This month: more kick-ass ladies, adaptations of popular literature, reissues of past notables, and remixes starring well-known characters, real and fictional. Holmes is hot: at least five series of old and new stories are coming out, including Lerner's (see below). Watch for the all-new The Baker Street Irregulars from Franklin Watts in early 2011. Set immediately after Holmes's supposed death at Reichenbach Falls, the book depicts the detective's street kid assistants teaming up with Watson, Irene Adler, and Inspector Lestrade against a new crime wave. I want an Irene Adler action figure!

Collado, Jaime (text) & Miguel Cedillo (illus.). Poe & Phillips. Arcana. Nov. 2010. 96p. ISBN 978-1-897548-39-4. pap. $14.95. F
Another epic team-up of real people doing unreal things-Phillips is the "P" in H.P. Lovecraft. The two wordsmiths collaborate as paranormal investigators against an ancient emperor who wants to-of course-rule the world. And he just happens to have a demonic army. The semirealistic preview art shows our author duo armed and ready.

De Cr?y, Nicolas. Salvatore. Vol. 1: Transports of Love. NBM. Nov. 2010. 104p. ISBN 978-1-56163-593-1. pap. $14.99. F
The author of the delightfully quirky Glacial Period from the Louvre collection of graphic novels has a "bittersweet" new series featuring a canine auto mechanic. While the dog's services are much in demand, he hides out away in the mountains to build a unique vehicle that will allow him to visit his Beloved, far away.

Deutsch, Barry. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword. Amulet Bks. Nov. 2010. 144p. ISBN 978-0-8109-8422-6. $15.95. F
Eleven-year-old Mirka wants to fight dragons. But she's a girl-in an Orthodox Jewish community. No dragons in the area, either, but she stands up to local bullies, fights a pig, and outwits a troll to win a dragon-slaying sword. This expanded web comic is described as "a delightful mix of fantasy, adventure, cultural traditions, and preteen commotion."

Dini, Paul (text) & Guillem March (illus.). Gotham City Sirens. Vol. 2: Songs of the Sirens. DC. Nov. 2010. 168p. ISBN 978-1-4012-2907-8. $19.99. F
This team-up of Gotham's baddest babes lets Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn loose in a story arc that has been well received for deft plotting, engaging characterizations, and fluid art. Volume 1 appeared in April. Note also Marvel's superheroine team-up Heralds as well as Girl Comics, both coming in October, and the retrospective Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades, also announced for November.

Doyle, E. Conan (text) & Sophie Rohrbach (illus.). On the Case with Holmes and Watson 1: Sherlock Holmes and a Scandal in Bohemia. Lerner/Graphic Universe. Nov. 2010. 48p. adapt. by Murray Shaw & M.J. Cosson. ISBN 978-0-7613-6185-5. $26.60. F (Library Binding)
"To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman..." This first Holmes short story introduces Irene Adler as Holmes's intellectual superior, unfortunately, her only appearance in the Baker Street canon. But recent authors like Carole Nelson Douglas have let her have her way again with Holmes and other collaborators. Meet her blueprint here in the new tween series of Holmes/Watson tales, based on the Doyle originals. The story was adapted to comics a couple of times in the 1980s and 1990s, but nothing recently.

Ellis, Warren (text) & Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti (illus.). Two-Step. DC: WildStorm. Nov. 2010. 128p. ISBN 978-1-4012-2887-3. pap. $19.99. F
Bawdy as only the British can do it, in a 2003 miniseries here collected for the first time. Tony Ling is a "free-lance black market agent" because being in a gang is soooo predictable. Off to intercept a gangster courier's booty, he falls in with bored camgirl Rosi Blades, and they find themselves saddled with a giant willy in a violin case. That plays music-"The Ride of the Valkyries," actually. On his website, Ellis described the story as a "sciencefictional romance with guns and swearing...and there's a bloke in there who f*s cars." Deliciously frenetic art that isn't as explicit as it sounds. See a preview here.

Hayashi, Joyouji. The Ouroboros Wave. VIZ. Nov. 2010. 350p. ISBN 978-1-4215-3645-3. pap. $14.99. F
Space scientists discover a black hole and use its energy to establish colonies across the solar system. But radically different societies evolve over the years throughout the colonies, with only the black hole and a hated oversight organization in common. Since the black hole has been dubbed Kali for the Hindu goddess of destruction, we suspect that doom and death await too many people. A former lab tech, Hayashi is known in Japan for his hard-science sci-fi stories.

Hernandez, Mario (text) & Gilbert Hernandez (text & illus.). Citizen Rex. Dark Horse. Nov. 2010. 136p. ISBN 978-1-59582-556-8. $19.99. F
"Violence and intrigue" involving a robot celebrity gone rogue, a gossip-blogger homing in on body modification and prosthetic limbs, a mysterious cabal of city investigators, and the Mob. Black-and-white art from Gilbert (the Palomar stories in Love and Rockets).

Kakifly. K-ON! Vol. 1. Yen Pr. Nov. 2010. 128p. ISBN 978-0-316-11933-7. pap. $10.99. F
Four high school girls sign up for their school's pop music club, which is about to go under for lack of members. But the lead guitarist/vocalist knows zilcho about music. Yet with dedication, much coaching from the other club members, and a successful gig at the school festival, Yui is on her way. This should do well where other music-themed manga like BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad are popular.

Karasik, Paul & Mark Newgarden. How To Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels. Fantagraphics. Nov. 2010. 80p. ISBN 978-1-606-99361-3. pap. $12.99. GRAPHIC ARTS
The protons, neutrons, and electrons of comics as analyzed from one strip: the August 8, 1959, Nancy by Ernie Bushmiller, in an expansion of a 1988 essay published in one of the Nancy collections and termed a "cult classic" of comics disquisition. Both Karasik (co-adapter of City of Glass) and Newgarden (We All Die Alone) are well-regarded cartoonists.

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Vol. 5. Amulet Bks. Nov. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-0-8109-8491-2. $13.95. F
The fifth thousand-pound gorilla of this kid-fave series is reportedly about Greg and Rowley's friendship. Some 30-plus million of the first four have been sold worldwide-about eight percent of Harry Potter, which isn't bad.

Mariotte, Jeff (text) & Daniele Serra (illus.). Fade to Black. Image. Nov. 2010. 128p. ISBN 978-1-607-06272-1. pap. $15.99. F
Vampires just bite their victims-these bad guys chew and swallow. A group of vapid actors sign on to film a "reality"-type wilderness survival adventure, but running into a cannibal cult was definitely not in the script. Preview here.

Maruo, Suehiro. The Strange Tale of Panorama Island. Last Gasp. Nov. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-0-8671-9732-7. $19.95. F
Lush, Great Gatsby-esque art graces this adaptation of a Japanese pulp fiction classic by the "Godfather of Japanese detective fiction, Edogawa Rampo," who was an admirer of Edgar Allen Poe and A. Conan Doyle. A failed novelist impersonates a dead look-alike, taking over his target's family fortune and immersing himself in hedonistic excess. Click on the thumbnails for preview art, here. Maruo is known as a master of perverse horror, and his website is called Maruo Jikogu: Maruo Hell.

McCreery, Conor & Anthony Del Col (text) & Andy Belanger (illus.). Kill Shakespeare. Vol. 1. IDW. Nov. 2010. 148p. ISBN 978-1-600-10781-8. pap. $19.99. F
Hamlet, Juliet, Falstaff, and Othello take on Richard III, Lady Macbeth, and Iago in a meta-story universe where Richard is out to kill this Shakespeare wizard and take over all his power. Purists may wince, but McCreery and Del Col have had great fun working this up, and most readers will have an equally good time meeting these well-known characters in new dilemmas. Blood, laughs, sex, swordfights, and treachery-it's all here as in the original Shakespeare, even if not with all the Bard's literary depth and subtleties. This volume collects half of the first plot arc. Think Fables and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

O'Neil, Dennis (text) & Neal Adams (illus.). Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. DC. Nov. 2010. 96p. ISBN 978-1-4012-2841-5. $19.99. F
Still another epic team-up. Yes, they're both on the same side fighting aliens, but y'see, the aliens wanted them to fight each other first-justifying the title and cover illustration, and probably quite a few drunken bets. Superman has co-starred with numerous celebrities over the decades, and this pairing first came out in 1998, supposedly inspired partly by the popular film Rocky. With bonus art and other extras.

Sacco, Joe. Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition. Fantagraphics. Nov. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-1-60699-396-5. $29.99. CURRENT EVENTS
Sacco's classic "harrowing and bleakly humorous" reportage about the 1990s Bosnian conflict, now re-released in an expanded tenth anniversary hardcover with supplementary drawings, sketches, photos, and transcripts. Sacco has been lauded as a pioneer in graphic journalism, and this enhanced edition will be essential for libraries and classrooms.

Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist. Norton. Nov. 2010. 304p. ed. by S. Crumb, A. Crumb & R. Crumb. ISBN 978-0-393-07996-8. $27.95. AUTOBIOG
Portraits of the artist as a young woman from ages three to 28, interspersed with sketches and drawings of parents, friends, surroundings, and stories. Guy to Sophie, age 22: "Oh my God! Your dad is R. Crumb?...God! that must be sooo weird! He's like the f*in' GOD of the '60s...!" Sophie (thinks): "F* you prick!! Shmuck!! He's not a god!! He's my daddy!! And we used to play Barbie and read Little Lulu and..." Mom Aline describes this as "a book revealing personal evolution from toddlerhood to adulthood through art." So it's part art book, part autobiography in that the entire book could be seen as one strip with each page or drawing constituting a panel.

Usamaru, Furuya. Genkaku Picasso. Vol. 1. VIZ. Nov. 2010. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4215-3675-0. pap. $9.99. F
Nicknamed "Picasso" partly because he draws all the time, Hikari is a loner befriended in spite of himself by the persistent Chiaki. Then Chiaki dies in a freak accident that spares her friend, only to camp out on his shoulder as a small angel urging him to use his art to help people. Strange: Hikari can now see other peoples' auras and heal them by sketching their traumas. A fascinating premise.

Ward, Lynd. Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts. 2 vols. Library of America. Oct. 2010. 1408p. ed. by Art Spiegelman. ISBN 978-1-59853-082-7. $70. F
A forefather of the modern graphic novel, American artist Ward (1905-85) created his first woodcut novel, Gods' Man, in 1929, inspired by an all-woodcut work by the Belgian engraver Frans Masereel. While Ward illustrated over 100 children's books and won the Caldecott Medal, his dramatic and lovely woodcut novels depict adult themes. For example, Gods' Man depicts an artist's struggle to remain true to his craft against the seductions of money and power. Library of America (LOA) publishes "authoritative editions of America's best and most significant writing," but here "writing" is to be understood metaphorically, since the Ward novels are wordless. Other editions of Ward's work are in print, but this set represents acceptance as classics by the nonprofit LOA and apparently embody the first graphic narratives in LOA's catalog. Let's hope more will follow! See sample art here.

Watson, Esther Pearl. Unlovable: The Complete Collection. 2 vols. Fantagraphics. Nov. 2010. 832p. ISBN 978-1-60699-397-2. $30.99. F
A cringe-worthy classic of high school malaise, reportedly based on a real girl's diary found in a Las Vegas bathroom in 1995. Like a Wimpy Kid older sister but more poignant and painful if often funny. The jagged, unpretty art captures the diarist's inner chaos. For Lynda Barry fans craving a new read, and professionals seeking an unvarnished glimpse of female adolescence. You can check out the art here.

Wheeler, Shannon. Too Much Coffee Man Omnibus. Dark Horse. Nov. 2010. 536p. ISBN 978-1-59582-307-6. Price TBD. HUMOR
This collects the four published volumes of this alt-comics standby, acerbic takes and tales riffing on the challenges of daily life and relationships. Read the strips online here.