Waiting for Wednesday, Issue 13

Ahhh Wednesday. The best day of any week (save Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, of course). Still, Wednesdays are a little bit of Christmas wedged in between Tuesdays and Thursdays. And, oh, how I hate Tuesdays...and Thursdays, come to think of it.

Now, this Wednesday is a special one for all of us at Exfanding Your Horizons, mostly because it marks the 13 Week Anniversary of Waiting for Wednesday! 'Tis truly a momentous occasion and I will celebrate it later tonight with a feast of Chinese food from my favorite take-out place. And I will reflect on all of the good times we've had thus far.

Back to "reality," though. This week features a number of books that I'm excited about, and unfortunately, will have to pay (with money!) for in order to enjoy them. So here's what I'll be throwing my (somewhat) hard-earned pay at later this afternoon:

First up, we have a book that is near and dear to my heart. Mostly because it makes me laugh my ass off. It's the long-awaited trade paperback release of The Goon, Volume 7: A Place of Heartache and Grief!

This trade marks the first collected part of Goon Year (2008) and comprises ESSENTIAL reading for any and all Goon fans out there. Just look on ye cover, and tremble:

Now, this volume is for the Goon fans out there, and I would not recommend it as a jumping-on point for new readers. The events in this story arc serve as huge pay-offs for longtime Goon readers, and as such, they absolutely deliver.

Having said that, as anyone who reads this blog on a somewhat regular basis knows, The Goon is my hands-down favorite comic book and if you haven't yet jumped aboard the bandwagon, I would urge you to do so. Start with Volume One, and see if you dig it. Everything is collected in trades, so you can get all caught up in no time.

Anyway, here's Dark Horse's solicitation info on the Volume Seven trade, shipping today:

An ancient curse spreads hatred, fear, and violence, drawing the most powerful and vile creatures to a town with only one hope for protection -- the Goon.

Even the Goon's lifelong deadly foe, the zombie priest, is running scared. But he has to remain, forced into submission by a power greater than his own, to keep an eye on Goon and his violent sidekick, Franky.

The death of one of the Goon's closest allies reveals an enemy thought long gone, returned to wreak havoc and destruction upon the Goon and those who stand by him.

There's some funny stuff, too!

Next up we have another of my favorite series currently on the market. I've mentioned this IDW series in the past on Waiting for, but it's so good that it deserves another shout-out.

Joe Hill's Locke & Key stories have been consistently atop my reading pile since he started the series about a year ago. The first mini-series (entitled Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft) is collected in a beautiful (and affordable!) hardcover and I highly recommend checking it out. This latest mini, entitled Locke & Key: Head Games, is the follow-up story arc, and it continues the high quality writing (by Hill) and art (by the sensational Gabriel Rodriguez) from the first series.

Here's IDW's blurb about this week's issue:

Checkmate: Dodge's surreal head games come to their shattering conclusion... with one troublesome player removed from the board. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez continue the head games!

And here's the creepy cover:

Now, according to the blurb, it would appear that this is the final issue of this mini. If that is, indeed, the case, you may want to trade-wait this bad boy. If you're a fan of the series, though, expect some big pay-offs in today's book.

Next, we have an interesting title from Dynamite Entertainment. Last week, I told you about the company's Sherlock Holmes adaptation. This week, Dynamite releases the first issue of The Complete Dracula.

Here's the amazing John Cassady cover:

And here's the solicit info from the publisher:

"As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me...a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."
-- Bram Stoker's Dracula

Dynamite presents an unprecedented comic book series that tells the complete story of the Lord of the Undead--Dracula! For the first time in 112 years the tale that Bram Stoker intended to tell is told (including "Dracula's Guest"!).

If you thought you knew how it began or how it ends, you were wrong! Writers John Reppion and Leah Moore are joined by painter Colton Worley for a 5 issue odyssey of life, death, and the blood that flows within us all!

This fully painted series features a massive 32 pages of story and art per issue, each page fully-painted in a rich, moody style by Worley, all under covers by modern master John Cassaday! Moore and Reppion also provide bonus material such as script pages, annotations and samplings of the original text by Bram Stoker!
NOTE: 40 PAGES

Was everyone sure to note that it's 40 pages? Good. Because it was capped and everything. Anyway, any Stoker fan worth his or her weight in...um...plasma...has read Dracula's Guest, the story before the story, if you will. Still, it is admirable that Dynamite will attempt to tell the whole story in graphic form, as it's something never before done.

Surely there will be some abridgment from the novel, but I am looking forward to checking out this adaptation and seeing just how close it is to the source material.

And, finally this week, we have two new book releases (like, without the pretty pictures) that will likely be of some interest to readers of this blog. First is a book that came recommended to me by Exfanding friend Gary, and it's called Was Superman A Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed. I picked this up on Monday, and I haven't yet cracked the spine, but I can tell that it's going to be a fast favorite of mine.

Here's the description from the publisher:

Was Superman a Spy? demystifies all of the interesting stories, unbelievable anecdotes, wacky rumors, and persistent myths that have piled up like priceless back issues in the seventy-plus years of the comic book industry, including:

· Elvis Presley’s trademark hairstyle was based on a comic book character (True)
· Stan Lee featured a gay character in one of Marvel’s 1960s war comics (False)
· Wolverine of the X-Men was originally meant to be an actual wolverine! (True)
· What would have been DC’s first black superhero was changed at the last moment to a white hero (True)
· A Dutch inventor was blocked from getting a patent on a process because it had been used previously in a Donald Duck comic book (True)

With many more legends resolved, Was Superman a Spy? is a must-have for the legions of comic book fans and all seekers of “truth, justice, and the American way.”

Here's the cover:

The next book that came out this week is called Enemies & Allies: A Novel, and it's about the first meeting of Batman and Superman. Actually, it appears that the sub-title is "The Dark Knight meets the Man of Steel." I saw this at the bookshop this week, but didn't pick it up. It seems interesting, though, and I'm sure someone reading this will want to grab it.

Here's the description:

As America and the Soviet Union race to build their nuclear stockpiles, two extraordinary heroes must form an uneasy alliance. These studies in opposites—shadow and light—must overcome their distrust of each other to battle evil and injustice.

Sputnik silently circles in the skies above the fabled cities of the United States as danger lurks in the Earth's darkest corners.

In Gotham, the shadowy vigilante known as the Batman haunts Gotham's streets . . . and the police are just as afraid of this Dark Knight as the city's criminals are.

In Metropolis, the notorious Lex Luthor is leveraging international tensions to build LuthorCorp into a military-industrial empire, competing against his business rival Wayne Industries, which is run by Gotham's enigmatic millionaire, Bruce Wayne. Luthor's activities have raised the interest of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, who is beginning to realize that Luthor may stop at nothing to achieve success.

At the same time, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen are investigating the rumored crash of a flying saucer. Clark is desperate to know if there may be other lost interplanetary visitors on Earth secretly living among them—visitors like himself.

When Batman's and Superman's paths cross, their lives change, and history will never be the same.

And here's the cover:

If anyone's read Enemies, please do drop a line and let us know how it was. And I'll be sure to write a review for Spy when I finish reading it.

And that's all for this week. So, what are you Waiting for?