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.

*****

NOV161567 FARMER NEDS COMICS BARN GN JABLONSKI COLLECTION (MR) $30.00
This is a big week for comics from my buying-impulse perspective after a few light ones, so of course I forgot to do this column altogether. I'll slip it back into the time slot in which it should have appeared, but I'm actually writing to you on the weekend. If the coming and going of new comics day has snuffed out the flame of buying a big stack of comics, you owe it to yourself to go back to the comics store and buy this volume of Gerald Jablonski's comics. There is nothing like them in the entire world: deeply funny, profoundly weird and creepily beautiful in their obsessive quality. These comics make Highbone Theater looks like a Curt Swan era Superman funnybook. I caught the initial burst of this phase of Jablonski's long career when at TCJ in the 1990s, and these are some of the most virtuous comics we fought to promote.

DEC161808 KAIJUMAX #1 1 DOLLAR ED $1.00
DEC160627 WALKING DEAD #163 (MR) $0.25
DEC160448 BOX OFFICE POISON COLOR COMICS #2 $3.99
AUG160636 INVINCIBLE #132 $2.99
FEB160867 KARNAK #6 $3.99
DEC161434 ADVENTURE TIME #61 $3.99
DEC161429 GIANT DAYS #23 $3.99
DEC160048 BALTIMORE THE RED KINGDOM #1 $3.99
DEC160357 FLINTSTONES #8 $3.99
DEC160358 FLINTSTONES #8 VAR ED $3.99
A lot of potential buys in the straight-up funnybook world. That Walking Dead comic probably sold a billion copies, but the cut-down Kaijumax might be of more interest to CR readers. That's a funny, odd throwback to the days of high concepts for the sake of high concepts. In this case it's a mash-up of prison drama and giant monster movies. I totally missed the first issue of Alex Robinson in color on his small-stakes drama work, and am eager to see how that version of his art holds color. Invincible #132 is the last deep breath before what should be a fairly packed last final issues. Crimson masks for everyone! Karnak is a weird little comic, the kind that gets into fights on your behalf in seedy bars. It's the only Inhuman anything I've read since the Kirby days that's worked for me in the slightest, and they're a big deal at Marvel now. Adventure Time I noted for the number of issues. I've just started reading Giant Days for its writer John Allison. And there's your Mignola-verse comic, dependable as a stomach ache the morning after the Superbowl. I also just started reading the Flintstones comics and miracle of all miracles it's actually sort of funny. Not groundshaking funny, but funnier than the bulk of satirical work coming out of the indie/alt world right this second.

OCT160035 HE-MAN & MASTERS OF UNIVER SE NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS HC $29.99
There are comics out there for everyone.

DEC160343 DEATH OF HAWKMAN #5 (OF 6) $3.99
I don't know why the hairy-chested brute version of this character hasn't gotten over in a bigger way. It's basically Ancient Astronaut Wolverine, right?

NOV161568 NOT WAVING BUT DRAWING GN CUNEO COLLECTION (MR) $25.00
These Cuneo books are very interestingly -- and filthily -- conceived and draw and I'm glad they exist.

NOV161502 LIGHTRUNNER DOVER ED GN $19.95
I vaguely remember this square-jawed science fiction comic from I'm thinking all the way back in the early '80s as one of those comics I might have looked at a bunch of times and taken a pass on. In a perfect world, this was even a Starblaze graphic novel or two, where all such books lived. Rod Whigham, the GI Joe artist, was the drawer here.

JUN160571 WIND IN THE WILLOWS HC ILLUS DAVID PETERSEN $24.99
This hits my friendly place that is publishers supporting their talent by backing their non-franchise efforts. It makes perfect sense for Petersen to want to work with that book.

AUG160321 ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN BY AZZARELLO & CHANG HC VOL 01 $125.00
AUG160992 ALPHA FLIGHT BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS HC $100.00
OCT160999 CIVIL WAR II HC $50.00
I only vaguely understand the high-end market, and I usually get there by imagining myself the lawyer I once thought I would be. In that case, I probably would have a bookshelf with fancy hardcovers or work I loved, and I might not be reading widely enough that a John Byrne book might still be appealing to me as one of the better comics I read. I'm not sure anyone liked Civil War II all that much, but every comic is someone's favorite, and that seems to me one way to have a different reading experience with those comics. The Wonder Woman I liked just fine conceptually, although there was something missing in the main character where she felt just slightly offbrand to me -- it was like a pretty good Thundra story. Others will disagree, both directions.

NOV161503 SEEKERS INTO MYSTERY TP (MR) $34.95
The comic-book equivalent of a big-budget movie that was supposed to be a big deal and never took hold, writer JM DeMatteis' version of Peter Bogdanovich's Nickelodeon, only about space people and the nature of life rather than ambulatory carnies. There aren't a whole lot of big projects like this about which so few people have knowledge. I bet they sell some.

DEC161687 EIGHTBALL CARICATURE NINE STORIES TP (CURR PTG) (MR) $16.99
Again with the move to put Clowes books back into the market pre-Wilson. I approve.

NOV161644 POORCRAFT GN VOL 01 $10.00
I liked the pages of this I've seen in the past. Would seem more helpful now than ever.

NOV161967 JUNJI ITOS DISSOLVING CLASSROOM GN (MR) $12.95
Later Ito, still icky to me and slightly less driving than earlier with which I'm familiar. Still, it's hard to imagine fans of anything near this category of work not wanting one.

NOV160483 YOU MIGHT BE AN ARTIST IF HC $19.99
I don't know Laure Purje at all, but the art in this one looks appealing and approachable and I am all for thematically connected short-story collections. That's a great way to be introduced to a talent.

OCT160463 JUDGE DREDD BRENDAN MCCARTHY COLLECTION HC $49.99
Like this, this is probably too much Brendan McCarthy for most people; you might do better with a smaller comic or even a few single images. Still there are very few of the announced 2000 AD repackagings that have the appeal of this one, and it's the first place in the comics shop I'd go to check it out.

NOV161691 LIGHTHOUSE HC $15.99
This is Paco Rota through NBM. It's a very broadly appealing story, although if you've ever seen any movie at any time in your life it's hard not to guess everything that's going to happen from about page 12-on. There's a place for work like this, though.

JUL160616 AMERICAS BEST COMICS ARTIST ED HC $PI
JUL160617 AMERICAS BEST COMICS ARTIST ED HC J.H. WILLIAMS III VAR (NET $PI
Alan Moore gathered to himself some of the best artists in mainstream comics on this effort, publishing rights for which were moved to DC Comics before they even started coming out. I imagine all of this stuff will be super-attractive at this size and with that treatment. I believe this to be triply true of the JH Williams III stuff.

*****

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