Author: delta

Our Ash Ave Comic Book Club is next meeting on Sunday, May 5th to discuss Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s beloved supernatural animal series Beasts of Burden, a winner of eight (!!!) Eisner awards over its various mini-series and one shots. After that we’ll be exploring a character that readers may be most familiar with from the mid 90s film adaptation starring Jim Carrey, The Mask by Doug Mahnke and John Arcudi has recently been reprinted in an omnibus format by Dark Horse Comics. We’ll be discussing The Mask Omnibus on Sunday, June 2nd.

Our meetings begin at 6 PM, and we recommend attendees BYOB (be it beer, beverage, or brisket).  Our reading group selections are available in the shop, so drop by to pick up the Beasts of Burden collection or to preorder a copy of The Mask Omnibus volume 1 for our June meetup. Listed below are our next two months of readings, and a photo and summary of the May selection:

Sunday, May 5: Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites

Sunday, June 2: The Mask Omnibus volume 1

Black magic, demonic frogs, and zombie road kill are just a few of the problems plaguing this seemingly sleepy little town. Beneath the quiet streets a rat cabal plots vengeance, while in the local cemetery the dead leave their graves. With the human residents unaware of the supernatural danger, it’s up to a determined crew of dogs (and one cat) to keep their community safe. Lives will be lost, and bonds forged as the beasts of Burden Hill battle against an unknown evil rooted within their town. Award-winning comics creators Evan Dorkin (Milk & Cheese) and Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother) come together to share the lives of some unlikely heroes. This volume reprints the comic-book series Beasts of Burden issues #1-4, the short stories from the Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, the Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, the Dark Horse Book of the Dead, and the Dark Horse Book of Monsters,  “Stray,” “Unfamiliar,” “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie,” and “A Dog and His Boy,” published by Dark Horse Comics.

Spring has sprung and like clockwork the Ash Ave Comic Book Club will be meeting to discuss another entry in the wide world of comics.  For our April get together we’ll be meeting Sunday, April 7 to discuss Warren Ellis’ and Stuart Immonen’s superhero comedy Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., winner of three Eagle Awards, as well as being a pick for the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) list for the Best Comics of 2007.

We had an excellent discussion in March of Mister Miracle with Mister Miracle artist Mitch Gerads, here’s a couple of photos from the event if you couldn’t attend.

Our meetings begin at 6 PM, and per usual we recommend attendees BYOB (be it beer, beverage, or BBQ).  Our reading group selections are available in the shop, so drop by to pick up the Nextwave collection or to preorder a copy of Beasts of Burden Animal Rites for our May meetup. Listed below are our next two months of readings, and a photo and summary of the April selection:

Sunday, April 7: Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. 

Sunday, May 5: Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites

The Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort, or H.A.T.E. (a subsidiary of the Beyond Corporation©) put NEXTWAVE together to fight Bizarre Weapons of Mass Destruction. When NEXTWAVE discovers that H.A.T.E. and Beyond© are terrorist cells themselves, and that the BWMDs were intended to kill them, they are less than pleased. In fact, they are rather angry. So they make things explode. Lots of things. Starring Monica Rambeau (formerly Captain Marvel and Photon), Aaron Stack (Machine Man), Tabitha Smith (X-Force’s Meltdown), monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone and The Captain! If you like anything, you will LOVE NEXTWAVE! BOOM! This new collection also includes all the hilarious letters pages!

Our comic book club has been waiting a long time for this one, for our March Comic Book Club we’re discussing the Eisner award winning miniseries Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads, bringing the classic Jack Kirby creation back for a new perspective on the character for a new generation of readers.  A couple of years back our comic book club read King and Gerads’ Sheriff of Babylon miniseries, artist Mitch Gerads joined us in our discussion, it was one of our highlights in our five years. So, naturally we’re really stoked that Mitch will be back to sit in for our Mister Miracle discussion, there’s only one catch (ok, maybe two), to attend you’ll need to have purchased a copy of the Mister Miracle TP at the shop. The second catch is that seating for the comic book club is limited and attendance will be capped, so we’ll be taking RSVPs at ashavecomics@gmail.com. This event is not a signing, it’s a discussion oriented comic book club, so attendees will be expected to have read the series and to listen and engage with others in our collective chat.

For our April Ash Ave Comic Book Club, we’re discussing Warren Ellis’ and Stuart Immonen’s superhero comedy Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., winner of three Eagle Awards, as well as being a pick for the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) list for the Best Comics of 2007. We will be meeting to discuss Nextwave on Sunday, April 7 at the shop.

Our meetings begin at 6 PM, and per usual we recommend attendees BYOB (be it beer, beverage, or BBQ).  Our reading group selections are available in the shop, so drop by to pick up the Mister Miracle collection or to preorder a copy of Nextwave for our April meetup. Listed below are our next two months of readings, and a photo and summary of the March selection:

Sunday, March 10: Mister Miracle TP

Sunday, April 7: Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. 

The critically acclaimed 12-issue mini-series is collected. Scott Free is the greatest escape artist who ever lived. So great that he escaped Granny Goodness’ gruesome orphanage and the dangers of Apokolips to travel across galaxies and set up a new life on Earth with his wife, the former Female Fury known as Big Barda. Using the stage alter ego of Mister Miracle, he has made a career for himself showing off his acrobatic escape techniques. He even caught the attention of the Justice League, which counted him among its ranks. You might say Scott Free has everything…so why isn’t it enough? Mister Miracle has mastered every illusion, achieved every stunt, pulled off every trick-except one. He has never escaped death. Is it even possible? Our hero is going to have to kill himself if he wants to find out.

It’s a little lonely not doing our twice monthly Comic Book Clubs (reading a stand alone title, and a long read, as we’ve done almost monthly for the last few years now), but it’s a brief return to form for February as we’ll be discussing the first two volumes of Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s multiple Eisner and Hugo award winning series Monstress. In March we’ll be reading another multiple Eisner award winner with Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ Mister Miracle miniseries.

Our meetings begin at 6 PM, and per usual we recommend attendees BYOB (be it beer, beverage, or BBQ).  Our reading group selections are available in the shop for 15% off, so drop by to pick up the Monstress volumes or to preorder the Mister Miracle collection. Listed below are our next two months of readings, and a photo and summary of the February selection:

Sunday, February 10: Monstress vols 1 + 2

Sunday, March 10: Mister Miracle TP

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900’s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both.