MEANWHILE ROMANCE RESISTANCE:

Neil Gaiman Arthur Conan Doyle H.P. Lovecraft BY JEAN-PIERRE GIBRAT PLUS...DORK!

Georgia Webber

Webber

Zach Worton E.C. Segar Harry Tuthill Worton

Gaiman Doyle Lovecraft Rafael Albuquerque

Gene Colan Dave Stewart

Warren Ellis

Phil Hester, Jeff Lemire.

Poe The Comics & Graphic Novel Bulletin of A nerd’s nerd and a car- recurring features such as toonist’s cartoonist, Evan the Murder Family, those Dorkin is one of the best “dairy products gone bad” DORK comics creators you’ve nev- Milk & Cheese and the Elt- er heard of. He paid the ingville Club’s knowing sat- rent writing the comic book ire of fanboy lunacy. It also BY EVAN adventures of Bill & Ted provided Dorkin the venue “Who could resist the bear and TV shows like Space for his sense of humor: DORKIN juggling creamers? Such tiny Ghost Coast to Coast. But profane and acerbic, low- With SARAH DYER Dorkin’s true love was the brow and highbrow. Paro- creamers. Such big paws. I knew work he did for his own solo dies of modern literary clas- right then. I was in love with comic, Dork. That title had sics like 1984 are acted out (DARK HORSE) that bear.” So says Nora, the heroine of My Boyfriend Is A Bear by screenwriter Pamela “Broken Robot” (Moana) Ribbon & cartoonist Cat (Emily & the Strangers) Far- THE REPRIEVE by JEAN-PIERRE GIBRAT ris. Like many modern gals, (IDW) Nora has had a checkered ro- mantic past full of annoyance Frenchman Julien Salat was headed to his death in Nazi and disappointment. The end of Germany when his POW train is bombed. Assumed one relationship leads to anoth- dead, Salat returns to his home village of Cambeyrac. He hides in a room overlooking the village square. He er: While on a hike with her struggles to avoid detection while he watches the locals latest self-centered creep, Nora about their daily business. Life goes on, even under the sees a bear. It follows her boot of the Occupation. Salat’s attention is especially home. And then things get cra- focused on Cecile, the beautiful waitress at the café that zy...and super-cute. Funny is a welcomes both secret members of the Resistance and bear in an Arcade Fire t-shirt. by toys in “Fischer-Price a New Yorker edited by the collaborators who joined the Vichy militia. Despite Funnier is a bear in khakis. Get Theatre” between gags Larry Flynt, there are un- his best efforts, Julien Salat is drawn into the Re- that sweet, furry love at Beau- about Jung, Ayn Rand and expectedly meaningful sistance. And Salat falls deeper in love with Cecile, even “Rogers & Frankenstein’s works. Dorkin repeatedly mont, Central and Eastside! Oklahoma.” Then there is as she maintains a relationship with a mutual friend. gibes autobiographical MY BOYFRIEND the slapstick of ““Broken comics, but he raised his Tensions mount as the war heats up abroad and at Robot”, “Myron the Living artistic profile with deeply home, leading to a shocking but fitting climax. The Re- Voodoo Doll” (below bot- personal pieces such as prieve is a prequel to Gibrat’s Flight of the Raven, which IS A BEAR tom image) and “Phil the “What Does It Look Like was set in Paris and starred the beauteous Cecile’s sis- BY PAMELA RIBBON Disco Skinhead.” As an ex I’m Doing?” (above mid- ter Jeanne. A smartly written and gorgeously drawn ru- & CAT FARRIS -ska punk and admittedly dle image). Seriously mination on duty and destiny, The Reprieve is available obsessed funnybook fan, unserious and proudly at our Beaumont location alongside Flight of the Raven. (ONI PRESS) Dorkin puts the boots to provocative, DORK repre- youth culture and the sents a high point in The latest in SERIES includes the fifth collection of vil’s popular run set in San Francisco. All these and comics biz in “Generation indie comics. You can find the Marvel hit, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. In more can be found in the TEEN section of your Ecch” and the “How To Dork—and the Eltingville Fantastic Three, The Smartest Girl on Earth and favorite LPL location. That’s also where you’ll find Get Sued” series. Given Club collection—at Central her T. Rex pal team up with the Thing and the the various volumes of DC’s METAL event that’s how many of his jokes and Eastside. (Below top Human Torch to take on...Galactus?!? Meanwhile, had the biz a-buzzing. Central and Eastside have seem like cartoons from image: The Man Upstairs) the Silver Surfer comes to the aid of The Unbeata- the latest volume of Valerian. V4 of the seminal sci- ble Squirrel Girl in V8, My Best Friend’s Squirrel. Else- fi series includes The Ghosts of Inverloch and other where, Moon Girl joins with other youthful Marvel tales from the period many comics savants consid- heroes such as Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales: Spider- er the feature’s peak. Meanwhile, the travails of Man, the wondrous Wasp and more in Champions Lottie Pearson AKA Snotgirl continue in California V3: Champion For A Day. And the Sentinel of Liber- Screaming and road rebel Domino Swift burns ty, Captain America, tries to fix what was broken rubber in the second compilation of Motorcrush, by his evil doppelganger and the Phantom Empire both from Image. Coming soon, Monstress V3, by traveling across The Home of the Brave, by Mark Saga V9 and the final volume of SF epic Black Sci- Waid and Chris Samnee, the team behind Darede– ence can reserved by going to lexpublib.org! MEANWHILE as believable as the work of more “realistic” artists. Published by Conundrum Press, The Curse of Charley Butters is available at Central and Eastside. Meanwhile, Neil (Neverwhere) Gaiman bestrides the worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft in his new graphic novel, A Study in Emerald (Dark Horse). Though no one says their names, the protagonist is obviously John Watson and his pal is Sherlock Holmes. And Queen Victoria is one of the Great Old Ones. Centuries ago, the primordial entities who preceded man as masters of Earth rose from the sea and asserted their dominion. But not everyone bends the knee to this aristocracy of monsters. A series of brutal murders in the slums of Whitechapel rocks the power structure, because the victims are blood relatives of the ruling class. So the greatest detective in the British Empire is called upon to hunt the hunter Travis and his pals are in a half-baked novella, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon death metal band. The band decides to Pym. Find Shipwreck at Beaumont and make a video in a forest outside Toronto. Central. Meanwhile, in the real world and Sniping and bickering all the way, Travis modern times, Georgia Webber loses and his motley crew go deeper into the more than her voice when a severe injury woods. That’s where they find the cabin. forces her into months of silence. Dumb: The cabin full of paintings and the jour- Living Without A Voice (Fantagraphics) is a nals of their creator. So begins Travis’s two-color biography that benefits from descent into the madness that claimed Webber’s loose, open drawings. Some reclusive artist Charley Butters. Curiosity pages are light and airy; others are cloud- becomes obsession, especially after the ed with black and red, expressing Web- band’s videographer hits the jackpot with ber’s growing loneliness and alienation. a documentary about Butters. And obses- But then, sometimes friends can be your sion leads to dissolution, as Travis loses worst enemies. Ask Rory Regan. He ground to his own demons while wrestling thought he’d left his comrades back in the with those of Butters. It’s a heavy tale that Middle East, collateral damage of an ill- moves swiftly thanks to the spry pen line fated raid on an ancient tomb. Now his of artist/writer Zach Worton, a modern- dead friends demand Regan avenge them, ized take on the old school style of E.C. wrapping Rory in the Suit of Souls, trans- (Popeye) Segar and The Bungle Family’s forming him into Ragman! Get this slam- Harry Tuthill. Worton’s gift for body lan- bang supernatural slugfest from DC Com- guage and skill at depicting backgrounds ics at Central and Northside, or go to lex- gives these dot-eyed dimwits a physicality publib.org to reserve your copy today!

of horrors. Gaiman’s script replicates the rhythms of of Doyle’s writing and the creepi- ness of Lovecraft’s. Artist Rafael (American Vampire) Albuquerque rendition of demon- haunted London is suitably loose and befogged (and evocative of the great Gene Colan). Color- ist Dave Stewart forgoes the vibrant hues he used for Shaolin Cowboy and The New Frontier for the murkier palette he’s used for horror- hero series like Hellboy and The Goon. Availa- ble from Central, Eastside and Tates Creek, A Study in Emerald will please devotees of Sher- lock Holmes, the Cthulhu Mythos and Jack the Ripper. (Such readers should also look into the new short story anthology Supernatural Sher- locks, collecting Victorian tales of occult detec- tives such as Carnacki the Ghost Hunter.) Just as eerie is the new graphic novel from Mr. Sun- shine, Warren Ellis. Shipwreck is the first compilation of the Aftershock title written by Ellis and drawn by Phil (Green Arrow) Hester, with an intro by Jeff (Royal City) Lemire. The book begins in the middle of the story, so it takes some time to figure out what’s going on. And even then, it’s deeply weird and mysteri- ous, a sci-fi re-make of Poe’s maritime horror Back issues of 741.5 are available at lexpublib.org under the COLLECTIONS tab!