Comic Shop Stop: Catching Up - Part Two

I used to do these every week - run down what new comics I'm excited enough about that I spent monies on them. But the less I bought the last few months, the less I could post, and I just fell outta the habit. So here's the second post in a series of posts catching up on some stuff I bought since the summer ended that I wanted to share. Here's a link to the first one. It's all rad and I recommend it 100-and-12 percent.

First up, some books I grabbed online:

FROM ONE PERCENT PRESS

SIMPLE ROUTINES #12 - JP Coovert first came to my attention as a CCS grad a couple years ago, and since then, I've been a fan of his work including his journal minicomic. He's a young, talented comics creator with an upbeat original voice and style and that shines through in his work.

THERE MUST BE MORE: THE SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT'S BOX - A great example of how fun JP makes his comics, this album-sized adventure features JP and two other oddball characters on a quest whose purpose you can figure out from the title of the book. This, I think, is JP's second album-sized book and his deceptively simple cartooning really benefits from the larger size.

TOO FAR - Anthology time! Joe Lambert edited (and contributed to) this collection of new comics by James Hindle, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Coovert, Jose-Luis Olivares, Dane Martin and Alex Kim. All killer, no filler. I missed SPX this year and when I found out this book debuted there, I worried I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a copy.

Luckily, all the above comics are available at the One Percent Press store. Click on any of the artists' names for more info on each.



Dustin Harbin decided to chronicle his life for a year in short, four-panel strips, and now you can get your hands on the thoughtful, densely illustrated results from Koyama Press for only six bones! It's a great value, Dustin's a great artist and letterer, the production's great, it's all just...GREAT. Go check out Dustin's blog and buy other great stuff from him in his store.



Before Netflix, Youtube, and instant-watch video services, if you were a suburban kid who wanted to see a movie, you had to work your way to a video store. And that's exactly what Brent Schoonover's 12-page minicomic is about - three friends scouring their small town's video shops for a copy of Peter Jackson's gore-classic, Dead Alive! They talk about girls, innocently fantasize pulling off a major crime and contemplate the future in a way that makes this short story comfortingly recognizable to any kid who grew up in a small town. The landscape format gives the story a widescreen feel and as a horror fan, a video fan, a comic fan, and a fan of stories about suburban kids on a quest, I was entertained like crazy. I just wish I had a whole series of these instead of the one.



A new Jeffrey Brown book where he draws comics about how outrageously awesome cats can be!!! The above picture shows how the rad cover has two die-cut panels. Even if you don't like cats, you'll be charmed by the smart comics. If you do like cats, WHY HAVE YOU NOT BOUGHT THIS BOOK ALREADY?! (click here to see Jeffrey talk about the cover process on his blog)



And that's it for the stuff I've bought online. Now for quick rundowns on the manga I recently purchased. With manga, I'm a finicky fan, only picking up more indie-minded titles with a focus on character. So please please please, if you haven't read manga for one reason or another, I promise you there's stuff out there for you, so give some stuff a try.



PEEPO CHOO VOL. 2 - On the surface, it's about sex, action, and an anime-obsessed fan accidentally uncovering corruption behind the comics industry. But beneath that, Peepo Choo explores the cultural differences between western and eastern cultures as mistaken by residents of each. Fast, fun, crazed, and only 3 volumes long, this is my kind of manga. Volume 3 is due out in December.



7 BILLION NEEDLES - A social outcast high school girl stumbles onto an alien invasion plot in this updated manga adaptation of Hal Clement's sci-fi story. Hikaru Takabe's version has tight art, an isolated mood, and a stirring, slow-burn pace. Fun fun fun (and only 4 volumes long).



SATURN APARTMENTS VOL. 2 - In the far future, Earth is abandoned and humans live in a structure circling the planet. It's there that a young boy works as a window washer, a dangerous job that killed his dad a few years prior, but that allows the young boy to rediscover his father through the job. This look at blue-collar workers in a sci-fi setting is a knock-out, but the low-key art is the real draw for me.

More soon, including some single issues I picked up at the actual store...