This Isn’t A Library: Notable Releases Into The 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.

*****

FEB140088 ELTINGVILLE CLUB #1 $3.99
I'm all for comic-book format comics, I'm all for humor comics, and I'm all for Evan Dorkin doing comics, so this new effort kind of wraps three of the dozen or so things I like about comics into one place. This and the Mimi Pond book are by far the items that would get me into a comics shop today, so I'll but them top and bottom for the biggest art in this post. Dorkin's done a lot of comics recently, but not as many where he also provide the art, and I enjoy his art quite a bit.

DEC130134 SOMEPLACE STRANGE HC $19.99
I barely remember this in its Marvel iteration, which has to be 25 years ago now, but I'm always happy to look at anything Ann Nocenti writes and/or John Bolton draws -- even younger versions of same. I think this is action-adventure fantasy, although as Marvel was involved (this new one is from Dark Horse) I wouldn't be surprised if there was a superhero element in there somewhere.

FEB140084 CONAN THE AVENGER #1 $3.50
Dark Horse has done a pretty good job across the board with the last several years' worth of Conan comics. I don't always enjoy them, but I think 12-year-old me would just about every time out. This seems to be the latest, and it looks like overlapping, uniquely named mini-series may be their publishing strategy with the character in the near future. He's a slightly difficult to do right now, I think, because he's so unchanging that it can be hard to find a character arc if you're used to writing that way.

DEC130136 EC ARCHIVES WEIRD FANTASY HC VOL 01 $49.99
This is another Dark Horse effort, part of their ongoing and concurrent to Fantagraphics and their author-based-b&w reprinting series. I like the Dark Horse reprintings generally, although I'm mostly familiar with the obscure golden age comics component of that line as opposed to the Archie or EC material they're doing. I know there were some complaints a few years back about reproductive quality, but I haven't heard anything negative like that in a long while.

JAN140496 ROCKETEER SPIRIT PULP FRICTION HC $21.99
This is from IDW's stewardship of the Dave Stevens character, here paired up with Will Eisner's proto superhero/maked adventurer. I haven't seen this, but my memory is they use pretty first-rate artists -- artists that no doubt are giving their best effort given the characters' creative pedigree -- and I'd be happy to flip through on in a comics shops sometime.

OCT130486 DISTANT SOIL TP VOL 02 THE ASCENDANT $16.99
This is one of the expensive-to-produce re-publications of artist Colleen Doran's signature work from the one creator/one series era of comics, far, far, far away in the rearview window now. The work probably reads more modern than that, considering how her influences only become greater influences in comics as a whole as the years have continued on.

FEB148226 WALKING DEAD #117 3RD PTG (MR) $2.99
FEB140645 WALKING DEAD #126 (MR) $2.99
I'll note the third printing of a recent Walking Dead comic with a new issue coming out to remind myself that not all companies and creators try to keep individual comics in print given that we're in a trade paperback oriented world in a lot of ways. I almost like seeing the comic book buyers served this way. I believe the issue with the higher number is the last of the "All Out War" storyline -- a grandly conceived, accelerated-publishing project that title's done.

FEB140678 ELEKTRA #1 ANMN $3.99
FEB148095 CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 2ND PTG LOPEZ VAR ANMN $3.99
FEB140705 DAREDEVIL #2 ANMN $3.99
FEB148096 FANTASTIC FOUR #2 2ND PTG KIRK VAR ANMN $3.99
FEB140733 FANTASTIC FOUR #3 ANMN $3.99
FEB140707 IRON PATRIOT #2 ANMN $3.99
FEB148098 MS MARVEL #2 2ND PTG MCKELVIE VAR ANMN $2.99
That is a lot of titles at or near #1, and I'm never sure if that means there's a greater chance that they'll fail to click with audiences or not. I can't imagine that Marvel comics fans always have 40 or 50 more dollars to commit to new series. I suppose we'll see if one or two get canceled pretty quickly, although it's extremely hard to tell when a company leaves sales on the table. Depending on how you count, Marvel's done somewhere between four and eight series starring Elektra, although this looks to be the first serious effort to do an ongoing in more than 10 years. If it hits.

FEB140657 ORIGINAL SIN #0 $4.99
This is the next Marvel crossover event, this time dealing with a dead Watcher, and the secrets his eyeballs hold, which I'm going to guess is stuff like Tony Stark making out with Jane Foster between old Journey Into Mystery panels. Well, I can hope, anyway.

JAN140811 THOR BY WALTER SIMONSON TP VOL 05 $29.99
Marvel's book program is sort of a mess, and is a major disaster as much as I might be a typical customer -- I can't tell what's out or what format is the best or in many cases if something stands a chance of being collected past the volumes I already have. I do like how much they seem to value the Walt Simonson 1980s Thor book no matter what format they're using.

OCT131038 FRANK THORNE RED SONJA ART ED HC $150.00
Frank Thorne's art is gorgeous, even when the comics they're in drift towards being awful.

DEC130958 BLEEDING COOL MAGAZINE #9 (MR) $4.99
I always respect the fact that Rich Johnston and company still pursue print.

MAR141132 OVER EASY HC (MR) $24.95
This is Mimi Pond's stand-alone memoir of her post art school days working in an Oakland cafe and, as mentioned above, one of two major reasons to hit a comics shop this week. I enjoyed how she balanced affection for those people and that time with a lack of sentimentality concerning its seedier or even its boring aspects.

*****

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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posted 5:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

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