RELEASE NEWS

My pal Joe Keatinge let me know that Cinebook, who’ve been working wonders publishing a multitude of Franco-Belgian comics in English, are releasing XIII Volume 18: The Irish Version in January. XIII is a fantastic French espionage series created by writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance in 1984 that was inspired by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne books. For Volume 18, they switched things up and asked Giraud to illustrate it. And Cinebook, who’ve been translating and releasing 2-3 volumes a year, have caught up to Giraud’s album, originally released in 2007.

This book is interesting to me for a few reasons. Most important is that it’s the first new album-length English translation of Giraud’s work in the 21st century. Humanoids, who’ve been doing great work, have only released the Jodorowsky collaborations which have seen English print before. So that’s exciting. I also like his XIII because it’s a rare example of Giraud working in a modern day setting. And seeing him get down on some spy genre makes me real happy.

Diamond is now distributing Cinebook in the states, so it should be easier to find than before, and I can’t wait. As a sidenote, Cinebook have also been releasing English translations of Jean-Claude Mézières’ landmark Valerian series, which I can’t possibly recommend enough.

Totally forgot to mention this, but the good folks at Humanoids re-released Moebius and Jodorowsky’s Eyes of the Cat earlier this month, now in a much more affordable format. It’s sized as a normal hardcover graphic novel, and is no longer printed on yellow paper. I like that a lot, if anything for variety’s sake. Fast Company’s blog gave it a good write up here. If you haven’t picked this up yet, it’s beautiful, and yet another of Moebius’ works that are now regularly available to American audiences.

RELEASE NEWS

Humanoids will be releasing a smaller hardcover version of The Eyes of the Cat in July. There’s no information on their site yet, so I’m not exactly sure on the price point, but I’m assuming it will be cheaper than their re-issue of Incal Classic Collection next month(which costs $45). Cuz ya know, it’s about 250 pages thinner.

[The above image is production art of the book jacket, provided by Humanoids]

RELEASED TODAY: King City collection, y’all

Brandon Graham is a good friend of this tumblr, and I couldn’t be happier that his amazing series has finally been collected in trade paperback by Image Comics. I can’t recommend it enough, and being priced at $19.99 for 424 pages puts it well into the “how can you not buy this” category.

RELEASED TODAY: Universe/Rizzoli has finally released an English version of Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea!

I haven’t seen it in person yet, but I’ve found a preview of it which looks fairly promising. The colors have a nice, washed out watercolor feel, but they look a little too washed out in some places(I’ve heard unconfirmed stories that Pratt supervised the coloring. It was first colored in 1991, 4 years before Pratt’s death, and I think these are the same). The lettering also looks just a little bit stiff.

Really though, I couldn’t care less. I haven’t yet had a chance to own any Corto in English, so I’m excited as all get out for this. Especially if they realize their plans to release the rest of the series.

Just a reminder: the trade paperback edition of Moebius and Jodorowsky’s Madwoman of the Sacred Heart was released today, from Humanoids.

RELEASE NEWS: Before the Incal: Limited Edition to be released on January 11, 2012. This collects the entirety of the Incal prequels, written by Alajenadro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Zoran Janjetov. It comprises “Goodbye to Father”, “John DiFool: Class R Detective”, “Croot!”, “Psychoanarchists”, “Ouisky, SPV and Homeowhores”, and “Suicide Alley”.

Hardcover w/slipcase, oversized(9.25 x 12.3 inches), 304 pages, all for $99.95. If you’re a diehard Incal fan, this is pretty sweet. Ask your local comic shop to order it!

RELEASE NEWS: Humanoids is bringing Madwoman of the Sacred Heart back into print in January, this time in paperback. 192 beautifully colored pages for $24.95. Ask your local comic shop to order it!

More Moebius release news!

That long heard of English edition of The Eyes of the Cat(Les Yeux du Chat being the original French title) is finally coming out from Humanoids. And in two weeks no less! December 7 is the official release date:

56 pages
11.95 x 16 inches
Black and white
ISBN 9781594650581
USD 69.95

So it’s only 56 pages long, and those 56 pages are housed in a hardcover book at the price of $69.95. That’s pretty steep, BUT: only 750 copies are being made, so I guess you get bragging rights if you get one. Or something. Also, at least it’s coming out in time that you might convince some poor sap that loves you to buy you one for Christmas. And it’s definitely got some things going for it that make me want to pay that $69.95. I like that this edition is going to be black and white. Previous ones have always used different degrees of yellow, that only kind of worked for me. B&W will allow Moebius’ work to show through more. Also, cripes this thing is going to be big. At 11.95x16 in., that’s a whole 2 inches taller than the over-sized Incal Classic Collection.

And for the third act of this story, this is pretty great:

joekeatinge:

Tim Daniel, the designer of Brian Michael Bendis’ Icon books and a number of Robert Kirkman’s titles (as well the PopGun website!), worked up this brilliant proof-of-concept design based off my open letter. 

As far as I’m concerned, he’s hired! 

Got a bit lazy about sharing this, but here’s some good news:

Silver Surfer: Parable, by Moebius and Stan Lee, will be coming back into print in February:

A star falls to earth. Panic grips the planet as mankind prepares for its inevitable end. But the star is a ship, and inside is a god. All he asks is adoration. Overcome with relief, man rushes to obey. There is only one voice of dissent that will not be silenced: the Silver Surfer, who recognizes the ‘god’ as his former master. But why has Galactus encouraged mankind to live down to his darkest nature? From Stan Lee and Moebius, one of France’s living treasures, comes a bewitching tale of man’s folly and nobility. Plus: Almost every hero on Earth has fallen before the unexpected power of Mrrungo-Mu, the alien leader of the Enslavers. All except the Silver Surfer. But what chance does even he have against such power?

The series was only two issues long, so Marvel has decided to bundle another short series written by Lee, called Silver Surfer: The Enslavers, illustrated by Keith Pollard. Not to knock Pollard’s efforts, but I’m kind of disappointed by this. I’m assuming that Marvel thought that two issues weren’t enough to collect into a book, but Parable has been released in the past like this, with plenty of fascinating back matter to round it out. Also, in defense of Enslavers, that book seems to be getting unfair treatment since the title is just Silver Surfer: Parable. And finally, the book’s design is pretty lame, don’t you think?

Still, more people will be able to get their hands on an edition of this that aren’t yellowed floppies that have aged horribly, so this is good news.