I’ve been reading less comics and more novels these days, but occasionally the two meet in a harmonious manner. Comics scribes such as Greg Rucka and Peter David are also prolific novel writers, for example. However, lately I’ve noticed three examples.
This week I picked up The Girl With All The Gifts, as I’ve seen it mentioned on a few websites, and also in the spotlight from some of my local bookstores. I was intrigued by the author’s name – M.R. Carey, and after reading the author blurb I realised that this was actually Mike Carey, the British comics writer of such series as Hellblazer, and X-Men.
Writer Alex Irvine has also written for both media with an impressive list of characters and franchises to his name, including Transformers, Batman, Pacific Rim, Iron Man, as well as comics for Marvel such as Daredevil Noir, and the Marvel Ultimate Alliance online game. I saw his name attached to the prose adaptation of the classic X-Men: Days of Future Past storyline from the comics in a recent Previews catalogue, so I ordered it. I’m aware of the original comics storyline from 1980, and the upcoming film, so I thought I’d take this chance to delve a bit deeper into this much-loved tale when the novel is released in May.
Finally, Dark Horse recently released Alabaster: Pale Horse, an anthology of short stories by Caitlin R. Kiernan. The book is actually a re-release, with a new introduction by the author, (and startling illustrations by Ted Naifeh), but is a great entry in to the fantasy world of her character Alabaster. Dark Horse also have the Alabaster: Wolves Trade Paperback collecting the five issue mini-series focused on the same albino character Dancy Flammarion and her dealings with the supernatural, as well as the upcoming collection Alabaster: Grimmer Tales, with both feature interior art from Steve Lieber.
This new series from the Lucifer team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross is different in a number of ways. Firstly it stands out from the other “Un” series launching this month (Unknown and Unthinkable from BOOM! Studios) by being bigger. Not bigger in format, but bigger in its story and by its very approach to the concept of storytelling. This debut issue has extra story pages, so you can feel a little heft when picking it up from the shelf. It’s also only $1! Thanks Vertigo/DC. They’ve had success with similar cheap launches, such as the After Watchmen…What’s Next? series of re-prints. This is a wise marketing move, and will only help give this series the attention it deserves.
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