The DC Universe is shaken up, Dave Sim returns, and Brian Wood’s “Local” releases its penultimate issue.  The easy sell of this week should be “DC Universe” Zero, which retails for only 50 cents. It’s written by Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. Also by Johns this week – ”Green Lantern” No. 30 and “Action Comics” No. 864.  “Action” features art by Gary Frank (edit: whoops, this issue is Joe Prado), and the cover, shown here, by Kevin Maguire (“Justice League International”). The Oklahoma adventures of Thor get a hardcover release, written by J. Michael Straczynski.  Full list and commentary after the break.

ABYSS #4 (OF 4)

ACTION COMICS #864

I’m loving the Gary Frank art on this series, with a very Christopher Reeve-esque Superman.  (Edit: However, this issue is Joe Prado. He’s good too!)

ARCHIE #584

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #12

BIG AMOEBA ONE SHOT

BLACK SUMMER #6 (MR)

BLACK SUMMER #6 WRAP CVR (MR)

BLUE BEETLE #26

BUDDHA STORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT #2 (C: 0-0-1)

CALIBER #1

CRAWL SPACE XXXOMBIES #4 (MR)

DAREDEVIL BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA

DC UNIVERSE ZERO

It’s 50 cents, and people from DC assure me that it’s not only a good deal, but a great read.

DEVI #19 (RES)

ELEPHANTMEN WAR TOYS #3 (OF 3)

EX MACHINA #36 (MR)

FRIDAY THE 13TH ABUSER AND THE ABUSED #1 (MR)

GARGOYLES BAD GUYS #2

GIANT SIZE AVENGERS INVADERS #1

GLAMOURPUSS #1 COMICS ED

GLAMOURPUSS #1 FASHION ED

Dave “Cerebus” Sim returns to comics with a book that really has to be seen to be appreciated.  Part photorealistic exercise, part art commentary, part fashion parody, “Glamourpuss” will certainly be like nothing else on the stands.

GREEN LANTERN #30

Part two of “Green Lantern: Secret Origin.”

GRIMM FAIRY TALES PIPER #2 (OF 4) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)

HERCULES #1 ADMIRA CVR B

HERCULES #1 STERANKO CVR A

I WAS KIDNAPPED BY LESBIAN PIRATES OUTERSPACE #1 (OF 6)

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #14

JACK OF FABLES #22 (MR)

JSA CLASSIFIED #37

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #41

LOCAL #11 (OF 12) (RES) (MR)

Onipress.com says:
Set in the Toronto fine arts scene, this penultimate issue of LOCAL focuses on a young art student trying to manipulate the scene as best she can, who sees a source of material too good to pass up: Megan McKeenan. But as Megan turns thirty, how will she deal with this cocky upstart?

MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #12

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #8

MARVEL ILLUSTRATED MOBY DICK #3 (OF 6)

NEW AVENGERS #40 SI

NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #7

NEW WARRIORS #11

NOBLE CAUSES #33

The second part of Jay Faerber’s “Noble Causes” story after the five-year jump in the series’ timeline.

ORDER #10

PROOF #7 (MR)

RAMAYAN 3392 AD RELOADED GUIDEBOOK (RES)

SNAKEWOMAN CURSE OF THE 68 #3 (OF 4) (MR) (C: 0-0-1)

STAR WARS REBELLION #13 SMALL VICTORIES PART 3 (OF 4) (C: 1-

TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #28

TALL TALES OF VISHNU SHARMA #4 (OF 5) PANCHATANTRA (RES) (C:

TEEN TITANS #58

TEEN TITANS GO #54

TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE #4 (OF 6)

THOR AGES OF THUNDER

Matt Fraction’s take on the god of thunder.

ULTIMATE HUMAN #4 (OF 4)

ULTIMATE X-MEN #93

UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #8 (OF

URBAN MONSTERS #3

USAGI YOJIMBO #111

WILDGUARD INSIDER #1 (OF 3)

WITCHBLADE DEVI #1 BASALDUA CVR B

WITCHBLADE DEVI #1 LAND CVR A

Top Cow’s leading lady meets the Virgin Comics character Devi.

WONDERLAND #6

X-MEN LEGACY #210 DWS

YOUNGBLOOD #3

Yes, I’m reading Joe Casey’s take on Rob Liefeld’s government superteam. What? It’s pretty good, actually.

Graphic novels/trade paperbacks

ADAM STRANGE ARCHIVES HC VOL 03

BLACK PANTHER TP LITTLE GREEN MEN

BPRD TP VOL 08 KILLING GROUND (C: 0-1-2)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER OMNIBUS TP VOL 04 (C: 0-1-2)

COMPLETE DICK TRACY HC VOL 04

COMPLETE GREEN LAMA FEATURING ART OF MAC RABOY HC (C: 0-1-2

DONDI TP VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2)

FACTS I/T CASE O/T DEPARTURE OF MISS FINCH HC (RES)

The extremely late graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman.

FANTASTIC FOUR TP BEGINNING OF THE END

KABUKI REFLECTIONS #10 (MR)

LEONARD STARRS MARY PERKINS ON STAGE TP VOL 04 (C: 0-1-2)

An interesting two-fer with “Glamourpuss,” actually, as Leonard Starr is probably the best storyteller of the photorealists.

LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE SIDE A TP

MYSTERY IN SPACE TP VOL 02

OFF HB MARVEL UNIV A TO Z PREM HC VOL 02

PUNISHER  PREM HC CIRCLE OF BLOOD

The miniseries that launched a thousand “Punisher” comics.  Steven Grant and Mike Zeck took the first steps in the direction that made The Punisher one of the most popular comic-book heroes of the 1980s.

SHOWCASE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN TP VOL 02

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SELECT TP VOL 01

SPEED RACER RACER X TP ORIGINS COLLECTION TP

SUPERMAN BATMAN HC VOL 06 TORMENT

TALES O/T FEAR AGENT TP (C: 0-1-2)

THOR BY J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI PREM HC VOL 01
The first issues of the “Thor” relaunch by Straczynski and artist Olivier Coipel.

X-MEN HC MESSIAH COMPLEX

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

Three comic-book creators who took self-publishing to great heights are returning with new comic-book series in 2008.

Jeff Smith created “Bone,” a million-selling all-ages fantasy epic that’s now being reprinted in color by Scholastic.

Terry Moore created “Strangers in Paradise,” a long-running romantic comedy-drama which won him an Eisner Award.

And Dave Sim, who preceded both of them with “Cerebus,” created the longest-running independent comic of all time, clocking in at 300 issues.

Smith returned to his self-publishing roots first, with “RASL,” the first issue of which shipped last week. RASL stars an art thief who can shift through dimensions. “RASL” is the tag he leaves behind in place of the stolen art. It’s intended for mature readers.

“So if you were a really rich person who wants to collect, say, a Mona Lisa, you could pay RASL, and he’ll go to another dimension and steal the Mona Lisa for you,” Smith told Newsarama.com.

Texas-based Terry Moore released three issues of his comedy-drama ‘Strangers in Paradise’ through Antarctic Press, before moving to self-publishing the book through his own Abstract Studios. He’s known for his strong female characters, and his new book, “Echo,” released this week, also has a female lead.

He told the Pulse (www.comicon.com/pulse) that Julie, the lead of “Echo,” will be distinct from the women in “Strangers in Paradise.”

“She is new and unique,” Moore said. “I think she lives in the same world and time as the SIP characters, but the story takes place in the Yosemite National Park, near Lake Mono. She is an outdoor person, very down to earth and likable, but her marriage is going down the tubes, and she lives alone. Nothing is going right in her life, the collection agencies are calling, her credit is cut off, she and her dog are sharing the same food. Then this incredible thing happens. The story is what she does about it.”

Sim’s new title, “glamourpuss,” is set for an April release. According to a release from Aardvark-Vanaheim, Sim’s publishing company, glamourpuss is partly Sim’s take on the history of photorealism in comics (starting with Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby in 1946), partly a fashion magazine parody and partly a “sincerely weird super-heroine comic.”

“I’m starting it the same way I started ‘Cerebus,’” said Sim in the release. “Three bi-monthly issues and we’ll see how it goes from there.”

In addition to “glamourpuss,” Sim has created the more serious work “Judenhass,” a one-shot graphic novel slated for a May release.

Three years in the making, “Judenhass” is an examination of the Holocaust, in photorealistic comic-book form. “Judenhass” is the German word for Jew hatred. Sim began the project in response to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 2005; it will be released during the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

“I wanted to make it as accessible as possible to as many people as possible,” Sim says at the project’s Web site, www.judenhass.com. “I’ve heard that schools in Canada have stopped teaching the Holocaust even in the very limited way they used to teach it: as part of their limited coverage of the Second World War. I hope that by keeping ‘Judenhass’ to 48 pages — it can be read in about 20 to 25 minutes even by a slow reader — and keeping the cover price at $4 that I could persuade a certain number of schools to use it as a teaching supplement.”

– Matt Price

I had apparently missed this when it first released, but Bob “Mr. Media” Andelman has an interesting interview with the powers behind WaRP Graphics, Wendy and Richard Pini.  Adelman talks to the Pinis about their current project, an online adaptation  of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” 

Interesting bit about the beginnings of “ElfQuest” and the independent comics movement of the late 70s and early 80s:

WENDY PINI: Let me jump in here and say that for the first few years, we didn’t know what Elfquest was going to be. Was it going to be an elaborate hobby? It was certainly making money for us, but at the time, Richard was working for IBM, and we just felt that having that security blanket, in other words, flying with a net of IBM, made things a lot less stressful. The decision Richard had to go through as to whether or not to quit IBM and go full time as an independent publisher, particularly when there was no precedent for this. We really had no role models at the time. Elfquest was one of the very first independents, and we knew a few other people who were doing things in different ways, but there was no situation that was particularly like ours. It really took months and months for the decision to be made to let go of the safety net and to just fly in freefall. And fortunately, Elfquest did have wings — and how many flying metaphors am I piling up here? So we were very lucky in that regard. For the “Classic ‘Quest,” which is covered by the first four volumes, the sales just kept going up and up and up and up to the point where, around about issue #18, we were selling 100,000 copies. We were selling as much as X-Men at the time.

Lots more in the interview, including how “ElfQuest” fans are reacting to the Pinis’ current project. More from Mr. Media is at mrmedia.com.   For more about the Pinis and ElfQuest, see ElfQuest.com.

– Matt Price