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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FEB150412 WALLY WOOD EC COMICS ARTISAN ED TP $49.99
MAY150426 TIM GINGER TP (MR) $19.99
This week is a bit all over the place, which would make for a fun 45 minutes or so exploring the new books around the store. IDW has a strong week with a number title. Two that jump out at me right away are a Wally Wood book in their other "AE" format, the "Artisan" Edition, which means high end reproduction and the closest to the original publication as possible even if that doesn't mean all the kind of complete color xerox of original that you get with Artists Editions. Wood's an important artist, though, and I wonder sometimes if he isn't one of those whose subject matters is so 20th Century that we're seeing our last flashes of interest in his career. The other IDW book is from their Top Shelf imprint, which functions as a separate publisher in terms of presentation to the Direct Market. Tim Ginger is Julian Hinshaw's book set in New Mexico, which is almost always a fun place to see depicted visually.

APR150985 IT WILL ALL HURT #2 (MR) $8.00
MAY150066 ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST #10 $3.50
MAY150652 MAGNETO #20 SWA $3.99
MAY150015 MIND MGMT #35 $3.99
MAY150212 GRAYSON #10 $3.99
MAY150178 SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #12 $3.99
MAY150170 PREZ #2 $2.99
MAY150550 WOLF #1 (MR) $4.99
APR150874 ALL NEW HAWKEYE #4 $3.99
The serial comic books also seem scattered. When I'm in a comic store and I don't see one of the big-hitters or one of my personal favorites, I drift a bit and there's plenty of opportunity to do that here. No one's in a better drawing place than Farel Dalrymple and I encourage you to buy everything he's doing right now including this print edition of his on-ling Studygroup effort. The last Elfquest series is up to double-digits, the Magneto titles is nearly two full years' worth of monthly comics in and Mind MGMT is up to issue #35... I mention books like that because you hear about them and never buy them and suddenly they're performing month-in, month-out in a way you occasionally want to poke in and see what's going on. Here's three from DC: Grayson was one of the sleeper hits for the company before its recent course/title correction, Sensation Comics runs in counterpoint to the regular and sometimes controversial Wonder Woman title, with an on-line first component, and Prez was one of the more enthusiastically received of this latest wave. I'd likely take a look at all three. Wolf is your higher-than-usual profile Image debut of the month, and All New Hawkeye remind you it's still out there even as we all begin to finish up the Fraction/Aja/Hollingsworth version of the character.

APR150316 FABLES TP VOL 22 (MR) $17.99
I believe this is the last one, in a form that seems like it would be the way folks encounter it, with its appeal to fantasy prose readers and this being a nice way for a library to offer the work. There was a point about five years ago where this series seemed drastically under appreciated in terms of its marketplace and fan achievements, but it seems like the publishers and its fan base have taken care of some of those deficiencies since. I liked my occasional drop-ins into the work just fine even though it's not for the reader I am now; I probably would have been a much more devoted reader at a different time in my life for sure. It also feels like the end of an era a bit in terms of these sprawling, ambitious series at the big companies, but that might have ended a long while ago.

MAR150346 ERIC POWELLS THE GOON CHINATOWN ARTIST ED HC PI
A third IDW book of interest, Eric Powell's well-liked Goon comics given Artists Edition form. That should be really attractive, plus it seems timely in that the series is due some reconsideration overall. These don't get enough penetration to force a full investigation back into work, but it can get a few fans excited again and people in general taking another look.

MAY151683 AWKWARD GN $11.00
MAY151684 AWKWARD GN HC $24.00
This is a near-250 page dose of original comics work from Svetlana Chmekova of Dramacon, as good a pick in the pool of potential break out stars as she is arguably the kind of creator that doesn't deserve to have potential anywhere near her name at this point. It's a middle-school comedy.

FEB151464 BABY SITTERS CLUB COLOR ED GN VOL 01 KRISTYS GREAT IDEA $10.99
I'm guessing Scholastic saw a few slots on the bestsellers charts that didn't have Raina Telgemeier's name on them and decided that this had to be rectified. That sound snotty, but it makes perfect sense to have new editions of earlier work from an author that has since become this powerfully popular. I don't think this work is as good as the work derived from the author's own experience, but I have to imagine there are enough Telgemeier fans out there that will be happy to have more work from a favorite artist no matter how people might compare them.

MAY151509 ZENITH HC PHASE FOUR $25.00
I lost track of how this project was coming out around 1974 or so, but it's one of the key superhero texts from its time period and occasionally quite fun.

MAY151359 FANTE BUKOWSKI GN $12.99
MAY151645 SUNNY HC VOL 05 $22.99
Someone pointed out that Noah Van Sciver's portrait of a loud, unpleasant, pretentious snob is funnier if you imagine it being the quiet, thoughtful and seemingly egoless TCJ editor Tim Hodler, an approach I like because it's actually a vastly vastly more obscure experience than the vaguely obscure one that is simply reading the book as text. Van Sciver can tell a joke on the page and is kind of endlessly fussy and prolific in a way his comics pulsate with life and an eagerness to please that was more familiar to series comic books of a generation ago. It's a good looking presentation, too. Sunny is Taiyo Matsumoto's slice-of-life stories of orphans where an earlier volume was a semi-surprise Cartoonist Studio Prize winner over at Slate. I like the weird energy that comes when a powerful cartoonist, frequently given over to very dramatic presentations of tableaux, tries to slow things down and capture ephemeral moments of emotion and life as observed. It's the best mainstream manga out this week, at least to my eye. There's at least one more volume to go.

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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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