December's books received

As I've done this fall, I'm noting the books that I've received for review, but haven't had time to read yet. Publisher's descriptions are in italics.

The book I'm most looking forward to reading is Singapore's Sonny Liew's fake biography of a cartoonist. This has already been published overseas, and caused a contretemps within the Singaporean government over its funding.
  
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye 

by Sonny Liew 

Pantheon, $30

 Meet Charlie Chan Hock Chye.

Now in his early 70s, Chan has been making comics in his native Singapore since 1954, when he was a boy of 16. As he looks back on his career over five decades, we see his stories unfold before us in a dazzling array of art styles and forms, their development mirroring the evolution in the political and social landscape of his homeland and of the comic book medium itself.

With The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye Sonny Liew has drawn together a myriad of genres to create a thoroughly ingenious and engaging work, where the line between truth and construct may sometimes be blurred, but where the story told is always enthralling, bringing us on a uniquely moving, funny, and thought-provoking journey through the life of an artist and the history of a nation.


Titan continues reprinting European comics last seen a couple of decades ago.There's a lot of zaftig nudity in this first one. None of these are particularly to my taste, but Titan is doing an excellent job with their production values and pricing.




THE QUEST FOR THE TIME BIRD

by Serge Le Tendre (Author), Régis Loisel (Author)

Titan, $20

 The world of Akbar is in grave danger; Ramor, the cursed god, is about to be set free and spread unending chaos! The witch Mara can bind him to his prison, a conch shell, but she needs something special to do so... the legendary Time-bird. She charges her daughter, Roxanna, with enlisting the help of the aging warrior Bragon, and together they set out on a quest to save the world! 

 I don't expect this one to be to my taste honestly. Jodorowsky's work has always left me cold.

SHOWMAN KILLER: HEARTLESS HERO 

by Alexandro Jodorowsky (Author), Nicolas Fructus (Illustrator)

Titan, $16

Space is a dangerous place, made more so by the existence of the Showman Killer, a heartless assassin, genetically engineered by an insane scientist to be devoid of any emotion, and trained to kill! 

The only things that give him anything approaching pleasure are destruction or money. That is, until a fateful mission throws him into the path of the mysterious and fascinating Ibis.

 

 

21st Century Tank Girl 

by Alan Martin (Author), Jamie Hewlett (Author), Warwick Johnson-Cadwell (Author)
Titan, $23

 

MAKE WAY FOR THE TANK GIRL OF THE NEW MILLENIUM! 

After a break of 20 years, artist extraordinaire Jamie Hewlett (GORILLAZ) is leaping back on the Tank Girl wagon, re-teaming with series co-creator Alan Martin to bring you a whole new take on the foul-mouthed, gun toting, swill-swigging hellion! Featuring riotous 100% original content from Hewlett & Martin along with contributions from a host of series stalwarts and newcomers, get your head down, put your hands over your private parts, and prepare for a chaotic collection of strips, pin-ups, and random carnage!



Ok, I don't get the appeal of this book at all...

Alien Next Door
 by Joey Spiotto

Titan, $15

 See a new, caring side to the legendary science fiction monster as he tends to Jonesy the cat, endeavours to keep his house cleaner than the Nostromo, and searches for his place on a cold, new, alien world: Earth. From facehuggers to feather dusters, discover how the perfect killing machine relaxes after a day of scaring space marines. 

The Rise of Herk (Nnewts #2) 

by Doug TenNapel

Scholastic Graphix, $11 

In this exciting sequel to Escape from the Lizzarks, Herk is happy to have a new family and a new place to call home. But when the Lizzarks make an all-out assault on Amphibopolis using a giant monster, Herk must seek the help of the megasloth to save the city and his adopted family. Meanwhile, Sissy, Herk's sister, discovers the dark truth about their long-lost brother Zerk. 

It's aimed at middle-schoolers, but I think I'll probably enjoy this.

Bunny vs. Monkey

by Jamie Smart 
Scholastic, $8.

A team of scientists has sent a monkey into space! And good thing, too, because he's a mean, selfish, noisy, bullying little fur-bag. But... all does not go well with the flight, and Monkey's spaceship barely clears the first hilltop before crash-landing in a peaceful forest. Monkey decides this is a new world and claims it for his own. And his first decree is that all other animals should be banished! What follows is a series of hilarious, off-the-wall interactions between Monkey and the other forest animals.

Reprints from a British comic book, this is definitely for the elementary school student.




 DC's version of the venerable Li'l Archie books claim to be for ages 8-12, but I think as a comics - chapterbook mashup, it'll hit for younger kids. The draft I got has very rough pencils, but Nguyen's art looks like a good fit. If you skip over the illogic of the story and characters completely that is. 


Study Hall of Justice (DC Comics: Secret Hero Society #1)
by Derek Fridolfs (Author), Dustin Nguyen (Illustrator)
Scholastic, $13

 The team behind DC Comics LIL' GOTHAM takes readers to the halls of Ducard Academy in Gotham City, where a young Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman start their very own Junior Detective Agency!

Young Bruce Wayne is the new kid at Ducard Academy, a prep school for gifted middle school students. Bruce finds out pretty quickly that he doesn't fit in: the faculty seems to not just encourage villainous behavior from its students, but reward it. He makes friends with two other outsiders, farm boy Clark Kent and the regal Diana Prince. The three band together to form a detective squad to find out why all of these extraordinary kids have been brought together at Ducard Academy, and to see just what the faculty is plotting.

An all-new series from the Eisner-nominated team behind Batman Lil' Gotham (Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs), Secret Hero Society uses comics, journal entries, and doodles to reimagine Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as three students in the same school. They'll try their best to solve their case, but just because you're faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or an Amazonian princess, it doesn't mean you get to stay up past eleven.