Here we have Leatherface as depicted in Tsutomu Nihei’s Biomega (vol. 2, the color bits in the beginning), surrounded by a Jason X corps of armed enforcers. I’d always thought the villains in Biomega had a Clive Barker feel, but I hadn’t realized until this episode that they were possibly referencing specific characters—or just plugging characters in, as it seems here. This isn’t at all ill-fitting in Nihei’s world, already visually indebted to illustrators like Zdzislaw Beksinski, or the Biomega iteration of such in particular, much more of a seat-of-the-pants action spectacle than Nihei’s longer, earlier, weirder, transhumanism-scented action series Blame!—it’s pretty much Kamen Rider plopped down into a zombie movie to start off with, and there’s something fitting about distinguishing the evolution-minded villains from the rabble by dressing them like hard-to-kill horror movie icons, easily villainous superhuman ‘types’ fit for looping in. Long live the new flesh?

Other icons set to mix ‘n match:

Weathercraft: The first of three interesting Fantagraphics releases this week, all of which appear to have wandered out into some stores in the United States already—this is just your assurance to really start looking. Anecdotal as this is, I’ve heard absolutely nothing but good things about this new Jim Woodring project, a 104-page return to his signature Frank character, although the story itself focuses on damned, slovenly humanoid swine thingy Manhog as he taps into strange cosmic powers. As it was before, expect Woodring’s excellent command of physical comedy (and his story pacing, which always seems to denote improvisation but never dawdles or rambles) to segue from the pliable bodies of cartoon figures into something mythic and transformative about mysteries lurking just behind the atmosphere. Preview; $19.99.

Wally Gropius: In contrast, while every Frank story feels kind of like some undiscovered subsequent comic’s ur-text, Tim Hensley works more in the mode of Nihei above, mixing and sampling elements in a self-evident way for a gleeful result, though this artist takes it so far that individual character poses seem exclusively isolated from long-forgotten humor comics and pressed into the service of a patchwork ideal of a ‘teenage’ comic (teenage-as-a-genre), possibly going down as the most striking of the original MOME serials once the goats are culled from the sheep. Here’s the collected edition, a 10″ x 12.5″ hardcover album, 64 color pages, almost all of them pretty to very funny. Yet it’s oddly difficult to describe Wally Gropius in more specific terms, but know that it’s about a rich boy and a determined girl and their courtship, and how prolix borrowed comic devices can build into something distressing indeed. Preview; $18.99.

Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 1 (of 6) (1933-1935): Your third Fantagraphics tome, an anticipated-by-many contemporary reprint project collecting Roy Crane’s influential Sunday spin-off from the comedic daily strip titled Wash Tubbs back when it started in 1924, but had since itself become an adventure-toned showcase for the Captain Easy character. Edited by Rick Norwood, with a vintage (1974) foreword by Charles Schulz and a new introduction by Jeet Heer (who is a contributor to this site). Samples; $39.99.

Mary Perkins, On Stage Vol. 7: Another trilogy of the week, pertaining to our Golden Age of Reprints. This is from Classic Comics Press, covering the 10/12/64 – 05/04/66 period of Leonard Starr’s drama-of-an-actress, which would endure until 1979, at which time Starr began working on Little Orphan Annie, a strip recently and prominently noted for not running any more; $24.95.

The Heart of Juliet Jones Vol. 3: This is also from Classic Comics Press, collecting 12/02/57 – 01/23/60 for Stan Drake’s ‘photorealistic’ soap opera strip. Introduction by Bill Sienkiewicz; $24.95.

James Bond: Nightbird: And since it’s always useful to note when projects conclude (sort of), this is Titan’s final collection of the 1958-77 James Bond comic strip that ran in the Daily Express, although additional strips appeared in different venues into the 1980s. Written by Jim Lawrence, art by Yaroslav Horak; $19.95.

Catland Empire: A new 184-page Drawn and Quarterly book by artist Keith Jones—previously seen in the publisher’s 2005 Petits Livres release Bacter-Area and Conundrum Press‘ 2006 Canadian comics and drawing collection Nog A Dod—about a world where human beings are worn-out lumps and cats are tasked by Space and Time to re-teach them the concept of fun. But what about dogs? Or genocide? It looks really neat; $29.95.

I’ll Give it My All… Tomorrow Vol. 1: One of two releases from Viz’s SigIKKI line of alternative-ish, online-serialized manga this week. This one’s the more overtly humorous, rough-hewn of the pair, a Shunju Aono series about the seriocomic, sort of sentimental struggles of a mostly comfortable 40-year old man who one day decides to follow his life-long dream of becoming a comics artist, only to fall into a second youth of layabout procrastination. Readable here; $12.99.

Saturn Apartments Vol. 1: Probably the more widely appealing of the duo, this is a cute-styled Hisae Iwaoka series about the future society of a ring around the Earth, from a laborer’s point of view. Readable here; $12.99.

Gantz Vol. 10: But there’s also writing about comics on the internet; I was particularly happy for the recent Slant-sponsored return of Michael Peterson’s very fine Comics Column, currently honed in on comic-book movies, and, pertinent to our interests, how the first of Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s recent 20th Century Boys movies seems to miss what makes Naoki Urasawa’s comics interesting. It reminded me of the new clips from Shinsuke Sato’s upcoming Gantz movies (two of ’em), which are well-mounted, but suggest to me that the movies might go a ways toward ‘cleaning up’ the series for a movie audience, while I’ve always felt the entire point of Gantz is that it’s a gross, oversexed, faintly tongue-in-cheek trashy manga take on The Matrix and other big money action spectaculars, powered mainly by Hiroya Oku’s firm command of loooongform serialization and his idiosyncratic take on sci-fi action particulars.

It’s only tiny little clips, yeah, but a more straightforward Gantz, as is hinted, would just convert it straight into the pale shadow of its influences you always sort of feel it might transform into someday. There’s a reason the anime adaptation was helmed by the notorious Ichiro Itano, namesake of the famous Macross/Robotech missile trails (the Itano Circus) and director of such landmarks of world animation as Angel Cop. I mean, who else? Preview; $12.99.

Hellsing Vol. 10 (of 10): In more harmonious news, Dark Horse also has the grand finale of Kohta Hirano’s popular monster-hunting series, ongoing in English translation since 2003. Hellsing is probably better known for its anime, granted, but the manga served as one of the earlier boom era examples of a Japanese comics artist drawing copious influence from Western sources, Mike Mignola in particular. Preview; $13.99.

The Art of Blade of the Immortal: Dark Horse is also out to celebrate another of its long-runners this week, with a 9″ x 12″ hardcover showcase of illustrations by the excellent Hiroaki Samura, 32 pages longer than the book’s Japanese counterpart. Introduction by Geof Darrow. Samples; $29.99.

Galacta: Daughter of Galactus: But if you want a cheaper collection of comics that draw longstanding influence from manga, here’s a Marvel comic book scooping up recent official webcomics (and an originating short from 2009’s Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2) written by Empowered creator Adam Warren, working with digital painter Hector Sevilla Lujan; $3.99.

Avengers #1: This week also starts Marvel’s new Heroic Age branding for most of its shared-universe line, signifying a bright future of fresh beginnings now that the most recent crossover event is over and etc. etc. This appears to be the big release out of several, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by John Romita, Jr., who will comprise the primary creative team. And yes, there’s a separate Bendis-written relaunch of New Avengers coming next month, with art by Stuart Immonen; $3.99.

Garth Ennis’ Battlefields Vol. 2 #6 (of 9): The Firefly and His Majesty pt. 3 (of 3): QUICK QUICK third trilogy! British invasion writers of longstanding repute! Garth Ennis! This is the conclusion of the newest Carlos Ezquerra-drawn tank story, appearing in addition to a $12.99 collection of the prior storyline, Happy Valley. Preview; $3.50.

Hellblazer #267: Peter Milligan! Featuring the return of regular artists Giuseppe Camuncoli & Stefano Landini, and eventually (somewhere in the storyline, I mean) Milligan’s version of Shade the Changing Man; $2.99.

Joe the Barbarian #5 (of 8): Grant Morrison! Sean Murphy! Journey of youth! $2.99!

Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives: And finally, your book-about-comics for the week, a 308-page McFarland collection of “essays from various critical disciplines examin[ing] how comic books and graphic narratives move between various media, while merging youth and adult cultures and popular and high art.” Edited by Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke & Gideon Haberkorn. Contributors & contents; $39.95.

Labels: This Week in Comics, Tsutomu Nihei