As a comic book enthusiast, Halloween week is one of the best times of the year. Classic, new and very scary collections are published from many of the mainstream companies and the independents. I’ll touch many of them for this week’s podcast on Wednesday but for now let me tell you about a book that scared the hell out of me when it saw it on Saturday: High School Musical / High School Musical 2 Cine-Manga Double Deluxe Edition Digest from TokyoPop! It’s actually a Photo Comic adaptation of the two Disney movies made up with word balloons laid over stills from the film.
To be honest after reading it to, my daughter Erin, it comes across as a pretty decent collection. First of all it was on the same spinner rack as DC’s Scooby-Doo and the Marvel Adventures digests. The price is fair at $9.99 and it’s an easy read. Disney has made another smart marketing decision catering to the “tween” crowd. As for the extras, it only includes a full gallery of Who’s Who at East High. As for the musical numbers, they are all cut short. I can see why, too. It would have made for dull reading when you can’t sing along. However, that is exactly what the book is missing. A few pages of all the lyrics from the songs would have been a nice bonus. HS3 Cine-Manga Digest is expected in December
OK, so not that scary, but it’s better than a bag full of rocks. Now on to a few links:
- Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual–September 2008 Yet again Watchmen is #1, but who is #2? 100 Bullets TPB Vol 12 Dirty (MR). Damn! That’s a surprise!
- It’s not often that I promote other podcasts, but I couldn’t pass up my good friend Bruce Rosenberger, Komics Kast, who reviews Volume One of the Complete Gasoline Alley Dailies (Walt and Skeezix), and Volume One of the Complete Dick Tracy.
- A call from Fantagraphics: Editor Craig Yoe is seeking material for The Great Anti-War Cartoons, a 120-page black & white hardcover they are publishing next year. Visit Craig’s site for more information and a preview slideshow.
- Alan Gardner, Daily Cartoonist, reports that Tom Richmond, a MAD magazine cartoonist, has announced on his blog that MAD magazine will issue a new collection of movie parodies entitled MAD About the Movies: Director’s Cut. This is their second collection – the first was released in 1998. This one, Tom says, is 400 pages, contains 60 movie parodies and only costs $10. It’s only available at Barnes and Noble.
- The Collected Editions Blog teases us with some of the trades and hardcovers for DC Comics Fall 2009.
