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March 20, 2013
Atomic Books Comics Preview - March 20, 2013
In the weekly Atomic Books Comics Preview, Benn Ray highlights notable new comics and graphic novels.
Benn Ray is the owner of Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore. The Mobtown Shank is his blog, and his comic Said What? is syndicated weekly in the Baltimore Sun's B-Paper.
Atomic Books has been named one of Bizarre Magazine's 51 geekiest places on the planet, as well as one of Flavorwire's 10 greatest comic and graphic novel stores in America.
All Crime #1
by various
All Crime is a modern classic crime comic - pulp sensibilities goes high end printing.
Batman Volume 1: The Court Of Owls
by Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo / others
Batman Volume 2: The City Of Owls
by Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo / others
Seriously, if you're not reading Scott Snyder's Batman... sigh... just read it. These two volumes collect the first 12 issues of DC's New 52 relaunch of Batman. Snyder tells intricate stories that leak creepiness and seep horror.
Immovable Objects
by James Hindle
Hindle tells a melancholy story of Steven Price - a college student who doesn't know his father and barely knows himself. It's a bittersweet coming of age tale where some things are discovered and realized and some things go unresolved. Just like real life.
Maximum Minimum Wage
by Bob Fingerman
Back in the '90s, one of my favorite alternative comics was Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage. It was sort of like a New York version of Pete Bagge's Hate during a time when New York wasn't really all that cool. Rob and Sylvia are a couple living in New York where Rob struggles to be an artist while working for smut publications, and their friends. This oversized definitive hardcover collects the whole series along with a bunch of guest pin-ups. Fingerman's Minimum Wage is a funny look at the way many of us used to live - and some of us still do.
Salad Days
by JP Coovert
JP Coovert's charming Salad Days also deals with growing up, getting older. Here two old friends reconnect for a weekend of hanging out and talking about their lives (one friend is married with a kid and the other now has a career requiring him to wear a tie). Their weekend also involves some minor vandalism and running from the cops. Salad Days is one of those comics that reads so true that it immediately feels like it's part of your life and that the characters are people you know.
The Massive Volume 1
by Brian Wood / Garry Brown / Kristian Donaldson
If you can't get enough of post-apocalyptic tales (and let's face it, these kind of tales are like donuts - can one ever really have "enough"?), Massive Vol. 1 collects the first few issues of Wood's well-considered, epic tale of a broken world.
Questions, concerns, comments or gripes – e-mail benn@atomicbooks.com. If there’s a comic I should know about, send it my way at Atomic, c/o Atomic Books 3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD 21211.
Atomic Books & Benn Ray links:
Atomic Books website
Atomic Books on Twitter
Atomic Books on Facebook
Benn Ray's blog (The Mobtown Shank)
Benn Ray's comic, Said What?
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Atomic Books Comics Preview lists (weekly new comics & graphic novel highlights)
the list of online "best books of 2012" lists
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Book Notes (authors create music playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
