Every Monday Seth picks out three items that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.
Bad news, guys. Christmas is less than a month away. If you haven't finished (or, like me, even started) shopping for your comics-loving friends and family then I'm here to help. Consider these next few weeks of Buy This your handy Christmas gift guide. I'll be tossing items into the next few columns that may be older releases but deserve to be handed out or just selfishly purchased none the less. As usual I'll be picking current releases and also as usual some of the items I mention may or may not actually make it to store shelves when they're supposed to.
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures/Deluxe Edition
This has been out for well over a year now and some how I still don't own it. Dave Stevens' Rocketeer is a book that informed much of my childhood... I just never really knew it until recently. Days spent running around my parent's backyard with a plastic jetpack strapped to my back can be attributed to Joe Johnston's Rocketeer movie which is an extremely faithful recreation of the comic. The book is as much a love letter to classic adventure serials as it is to 1940's Americana. Pick this up in either format currently available, though I have to admit the Deluxe Edition is the one I'm hoping to find under my tree come Christmas morning...
Rust vol 1 hardcover
I don't know much about this book beyond the fact that it's published by Archaia and that it has a unique visual style. The story centers around a kid with a jetpack (again with the jetpacks?) who crashes into a barn while being chased by a giant robot. The world the story unfolds in sounds interesting and fun and is the work of one Royden Lepp. For the record, I've never heard of him but his art seems right up my alley from the little of it I've seen. For more information you can head to the Amazon page here or just take a gander the next time you see it on your local shop's shelves.
Geoff Johns' Teen Titans Omnibus
Personally I'd rather be seeing Johns' JSA run getting the omnibus treatment but Teen Titans is worthy too. This was actually the series that introduced me to Johns as a writer, alongside his work on the Flash. It was also the series that resurrected that Teen Titans as a best-selling franchise and placed them squarely in the center of the DCU at the time. Characters like Superboy and Tim Drake/Robin went on to become vital characters in major stories like Identity and Infinite Crisis. Johns does excellent character work here as well with the likes of Starfire and Beast Boy. Of course it wouldn't be a Geoff Johns book without some retconning and while there isn't too much of that in the first few story arcs, later omnibus(es?) will contain stories that "change the DCU forever". It's a great run and a great gift idea.
Morning Glories Oversized HC
I've already included the volume 2 tpb release of Morning Glories in a previous Buy This column. However, if you still haven't managed to pick up the first two trades this would be a great place to start. Collecting the first two volumes and tossing in plenty of background info and behind-the-scenes material this looks like it's geared us much at faithful fans as it is new readers. Both should come away happy if they shell out the cash for this or receive it as a gift though. And, again, I'll always recommend a gorgeous, pristine hardcover over a flimsy paperback any day.
Daredevil #6
Morning Glories snuck up on me earlier this year, good but very dark. Definitely worth a read. Although be warned: the swearing picks up alot toward the end of the second volume. Also, I'd love to nab that rocketeer book!
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