This batch features the start of a new trilogy from Catboy author Benji Nate, trouble in a small Appalachian town, a tale of surviving cults, a reprint of Brian Michael Bendis's Torso, and the newest chapter of the international hit Blacksad.
HELL PHONE GN VOL 01
(W) Asia Alfasi, Catherine Anyango Grunewald, Woodrow Phoenix (A) Sonia Leong, Woodrow Phoenix
Sissy and Lola are best friends, next-door neighbors, and now... murder solvers? When Sissy finds a lost flip-phone and follows the instructions from the other line, she and Lola are flung into an investigation of a grisly cold case. A new trilogy from Catboy and Girl Juice author Benji Nate!
JAN221641
Why this caught my eye:
This should already be out, but my love of Silver Sprocket demands that I get a spotlight on it and it sounds like a great story. Preview pages here and you can order direct from the publisher to support them.
SILK HILLS HC
(W) Ryan Ferrier, Brian Level (A/CA) Kate Sherron
When Beth Wills comes to Silk Hills, a small Appalachian town that's seen better days since the mines were abandoned, she expected a bit of culture shock... But not like this! Beth is someone who has a talent for finding people who don't want to be found, and when she's called to Silk Hills by a local titan of industry, she can tell that something's not right. Little does she know...
Silk Hills was once booming, but the only reason people tend to come through town anymore is to buy Mothman merchandise. Before long, Beth finds out just how wrong things can get in the woods, as her search for a missing troubled youth finds her running afoul of the local drug trade, too-friendly creepers, a very sinister deer, and psychoactive moth dust.
JAN221554
Why this caught my eye:
I wanna know more about that sinister deer....
DISCIPLES HC
(W) David Kirke, Nicholas McCarthy (A) Benjamin Marra
Marin County, 1978. In this graphic novel, Clara and Wendy are two teens getting high one night alone at home. Before the night ends, they've disappeared - until five months later, when Clara is found, disheveled, in Death Valley National Park.
From Clara's mysterious reappearance in Death Valley, Disciples cuts to the present day, where stories of "The California Cult" and its enigmatic - and never-caught - leader, Billy Joe, are as much a part of the popular culture as the Manson Family. Clara, the lone survivor of the cult, has adopted a new identity to protect her and her daughter, Wren. And she mostly does, until one night when the past and present horrifically collide. Disciples is a seamless collaboration between cartoonist Ben Marra and filmmakers David Birke and Nicholas McCarthy. Birke and McCarthy's script celebrates and reinvents a cult film ethos. It combines the best of 1970s era eerie-thriller-terror movies in a fresh and revelatory way, similar to how Marra has continued/reinvented the work of Abel Ferrara and George Cosmatos in graphic novels like Night Business.
FEB221450
Why this caught my eye:
I'm not always in the mood Marra's art style, but sometimes it clicks for the right projects and this sounds pretty interesting.
TORSO TP
(W) Brian Michael Bendis, Marc Andreyko (A/CA) Brian Michael Bendis
Cleveland. 1935. Eliot Ness, fresh from his legendary Chicago triumph over Al Capone and associates, set his sights on Cleveland. He went on a crusade that matched, and sometimes even surpassed, his past accomplishments. But dismembered body parts started washing up in a concentrated area of Lake Erie Sound. Headless torsos that left no clues to their identity or reason for death. Eliot Ness and his colorful gang of The Unknowns chased this killer through the underbelly of Cleveland for years. As far as the public was concerned, he was never captured. But what really happened is even more shocking.
o This 1999 Eisner Award Winner for Comic Book Excellence is re-designed in this latest edition to the Dark Horse/Jinxworld library!
FEB220289
Why this caught my eye:
I have fond memories of this period in Bendis' career, but I'll be honest and say I haven't revisited this in roughly 20 years. Regardless, it's nice to see it reoffered in a new edition.
BLACKSAD THEY ALL FALL DOWN HC PART 01
(W) Juan Diaz Canales (A/CA) Juanjo Guarnido
Award-winning international noir bestseller by writer Juan Diaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido! Detective John Blacksad deals with the mob, the unions, and mid-century "master builder" Lewis Solomon, who plans to pave over New York City's green spaces, come hell or high water. While Blacksad must navigate from the lofty world of 1950s theater all the way to the city's seedy depths, Solomon looms above it all in pursuit of his own dreams-but at what cost? Meanwhile, Weekly finds himself in the hot seat just as an old flame comes back to burn his pal Blacksad!
o Official Selection Angoulême 2022 Grand Prix Nominee!
MAR220349
Why this caught my eye:
Blacksad is one of my favorite comics period, so this is more of a necessity than a recommendation.
That's it for this batch, we'll hit up some Marvel Superhero action on the next round!