PWCW: First off, how do you pronounce the name of your new book?

Jeff Smith: You know, everybody asks me that. It just seems so obvious. It’s Razzle. Apparently everybody does wonder about it. It’s like an acronym, his hacker tag. Finding out what the acronym is for is part of the story.

I am keeping very busy. The first issue comes out in February. It’s the first indie book I’ve done since Bone ended in 2004. It’s kind of a wake-up call for me to be responsible for my own deadlines again and deal with all the aspects of publishing—which I did for 15 years for Bone. It’s kind of getting back into it. It’s been a lot of work.

Mashima (Rave Master) is back with a brand new series about the juvenile delinquents of wizardry and magic, set in a mythical world of small towns, steam engines and horse-drawn carts, where magic is mainstream, young wizards follow glossy magazines that profile popular wizard guilds and everyone has hidden magical abilities. Fire-eating wizard Natsu initiates young and sexy Lucy, a celestial wizard, into his oddball guild, Fairy Tail. Soon we meet the womanizing Loke; the ice wizard Gray Fullbuster, who is often found wandering around in just his boxers; and the heavy-drinking Cana, who is never far from a barrel of wine. It's goofy fun and playful troublemaking—minus any sort of criminal element. Mashima sets a careful balance between showing the Fairy Tail wizards' antiauthority mentality while still establishing that the heart of each wizard is the heart of a hero. With a violence that harks back to the Looney Tunes where all combatants suffer heavy blows but always come out alive, albeit with some scratches, the story is more akin to Bugs Bunny than Harry Potter. But fans of both will be pleasantly entertained. The first two volumes of this series are being released simultaneously. (Mar.)

The editor of the popular Flight anthologies—Kazu Kibuishi—flies solo this month with the release of Amulet Book 1: The Stonekeeper, the beginning of a new fantasy series aimed at an all-ages audience from Bone publisher Scholastic. Amulet tells the story of Emily and her younger brother Navin who have to explore a very unusual world in order to rescue their mother from a variety of critters and creatures.

• JLA: The Hypothetical Woman (DC)
• Tangent Comics Vol. 2 (DC)
• Therefore Repent (IDW Publishing)
• Bomb Queen Vol. 3: Bombshell (Image)
• Madman Vol. 3 (Image)
• Annihilation Conquest Book 1 (Marvel)
• Fantastic Four: The End (Marvel)
• Lust Kinky: Online Personal Ads From Seattle Stranger (Fantagraphics)
• Gon Vol. 3 (DC/ CMX)
• The Guin Saga Manga Vol. 2: Seven Magi (Vertical)
• Complete Terry & the Pirates Vol. 2 (IDW Publishing)

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