This Isn’t A Library: 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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FEB150411 JACK KIRBY KAMANDI ARTIST ED HC VOL 01 PI
Leave it to IDW to have the most anticipated book of the week and have it be something that's around four decades old in terms of the material in it. I cna't imagine this collection of several issues of Jack Kirby's post-apocalyptic, "not just talking apes" movie on paper fails to deliver in its original art form. If you had told me ten years ago about these books being done and asked me to consider it for a few hours and come back with three sets of comics I wanted to see treated that ways (oversized, color Xeroxes of black and white art), Kamandi would have been on my list. So look forward to spending several summers where flipping this grand thing open is a part of it.

APR151504 BLUBBER #1 $3.99
APR150668 SAGA #29 (MR) $2.99
APR150684 WALKING DEAD #142 (MR) $2.99
MAR158545 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 HENDERSON 3RD PTG VAR $3.99
MAR158546 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #2 HENDERSON 3RD PTG VAR $3.99
MAR158547 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #3 HENDERSON 2ND PTG VAR $3.99
MAR158548 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #4 HENDERSON 2ND PTG VAR $3.99
APR150953 RACHEL RISING #34 $3.99
It's an interesting week for comics. The belle of the ball on this short list is a new comic book by Gilbert Hernandez I didn't even know was coming out until I heard a rumor and asked Gilbert and he gave me a copy of this book. Some of Gilbert's best work has been wilder, short material done in the comic book format, so this one has a high bar to meet. Beto rarely disappoints. The Saga and Walking Dead books are to major players of right now in genre comics; I read both. If you wanted to pick up and catch up with the Squirrel Girl comics Marvel has been doing -- I know a ten year old that likes them very much -- this seems like it might be a good week to do so. And finally, I keep meaning to catch up with Rachel Rising, now 34 issues in! This will probably be that week.

MAR150864 ISLAND OF MEMORY GN VOL 01 (MR) $11.95
This is Todd Bak's first attempted at collected naturalist comics, and was one of my favorites when I bought it. If our tastes are alike, I bet you'll like it, too. One thing where you might break with me is this seems very much like a part of a larger work, and you can never tell with artist-directed work the likelihood of seeing that work completed. I also don't know what kind of release this is, because I read this a looonng time ago.

DEC141549 TERRY & PIRATES GEORGE WUNDER YEARS HC VOL 02 1948-1949 $60.00
This is likely to be gorgeous according to my memory of George Wunder's work. Unfortunately, my memor doesn't remember enjoy an unlimited number of the storylines in the post-Caniff Terry. I would find a place on my library shelf if I could afford it, though, for sure.

JAN150364 BATGIRL HC VOL 01 THE BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE (N52) $24.99
DEC148636 BATGIRL TP VOL 01 THE BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE (N52) $14.99
MAR150313 WAKE TP (MR) $17.99
MAR150527 EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR $14.99
FEB150070 BPRD 1946 - 1948 HC $34.99
FEB150099 GRIP STRANGE WORLD OF MEN HC $19.99
Solid week for series trades and stand-alones taht remind me of series trades. Those first three represent two heavy hitters of the New 52 era, the third of which is the rare modern Vertigo story that seemed to penetrate into a broader version of public awareness. East Of West continues to grow on me. Even though I collect it in comics form, writer Jonathan Hickman as a longstanding love affair with trade design.

MAR151354 ADVENTURES OF TAD MARTIN #SICK SICK SIX $6.66
I'm going to assume this is the continuation of the Caliber comics from the early to mid 1990s and then I'm going to go straight to bed because the thought that this is the first I'm hearing about it has broken my heart. I went looking and found this sympathetic Brian Nicholson review. And now I want this comic.

MAR150866 SECRET VOICE #2 (MR) $8.00
MAR150869 TITAN #1 (MR) $4.95
MAR150865 IT WILL ALL HURT #1 (MR) $8.00
Three comics from Study Group Comic Books, from three talented comics-makers: Francois Vigneault, Zack Soto and Farel Dalrymple in order. In a perfect world -- for me, screw you -- these would be solid citizens in a diverse, fascinating world of physical comic book format comics. As it is, these are the first books Study Group has released through traditional Direct Market distribution. Of the three I'm only really familiar with the Soto work, which is fussy and frustrating a bit as Soto feels a bit unsettled in how he wants to work, but overall fun.

OCT140403 ABSOLUTE TRANSMETROPOLITAN HC VOL 01 (MR) $125.00
I was never the audience for this comics, now a full generation or more in the rear view window. I'm going to imagine that if it's printed in even the same neighborhood of the original comics that this will make quite the attractive fancy edition.

APR151309 TOWERKIND GN $15.00
This is well-liked small press work -- apparently amenable to all-ages -- now smartly collected by Conundrum, a publisher that's had consistently good taste in its recent publishing lifetime. It seems well-described here.

APR151165 BLEEDING COOL MAGAZINE #17 (MR) $5.99
All respect to Rich Johnston and his employers, keeping it alive in print.

APR151491 MIKES PLACE TRUE STORY LOVE BLUES TERROR IN TEL AVIV GN (MR) $22.99
I read this book, about a cosmopolitan blues club in Tel Aviv that suffers a terrorist attack as a filmmaker is trying to figure out things about the place that don't necessarily have much to do with that kind of dramatic bloodshed. I thought one thing it did pretty well was stayed patient so that the more intense acts of the last third of the book played out as both an evil and a banal act. I'm surprised by the price point; patient or not, it doesn't loom as a large book in my memory.

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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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