September 10, 2008
This Isn’t A Library: New and Notable Releases to the Comics Direct Market
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Here are the books that jump out at me from this week's probably mostly 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 -- but were I in a comic book shop I would likely pick up the following and look them over, and as a result, my retailer and I might don giant robot suits and fight one another.
*****
JUL080108 FINAL CRISIS REVELATIONS #2 (OF 5) $3.99
Five years from now I think we'll look back and laugh on this extended period where comics frequently came out with obtuse titles right alongside the ones where you could kind of tell what they were about. We'll need something to e-mail about in our new non-comics industry jobs.
JUL088045 WATCHMEN TP INTERNATIONAL EDITION $19.99
I'm pretty sure this is a version where Rorshach speaks with an out-sized French accent and Nite Owl is called Athene Noctua, the goofiness of which is what affects his libido. Actually, I'm absolutely certain this
isn't the case, and instead this a version of the freakishly hot-selling decades-old book that is somehow directed to non-US markets. Whether or not the work needs such an edition, I can't imagine it took them a whole lot of time to greenlight one.
JUL082409 ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY TP BOOK 02 $24.99
I'm not sure why this was split into two parts given the whole thing is probably less than 400 pages, but there are 50 reasons why no one asks my publishing advice. Anyway: good comics, although I think there's a traceable decline between the material in the first volume and the material in this one.
JUL082393 OMEGA THE UNKNOWN PREM HC $29.99
Hey, this series was really pretty good. Reading it for five minutes a month over a year's time, I think it was about the advance of adult concerns and tedium on childhood, but I'll need to read it again to know if that's ridiculous or if I was onto something. Probably the former.
JUL082328 PATSY WALKER HELLCAT #3 (OF 5) $2.99
I'm only slightly confused that I like this.
JUL084309 AMERICAN WIDOW HC $22.00
A long memoir of a year in the life after 9/11. It didn't make an impression on a first reading, but I'm diving back in over the weekend.
JUL084001 PRINCE OF PERSIA GN $16.95
This would be the book of the week on most non-Majority Of Gilbert Shelton's Entire Career Output Wednesdays, although I guess there's
Krazy Kat to consider as well. A potential breakout or, I guess, a potential setback for First Second. They've gone the classy route with this multi-media property tie-in, that's for certain.
JUL084140 FREAK BROTHERS OMNIBUS TP (MR) $35.00
The book of the week, I'd say, as it's one of the all-time great comic book series collected in a giant single volume. Quite the bargain, too.
JUL083994 KRAZY & IGNATZ TP 1943 1944 HE NODS QUIESCENT SIESTA $19.99
Here's the most serious challenger to the Freak Brothers book: the final days of the greatest comic of all time, given that series' usual classy treatment.
JUN083972 SIXTEEN MILES TO MERRICKS & OTHER WORKS SC $29.95
This debut book
looks interesting.
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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.
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 and probably a bit high,
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.
If I didn't list your new comic, please try writing me shrill, insistent e-mails about my failures. That always works.
*****
*****
posted 2:00 am PST |
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Update on Zapiro/Zuma Cartoon Flap
The great thing about the news story on Jonathan "Zapiro" Shapiro's cartoon depicting various South African political entities holding down the justice system for a potential raping by well-known, powerful ANC official Jacob Zuma is that everything seems parceled out in bite-sized chunks. The Freedom of Expression Institute
terms the cartoon strong but acceptable. One of the named political parties
asks for an apology. Zapiro's newspaper
supports its artist. Jacob Zuma
may file another lawsuit, this one specifically tied to the new cartoon. Here's a bit more on
the political tussle that led to the cartoon. All news stories should be this sweetly compartmentalized.
posted 1:10 am PST |
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Go, Read: Jim Borgman’s Goodbye
posted 1:05 am PST |
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If I Were In Missouri, I’d Go To This
posted 12:50 am PST |
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Go, Look: Home Wanted By A Baby
posted 12:46 am PST |
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Go, Look: A Message From Bill Ayers
posted 12:45 am PST |
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Go, Look: Three By John Stanley
posted 12:45 am PST |
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Go, Look: Handy Man From Timbuctoo
posted 12:44 am PST |
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Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* so as a number of you have written in to tell me, the reason why the latest issue of
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder was recalled was because there were visible curse words. Apparently, instead of using nonsense words for foul language, the comic prints them and then blocks them out, kind of the comics equivalent of bleeping over language on family-timeslot TV shows. This time you could still read the words. You can look at photos of the offending panels
here. So: no naughty words for a Batman funnybook for whatever reason. Also, one person tells me that this week's
Action Comics was pulped as well.
* the strip-focused blogger Alan Gardner notes that
W.T. Duck was launched into print syndication this week by Universal. He explains some of that feature's back story. You can see the strip's on-line resource page
here. I find that approach to panel lines very odd.
* the mainstream American comics-oriented comics site
Newsarama has news of some of Marvel's post-
Secret Invasion plans that were revealed at the Diamond retailer summit: a crossover event called "Dark Reign," a Mark Millar-written title in the Ultimate Marvel part of their publishing empire, and a teaser image from an anniversary issue of one-time, long-time flagship
Amazing Spider-Man. Marvel has developed a strong sales position in serial comics over competitor DC by rolling out a constant series of company-wide crossovers and then goosing individual groups or titles within its publishing reach with special titles and events. The result has been an enviable sales dominance marked by contributions from any number of properties in the company's line.
* finally, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a site that posts a number of cartoons and related illustrations through it popular web site,
is raising money to increase its ability to post such imagery. I hope you'll consider joining me in sending them a few bucks.
posted 12:30 am PST |
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Happy 56th Birthday, Gerry Conway!
posted 12:15 am PST |
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Happy 62nd Birthday, Jackie Estrada!
posted 12:15 am PST |
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