Weekly Treats! Nonnonba, Batman, Megalex

Let's start off with a reminder: Bank Holiday fun for you = comics misery for us!  All the unpacking and sorting and allocating and shelving that takes place throughout Tuesday and Wednesday first thing has to be done in just one morning.  To ensure you get the goods on the day of release there'll be a bee hive of activity with the aim of getting the upstairs open by 1pm. Ish.

After the moving anti-war story Onwards To Our Nobel Deaths, Drawn & Quarterly brings another of Japanese manga master Shigeru Mizuki's books into print.  Nonnonba is an autobiography about growing up in 1930's Japan and how Mizuki's interest in the supernatural was spawned by the ghost stories told to him by a local woman.

It's starts pretty small but is turning out to be one of the best runs of Batman in a long time.  In Batman vol 1: The Court of Owls (DC) Scott Snyder is really into his stride writing Batman (he was one of the few creators allowed to stay on his project for the DC relaunch) and Greg Capullo focuses on maximising action rather than darkness which is smart as the writing gets pretty dark on it's own further down the line. If you've ever been remotely interested in (returning to) Batman then this is the time.

There's more metaphysical sci-fi to stretch the old grey matter to breaking point from writer Alejandro Jodorowsky in Megalex: The Complete Story (Humanoids) - this time Fred Beltran provides the art in this series several years in the making.

Ben Templesmith and Ben McCool hit us with some hard-boiled crime full of bitter ex-cops and dangerous fugitives in Choker vol 1 (Image).

If Stan Lee and the late Moebius seems like an odd combination you should certainly have a look at Silver Surfer: Parable (Marvel) as it catches Lee at his more philosophical and a less outrageous Moebius.  Also getting a hardcover treatment is the latest in the origin stories Spider-Man: Season One (Marvel).

In comic news, Batman #9 (DC) bristles along with Owls in full swing (see above) and there's a rather nice one-shot anthology entitled Mystery In Space #1 (DC) including the likes of Paul Pope, Mike Allred and Kyle Baker.  Surely the biggest highlight is the sight of Bernie Wrightson's art in Frankenstein Alive #1 (IDW), scripted by Steve Niles.

For the full list click on This Weeks Comics above.