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 CHEW
WHY IT IS HOT: Yes, a new book has dethroned Proof and Cassie! John Layman and Rob Guillory create a book that I don't think would have me head over heels in love with it if one of them was missing. The art style fits the store to a tee! Add to that the freshest concept in years and you have Chuck's new fave!
SUMMARY: Tony Chu is a cop with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. It's a dirty job, and Tony has to eat terrible things in the name of justice. And if that wasn't bad enough, the government has figured out Tony Chu's secret. They have plans for him... whether he likes it or not.
NOT FOR THE QUEASY, F'SHEEZY!
 FEAR AGENT
WHY IT IS HOT: Rick Remender and Tony Moore... another f%$&ing 'Team Extreme. they make beautiful magic with their drunken alien exterminator adventures...
SUMMARY: When down-and-out alien exterminator, Heath Huston stumbles upon an extraterrestrial legion of amoebas preparing to annihilate the Earth, he's forced to choose between the bottle and resuming his role as a peacekeeper, as The Last Fear Agent.
Heath's former band of soldiers, the Fear Agents was comprised of a group of the last remaining humans on Earth, whose sworn duty was the protection of their homeworld against alien invaders. A number of years after preventing a large-scale invasion of Earth, the Fear Agents were all slaughtered in a mysterious incident.
RATED YUMMY (Just an amazing read, shut up and read it)
 HACK SLASH
WHY IT IS HOT: Tim Seeley has taken the world by storm! Both Loaded Bible and Hack Slash have received critical acclaim from throughout the industry, and Hack Slash has been optioned by Rogue Pictures!
SUMMARY: The Hack/Slash collection that readers have been waiting for, the new Omnibus collects the first 14 issues of the ongoing series, including classic slasher villains like Acid Washed and Father Wrath, as well as Cassie's first encounter with Georgia. All this and the first ever Hack/Slash Annual in one mega-volume!
IMMATURE AUDIENCES (If you like blood, gore, and sexy women; not turned off by a good story, this is for you!)
 PROOF
WHY IT IS HOT: Riley Rossmo and Alex Grecian weave a tale of supernatural intrigue! Bigfoot as a paranormal detective. C'mon! I said it was the best book of 2008 and it is still a front-runner on 2009.
SUMMARY: If you believe in monsters... Proof doesn't leave urban legends where it finds them. Bigfoot wears a suit to the office. Fairies devour anyone in sight. A lonely monster wears human skins for company.
EVERYONE READS, EVERYONE LIKES
 FABLES
WHY IT IS HOT: Fables is the only title in the store that has a 100% satisfaction rate! Great way to gauge a graphic novel is when they are handed to people NOT fans of comic books and they walk away addicts!
SUMMARY: When a savage creature known only as the Adversary conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, all of the infamous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical characters have created their own peaceful and secret society within an exclusive luxury apartment building called Fabletown.
INTELLECTUAL AUDIENCES (If you like words, then words that form sentences, then sentences that form paragraphs, then paragraphs that make you like book)
 ELEPHANTMEN
WHY IT IS HOT: Probably the most visually stunning artwork in decades. The likes of Hip Flask, Obadiah Horn and Ebony Hide are genetically anomalies forced to live in a world that hates and fears them. It's X-Men on Ecstasy!
SUMMARY: They were genetically engineered to be supra-human weapons of mass destruction, but ultimately dismissed collectively as Elephantmen. Hip Flask, Ebony Hide and Obadiah Horn count amongst their number; wounded animals who, despite their differences and origins, must live in the world of man.
ALL AUDIENCES (minus a few sheltered from necessary storytelling violence and imagery)
 CHRONICLES OF
WORMWOOD
WHY IT IS HOT: Garth Ennis is sick. Jacen Burrows can draw a hell I do not want to go to. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
SUMMARY:Wormwood is the anti-Christ, his dad is Satan, and his demonic powers help him fit right into New York. His best friend is Jesus, a mentally-challenged black man that just isn't performing many miracles these days. The pesky Armageddon is coming up, and it doesn't look like Pope Jacko is going to be any help in stopping it!
SPIRUTUALLY COMFORTABLE AUDIENCES (Not worried about repercussions for immoral thoughts? Read the book!)
AMORY WARS
WHY IT IS HOT: From our favorite band COHEED & CAMBRIA's CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, comes a deeper look into the saga behind their best-selling debut album, THE SECOND STAGE TURBINE BLADE!
SUMMARY:Coheed and Cambria lead a seemingly normal, quiet life with their four children. Yet when villainous forces behind the mysterious keywork reveal hard hitting truth's behind the couple's real nature, a battle begins that crosses all worlds!
SCI-FI BUFFS! PUT THIS ON THE TOP OF YOUR LIST!
 TERRY MOORE'S ECHO
WHY IT IS HOT: Because his name is in the title silly <silly> <silly>
SUMMARY: Julie Martin is in the wrong place at the wrong time when she's finds herself under a strange explosion in the desert sky. The resulting fallout covers her in a mysterious silver metal that brings more trouble into Julie's life than she could ever imagine, and a friend to die for.
ANOTHER ALL AUDIENCE BOOK
 ASTRO CITY
WHY IT IS HOT: Kurt Busiek needs to quit worrying about all those other books and give us more Astro City. We love Astro City!!!
SUMMARY: New world from the mind of Kurt Busiek! From the dreams of heroes to the fears of ordinary citizens to the schemes of villains, Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross let readers experience a world of heroes from the inside.
EVERYONE TO READ (Does that make sense?)
 REX MUNDI
WHY IT IS HOT: Alternate reality story of Catholic dictatorship meets DaVinci Code. Add the imagination of Arvid Nelson and you have a beautiful cocktail!
SUMMARY: A quest for the Holy Grail unlike any you've ever seen begins here-in a world where the American Civil War ended in a stalemate, the Catholic Church controls Europe, and sorcery determines political power! When a medieval scroll disappears from a Paris church, Doctor Julien Saunière investigates, uncovering a series of horrific ritual murders and an ancient secret society. Julien cannot let these shadowy figures retreat into the darkness, lest they take up their killing once again. His investigation turns into a one-man quest into the bizarre secrets of the Catholic Church.
LITERARY LUNCH (Good reading for the entire crowd, except those meddling kids)
 LOCKE & KEY
WHY IT IS HOT: the son of Stephen King has love children with HP Lovecraft. OK not really; but Joe Hill is an amazing writer of his own calibre and add the art of Gabriel Rodriguez and you have...gasp!... another 'Team Extreme'!
SUMMARY:Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all...
SPOOKY AND THOUGHT PROVOKING (yet palatable to a younger audience)
 MIDNIGHT NATION
WHY IT IS HOT: JMS (aka J. Michael Straczynski) created one of my personal favorite stories in GN format. Two worlds running parallel. Dead? Not dead? M Night Shyamalan eat your heart out!
SUMMARY: Midnight Nation is a thought-provoking story with religious overtones about a police officer in limbo who goes on a cross-country search for his soul but encounters some mighty obstacles along the way. When it first came out in 2000, J. Michael Straczynski's provocative storytelling and the fantastic art of Gary Frank (Action Comics, Squadron Supreme) captivated readers with its mix of action, horror and drama built around a message of hope, loyalty and sacrifice.
AWESOME AUDIENCES (One of my favorite books of all time)
 CITY OF DUST
WHY IT IS HOT: Upstart publisher with an artistic consistency that lends it self well to the industry's needs. Add Steve Niles and you have once again, a Niles' classic!
SUMMARY: A chilling vision of the future reveals a world where police now patrol for Crimes of the Imagination, including stories of fiction, fable, and religion. Homicide detective Philip Khrome doesn't enforce Imagination, but when a brutal killing spree strikes his city, Khrome finds himself face-to-face with a perpetrator who has merged reality with superstition - and society itself may hang in the balance.
IMAGE FAITHFUL (Branch out...if you love the art, give Radical a chance!)
THE GOON
WHY ITS HOT: Eric Powell has created a hilarious universe focused on one man (and friends) and his crusade against the undead. Zombies, gorillas, zombie gorillas, mad scientists, giant eyeballs, vampires, ghosts ghouls, robots and horny seahags; this book continues to provide innovative insights into Powell's view of the horror genre with 'LMAO' moments in each book.
SUMMARY: See above.
DIVERSE AUDIENCES (Every book has a different flavor, young'uns should stay back)
 FALL OF CTHULHU
WHY IT IS HOT: True Lovecraftian fans will appreciate the scope of this epic tale! They are series of tales that all weave a yarn that reaches into the other tales. Great for intelligent horror bibliophiles!
SUMMARY: BOOM! brings the H.P. Lovecraft's psychological horror into the modern world in these trade paperbacks! Fugue introduces readers to Cy, an ordinary guy, whose uncle's suicide changes his life forever. Consumed with discovering the motive behind his relative's sudden and painful death, he finds notes and scribblings about a nonsense word he doesn't recognize - Cthulhu! A war brews in the Dreamlands in The Gathering, and the players and pawns move into place as Mister Arkham plots universal domination!
MATURE AUDIENCES (Spooky yet, intelligent. most young'uns may get bored...)
 IMMORTAL IRON FIST
WHY IT IS HOT. Ed Brubaker AND Matt Fraction. C'mon!
SUMMARY: Many years ago, in the mystical city of Kun' Lun, young Danny Rand stared at a suit behind glass -- the garb of the "Immortal Iron Fist" -- and knew that he was destined to wear it. But where did this costume come from? Why did it wait for Danny all those years like a shadow of his future? The answer to those questions will stun both him and his readers, as Danny Rand leaps from the pages of his breakout hit in DAREDEVIL to his own history-spanning kung-fu epic that will shatter every perception of what it means to be the Immortal Iron Fist!
WELL ADJUSTED AUDIENCES (As long as you have no violence issues)
 JESUS HATES ZOMBIES
(AND LINCOLN HATES WEREWOLVES)
WHY IT IS HOT: Jesus. Zombies.
SUMMARY:This critically acclaimed anthology features over 16 artists and stories featuring the zombie slaying antics of one particular Son of God! This re-release also features a brand-new bonus story written by creator Stephen Lindsay and illustrated by artist Lauren Monardo. If you missed it the first time around, then this Second Coming of Jesus Hates Zombies is just what you need!
HEATHEN APPROVED (Worried about hell? Quit worrying! It is a funny read...and only moderately sacreligious)
 PLANETARY
WHY IT IS HOT: Hey look! Another 'Team Extreme'! Warren Ellis and John Cassaday are a perfect fit for this Intergalactic Archaeologist tale that runs parallel and opposite Authority in the Wildstorm Universe. Ellis fans MUST READ. CHUCK'S TOP TEN!
SUMMARY: The adventures of Elijah Snow, a hundred year old man, Jakita Wagner, an extremely powerful and bored woman, and The Drummer, a man with the ability to communicate with machines. Infatuated with tracking down evidence of super-human activity, these mystery archaeologists of the late 20th Century uncover unknown paranormal secrets and histories, such as a World War II supercomputer that can access other universes, a ghostly spirit of vengeance, and a lost island of dying monsters.
BRAINS ONLY (Definitely an intellectual read. If you like the words, don't read. If you love them, go ahead!)
 PISTOLWHIP:
THE YELLOW MENACE
WHY IT IS HOT: Not a book born of the Image era, this books abstract art and Jason Hall's uncanny stortelling leave this one of our favorites.
SUMMARY: Jack Peril is the beloved hero of radio, comics, and the silver screen - but is his existence merely fictional? What does a series of grisly murders and a new lecture series condemning the pulse-pounding parables of said Mr. Peril have to do with it all? And just who is The Yellow Menace? Mitch and Charlie, along with luckless cop Ray and inquisitive maid Isla, plan to find out!
PONG PLAYERS (If you like good games and don't need all the 3D computer and life sucking types of imagery, this book is for you!)
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