This Isn’t A Library: 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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APR150469 AMERICAN BARBARIAN COMP SERIES HC $29.99
FEB150458 BERKELEY BREATHEDS ACADEMIA WALTZ & OTHER TRANSGRES HC $39.99
MAR150343 FRANK MILLERS DAREDEVIL ARTIFACT ED HC PI
MAY150450 X-9 SECRET AGENT CORRIGAN HC VOL 06 $49.99
It's a really good week for IDW, their second concentration of prime material in the last couple of months. I don't know if this is a new or a reprint or what of Tom Scioli's American Barbarian material, but that is wonderfully dense and ruthlessly idiosyncratic work, maybe even the Scioliest of them all. A collection of the Berke Breathed student work I believe caps off the IDW reprinting of his library; of course, now there's going to be new material which I can imagine one day making up its own volume. That's been a good relationship for both author and publisher. I can't keep track of the various editions, but I think this is the mostly original one that bounces around a bit; I like all those Frank Miller Daredevil comics as genuine industry-shifting game-changers, so I'd be open to look at a new presentations of them. Finally, the Secret Agent Corrigan material remains as generally strong as anything in the Library Of American Comics portion of IDW, perhaps the consistenly strongest publishing area for the entire company. I'd like to own all of these.

JUN150499 DARK CORRIDOR #1 (MR) $3.99
JUN150492 AIRBOY #3 (MR) $2.99
MAY150534 DEADLY CLASS #15 (MR) $3.50
JUN150502 HUMANS #7 (MR) $2.99
JUN150506 MINIMUM WAGE SO MANY BAD DECISIONS #4 (MR) $3.99
MAY150564 SEX #23 (MR) $2.99
APR150983 DEATH IN OAXACA #2 (MR) $4.99
JUN151260 WILL EISNER SPIRIT #2 CVR A POWELL $3.99
JUN150080 BALTIMORE CULT OF THE RED KING #4 $3.99
Rich Tommaso's new series leads off a straong and varied comic book format week. It'd be nice to see Tommaso have a commercial act if only that it might push him towards concentrating on one story or series of stories for a while. Airboy now has an issue between itself and its criticized #2. I'd love to see if that controversy had an effect on sales in either direction. Deadly Class and Humans are two fun books that haven't quite become huge hits yet for the company (perhaps Deadly Class has performed that well; I'm not sure). Both are enjoyable to look at. Bob Fingerman's latedt Minimum Wage seires explores the psychological damage wrought all the way back in the very first. Sex hums along. Death In Oaxaca is the latest from Alternatives; Steve Lafler's visual are as refined as ever. Finally, a lot of people suggested the new Spirit to me. I didn't quite get it; everyone working on it is a pro, but I never figured out why it had to exist. Enough people I know liked it, however, in a way I'm happy to point out to some of them that #2 is out. And then there's our Mignola-verse offering.

APR150073 ART OF SATOSHI KON HC $29.99
APR150032 BOWERY BOYS OUR FATHERS HC $19.99
Two offerings from areas for which Dark Horse doesn't get a ton of credit. Its pipleline into anime and manga, and also art book related to same; its tendency to pick several projects a year for book form from webcomics. I'd definitely take a look at both. There's been no more pleasurable artist to watch over the last three decades than the late Kon. The Bowery Boys work has a nice crispness to it as well. I'd certainly pull each out and give it a look.

JUN151648 NARUTO GN VOL 71 $9.99
One day we'll look back and I bet we start with the well-planned, thematically precise fight scenes. Or the lead character's design. Or something else entirely. But we will come back to this one.

JAN151446 STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES HC VOL 05 DRIPPING FEAR $39.99
Always, always, always look at Steve Ditko.

JUN151727 COMICS OF JOE SACCO JOURNALISM IN VISUAL WORLD HC $60.00
There are textbooks about Joe Sacco now, a cartoonist whose career in comics was guaranteed to continue until about 1999 or so. I haven't come to any significant conclusions about Sacco's work on my own, so it'd be fun to read an academic's take on what he's doing.

APR151502 BRIGHT EYED AT MIDNIGHT HC $22.99
Leslie Stein is one of the brightest lights of current day comics-making; her comics are very personal, both in her motivation to do them and the iconography she chooses to realize those stories. I like this color week, read every single strip as it was posted, and look forward to reading them again. If you had to buy one, this would be that one.

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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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