A monthly column devoted to recommending interesting indie comics for pre-order. Pre-ordering supports indie creators and can often be the difference between a book succeeding or failing. Plus, you usually save money by doing it, too.
This month, before diving into the recommendations, I have a message for indie publishers: if your website doesn't have a preview of the books you're soliciting (or if it even lacks any information about the book at all!), you've completely and utterly failed. I can't believe how hard it is to find previews of indie comics online. I spend time searching because I'm writing this column, but most readers won't. Get your acts together or you're getting yourself out of business.
Bullet To The Head
Order Code: DEC100923
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Details: SC, 168pgs, Color
Price: $19.99
This appears to be a noir tale about cops, killers, politics, and beautiful women. I can't find much information about it online (is it a reprint? Something, somewhere gave me that impression), but I'm a fan of a good noir tale, and Colin Wilson's art is worth a look, I think.
Garth Ennis’ The Complete Battlefields Volume 2
Order Code: DEC100870
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Details: HC, 200+pgs, Color
Price: $29.99
If there's one thing that everyone seems to agree on, it's that Garth Ennis writes terrific war comics. This hardcover combines three previous graphic novels set (I think) during World War II. If you like this kind of thing, you probably already know it. But if you like Ennis or history, you might want to try it. Like Stumptown below, this is an advance solicit. The book comes out in April.
Psychiatric Tales: 11 Graphic Stories About Mental Illness
Order Code: DEC100788
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Details: HC, 160pgs, B&W
Price: $15
Have you ever seen In Treatment, the HBO show in which Gabriel Byrne is a therapist and each episode a session with one of his patients? I've been devouring the second season recently, so blame it on that if this one seems weird, but Darryl Cunningham's takes on 11 different mental health problems, based on his time working in a psychiatric ward, sounds neat to me.
Steve Canyon: The Complete Comic Book Series
Order Code: DEC100986
Publisher: Hermes Press
Details: HC, 256pgs, Color
Price: $49.99
Your "bone up on your comics history" recommendation for this month. This book's got seven issues of Milton Caniff's Steven Canyon comic book (as opposed to strip) series of post-World War II adventures. It's got a pretty steep price, but for the history or comics history buff, it might make a nice pair with Ennis' Battlefields.
Stumptown Volume 1
Order Code: DEC101021
Publisher: Oni Press
Details: HC, 152pgs, Color
Price: $29.99
Preview
Greg Rucka. Noir story (update: or maybe not. See comments below.) about private investigator. Sold. Or it should be. Rucka's a terrific crime writer (not just in comics, either) so it's great to see a new series in his wheelhouse. Stumptown is set in Portland, OR, and follows a PI named Dex, who's in deep gambling debt, on a crucial case. Worth noting that this is an advance solicit; the book doesn't come out until March.
The Tick: The Edlund Epic: The Complete Works Volume 1
Order Code: DEC101017
Publisher: New England Comics
Details: SC, 190pgs, Color
Price: $29.95
I'll grant you that I haven't read Ben Edlund's original Tick series, about an absurd, possibly insane, superhero who dresses like a big blue bug, in maybe 15 years, but it was hilarious when I was 18. And the cartoon based on The Tick was consistently great. So, this remastered collection of Edlund's first six issues seems like a solid bet.
Sam Costello is the creator and writer of Split Lip, a horror webcomics anthology that io9 has called “the webcomics answer … to the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.” It offers nearly 500 pages of free comics.
Coincidentally, Split Lip vol. 3 is now available from pre-order directly from Sam.
Other iFanboy Posts by Sam Costello
On My Own in Indie Comics Series:
Indie Comics Coming Attractions Series:
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
Psychiatric Tales sounds interesting…
I’ve got the Complete Edlund Tick collection that came out a few years ago. It’s brilliant stuff
psychiatric tales sounds really interesting. we all know someone who is bat-shit crazy.
I’ve already ordered Bullet to the Head. I loved Matz’s The Killer, so this was an easy sell to me. Was REALLY tempted to get the Edlund Epic in colour, but I already have the B&W version and there were WAY too many other things to get instead this month.
Ahem. Stumptown is *not* noir for about a thousand reasons, but #1 is that Rucka said it wasn’t. 🙂
That said, I’ll be buyin’ that trade!
@Diabhol Yeah, it’s definitely not a noir story.
@Diabhol & @cskilpatrick – Oops, my mistake. I haven’t read the series yet and apparently made an assumption I shouldn’t have. Thanks for the correction.
@SamCostello The tone Rucka is going for is ROCKFORD FILES.
I had never liked any of Ennis’ work…till I read Battlefields. There is something utterly brilliant in the book, undescribable by any superlative in the english language.
Aso, Does Bullet to the Head has completely peripheral rants that have nothing to do with the plot taking up 15 pages every issue like The Killer.
That Tick collection will be on my shelf. Love the character and the cartoon.
Psychiatric Tales looks interesting. Depending on my preorder $ this month, I may have to check this out. Thanks, Sam!
Can’t wait to get Battlefields HC vol. 2! Just got the first one and had only previously read Night Witches. Great stories, great collection, great price (even better on instocktrades and amazon!).