ShareThisNeed holiday gifts for the fanboys and fangirls in your life? Here are some handsome crowd-pleasers, easy to order online:
-- In the afterword to "Absolute Sandman Vol. 4" ($99, DC/Vertigo), writer Neil Gaiman answers a question you never thought to ask, but once he gives you the answer, you wonder why you'd never asked before. Such is the way of Gaiman's insistent, empathic read on the human condition, on full display in his masterful "The Sandman" (1989-96) -- an interweaving of literature, history and mythology that was sometimes as ethereal as thought, sometimes as earthy as a brothel.
DC has reprinted the 75-issue "Sandman" (plus annuals, important spinoffs and other miscellany) in trade paperbacks and hardbacks before. But now comes -- and finishes with this volume -- the "Absolute" collection, which is a ridiculously handsome, oversize, slipcased, four-volume version collecting the "core" stories. And even though I'd read these two story arcs many times before -- those being "The Kindly Ones" and "The Wake" -- I read them again here in Vol. 4, just to see my favorite old "funnybooks" tricked out in such finery. It was worth every minute, and these books are worth every penny. Oh, and Gaiman's answer? "A little over seven pounds." The question, Alex, is: "What does one of these huge slabs of paper weigh?" Which is a useful thing to know.
Related: Updated "Watchmen" collections, from trade paperbacks to slipcased hardcovers, have been made available in anticipation of the March 2009 movie.
-- "Happy Hooligan" was one of the most successful comic strips in the golden age of that medium, starring a happy-go-lucky bumbler with a tin can for a hat. Frederick Burr Opper, dubbed "the Dean of Cartoonists" at the apex of the Yellow Journalism era, also created "Alphonse and Gaston" and several other memorable strips, but it was "Happy Hooligan" (1900-1932) for the Hearst newspapers that was his high mark. In "Hooligan" he formalized the visual "language" of comic strips, abandoning text blocks completely for word balloons, and throwing his stories into ever-faster forward motion. Which makes the "Forever Nuts Vol. 2: Happy Hooligan" collection ($24.95, NBM) required reading for anyone who takes comic strips as seriously as they deserve -- and likes to laugh, too.
Related: The first volume in the Forever Nuts series, "The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff." Also serious fun.
-- Bond, James Bond. He's had a license to thrill in the famous movies and Ian Fleming's original novels, but also in English comic books and comic strips. Pop-culture historian Alan J. Porter examines the latter two in "James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007" (Hermes Press, $29.99), from the 1950s to the present. Bound to leave you stirred, but not shaken (sorry, couldn't resist).
Related: The Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark Ultimate Quarter-Scale Action Figure ($79.99, Diamond Select) has to be seen to be believed. This fully articulated action figure, with cloth costumes, interchangeable accessories and sound clips from the movies, stands (gulp!) 19 inches tall. Beware, little Nazi action figures!
-- "Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born" was a huge hit for Marvel Comics in 2007, a graphic novel combining the talents of "Dark Tower" expert Robin Furth, New York Times best-selling author Peter David, Eisner Award-winning artist Jae Lee and fan-favorite illustrator Richard Isanove to tell the origin of Stephen King's hero, Roland Deschain. There are no flies on Marvel; "Dark Tower: The Long Road Home" ($24.99) is a new story by the same team, now available in hardback.
The "Dark Tower" comics are under the direction of King himself, and explore areas hinted at or skipped over in the novels. "Home" is no exception, following Roland and his companions on the trip home after the death of Susan, with the Big Coffin Hunters on their trail. Frankly, this is beautiful stuff -- and if you're a King fan, irresistible.
-- I know I bragged on "Creepy Archives Vol. 1" a few months ago, but "Creepy Archives Vol. 2" (Dark Horse, $49.95) is out, and it's even better. This volume features "Creepy" Nos. 6-10 (1965-66), and is an important bridge from the best horror comics of the 1950s to the present, with work by such superstars as Gene Colan, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Alex Toth and Wally Wood. With the legendary writer/editor Archie Goodwin at the helm, the results are (as Uncle Creepy would say) spook-tacular.
(Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
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