Comics Editor Jason Green takes a look at the three most interesting releases due in stores this week. This time out: Phonogram 2: The Singles Club #1, One Pound Gospel Vol. 4, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1.

Phonogram 2: The Singles Club #1 of 7 (Image Comics)

32 pgs. full color; $3.50

Writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie (Suburban Glamour) continue their music-meets-magic series with The Singles Club, a series of done-in-one stories set in the same night at the same nightclub. "Save up your local equivalent of three dollars fifty," quote Warren Ellis, "because if you don't go out and buy this on or around December 10, you essentially fail at comics."

One Pound Gospel Vol. 4 (VIZ Media)

210 pgs. B&W; $9.99

English speaking fans have been waiting for ten long years for this one, the final volume in Rumiko Takahashi's oddly affecting romance sports series. Series star Kosaku is a talented young boxer whose skill in the ring is rivaled only by his appetite, and every time his weight class rises his chances of winning sink. Kosaku's only hope is Sister Angela, a novice nun-to-be, but what hope does he have when the girl he loves is about to get hitched to the Man Upstairs? If this final volume is anything like the previous ones, expect a little boxing action, a lot of romantic hijinks, and more than a few misunderstandings. Here's hoping Takahashi (creator of InuYasha and Ranma ½) has room for a happy ending.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1 of 8 (Marvel Comics)

32 pgs. full color; $3.99

Yeah, you know the story, but Dorothy and Toto have never looked this good. Previews show Skottie (New Warriors) Young's art is packed with an infectious, cartoony energy, and with Eisner Award-winning Age of Bronze author Eric Shanower (who explored the characters in his own graphic novel, Adventures in Oz) behind the keyboard, you know L. Frank Baum's classic is indeed in good hands. | Jason Green

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