Fun at NYCC, but…

Well I had an absolute blast at the New York Comic Con. I got to catch up with some old friends, eat some great food, and generally enjoy the energy and excitement that goes with a good con. I probably should have slept some more and drank some more water, but whatever... My only complaint was that I didn't discover anything amazing and new comics-wise. While I expect to discover lots of new comics at "indy" shows like APE, MoCCA, and SPX (or any show in Europe), I usually hope to find at least one or two gems at a "mainstream" show in the USA. Sadly my days of trolling the Javits Center failed to yield any hitherto unknown amazing creators or books.

I did get a nice sampler book from Vertical which contained an excerpt from Osamu Tezuka's "Ode to Kirihito." I'm embarrassed to admit that I already own the complete book, but hadn't read it yet. I was just waiting for the right weekend to tackle this 800+ page monster. But after reading the preview, I moved Kirihito to the top of my reading stack. Awesome! The preview book also contained an enticing excerpt from "Apollo's Song" (also by Tezuka) which will debut in June. Also fantastic! If you only know Tezuka from his children's work like Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, you really owe it to yourself to check out his "grown-up" works, and find out why Tezuka is sometimes referred to as the Will Eisner of Japan.
The other items that have made it to the top of my pile are a few of the advance books from First Second's Spring 2007 line. While I own most of these books in the original French, my French is pretty rusty these days. So I look forward to re-reading (and getting the full effect from) all four of their newly translated editions--especially Gipi's "Garage Band," and Sfar & Guibert's "The Professor's Daughter."