Articles

Nemo: The Roses of Berlin
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Top Shelf
March 1
978-1-60309-320-0

Sixteen years ago, notorious science-brigand Janni Nemo journeyed into the frozen reaches of Antarctica to resolve her father's weighty legacy in a storm of madness and loss, barely escaping with her Nautilus and her life.

Now it is 1941, and with her daughter strategically married into the family of aerial warlord Jean Robur, Janni's raiders have only limited contact with the military might of the clownish German-Tomanian dictator Adenoid Hynkel. But when the pirate queen learns that her loved ones are held hostage in the nightmarish Berlin, she has no choice save to intervene directly, travelling with her ageing lover Broad Arrow Jack into the belly of the beastly metropolis. Within that alienated city await monsters, criminals and legends, including the remaining vestiges of Germany’s notorious ‘Twilight Heroes’, a dark Teutonic counterpart to Mina Murray’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And waiting at the far end of this gauntlet of alarming adversaries there is something much, much worse.

Nemo: Heart of Ice
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Top Shelf/Knockabout
March 1
978-1-60309-274-6

It's 1925, fifteen long years since Janni Dakkar first tried to escape the legacy of her dying science-pirate father, only to accept her destiny as the new Nemo, captain of the legendary Nautilus. Now, tired of her unending spree of plunder and destruction, Janni launches a grand expedition to surpass her father's greatest failure: the exploration of Antarctica. Hot on her frozen trail are a trio of genius inventors, hired by an influential publishing tycoon to retrieve the plundered valuables of an African queen. It's a deadly race to the bottom of the world -- an uncharted land of wonder and horror where time is broken and the mountains bring madness. Jules Verne meets H.P. Lovecraft in the unforgettable final showdown, lost in the living, beating and appallingly inhuman HEART OF ICE.

Burning Building Comix
Jeff Zwirek
Top Shelf
March 1
978-0-9858751-3-8

NEW PRINTING! Presented for the first time under one cover and in full color, Burning Building Comix by Jeff Zwirek is a comics art object and reading experience like no other. The innovative format of this book allows readers to follow the plight of the trapped tenants in a ten story burning apartment building, with each tier of panels representing 1 “story” in the building. -- a 40-page deluxe full-color hardcover graphic novel, 6.25" x 12.25" (unfolds to 6.25" x 24.5"), self-published by Jeff Zwirek and distributed by Top Shelf.

White Cube
Brecht Vandenbroucke
Drawn & Quarterly
March 4
978-1-77046-139-0 

White Cube is Belgian cartoonist and illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke’s debut book, a collection of mostly wordless strips that follow a pair of pink-faced twins as they attempt to understand contemporary art and the gallery world. Their reactions to the art they encounter are frequently comedic, as they paint over Pablo Picasso’s famous mural Guernica, and recreate a pixelated version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream after receiving one too many emails.  

Lushly painted, these irreverent strips poke fun at the staid, often smug art world, offering an absurdist world view on the institutions of that world – questioning what constitutes art and what doesn’t, as well as how we decide what goes on the walls of the gallery and what doesn’t.

Brecht Vandenbroucke’s distinctive work blends the highbrow with the low, drawing equally from Gordon Matta-Clark’s site-specific artwork, and the Three Stooges slapstick timing. With a knowing wink at the reader, Vandenbroucke continuously uncovers something to laugh about in the stuffiness and pretentiousness of the art world.

47 Ronin
Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai
Dark Horse
March 12
978-1-59582-954-2

Japan’s enduring national legend comes to comics! The tale of the 47 Ronin and their epic mission to avenge their wronged master epitomizes the samurai code of honor, and creators Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai have done justice to their story! Meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated, this collection of the acclaimed miniseries recounts this sweeping saga of honor and violence in all its grandeur. Opening with the tragic incident that sealed the fate of Lord Asano, 47 Ronin follows a dedicated group of Asano’s vassals on their years-long path of vengeance!

Artful Daggers: Fifty Years Later
Adam P. Knave, Sean E. Williams, and Andrew Losq
IDW
March 12
978-1-61377-885-2

Fifty years after a time traveler brings science and technology to the medieval ages, corporations have replaced kingdoms and the future teeters on a bleak precipice. Agents and assassins, hired for their specialties by the rivaling companies, stem the flow of information with the flow of blood. But the current system can't hold, and the balance of power is shifting.

Kids Are Weird: And Other Observations from Parenthood
Jeffrey Brown
Chronicle Books
9781452118703
March 18

Jeffrey Brown has a real gift for finding humor in quirky yet universal truths, as evidenced by his endearing and spot-on parenting scenarios depicted in New York Times bestselling Darth Vader and Son and Vader’s Little Princess. Now, Brown returns to celebrating the humor in everyday life with Kids Are Weird in which he wryly illustrates his five-year-old son’s take on the world around him. As the axiom goes, “kids say the darndest things” and Jeffrey’s son is no exception. From watching TV (“Elton John looks pretty in that shirt”) to playing with toys (“This truck can survive on very little water”) to odd requests (“Don’t feel happy at me”), Jeffrey’s personal, expressive illustrations capture the sweetly weird times mothers and fathers everywhere experience with their own curious, pure-minded kids.

Danger Girl: The Chase
Andy Hartnell, Harvey Talibao, and Dan Panosian
IDW
March 19
978-1-61377-904-0

On the trail of a vitally important --- and wildly volatile --- briefcase, the Danger Girls enter into what amounts to the most treacherous and dangerous game of hot potato of all time! Abbey, Sydney, and Sonya use any and all means to traverse towns, cities, states, countries, and continents (!) in their relentless pursuit to retrieve --- and keep! --- this unstable ticking time bomb…before it begins its countdown to unimaginable danger!    

The Dreamer, Vol. 3: The Battle of Harlem Heights
Lora Innes
IDW
March 19
978-1-61377-886-9

Bea Whaley's vivid dreams about the American Revolution continue in this all-new graphic novel! In the 21st century, Bea's friends and family begin to suspect that something is wrong, but Bea knows she cannot tell them about her dreams. As tensions rise, she struggles to return to the 18th century, where her friends' lives are threatened by the ever-growing war—and this time, she just might be too late to save them.

Saga, Vol. 3
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Image
March 25
978-1607069317

The Eisner, Harvey, and Hugo Award-winning phenomenon continues, as new parents Marko and Alana travel to an alien world to visit their hero, while the family's pursuers finally close in on their targets.

American Vampire, Vol. 6
Various
Vertigo
March 26
978-1401247089

You are cordially invited to a party—to die for! This new volume collects lost tales starring new characters and old favorites from AMERICAN VAMPIRE: THE LONG ROAD TO HELL #1, starring Travis Kidd—the vampire hunter who likes to “bite them back”—plus the stories from the AMERICAN VAMPIRE ANTHOLOGY #1.

Twisted Dark, Volume 5
Neil Gibson and various artists
T Publications
March 30
978-0-9927523-2-3

Neil Gibson (TABATHA, THEATRICS, TWISTED LIGHT) presents the fifth volume of his acclaimed TWISTED DARK series. Old characters begin to meet new, their stories connecting in sometimes rather unexpected ways to expand a twisted universe….

Silk Road to Ruin: Why Central Asia Is the Next Middle East, 2^nd Edition
Ted Rall
NBM
April 1
9781561638857

Part graphic novel travelog, part tongue-in-cheek travel guide, here are the adventures of caustic cartoonist Rall in the wild and wooly central Asian countries, a powder keg sitting on tomorrow’s oil... Combines articles with comics chapters relating his experiences retracing the old legendary Silk Road starting with the sublime history of China and ending in the absurdity of the petty dictatorships of the “The ‘Stans” where Rall had the temerity -or was it blustery stupidity?- to go back, including once with a group of listeners to his radio show, on a dare. It’s exotic adventure, satire and a fun way to find out more about a part of the world that looms in importance with its immense reserves of oil...

New York Postcards
Adrian Tomine
Drawn & Quarterly
April 8
978-1-77046-087-4

Adrian Tomine (Shortcomings, Scenes from an Impending Marriage) has forged countless iconic images of New York City in his career as an illustrator. A master of conveying an entire story with a single panel, his covers for the New Yorker are beloved by New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers alike, as much for their frank yet charmingportrayal of life in the big city as for their flawless design and gorgeous linework. 

This postcard set celebrates thirty of Tomine’s most well-known illustrations, and is a loving homage to the city that Tomine, a West Coast transplant, has called home for the past eight years.

Hinterkind Vol. 1: The Waking World
Ian Edginton and Francesco Trifogli.
Vertigo
April 8
9781401245184

In a postapocalyptic world where humans have been pushed to the edge of extinction by the creatures of fantasy and fables, THE HINTERKIND tells the story of one young woman's quest to fulfill her destiny and put the world right again.

Collects HINTERKIND #1-6.

Astro City: Shining Stars

Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

Vertigo

April 9

978-1401229917 

In these tales from ASTRO CITY: SAMARITAN #1, ASTRO CITY: ASTRA #1-2, ASTRO CITY: SILVER AGENT #1-2 and ASTRO CITY: BEAUTIE #1, Astra Furst is graduating from college. It’s a time of friends and family, new opportunities, changing relationships – and danger! Plus: the story of the Silver Agent’s fateful journey through time is revealed, including his origin and much more! 

100 Bullets: Brother Lono
Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Vertigo
April 9
978-1401245061 

The Eisner award-winning team behind 100 BULLETS--writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso, reunites to tell the story of the baddest Minuteman of all. When last we saw Lono in 100 BULLETS, Dizzy Cordova had shot him through the chest ... but Lono always was too tough to die. Now, after the final events of 100 BULLETS, Lono finds himself in Mexico working on the side of the angels.

The Big Feminist But…
Joan Reilly and Shannon O’Leary
Alternative Comics
April 16
978-0615789385

The Big Feminist BUT: Comics about Women, Men and the IFs, ANDs & BUTs of Feminismis an anthology that asks: What do we really mean when we say, “I’m not a feminist, BUT…” Comics by Lauren Weinstein, Jeffrey Brown, Sarah Oleksyk, Gabrielle Bell, Justin Hall, Ron Rege Jr., Vanessa Davis, Josh Neufeld, Andi Zeisler, Angie Wang, and a whole lot more. This second edition features additional comics and a new afterword.

Daytripper Deluxe Edition
Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon
Vertigo
April 22
9781401245115

The Eisner Award winning DAYTRIPPER follows Bras de Olivias Dominguez during different periods in his life, each with the same ending: his death.
DAYTRIPPER follows the life of one man, Bras de Olivias Dominguez. Every chapter features an important period in Bras' life in exotic Brazil, and each story ends the same way: with his death. And then, the following story starts up at a different point in his life, oblivious to his death in the previous story-and then also ends with him dying again. In every chapter, Bras dies at different moments in his life, as the story follows him through his entire existence-one filled with possibilities of happiness and sorrow, good and bad, love and loneliness. Each story rediscovers the many varieties of daily life, in a story about living life to its fullest-because any of us can die at any moment.

Libretto, Volume 1: Vampirism
Ben Templesmith, David Stoupakis, Riley Rossmo, Christopher Mitten, George Pratt, and menton3
April 23
IDW
978-1-61377-949-1

Libretto,Volume 1is curated/edited by Kasra Ghanbari with a theme of Vampirism: being the misuse of power, as well as the objectification and exploitation of others. Featured contributors have given their unique perspectives on this theme, with each section including an interview with the contributor conducted by another artist. Many artists have also given a rare look at the techniques and processes they used to create pieces for the book. 

Family Ties: An Alaskan Crime Drama
Eric Hobbs and Noel Tuazon
ComicsLit
May 1
9781561637294

Hoping to secure a future for his children, an aging Alaskan crime boss looks to retire and divide his empire amongst his three heirs. But when his idealistic son refuses the inheritance, the old man disowns him. This turns out to be a fatal mistake when he sees his cold-blooded daughters use their new-found power and influence against him. Inspired by the classic play KING LEAR, THE GODFATHER meets Shakespearean tragedy in this epic tale of betrayal and loss.

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Roz Chast
Bloomsbury
May 6
9781608198061

In her first memoir, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast’s memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.

While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies—an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades—the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care.

An amazing portrait of two lives at their end and an only child coping as best she can, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant will show the full range of Roz Chast’s talent as cartoonist and storyteller.

Godzilla: Awakening
Various
Vertigo
May 7
978-1401250355 

In May 2014, audiences will witness the epic rebirth of the King of Monsters as Legendary and Warner Bros. bring Godzilla to the big screen. To pave the way for the iconic creature’s return, Legendary Comics is proud to present the official Godzilla graphic novel.

Sunbeam on the Astronaut
Steven Cerio
Alternative Comics
May 13
978-1-934460-23-8

A long-awaited book of all-new short comics and art by Steven Cerio. The purely hallucinatory graphic album you’ve searched for is here, done in Cerio’s unique cross pollination of tripping visions and skittering twee. These detailed tales are lushly illustrated in his varying approaches used for commercial clients (Nickelodeon, Warner Bros etc.) and music acts (The Residents, Moe, Les Claypool, Ministry, etc.). These miraculous poetic narratives and free form meditations owe as much to the ghost of Arthur Rimbaud as to Captain Beefheart.

The Great American Documents: Vol. 1: 1620–1830
Ruth Ashby, Ernie Colón, and Russell Motter
Hill and Wang
9780809094608
May 13

The essential primer on 20 of the most influential American documents between 1620 and 1830, The Great American Documents series, written by the graphic-book author Ruth Ashby and illustrated by the renowned Ernie Colón, tells the history of America through the major speeches, laws, proclamations, court decisions, and essays that shaped it.Volume 1 introduces as the series narrator none other than Uncle Sam, who walks readers through 20 major documents bookended by the Mayflower Compact in 1620 and the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Each document gets its own chapter, in which Uncle Sam explains not only its key passages but its origins, how it came to be written, and its impact. In the chapter “The Maryland Toleration Act” we learn that the document was one of the first blueprints for modern religious tolerance. “Common Sense” depicts the Boston Tea Party and the British response as the prelude to Paine’s stirring pamphlet. And “The Louisiana Purchase Treaty” closes with Lewis and Clark setting off to map Jefferson’s “empire of liberty.”As Ashby shows, the creation of that empire made for immense prosperity but also entailed the extension of slavery and the forcible removal of the Indians. Her balanced and teachable theme is that these twenty documents embodied our early struggles to live up to the principles of liberty and equality. A handy and elegantly concise guide, this masterfully illustrated volume is the perfect book for students of American history, young and old.

Coffin Hill, Vol. 1: Forest of the Night
Caitlin Kittredge and Inaki Miranda
Vertigo
May 14
978-1401248871

Following a night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve Coffin wakes up naked, covered in blood and unable to remember how she got there. One friend is missing, one is in a mental ward--and one knows that Eve is responsible.

Mind MGMT, Vol. 3: The Home Maker
Matt Kindt
Dark Horse
May 21
978-1-61655-390-6

With Meru and Lyme’s partnership destroyed, the players go their separate ways in a series of interconnected one-shots revealing each character’s hidden past! As the former team continue their investigations separately, the Eraser sets her sights on a valuable new recruit—Meru! Collects The Home Maker from MIND MGMT #13–#17 and The Zoo Keeper from #18.

Judge Dredd, Vol. 4: 13 Badges
Duane Swierczynski, Nelson Daniel, and Brendan McCarthy
IDW
May 21
978-1-61377-957-6

Dredd returns to Mega-City One --- still recovering from the ravages of “The Long Fail” --- only to find the Justice Department under siege! Seems that someone has snuffed 12 Judges in creative and shocking ways.

Petty Theft   
Pascal Girard; translator: Helge Dascher
Drawn & Quarterly
May 27
978-1-77046-152-9

Pascal’s in a bad place. He’s out of work, he and his longtime girlfriend have just broken up, and when he goes out for a run to ease his frazzled nerves, he falls and injures his back so badly, he’s strictly forbidden from running. What’s an endorphin-loving cartoonist to do? In a bid to distract himself, Pascal throws himself into his other pleasure: reading. And while at the bookstore one day, he spies a young woman picking up his own book. But then she darts out of the shop without paying. Bemused, he decides to figure out why she did it.

The Collectoris a comedy of errors, a laugh-out-loud account of a man on a mission, and a heavily fictionalized memoir about the addictiveness of book-ownership. Pascal Girard intermingles an all-too-true-to-life snapshot of contemporary relationships with slapstick trials and dryly funny tribulations in this delightfully readable book.

Everywhere Antennas
Julie Delporte; translator: Helge Dascher
Drawn & Quarterly
May 27
978-1-77046-154-3

Julie Delporte’s Everywhere Antennas is a deeply affecting, sparely constructed novel, equal parts Walden and The Bell Jar. Told in the first person, Everywhere Antennas offers diary-like entries from an anonymous narrator who is undergoing a nervous breakdown and struggling to hold together a failing relationship.  In soft, flowing colored pencil, Delporte shows her narrator coming to term with a rare and misunderstood sensitivity to the radiation emitted by the televisions, cell phones, and computers that permeate urban life.

On each page a few words are paired with an image or two, conveying a moment or a thought simply but effectively.  Over the course of the book, the anonymous narrator moves from place to place, looking for solutions to her melancholy in the countryside via isolation and in the city with friends and sometimes medication.  Throughout, her emotional and intellectual landscape receives as much attention as her physical surroundings.

Everywhere Antennasis the portrait of a woman caught in the margins, struggling to balance the demands of technology and modern life with the need to find meaningful relationships and work.  Roughly hewn figures, sketched in pencil crayon on brightly contrasting backgrounds, populate the pages of this flowing, emotive work. With Everywhere Antennas, Julie Delporte proves herself to be a master craftswoman of heartbreakingly personal, beautifully literary graphic fiction.

Fairest, Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja
Sean E. Williams and various artists
Vertigo
May 28
978-1401245931 

In this title collecting FAIREST #15-20, when young Nalayani seeks the help of the Maharaja to save her humble village, she uncovers a secret that could change the Fables Universe forever: the still alive but thought long dead Prince Charming!

The Louvre Collection: Phantoms of the Louvre
Enki Bilal
ComicsLit
June 1
9781561638413

Superstar European SF and Fantasy comics artist Enki Bilal revisits the Louvre in twenty-two portraits... He imagines 22 fates of men, women and children whose lives have been affected by a work of art. 22 portraits for 5000 years of creation.

They haunt the halls of the Louvre ... they are long dead, often violently ... they are a Roman legionary, a muse, a painter, a German officer ... Each, one day, met a painter or a sculptor and was their model ...
Bilal felt them, wandering the corridors of the Louvre, close to the work that tipped their life: Mona Lisa, the Victory of Samothrace, Christ reclining, an Egyptian mask ...Bilal startlingly brings them back to life.
Both a work of Fantasy and a masterful homage, this was presented in a special exhibition in the Louvre in early 2013.

Will You Still Love Me if I Wet the Bed?
Liz Prince
Top Shelf
June 1
978-1-891830-72-3

What started out as an exercise in keeping a personal comics journal, quickly evolved into Liz Prince's first solo graphic novel. Described as a mix between Jeffrey Brown and James Kochalka, Liz's comics are comprised of short vignettes that capture all the cute, gross, and endearing aspects of relationships. It's the perfect book for all those fans of autobiographical comics who want to see a happy ending.

The Louvre Collection: Glacial Period
Nicolas de Crécy
ComicsLit
June 1
9781561638550

With this graphic novel, for the first time in the US, ComicsLit brings over the latest enfant terrible of European comics, a mad genius, and for the first time, The Louvre museum is involved in a co-edition of a series of graphic novels, each a vision of this great museum by a different artist.
De Crecy, at the sight of the incredible richness of the museum's collection was overwhelmed and felt small and ignorant. The result is a story set thousands of years hence in a glacial period where all human history has been forgotten and a small group of archeologists fall upon the Louvre, buried in age-old snow. They cannot begin to explain all the artifacts they see. What could they have meant? Their interpretations are nonsense, absurd, farcical.

Street Fighter Classic, Volume 3: Psycho Crusher
Various
Udon
June 1
978-1-927925-02-7

Presenting UDON’s classic Street Fighter comics in a gorgeous, oversized hardcover! It’s all the pulse-pounding martial arts action of the ultimate fighting-game experience, presented through spectacular anime-influenced artwork! In Vol.3, Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Cammy, and more have finally reached the Street Fighter tournament! Some seek revenge, others aim to uncover M.Bison’s secrets, while others still are simply looking for a good fight! It’s all-out, no-holds-barred martial-arts action with the fate of the world at stake! Collects the original Street Fighter II Turbo #1-12.

Street Fighter IV, Volume 1: Wages of Sin
Various
Udon
June 1
978-1-927925-14-0

Presenting UDON’s Street Fighter IV comics, now available for the first time in oversized hardcover format! Newcomers like Crimson Viper, Rufus, Abel, and Seth battle fan favorite characters like Sakura, Dan, Akuma, and more! Collects the original Street Fighter IV #1-4, and bonus stories featuring the casts of Street Fighter III, Street Fighter IV, and Final Fight! Plus, included is an all-new six-page Ultra Street Fighter IV story created exclusively for this volume!

Wonder Momo: Battle Idol, Volume 1
Erik Ko and Jim Zub. Art by Omar Dogan
Udon
June 1
978-1-927925-05-8

Momoko was a typical Japanese teenager with dreams of becoming a famous pop idol…until an alien powersuit transformed her into the spectacular WONDER MOMO! This buxom new superhero punches, kicks, and hula hoops her way through monsters, henchmen, robots, and her most dangerous foe…the dreaded paparazzi! WONDER MOMO: BATTLE IDOL Vol.1 collects over 100 strips from the hit webcomic, plus rough concepts, bonus art, and more!

Substrata: Open World Dark Fantasy
Various
Udon
June 1
978-1-927925-13-3

What happens when over 80 creators from the world’s top video game studios join forces without the constraint of committee design? You get Substrata, a hypothetical Triple-A title driven by artists, for artists. Herein lies their widely varied, unbridled visions! Inside you’ll find character designs, locations, monsters, items, interface designs, and more, all exploring the spectacular dark fantasy world of Substrata.

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan
Shigeru Mizuki; translator: Zack Davisson
Drawn & Quarterly
June 3
978-1-77046-151-2

Showa 1938-1944: A History of Japancontinues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki’s autobiographical and historical account of Showa Era Japan. This volume covers the final moments of the lead-up to World War Two and the first few years of the Pacific War; it is a chilling reminder of the harshness of life in Japan during this highly militarized epoch. 

In Showa 1938-1944, Mizuki writes affectingly about the impact on the Japanese populace of world-changing moments including the devastating Second Sino-Japanese War, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the first half of the Pacific War. On a personal level, these years mark a dramatic transformation in Mizuki’s life, too – his idyllic childhood in the countryside comes to a definitive end when he’s drafted into the army and shipped off to the tiny island of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. His life becomes a constant struggle for survival, not only against the constant Allied attacks but because he must face the harsh discipline of the Japanese army officers. During his time in Rabaul, Mizuki comes to understand the misery and beauty of the island itself—a place that will permanently mark him and haunt him for the rest of his life.

The Girl Who Played with Fire
Denise Mina, Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti
Vertigo
June 3
9781401237578

In this graphic novel adaptation of Stieg Larrson's THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander's innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

Toshiro
Jai Nitz and Janusz Pawlak
Dark Horse
June 4
978-6165552905

The mechano-samurai Toshiro travels a Victorian clockwork world, battling horrors too dark for mankind. With his mysterious partner, the world-famous adventurer Quicksilver Bob, Toshiro must face Earth’s greatest foe yet: the soul-stealing, zombie-creating jellyfish from beyond. Janusz Pawlak’s jagged inks and moody watercolors create a world of dread and mystery.

Benson's Cuckoos
Anouk Ricard; translator: Helge Dascher
Drawn & Quarterly
June 10
978-1-77046-138-3

Richard thinks he’s in luck when he snags a job at the cuckoo clock factory, but things start to go wrong right off the bat. First of all, there’s his boss, who doesn’t seem to have the strongest grip on reality and has an odd penchant for silly hats. Then there are his coworkers, who are alternately evasive and idiotic when asked about anything pertaining to actually getting work done. Finally, there’s Guy, the employee Richard’s replacing, who supposedly quit, but whose family has just appeared on national TV pleading for his safe return. It’s all adding up to a very strange workplace, and when the company goes on a retreat, everything spools quickly out of control.

From the author of ANNA & FROGA comes a wry, offbeat whodunnit that centers on office life. Anouk Ricard’s subtle, sardonic humor undermines the characters’ desperate attempts to be taken seriously, as they bungle kidnappings, misunderstand social cues, and let petty disagreements become feuds. Ricard’s dimwitted characters aspire to deviousness, but miss their mark, remaining firmly in the domain of the slapstick. With cleverly observed dialogue, charming artwork, and brilliantly over-the-top plotting,Coucous Bouzon will delight the adult fans of Ricard’s kids’ comics.

Walt Before Skeezix
Frank King
Drawn & Quarterly
June 10
978-1-77046-141-3

Walt Before Skeezixcollects the first years of Frank King’s beloved comic strip, Gasoline Alley. Gasoline Alley was one of the most widely read and syndicated strips of its time: its importance such that it is still syndicated today. These comics, produced between 1919 and 1920, focus primarily on Walt Wallet and his friends, as they engage with the then-novel automobile sensation that was sweeping the nation.

This period of the newspaper strip is especially fascinating as a historical time capsule, charting a moment in America’s past when horses and buggies shared the road with cars, and when the USA was making the transition from a country of rural farmers to an urban, industrialized society. Walt Before Skeezix will feature an essay by Tim Samuelson, cultural historian for the City of Chicago, about 1919-1920 Chicago and how Chicago’s history is reflected in King’s newspaper strip.

Frank King was a pioneering American cartoonist who changed comics forever by setting his strip in contemporary America and having his characters age. These lavish volumes pay tribute to the evolution of King’s style and storytelling. Designed and edited by world-renowned cartoonist Chris Ware (Building Stories), Walt Before Skeezix includes a wide-ranging introductory essay from noted comics historian Jeet Heer, co-editor of Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium.

Dead Boy Detectives, Vol. 1: Schoolboy Terrors
Toby Litt, Gary Erskine, and Mark Buckingham
Vertigo
June 11
978-1401248895

In these stories from issues #1-6, Charles and Edwin begin to unravel the mysteries of their own demise while trying to protect tech-savvy sleuth Crystal from a similar fate. Also includes the short stories “Run Ragged” from WITCHING HOUR #1, GHOSTS #1 and TIME WARP #1.

Crime Does Not Pay: City of Roses
Phil Stanford and Patric Reynolds
Dark Horse
June 11
978-1-61655-304-3

Portland, Oregon, is often called the Rose City, but the denizens that inhabit its underbelly rarely smell so sweet. Dirty cops, dirty robbers. These shady characters and their illicit connections reveal their boiling corruption in Phil Stanford’s true crime stories. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. Collects City of Roses parts 1–12 from Dark Horse Presents.

The Portent
Peter Bergting
Dark Horse
June 18
978-1-61655-355-5

A wood nymph has returned alone from the realm of the dead to find her dying world overwhelmed with powerful warlocks, vengeful spirits, demons, and witches.

Criminal Macabre: The Eyes of Frankenstein

Steve Niles and Christopher Mitten

Dark Horse

June 18

978-1-61655-303-6

With ghouls dying all around him and the mystery of his own violent illness racking his body and mind, occult detective Cal McDonald takes on a new case from an old friend—Frankenstein’s monster. To solve the case, Cal seeks help from a man billed as “the world’s foremost authority on the supernatural.” Cal must trust this wealthy entertainer to save his friends and cure his illness. But that trust leads down a dangerous path that will leave Cal changed forever. Collects the four-issue miniseries.