"His Fear Took Its Proper Place:" Previews and News.

The latest issue of Fatale is indeed in stores today, concluding the second arc and putting the title back on schedule.  A five-page preview of issue #10 is available at Comic Book Resources and at Comicosity, where it is grouped with previews for other books released today by Image Comics -- and there's already an early review at Unleash the Fanboy.

(This will be a good week, at least for my reading habits.  Along with Fatale, we have Chew #30 and Planetoid #4.  The dark comedy completes the first half of its planned 60-issue run, and writer John Layman marked the occasion with an interview with CBR.  Meanwhile, the stark sci-fi comic is resuming after a brief delay, creator Ken Garing has confirmed that this five-issue mini-series is only the beginning of a "larger story," and he's provided a striking piece of artwork to mark the new issue.)

Readers should note the publication of the second collection of Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier title, featuring art by Michael Lark.  Upon his return from Thought Bubble, Sean Phillips has put a few more books in his Amazon store, each including a signature and an original sketch.

On December 12th, Image Comics will publish another round of "Image Firsts" comic books, full first issues for only one dollar. Chew will be one of two titles that will see "Image First" reprints, and -- more importantly -- Fatale will be one of five titles to be newly featured in their line of inexpensive introductions.  I'll sample a few titles I haven't yet tried, and the Fatale issue would be good to buy for friends.

After that, we have the four stand-alone issues, featured in a news story at Image Comics.  Fatale #11 is evidently still planned for December, but the second trade collection, "The Devil's Business," will be in stores on January 2nd.

Fatale has been nominated for Best Crime Comic (or "Mystery" comic) for the 2013 Angoulême International Comics Festival.  The nominees have been announced in French, and we're grateful that Comics Beat has translated the announcement into English.  The festival will be held January 31st to February 3rd.

Finally, Sean Phillips has created the cover art and additional material for another fine entry in the Criterion Collection: eight-time Oscar-winner On the Waterfront (1954), starring Marlon Brando.  This makes the fourth such commission for Phillips, who has created artwork for Blast of Silence (1961), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), and 12 Angry Men (1957).

The Criterion Blu-ray and DVD will both be released on February 19th.

November Bullets: Scene of the Crime HC, More Fatale, and Phillips Appearance.

A few brief notes:

• Scene of the Crime Hardcover, In Stores This Week.  As we reported in August, a new edition of Scene of the Crime is coming out.  The short-lived detective series was written by Ed Brubaker with pencils by Michael Lark and inks by Lark and (for the last three issues) Sean Phillips, and the book is the first of many collaborations for Brubaker-Lark and Brubaker-Phillips.  Originally published in 1999 by DC's Vertigo imprint, the deluxe, oversized hardcover is published by Image Comics and designed by Sean Phillips; Comic Book Resources has a six-page preview of the book, which reaches stores tomorrow.


• More Fatale on the Way.  A couple weeks back, Comics Alliance posted an interview with Ed Brubaker on the occasion of his last issue of Captain America, and it broke the news that Fatale is becoming an ongoing series.  I honestly think CA makes too much of the news.  The number of issues has never been part of the book's solicitations, and from the beginning we were told that it would run "at least 12 issues." Brubaker relays that the series will focus on Josephine, and he probably still has an end in mind for the title.  And, in light of the first two volumes of Criminal, it's not at all accurate to describe the book as Brubaker and Phillips' first ongoing title.  Still, it may be some time before we see the doubtlessly brutal end of this horror noir comic.


• Sean Phillips at Thought Bubble Convention.  Finally, Sean Phillips just announced that he'll be attending this weekend's Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds, England.  He'll be bringing plenty of books, and he'll be ready to draw sketches for fans, but he plans to limit sketches to characters in which he has a stake.

It appears that Fatale catches up completely this month, as issue #10 is currently listed for the last week of November, along with new issues for the other two books I've been digging, Chew and Planetoid, both also from Image Comics.  We'll post a preview as soon as we see it.