Previews

I'm going to cheat here a little by breaking up the first chapter of ELMER, by Gerry Alanguilan, which is collected this month by Slave Labor. Originally published in the Philippines as a mini-comic, it's many things: a bizarre SF social satire in the style of George Orwell or (as one reader suggested to me) Poul Anderson's Brain Wave -- and also Adam Hines' recent Rex the Wonder Dog, which has some of the same themes treated very differently. It's also a beautiful example of the Filipino komiks school, all lush penwork and atmosphere. it's also just a good read. Because it's the whole first chapter I'm going to break it up over two days. Tune in tomorrow for the second part.

While in other places the indie periodical comic has languished, Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo do not question, they just do. After five publishers and 26 years, this story of a wandering rabbit samurai in Edo period Japan has become one of the longest-running and best loved independent comics of all time. With a loyal home at Dark Horse since 1996 and 24 collections published, the Usagi saga has become a continuing epic of heroism, betrayal and romance, with a large cast of characters who weave in and out of Usagi's life. It's comics world building at its purest, and all-ages in the best way. A new issue is out this month that serves as a jumping on point (although truthfully, Sakai is such a strong storyteller that you can always catch up just by jumping on -- check out how the first page of the preview sets up the situation so you can just keep on going.)

Continuing our preview month, here's a 16-page preview from Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 2: The Great Puppet Theater, the sequel to the best-selling Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer by Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins. In this installment, our wooden vampire hunter meets other like him in a story inspired by the great Italian puppet theaters seen to this day in Sicily. The Great Puppet Theater is published by SLG and is on sale this month. There's more info on the book at pinocchiovampireslayer.com, on the Facebook page or on Twitter @p_vampireslayer.

Day Two of Preview month features is the Xeric Grant-winning Lone Pine by Jed McGowan, which looks like your typical duo-tone indie comic but turns into a mystery set in the deep, dark woods.

This is an experiment that will either get some good comics some good exposure...or melt our bandwidth! Every day it seems we get a preview of a comic that is worthy of some attention...

By Torsten Adair The following is a selection of new comics titles due to be published in November 2010. This list is not comprehensive, as there are over 350 books scheduled. Instead, I have selected...

Via DC's the Source, a preview of the new SUPERBOY #1, which goes on sale next Wednesday. The story is by Jeff Lemire and art by Pier Gallo, with cover by Rafael Albuquerque. Avoiding any issues with the still pending Superboy lawsuit, this is NOT young Clark Kent but a new clone named Connor Kent.

STRANGE TALES, the indie-does-Marvel anthology made a splash with its first issue, and thanks to our pals at Marvel, we're happy to provide an EXCLUSIVE preview of the 2nd issue, on sale next week. This time, it's cover artist Jaime Hernandez with Space Phantom and many mighty Marvel heroines limned as only Jaime can.

Witchlands is a long-brewing ongoing series by Kurt Busiek and artist Conner Willumsen, which has been delayed by this and that and then was planned to come out from WildStorm but is now coming out from...parts unknown. Whoever is publishing it, it's going to look great, as Busiek has just posted a few preview pages. Willumsen has long been a Beat Future Star pick, and the cover by Zachary Baldus is equally fabulous.

We get a lot of previews in our in-box -- 146 a day from Marvel's Arune Singh alone -- but we can't run them all nor would we want to. But we can't help but be tempted by the prospect of another Brubaker/Phillips production, this time Incognito: Bad Influences #1.

The Eisner Award-winning team of Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Val Staples present the most anticipated super hero noir series of the century, as Zack Overkill heads deeper into the criminal underworld than ever before. This is the mission that’ll redefine his life…if he can find a way to survive long enough.

The book goes on sale on October 20.

By Torsten Adair --

The following is a selection of new comic strip titles due to be published this Fall 2010. This list is not comprehensive, as there are over 200 books about comic strips scheduled from September to December. These are just the titles which caught my eye. Although you are welcome to debate the definition of "comic strip" in the comments, for my purposes I'm including single-panel cartoons as well as books about comic strips in this list.

DC has released a few pages of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, the much-anticipated Superman reboot graphic novel by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis. The book goes on sale next month.