This Isn’t A Library: New and Notable Releases to the Comics Direct Market



Here are a few 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 following -- I might not buy any -- but were I in a comic book shop I would likely pick them up and look at them, potentially resulting in mean words and hurt feelings between me and my retailer.

*****

APR070262 ARMY @ LOVE #4 (MR) $2.99
APR070218 SPIRIT #7 $2.99
Two old-fashioned regular comics series by interesting cartoonists I haven't been able to catch up with yet.

APR072364 X-MEN FIRST CLASS HC $24.99
One of the odder developments in mainstream comics during the last 24 months is the lack of vital X-Men comics beyond the kind of All Star approach used by nostalgia-fueled writer Joss Whedon. This is Jeff Parker's attempt at writing stories featuring the original group of superhero mutants, basically running them up against a variety of early Marvel bad guys like the Lizard. I used to have a hamster named Werner Roth, so I'd definitely take a look at this. Although I'm thinking I could probably by the comics themselves for half this amount if I paid enough attention to the next 24 months of discount bins.

MAY073128 CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL VOL 11 $10.95
My favorite ongoing (in a translated sense) manga series, to the point I can work up the energy to mind the rougher, duller stretches of this absurd comedy. I even rented the live-action movie.

MAR073054 DAVE SIM COLLECTED LETTERS VOL 2 $22.00
I loved the first one, collecting letters from Sim to a variety of folks during the first few months of 2004. This huge book offers up another couple of months worth of stuff from that year. You knew if you were going to buy this or not before you got to the $22.00.

APR074059 DEATH NOTE VOL 12 TP $7.99
The best continuing manga serial with a book out this week and right now one of the world's most notorious comics. Most comics shops and bookstores carry early books in a series as well as the latest books, so if you want to try a series you can probably do so at the beginning.

MAY073451 GIRL FROM HOPPERS LOCAS VOL 2 TP $14.95
MAY073453 HUMAN DIASTROPHISM PALOMAR VOL 2 TP $14.95
I'm certain these have already been listed once, but if you haven't bought them, they're great re-packagings of classic comics material, at a fine discount. I've already dumped by much-beloved trade paperback volumes.

APR073315 HICKEE VOL 3 #3 (MR) $2.95
Funny short stories done in variations on a style that no one else employs right now.

APR073695 MOME VOL 8 GN $14.95
Probably the best issue of the anthology yet, with more Al Columbia, a really funny exercise in rewriting, and the first major interview I can recall seeing with maybe the most exciting young talent in comics, Eleanor Davis.

MAR073059 SCHULZS YOUTH HC $21.95
MAR073058 SCHULZS YOUTH TP $14.95
A must-have for Schulz fans and fans of the comic strip and probably not something that would interest a casual reader, this is an effective re-packaging of Schulz's Christian youth magazine cartoon panels and related materials. What's great is that Schulz actually develops what could have been tossed off work into a feature with its own strange integrity, an ostensible lead and a narrow but interesting range of subject matter. Additionally, sometimes it doesn't work at all, providing a glimpse into how even the most skilled cartoonists in the world can sometimes misstep.

MAR073427 DELPHINE #2 $7.95
MAR073433 SAMMY THE MOUSE GN $7.95
MAR073431 NEW TALES OF OLD PALOMAR #2 $7.95
The latest round of Ignatz books and maybe the most consistently solid group since the books started to come out. Delphine is as pretty as anything Richard Sala's ever done, Sammy the Mouse is Zak Sally working balls to the wall on the first of what might be eight volumes, and Gilbert Hernandez's latest New Tales story offers some freakishly effective staging and exquisite use of dead space on the page.

MAY073126 YOTSUBA MANGA VOL 4 TP $9.99
A super-cute manga series about a kid in that manic, magic phase between, say, three and five years old that somehow manages to catch the spirit and energy of living with one of those strange creatures.

APR073953 MANTLO A LIFE IN COMICS $7.50
I'm not sure this book about comics writer Bill Mantlo is for me, but I'd definitely want to look at it.

*****

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, 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, you're welcome to assume the worst of me, but it's likely I just missed it. Still friends, right?
 
posted 9:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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