The Last Tape In Hell

Normally at New Readers... we review trade paperback editions of comics.  This works well with comics from the big publishers, but doesn't work so well for independent or self published comics. Back at the start of December I did a quick post about Thought Bubble 2012, a UK comics convention happening in Leeds.  A lot of  comics on sale at Thought Bubble are of the self published, single issue type, and I didn't want my readers to miss out on the fantastic stuff in the UK independent comics scene.  So, I will be spending a little while going over the very best of the ones that I bought.

These words will be culled from/inspired by short reviews I did on my other blog, Pai.  Depending on the sense of the original blog, they are likely to be edited to make more sense to new readers of comics.

Onwards...

The Last Tape in Hell

Writer and artist: Sarah Gordon

What's it about?
This is a short, glossy comic with few words but the most amazing colours.

It's set in Hell.  Satan is hard at work doing administrative, hellish type things.  His old cassette player is spewing out the sounds of hell (which turn out to be Dooom....Dooom...Dooom).  The cassette player suddenly breaks, and the tape becomes chewed up.

Merry Christmas!

Apologies for the blog silence.  December is never a good time to try and restart anything.

To make it up to you, here's a Christmas comic from Mike Maihack:

If you want more of this check out Maihack's previous strips:

Last year's Christmas comic
The first Supergirl/Batgirl one he did
The second one he did

And keeping with the Super theme, Comixology currently has a 99cent (about 60 English pence) sale on Superman comics.  The DC Women Kicking Ass tumblr has done a list of those titles most relevant to Lois Lane.  I highly recommend you check it out and I wholeheartedly endorse her recommendations for Birthright and Superman For All Seasons.  Those two are fantastic, fantastic comics.

As for titles without a Lois focus, I'd also recommend Red Son, All Star Superman, the For Tomorrow arc which cover Superman vol 2 issues 204 to 215 (I've not read this myself but I have heard very good things about it), the Superman/Batman issues and Trinity.

Links given are to the first issue of each story arc or series.

It's a ten day sale which finishes on Saturday so hurry up and take a look!

Happy holidays!

British Comic Awards

The British Comic Awards are a new institution, launched at this year's Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds.  I had the pleasure of attending Thought Bubble on the Saturday and bought a big stack of comics, many of which will be reviewed here.

Unfortunately I missed the awards themselves, but the nominees and winners are on the website and I encourage you all to go have a look.

I have read one of the winning books, Hilda and the Midnight Giant, and it's a great, whimsical book.  It would make a great Christmas present for kids.

I'll be back in a week or so when I've got some proper reviews written up.

Five titles for new readers

The ever excellent DCWomenKickingAss tumblr has done a post titled 'Five titles to get a dude into comics'.

Don't be swayed by the tongue in cheek title, these are series for all readers!

She has suggested books for fans of the Arrow TV series, the Avengers and Dark Knight Rises films, the Syfy channel, and readers of Stephen King.

If you want more inspiration you can read our posts on Green Arrow (digital comics here, Smallville inspired comics here), the Avengers and the Dark Knight Rises, but do check out the DCWKA tumblr too.

Coming up will be reviews of the best comics I found at the Thought Bubble comic convention a couple of weeks ago.

Free comics!

I've just moved house and am clearing out my bookshelves, so have put up a few listings of CDs, books, and comics that I need to get rid of over on my other blog.  I thought the comics might be of interest to readers here, so take a look and if you want any of them email me on paicomics at yahoo dot co dot uk.

I'll just ask you to pay postage and donate some money towards one of the following charities:
ASN
The RSPB's Albatross campaign
Leeway Women's refuge

I don't want payment for the books: I just need shelf space, and I really do not want to go through the hassle of listing them all on ebay.
 
So here's the list.  Where we've done reviews of the books I've included a link.

You Don't Look Forty, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz (Paperback, 1990) (complete Peanuts series reviewed here)
I''ll Be Your Slave (Yaoi)
Antique Bakery Volume (Yaoi)
The Moon and Sandals Volume 2 (Yaoi)
The Moon and the Sandals: Volume 1 (Yaoi)
Iono-Sama Fanatics: Volume 1 (Yuri)
Shinobu Kokoro (Yaoi)
Dragonslippers: This Is What An Abusive Relationship Looks Like
Spiderman Annual: 2003 by Egmont Childrens Books (Hardback, 2002)  (good for kids)
Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel by Scott Beatty (Hardback, 2002) (good for kids)
Freddie & Me: A Coming of Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody

The Yaoi and Yuri ones are for adults, not children

Ame-Comi girls

Writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art credits:
Ame-Comi Girls issues 1-6: Eduardo Francisco (art), Ikari Studio and Santi Casas (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls issues 7-8: Santi Casas (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Wonder Woman: Amanda Connor (art), Paul Mounts (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Batgirl: Sanford Greene (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Duela Dent: Ted Naifah (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Power Girl: Michael Bowden (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Supergirl: Santi Casas (art) , Randy Mayor (colours)
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
It's a weekly comic series from DC. The basic premise is that this is an earth where only women are heroes.  It's based on the Ame-Comi line of statues, which are basically manga/anime inspired sexy versions of DC's heroines.  You can see some of them on Amazon here.  Some are horrific, like this Wonder Woman one (why is she not wearing anything??), others are pretty good.  There was not really a story behind the action figures, so one has been created.

From Ame-Comi Girls 6, I think

The series started with 3 issue spotlights on 5 characters - Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Duela Dent, Power Girl, and Supergirl.  Wonder Woman looks at how Diana comes to America and forms a pact with the American government.  Batgirl and Duela Dent go hand in hand, introducing each character and setting up for the full series.  Duela's origin is really creepy.  These issues also introduce us to other key players such as Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Steel, and Brainiac.  Power Girl has Kara saving the day in metropolis then fighting Lex Luthor.  At the end, another visitor from Krypton arrives, and we segue into Supergirl.  Supergirl crashes to earth with Brainiac's army close behind.  Both Karas try to stop them, but Brainiac has other plans.

From the Duela Dent issues

Then the Ame-Comi series starts proper.  Issues 1 to 6 have all the heroes, led by Wonder Woman (because she says that's what's going to happen),  band together to fight Brainiac and save the earth.  Brainiac is an amazingly advanced robot from the far off reaches of space who consumes the knowledge of all the worlds she visits, then destroys them.  Issues 7 and 8 introduce Jade as this sector's Green Lantern.

From Ame-Comi Girls 7

The Lengths

Writer and Art: Howard Hardiman
Publisher: Self published

What's it about?

What lengths do we go to in our lives? To make money? To meet boyfriends? To keep boyfriends? To survive?

From the website:
"It’s hard being someone’s Mister Right when for a hundred pounds an hour, you’re anyone’s Mister Right Now.  Young ex-art student Eddie has abandoned his course, his family, his lover and his friends to follow a male escort into a world of sex, drugs and unrequited love. Now, he is beginning a tentative romance with an old friend and having to face up to the challenge of being honest in a relationship about what he’s doing in the weird hours he works and the lengths he’s willing to go to to try to please everyone around him."

There's no rainbows in this, no whimsical camp paraphernalia.  It's a seedy, gritty story about a male prostitute coming to a crossroads in his life.  It's sometimes sordid, sometimes touching.  The juxtaposition between the lead's life as Ford, sex worker, and his life as Eddie, drop out art student, is the main message of the story.  Exploring this, we see Eddie with past boyfriends, how he got into sex work, and his blossoming relationship with Dan, who has no idea about Eddie's job.