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.

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

Put a hold on Batman: Ego.

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.

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.

Finn Galfridian of Artorias is saved by the New Republic when his homeworld is taken by the Vong. Leading the rescue mission is Luke Skywalker, who detects Finn’s connection to the Force. Luke begins training Finn, alongside the Solo children, but the question is: will Finn’s anger towards the Vong lead to his undoing?

Running parallel to this, Kaye Galfridian is trapped in a slave ship with the rest of Artorias’s survivors. There she ingratiates herself with the Vong captain — but what are her true motives?

Dark Horse has found an interesting way to revisit a decade old storyline. It helps that the Vong are like fanboy-designed badasses and major franchise characters are used judiciously. Really good art too — I especially loved the detail in the Nar Shaddaa panels.

Put a hold on Star Wars: Invasion.

Infinite Kung Fu looks incredible! Put it on hold by clicking here.

Need more details? Here’s the official description:

Infinite Kung Fu walks you through familiar corridors in the house of martial mayhem, but still smashes your face through walls of wonder and into rooms where kung fu is afraid to go! The Martial World is ruled by a mysterious emperor whose five armies are each headed by a cruel and highly skilled kung fu master. Lei Kung, a soldier in one of these armies, grows tired of his master’s evil ways and seeks enlightenment elsewhere. However, he soon finds that he’s been chosen as the one who will put an end tothe emperor’s tyrannical rule – personally! Allegiances are blurred as techniques are perfected, and Lei Kung becomes less certain who’s friend and who’s foe in each chapter! Fists fly, limbs are lost, and blood vessels burst in this tale of furious rivals, supernatural masters, walking corpses, and above all, raging kung fu!

In her new series, Zatanna faces new villains such as the mystical crime lord, Brother Night, who is trying to extend his influence into the mundane world and the demon Fuseli that he employs to keep Zatanna trapped in a nightmare. She even faces down creatures from hell itself.  My favorite parts were seeing Zatanna in a wedding dress and seeing her turn girls who think she is a cocktail waitress into doves. There’s also a visit from her cousin, Zachary Zatara who has also appeared in Teen Titans and Superman.

 By far, my favorite storyline was the arc surrounding Brother Night. I hope we get to see more of him. He was super creepy. Also in that story, the character of Detective Dale Colton is introduced. His investigations into Brother Night are his first foray into the realm of magic. I’d like to see him again too (and see if something develops between him and Zatanna). We won’t know until October when she returns in Zatanna: Shades of Past. I can’t wait!

Check out this helpful guide produced by Graphic Novel Reporter:  Manga Visual References where you can learn things like:

A ghost (maybe looking like a wavy bubble) coming out of someone’s mouth shows they’ve gone through something so traumatic they might as well have died.