The books I bought at Comic-Con 2006 - 8.10.06
Just a casual run-through of spoils of nerdprom.

First off, I should preface with my comics background, so you know where I'm coming from. I didn't grow up reading comics at all. However, I was introduced to Tintin as a kid, and immediately fell in love with the series (which led to no little frustration trying to find the books at libraries and used book stores). That may have started me on graphic novels of a rather more artsy type, though I have to say, I've never quite seen the appeal of the spandex-and-cape sorts. Much later on, I finally got around to reading Sandman and also began reading webcomics. Since then, I've ventured into more "mainstream" comics, but not much. I still eschew superheroes and stick more with indie and alternative stuff, I guess. I currently follow: Fables, Runaways, Fell. (I would also say Girl Genius and Serenity Rose, but the former has moved mostly to web and the latter is on indefiniate hiatus.)

Ok, reviews now. The one thing I knew I was going to buy was Flight Volume Three. The first two Flight anthologies were remarkable, a dream-team of web cartoonists/artists. The thing has done incredibly well, which is heartening. I'm sure you've heard about it, so I won't carry on here. Anyway, the third volume marks the switch from (comics) publisher Image to (book) publisher Ballantine. There's no noticeable shift in the printing, and the book is still the same size as the previous editions, which is nice. It is, however, thicker; this is the biggest one so far, and it's slightly more expensive. It's a very nice range of work, with some returning contributors and a few industry veterans, as well as newcomers. I can't fault the quality at all, but somehow I liked the earlier books a little more; just a matter of taste, I guess. I'm not sure why, but some of the other stories just appealed to me more. But I'm not saying it's disappointing. It's still a great selection of work, and definitely worth checking out.

My one impulse buy was The Amazing Joy Buzzards. I really liked the art, and it wasn't until I'd bought the book and even had it signed by Jim Mahfood did I realize I'd gotten volume two. D'oh. Anyway, it's about a rock band and their adventures involving supernatural asskicking. The style was awesome, and midway through it switched to a bunch of different artists doing short episodes. A very cool blend of techniques, all black-and-white, all very slick. But the characters, though neat-looking, weren't terribly original. Maybe I would've cared about them more if I'd read the first volume. Alas. I may go look it up, but I'll probably end up selling the book. Not that I don't like it; I really did enjoy reading it. But I'd rather spend the money on something I truly care more about. I mean, it was a fun read, but it's not necessarily something I need to have on my shelf.

I almost forgot about Hatter M, until my friend reminded me. I'd picked up some posters from the booth last year; the image of a blade-wielding guy in a top hat had caught my eye. I had talked to one person at the booth a bit - I think he was the writer of the book. Yeah, apparently there's a recent book and the comic is based off of it? Or expands from it? I admit I don't really know. At any rate, he was really earnest about it, in a way that made me very skeptical about the whole thing. It just seemed way too... produced, and like they were anticipating a lot of hype, maybe even making their own hype for it. But I'm a sucker for reinventions of established stories, especially Alice In Wonderland stuff. I know, it's way overdone, but I can't help it. At any rate, this time I got issues one and two of the comic and I was really pleasantly surprised. The art is by Ben Templesmith, who does Fell (among other things). He's got a very distinct style, which I like, and it's quite well-suited to this story. The world looks intriuging and there's some nice action and odd, quirky humor as well. It seems like the writing doesn't take itself too seriously, which was a relief. I also got a free issue "2.5" which was mostly text, explaining some stuff and hinting at other things. It was pretty ridiculous, trying too hard to be far more clever and/or intriuging than it was. But oh well. At any rate, it's too early for me to tell if the series will be any good, but so far I like it. I might even go find the book and read it.

My friend had bought an issue of Robotika on a whim, and when I saw the cover art, I decided I had to go find it. I ended up buying all four issues of this so-called "sushi steampunk cowboy samurai saga" (or something like that). Really, it's just a basic distopian cyberpunk setting with a dash of post-nuclear western. The story was quite unremarkable, the characters nothing new. But oh dang, the art - beautiful inking and absolutely gorgeous colors. The designs were really great as well, and the action was very well done. Usually I have hard time excusing or ignoring mediocre story, but for this one, the art was good enough. I'm not sure I'll keep buying it, but it's certianly worth a look.

Robotika was at the Archaia Studios Press booth, and another of their titles was Mouseguard. Now, when I was younger I read Redwall, and that series had a tremendous impact on me. (At least until Jacques broke my heart by becoming a hack, cloning his own stuff and churning out more and more books of increasingly terrible quality. But that's neither here nor there.) So I'm hard-wired to gravitate to rodents with swords. I'd seen Mouseguard earlier at my local comic shop, and was very curious about it; yet I'd been reluctant to buy, as they only had the second or third issue, something like that. Anyway, upon seeing the whole three issues there, I was seriously tempted to get them. But I didn't have enough money on me at the time, and forgot to go back later. Dang. I've really liked what I've seen of it; the art is really unusual - very meticulous, delicate inkwork.

I went with the intention of picking up The Victorian, a title I'd stumbled across online. The cover art really hooked me, and I was very interested in reading it. When I found the Penny Farthing booth, I was surprised at how large and glossy it was; I'd been expecting a much smaller indie production. But then I saw some copies of The Victorian and was sorely disappointed. The interior art was just lame. And the prices were such that I didn't want to buy it just to see it the story would be good. The premise initally sounded great, but reading the backcover summaries, I started to have doubts. Sigh. I'm still curious, but I want to read a bit of it before I commit to buying.

I also came home with a pile of free comics, ranging from the merely very mediocre to the powerfully terrible. Some were just hilariously bad. Maybe if I'm feeling mean/generous I'll scan pages sometime. But there's not need to report on them.

Overall, a good range of stuff that I was mostly very satisfied with. Hooray for comics!