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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AUG151477 SOLDIERS HEART TP WWII VETERAN DAUGHTERS MEMOIR $39.99
I very much enjoyed this work in the three different volumes that allowed its subject matter -- since deceased -- to participate in the dialogue about and initial reception of the book. I hope that this helps the bulk of folks out there to see Carol Tyler, a vastly under-appreciated cartoonist, with different eyes, but if it's only a few converts I'l be happy with that as well.

JUL150113 USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA LTD ED HC VOL 05 $79.99
JUL150112 USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA TP VOL 05 $24.99
If your tastes correspond to my own, you'll want some version of Stan Sakai's sprawling adventure comic in your library. This latest burst of collection is one way to do it. I collected these in serial comic book form, although I'm pretty much convinced by now that trades of some sort was probably the way to go.

SEP150179 DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 $5.99
SEP150841 CHEWBACCA #4 $3.99
SEP150830 DARTH VADER #13 VDWN $3.99
SEP150746 SILK #1 $3.99
SEP150686 VENOM SPACE KNIGHT #1 $3.99
SEP150027 ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST #12 $3.50
SEP150064 GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #11 $3.99
SEP150597 SAGA #31 (MR) $2.99
SEP150036 HELLBOY BPRD 1953 WITCH TREE RAWHEAD BLOODY BONES $3.50
SEP150057 ITTY BITTY HELLBOY SEARCH FOR THE WERE-JAGUAR #1 $2.99
There's a range of noteworthy comic books out this week. Surely the new Dark Knight is the noteworthy book today in terms of what is likely to sell through stores and generate feature articles, most of which probably won't question the narrative that Frank Miller himself has been questioning about what may be the extremely limited extent of his authorship. I have zero interest in any creator other than Frank Miller, Klaus Janson or Lynn Varley working this corner of the DC Universe, and that it's a corner of the DC Universe is another thing that makes it less interesting. I do have some interest in Miller and Janson doing the Atom comic that accompanies this publication, and I'm interested in the clash between the backlash/disinterest in Miller these days vs. the market's ability to help manufacture a big hit. People want to be told what comic to buy these days, which ones count, and DC isn't doing so many issues (as was the case with Before Watchmen that any sort of consumer ennui is likely to set in just as issues accrue. The other comics out? A pair of Star Wars that shows Marvel is still stewarding that one pretty well with the movie coming out; some folks thought they would fade super-quickly. Marvel is still relaunching titles post Secret Wars, so here's a pair of those. I will one day catch up with the Elfquest and will later today buy the Groo. Saga is another book that will drag in a lot of fans, including college-age kids that might buy it at the home shop instead of the college one. And then there's Hellboy, always Hellboy.

OCT151542 GLANCE BACKWARD HC (MR) $19.99
AUG150458 GIL KANE UNDERSEA AGENT HC $17.99
I'm not sure that I would have remember the stand-alone A Glance Backward but I had bookmarked its direct sales page a few days ago. That's the kind of book on which Jog can do a whole graph. The promising Undersea Agent book isn't a story about Gil Kane deep-sea diving for the US government -- although that would clearly be the greatest graphic novel ever -- but work from Kane during his Tower period. I remember that stuff being super-handsome but also looking as if it was super quickly drawn.

JUN151450 CROGAN ADVENTURES COLOR GN VOL 02 LAST OF THE LEGION $17.99
I haven't seen the color Crogan book other than to hold one in front of author Chris Schweizer and go, "Hey, this look nice." I'm a fan of the series and think Schweizer's work holds color pretty darn well, so I can't imagine I'll be without them for too long.

JUN151306 ETERNAUT HC $39.99
This is one of those miracles of publishing and the reason I will always be glad for Fantagraphics as long as its around: a 350+ page collection of Hector German Oesterheld's and Francisco Solano Lopez's mid-century, futuristic adventure serial. It's considered one of the greats of Argentinian comics and one of the great genre books ever, period. It was Lopez's career-maker, for sure, and to have a fancy version of it available for libraries and readers is a dream come true.

AUG151941 ART OF ALFREDO ALCALA SECRET TEACHINGS OF COMIC BOOK MASTER $14.95
JUL151216 ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ HC $39.99
Here's two art books, a category from which comes many a fine holiday present. The Alcala is the one to which Heidi MacDonald once upon a time, I remember liking that earlier edition. Jose Ganzalez is best known for being the signature Vampirella artist for a while but had one of those lengthy careers a little bit all over the place. I'd look at both for sure.

SEP150893 WILL EISNER CHAMPION OF THE GRAPHIC NOVEL HC $40.00
This one I already own, and am reading over Thanksgiving weekend. I'm not sure we needed another treatment of Eisner for a while, but if we were only going to have one of this kind of book, my money would be on Levitz to make the one I got the most from reading. Eisner remains relevant but not current, foundational for an entire tradition of doing comics but not anyone's flavor of the month. That makes it a perfect time to make your arguments about how he should be read and remembered moving forward.

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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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