October 31, 2012
This Isn’t A Library: Notable Releases To The Comics Direct Market
Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.
I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.
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SEP121090 CARTOON UTOPIA HC $24.99
APR121090 EC KURTZMAN CORPSE O/T IMJIN AND OTHER STORIES HC $28.99
APR121089 EC WALLY WOOD CAME THE DAWN AND OTHER STORIES HC $28.99
AUG121144 HEADS OR TAILS TP $22.99
SEP121093 LAST VISPO ANTHOLOGY SC $39.99
This is a super-strong week for the Seattle-based alt-comics mainstay publishing house. In fact, that would be a strong season for a lot of publishers. Ron Regé Jr. is one of those special cartoonists where I buy everything he does without asking questions first. On the strength of this latest collection, with which I'm only about halfway done, Lilli Carré may join that group of cartoonists much sooner than I thought possible, and I really liked her previous work. There's nothing about
Heads Or Tails that has to be processed through the "promising cartoonist" filter, if that makes any sense. The EC books I'm looking forward to devouring on some rainy afternoon in the next three or four weeks. I find that work pleasurable, and I look forward to seeing if reading these comics arranged by author (mostly) changes my opinion about any of the artists in question. I'm not even sure what
Last Vispo Anthology is, but I'd look at it -- I assume it's the visual poetry thing that's been a big part of the lives of several people that have worked the last 20 years.
AUG120772 HEREVILLE HOW MIRKA MET A METEORITE HC $16.95
I didn't even know this was coming out, which is on me because certainly Amulet Books has shown no great dependency on the more traditional comics press organs in order to move tens of thousands of copies of their all-ages comics. I thought the first Hereville book was charming, enough that I'll want to take a look at this one.
JUL120073 ARCHIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 07 $49.99
I always try to catch up with whatever Archie is out when I get to the comics shop, although I have no ability at this point to track what's being offered by whom and how. I would imagine that if you're a customer for a full-price archival edition of this material, you know exactly what you're getting.
MAY120288 ABSOLUTE FINAL CRISIS HC (RES) $99.99
I guess this has new pages...? I have no idea why you'd do that except in an "extras" way at this point. I don't want to bag on the people involved, because those Absolute books are pretty nice and the
Final Crisis series was weird and violent and even sexual in a way those kinds of series usually don't do very well, but just the fact that I found out by accident of reading an earlier collection that there were certain satellite series that really acted as parts of the main plot in a way that totally changed the story struck me as odd. This strikes me as even odder. Also, I'd have to check, but I'm not sure this one has remained all that well-reviewed by casual DC fans, and must seem even more bizarre than usual in the context of the New 52.
AUG120468 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2012 #5 CVR A BA (MR) [DIG] $4.99
AUG120469 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2012 #5 CVR B DODSON (MR) $4.99
AUG128005 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2012 #5 CVR C GIARRUSSO (MR) $4.99
I have one of these, haven't read it yet, sure there's something in here I'll at least sort of like, always support the CBLDF.
JUL121147 ABELARD HC $22.99
This is
Renaud Dillies, and a follow up at least in terms of North American releases of his work to NBM's
Bubbles & Gondola. Definitely worth pulling out and looking at it.
AUG121253 CHARLES BURNS HIVE BOOKPLATE ED $21.95
I'm not sure which edition this is, but you want all the Charles Burns books in some form.
AUG120609 WINTER SOLDIER #12 $2.99
JUL120499 FATALE #9 (MR) [DIG] $3.50
AUG120062 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #100 RETURN O/T MASTER #3 $3.50
SEP120739 POPE HATS #3 (MR) $6.95
Finally, here's the serial comic-book comics that kind of leap out at me: Ed Brubaker on his way out from Marvel, Ed Brubaker (with his most reliable artistic partner, Sean Phillips) settling in at Image, and two serial-comic biggies: the 100th issue of the wonderfully reliable a-mainstream-unto-itself Mignola-verse titles and Ethan Rilly's honest-to-god one-man anthology alt-comic, the latter sporting the most handsome cover colors of the week. If I had a comics shop in my town instead of three hours away, and I had been blowing it off recently, those are two books together that would probably get me to head in.
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The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics,
can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.
To find your local comic book store,
check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back,
try this.
The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.
If I failed to list your comic, that's on me. I apologize.
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posted 5:00 am PST |
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