News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

From the most recent additions to the Graphic Novel collection we have chosen a variety of titles that demonstrate diversity and depth of the collection. This month there are three new series featured, The Strain by David Lapham, Dicks by Garth Ennis, and Shinku. Volume 1, Throne of Blood by Ron Marz.

The strain. Volume 1 / script by David Lapham ; art by Mike Huddleston ; story by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
“When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Centres for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event, an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness! Adapting the first novel from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain, this horrifying first chapter deals with an outbreak of diabolical proportions that puts a terrifying twist on the vampire genre.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Dicks. Volume 1 / story, Garth Ennis ; art & covers, John McCrea.
“Two unlucky, crude private detectives in hilarious and at times oh-so-offensive misadventures against crime lords, ghosts, and bar brawlers.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Shinku. Volume 1, Throne of blood / created by Ron Marz & Lee Moder ; written by Ron Marz ; pencils by Lee Moder ; inks by Matthew Waite.
“Bloody horror meets martial-arts mayhem. The last surviving member of a samurai family wages a one-woman war against a clan of vampires in modern-day Tokyo in the first story arc from the acclaimed new series.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The girl with the dragon tattoo. Book 1 / adapted by Denise Mina ; art by Leonardo Manc and Andrea Mutti ; based on the novel by Stieg Larsson.
“The late Stieg Larsson’s slick potboiler is wildly popular in both movie and novel form; its tale-disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his unorthodox ally hacker/investigator, Lisbeth Salander, struggle to discover the truth behind the disappearance of Harriet Vanger decades before-is familiar to people around the world. Now it has been transformed into a graphic novel, this installment covering the events of the first half of the novel.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Flex Mentallo : man of muscle mystery / writer, Grant Morrison ; artist, Frank Quitely.
“Once he was Hero of the Beach and of the Doom Patrol. Now Flex Mentallo, the Man of Muscle Mystery, returns to investigate the sinister dealings of his former comrade, The Fact, and a mysterious rock star whose connection to Flex may hold the key to saving them both. This fast-paced tale twists super hero tropes, introducing one mind-boggling concept after another in a tour de force of innovative storytelling.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The raven / Lou Reed , [Lorenzo] Mattotti.
“Back in 2003, Lou Reed paid tribute to poet Edgar Allan Poe with his sprawling album, The Raven. This gorgeous book of art and poetry, made in collaboration with Italian illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti, shares its title with that album and further explores Reed’s fascination with Poe’s work. Reed’s poetically streetwise sensibility and style works in surprising harmony with Poe’s dark chronicles of terror and despair, just as Mattotti’s vivid, abstracted and enigmatic paintings perfectly complement Reed’s haunting, contemporary interpretation of Poe’s vision.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Journalism / Joe Sacco.Journalism
“This volume of Sacco’s shorter pieces makes an outstanding companion to his acclaimed book-length works, which include Safe Area Gorazde and Footnotes in Gaza. The stories in this volume run from 1998 to 2011. Whether traveling to Hebron, Iraq, India, or his native Malta, Sacco’s great strength is in digging up dramatic individual stories that are illustrative of larger social or political problems.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Barack Hussein Obama / Steven Weissman.
“What does America mean today? Anyone who knows there isn’t really a right answer to that question will want to read Barack Hussein Obama, a book about Americans, about their country and about their president. Yet this is not really a graphic novel, nor is it a biography or an experiment, but rather a whole, fully-realised parallel America, a surrealistic vision that is no more cockeyed than the real thing; its weirdness no more weird, its vision of the world no more terrifying.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Days of the bagnold summer / Joff Winterhart.
“Sue, 52, works in a library. Daniel, 15, is still at school. This was the summer holidays Daniel was due to spend with his father and his father’s pregnant new wife in Florida. When they cancel his trip, Sue and Daniel face six long weeks together. Joff Winterhart perfectly captures the ennui, the tension, the pathos and even the affection of this mother-son relationship.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Blacklung / Chris Wright.
“In a night of piratical treachery when an arrogant teacher is accidently shanghaied aboard the frigate Hand, his fate becomes inextricably fettered to that of a sardonic gangster. Dependent on one another for survival in their strange and dangerous new home, the two form an unlikely alliance as they alternately elude or confront the thieves and cutthroats that bad luck has made their companions and captors.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Here is another great selection of new Graphic Novels for this month, very mixed, with titles from most genres. Highly recommend is the Gonzalo Navarro’s, brilliantly drawn Aotearoa whispers 1, the awakening. This is a world class publication with more volumes to look forward to.

I, Vampire. Volume 1, Tainted love / Joshua Hale Fialkov, writer ; Andrea Sorrentino, artist.
“Self-loathing vampire Andrew Bennett has for centuries kept mankind safe from the supernatural world thanks to a truce he made with his ex-lover Mary, the Queen of Blood. But Mary has gathered an army of undead and is wreaking havoc across the world, breaking the truce. Andrew must stop Mary and her forces from going on a killing spree, and make the world safe once more.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Not my bag / written and illustrated by Sina Grace.
“What do you get when you put an artist in a department store selling nice clothes, all the while wondering why being so clearly in retail hell doesn’t stop him from having a modicum of ambition to move up the fashion food chain? Sina Grace (The L’il Depressed Boy) draws upon his experience in retail to craft a graphic novel that gives us a window into the life of an artist who is forced to take a job he doesn’t really want in order to pay the bills.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The Manhattan Projects. 1 / Jonathan Hickman, writer ; Nick Pitarra, artist.
“Imagining that the Manhattan Project was really just a front for Oppenheimer, Einstein, Feynman, et al., to get into the really out-there stuff in Los Alamos. With Japanese teleportation machines (Zen-powered by Death Buddhists), concurrent universes accessed by an enigmatic portal-stone, and shady bargains with warring alien races, and a historical cast of characters at the dawn of the atomic age. Oppenheimer, in particular, gets a disturbingly twisted portrayal, and Max Headroom treatment is given to post life Franklin D.Roostevelt” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Hell yeah. Volume one, Last day on Earth / written by Joe Keatinge ; pencilled by Andre Szymanowicz ; inked by Andre Szymanowicz & Fabio Redivo.
“This collection tells the story of Benjamin Day, part of a generation of young people who are the first to be raised in a world where superheroes exist. Day would like nothing more than to forget his past, but his repeated scrapes with the locals are a way to express his frustration that he can’t forget his past. However, Day doesn’t just exist in the here and now. He exists here, there, and everywhere simultaneously, in a host of different dimensions. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except that now a bunch of his other selves are being systematically eliminated. If Day wants to figure things out, he’s going to have to involve himself in the world of superheroes he has thus far wanted nothing to do with.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Rebel blood / scripter, Alex Link ; art, Riley Rossmo ; plot, Alex Link and Riley Rossmo. “A virus has created a wilderness of blood-thirsty creatures standing between you and your family. You don’t know if you can save them in time, or if you’ve even got the strength to try. But you’re about to find out. In a world of ravenous creatures it doesn’t matter who you used to be. Today you’re lunch!” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Aotearoa whispers. 1, The awakening / Gonzalo Navarro ; Charisma Rangipunga, translation. “The brilliant art work by Gonzalo Navarro brings his wonderful interpretation of Maori culture and New Zealand history alive. Fiction based very much on reality.” (adapted from Book cover)

Memorial / written by Chris Roberson ; art by Rich Ellis.
“An amnesic finds herself wandering the streets of a modern city; labeled Miss Em, she has no idea she has a tie to the Everlands, a land of myths and stories ruled over by a powerful and ambitious queen, nor even that the Everlands exists. A chance encounter with the proprietor of a mysterious vanishing shop returns a valuable icon to her; this in turn makes her the subject of a hunt that will take her across worlds and end in a confrontation with her lost past.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Sailor Twain : or, the mermaid in the Hudson / Mark Siegel.
“Captain Twain recounts an episode aboard the Lorelei, a luxury steamboat on the mighty Hudson River in 1887. Life on board has Twain suspended between tending the ship and its needy passengers and barely tolerating the French cad who owns the liner and uses it as grazing ground for his sexual exploits until the night he finds a harpoon-pierced mermaid clawing her way aboard. As he secretly nurses her back to health in his cabin, Twain falls under a many-layered siren song of physical desire, creative inspiration, and emotional severance from his life on land and ailing wife at home.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Saga. [Volume one] / Brian K. Vaughan, wrter ; Fiona Staples, artist.
“Brian K. Vaughan’s new series is part bits of sciece fiction space opera and classic fantasy meshed to tell the personal story of two lovers, cleverly narrated by their newborn daughter. Both are recently soldiers from opposite sides of a massive intergalactic war, moth-winged Alana and ram-horned Marko simply want peace and anonymity to raise their daughter (an abomination to the powers that be) away from conflict and hatred.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The Carter Family : don’t forget this song : [a graphic novel] / [by Frank Young and David Lasky].
“The story of the first family of American country music. The Carters preserved an enormous body of traditional Appalachian song that affected the repertoire, attitudes, harmonies, and rhythms of country music, up to and including rock ‘n’ roll. Included is an 18-minute CD of their music.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Another diverse selection of fabulous new Graphic Novels for this month, that includes the new autobiographical work by the talented Gabrielle Bell titled, The voyeurs and the multi award winning Rebetiko by David Prudhomme.

The voyeurs / Gabrielle Bell.
“Autobiographical cartoonist Bell documents her life as part of a free-floating community of indie comics artists drifting between the neighborhood bars of Brooklyn and L.A. and an international and domestic circuit of comics conventions. While this collection has its share of humorous contradictions, the account of her relationship and breakup with filmmaker Michel Gondry manages to be both sweetly loopy and a little mean, it also depicts a darker, more demandingly neurotic and depressive Bell than her previous books.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Heartless : comics / by Nina Bunjevac.
“The dark undertone of Bunjevac’s humour brings into light the range of socio-political issues her comics deal with, such as gender, nationalism or urban alienation, always from an ironic feminist perspective. Her chain-smoking, slightly alcoholic and manically depressed character Zorka may just be today’s ultimate anti-heroine. A Balkan immigrant in the Brave New World, working in that same meat factory for the last twenty years, tormented by family constraints and her own secrete desires.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Thief of thieves. Volume 1, “I quit” / [Robert Kirkman, story ; Nick Spencer, writer ; Shawn Martinbrough, artist ; Felix Serrano, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer].
“Conrad Paulson lives a secret double-life as master thief Redmond. There is nothing he can’t steal, nothing he can’t have, except for the life he left behind. Now with a grown son he hardly knows, and an ex-wife he never stopped loving, Conrad must try to piece together what’s left of his life, before the FBI finally catch up to him… but it appears they are the least of his worries.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Trail of steel : 1441 A.D. / Marcos Mateu-Mestre.Trail of Steel: 1441 A. D.
“It is winter of 1441 in Spain and Condottiero Martin, together with his son, Sancho, and a group of mercenaries, is offered a job, a mission that will change the course of their lives forever.”(adapted from Amazon.com)

The crackle of the frost / Lorenzo Mattotti and Jorge Zentner ; [edited and translated by Kim Thompson].
“This whimsical tale, set in the aftermath of a failed love affair, follows the self-indulgent, fanciful Samuel Darko as he attempts to come to grips with the breakup of his relationship with Alice, and his own pervasive fears about fatherhood and other matters. As Samuel flies to another country to find Alice, he becomes engrossed by a book about an invincible warrior named Liu.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Rebetiko / David Prudhomme. “Athens, 1936. General Metaxas is cracking down on rebetis and their way of life. A small group of friends – Rebetiko musicians – wind their way through the Athenian backstreets, ouzeris and market squares dodging the police while settling disputes over hashish and women. With music at its heart, the narrative builds to a joyous party at its climax in this multi-award-winning graphic novel.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Bucko / story by Jeff Parker ; art by Erika Moen.
“Rich awakens in the wrong place at the wrong time, a hookup’s apartment after a drunken night, and rushes ill-prepared to a job interview. It’s all downhill from there, a spiral involving murder, rampaging subcultures, and a mad dash to a wacky finale. The story was originally a Web comic, and includes the author notes on each page.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Riven / story, Bo Hampton, Robert Tinnell ; art, Bo Hampton.
“Katya was in a coma for five years, and when she awakes, everything has changed. She is now a gorgeous teenager with a mysterious, gruesome past, becoming aware of a growing, terrifying power inside her body, triggered by the touch of the full moon, eager to break free. Can Katy solve the mystery of her blood-drenched nightmares before they become reality?” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The Cavalier Mr. Thompson : a Sam Hill novel : Sam’s early days : 1924 / by Rich Tommaso. “Set in a small oil town of in the ’20s in Big Spring, Texas, this book follows the trials and tribulations of aspiring detective Sam Hill and his family. Loosely based on the works of real-life crime writer Jim Thompson, the story begins at his old stomping grounds of West Texas, and features a cast of characters made up of greedy oil barons, crooked lawmen, city-slick con men, broken-down detectives, drunken reprobates, and obsessive gamblers, very much in the flavour of Thompson’s crime novels.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The February selection from the recently received new Graphic Novels includes the highly recommended, Picture a Favela by Andre Diniz set in a notorious slum area of Rio, Brazil and a re-print of Jacques Tardi’s, New York Mon Amour, four tales from the under-belly of this huge metropolis.

No man’s land : a story / written and illustrated by Blexbolex. “Blexbolex’s No Man’s Land satirizes the mind’s ability to seduce itself, mercilessly hurtling its hero around an implausible dreamland designed to mask the processes of mortality. Blexbolex’s first full-length graphic novel is as beautiful as it is disturbing.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Lovely Horrible Stuff “Award-winning graphic novelist Eddie Campbell presents a fascinating journey into the wilderness of personal finance. With his trademark blend of research, anecdote, autobiography and fantasy, he explores how money underwrites human relationships, flowing all around us like the air we breathe, or the water we drown in. The result is a whimsical graphic essay, deeply grounded in his personal experience with the lovely horrible stuff.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Don Quixote. Volume1 / by Miguel de Cervantes ; adapted and illustrated by Rob Davis. “In a sleepy village in medieval Spain, a retired country gentleman spends his waking hours consuming tales of chivalry. Seeing no impediments, such as logic, propriety or sanity, to fulfilling his dreams, this would-be hero reinvents himself as the Knight-Errant, Don Quixote. He sets out across the arid open country in search of adventures accompanied only by his faithful steed, Rocinante, and his dim-witted squire and sidekick, Sancho Panza. Don Quixote Volume 1 perfectly captures the spirit of this classic novel in graphic novel format.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Picture a favela / André Diniz ; photos, Mauricio Hora. “Andre Diniz tells the extraordinary story of Mauricio Hora, who lives in one of the most dangerous slums (favelas) in Rio, Brazil. In spite of the odds, Hora has made a name for himself internationally as a photographer. We are led from his challenging childhood living with his drug dealer father up to the present day.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Prophet. 1, Remission / story, Brandon Graham…[et al.] ; art, Simon Ray…[et al.]
“John Prophet, a super soldier who awakes in the future’s future after being kept in cryo-sleep beneath the Earth’s surface, is ready for his mission. Prophet makes his way through an Earth that has been overrun by squabbling alien tribes living among the rusted debris of Earth’s past. Prophet’s mission is to restart the Earth Empire, a goal that remains mysterious.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Birchfield Close and four wildlife field guides / [Jon McNaught]. “In his first graphic novella, Jon McNaught captures the beauty and peacefulness of our childhood neighbourhoods and transports us back to those clear evenings dotted with pink fluffy clouds and the sound of silence we have come to yearn for after years of living in the bustle of the city. Jon McNaught is a comic book artist, printmaker, and freelance illustrator.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

But I really wanted to be an anthropologist– / Margaux Motin ; [translated from the French by Edward Gauvin].
“Motin’s autobiographical comic gives readers a delightful young French woman who works to balance a blogging career, motherhood, and a fancifully romantic partnership. The balancing-act episodes collected here range in length from one page to four.” (adpated from Syndetics summary)

Wizzywig : portrait of a serial hacker / by Ed Piskor.
“Inspired by tales of real-life hackers like Kevin Mitnick, Piskor’s narrative follows the story of Kevin “Boingthump” Phenicle, who gets his start tapping into telephone lines as a teenager and works his way up to infiltrating the phone company and its database. At his side is his best (and indeed only) friend, Winston, who goes from helping Kevin with his hacking to defending him on the radio when Kevin is eventually caught and incarcerated.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

New York mon amour / Jacques Tardi, Benjamin Legrand, Dominique Grange.
“Originally published in the early 1980s, the book perfectly captures the then grungy urban sprawl, told through four tales of its troubled inhabitants struggling to carve out something resembling a life. The main story-about a pitiful exterminator who inadvertently sees too much, thus attracting the worst kind of attention and the three shorts that follow are both nihilistic and elegant, offering a candid glimpse into a world that’s mostly ignored, but no less lived (and died) in.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

When David lost his voice / Judith Vanistendael ; [translated from the French edition by: Nora Mahony]. “The doctor’s report is final: David has cancer. Now the whole family is under the same terrible verdict. David’s wife becomes progressively consumed by the looming shadow of death while his daughters struggle to be as helpful as possible. Meanwhile, David soldiers on, not wanting the tumour to rob him of everything, including the chance to see his granddaughter grow up.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

A very diverse selection from our new Graphic novels this month, that illustrates so well the breadth and depth of this collection. From philosophy to Orcs, gothic horror to political history, humour to murder, all brilliant. The best and a must read is The Red Diary or The Re(a)d diary, by Teddy Kristiansen and Steven T. Seagle, a graphic novel in a class of its own.

Fatale. Book one, Death chases me / by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
“Occult forces and gut-wrenching horror collide in 1950s San Francisco, as a corrupt cop and a smitten reporter go head-to-head over Jo, an ageless beauty with the looks of a Vargas girl and the heart of a rattle snake, who is desperate to escape the grasp of a satanic cult and their demonic, shape-shifting leader.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Crossed. Volume 1 / Garth Ennis, story ; Jacen Burrows, artwork.
“In the blink of an eye, humanity is lost, and the Crossed are upon us. Men, women, and children alike fall victim to the mystery infection that makes killers out of parents and rapists out of lovers. Ruthless, berserk, and evil beyond measure, these cackling demons spread their plague across the Earth, brining humanity to near-extinction. Now, a small band of survivors make their cautious way across a deserted America, existing in a state of constant terror. The only thing they have in common is their determination to survive but in this frightening new world, survival has a cost all its own.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The making of / Brecht Evens ; translated by Laura Watkinson & Michele Hutchison.
“Peterson, a moderately successful artist, is finally given a chance to shine at the Beerpoele biennial festival. However, upon arriving in the village, he realises the festival is a little more amateur and its organisers a little more laid-back than he had expected. Still hoping for his fifteen minutes of fame, Peterson takes matters into his own hands and tries to rally the other participants with a grandiose project. It will not go to plan.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Best of enemies : a history of US and Middle East relations / Jean-Pierre Filiu & David B ; [translated from the French edition by Edward Gauvin].
“Lies, greed, imperialism, cruelty, intolerance: the history of U.S. and Middle East relations involves bad behavior on both sides, dating back centuries. Filiu and David B. draw striking parallels between ancient and contemporary political history in this look at the US-Middle East conflict. The reader is transported to the pirate-choked Mediterranean sea, where Christians and Muslims continue the crusades, only this time on water. As the centuries pass, the traditional victims of the Muslim pirates, the British, French, and Spanish, all become empire-building powers whose sights lie beyond the Mediterranean.” (Only skin : new tales of the slow apocalypse / by Sean Ford.
“A young woman and a boy get off a bus at a gas station and garage in the desert. It was their father’s business, he’s disappeared and presumed dead, and they’re taking it over. Their dad isn’t the only one who goes missing in the course of this graphic novel resuscitation of the 1950s B-movie horror thriller. This is a grim exploration of the hallucinatory and tragic landscape of modern rural America,” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Sunset / created and written by Christos Gage ; art by Jorge Lucas.
“Long ago, Nick Bellamy stole millions from his mob employer, Mr. Gianelli. He left the mob and married the woman he loved. It’s 30 years later, and Nick’s now-comatose wife requires most of his time while his life is less eventful. But Gianelli has found Nick and is determined to destroy his life. Although Nick avoids Gianelli’s every attempt at ending his life, his wife is murdered, and this one-time enforcer returns to violence to get revenge.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Philosophy : a discovery in comics / Margreet de Heer.
“Philosophy is thinking about thinking. That’s where de Heer begins in this charming, personal work, which features her and her husband, Yiri, as guides. What is thinking, anyway? How do we know we know? Who are we? Well-known Western cogitators like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have considered these questions, as have the medieval Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, followed by Erasmus, Descartes, and Spinoza. For modern philosophy, however, she pulls back into the personal realm by letting friends and relatives speak about their own philosophies and who inspires them, from Nietzsche to George Carlin. She draws philosophy out of the abstract, academic ether and connects it to real people and their lives.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Freeway / Mark Kalesniko.
“A 416-page tour de force chronicling a single day, a few hours even, in the life of his recurring dog-headed alter ego, Alex Kalienka. Stuck in a horrendous traffic jam on his way to his increasingly miserable job as an animator at Mickey Walt Studios, a burnt-out and depressed Alex alternately rages, reminisces, fantasises and hallucinates. Then again, are they in fact fantasies or prescient flashes? Is a threatening car tailing Alex just a paranoid fantasy or a genuine threat?” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The red diary ; the re(a)d diary / [Teddy Kristiansen & Steven T. Seagle].
“Artist and writer Kristiansen and writer Seagle, have collaborated in an unconventional way for this beautiful, dual-story graphic novel. Published in French, Kristiansen’s original story chronicles the search of a biographer for the truth behind the life of an unknown artist who died during WWI. Seagle uses the same images to tell a different tale of war, art, and identity, as an old man searches to connect to the diaries of his youth. Seagle, who had not read the original before creating his own story, has done a remarkable job of creating a tale similar in tone and scope to Kristiansen’s original, while also telling a story wholly its own.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Orcs : forged for war / story by Stan Nicholls ; adapted and drawn by Joe Flood.
“This story centers on a troop of Orcs bound in service-or, more accurately, slavery-to a vicious, magic-wielding queen and tasked with protecting a secret weapon under the control of a goblin sorcerer and his underlings. The Orc commander, Stryke, must lead his soldiers and maintain order in their occasionally fractious ranks while also putting up with abuse from both the queen and the goblins, whose race has long been bitter enemies with Stryke’s people.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Another great selection from the new Graphic novels received this month. Included are the first volumes in three new series, and the award winning, The song of Roland by Canadian writer and artist, Michel Rabagliati

Heart / by Blair Butler and Kevin Mellon.
“The first of a four part series. An office drone named Oren ‘Rooster’ Redmond follows his older brother into the fiercely competitive world of professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting. With nothing left to lose, Oren hopes to find his purpose in fighting, but does passion equal proficiency? Does Oren truly have the heart of a champion?” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The score : a graphic novel / by Darwyn Cooke ; [based on the character created by Richard Stark] ; edited by Scott Dunbier.
“Book three in the Parker series. Parker assembles a dozen of the best caper men he can find to knock over his most audacious target yet: an entire town. They scheme, they prepare, and they execute with military precision unaware that the whole thing is about to blow up in their faces” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Blacksad : a silent hell / created by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.
“Detective John Blacksad returns, with a new case that takes him to a 1950s New Orleans filled with hot jazz and cold-blooded murder! Hired to discover the fate of a celebrated pianist, Blacksad finds his most dangerous mystery yet in the midst of drugs, voodoo, the rollicking atmosphere of Mardi Gras, and the dark underbelly that it hides.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Suicide Squad. Volume 1, Kicked in the teeth / Adam Glass, writer ; Federico Dallocchio…[et al.], artists.
“In this first volume of the series an all-new team of death-row super villains are recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous, they’re sheer suicide. The story begins with the Suicide Squad defeated, imprisoned and being interrogated about their newest mission. Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot and company must make it out alive without revealing who’s pulling the strings behind their illegal operations. Who will be the first to crack under the pressure? More importantly will they make it all out alive?” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The underwater welder / by Jeff Lemire.
“As an underwater welder on an oilrig off the coast of Nova Scotia, Jack Joseph is used to the immense pressures of deep-sea work. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the pressures of impending fatherhood. As Jack dives deeper and deeper, he seems to pull further and further away from his young wife and their unborn son. Then one night, deep in the icy solitude of the ocean floor, something unexplainable happens. Jack has a mysterious and supernatural encounter that will change the course of his life forever.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Freaks of the heartland / story by Steve Niles ; art and lettering by Greg Ruth.
“Trevor’s monstrous little brother lives in the barn behind the house. The boy’s only six years old, but he towers over his older brother, and possesses incredible strength. For years, Trevor has looked after his baby brother, keeping him from the light, but now that’s all about to change. His family’s secret is about to be revealed, uncovering the horrible truth of the small Midwestern town the boys have grown up in” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The song of Roland / Michel Rabagliati ; [translation by Helge Dascher].
“As the family stands vigil over Roland in his hospital bed, Rabagliati weaves a story of one man’s journey through life and the legacy he leaves behind” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The furry trap / Josh Simmons.
“The Furry Trap contains 11 short stories, varying in length from one to 30 pages, as well as a number of ‘extras’ that will flesh out the reader’s experience. From the title creatures in ‘Night of the Jibblers,’ to the witches and ogres of ‘Cockbone,’ to the Godzilla-sized, centaur-bodied depiction of the title character in ‘Jesus Christ,’ to the disarmingly cute yet terrifying demons of ‘Demonwood,’ to the depraved, caped crusading antihero in ‘Mark of the Bat,’ Simmons is a master of creating terrifying beasties that inspire and inflict nightmarish horrors, usually taken to unforgettable extremes.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The Bionic Man. Volume one, Some assembly required / script by Kevin Smith with Phil Hester ; pencils by Jonathan Lau ; based on a story by Kevin Smith.
“Unleashed into the 21st century, The Bionic Man has a whole new set of powers and abilities, and also enemies. This is the first of a ten part series.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Birdseye Bristoe : an inventions & how-to-book / by D. Zettwoch.
“ A mysterious stranger comes to town, only the town is not really a town and the stranger is a gigantic cell-phone tower. The town is Birdseye Bristoe, a portmanteau name created from an interstate sign that points to two real towns, and it has only one real permanent resident, an old-timer known as Uncle. A confirmed bachelor and World War II veteran, he owns most of the real estate in town, though the town doesn’t have much to offer apart from an adult superstore, a gas station, and a tackle shop. Uncle reluctantly agrees to lease his land to a conglomerate of telecommunications carriers, and sets the somewhat random condition that the tower be built with a huge crossbar set horizontally into the mast, making it also the world’s largest cross. This story begins with the destruction of the cell tower and works backward to unravel the story of its fall.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

A great selection from the new Graphic novels received this month. Included are the first volumes of two brilliant new series, Absolution by Christos Gaga and Frankenstein, agent of S.H.A.D.E. by Jeff Lemire. Highly recommended is The Rinse by Gary Phillips and for off the wall, dark and scary check out Stray Toasters by Bill Sienkiewicz.

The battle of blood and ink : a fable of the flying city / Jared Axelrod and Steve Walker.
“If you’re visiting the flying city of Amperstam without the latest printing of The Lurker’s Guide, you might as well be lost. In the city of Amperstam, The Lurker’s Guide, a one-sheet paper is written, edited, and printed by Ashe, a girl raised on the streets of the flying city, and is dedicated to revealing its hidden treasures and deepest secrets, including many that the over controlling government doesn’t want anyone to know. The stakes are raised when Ashe accidentally uncovers the horror of exactly how Amperstam travels among the skies and garners the attention of those who would rather that secret be kept in the hands of the city’s powerful leaders. Soon Ashe is on the run from thugs and assassins, faced with the choice of imperilling her life just to keep publishing, or giving in to the suggestion of a rich patron that she trade in her voice and identity for a quiet, comfortable life.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Ed the happy clown : a graphic-novel / Chester Brown. “Ed the Happy Clown is a hallucinatory tale that functions simultaneously as a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism. As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed manages to escape variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex.” (adapted amazon.co.uk)

Monsieur Jean : the singles theory / Phillipe Dupuy & Charles Berberian, text and art. “Monsieur Jean is back in this stand-alone volume published in the English language for the very first time. Continuing the adventures of our favourite Parisian bachelor and that of his entourage and further exploring the dreams and nostalgia that invariably come with adulthood.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Interiorae / by Gabriella Giandelli ; [edited and translated by Kim Thompson].
“A large and (mostly) invisible rabbit looks over the affairs of various tenants in a modern apartment building: an elderly woman dying in one apartment, a couple entrenched in unhappiness and unfaithfulness in another, young schoolgirl friends in a third, and a happy group of ghosts in a fourth. Scenes with their appropriate characters are intercut, with the rabbit as harbinger of change leaping from panel to panel, view to view, addressing the reader enough to keep the outsider engaged in asking what might happen to whom next.”(adapted from Syndetics summary)

Absolution. Volume 1 / created and written by Christos Gaga ; artwork, Roberto Viacava.
“In the world of ABSOLUTION, superheroes are a sanctioned arm of law enforcement, too precious a commodity to take off the line, to recover from the stress of the job. Veteran hero John Dusk has seen too much evil, and too many criminals escape justice. One day, he crosses the line, lets a murderer die and discovers it feels good. Surrounded by sociopaths, both human and superhuman, whom he knows will prey on others if they’re not stopped permanently, how far will Dusk go? Can he hide his lethal brand of justice from his teammates and girlfriend, a homicide detective?” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Frankenstein, agent of S.H.A.D.E. Volume 1, War of the monsters / Jeff Lemire, Alberto Ponticelli. “Frankenstein is part of a network of strange beings who work for an even stranger government organization: The Super Human Advanced Defense Executive, also known as S.H.A.D.E. Leading his new field team, The Creature Commandos, Frankenstein and company must fight against supernatural threats even more strange and dangerous than themselves.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Los Angeles ink stains / written & drawn by Jim Mahfood aka Food One. “Cult-favourite Jim Mahfood’s mega-popular, gonzo-style autobiographical web comic is collected in print for the first time. Relive the action, the late night destruction, the travelling, the comic cons, the dance parties, the art-making and the love-taking all in this one volume. Included are exclusive new strips created just for this book and also a photo section.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The rinse / created and written by Gary Phillips ; art by Marc Laming.
“High finance and low-down greed rear their ugly heads as Jeff Sinclair, the premier laundryman in San Francisco is unwillingly pulled into a dangerous gig laundering $25 million in stolen casino skim money. Forced to truly consider his line of work and the evil that he facilitates, Jeff must find a way to clean the cash and wash away his own sins.” (adapted from Syndetics summary).

Stray toasters / by Bill Sienkiewicz.
“Locked up for a crime he didn’t commit, burnt out detective Egon Rustemagick is released from a high security mental institution in order to catch a serial-killing monster who is murdering and mutilating housewives and young children. This dark, scary critically acclaimed tale mixes the sci-fi, noir, mystery and monster genres and sets them in a Blade Runner-like City of the Future.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Channel Zero : the complete collection. / created and written by Brian Wood ; with Becky Cloonan.
” The original 1997 series was the brainchild of Wood (DMZ, Demo) who began working on it while an art student. Set in New York in the not-so-distant-future, it tells the story of Jenny 2.5, a tattooed info-terrorist who becomes a media icon when she begins interrupting television broadcasts to spread her message. Fanatical special interest groups have forced the government to pass the Clean Act, in which free speech is suppressed. Jennie 2.5’s mission is to wake up a population that has grown tired of fighting and largely given in. (adapted from Syndetics summary)

This month’s selection moves from the weird, Folly by Hans Rickheit, to the wonderful, The Zen of Steve Jobs by Caleb Melby. Also included are the first volumes of three new series – Tanpopo, Animal Man and Choker.

Deadenders / Ed Brubaker, writer ; Warren Pleece, penciller ; Cameron Stewart, Richard Case, Jay Stephens, inkers. “This is a stylized book of mystery and science fiction. Twenty years after the devastating Cataclysm, society has been separated into sectors in which the rich are able to enjoy machine-generated weather and sunlight while the poor are forced to live an eternally dank and dark existence. Banished to the dismal Sector 5, the angst-ridden Beezer discovers that the corrupt city police are hunting him because of his experiential visions of a pre-apocalyptic world. Now Earth’s reluctant saviour must learn his true origin and the meaning of his visions before he is captured and killed.” (adapted from Amazon.com.)

The cape / written by Jason Ciaramella, based on the short story “The cape” by Joe Hill ; art by Zach Howard.
“This is the story of a super villain named, simply, Eric. Eric isn’t an intelligent, powerful schemer but rather a man with no charm, little intelligence, and zero useful skills. When he acquires a super powered cape, he wields his newfound potency like a disturbed child with a gun, becoming a violent twisted super hero. The reader is never quite clear whether Eric’s insanity and cruelty are innate, the result of a childhood brain injury, or if they spring from some evil influence of the cape itself.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Tanpopo. Volume 1 / by Camilla D’Errico. “Tanpopo is superhumanly intelligent and inhumanly emotionless; she is ruled by her mind and vast knowledge. Something inside of her suddenly breaks and her heart rises up to struggle against the ruling mind. Torn and confused, she now seeks her humanity, longing to feel what humans feel. Kuro, or “Poodle”, senses her distress. He promises Tanpopo that she will experience the full range of human emotions, of which love and happiness are the coveted prizes. Alas, such a rich reward cannot come without its price: Kuro is The Devil in disguise and he is after Tanpopo’s Soul. Will her quest for love set her free or will it shackle her for eternity?” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The coldest city / writer, Antony Johnston ; artist, Sam Hart.
“It’s 1989 and only a matter of time before the Berlin wall comes down. Will it be the end of an era for the many spies in that city? When an MI6 agent is killed in West Berlin, the information he was bringing back from East Berlin goes missing, and headquarters isn’t sure they can trust their man on the scene. They send Lorraine Broughton, a veteran spy not known in Berlin, to investigate, and she soon finds herself working with people she can’t trust but why should they trust her?” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Animal Man. Volume 1, The hunt / Jeff Lemire, writer ; Travel Foreman, artist.
“Animal Man Buddy Baker, has gone from “super” man (combating the Rot and its representatives, a hideous trio of ravenous otherworldly hunters intent on annihilating all life) to family man. But is he strong enough to hold his family together when Maxine, as his young daughter starts to manifest her own dangerous powers? As these new abilities continue to terrify Buddy and his wife Ellen, things take a turn for the worse as Buddy begins a startling transformation of his own that will lead him on a journey into the heart of The Red, the universal life force that are credited with giving him his original powers, rather than aliens.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The silence of our friends / written by Mark Long & Jim Demonakos ; art by Nate Powell.
“The year 1968 was a tense time to be growing up in Houston. Mark Long is the son of the local TV station’s “race reporter.” The more contact his dad has with civil rights protesters and law enforcement, the more motivated he becomes to speak up against racism at work and at home. Bigotry, police brutality, and civilian violence, as well as nonviolent marches and sit-ins, are depicted from the point of view of young Mark, his father, and a black activist and his family who become acquainted with the Longs.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Choker. Volume one / writer, Ben McCool ; artist, Ben Templesmith.
“Johnny Jackson is a bitter ex-cop working at a deadbeat detective agency, but an escaped fugitive soon thrusts Johnny right back into the thick of the police force and Shotgun City’s despicable underworld” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The zen of Steve Jobs / written by Caleb Melby ; concept, design, and illustration by Jess3.
” Apple cofounder Steve Jobs (1955–2011) had such an enormous impact on so many people that his life often took on aspects of myth. But much of his success was due to collaboration with designers, engineers and thinkers. This graphic novel tells the story of Jobs′ relationship with one such person: Kobun Chino Otogawa. Kobun was a Zen Buddhist priest who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1970s. He was an innovator, lacked appreciation for rules and was passionate about art and design. Kobun was to Buddhism as Jobs was to the computer business: a renegade and maverick. It was not long before the two became friends, a relationship that was not built to last.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The incredible adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizzaboy / Filipe Melo ; Juan Cavia ; [foreword by Jon Landis].
“During a wave of nightly child abductions in a monster-infested Lisbon, pizza delivery boy Eurico discovers that his company-owned motor scooter is stolen. Desperate to retrieve it, Eurico enlists the help of Dog Mendonca, Occult Detective, and his assistants, Pazuul (who looks like a little girl, but is really a demon that was kicked out of hell) and a chatty severed gargoyle head. Together they try to clean up the messes of the gargoyles-gone-bad and monsters who continually break “the code,” disgracing the city. Eurico is apprehensive that the crime will be solved quickly as Dog and his team guides him through the city, discovering Nazi zombies busily working on evil schemes, extraterrestrials, and other setbacks” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Folly : the consequences of indiscretion : a celebration of human weakness : comics / by Hans Rickheit.
“The frighteningly hilarious world of Rickheit’s graphic novel is a deranged cabinet of curiosities, full of biomechanical tanks, writhing organic matter, amorphous monsters birthing adorable kittens, men and women in animal masks, and countless tubes, gas masks, sex toys, and pseudo-Victorian apocalyptic landscapes. The result is a narrative mosaic that pairs sumptuous, horrific imagery against a strange but lighthearted sense of humor.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

This month’s selection includes the first volumes of three new series, Resurrection Man, Near Death, and The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. Also, the final volume, number 6, of the highly acclaimed Criminal series, titled The last of the Innocent.

Resurrection Man. Volume one / Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, writers ; Butch Guice, artist. “Mitch Shelly can be killed, but every time he comes back, he has a different power, a new ability that sometimes is a blessing, sometimes a deadly curse. His deaths and rebirths leave him disoriented at first, and with the help of a newfound friend, Mitch discovers bits of his past, although the origin of his powers remains a mystery. Pursuing Mitch is a sociopath named Hooker; a test survivor like Mitch with one big difference, Hooker’s body is not repairing itself. Hooker wants the secret to Mitch’s rejuvenation, and he’s willing to tear the Resurrection Man limb from limb to get it.” (adapted from Amazon.com.)

Are you my mother? : a comic drama / Alison Bechdel.
“After the award winning, With Fun Home (2006), Bechdel has written another memoir, equally rich and funny, about her mother. A voracious reader, a lover of music (from opera to death metal), a passionate amateur actress, she is also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel’s childhood and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter goodnight, for ever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)
The last of the innocent : a Criminal edition / by Ed Brubaker ; artist, Sean Phillips. “The best-reviewed comic of the year and the final volume in the Criminal series. Obsession, sex, money, and nostalgia for days long past all collide in this story. Riley Richards got it all, the hottest girl in school and a ticket to the big time. So why isn’t he happy now? Why can’t he forget the life he left behind in small town Brookview? And why is he plotting a murder?” (adapted from Amazon.com)

The infinite horizon / written by Gerry Duggan ; art by Phil Noto.
“The tale of an American soldier’s epic journey home following a protracted war half a world away. Every step of his odyssey must be earned as he struggles to survive not just the war, but breakdowns of the world’s economy and communications.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Near death. Volume one / story, Jay Faerber ; art, Simon Guglielmini.
“Professional hit man Markham is content to live as a murderous sociopath until the day when a near-death experience reveals to him the eternal torments that await him after death. Determined to avoid this dismal fate, the professional killer resolves to use his deadly skills to make amends for his past transgressions, despite the notable handicap of a near-complete lack of moral sensibilities. His new path will save the innocent even from themselves, enrage past allies, and reveal to Markham that he is not as detached from humanity as he believes he is.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The last battle / written by Tito Faraci ; illustrated by Dan Brereton. “In 52 BC Gaul, Caesar’s forces lay siege to the barbarian stronghold of Alesia in one of the biggest battles in history; nearby, another barbarian army prepares to attack the Romans from behind, led by the rebel Cammius, who once fought for Rome. Caesar dispatches his greatest general, Caius Rodius, to track through the untamed countryside and bring back the rebel’s head. Who better to hunt Cammius than the man who taught him the very skills he now uses to defy Rome? Torn between duty and friendship, Rodius questions whether the Roman “road of stone and blood” is a path he still wants to follow.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

The strange talent of Luther Strode. Volume 1 / by Justin Jordan ; artist, Tradd Moore. “Luther Strode is just your average geek, until he sends for an exercise course from the back of an old comic book. What he gets is the instruction manual from a murder cult as old as mankind that does everything that it promised and more.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Jim Henson’s tale of sand / written by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl ; as realized by Ramón K. Pérez.
“This is an original graphic novel adaptation of an unproduced, feature-length screenplay written by Jim Henson and his frequent writing partner, Jerry Juhl. The story follows scruffy everyman, Mac, who wakes up in an unfamiliar town, and is chased across the desert of the American Southwest by all manners of man and beast of unimaginable proportions.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

Is that all there is? / Joost Swarte ; [foreword by Chris Ware].
“By appropriating and subverting Tintin creator Herges classic ‘clear line’ style, Joost Swarte revitalised European comics in the 1970s with a series of satirical, musically elegant and supremely beautifully drawn stories ,often featuring his innocent, magnificently-quiffed Jopo de Pojo or orotund scientist character, Anton Makassar. A collection of almost all his alternative comics work from 1972 to date.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Pete and Miriam. Book one / Rich Tommaso. “The trials and tribulations of Pete and Miriam, best friends struggling to deal with growing up in 1980s New Jersey. From the trouble caused by youthful impulses to exploring the seedier side of what life has to offer outside their suburban confines.” (adapted from Amazon.com)

A great selection of the most recently received Graphic Novels. From the most violent to the gentlest, the most horrific to the most humorous – it is all here.

Jennifer Blood. Volume 1, A woman’s work is never done / Garth Ennis ; artist, Adriano Batista.
“Jennifer Blood is a suburban wife and mom by day and a ruthless vigilante by night. Every day she makes breakfast, takes the kids to school, cleans the house, naps for an hour or two, makes dinner, puts the kids to bed, and kisses her husband goodnight. This suburban punisher is ready to be unleashed in a story that can only be told by the legendary Garth Ennis.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk summary)

The last of the greats. [Volume 1] / writer, Joshua Hale Fialkov ; penciller, Brent Peeples ; inkers, Matthew Waite, Nick Nix.
“Meet the last, he’s mankind’s last hope and he hates the human race. As the Earth stands on the brink of annihilation, the last survivor of a family of superheroes will have to put aside his hatred and save the planet.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk summary)

Goliath / Tom Gauld.
“This is the story of David and Goliath as seen from Goliath’s side of the Valley of Elah. Goliath of Gath isn’t much of a fighter. Given half a choice, he would pick administrative work over patrolling in a heartbeat, to say nothing of his distaste for engaging in combat. Nonetheless, at the behest of the king, he finds himself issuing a twice daily challenge to the Israelites. Goliath’s battle is simultaneously tragic and bleakly funny, as bureaucracy pervades even this most mythic of figures.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

King City / Brandon Graham.
“Joe is a young man with no home, no purpose, and almost no friends, though he does have a very special cat. With a simple injection, Joe’s cat can become anything: a weapon, a tool, or even a cuddly companion. But the question is, what, if anything, can transform Joe?” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The broadcast / Eric Hobbs, Noel Tuazon.
“Already fighting a vicious storm, a rural Indiana town loses power halfway through Orson Welles’ ‘War of the worlds’ broadcast having never learned the infamous radio play is a hoax. Fearing the worst is upon them, four diverse families band together in an effort to make it through the night. Tensions build, however, as long suppressed emotions and unsettled conflicts surface, and it isn’t long before all involved realize they have more to fear from each other than they do the ‘alien invasion’ heading their way” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Judge Bao & the jade phoenix / written by Patrick Marty ; illustrated by Chongrui Nie.
“China. It’s the height of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Emperor Ren Zong has given broad magisterial powers to a judge whose reputation extends well beyond the borders of the Empire: Judge Bao. Fighting against a scourge of greed, Judge Bao quickly becomes a symbol of justice for the people of the land. His aversion to corruption and dedication to the law make him a popular hero, with many enemies. In this the first volume, Judge Bao and the Jade Phoenix, Bao finds himself in a small village where a mother fears for her son, a young man who languishes in prison, accused of a murder he says he did not commit.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Everlast : a graphic novel / written and created by Chad Michael Murray.
“In this pre-apocalyptic tale, Derek Everlast is a man whose destiny is guiding others to a place of rebirth for mankind called Haven. Following an instinct called the Nudge, Derek is guided to the next human destined to survive. In a harrowing adventure, he must deliver her safely to Haven before the End of Days.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk summary)

Nelson / edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix.
“Nelson is a collaboration of more than 50 UK comic book artists, each telling the story of the fictional Nel Baker. London, 1968, a daughter is born to Jim and Rita Baker. Her name is Nel. This is her story, told in yearly snapshots. Each chapter records the events of a single day, weaving one continuous ribbon of pictures and text that takes us on a 43- year journey from Nel Baker’s birth to 2011.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Black fire / written and illustrated by Hernán Rodríguez ; [script translation, Anna Rosen Guercio].
“Black Fire is a dark, psychological thriller steeped in Slavic folklore and European history. Two soldiers in Napoleon’s army retreating from his disastrous campaigns in Russia are separated from their unit by a Cossack attack and stumble across an ancient, abandoned mining town where strange and horrific doings are afoot. Teaming up with another unit of forlorn stragglers, they soon discover that they are lost deep in forbidden territory, trapped in the earthly prison of a dark monster-god out of Slavic legend and nightmare.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The evil dead / Mark Verheiden ; artist, John Bolton.
” An exciting expansion on the classic horror film that introduced us to the powerful Book of the Dead, the relentlessly violent deadites, and Ash, one resilient, blood-soaked survivor. Now an iconic horror hero, relive Ash’s first visit to the cabin that brought him face to face with the delectably deranged deadites who possessed his girlfriend and friends. A nonstop gore-fest in four parts, with unexpected extra scenes.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)