Spooky Serena Valentino

You may recall that, a while back, I posted about Ted Naifeh. Well, one of the writers that he’s worked with is Serena Valentino. I discovered her work as I was reviewing Naifeh’s and decided that she would be my next big profile.  It doesn’t hurt things that she’s also a young adult author who wrote books like How to be A Zombie.

Serena Valentino worked with Ted Naifeh for the GloomCookie series. It is a deliciously spooky series, perfect for this month. It is about star-crossed lovers Lex and Damion and their circle of friends at a local goth club. It is filled with a gothy cast including a troubled werewolf, a bad poet who thinks he’s a vampire prince, and a whole circus full of monsters. My favorite character is Sebastian, a boy with an actual monster under his bed.

Serena Valentino also wrote Nightmares and Fairytales. This series is a collection of stories about the owners of a cursed doll named Annabelle who usually end up cursed themselves. This series is incredibly haunting, especially 1140 Rue Royale (the third volume) which contains stories about a haunted New Orleans house. These stories are based on the true accounts of Madame LaLaurie and her torture of slaves during the 1800′s.

If you are looking for spooky stories with a gothy flair, check out Serena Valentino today.

Comic Convention Provides Exposure for a Library and Its Collection

From Library Journal, Sep 27, 2011

The people attending PalmCon: The Palm Beach County Comics Book and Collectibles Show held in Greenacres, FL, on September 17 had a chance to connect with the Palm Beach County Library.

The convention organizers had offered the library a free booth at the convention, and staff saw it as an excellent opportunity to expose the library’s collection to an audience that might not be aware of everything the library had to offer (such as ebooks).

“We were there to promote the library and give out information of what we provide, particularly our graphic novels, manga, and our anime club,” said Kelly Handy, a library associate, who was one of seven staff members who handled booth duties at the convention and circulated among the crowd of about 500 attendees.

Read more: Comic Convention Provides Exposure for a Library and Its Collection.

See our pics: PalmCon 2011

Batman: Ego

Quick recommendation: Focused on writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke, this collects Batman: Ego, Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score, and a few smaller Batman stories. While Batman: Ego gets the cover, Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score is the real treat here. Previously published as a standalone, this train robbery tale fills in Selina’s backstory while finding a balance between a gritty crime noir and an Ocean’s Eleven style heist story.

Put a hold on Batman: Ego.

Punisher Noir

WWI vet Frank Castelione lost his wife to cancer, has a son who’s fallen in with hoodlums, and owns a store mobster Dutch Schultz wants to “protect.” This is the setup for Punisher Noir, a four-issue series alternating between 1918, 1928 and 1935. At the center of it is a skull-masked vigilante who’s declared war on Schultz.

It’s easy to take The Punisher model and plug him into different settings (the Wild West, for example) and he’s a natural fit for Marvel’s Noir imprint – so much so that I was worried this would merely be a rehash. But Frank Tieri shakes things up, giving the reader something other than a conventional Punisher story.

As a longtime Punisher fan, it’s interesting to see how Garth Ennis’s Punisher has become definitive. Tieri pulls from Ennis’s Marvel Knights and Max runs, but his versions of characters like Detective Soap and Barracuda don’t feel forced into the Noir setting.

Shadowland

The short version is the Daredevil has gone rogue. He’s built a Japanese temple in the heart of Manhattan and has surrounded himself with ninjas. As the new leader of The Hand, he intends to use the silent assassins to keep peace. Instead, he descends into darkness and his corruption leaches out to the city around him.

Heroes like Spider-man, Moon Knight, Luke Cage and Iron Fist try to reason with Daredevil, but after he goes too far it seems like killing him is the only solution. Enter Ghost Rider, The Punisher and Wolverine.

Put a hold on Shadowland.