This Isn’t A Library: New And Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market



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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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AUG141647 MOTHERLESS OVEN GN $19.95
This is kind of odd week for me at the comics shop, unless I'm reading the lists incorrectly -- a real possibility. Usually I could cheat from Jog but I have to get today's up a couple of days earlier for scheduling reasons. Motherless Oven is a Rob Davis book from SelfMadeHero and the advance art looked quite stunning. Davis is probably best known for his efforts in putting together the Nelson anthology, whose unofficial subtitle was "Holy crap, there are a lot of British alt-cartoonists right now."

SEP141384 MOOMIN DLX ANNIVERSARY ED HC $69.95
MAY140919 ALIAS OMNIBUS HC NEW PTG $99.99
AUG141763 PRINCESS MONONOKE FIRST STORY HC $34.99
JUN140284 RONIN DELUXE EDITION HC $29.99
Definitely a lot of gift-type books are going to be on these lists from now until the first week of December -- maybe we'll see them for longer than that, as some late-arrivals seep into early 2015. There's a lot of value here, though -- they don't tend to make books suitable for deluxe treatment out of terrible domics. The Moomin you likely know if you're reading this site. The Alias is one of Marvel's giant hardcover collections of lots of color comics, this time for a series that was really popular during their last significant down cycle as a sophisticated treatment of that kind of material. The Princess Mononoke book looks like a first-draft style work for what would become one of the big Miyazaki animated hits, and should be full of attractive art. Some people will tell you that Ronin is Frank Miller's best work. I'm not one of those people -- my opinion corresponds to Kim Thompson's negative TCJ review back in the day -- but teenaged me had a lot of fun reading the book and I'd find a place for it in my library.

JUN140016 BPRD PLAGUE OF FROGS TP VOL 01 $19.99
APR140291 ANNOTATED SANDMAN HC VOL 03 (MR) $49.99
Two new volumes from well-established series: you can likely tell from the information presented in each of those two lines above whether or not you'll be making that purchase.

AUG140289 CATWOMAN #35 $2.99
AUG140436 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGENDS OF BALDURS GATE #1 $3.99
AUG140437 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGENDS OF BALDURS GATE #1 SUBSCRIPTION $3.99
AUG140657 LAZARUS #12 (MR) $3.50
AUG148326 OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #1 5TH PTG (MR) $2.99
JUL140577 STARLIGHT #6 CVR A CASSADAY (MR) $4.99
JUL140578 STARLIGHT #6 CVR B CHIANG (MR) $4.99
AUG140567 WALKING DEAD #133 (MR) $2.99
AUG140769 THANOS A GOD UP THERE LISTENING #3 $3.99
Kind of an odd week for serial comic book format comics, including a lot that I'm just sort interested in looking at rather than buying. The Catwoman looks like a direction change for that character, which is a quietly effective for that publisher. I'm not sure why there has never been a sustained run of gaming comics that work, so anything related to any of those licenses, even a videogame one, kind of interests me. The Lazarus is a solid performer for Image Comics, a handsome science fiction adventure based on the extrapolation of current political trends that seems perfectly suited for one-day cable television series adaptation. Multiple printings on Image books like Outcast there is one way to tell surging peformers apart from the rest of the line, or at least it would seem to knowing what we know about the basic set-up that company has. I thought that Starlight series felt like the first 20 minutes of a movie rather than an entire movie as is usually case with series like that. The art was sure pretty, even though working in the Alex Raymond/Hal Foster arena is a tough task. Walking Dead should explode into violence any issues now. The Thanos I'd look at because it sounds like Judy Blume movie.

JUL141446 ORDINARY HC $19.99
This is a take on superhero concepts with art by D'Israeli that I remember having recommended to me once upon a time, but I never went and looked at it. I'd rectify this were I in a store today.

AUG141766 SUNNY HC VOL 04 $22.99
AUG141765 MONSTER TP VOL 02 PERFECT ED URASAWA $19.99
AUG141776 VAGABOND GN VOL 36 (MR) $9.95
One thing that's good for a potentially slower than usual week in the kind of alt-comics and genre material that I tend to buy at shops is that it forces me to spend some time catching up with manga. I like that Sunny series and Taiyo Matsumoto generally; I'm a full book behind.

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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 because I hate you.

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