I promise to drop the Herbie thing after today…for a little while, anyway.
At last…at long last….
…Herbie Archives volume one is here.
The artwork is taken directly from the original comics, so you get the original coloring and the defects that sorta went along with it. But, Dark Horse did a good job given the printing quality of the source material, and it’s all perfectly clean and readable. The panel above was scanned directly from my copy of the book…pardon the minor moiré pattern, that’s my fault and doesn’t appear in the actual printed copy.
Also included are the several period house ads for Herbie, most of which were gag strips in their own right. The non-Herbie strips by the same creative team that rounded out some of the comics (like “Nellie No-Date”) do not appear, unfortunately.
However, I’m not going to complain too loudly, as I’ve been waiting for some form of quality reissuing of the original Herbie comics for years, as searching for the individual issues is 1) hard, as they’re not terribly common, and 2) expensive when you find ’em. Even as I was writing this, I just kinda looked over at the copy of the book sitting on the desk next to me, and I still can’t believe it’s actually here.
Anyway, I imagine you have probably guessed by now that I’m excited about this release, so let me move on to other stuff that came out this week.
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Well, I’m sure something else came out this week.
In other news:
- I haven’t had a chance to watch this Kirkman video yet…does he mention when we can expect the softcover volume one of his Walking Dead series to be available through Diamond again? It’s been months since I was last able to order it, and I’d like to be able to turn new people onto the comic when they ask about it.
(Yes, I know there’s a $30 hardcover containing this material that’s currently available. That’s a bit less of an “impulse buy” than the $10 softcover volume one.)
- Moments when I feel guilty at the shop, from Wednesday:
Customer: “Do you have any Ernie Bushmiller Nancy stuff?”
Me: “Uh…you may be competing with me for those comics.”
- Polite Scott takes on that classic bit of comic book shorthand representing doctors…the head mirror.
- COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I have auctions on the eBay ending tonight. If there’s anything there you’d like, and you want to help a pal out, please feel free to bid. All items personally touched by me…guaranteed!
- Oh, okay, I have things to say about a new release or two.
First, Marvel wasted no time getting that new post-Garth Ennis issue of Punisher on the stands. I am curious about what sort of a sales hit this series is going to take…not that this new issue looks bad or anything. In fact, it looks pretty interesting (haven’t had a chance to read it yet), but I have several folks in the store’s comic saver service who only want Punisher if it’s written by Ennis. I’m sure they’re not the only ones.
Also, I have to thank, I believe, Sims for recommending Marvel’s True Believers to me. It’s the return of former Superman writer Cary “Mr. Surprise” Bates to comics (aside from that DC Comics Presents Julie Schwartz tribute book), and it’s…surprisingly perverse and bit of a hoot. Who knew Mr. Bates had it in him?
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 has about a zillion characters on every page, with about as many panels, drawn in that way only George Perez can. And we haven’t even really introduced at least two of the three titular Legions into the story yet. It’s fun, if a bit cramped, so far. The more you know about the Legion, the more you’ll get out this series, I think.
Trinity #12 – now, I’m not saying that it’s been bad…it’s been perfectly serviceable, and generally entertaining, superhero nonsense. However, with the introduction of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, things seem to have a little more spark and direction than before. If you were iffy on the series previously, you might want to check out the last issue or two.
Not a new release: Helen Killer #2 – okay, you don’t need to remind me to mail order this issue from the publisher anymore. My copy arrived on Wednesday, so at last I can finally finish reading the series.
Hope it’s good!
