Five for ADD

The post title? Well, y'see, it's usually Spurgeon that does the Five for Friday thing, and I'm occasionally posting a makeup list because I don't always get around to doing a list for it by the deadline, and this time it's someone else, and... oh. Well. I knew this titling thing could lead to problems. Anyway.

The estimable Alan David Doane recently put out the call for, and I quote:

...some notable writers and other comics-involved folks to share their lists of whatever five comics or graphic novels they were most looking forward to in 2009.

I don't think I qualify on either of those counts, even though I suppose spending lots of money on the darn things every month certainly makes me "involved" to an extent, but he did put the call out on Twitter as well, which means (I think) that ordinary people like your humble scribe can also answer with a list.

Problem is...I didn't. Meant to, but just couldn't find the time over the weekend to do the necessary research. However, ADD posted a link to Douglas Wolk's list of notable scheduled 2009 releases, and looking at that, as well as the responses Doane got that he put up today, well, I can come up with my own list, sans blackjack and hookers (Sorry, that joke always makes me laugh) of course. And what do you know? Here it is! Not necessarily in order of anticipation, of course.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE UNIVERSE. Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press): Isn't everybody looking forward to this one? There will, of course, be the usual overpraising and the inevitable backlash, and it will be like old times once mo' around the Blogosphere.

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (VOL III): CENTURY 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (Top Shelf): Black Dossier was an ambitious failure, but hope springs eternal, as they say.

ASTERIOS POLYP by David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon): Don't know much about this, but I love Mazzuchelli's art and I will definitely be thinking about picking it up, unless it's a $59.95 hardcover or something.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BAT LASH, CREEPER, ECLIPSO by Various (DC): About effing time they got around to putting out a Bat Lash collection; too bad it won't be in color. Still, you're getting some witty and heartfelt Denny O'Neil and Sergio Aragones scripts and some of the best art of Nick Cardy's career. (Cardy inks Sekowsky on the final issue). I have the originals, and I wouldn't take anything for them. I have those Creepers as well, but it will be nice to have them all in one place for rereading. Problem is, the Creepers don't really hold up as well as the Bat Lashes do; Ditko does the first four or five, and as with most of his DC efforts at the time they're a compromised affair. Still, there's just something about that character that fascinates me, and I'm not alone. The Eclipso stories, on the other hand, I haven't read too many of so I'm kinda looking forward to those more than anything. I know Alex Toth does a few, but the art is mostly handled by the likes of Lee Elias and Jack Sparling, and many of the scripts are by that Pasha of Pandemonium himself, Bob Haney so I'll bet they're good readin'.

BATTLING BOY by Paul Pope (:01): Paul Pope! That right there is all I need to know.

There are many other fine releases coming this year; the Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis collection would be cool because I don't have my Wein/Wrightson Swamp Things anymore (nor my Michelinie/Redondo, for that matter), and I was thinking that I'd like to read them again someday. Problem is, it's in the expensive hardcover format, something which will keep me from biting on a lot of the titles on Wolk's list. One book which was priced way out of my reach was Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls; however, Top Shelf has finally seen fit to release it in a more affordable (I assume, haven't seen the price yet) softcover collection and I might just help myself to that one. I have scans of it, but they're not particularly good ones and no I haven't finished reading them, which is why I haven't written about it yet. There are things I'm getting anyway, such as the next issue of Love & Rockets: New Stories, and things I won't be getting because I already have the books collected, and am not interested in reacquiring like the Preacher volume, or the Showcase Presents: Ambush Bug volume. You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! (Fantagraphics) by Fletcher Hanks/Paul Karasik, the sequel to the Hanks collection of a couple of years ago, will also be coming out; I enjoyed the first collection, but not excessively so...to me it was more "bad" than "so bad it's good", but those are some wild-ass crazy stories the man did so I guess it will be a game-time decision, so to speak, as to if I'll get it. Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim's The Eternal Smile: Three Stories (:01) is intriguing; I loved Kim's Same Difference and Other Stories.

OK, make your own list now. I can tell you this, though; as my friend Dave Lartigue will readily agree, I think THIS should be the next Showcase Presents feature. How about you?