This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market



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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.

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JUL161611 DISILLUSIONED ILLUSIONS GN (NOTE PRICE) $30.00
I don't know if this is another printing of the FU Press version of the previously self-published comic from the terrifyingly ageless Greg Stump or what, but it's one weird, special comic, more of a Samuel Beckett experience than a Samuel Glanzman one. I liked it quite a bit, but man is it an odd one. The fact that anyone wants to read this book, like 200 people even, is a sign of hope for the entire field.

MAY160020 ANGEL CATBIRD HC VOL 01 $14.99
This is the project with which the writer Margaret Atwood is involved, and she's done her part by being delightful in the press appearances on its behalf. My hunch is that this is an affectionate look at how oddball and contra-reality late Golden Age and early Silver Age comics could be, that fundamental break with reality comics like that enjoyed that came before people took those kinds of things seriously as acts of creation. I look forward to reading it.

JUN160706 CRIMINAL TP VOL 07 WRONG TIME WRONG PLACE (MR) $14.99
Another Brubaker/Phillips trade in their new-dress style, the one I remember most is the one about a little boy being standoffish for the best reason a little boy has been standoffish in a comic book. If I were a teenager again, Ed Brubaker comics is all I'd read in a hammock near the lake where my Dad had an old house.

JUL160757 KILL OR BE KILLED #2 (MR) $3.99
JUL161384 GIANT DAYS #18 $3.99
JUN160652 REVIVAL #42 (MR) $3.99
JUL161370 STRANGE ATTRACTORS #4 (MR) $3.99
JUN160656 SEX #31 (MR) $3.99
JUL160790 WALKING DEAD #158 CONNECTING CVR PART 2 (MR) $2.99
JUL160789 WALKING DEAD #158 CVR A ADLARD & STEWART (MR) $2.99
Hey, it's comic-book comics. There's Brubaker-Phillips comic again, their latest collaboration and the writer's only serial comic of the moment, I think. It's revenge-fantasy work, and while I've only powered through it the one time I do remember it being about as good-looking as any of the comics they've done together has ever been. Giant Days is John Allison and I have yet to take a full-dive there. I'm thinking my strategy may be dollar bins in non-major markets, but I haven't decided yet. Allison is always interesting to me. Revival is heading towards its conclusion and I think it's a good time for that comic to be doing it: solid performer, though, I always liked seeing it. Haven't caught up with Strange Attractors yet, but I will and this helps remind me. Sex I love, but that's one daffy reading experience; it's like all the off-hand pages from a half-dozen 1980s indy-alt comics stitched together -- as far as narrative sex goes, it's mostly frottage. Walking Dead I enjoy, too, but it no longer forces me to be engaged with it like issues about half the run ago.

MAR160920 THOR BY JASON AARON AND RUSSELL DAUTERMAN HC VOL 01 $34.99
I like that these comics are available in fancy versions because I can imagine an alternate universe where the bulk of my comics shopping would be monthly step-ins to comics book to buy the superhero comics of my youth and a few old favorites in new forms. I liked the couple issues of this I read, too, although I didn't continue.

JUL161213 BIG NATE REVENGE OF CREAM PUFFS TP $9.99
Just the usual note that this could be the best-selling book on the list over $4.99. I do wonder how well they do in the DM, but it's not like it could do so well or so poorly for it not to be worth having it listed

JUL161737 CAT RACKHAM HC GN $19.95
I quite like the way these Steve Wolfhard comics look, and the presentation by Koyama Press is nice; I would certainly look at it in a store to see if it's something appealed to me visually like I suspect it might.

APR160638 EDDIE CAMPBELL OMNIBOX GN $99.99
Eddie Campbell and Peter Bagge and MK Brown trade the under-appreciated cartoonist crown back and forth on nearly a monthly basis. I would imagine after whatever this is gets marked down for sale through certain kind of booksellers that a good deal becomes an amazing one.

JUL161747 LOST WORK OF WILL EISNER GN $24.99
All work by Will Eisner is interesting, and never more so when there's work no one has looked at since it was originally published, if my memory of the story behind this Locust Moon book is sound. A must-look for sure. I always got the sense that one reason Eisner moved into various forms of production is that he had a really early grasp of what comics could do, making his early work more accomplished as comics even when he had yet to develop as an illustrator.

JUL162091 ONE PUNCH MAN GN VOL 08 $9.99
This is the best popular manga series volume to my taste on the list this week, although I'm nowhere near as widely read in this category as I hope to be 12-18 months from now.

JUL161415 RAVENING #3 (MR) $5.99
JUL161418 RAVENING #3 GOTH DECO CVR (MR) $5.99
JUL161422 RAVENING #3 NUDE CVR (MR) $7.99
JUL161421 RAVENING #3 SUCCUBI CVR (MR) $5.99
JUL161425 RAVENING #3 SUCCUBI NUDE CVR (MR) $7.99
JUL161417 RAVENING #3 TEMPTATION CVR (MR) $5.99
JUL161423 RAVENING #3 TEMPTATION NUDE CVR (MR) $7.99
JUL161416 RAVENING #3 WRAP CVR (MR) $5.99
JUL161424 RAVENING #3 WRAP NUDE CVR (MR) $7.99
The '90s never left, they just moved down the list a bit.

MAY161831 BACK ISSUE #91 $8.95
Ninety-one issues! That's like a 1/3 TCJ lifespan.

JUL161754 ARAB OF THE FUTURE GRAPHIC MEMOIR SC VOL 02 1984-1985 $26.00
This week's prestige offering, the kind of book that wins tons of awards in the French-language market and thus should at least be considered primetime book-club reading material in English-speaking countries. You can tell by how many press photos there are of the author. I love the way the character designs look; the character designs feel like the end of a conversation.

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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 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.

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