The Fanboy Planet Preview Spotlight 07/27/05
brought to you by Brian's Books of Santa Clara

Derek is still on a "working" vacation in Southern California following Comic-Con. I'll be filling in for him on Preview Spotlight for the next few weeks. As per my contract, whenever I fill in for another writer, I have carte blanche to make fun of them until they return.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere #2
Writer: Mike Carey
Art: Glenn Fabry

Based on Neil Gaiman's 1997 novel (which was later made into a popular BBC miniseries -- or vice versa), Vertigo has begun the monumental task of adapting Neverwhere to comic book format. The contemporary fantasy tale follows average, everyday Richard Mayhew on his journey through the looking glass (actually a manhole) in order to help a mysterious girl he finds dying in the street one day. Soon Richard is being hunted by diabolical killers, talking to guys named Lord Rat Speaker and in general his life gets really weird.

Mike Carey is no stranger to adapting the work of Neil Gaiman, having been nominated for an Eisner Award for his adaptation of Lucifer as well as his work on The Sandman Presents. His pacing and dialogue of Neverwhere feel like his own rather than a strict regurgitation of Gaiman's novel.

What can you say about Glenn Fabry that hasn't already been said? He's a seasoned pro with a true talent for adding great art to a great story. Some of the characters and places may not look the way long time Gaiman fans picture them, but Fabry's fingerprints on the story make the retelling unique.

We usually try to make our pick of the week the starting point of a story rather than some point in the middle but Neverwhere is early enough in its tale that new readers can still climb aboard. Issue #1 should still be relatively easy to find and the journey promises to be a long, enjoyable one.

Now where is our American Gods adaptation?

Runner-up

Hulk: Destruction #1: Marvel promises the "new, definitive origin of the Abomination" as written by Hulk authority by Peter David. The Abomination isn't the star of the first issue, but as with almost all Peter David Hulk stories, it's good stuff.

Not Worth Your Money

JLA/Cyberforce #1: I'm not a big Joe Kelly JLA fan and unfortunately that trend continues here. This JLA team up with Top Cow's Cyberforce starts with cyborg zombies invading Budapest. The JLA and Cyberforce both arrive to answer the distress call (apparently the Top Cow and DC universes are one in the same.) Everyone has a zombie bashing good time until both teams discover that the leader of the cyber zombies is a former Cyberforce team member.

Kelly's JLA has always been tough to follow with what seems like huge chunks of dialogue missing and characters often breaking character for the sake of one-liners. The action is good but meaningless without an engaging story to back it up.

Doug Mahnke's art is always enjoyable, but there are better and cheaper places to find his take on the JLA. Save your $6 and buy two other books rather than this one.

Silent Dragon #1 (of 6): Our local comic dealer Steve enjoyed this one but I was left ambivalent. Andy Diggle is certainly hot right now coming off his run on Adam Strange and the art team of Leinil Yu & Gerry Alanguilan did some great work on Superman: Birthright.

Unfortunately, despite all that talent, the first issue didn't tell enough of the story to hook me for 5 more issues. In short, if you like stories with samurais and guns, well, here's another one. I'm going to wait for the trade.

Sight Unseen

Giant-Sized Spider-Woman #1: As much as I hate the mere mentions of spiders, I love Spider-Woman (actually I just think she's hot). Don't be fooled by the term title Giant Sized as this doesn't refer to any part of her anatomy. Instead this is a collection important Spider-Woman comics designed to bring new comic book fans who might be reading New Avengers up to speed on this incarnation of Spider Woman.

The collection includes her first appearance and origin in Marvel Spotlight #32 (1977), the first issue of her solo series (1978), the first appearance of one of Spider-Woman's foes Siryn and a new 8 page story by Brain Michael Bendis.

Ultimate Iron Man #1 (3rd Print): This is in its third printing? Holy crap! I need to put my first edition on ebay, pronto!

Batman: Dark Detective #6: Last issue of this series. I guess now he goes back to being called the Light Detective.

Alan Moore Hypothetical Lizard #3 I know nothing about this. I just think the name is funny enough to point out. *points*

Fruits Basket vol. #11: I know nothing about this one either, other than I know a good looking 22 year old female Asian virgin who is dying to read this. I think that is self explanatory.

Everything Else Shipping Wednesday July 27, 2005

MARVEL
Amazing Spider-Man 522
Black Panther 6
Fantastic Four 529
Hercules 5
Machine Teen 3
New X-Men: Academy X 16
New X-Men: Hellions 3
Nightcrawler 8
OHOTMU: Avengers 2005
Pulse 10
Pulse: House of M
Runaways 6
Spellbinders 5
X-Men 173

DC
Catwoman 45
Doom Patrol 14
Flash 224
JLA: Classified 10
Legion of Super Heroes 8
OMAC Project 4
Outsiders 26
Superman/Batman 21
Wonder Woman 219
Year One: Batman Ra's Al Ghul 2

DC/VERTIGO
Hellblazer 210
Losers 26
Otherworld 5

DC/WILDSTORM
Albion 2
Astro City Dark Age 2
City of Tomorrow 4

INDEPENDENT
Beowulf 3
Casefiles Sam & Twitch 18
Courtney Crumrin Tales 1
Ed the Happy Clown 2
Godland 1
Hellboy: the Island 2
Poison Elves Ventures 2
Queen & Country Declassified 3.2
Shonen Jump 33
Star Wars Republic 77
Tarot 33
Tick: Days of Drama 1

MANGA TRADES
Girl Got Game vol. 10
Oh My Goddess vol. 21
Planetes vol. 1 DVD
Scrapped Princess vol. 1

TRADES
Avengers West Coast Vision Quest
Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures V. 2
Capote in Kansas
Combat Tales: GI's in Iraq
Cute Manifesto
Dead West vol. 1
Exiles vol. 10
Excalibur: House of M Prelude
Kinetic
Nightwing Year One
Promethea vol. 5 HC
Sgt. Rock Archives vol. 3
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 13
Usagi Yojimbo vol. 19

MAGAZINES
Back Issue 11
Buffy TVS 20
Charmed 6
Draw 11
Dreamwatch USA 10
Filmfax 107
Jack Kirby Collector 43
Lee's Toy Review 154
Marvel Previews
PREVIEWS 8
Scrye 87
TV Zone 191
WIZARD 167
Write Now 10

KIDS
Cartoon Network Block Party 11
Spider-Man Human Torch Digest
Tales from Riverdale Digest 4
Teen Titans Go! 21
Uncle Scrooge 344
W. Disney's Comics 659

2006 CALENDARS
Batman Begins Wall-Size
Batman Begins Mini-Wall
Captain America
Daredevil
Incredible Hulk
Justice League
Spider-Man
The Batman
Wolverine
X-Men

Hey, write to us and let us know what you think, or talk about it on the forums!

Michael Goodson