* congratulations to Faith Erin Hicks, whose personal project The Nameless City has sold out its advance. That is a big deal for any author.
* I've been reminded by people that the "Fresh Start" era at Marvel begins this month. You can read what Marvel will be publishing in any of the solicitation analyses that came out in February. They are putting their best foot forward, but they did with most of the previous soft relaunches; it's issue #21 not issue #1 that's been a recent problem at Marvel. I suspect this more conservative approach will stabilize things and give them a small bump, even; how much structural harm has been done in comics by all of these short-term publishing choices should become evident by Fall.
* finally: here is an excerpt from Jessica Campbell's imminent XTC69.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Mike Dawson and Zack Soto talk to Josh Simmons. John Siuntres talks to Ryan Browne and Howard Chaykin. Alex Dueben talks to Craig Thompson.
* forgot to slip this into the Bundled article above, but here's a preview piece on the return of Beasts Of Burden, this time with Benjamin Dewey assuming art duties and working with writer Evan Dorkin.
This is a hometown event for me, but it should be a good one and I think it's snuck up on the comics world without the attention it should have received by now: the Billy Ireland's MAD show. This is Brian Walker pulling from multiple collections, so it should have a unique feel, and I'm told both Sergio Aragones and Bill Morrison will be here for the opening party.
This is one of two exhibits -- along with the Annie Koyama collection show -- that will be up CXC weekend, which means we're on the clock and I just had a small heart attack.
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* Sloane Leong could use some more help with her campaign to travel to France after accepting a residency.
* the gofundme for legendary early alt-comics mainstay Milton Knight rolls on. I think this is a great opportunity to get some support for Knight that might assist him in the very difficult task of finding a bit of security in terms of living arrangements, and I hope everyone considers giving.
* I also think this has a chance of providing Bill and Nadine Messner-Loebs with issues of family security, although I hope someone is looking on them and providing some advice.
* assembled extra: I've been looking for an article that resembles the streaming films listings that so many magazines run. What's on sale and where will either be mainstreamed into coverage sites or becomes its own, "Ben's Bargains"-like site.
* not comics: I've found most of the initial writing on the new Avengers movie to be pretty baffling. I suspect that this movie will continue the trend of the Black Panther movie and different levels when it comes to its nature as narrative art and its functionality as pop culture service. I could be wrong.
* finally, I'm not sure I've sussed out the specific prescription here, but I enjoyed reading the article and thinking about the connections between corporate culture and pop culture is almost always satisfying.
FFF Results Post #501: Short-Run Anthologies FFF Results Post #501: On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Anthologies You Enjoyed That Did Not Make It To A Tenth Issue." This is how they responded.
1. Young Lust
2. Graphic Story Monthly
3. Tits & Clits
4. Hot Stuf'
5. Worlds Unknown
*****
Dave Knott
* Non, edited by Jordan Crane
* Trump, edited by Harvey Kurtzman
* Top Shelf, edited by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock
* Comix Book, edited by Denis Kitchen
* Graphic Story Monthly, edited by Gary Groth and Kim Thompson
*****
Andrew Mansell
1. Blood Orange
2. NON
3. Time Warp
4. The Big All-American Comic Book
5. Pictopia
You can read about Milton's plight here, and pledge to his fundraiser here. One of the great all-time talents, those of us that can should try to help.
Go, Read: Frank Miller Profile Contains Neal Adams’ Appraisal Of Miller’s Poor-Health Period Here. Sam Thielman does a good job of balancing Miller's more obtuse references to absence from his own life with Neal Adams more directed advice to indicate there was some heavy drinking during a recent phase of Miller's career. I don't know that I've seen this discussed with someone with direct knowledge in a public way yet, although it was certainly the driver of a thousand convention conversations.
It's good to know that Miller survived at least one friend's expectation of his passing, and would seem to believe himself on the mend. I hope one day he can better and with more focus engage with the work he did he doesn't feel he could do now, and understand that reaction to him will be shaped by that work.
Your 2018 Eisner Awards Nominees The Eisner Awards announced this year's nominees yesterday afternoon. They are below. This looks to me like the usual generously widespread roping in of names and approaches. It's good to see both the obvious names (Emil Ferris!) and the surprise ones (Cathy Malkasian!).
The nominees are decided upon by a committee selected year to year. That group for this year was Candice Mack, Graeme McMillan, Tate Ottati, Nhora Serrano, Alexander Simmons and William Wilson.
The awards are voted on here. They are given out during a ceremony held the Friday night of Comic-Con International weekend. I'll be there in the back row.
PS -- Does anyone really care that I link these up? I doubt it. Old habits die hard, I guess.
Musa Kart Sentenced To Jail For Aiding Terrorist Organizations In Distress Turkish Court Outome I'm sort of choked with contempt that the routinely brave cartoonist Musa Kart and many of his journalistic peers were sentenced to jail for aiding terrorist organizations through their coverage. Kart got just over three years. Many of the accused including Kart were held for a lengthy time before being released ahead of their trials.
This isn't Turkish leadership suppressing criticism through the use of the courts, it's basically an act of political revenge where the victorious side of an attempted coup has decided to push for greater control over opposition press by defining the terms of what was at stake during the conflict to which the paper bore witness. It should send a shudder up anyone's spine that values the role that journalistic coverage plays in helping sort out extremely difficult issues during times of turmoil. No judicial body should be interpreting work along these lines. Freedom to comment and direct coverage of controversial political activity needs the greatest possible distance from official censure.
The life of this blog has seen multiple instances where the dimmest of powerful fucknuts have secured more power against the basics of not just a free press but basically any press by weaponizing political opinion. This is as dismaying an outcome as one can imagine, at least until it starts happening here.
* not comics: Steve Foxe has several interesting things to say about Marvel's general inability to sell comics based on their movies. I appreciate his reminder that they did a good job driving fans towards an Iron Man series ten years ago. That's my memory as well. For the most part, what works is a single volume to which retailers can direct readers, with anything else playing a secondary role. For this one, I think Marvel should have gone with a prestige Thanos book the way that the Lee Bermejo drawn book featuring The Joker did well after one of the Batman movies. But that's just a hunch. Whatever they're doing movie to movie, though, doesn't seem to work.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* read Clarkisha Kent for the unique disappointments of the Universal FanCon implosion. There's a well-written, very thorough article here with a ton of detail, if you want to know more about what happened more generally. Good work on that one. It looks like a cross between early principal in-fighting that turned grasping and cynical and outright fraud intended from the very beginning. Sounds like it was clearly dead a while ago, too.
* Comic-Con continues to roll out its special guest list. No one books special guests quite like Comic-Con for that show, and I've been impressed studying their lists for the last few years how they hit a bunch of different sets of targets.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
FEB180469 ALACK SINNER AGE OF DISENCHANTMENT TP $29.99
It's going to be near-impossible to buy an obviously better book this year. This is the second half of IDW's publishing project on behalf of all the Sinner work. These comics are marvelously drawn and the narratives are very lean.
FEB181556 NOW #3 (MR) $9.99I put this comic into the featured image slot just so I could go look at the cover. So Mission Accomplished there. It did not disappoint and neither has this anthology series.
DEC171204 GIRL IN THE HIMALAYAS ORIGINAL GN $16.99 DEC171208 GOLDIE VANCE TP VOL 04 $14.99
No idea on the former one except I liked the style represented on the sole cover image. That's enough for an in-store inspection, for sure. The second one is a solid all-ages performer; a fourth volume feels like a strong indicator this one is working with audiences.
SEP170442 ABSOLUTE PREACHER HC VOL 03 (MR) $150.00
Never a real fan, I feel like this material might look pretty great in this particular format. DC has a lot of this figured out.
FEB180605 BEEF #3 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99 FEB180645 KILL OR BE KILLED #18 (MR) $3.99 FEB180685 SAGA #51 (MR) $2.99 FEB180380 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS EVIL AT BALDURS GATE #1 CVR A DUNBAR $3.99 FEB180381 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS EVIL AT BALDURS GATE #1 CVR B KOTZ $3.99 Beef is the new Shaky Kane and is impossible to describe without the words "Shaky" and "Kane." Kill Or Be Killed and Saga are A-level Image series and their appearance (particularly the latter) should mean a lot of happy customers. There are sad elements to each. The D&D stuff I noticed because I guess D&D is a thing now, but I'm convinced that the narrative elements of those games are nowhere is the key to its success as I thought when I was a little kid. So I'm always confused by narrative-driven spin-off.
FEB181034 ANIMOSITY HC VOL 01 YEAR ONE (MR) $39.99
This series -- which I understand is basically "Everyone The Wonder Everything" had a lot of nice buzz in the comics shops I've visited while coming out in serial form.
FEB181731 FASHION IN ACTION $20.00
That's a nice price point for a collection of JK Snyder III's stylish late 1980s back-up serial. I'm not sure I need to go back, but this makes it moire likely.
FEB182123 COMICS REVUE PRESENTS APR 2018$19.95
There's a really fun stand-alone Wilson McCoy Phantom story, a bunch of weird color Russ Manning Tarzan Sundays set in the earth's core and a satisfying later-period Flash Gordon story. I do so enjoy getting this magazine.
FEB182049 DC COMICS VARIANT COVERS COMP VISUAL HISTORY $45.00
Yeah.
MAR182160 READING LESSONS IN SEEING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL GNS SC $30.00
An academic book with a non-academic price point. No idea why I'm obsessed with price pints this morning.
FEB180526 PERVERT OGN (MR) $17.99
I liked the Island excerpt and look forward to consuming this.
*****
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.
* not comics: Marvel doesn't want to tip their hand as to the shape of their movie series until after Avengers 4, to best take advantage of the mystery caused by a lot of actors that are key to those movies coming to their contractual end. I hadn't thought of it, but this would have an effect on the big conventions where subject announcements are made.
* meanwhile, over at TCJ, the great Michael Tisserand tells one of the great stories in comics history, that of cartoonist Eugene XXX.
* this feels like propping something up for a shot at selling television/film right more than a long-term print plan, but that's a fun-enough property, I guess.
* I don't think someone just doing a video trailer for a comic is news anymore, but I'm happy to see a new Hope Larson book and sites excited about that fact.
* finally, a little bit of not comics: didn't know that Cathy Guisewite had a new book of prose essays out, and I'm interested in the result.
The East Coast Black Age Of Comics Convention has announced this year's round of Glyph Awards nominee, with the winners to be announced during their Philadelphia show. They are a mixture of creator and creation. Congratulations to all of the nominees.
*****
STORY OF THE YEAR
* A.W.O.L.; Elvira Carrizal-Dukes, writer, Ronnie Dukes, artist
* (H)Afrocentric Vols. 1-4; Juliana "Jewels" Smith, writer, Ronald Nelson, artist
* The Invention Of EJ Whitaker #1; Shawnee Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs (The Gibbs Sisters), writer, Mark Hernandez, Hasani McIntosh, Earl Womack, artist
* Is'nana The Were-Spider: The Hornet's Web #1; Greg Anderson-Elysee, writer and artist
* Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* Malika - Dragon Trials; Roye Okupe, writer, Chima Kalu & Osas Asemota, artist
* Matty's Rocket: Book One; Tim Fielder, writer, Tim Fielder, artist
* Sorghum & Spear: Simadan; Dedren Snead, writer, Timothy Geathers {pages}; Welinthan Nommo {cover}, artist
* Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Killer Croc/Boomerang/Amanda Waller; Vita Ayala, writer, Brian Level, Oscar Bazaldua, Matt Merhoff, artist
* What Is Race?; Whit Taylor, writer, Whit Taylor, artist
*****
BEST COVER
* (H)Afrocentric Vols. 1-4; Juliana "Jewels" Smith, writer, Ronald Nelson, artist
* Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* Matty's Rocket: Book One; Tim Fielder, writer, Tim Fielder, artist
* The Power Knights; Keithan Jones, writer, Keithan Jones, artist
* Sorghum & Spear: Simadan; Dedren Snead, writer, Timothy Geathers {pages}; Welinthan Nommo {cover}, artist
* Superb, Vol. 1; David F. Walker, Sheen C. Howard, writer, Ray-Anthony Height, Alitha Martinez, artist
*****
BEST WRITER
* Greg Anderson-Elysee, writer; Is'Nana The Were-Spider: The Hornet's Web #1
* Vita Ayala, writer; Suicide Squad Mot Wanted: Killer Croc/Boomerang/Amanda Waller
* Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer; Kid Carvers
* Tim Fielder, writer; Matty's Rocket: Book One
* Shawnee Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs (The Gibbs Sisters), writer; The Invention Of EJ Whitaker #1
* Jamar Nicholas, writer; Leon: Protector Of The Playground
* Roye Okupe, writer; Malika - Dragon Trials
* Juliana "Jewels" Smith, writer; (H)Afrocentric Vols. 1-4
* Dedren Snead, writer; Sorghum & Spear: Simadan
* Kevin Sorrell, writer; The LIfe And Times Of Abigail Waller
* Whit Taylor, writer; What Is Race?
*****
BEST ARTIST
* Tim Fielder, artist; Matty's Rocket: Book One
* Shauna J. Grant, artist; Princess Love Pon
* Ray-Anthony Height, Alitha Martinez, artist; Superb, Vol. 1
* Mark Hernandez, Hasani McIntosh, Earl Womack, artist; The Invention Of EJ Whitaker #1
* Ronald Nelson, artist; (H)Afrocentric Vols. 1-4
* Jamar Nicholas, artist; Leon: Protector Of The Playground
* Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist; Kid Carvers
*****
BEST MALE CHARACTER
* Albert Hathaway; Heroes Of Homeroom C; Anthony Ruttgaizer, writer, Carlos Granda, artist
* Charley Carver; Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* Is'nana the Were-Spider; Is'Nana The Were-Spider: The Hornet's Web #1; Greg Anderson-Elysee, writer, , artist
* Jonah Watkins; Superb, Vol. 1; David F. Walker, Sheen C. Howard, writer, Ray-Anthony Height, Alitha Martinez, artist
* Leon Magnificent; Leon: Protector Of The Playground; Jamar Nicholas, writer, Jamar Nicholas, artist
* Marsalis J. Parker; Blackwax Boulevard; Dmitri Jackson, writer, Dmitri Jackson, artist
* Michael Cray; Wildstorm: Michael Cray #1; Bryan Hill, writer, Bill Sienkiewicz, artist
*****
BEST FEMALE CHARACTER
* Abigail Waller; The LIfe And Times Of Abigail Waller; Kevin Sorrell, writer, Kevin Sorrell, artist
* Ada Turner; The Invention Of EJ Whitaker #1; Shawnee Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs (The Gibbs Sisters), writer, Mark Hernandez, Hasani McIntosh, Earl Womack, artist
* Cruz Ochoa; A.W.O.L.; Elvira Carrizal-Dukes, writer, Ronnie Dukes, artist
* Devil Girl; Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #21; , writer, Natacha Bustos, artist
* Kayla Tate; Superb, Vol. 1; David F. Walker, Sheen C. Howard, writer, Ray-Anthony Height, Alitha Martinez, artist
* Malika; Malika - Dragon Trials; Roye Okupe, writer, Chima Kalu & Osas Asemota, artist
* Marley Carver; Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* Matty Watty; Matty's Rocket: Book One; Tim Fielder, writer, Tim Fielder, artist
* Naima Pepper; (H)Afrocentric, Vols. 1-4; Juliana "Jewels" Smith, writer, Ronald Nelson, artist
* Namazzi; Sorghum & Spear: Simadan; Dedren Snead, writer, Timothy Geathers {pages}; Welinthan Nommo {cover}, artist
* Princess Love Pon; Princess Love Pon; Shauna J. Grant, writer, Shauna J. Grant, artist
*****
RISING STAR AWARD
* Greg Anderson-Elysee, writer/artist; Is'Nana The Were-Spider: The Hornet's Web #1
* Natacha Bustos, artist; Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #21
* Shawnee Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs (The Gibbs Sisters), writer, Mark Hernandez, Hasani McIntosh, Earl Womack, artist; The Invention Of EJ Whitaker #1
* Shauna J. Grant, writer, Shauna J. Grant, artist; Princess Love Pon
* Sheena C. Howard, writer, Ray Hieght, artist; Superb
* Roye Okupe, writer, Chima Kalu & Raphael Kazeem, artist; Malika - Warrior Queen Part One
* Dedren Snead, writer, Timothy Geathers {pages}; Welinthan Nommo {cover}, artist; Sorghum
BEST COMIC STRIP OR WEBCOMIC
* (H)Afrocentric, Vols. 1-4; Juliana "Jewels" Smith, writer, Ronald Nelson, artist
* Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* The LIfe And Times Of Abigail Waller; Kevin Sorrell, writer, Kevin Sorrell, artist
* Princess Love Pon; Shauna J. Grant, writer, Shauna J. Grant, artist
* What Is Race?; Whit Taylor, writer, Whit Taylor, artist
* Zulu; Alverne Ball, writer, Michael Watson, artist
*****
BEST REPRINT PUBLICATION
* Deathstroke Volume One: The Professional; DC Comics
* Legend Of The Mantamaji; And... Action! Entertainment
* Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur Volume Three: Smartest There Is; Marvel
*****
FAN AWARD FOR BEST WORK
* A.W.O.L.; Elvira Carrizal-Dukes, writer, Ronnie Dukes, artist
* Is'Nana The Were-Spider: The Hornet's Web #1; Greg Anderson-Elysee, writer/artist
* Kid Carvers; Alverne Ball, Jason Reeves, writer, Jason Reeves, Samax Amen, artist
* Leon: Protector Of The Playground; Jamar Nicholas, writer, Jamar Nicholas, artist
* The Life And Times Of Abigail Waller; Kevin Sorrell, writer, Kevin Sorrell, artist
* Matty's Rocket: Book One; Tim Fielder, writer, Tim Fielder, artist
* Sorghum & Spear: Simadan; Dedren Snead, writer, Timothy Geathers {pages}; Welinthan Nommo {cover}, artist
* Superb, Vol. 1; David F. Walker, Sheen C. Howard, writer, Ray-Anthony Height, Alitha Martinez, artist
* What Is Race?; Whit Taylor, writer, Whit Taylor, artist
Comics By Request: People, Places In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* in case you missed it, an on-line fundraiser to send money directly to William and Nadine Messner-Loebs has been established. I hope that they get the cushion they need to live safely and securely, and this could help facilitate that. The previous gofundme for the longtime mainstream comics writer and one-time indie comics cartoonist, the one that went up right when the story was reported, was for a charitable group that was helping the comics pair and others. I also hope that someone from that group or from comics can step in and help the couple with advice and perspective; I suspect there are issues involved that an influx of money won't completely help. The best of luck to that talented man and his beloved partner, though; I hope all that can and are moved to do so will give generously.
* here's a prison librarian hoping for a GN and genre book build-up of their resources. No answer as of yet if they're accepting any comics an author wants to send or if it's preferred that it goes/has to go through the linked-to Amazon list. I worked with a prison library 100 years ago and things can be very specific.
* the ambitious campaign by Retrofit to fund 12 books at apprxoximately $3000 per book could use some definite help. I've seen bigger last week's but not a lot of them. I know at least three of these books will be swell and I'm sure others will, too. We need to have a talk at some point about our expectations regarding publisher-involved crowd-funders but I'm not sure how to facilitate that.
* I thought this cartoon might gain some traction. I don't think that sentimental is the only way to do cartoons about public figures, but a lot of people do and one that hits right almost always becomes popular.
* finally: a high-quality print of Will Elder's amazing "A Visit To Grandma's" is available until Friday. If I had $150 to spare on a print this week, it'd go to one. Elder was an amazing artist, a sneaky spot-holder on the top 20 of the 20th Century.
FFF Results Post #500e—To-Do List
On Friday, March 16, a select group of CR readers were asked to "Name Five Comics You Believe Might Have Significant Merit That You Have Yet To Read." This is how they responded.
*****
Mário Filipe
1. L'Incal By Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius
2. Asterios Polyp By David Mazzucchelli (pictured above)
3. Ninja By Brian Chippendale
4. Multiforce By Mat Brinkman
5. Are You My Mother? By Alison Bechdel
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Bill Mauldin's 1950s and 1960s Editorial Cartoons (Past A Few)
2. Bootsie
3. Sir Bagby
4. Classic Dan Dare (pictured above)
5. Kudzu
1. Shitty Watchmen, by Dave Baker and others
2. The Complete Crepax Volume Three: Evil Spells, by Guido Crepax
3. Crazy Quilt, Scraps and Panels on the Way to Gasoline Alley, by Frank King
4. The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery, Volume One: From Sherlock Holmes to A Clockwork Orange to Jo Nesbø, by Russ Kick
5. The Provocative Colette, by Annie Goetzinger (pictured above)
*****
thanks to those that participated; normal service will begin with #501 at a future date
Go, Read: Abraham Riesman On Jim Starlin’s Cyclical Relationship With Marvel Comics
Here. It is worth being reminded that many creators' complaints about the big companies aren't moral/ethical battles but concern issues of treatment and recompense.
I would assume that Starlin's deal with Marvel has something to do with show Thanos pre-existed the work in that issue of Iron Man, but I'm no lawyer.
Festivals Extra: Universal FanCon Pushes Show Back Citing They’re Just Not Able To Put On The Show The Beat has a reasonably straightforward write-up on the show pushing back a week out from its start date. No refunds. No firm date for the show.
This is a focused bad thing in that people that planned to attend or to exhibit at this particular show almost certainly will suffer from sunk costs in terms of non-refundable travel costs, items made or prepared for the show, fees, and even time asked off or something similar. I assume there will be an effort to do a smaller show for those in town, and on-line connections extended to sellers that won't make it now, and I will try to promote those efforts here at CR in next week's Festival column. It doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of show readers of this site would attend in great percentages, but many of you were likely aware of it and attending a make-up show is a nice thing to do even if it's not completely your thing.
This is a general bad thing in that it underlines that these shows are hard, and kickstarted things of many types can be hard and elude completion. I've learned this as much as anyone the last few years and am still scrambling to get on track with a lot of make-up work to come afterwards at all of my jobs. I wish I had been less brash and started smaller and pushed harder to develop as we go and even when we have we've still learned that anything worth doing is going to go through growing pains that are going to extraordinarily painful to negotiate. Be Drawn and Quarterly, not Next Planet Over. Year twenty, not year one. Just having a smaller group of people involved makes any recovery easier, too, as will multiple back-up plans. My sympathy to everyone harmed.
Update: This twitter thread suggests there may be a nefarious element involved and thus this may not just be a failure of the organizers' collective will. That might help people leverage their credit cards into refunding, and it certainly needs to be part of the story moving forward.
By Request Extra: Direct Aid To Bill & Nadine Messner-Loebs
Here. The previous fundraiser was by a group in Michigan looking after the couple and other people in a similar state. I hope the writer and cartoonist gets the buffer the couple needs and that there will be some assistance to them in managing their affairs.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Gary Zidek talks to Jessica Campbell.
* not comics: Laura Hudson on Ready Player One and how its fantasy of the Internet as a safe, free place really works. I'm glad I'm old and missed any mention of the book and barely heard of the movie. I was a kid in the 1980s in the whitest, most cornfed suburban high school and even our relationships to pop culture were way more complicated and interesting than using its broadest elements as badges of imagined glory.
* I am pro new Nancy, although I get that it breaks sharply with any traditional values of Nancy and works differently, and I find legacy strips kind of gross as a general rule. I wish all the strips still produced like that were as odd yet immediately graspable. Also: I suspect that no one knowing the creator means that they are young, or are coming at this sideways from another career/pursuit, or both. Give them time.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* here's some more advance press for the ACE Universe show headed to ECCC-serviced Seattle. I think that's a pretty easy feature to seel a newspaper. One thing that discourages me about this becoming a competing model is that name is so terrible. It's like a hardware show name.
* just noticed that Wizard moved its Columbus show back to June from post-San Diego Con. I wonder if that means the show has done well enough that it's no longer on the rumored chopping block. Two years ago in particular that looked like a show they were running out there to return lousy attendance figures.
* there's been a lot of regional and local press coverage of smaller shows recently, but it's all celebrity guests and drooling-over-cosplay pieces so I'll pass.
* finally: TCAF TCAF TCAF. That's all my friends are talking about, anyway.
* bundled extra: The Beat has a preview of the next Shannon Wheeler effort, Memoirs Of A Very Stable Genius. I like the look of the art.
* finally: Abraham Riesman talks to Frank Miller about a sequence from The Dark Knight Returns whose approach is clearly yanked from Bernard Krigstein.
Duncan Macpherson (1924-1993) was an editorial cartoonist at the Montreal Standard, Toronto Star and at Maclean's. He was born in 1925, served during the Second World War. He studied art in Canada and the US. He began his career with the Montreal Standard in 1948. He won multiple awards for his work, including six National Newspaper Awards and the Royal Academy Medal. He died in 1993.
The nominating committee was Adrian Doran, Alexander Hoffman, Betty Liang, and Conan Tobias. This year's jury is Bo Doodley, Jim Muroe, Marc Ngui and Pamela Marie Pierce. The DWAs are held the evening of May 12 during TCAF weekend. Dustin Harbin is your host.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
FEB181546 DIE LAUGHING HC FRANQUIN (MR) $19.99
I thought I was going to have to finesse a top choice from this week's comics listing and then I noticed that Fantagraphics is publishing the most interesting material from one of history's great cartoonists, so please consider this. The last time I visited the late Kim Thompson's house, Kim dumped some northern European country's version of the Artist's Edition on my lap, with each book featuring a different Franquin story. For some reason, Franquin never getting over in North America seems to enhance this volume. Take a look.
FEB181574 CRAFTY CAT & GREAT BUTTERFLY HC $13.99 FEB181570 BE PREPARED GN $12.99 FEB181571 BE PREPARED HC GN $22.99 FEB181572 CITY ON OTHER SIDE GN $16.99 FEB181573 CITY ON OTHER SIDE HC GN $23.99
Three from First Second and MacMillan. The second book listed is by Vera Brosgol, who should be a name in this general category of comics for as long as desired. The Harper book caught my attention, though, because its author always always always had style to burn and I haven't really kept up with the resulting career. I'd like to do so, even in a category that's not for me.
FEB180142 ACTION COMICS #1000 $7.99 FEB180058 USAGI YOJIMBO #2 (OF 7) THE HIDDEN $3.99 JAN180526 ASSASSINISTAS #4 CVR A HERNANDEZ (MR) $3.99 FEB180643 KICK-ASS #3 CVR A ROMITA JR (MR) $3.99 FEB180646 LAZARUS #27 (MR) $3.99 FEB180653 MAGE HERO DENIED #8 (OF 15) CVR A $3.99
Comic-book format comics is dominated this time out by Action Comics #1000 -- a genuinely impressive anniversary coupled with what every hit comics need right now in the form of Bendis to DC PR juice and a general "you should buy this" directive aimed at the bulk of shop-goers. Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen are basically the Beatles of mainstream comics characters, and the act of exploitation that has driven Supes' publishing career may enter the mind peripherally or not at all. I'd like to see the current Gilbert Hernandez-drawn comic, and am overdue. The Kick-Ass offers nothing new to my eye, although JR JR is always sort of interesting. If Mark Millar ran Marvel Comics, the entire 1970s would have been Nova after Nova. It's never not amusing to note "Lazarus returns." That's a handsome issue. So was the latest Matt Wagner, as the story starts to settle into basic beats and action scenes.
DEC170090 BPRD HELL ON EARTH HC VOL 02 $34.99
Long live the Mignola-verse.
DEC171192 CYANIDE & HAPPINESS TP GUIDE PARENTING BY 3 GUYS W NO KIDS $9.99
The convention presence and the occasional flashes of media coverage suggest these creators do well in whatever format they choose.
AUG171508 WALTER SIMONSON BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ART ED HC SGN $250.00 AUG171509 WALTER SIMONSON BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ART ED HC SGN REMARK $400.00 JAN181065 THOR BY WALTER SIMONSON TP VOL 03 NEW PTG $29.99
I remember the Galactica stuff being handsome work and I love pretty much everything Walter Simonson, but the signatures there seem to be what is pushing it out of my price range. The Thor stuff is enjoying an anniversary year and I look at it whatever form they publish, although I shudder to think there might have been a gap when this material wasn't available.
DEC170540 SKIPPY HC VOL 04 COMPLETE DAILIES 1934 - 1936 $49.99
I am so grateful this exists in equal measure as I am completely unable to invest in the volumes at this moment.
FEB181544 BLACKBIRD DAYS HC (MR) $22.99
This is Manuele Fior, who has had as solid recent publishing history as anyone. I know I've read some of this material, so I'd take a long look to see if I've read it all.
JAN181660 LAND OF THE SONS HC (MR) $29.99
Gipi! The last three entries on this list including this one are ridiculous, and I hope stores are clever enough to load up and keep all three around long enough to find readers.
OCT170543 JOE KUBERT TARZAN AND THE LION MAN ARTIST ED HC $125.00
I love looking at Joe Kubert, and I'm not a huge fan of his Tarzan work in color, so this works out just perfectly for me.
*****
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.
James Romberger Confirms Sy Barry Drew The Martin Luther King And The Montgomery Story Comic Here. That's a nice story. My memory is that Andrew Aydin did his academic work on this comic and as March became a within-comics and outside-of-comics thing his curiosity carried more force. Good on James Romberger for dragging this one across the finish line. It's a nice-looking comic, I hope Sy Barry will receive something in the here-and-now for that work, even if it's just a specialized attention.
Your 2018 Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer Winners The big prize goes to Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan for their series in the New York Times on refugees. Nominees were Mark Fiore (freelance) and Mike Thompson (Detroit Free Press). Congratulatons to all.
You can find the winning series here. It ran from January to October of last year.
This is significant because it is journalism in comics form, and it wasn't clear if the Pulitzers were ever going to give their yearly award to something in that specific format.
* there's a group-written look at 100 influential comics pages here. There are some fun artists included, and the high number of overall selections involved lets some awesome pages be included along with some ruthlessly ordinary superhero comics choices. I was surprised by the number of times I thought the list included an worthwhile artist or even comic and then used a page that couldn't compete on any level with another page just a few away.
* a library at the University of Colorado is the recipient of the Eisner Foundation's partnership with ALA in service of stocking graphic novels. That sounds like a nice program.
* the Retrofit crowd-funder could probably use the most attention right now. Not getting to their halfway point with fewer than ten days left would be a rough position to make a last-minute rush at their initial goal. There is a ton of potentially good work in there, including must-haves from favorites of mine like Summer Pierre, Warren Craghead and Karl Stevens. While the ask is a large one, it breaks down to about $3K-$4K for each individual artist to send their way, which isn't out-of-bounds. It could be a combination that the full ask is more than $50 and the individual asks involve some math, but I can't say that for sure.
* John Porcellino finished his From Lone Mountain mini-tour in Columbus Saturday night, charming a crowd of about 30 -- about half of whom were buyers -- by unpacking his state of mind as it informed specific comics he read aloud. I don't know how many people have caught this, but Porcellino has been billing this as a "last tour" as part of a desire to refashion how much time he spends doing what kind of things. If that was the last stop on the last tour, it was a good one, and we've just lost the pleasure of hosting one of comics' all-time mightiest road warriors. He'll continue to do a few shows within driving distance -- Porcellino can't fly because of ear trauma. The era of Porcellino sweeping into your town on a random evening like a mini-comics troubador, those days might be over.
On Friday, March 16, a select group of CR readers were asked to "Name Five Memories Related To Five Comics, But Don't Name The Comics." This is how they responded.
*****
Kiel Phegley
1. Asking the teenager at the hostess stand of Bill Knapps restaurant for the comics they kept in a secret basket when I was 8
2. Reading a graphic novel I should have been cool enough to know already but didn't that was given to me by a girl I dated after graduating high school
3. Binge-reading a godawful vampire comic as prep for an interview while sitting on an air mattress for an early Wizard magazine assignment
4. Distracting myself from writer's block with an 80-page giant-style reprint while at grad school residency
5. Flipping through random sale item comiXology purchases while rocking my newborn to sleep
*****
Stephen Harrick
1. Using Silly Putty to make an ephemeral copy of the comic strip
2. Expanding my vocabulary by asking adults what certain words meant
3. Going to my friend David's house to read comics that my mother wouldn't let me buy
4. Standing in awe of the seemingly countless titles during my earliest Wednesday trips
5. Searching the entire house to find the misplaced comic my friend Jon let me borrow
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. 1000 hours spent reading after lunch and before we were allowed to go swimming again.
2. Having a Beatles joke explained to me I thought was a non-sequitur.
3. My father's Hal Foster story.
4. My mother's Jim Davis syndication story.
5. The story-strip plot point that made my Aunt Barbara cry.
1. Me bleeding heavily and not realizing it at all while being mentally in the jungle of Palombia.
2. Traveling by train to a town where I've never been before just to get that collection of comics being only sold in certain reagions as part of a market testing phase, I felt like that mercenary after successfully accomplishing my task.
3. Being torn between spending money on a strange and magical experience in comics or firecrackers on new year's eve.
4. Met someone who really loved to re-stage scenes from a comic being classified as not for kids.
5. I once traded a model of a Japanese submarine for a stack of comics.
*****
thanks to those that participated; normal service will begin with #501 at a future date
* here are the lyrics to Rickie Lee Jones' "Pirates." I don't know why, either.
* the recasting of a familiar image to reflect on a tragedy without the violence of the event itself literally bleeding through tends to be the way to deal with death-soaked incidents that catches on with the most people: this is a sterling example.
* finally: Mark Evanier remembers Carolyn Kelly at the year's anniversary of her passing.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* if anyone out there knows of 2018 funnybook shows at which Stan Lee is expected to sign, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) I think some pressure on shows not to have Mr. Lee to their events without greater assurances he's okay might be in order. More than that, I'm interested to see how he's booked in his mid-90s.
* most people I know are oriented towards DINK Denver right now, with a smaller group already focused on TCAF.
* the latter and very formidable show is the only festival that could add an entire zine show and it sounds just like another news story for them. Wow.
* my next show is SPACE, just in time for people that did get into this year's CXC exhibitor line-up a chance to yell at me in person. I'm not sure how anyone does that job, by the way. We had about six times the applicants than we had open tables. It's a nice problem to have, I guess.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Robert Clough on Von Spatz.
* it's outside of this site's coverage area, but certainly "the Apu-logy" has multiple issue analogs within the static cartooning businesses. The initial documentary that drove attention to that character's racial and culture stereotypes is watchable here.
* looks like TCJ is going to profile a bunch of retailers -- that's a great idea for this moment in comics history, and I enjoyed reading Jason Leivian's take on modern comics shops. His is a really good one.
New Stan Lee Tape At Comics Show Distresses Here is the Bleeding Cool article where I saw it. That looks like the first three minutes of a CBS TV show that ends with our hero shooting everybody on that video not Stan Lee.
Show organizers: please don't have an exhausted old man at your show. If your assurances aren't five times more convincing than testimony and tape, don't accept them. If you're convinced this has to happen, protect your guests by capping their signings and controlling the pay flow via ticketing and limits. Support any creator that wants to walk away from fan behavior or their own handlers. This is a horror show.
Professionals: If you're going to a show advertising Stan Lee and don't feel this is right, let them know. If half of what seems to be going on is true, this is foul. I know I don't want any part of this.
Fans: I know some of you want a neat experience and others want to monetize collectibles in a brutal economy. I'm not sure the neat experience is there to be had and I'm pretty sure getting your collectibles monetized by someone who is having someone direct him over his shoulder isn't worth it.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
FEB180275 MAD MAGAZINE #1 $5.99
I know nothing beyond a few rumors and excited friends as to who will be working on the new MAD. I am rooting for a well-paying comics showcase with national-level branding. Let's see what we get.
FEB181963 LUCY & ANDY NEANDERTHAL GN VOL 01 $7.99 FEB181965 LUCY & ANDY NEANDERTHAL GN VOL 02 STONE COLD AGE $7.99
I haven't read this series yet, but this is Jeffrey Brown's current kids book gig after a stellar run of playing with George Lucas' toys. A cartoonist once told me that cavemen are the hardest thing to make work, but these look charming. That second volume is out in paperback for the first time.
FEB180754 CAPTAIN AMERICA #700 LEG $5.99 FEB180466 RICK VEITCH THE ONE #3 (OF 6) $4.99
Not a whole lot that caught my eye in the comic-book comic world although I'm slitting out the Tommaso and the MAD costs as much as the Captain America here. That's Chris Samnee's goodbye issue, for the character and the publisher. He had a great run. And I'm all about having as much Rick Veitch on the stands as possible. I'd buy without looking.
FEB180544 CLOVER HONEY SPEC ED TP (MR) $12.99 FEB180617 DRY COUNTY #2 (MR) $3.99
Clover Honey was Tommaso's graphic novel debut after his charming Eros title Cannibal Porn. It is one of the earliest examples of a random graphic novel receiving cross-media interest. I look forward to reading it today, and the trade looks nice divested of some at-the-time series elements, if I'm remembering that correctly. More current Tommaso with the second issue of Dry County.
DEC170099 BPRD DEVIL YOU KNOW TP VOL 01 $19.99 MAY170010 MOEBIUS LIBRARY ART OF EDENA HC $34.99 FEB180957 BEST WE COULD DO ILLUSTRATED MEMOIR SC $17.99
Randome trade-sized offerings I'd look over, for sure, even if I tend to collect the Mignola-verse stuff in comic-book format. I always look at Moebius although I thought version of this was out before now. The Best We Could Do is I assume the softcover of last year's well-regarded hardcover offering.
MAY171648 PHANTOM COMP SUNDAYS HC VOL 04 1950-1953 $65.00 FEB182040 ROBERT CRUMB SKETCHBOOK HC VOL 03 1975-1982 (MR) $40.00
I have no idea why I put these together. They are both expensive book, a lot of fun, and feature not-ideal imagery, I guess, maybe? They're fun as art books, too.
FEB181730 BUNCH OF JEWS AND OTHER STUFF $15.00
This is Trina Robbins interpreting a book of neighborhood profiles written by her father and drawn by various talents. That is fine thing that we can have books like that.
FEB182091 TRAVELS WITH WALT HC $29.99
This isn't comics, but a travel book featuring Walt Disney during one of the golden ages for world travel. Sure, I'd look at it.
FEB181131 FORWARD GN $18.95
Finally, in a were where I'm at least not noticing a ton of big names, let's feature a book about two slightly older than usual for the genre people participating in a romance from a cartoonist with whom I'm unfamiliar. God bless any comic store that carries new work of a stand-alone nature.
*****
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.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up * Greg Hunter talks to Meags Fitzgerald.
* I'm sure I've linked to Alan Light photos in the past on here, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen this particular set of late 1970s to early 1980s goodness. I love Gil Kane at the SDCC-ending panel. I love most of these. I'm even looking at the tables. I have not read a whole lot of Golden Age Comics in my lifetime, and I wonder if they're fun objects the way that 1960s Marvel Comics are, say.
* finally: in case I forget to make these their own post, here are the awards nominees for this weekend's DINK show.
More On Stan Lee’s Current Situation As Tug Of War Prize Here. Family is tough. Family with money involved seems infinitely tougher.
I'm still curious as to how Lee might be worth $50M-$70M given what we know about his payouts and side endeavors, as well as his holdings to a lesser extent. It's a different story if Lee is worth $5M to $15M, as strange a sentence as that is to write about anything.
I would encourage anyone with an in to take it and anyone doing business with Lee to suspend or be able to say with 100 percent certainty that affairs have normalized.
Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News By Tom Spurgeon
* newspaper strip insiders have been talking about Olivia Jaimes taking over Nancy for months. I'm still one of those people that doesn't want to see legacy strips even when they're done by someone notable and/or idiosyncratic and/or skilled, but of course if we to have have them I prefer they be interesting. Jaimes is the first female cartoonist to do that particular strip.
* a one-volume of Terry Gilliam's static cartooning work would be very welcome, and is one of the last great obvious projects-to-do along with Flenniken, Kliban and Groening. Animations Of Mortality is at a price point you could also just reprint that one and make a lot of people happy.
* a lot of the people I know in comics like the writer Mark Millar and most, I think, respect his climb to mega-success. He's been perfectly pleasant to me over the years, and I can extol the virtues I find in his writing to anyone that will listen. That said, when I covered mainstream comics closely I recall he had what looked like a compulsive urge to misstate things in the press to make himself look better. That sounds like what's going on here. It's just not true, and Millar's focused enough on advancing his status that he would know the facts. The thing is these lies almost always land within the context of corporate mainstream comics, which is a world festooned with lies and fueled by exploitation, and thus this kind of thing can be seen almost as a series of heroic actions, painting graffiti on Mt. Doom. I think Millar was always too talented and is now too successful to have to do this, and I wish the mainstream publications would do some basic fact-checking on the specific claims from which entire articles are built.
* these people were nice enough to ask me to place their crowd-funder in my newsletter, but the low amount pledged thus far probably means almost no one has looked at their efforts. It's tough out there.
* Ken Eppstein told me over the weekend that he thought his crowd-funder for a full year's worth of books at Nix Comics would come down to the final day. Alleviate his anxiety.
* finally: the JHU stay-in-Manhattan crowd-funder is still performing very strongly for a store-based crowdfunder, at least in my experience staring at them.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* this reminiscence by Derf Backderf of an unlikely middle-school friendship is lovely.
* Evan Narcisse on the great Jose-Luis Garcia Lopez, a top 20 all-time superhero artist by any measure and an embarrassment to no list-maker at #1.
* if there were no cartoons of Muhammed and no exploitation of cartoon talent in the US, Zunar's story of extended legal harassment might be the most depressing story CR has covered. This short essay notes one instance of what Malaysia loses by excluding him.
Go, Read: Todd McFarlane’s Visit With Stan Lee Here. I'm glad McFarlane did that and wrote about it and I hope anyone else with that kind of access does something similar, according to Lee's ability and desire to see folks.
FFF Results Post #500c—More Love Due
On Friday, March 16, a select group of CR readers were asked to "Name Five Creators You Feel Are Under-Appreciated Including At Least One Creator No Longer With Us." This is how they responded.
*****
Mário Filipe
1. Paul Chadwick
2. Jess Johnson (pictured)
3. Roberta Gregory
4. L.L. de Mars
5. Diniz Conefrey
*****
Stephen Harrick
1. June Brigman
2. Reginald Hudlin
3. Barbara Rausch
4. Spain Rodriguez (pictured)
5. Chris Yambar
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Wilson McCoy
2. MK Brown
3. Carol Tyler
4. William Overgard
5. Oliver Harrington (pictured)
*****
Matthew Guest
1. Kevin O'Neill
2. Bob Burden
3. David Boswell (pictured)
4. Bil Keane
5. Bill Griffith
* this article about the effect of digital distribution and media on brick and mortar bookstores brings with it the depressing news that Movie World in Burbank is closing. I liked that place, and I don't see a whole lot of stores working that same area anymore.
* a Wizard show in Boise has caused the local same-audience con to suspend their efforts this year and re-evaluate for 2019. This is the kind of thing that used to drive people nuts about the Wizard shows, although there's not much of that kind of anger around anymore. While I can sort of conceptualize how the ability to bring Captain Kirk to Boise is strong move to which a local show can't respond, overall the Wizard shows are really overpriced and I've never been to one that wasn't the worst show the city offered except for a few cities where it was their only show. I'm glad to see the local isn't disbanding entirely, as Wizard can always tire of a city and move on, another lovely element of their organization.
* we've been delayed a little bit with the CXC exhibitor list, but as of this morning we have our 101 tables. Sorry for the delay. All notices out soon: acceptances, wait-lists, rejections.
* finally: it's SVCC this weekend. That's the show where real science people show up scattered amidst the Stan Lee's and Netflix show starring people of the world.
* this made me laugh, although at the same time I'd be surprised if that's the first time James did that.
* this is a nice, lengthy twitter rant from Pia Guerra against abusive people on the Internet with designs on somehow entering comics that way. I think that comics is less smaller than it used to be than more highly balkanized but whether it's one neighborhood or several the idea that you can enter through the front door of an artistic community giving everyone the finger will always be a dicey one.
* that is some cover. I don't usually enjoy those three-step process posts, but each stage features art that has some vibrancy to it -- for different reasons related to the stage of production.
This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into 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.
*****
NOV170560 GOAT GETTERS HC $49.99
I don't know much about this book, although I think I was in the room at the Billy Ireland when Eddie Campbell was researching the 1910s era sports pages and cartoon pages that inform a lot of this book. It's great to have Campbell back with two books this year, and I'll buy anything he creates.
DEC171793 YOUR BLACK FRIEND AND OTHER STRANGERS HC (MR) $20.00This is a great week for comics at the shop. I don't know if this is a re-offering or if it's late, but Ben Passmore's comics over the last few years have been really interesting and you should own a copy of the best run at this material.
FEB181233 GIANT DAYS #37 $3.99 JAN180411 ASTRO CITY #51 $3.99 FEB180699 SCALES & SCOUNDRELS #8 $3.99 JAN180823 SEX CRIMINALS #23 (MR) $3.99 JAN180828 SNOTGIRL #10 $2.99 FEB180713 WALKING DEAD #178 CVR A ADLARD & STEWART (MR) $3.99 FEB180714 WICKED & DIVINE #35 CVR A MCKELVIE & WILSON (MR) $3.99 FEB180869 BLACK BOLT #12 LEG $3.99
Solid week for comic-book comics, too. Giant Days is John Allison writing, and I'm a fan. That has to be one of the last issues of Astro City before its move to graphic novel only formatting. Scales & Scoundrels is a wanderer from the Lands Of Cliche, but it's charmingly drawn. That's four Image Comics heavy-hitters in a row. I'm having fun with this volume of Sex Criminals. Black Bolt I buy because my brother collects all Black Bolt-related comics, and this one sure is pretty.
JAN180397 FLASH BY MARK WAID TP BOOK 04 $34.99 JAN180401 GLOBAL FREQUENCY DELUXE ED HC $34.99
Mark Waid's Flash comics were some of the most important of the 1990s and the Global Frequency series feels like it could come out right now. I would imagine most fans have this work, but it's nice that they pay attention to keeping material like this in print.
DEC170548 CAT N BAT TP $9.99 JAN180567 WARDS VALLEY TP $19.99
Two stand-alone, non-licensed kids works, and on that basis alone I'd look at them.
FEB180630 HEAD LOPPER TP VOL 02 CRIMSON TOWER $16.99 DEC170546 PRISON SHIP HC $19.99 JAN180562 THE REPRIEVE TP $29.99 FEB181164 COPRA TP ROUND FIVE (MR) $21.95 FEB181581 DEOGRATIAS TALE OF RWANDA GN NEW PTG $19.99 JAN181857 WINDOW HORSES SC $20.00
This is a bunch of intriguing books. I love Head Lopper, where Hellboy meets Adventure Time desing. Prison Ship is '80s sci-fi and quite beautiful, as I recall. The Reprieve is an actual Jean-Pierre Gibrat album -- that's an artist I'm used to see only in pin-ups, but he's a very good pin-up artist. Copra continues on; don't know if this is current, but all of that work is very right now. JP Stassen remains maybe the most intriguing artist published by First Second. Window Horses was a movie and a comic; this is the comic. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit.
FEB181182 WHAT TO DO WHEN IM GONE HC $22.00
Another stand-alone book, I'd certainly pick it up wanting to see more of the art.
FEB181683 YELLOW NEGROES & OTHER IMAGINARY CREATURES GN (RES) $22.95
This is some of the best comics work of the 20th Century, period.
*****
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.
* not comics: I watched that Jessica Jones 2 TV series over the weekend. Well, I had it on. It had to wait for Collateral and enough time in my grotesque work schedule of the moment for me to have enough viewing time not to forget what happened between episodes. It was a narrative mess, like a lot of these Marvel shows, particularly in that always-rich area of characters conflating length-of-time within the relative progression of a show for actual length of time. I did sort of like that everyone was a selfish asshole, though, and that characters were motivated by sex. Some funny lines in there, too, although Death Of Stalin owns 98 percent of that space in my head right now. I bet those viewers that desire a character for which to root had a tough time with this one.
The California College of the Arts MFA in Comics program is thrilled to welcome cartoonist Nomi Kane to our critically-acclaimed faculty. A graduate of The Center for Cartoon Studies and former staff artist at Schulz Studio, Nomi's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nib, College Humor, and Bust. Nomi will be leading one of our summer comics workshops and serving as a faculty mentor to our graduate cartoonists.
I think what interested me enough to post about it is the CCS background of Kane's. One thing I did not think of when people started to emerge out of the various schools is how many teaching an non-creative production roles would be filled by people with one of the schools in their past. This is important in part because I think there's more competition for these jobs from people outside of a traditional comics background. These connections should mitigate against that.
photograph by Victor Yañez-Lazcano provided by CCA
These were apparently announced last night. The Hugo Awards, focusing on science-fiction and fantasy, have been around since the early '50s and are one of the few cultural touchstones in its specific area my mom would have heard of.
The graphic story category began in 2009.
Congratulations to all of the nominees. I'm not sure if I thought of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters this way, but hey, I like that comic. Give it all the awards, that's what I say.
* Bitch Planet, Volume Two: President Bitch, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Valentine De Landro and Taki Soma, colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick, lettered by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
* Black Bolt, Volume One: Hard Time, written by Saladin Ahmed, illustrated by Christian Ward, lettered by Clayton Cowles (Marvel)
* Monstress, Volume Two: The Blood, written by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
* My Favorite Thing is Monsters, written and illustrated by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
* Paper Girls, Volume Three, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang, colored by Matthew Wilson, lettered by Jared Fletcher (Image Comics)
* Saga, Volume Seven, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
The winner is announced at Worldcon, held in August.
Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News By Tom Spurgeon
* with 12 books in the balance, the Retrofit Comic crowd-funder also doubles as publishing news. Summer Pierre! Man, do I love the last five to seven years of work we've seen from Warren Craghead.
* Marvel will bring back its Fantastic Four comic in August, with Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli as the main creative cogs. Pichelli is a well-regarded monster talent and Slott is a Marvel veteran whose reputation among hardcore fans goes in a lot of different directions. There will be some interest because FF was Marvel's first modern-superhero comic and the reasons rumored for its suspension was which studio had movie rights. This does kind of line up with Marvel's conservative publishing strategy of the fmoment: old favorites, comfortable treatments. We'll see how it goes!
* John Allison writes about a non-comics add to his burgeoning comics profile: a prose adaptation of his Giant Days. Allison is one of those really fine talents -- David Petersen is another -- where they have what seems to the musing mind to be massive mainstream appeal but the mass of the mainstream just hasn't been convinced of this yet.
I Suppose You Should Read This Fine Article About The Dumbest Thing In Comics Ever
Asher Elbein's walk-through what has been labeled "comicsgate" can be very useful for those of us that have a hard time grasping a controversy whose most solid parts exist as words on a computer screen.
The initial ideas fueling this are dopey and discredited; they don't comport to reality. The rest of it is just Internet sophistry at its sort-of cutting edge put to use on behalf of ideas scraped from a 1982 issue of National Review. Block everybody, report everybody.
* congratulations to London's Cartoon Museum on finding a new, permanent space. The surge in comics-interested museums may be the most important shaping force of comics next quarter-century.
* my apologies in having a birthday wish for the late James Vance up yesterday for a few hours. I do the birthdays in two-year cycles, but even then it's only been about four times I've done that. I liked Vance personally, and wish he had made twice the number of comics. His site is still up.
* Gil Roth talks to Robert Weil, one of those sneaky-important comics non-creatives for the power of his have-edited list.
* still fairly impressed with the JHU crowd-funder aimed at keeping the legendary retailer in Manhattan. I don't doubt there are a lot of fans of the story with significant affection for the place, that's usually just such a tough sub-category for Kickstarter.
* Ken Eppstein's Nix Comix is more than halfway to its goal -- funding a 2018 publishing slate -- with about 12 days remaining, which is a good sign but not, of course, actually funding something.
* Lemonade Summer is at the point where they need angels more than its likely they can fundraise their remaining initial ask through standard customers. It is the kind of project that might attract that kind of attention.
* finally: here's the Indiegogo comics page -- I think. Damned if I can read it. Looks like they're pulling old and new projects together? I'm sure there's some great stuff in there. I'll stop doing these baffled old man bullet points now.
* question every Easter: how odd is the BC Sunday? Not very this year, although that was to my family's eyes a rough solution to the two formats issue, just blocks of color. I found Glenn McCoy's a little odd in that Jesus left a need for room service. I imagine there are a ton of more overtly Easter-themed strips than there used to be.
* from that comics-friendly publication -- I think they're still a publication -- Entertainment Weekly comes 
* Mike Dawson and Zack Soto talk to 
* Marc Sobel on 
The Eisner Awards 
I'm sort of choked with contempt that the routinely brave cartoonist Musa Kart and many of his journalistic peers 
* Alexander Lu on 
* Alex Hoffman on 
FEB181556 NOW #3 (MR) $9.99I put this comic into the featured image slot just so I could go look at the cover. So Mission Accomplished there. It did not disappoint and neither has this anthology series.
* John Seven on 
* Drew Friedman 
* Ally Russell on 
* in case you missed it, an on-line fundraiser to send money directly to William and Nadine Messner-Loebs 
* Marc-Oliver Frisch on 
This is a focused bad thing in that people that planned to attend or to exhibit at this particular show almost certainly will suffer from sunk costs in terms of non-refundable travel costs, items made or prepared for the show, fees, and even time asked off or something similar. I assume there will be an effort to do a smaller show for those in town, and on-line connections extended to sellers that won't make it now, and I will try to promote those efforts here at CR in next week's Festival column. It doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of show readers of this site would attend in great percentages, but many of you were likely aware of it and attending a make-up show is a nice thing to do even if it's not completely your thing.
* Gary Zidek talks to 
* Jog on 
FEB181574 CRAFTY CAT & GREAT BUTTERFLY HC $13.99
DEC170090 BPRD HELL ON EARTH HC VOL 02 $34.99
* Irene Velentzas on 
The big prize goes to 
* Evan Narcisse on 
* 
* Leah Nash talks to 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Noah Berlatsky on 
* Robert Clough on 
FEB181963 LUCY & ANDY NEANDERTHAL GN VOL 01 $7.99
* Greg Hunter talks to 
* newspaper strip insiders have been talking about 
* Jillian Tamaki talks to 
* Evan Narcisse on 
* Greg Hunter on 
* Tegan O'Neil on 
DEC171793 YOUR BLACK FRIEND AND OTHER STRANGERS HC (MR) $20.00This is a great week for comics at the shop. I don't know if this is a re-offering or if it's late, but Ben Passmore's comics over the last few years have been really interesting and you should own a copy of the best run at this material.
* Sean Gaffney on 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Todd Klein on 
* coming to this one a bit late, but 
* Keith Silva on 
