Dynamite Comics is releasing three compilation editions of previously published work tomorrow, and we have previews of all three below for borg.com readers.
Sherlock Holmes Omnibus Volume 1 collects three stories: The Trail of Sherlock Holmes, Liverpool Demon, and Year One, written by Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Scott Beaty, with artwork by Aaron Campbell, Daniel Indro, and Matt Triano, and a cover by John Cassaday. At 400 pages this will keep Holmes fans busy.
Xena: Warrior Princess – All Roads includes the first six issues of Dynamite’s monthly series. Written by Genevieve Valentine, with artwork by Ariel Medel and cover by Greg Land, this is a great series Xena and Gabrielle fans will love.
And finally, Art of Red Sonja Volume 2 collects more of various artist interpretations of Red Sonja published by Dynamite over the years. The 336-page volume includes an introduction by the great Roy Thomas, and you’ll find plenty to love with works by artists including Alex Ross, Arthur Adams, Nicola Scott, Ed Benes, Jay Anacleto, Jenny Frison, Lucio Parrillo, Paul Renaud, Joseph Michael Linsner, plus several others. Cover art is by Jenny Frison.
Check out previews of all three books after the break:
Miss Fury was the one of the first female superheroes, created 42 years ago this month by June Tarpé Mills (1915-1988)–one of the few early female comic book creators. Written and drawn by Mills, Miss Fury is also the first female superhero created by a woman. Original Miss Fury works were signed merely Tarpé Mills–to mask the fact that the work was created by a woman. Mills’ stylish socialite Marla Drake was provided glamorous images by Mills in the pages of Miss Fury, with classy costumes for the character. Appearing just months after The Cat–which would become the Catwoman over time, Miss Fury also wore a catsuit to fight crime.
June Tarpé Mills–with cat.
Mills’ characters gave similar inspiration to the war effort in World War II as Captain America and Superman. Mills herself would be an excellent subject of study for comic book historians.
Miss Fury most recently has appeared in the recent Masks series from Dynamite Comics and this Wednesday Dynamite releases a standalone series starring Miss Fury with Miss Fury #1. Just as the original pages of Miss Fury inspired Allied troops during World War II with planes named after the characters from the series, Dynamite’s new series also brings the Nazi menace back in a story with time-out-of-joint elements that will factor into Miss Fury’s reality. Miss Fury is being pulled from time period to time period–from 2013 to 1943 and back again–and someone or some thing has changed the course of history. The artwork provided by Jack Herbert is lavish and stylish in ways original artist Mills may have approved of. Just check out this image of the sophisticated Marla Drake–the wealthiest woman in Manhattan in 1943 (and high-end thief): Continue reading →
Following up on the recent scuttlebutt on a possible Bionic Man movie down the road from the Weinsteins and Bryan Singer, Dynamite Comics has announced it is creating a Bionic Man spin-off series featuring Jaime Sommers, Bionic Woman. Writer Paul Tobin has an entirely new take on the Bionic Woman, first appearing in the original Six Million Dollar Man series in the early 1970s. Interviewed by WestfieldComics.com, Tobin characterizes the story as follows:
“At heart it’s a mystery tale, where Jaime needs to uncover a group of DECIDEDLY illegal organ transplant doctors, ones who have begun to look at Jaime, and other “bionics” as THE best organ donors, whether these “donors” like it or not. Along the way, there are quite a few explosions, some new friends, some betrayals, a man with amazing hunting skills and no morals at all, a pretty French girl, a boat that sinks, some afternoon tea, a romantic hopeful, exactly 12,456 bullets (barring script revisions) and a partridge in a pear tree. Said partridge may or may not explode. Have I mentioned the explosions?”
Sounds like it will have some good humor. Dynamite Comics is marketing the series with the following blurb:
“Paris is the city of love? Not anymore… not since Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman, came to town hot on the trail of the Mission, a collection of insanely high-priced surgeons who’ve been murdering OSI’s bionic prototypes in order to provide new life for billionaire patients. But while the Bionic Woman is hunting the Mission, their #1 hunter is after her! Can Jaime pick up the pieces of her past while protecting her life in the present, or will the city of love turn its back, and its bullets, on the Bionic Woman? Acclaimed writer Paul Tobin brings you a tale of baguettes, bullets, and bionic badass!”
So it sure doesn’t feel like an origin story. But maybe Tobin and Dynamite are only summarizing the series itself as opposed to the first issue. Still, Tobin has said there will be only a slight appearance by Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man, despite the header on the book “From the pages of Kevin Smith’s Bionic Man.” I still can’t help but scrunch my eyebrows a bit over the emphasis on the Bionic Man being a Smith story vs. the original Martin Caidin story. Strangely enough one cover released has the reference to Kevin Smith, the other nearly identical cover doesn’t. But no matter, one more bionic book just gives us more to look forward to on the comics rack and if Smith’s name has some marketing power then great.
We can also look forward to the new series’ Brazilian artist Leno Carvalho, who will be penciling the Bionic Woman. Carvalho is a more recent entrant into the comic book art world. Covers will be created by Paul Renaud.
And here is what finally makes sense about Jaime Sommers. Her name. Yes, “jaime” means “I love” in French, pronounced “zhem”, but as names go, Jaime is a centuries old Spanish boy’s name pronounced “hi-may.” But like the street name Madison was turned into thousands of girls’ names in the 1980s because of Daryl Hannah in the movie Splash, there are as many 30 and 40-something girls out there from the 1970s named Jaime, not Jamie, and they pronounce it the same way: “jay-me”. So by making Jaime a character in Paris, it finally all makes sense, right? But how do we pronounce it? I bet I know how readers in France will pronounce it. Too bad they didn’t spell Sommers as Summers and we could have had a crossover family tale with our old pal Buffy Summers.
Anyway… Europe as a venue for modern superheroines is a good idea. The Huntress limited series from DC Comics used Italy to good effect, and hopefully Hobin will do the same for the Bionic Woman in the streets of Paris.
Bionic Woman, published by Dynamite Comics, is expected to be published in March 2012.
