PBF & the JMan

My Stars. Thank the universe for small miracles. I'm up to my eyeballs in the fabulous Previews catalog, the book we order much of our wares from and due tomorrow night, as of this writing. (BTW, when I use the term "fabulous" I mean the exact opposite of its definition, usually through gnashed teeth -- if something's fabulous, it bites Beelzebub boobs) I was gonna take a hostage a second ago, kvetching to the office walls that I also had to write a Weekly Planet on top of swimming through the muck of this 526-page bundle of inane solicitations and ca-ca. But crisis was averted when I perused the list of items hitting our shelves this week! OMG! I've been waiting to write this column for months now! Been eagerly awaiting this one book for years now!The first collection of Nick Gurewitch's Perry Bible Fellowship releases Wednesday, making this your lucky day, kids. Better buy a lottery ticket. Let's delve deeper, shall we? (And I ask your forgiveness in advance for all the superlatives I'm about to use.)

PBF: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto HC - Dark Horse Comics finally presents this collection of Gurewitch's comic strips, which appear online and grace the pages of newspapers and magazines the world over. PBF is my favorite comic strip going these days. It's my opinion that Nick Gurewitch is the greatest young strip artist to break out since Bill Watterson. Possessed of a singular, and disturbingly jagged wit, his strips will make ya laugh to be sure. But, PBF excels when it examines our human frailties, our foibles, insecurities, and our world, skewing them slightly... and then you get eaten by a dinosaur. Enough telling -- let me show you what I'm talkin' about. Here's a reprint of my most favoritest strip of the 21st Century (don't sue, Gurewitch), Punch Bout:

I think that sums it up nicely. Buy the book. Check out his website www.pbfcomics.com. Enjoy.

Also recommended and releasing this week:

Special Forces - Kyle Baker (Why I Hate Saturn, Nat Turner) presents the tale of an army whose recruitment quotas, lagging during the President's troop escalation, calls for a few good men. Whadda they get instead? Follow a small-town autistic teen from his recruitment, through basic training, and then off to war in Iraq. With violent felons, mental patients, a violent mental hot chick and at least one "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", his unit is composed of the military's last line of defense. The very last line, and this is NOT a true story!

Biff Bam Pow #1 - by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. More titans of comic-dom releasing books this week, this time Evan (Dork, Milk & Cheese) and his lovely partner in crime Sarah bring you superheroes, monsters, monkeys, and the neverending battle between the good, the bad, and the stupid. A steal at three bucks.

Moomin the Complete Tove Jannson Bk. 2 - The Moomins are a family of Scandinavian trolls that resemble hairless hippos. If you're still reading this, your mind is open enough to trust me that these books are magical, and should be cherished by anyone with an imagination.

This week's Hugo Award Winning Novel?

Downbelow Station (1984) - By C.J. Cherryh. - Grandiose space opera at its finest, as war rages between Earth and her Colonies in the year 2352. It also stars a character with the same last name as me! Segust Ayres... Well, it's pronounced the same, smarty-pants!

One More Time!

Orphanage Misfortune

Be Well,
JEFF