Image Comics offers the latest collection of David Mack's acclaimed Kabuki epic. The latest tale of the enigmatic assassin of the Noh. The book - which Mack says "represents my most diverse range of fully painted and mixed media artwork, and marks my most evolved work as a writer" - collects all nine painted issues of the recent series titled simply Kabuki. The story that sets the stage for the current "Alchemy" storyline returns to print! Featuring an introduction by BILL SIENKIEWICZ and an afterward by filmmaker JOHN SAYLES, this is the largest KABUKI collection yet and still one of the most sought after! Collects KABUKI #1-9.

THE HUMAN FRONT is a sparkling SF alternate history story set in world that has been fighting WWIII since 1949. Leading a guerilla campaign against the Western Forces is the heroic, myhtic figure of Joe Stalin. And above the battlefields flying saucers fill the skies.

She's seductive and lethal, a femme fatale cross between Modesty Blaise and the Terminator. Now, Aeon Flux, scantily clad, acrobatic super heroine, brings her own dark form of justice and revenge into print, delivering futuristic intrigue, hi-tech espionage, and a new twist on the age-old war between the sexes. Ties in with ten new episodes being launched on MTV this fall.

2008 Eisner Comic Winner!

 

Street urchins Black and White have skyscraper-sized chips on their shoulders, but are fiercely loyal to each other. Black is especially quick to avenge any slight against his dim-witted pal. The result? The citizens of Treasure Town are afraid of them, the police are afraid of them—even the local yakuza gangsters are afraid of them! But when the crime boss known as the "Rat" returns to Treasure Town, it looks like there's gonna be a rumble...

 
The violence in this unique European-influenced manga title is more mindful than it seems at first glance, and the subtle relationships between its unique cast of characters are marked by surprising poignancy.

Transfer of Power is the fourth and final collection of volume one of The Authority, the book that arguably changed the superhero genre forever. Not content with merely stopping supervillains from robbing banks, the six members of the Authority (Jack Hawksmoor, the Engineer, the Doctor, Swift, Apollo and the Midnighter) use their remarkable powers in a proactive rather than reactive way. They're out to change the world, and they don't care who gets in their way.

Unfortunately for the Authority, this attitude doesn't endear them to most world leaders, who fear the implications of a few powerful individuals threatening the status quo. So, the seven richest countries dispatch Seth, the "genetically modified hillbilly" with more than 1,000 super powers, to dispose of the Authority. Once the original Authority are out of the way, a brand new Authority are installed by the establishment—the Colonel, Rush, the Machine, Street, the Professor, Teuton and Last Call. As the new Authority get used to their new-found glory as the world's greatest superheroes, only one question remains: where is the Midnighter?

When half of the stories collected in Transfer of Power were originally produced, the Authority had become as controversial in the real world as they were in their fictional world. Apollo and the Midnighter are rather thinly-veiled archetypes of Superman and Batman, with one fundamental difference: they're also a gay couple. DC Comics, publishers of The Authority (under its Wildstorm imprint), bristled at some of the more overt artwork and dialogue, and while the mess was being sorted out, a temporary team of Tom Peyer (writer) and Dustin Nguyen (artist) were brought in for the four-part "Transfer of Power" story line. Though they do an admirable job, it appears rushed and its flippant tone jars with the rest of the book. As expected, it is writer Mark Millar's story line ("Brave New World")—which bookends Transfer of Power—that does real justice to the characters and team he was instrumental in defining. His story, and the detail-rich artwork of Frank Quitely and Arthur Adams in particular, provide a fitting finale to the superteam and book that, in Millar's own words (as spoken by Jack Hawksmoor), "completely changed the landscape". —Robert Burrow

Brand New Item, Fast Dispatch

If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller—known recently for his excellent Sin City series and, previously, for his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil—is probably the supreme contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children's cartoon character into a hero for our times. In his introduction the great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argues that only someone of Miller's stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.

Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic—detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it's a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, streetgangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. —Mark Thwaite