AVATAR PRESS FOR DECEMBER

Following are Avatar Press' solicitations for December, with information coming from the company.

WARREN ELLIS' STRANGER KISSES #1

Written by Warren Ellis, art and cover by Mike Wolfer.

Warren Ellis brings his mad visions to life with the same team whch brought you Strange Kiss, Mike Wolfer on art and Dan Parsons on painted grey tones. Stranger Kisses is about people for whom two genders are not enough, no matter how you play mix-and-match with sexuality. It's also about videotape, bad secrets, and what it's like to have an entire city wanting to kill you. The videotape is of seriously physically modified whores. Possibly altered at the genetic level. Because those extra orifices look grown. And those weird protuberances don't look artificial.... A very 21st Century comic, mad and modern and speedy and full of nasty ideas.

32 pages, black and white, $3 (wraparound cover, $3.95).

FANTASTIC VISIONS: THE ART OF MATT BUSCH

Art cover by Matt Busch.

Matt Busch has emerged as one of the top entertainment illustrators of the last decade. He has worked on movies like Con Air and The Matrix, painted covers for dozens of Star Wars books and magazines, and done album artwork for artists like the Beastie Boys and Garbage. He also teaches art and manages to do comic covers and trading cards as well. All told, he has amassed a stunning list of achievements and credits to his name, and this is the first collection of his work ever. This square bound book features over 100 of his paintings, sketches, and drawings in both black and white and full color. It also features the most extensive interview ever done with Busch as he covers his entire career.

104 pages, black and white with color section, $12.95 (Sketched hardcover, left, $34.95.

EXPOSURE SPECIAL #1

Written by David Campiti, art and cover by Al Rio.

A one-shot special. First, perhaps the sexiest Exposure story to date, the ultra scarce story "Spirit Whirled" is presented again. This time it is art corrected. , Second, the models of Exposure photo gallery. The thong- wearing beauties of the conventions are presented in these hot color shots of them from the sunny beaches of California, including Roxanna Martin and Tabatha Utley. Also, a new Al Rio pinup gallery of other hot shots of the luscious detectives.

32 pages, $3.50 (also with photo cover, left, $3.50, and adult cover, not shown, $6).

THRESHOLD #35

By Robert Lugibihl, Phil Xavier, Mike Delaney and Matt Clark.

Writer Robert Lugibhl and artist Phil Xavier take over the creative reigns for a special Pandora story. Set in ancient Ireland, Pandora must free a village from the horrific curses of the three witches Morrigan. Medora continues her monthly mis-adventures with art by Mike Delaney as the demented Bone King wreaks gory havoc in the city while Amy and Medora stay busy shopping. Rounding out the issue is the second part of Matthew Clark's Fuzzy Dice where readers find poor Rita Dice facing serious problems escaping from her bondage on a slave ship.

48 pages, black and white, $4.95 (Pandora cover by Al Rio, right, Fuzzy Dice cover by Matt Clark, left; Pandora adult cover by Lloyd, $6; Medora adult cover, $6).

GRANT'S WHISPER GRAPHIC NOVEL

Publisher Larry Young has issued a release from Steven Grant about a new Whisper graphic novel, expected to appear in the middle of next year.

Here's what Grant said:

"Whisper was created in 1980 and first published by Capital Comics in 1983. The first story told of Alexis Devin, an American girl who spent her early years in Japan, where her father died and her mother remarried her father's Japanese business partner. Her stepfather, Jiro, trained her in aikido, but a rift grew between them as she grew older, and she was sent to school in America, finally graduating to become an architect. After a separation of several years, Alex returned to Japan to sort out details of her mother's estate, only to be used as a pawn against Jiro by a Japanese mobster named Kimura. Escaping from Kimura but being a foreigner in Japan and having nowhere to go for help, she disguises herself, pretending to be a ninja, and employs her aikido training to save Jiro from him. (Alex is never actually referred to by anyone as 'Whisper,' and never officially takes on any kind of action name. The 'whisper' is the sound she makes as she almost silently makes her move.

"That was the origin story, but the real Whisper began when she returned to America and was confronted by a paranoid government agent who believed she was a real ninja and attempted to recruit her. The overriding theme of the series was betrayal, but the material quickly became very political in nature, drawing from actual news reporting about "shadow politics" where crime, big business and the political world intersect in relative secret. Alex 'died' at one point but took on a new identity, Diane Young, and moved her base of operations from New York to Los Angeles. The series also moved from Capital Comics, where it lasted two issues (Capital discontinued their comics line to focus exclusively on distribution), to First Comics, where the series spanned a one-shot special, six issues of First Adventures, a special apocryphal crossover with Mike Grell's Jon Sable in Crossroads #1, and 37 issues of her own comic. With art by Rich Larson, Dell Barras, Norm Breyfogle, Neil Hanson, Steve Epting and Norm Breyfogle, with additional covers by Michael Golden and Bill Sienkiewicz. In the final issue of her comic, Diane Young returned to her identity of Alexis Devin, and the original cast of the series was reunited.

"The new story takes place several years after the last issue of the First series. Where the original series dealt with shadow politics of the 80s, the graphic novel will deal with today's shadow politics.

"The graphic novel will be 60-plus pages in length. Price hasn't yet been determined. We are still firming up an artist for the book."

BRIEFLY