The Fade Out #2: Preview Today, In Stores Tomorrow.

The second issue in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Golden-Age Hollywood noir is almost out, and we see that a three-page preview has just been posted at All-Comic, Comic Book Resources, and Comicosity, the latter of which lists the book in this week's Hot Five.

The dramatis personae continues to grow for what Brubaker promises to be a sprawling story.  The first issue began with a hangover from a wild party, and this issue begins with more serious consequences from that night, the funeral for the coulda-been starlet known as Valeria Sommers.

The Fade Out #2 is in stores tomorrow.

The Final Fatale Collection, The Fade Out Reprint, and a Movie for Peg Entwhistle.

On sale today is the fifth and final trade paperback collection for Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips horror-noir epic, Fatale.  This edition of "Curse the Demon" is probably the last release for the series until we see the second deluxe hardcover collection; early last week, Brubaker confirmed that the hardcover is not yet "on the schedule."

Also in stores today is the second printing of The Fade Out #1, the latest series from Brubaker and Phillips.  Brubaker just got his copies of issue #2, which he relays is in stores next week.

The most interesting news concerns a Hollywood actress who died nearly 80 years ago.  The bonus essay in The Fade Out #1 was "The Lonesome Death of Peg Entwistle," by Devin Faraci, about an obscure actress who committed suicide in 1932:  she leaped off the "H" in the famous Hollywoodland sign, a month prior to her only appearance in film, in a movie called Thirteen Women.

Last Wednesday, the LA Times ran a story about a hundred people gathering in the neighborhood of Beachwood Village, on the anniversary of her suicide.  Just two days later, Deadline exclusively reported on plans to bring her story to the big screen, with Tony Kaye, the director of American History X, writing and planning on directing the film.

If the film does get made, they could get Sean Phillips to create the poster, basing it on the haunting artwork he created for the essay.

Gotham and the Big Apple This Week; Books Coming in January.

I almost missed it because it was rush-solicited, but today sees the release of a $1.00 special-edition reprint of the first full issue of Gotham Central, by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark.  The release coincides the debut of the FOX series Gotham, whose series premiere is this Monday, September 22nd; the comic book's cover is evidently branded with an ad for the new series.

We mentioned that, when the series was first announced last year, Brubaker and Rucka had no inside information.  It's become clear that the series is more like the Smallville TV series than the critically acclaimed comic series Gotham Central, except that a young Jim Gordon is the central character rather than a young Bruce Wayne.  I suspect that a series more closely modeled on Gotham Central would have been a lot more interesting.

Gotham Central focused on the Major Crimes Unit in Gotham, when Gordon was retired and even Bullock was off the force.  Batman wasn't a main character, but his presence in the city was still felt in almost every issue, primarily because the MCU resented his probably necessary interference.  And there was serious dramatic tension because -- even though the nature of DC's serialized universe made it a given that Batman would save the day and the major criminal would be captured but not killed -- you were never certain that these detectives and police officers would make it to the next shift.  Sometimes, they didn't.

I'm probably not going to watch the show, but I'm glad to see any publicity for Gotham Central, the series that kick-started my love of Brubaker's writing.  The complete 40-issue series has been collected in four volumes, in hardcover and trade paperback.

--

This Friday sees the premiere of Liam Neeson's latest thriller, A Walk Among the Tombstones, based on the novel by Lawrence Block, his tenth book about the New York private eye, Matthew Scudder.  Hard Case Crime has released the movie-tie in mass-market paperback of the book, and we have confirmed that, despite its movie poster cover, it is a true, numbered Hard Case Crime book, complete with the familiar yellow ribbon on the white spine.

This is the first time the novel has been in bookstores in nearly twenty years, and it's already on the top of my reading list for the week.  Brubaker and Phillips have something of a history with the crime imprint, as Criminal and Hard Case Crime advertised for each other in their books' back pages.  I'd like to see them work on a prose novel for HCC, but that's a subject for another time.

--

Finally, the commenter Hobo Keith just drew our attention to a few Amazon listings for books by Brubaker and Phillips, for books coming out very early next year.  Amazon has the first volume of The Fade Out scheduled for release on January 27th, 2015, and they have the same date listed for Image Comics' re-release of the first volume of Criminal, the first of presumably six "strikingly-designed new editions."

"Coward" is one of my favorite stories, and I'm still hoping we'll see a sequel.  With this new edition and a film adaptation in the works, perhaps "Coward's Way Out" isn't too far off.

We'll post more information about these trade paperbacks as it becomes available.  In the meantime, we genuinely appreciate the heads-up from Hobo Keith.

And these books might not be the only big releases from Brubaker and Phillips in January.  Just yesterday, Ed Brubaker tweeted to explain why both The Fade Out and Velvet are missing from Image's December solicitations: he's taking a break between  arcs for a secret project with Sean Phillips.

@janrmrz Taking a short break between arcs on both books. Me and Sean have a secret thing coming in January.
— Ed Brubaker (@brubaker) September 16, 2014

We can't wait.

Velvet #7 On Sale Today, with a Preview Online.

A very busy week offline is forcing me to keep things short and sweet, but the latest issue of Ed Brubaker's espionage comic with Steve Epting is out today:  Comic Book Resources posted a three-page preview of Velvet #7, and I've already seen two positive reviews, with Unleash the Fanboy giving the issue an 8 out ten, and Comic Vine awarding a perfect five-star review.

Sean Phillips' Void, in Stores Tomorrow!

We've previously covered Sean Phillips' comic Void only once before, but we've confirmed that the book is out this week.  Announced in 2011 as Phillips' first sci-fi work, Void was published by Delcourt and released in France in October, 2012.  The book has been translated into English and is being published by Titan Comics.

The story, written by Herik Hanna, is about "the sole survivor of an interstellar prison ship," and on Monday, Comic Book Resources released a five-page preview, with a page not seen in the earlier feature article by Giant Freakin Robot.

The 48-page, oversized hardcover retails for $9.99.

UPDATE, 11:30 am:  On Twitter, Sean Phillips relays that the book is an oversized hardcover, measuring 8 by 11 inches:  for those on the fence, the book appears to be well worth the price.