Were Money No Object on August 15th With Boom! and Image Comics

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The Book I Want to Buy:

Red Diary/Re(a)d Diary

by Teddy Kristiansen and Steven T. Seagle; Image, $29.99

Basically, they got me at Kristiansen and Seagle’s names.  I don’t need to know what this comic is even going to be about to know that I’m going to want to read it.  Seagle on his own has always been an impressive writer (I’ll admit to even liking his run on Alpha Flight), but it has been in his work with Teddy Kristiansen that he has really stood out, on their Vertigo series House of Secrets, and on the classic graphic novel It’s a Bird.

Here is the solicitation for The Red Diary/The Re(a)d Diary, in case you still need to be convinced:

A BOLD EXPERIMENT IN THE GRAPHIC NOVEL!
KRISTIANSEN’s European Album is newly translated to English by TEDDY KRISTIANSEN and STEVEN T. SEAGLE. But in a unique flip-novel format, the book is also “re-mixed” with a completely different script devised by SEAGLE before he collaborated on the translation. Both versions – THE RED DIARY – a tale of art forgery and World War and THE RE[A]D DIARY – a tale of identity theft and lost love – comprise this unique graphic novel from SEAGLE and KRISTIANSEN – the Eisner nominated/winning team behind the acclaimed Vertigo graphic novel it’s a bird….

This does sound very interesting…

 The Book I Think You Should Buy:

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes

by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; Boom, $14.99

Boom’s track record with Planet of the Apes comics has been very impressive.  Their first series, by Darryl Gregory and Carlos Magno has surpassed all expectations, to create the most logical and memorable set of stories set in that fabled movie universe.  Then, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman came along with Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, a story set some twenty years before the events of the original movie.  It has one familiar character – Dr. Zaius, a new member of the ruling council.

This story is mostly about a gorilla, former General Aleron, whose scientist client is murdered for his work in teaching humans to speak using sign language.  As murder is forbidden by the Lawgiver, this is a big deal, and Aleron sets out to find the culprit.  The problem is, there have long been suspicions about Aleron, and when a body from his days in the army turns up, he soon finds himself charged with the very crime he is investigating.

This book is full of strong character work, political intrigue, and fantastic art by Hardman.  I assume the follow-up mini-series, Exile on the Planet of the Apes is going to be published as a trade soon.  These stories are prologues to the upcoming new on-going Apes series, Cataclysm, written by these two creators.  If you ever went through an Apes phase, this is worth checking out.  It’s a lot better than you’ll expect it to be.

So, what would you buy Were Money No Object?

Get in touch and share your thoughts on what I've written: jfulton@insidepulse.com