Shawn Says: Spotlight on New Releases October 13, 2010

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which books she is most excited about!

1) John Constantine: Hellblazer City of Demons #1

Sean Murphy is doing the art on a Hellblazer miniseries? Sign me up! You can listen to Murphy talk about this miniseries on the Vertigo panel from NYCC that Adam was lovely enough to record and post. Click here to listen to that panel!

2) House of Mystery Halloween Annual #2

This annual didn’t have Merv Pumpkinhead like last year’s but it definitely lived up to my expectations. This issue focuses on four kids who have been cursed to live forever as Trick-or-Treaters. Some of the best Vertigo series get a treatment by some of the best writers and artists working in Vertigo today. The two standouts are Brandon Graham’s Madame Xanadu story and the iZombie story by series creators Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. That’s not to say that the Hellblazer and the Lucifer stories weren’t enjoyable, because they were! House of Mystery always delivers an excellent read and this issue is no exception.

3) Jonah Hex #60

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti team up with artist Brian Stelfreeze with amazing results! I am super excited to see Stelfreeze doing interiors. I love his cover work but I wish he would do more sequential stories, like he did for Wednesday Comics. The art is great but equally so is the story. Each week Jonah Hex proves to be a must read.

4) Tomb of Terror #1

I bought this comic merely for the Paul Hornschemeier story but I genuinely enjoyed all of it. Hornschemeier did the first story which is about Man-Thing and what it is like to turn into a monster. What really surprised me about this book was how much I enjoyed Joe R. Lansdale’s prose story about the Living Mummy. This is a great comic to put you in the mood for Halloween.

5) Strange Tales 2 #1

This is the first issue of a three issue mini-series that collects some of the best Indie creators interpreting Marvel characters. I can’t decide on a favorite story because they are all great. Some of the best stories were by Rafael Grampa, Frank Santoro, Dash Shaw and Kate Beaton. I highly recommend this book, especially if you want to branch out into the Indie world but don’t know where to start.