Batman & Robin #2
DC Comics
Morrison & Quitely

The second issue of Batman and Robin manages to accomplish an awful lot in an effortless fashion. What the comic provides is something so simple that it seems obvious and yet it couldn't have been executed any better. The comic is essentially about Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne not living up to their new jobs, physically or mentally. The comic frames everything around a couple of new villains and the hint of a larger plot but the main story just uses these developments to put the new Batman and Robin in a very compromising position early on in their relationship and new roles. It's simply a terrific comic.

Back To Brooklyn TP (Jimmy Palmiotti Book Market Cover), $14.99
Back To Brooklyn TP (Mihailo Vukelic Direct Market Cover), $14.99
Darkness #78, $2.99
Elephantmen War Toys Yvette (One Shot)(Moritat Regular Cover), $3.50
Elephantmen War Toys Yvette (One Shot)(Marian Churchland Variant Cover), AR
Proof TP Vol 3 Thunderbirds Are Go, $14.99
Strange Adventures Of HP Lovecraft #3 (of 4), $4.99

Chew #2
Image Comics
Layman & Guillory

The second installment of Chew tops the first issue and Tony barely even has to unveil his “power”. The comic proves immediately it can stand on its own feet without the gimmick because it has strong characters and excellent dialogue. The comic has laugh out loud moments and has some great introductions to some new characters. This is a series worth paying attention to.

Army Of Darkness #22, $3.50
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Dennis Calero Regular Cover), $3.50
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Sergio Cariello Regular Cover), AR
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Francesco Francavilla Regular Cover), AR
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Dennis Calero Sketch Incentive Variant Cover), AR
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Sergio Cariello Sketch Incentive Variant Cover), AR
Good The Bad & The Ugly #1 (Dennis Calero Foil Cover), AR
Jungle Girl Season 2 #5 (of 5)(Frank Cho Regular Cover), $3.50
Jungle Girl Season 2 #5 (of 5)(Adriano Batista Variant Cover), AR
Man With No Name TP Vol 1 Sinners & Saints, $19.99
Super-Zombies #5 (of 5)(Fabiano Neves Cover), $3.50
Super-Zombies #5 (of 5)(Mel Rubi Cover), $3.50

BRINGING UP FATHER began in 1913, when 28-year-old cartoonist McManus started drawing the adventures of Jiggs and Maggie, a lower-class couple who came into money. “While the snobbish Maggie and beautiful daughter Nora . . . constantly try to ‘bring up’ Father to his new social position,” comics expert Clark Holloway has said, “Jiggs can think of nothing finer than sitting down at Dinty Moore's restaurant to finish off several dishes of corned beef and cabbage, followed by a night out with the boys from the old neighborhood. The clash of wills that ensued often resulted in flying rolling-pins, smashed crockery, and broken vases, all aimed in the general direction of Jiggs's skull.“

In BRINGING UP FATHER, the daily comic strip left its rough and quirky origins to take a clean, carefully designed turn. From the scratchy, funky look of the strip’s birth to a style that lovingly rendered Maggie’s latest fashions and the décor behind them, McManus and his increasingly smooth line reveled in art deco and rococo.
FOREVER NUTS’ collection presents all the dailies of the classic strip’s first two years, many of which have not been reprinted since they first appeared nearly a century ago. “The strips have been meticulously restored,” NBM Publishing chief Terry Nantier says in the company’s blog. “It looks gorgeous.”

Comic-strip expert Jeffrey Lindenblatt is the FOREVER NUTS series’ editor. For more than 15 years, Lindenblatt has been reprinting classic comic strips in his magazines The Missing Years (featuring comics that have not been reprinted in decades) and Strip Adventure.

Lindenblatt and Nantier have assembled quite a team for BRINGING UP FATHER. Comic-strip expert Bill Blackward contributes the book’s forward, and cartoonist R.C. Harvey provides an introduction that “gives us all we could want to know about McManus and this seminal strip,” says Nantier. Comics historian Allen Holtz of the website Stripper’s Guide has helped to clean up the old strips and delivers “quite a few annotations/footnotes at the end of the book that explain references in the strips,” Nantier says.

NBM Publishing is no stranger to great comic-strip reprints. The company was the first publisher to issue complete runs of comic-strip classics, starting with Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates in 1983.

GEORGE MCMANUS’ BRINGING UP FATHER is a 192-page jacketed hardcover, with black-and-white interior art, 11 x 8 1/2 inches, at a cover price of $24.95; the ISBN is 978-1-56163-556-6.

For further information, contact David Seidman, NBM Publishing Online Publicist, at davidseidman@earthlink.net or 310-652-4369.

See previews and more at www.nbmpublishing.com.

Visit NBM’S author/publisher blog at www.nbmpub.com/blog.
The house’s authors have direct access to post their latest, including art in progress.

For more information and to interact with us, visit www.nbmpub.com/comingup/comaug.html and our MySpace page, www.myspace.com/nbm_publishing.

Captain America Reborn #1 of 5
Marvel Comics
Brubaker, Hitch & Guice

The return of Steve Rogers is upon us. This comic has one major thing going for it that makes jump from an average comic to a very good comic. The idea behind how Steve Rogers will be saved is different and unexpected and definitely a refreshing look at returning from the dead. The story content of the comic is very typical for an opening issue of a mini series overall. There is some task that’s executed to get all the main players introduced and set up the gravity of the situation. It’s a good comic but it is not a true indication of how well the whole series will actually be. We’ll have to see how the return from the dead actually plays out.

The Punisher: A Man Named Frank, published by Marvel Comics in 1994, 48 pages, cover price $6.95.

Classic westerns are one of my favorite indulgences. Well-defined heroes and villains, as well as clear lines of right and wrong, black and white. That’s “classic”, in my book. That’s also an apt description of The Punisher: A Man Named Frank, from Marvel Comics.

Midwest Book Review

June 2009

The Comix/Graphic Novel Shelf

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers.

ComicList Extended Forecast for 07/08/2009

Updated shipping information for comics and products being released beyond the week of 07/08/2009, provided by Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Updated shipping information for Marvel comics and products being released beyond the week of 07/08/2009, provided by Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Updated shipping information for DC comics and products being released beyond the week of 07/08/2009, provided by Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Updated shipping information for Image comics and products being released beyond the week of 07/08/2009, provided by Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Product Changes, New Printings & Variant Editions

• CHEW #1 Third Printing, #2 Second Printing and #3, all 32-page comic books for $2.99, will see a simultaneous release on August 5th, 2009.

Click here for the complete DARK HORSE Extended Forecast

Confirmed Special Guests Include:

- Jennifer Stewart, MA, B.Ed — High School teacher at The Linden School, owner of The Dragon comic shop in Guelph, ON

- Beth Alexander, B.Ed — Elementary teacher at The Linden School

- Diana Pai, B.Ed — High School teacher at St. Clements School

Hey guys! We’re back for another action-packed Dark Reign update! Every week we’ve been recapping and reviewing Marvel’s Dark Reign crossover event, and the number of comics just keeps growing! There are nine titles in the mix this week–some super awesome, some ehhh–so hold onto your hats and be prepared–I try not to give too many details away, but there are SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The lucky winner John Howson has had his Future Shock story "9 to 5" illustrated by the talented artist Ben Willsher in the latest issue of the infamous science fiction anthology magazine 2000ad which is available now in all good newsagents.

Updated shipping information for Dark Horse comics and products being released beyond the week of 07/08/2009, provided by Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Click here for the complete DARK HORSE Extended Forecast

Making the jump from print to pixels is an exciting adventure for the pair who were instrumental in laying the groundwork for Comico the Comic Company which was one of the most dynamic and influential independent comic publishers during the 1980's featuring such titles as Mage, Grendel, Elementals, Robotech, Jonny Quest, Gumby, Starblazers, and Space Ghost just to name a few.

"I'm shocked, pleased and flabbergasted by the enormous positive response we've gotten from CHEW," Layman said. "I can't put into words how gratified I am for the readers and retailers who have helped spread the word about this strange and unique little book. I'm also grateful to Image for taking speedy action to help get this book into as many readers' hands as possible. Thanks, everybody! The best is yet to come!"

ComicList: New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, July 8, 2009, by Charles LePage.

This is the *preliminary* list and is not complete. The complete, and much more accurate, list will be published next week. This information is compiled from a variety of sources including Diamond Distribution and our friends at Things From Another World.

Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.

Check out the Comiclist Community Forum for discussions about your favorite comics.