This Isn’t A Library: New And 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.

*****

SEP141385 SYLLABUS NOTES FROM ACCIDENTAL PROFESSOR SC $19.95
It's the not the biggest week for the kinds of comics in which I tend to be interested, but a new Lynda Barry hardcover makes this a week I'd got a shop if I were in Buffalo, just for the chance it somehow got there. I don't think we're even halfway to our full appreciation of this later-period Barry work -- such lovely, vibrant, cartooning for the sake of something that's usually not a literary-style narrative. It's more rare than we let on, or at least it feels that way when we're sitting down with books like this one.

SEP140180 MULTIVERSITY PAX AMERICANA #1 $4.99
SEP140093 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #125 $3.50
SEP140047 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #4 $4.99
JUL140551 INVINCIBLE #115 $2.99
SEP148168 GRAYSON #1 3RD PTG $2.99
The belle of the comic-book format ball this week has to be the Multiversity one-shot from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Since this time it covers a planet based on a version of the Charlton characters, it's those two fine superhero comics makers getting to comment on Watchmen while at the same time playing with some of the ways that series redefined what we expect from coimic books. The BPRD is a pretty standard thing for us to recognize here; I collect those in comic-book format and read them in big gulps later on. The new DHP is already up to its fourth issue. This is a bridge comic for the Invincible series -- I'm interested to see what writer Robert Kirkman does with his narrative over the next couple of years. For a comic I probably wouldn't read except for this job and with which I don't engage as a fan, Invincible is fascinating from an execution standpoint and I always look forward to seeing it. The Grayson I've read and while it has devoted fans I'm not quite there with them -- it is worth noting a third printing, though. That one has hit with an audience.

JUL140096 MIND MGMT HC VOL 04 MAGICIAN $19.99
Already up to Volume 4 with Matt Kindt's series at Dark Horse. I get these when I can, and pay attention to the series in general.

AUG140511 POPEYE CLASSICS NEWSPAPER COMICS HC VOL 02 1989-1992 $39.99
I've barely seen the bulk of these Bobby London strips, but the ones I have seen all have a peculiar energy. Many of them are also quite funny. What I've read has such a different feel from the primetime Segar work that I see it almost entirely as its own thing, but I like that thing so that's okay. I'd certainly take a look.

SEP140596 BOUNCE TP (MR) $24.99
AUG140576 CASANOVA COMPLETE ED HC VOL 01 LUXURIA (MR) $29.99
SEP140626 LAZARUS HC VOL 01 (MR) $34.99
Three from Image I would imagine most genre fans with a little bit of spending money might want to have on their bookshelves. The Bounce book is the Joe Casey/David Messina/Sonia Harris team that pulls apart very specific parts of the superhero genre, mostly, as I recall, the idea of superheroes as avatars of purpose. The Casanova is the first cycle of the super-spy series with the beginning of the third upon us. I remember that being super-attractively designed. The Lazarus should be a big time gift book at that price and, one would guess, corresponding size. I enjoy that one, and I know 13-year-old me would have loved the depressing politics involved (it's a very, very broadly-played vision of a world controlled by corporate interests and their super-elite owners).

AUG141672 FIRST KINGDOM HC VOL 06 (MR) $19.99
I'm a great fan of Jack Katz's lengthy, idiosyncratic, science fiction in the key of ancient astronauts series First Kingdom, and I think this marks the latest collection of the work as a full collection. I'd love for people to be able to be exposed to this work in libraries and bookstores for years and years to come. It's an important book in that moment in time when cartoonists were figuring out what a graphic novel may look like in terms of ambition and scope.

AUG141638 NIKOLAI DANTE LOVE & WAR GN $29.99
I would cartainly at this book, starring what I think is the most high-profile 2000 AD character with whom I have no direct experience. That guy always looks like he's having fun, though, and I think Grant Goggans is a fan.

SEP141620 PETER PAN REGIS LOISEL HC OMNIBUS ED (MR) $49.99
One of the all-time loopy comics projects from a publishing news standpoint (which means yes, Tundra was involved) and the test-tube example of narrative drift. Still, there's a bunch of super-attractive cartooning in this single volume that might carry the day for anyone interested. You have to have a lot of virtues to be that weird.

AUG141138 ART OF MODESTY BLAISE SC $39.99
Sure, I'd look at this. I find the stories in Modesty Blaise almost ruthlessly dull, but it's always been pretty sharp-looking.

SEP141432 EC GEORGE EVANS ACES HIGH HC $29.99
I'm not sure how the Fantagraphics collections of EC material by author are doing, but this is the one on which I immediately flashed when the project was announced. Planes were Evans's special thing, one of the odder things at which to be very good doing in the entire realm of comics possibility.

*****

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.

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 3:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives