out the first 40 pages of Alan Moore's script for the Batman story The Killing Joke.



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Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - The Quitter by Harvey Pekar and Dean Haspiel.

Checker and Rebellion are reprinting older comic material collected into book form. Checker is on volume four of Alex Raymond?s Flash Gordon, collecting the original Sunday newspaper strips from 1938-1940; and volume three of The X-Files. You can read our review of volume one here. Rebellion has three books for the UK market, reprinted from 2000AD. Judge Dredd: Total War sees Mega City One under threat from nuclear terrorists; The Red Seas: Under the Banner of King Death is a swash-buckling pirate adventure illustrated by Steve Yeowell; and Nikolai Dante: The Courtship of Jena Makarov, which features more alternate-future Russian revolutionings.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.co.uk

Read Grovel's latest graphic novel review - The ACME Novelty Library by Chris Ware.

Sometimes it's hard to comprehend the scope of what's available in graphic novel form, but this volume illustrates it beautifully. Using pages from the books themselves, it breaks hundreds of the best titles available down by genre, providing hints on what makes them special and binding the world of intellignet, book-length comics into a single reference work. This encyclopeadic work will appeal to the complete beginner, looking of ideas on what to sample next; and the comic enthusiast who wants to get more out of his or her collection.

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in British newspaper The Independent on Friday:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/interviews/article324487.ece

This month's batch of manga from Del Rey via Kodahsha are available now. Clamp's oddly capitalised Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE hits volume seven of Syaoran and his friends' quest to find Princess Sakura's memory; Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture reaches volume three and, despite its academic sounding title, actually concerns itself with the story of a young girl trying to steal a hardcore computer gamer from his current girlfriend; Guru Guru Pon-Chan gets to volume two, continuing the romantic mis-adventures of the dog that can turn into a girl; and Clamp's xxxHOLIC arrives at volume six, where Kimihiro takes a break from serving the time-space witch Yuko Ishihara, but finds himself in trouble from a bizarre parade and a grieving mother.

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Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Order from Amazon.com/Amazon.co.uk

Patrick Atangan's Asian folklore series Songs of our Ancestors hits volume three with Tree of Love, which follows a the courtship between an Indian prince and a flower seller. Using a single panel on each page and as influenced by Indian art as it is by the country's storytelling culture, this makes for an attractive hard-backed book about the universal intricacies of love.

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Fantasy fans should look out for Dungeon: The Early Years Volume 1 - The Night Shirt. This amusing fantasy parody series has been described as the equal of serious fiction in the genre, featuring anthropomorphic animals instead of the usual stereotypical muscle-bound barbarians and buxom wenches, but possibly being better for it. This is the first volume in a series that traces the origins of the popular French graphic novels and is a great place to leap on if you aren't already familiar with it.

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