The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

It seems this summer is the season for comics anthologies – I’ve come across three large-scale comics collections just in the last week or so. There’s the fascinating-looking Typhon from Danny Hellman that Rod posted a long review of here last week and Image have not one but two large anthologies just out. Popgun Volume Two has just arrived with this week’s new releases and boasts some excellent creators in there, including James Kochalka, Dean Haspiel, Jamie S Rich, Frank Espinosa, Dan Goldman, Leah Moore and John Reppion, Claudio Sanchez and, blimey, there’s that man Danny Hellman in there again too.

(a page from Dan Goldman‘s contribution to Popgun Volume Two, incorporating a mix of comic art and photography to show a wide-eyed young Dan’s first glimpse of the Big Apple with the dream of one day living in this vibrant city and drawing comics)

Last week Image released another anthology, Comic Book Tattoo, which is a themed anthology, in which the various contributors have all created stories inspired by the songs of Tori Amos. You might recall a couple of years back Image created a similarly themed collection, Put the Book Back on the Shelf, which was inspired by Belle and Sebastian’s lyrics, but Tattoo is offered up to the reader in a far larger, coffee-table, art book format. In fact, its smegging huge! As with the new Popgun it also boasts some top flight talent, including Pia Guerra, Hope Larson, Mark Buckingham, Carla Speed MacNeil, Ted McKeever, Mike Dringenberg, Adi Tantimedh and look, there’s those pesky kids Leah Moore and John Reppion sneaking in there again, they get everywhere that pair, but we love them so that’s all for the good.

As you’d expect though there’s also plenty of writers and artists in all three anthologies who you’ve probably never come across before. Which as Rod pointed out last week is one of the delights of this kind of collection – the chance to be exposed to new work in small helpings and, if you develop a taste for them, you know you are going to go looking for more work by those writers and artists in the future; you’ve just found a new writer or artist that you love (and isn’t that a great feeling as a reader, when you just stumble over someone new and love their work?). If you’re still struggling with what to pick to read during your time off for the summer holidays maybe a decent anthology might just be the answer.