Books I Would Like to Buy:
Myspace Dark Horse Presents Volume 6 TP
by
a lot of folk; Dark Horse, $19.99
The Myspace Dark Horse Presents line has been flawed from its inception, and I’ve never been too sure why. Many of the stories in these anthologies have been good on their own merits, but they often feel more like advertisements or enticements to sample long-running Dark Horse properties or new titles. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it becomes a little old-hat after a while.
Perhaps that (along with the all but collapse of Myspace) that Dark Horse has given up on the on-line to print approach, and are bringing back Dark Horse Presents proper, as an original comics anthology soon.
With all that in mind though, I’m still interested in getting this book. There aren’t a lot of creators credited that I’m all that in to, aside from Evan Dorkin and Christopher Mitten, but there’s usually something I like in these.
Rat Catcher HC
by An
dy Diggle, Victor Ibanez; Vertigo, $19.99
As is often the case with graphic novels from creators I like, I haven’t read the solicitation text for this new entry to the Vertigo Crime series, and I haven’t done more than glance at the preview that Vertigo has been running in the back of their books for the last month. I don’t like to come into a book with any preconceptions beyond what I have come to expect from the creators, so I tend to avoid or ignore information about books from a known quantity.
I dug Diggle’s Losers series. He juggled a complicated plot very well, and filled the book with interesting characters. His Daredevil work has been a bit of a disappointment in comparison, but I the notion of him writing a crime comic has me intrigued. I’m not too familiar with Ibanez’s work, but it looks fine in the previews I saw.
I know that Vertigo Crime has had a lot of problems as an imprint, but I’m always drawn back to it – I really want it to succeed.
The Book I Think You Should Buy:
Casanova Vol. 1 Luxuria TP
by 
Matt Fraction and Gabriel Bá; Icon/Marvel, $14.99
The simple reason to buy this? Matt Fraction and Gabriel Bá.
Is that not enough for you? Okay, fine. This is just about the craziest comic you are likely to read this year. The last time I read something so frenetic and yet so carefully constructed, it might have been Morrison’s Doom Patrol. It’s been a long time, that’s for sure.
I’m not sure I can adequately explain this book. Casanova Quinn jumps realities, gets involved in the battles of giant spy and criminal organizations, and tons of insane things happen. The beauty of the book is that every crazy thing makes sense as you read it, and the art is beyond gorgeous.
I originally read this comic in it’s mono-chromatic Image run, and want to read it again in one sitting, now that it’s been fully coloured. This is a work of comics genius, and shows how much better Fraction can be than what he is currently doing at Marvel (*cough* Thor *cough*). Get it!
So, what would you buy Were Money No Object?
