This Isn’t A Library: Notable Releases To The Comics 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.

*****

DEC121115 GOOD DOG HC $16.99
Hey, it's a new Graham Chaffee book. We haven't seen one in years and years. I'd make some clever wisecrack about this being a stand-alone graphic novel and the former being something that wasn't, but we're at a stage now where even the people that reappear after a decade-plus were working in that format before they booked. It's the story of a dog, and Chaffee does dogs very well as you might remember from "The Most Important Thing." If you go to the comics shop to buy stand-alone work from quality creators, you can buy this and go home.

APR130986 IN KITCHEN WITH ALAIN PASSARD INSIDE WORLD OF MASTER CHEF $16.95
You can buy this, too, actually. New Christophe Blain should be a big deal for comics lovers -- it's a significant event for a growing number of them, anyway. This is a journalistic-style piece which involved the cartoonist observing the Chef in the title while that man was at work. It should be very intriguing to see how Blain's style is employed here. It's not a style I'd think of when I'd think of documenting something.

SEP120255 ABSOLUTE TOP TEN HC $99.99
FEB130225 WATCHMEN THE DELUXE ED HC $39.99
JAN130115 STAR WARS OMNIBUS WILD SPACE TP VOL 01 $24.99
A bunch of Alan Moore, including his career-defining work in a new format -- I think I'm perfectly happy with my old one, but I get it -- the best of his later run of superhero comics, and I think a smattering of Star Wars things in the volume mentioned. Double-check on that one if you're interested in buying solely for that reason, but I believe there's some work of his in there for Marvel UK.

MAR130473 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR A EISMA (MR) [DIG] $3.99
MAR138122 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR B FRISON (MR) $3.99
MAR138123 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR C GUILLORY (MR) $3.99
MAR138124 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR D MARTINBROUGH (MR) $3.99
MAR138125 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR E MCKELVIE (MR) $3.99
MAR138126 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR F PITARRA (MR) $3.99
MAR138127 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR G RIOS (MR) $3.99
MAR138128 MORNING GLORIES #27 CVR H WARD (MR) $3.99
Someone's getting a soft re-launch. I never understand what the fuck is going on in these comics, and I sort of like it just for that reason. It's like talking to a friend that's decided you and she will only speak in gerunds and seeing how long you can keep it up.

FEB130492 X-MEN #1 NOW $3.99
MAR130950 ADVENTURE TIME ANNUAL #1 $4.99
MAR130048 BPRD VAMPIRE #3 $3.50
MAR130026 KING CONAN HOUR O/T DRAGON #1 $3.50
MAR130253 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #1 $3.99
MAR130295 WAKE #1 (MR) $2.99
These are the other standard-format comic books of an adventuresome, perhaps even costumed variety that leap out at me today. The X-Men is the Brian Wood all-female version. The Adventure Time strikes me as a way you might sample those books without a strenuous commitment. I'm not a reader, but there are some fun people that work on those books. The two genre books from Dark Horse come from two product areas that seem to be working for them: Mike Mignola and Conan. I would imagine the Superman book is most appealing for its Jeff Parker/Chris Samnee effort. And Wake is I believe Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy doing an honest-to-god classic Vertigo series. Enjoy that while it lasts.

MAR131155 ASTRONAUT ACADEMY RE ENTRY GN $9.99
MAR131157 ODD DUCK GN $15.99
These are the kids books that leap out at me this week, although I'm not sure if one or both of them has already been offered through the shops. They seem to come out way earlier than other books in review form because of the various outlets for writing on work like that. The Odd Duck one might be of interest for its pairing of Cecil Castellucci and Sara Varon, both of whom had previous comics work with a number of fans. My memory is that that one is offbeat and charming.

NOV121173 CAT ON A HOT THIN GROOVE TP $35.00
Primetime Gene Deitch and the kind of clearing out of a corner of comics' great attic that Fantagraphics seems to do so very well these days.

MAR131224 JOURNALISM TP $22.00
I thought this along with Dal Tokyo and the Chris Ware was the book of last year, Joe Sacco's collection -- with smart introductory work -- of a bunch of not-exactly-long-form non-fiction pieces that lets you compare and contrast how his style and approach change subject to subject. I've read it like 10 times. If you don't have one, buy one.

JAN130812 LIO TP VOL 02 MAKING FRIENDS $9.99
I always enjoy looking at these books when I get them. This is one of those strips I've never happened to see in a paper, though. That's weird only in that it's my understanding that it's pretty successful.

APR130995 OBITUARY MAN GN (MR) $15.00
This book at the Blain and the CF would be the ones I'd gravitate towards if I were looking at my stop in the comics shop as a chance to explore cartoonists that I liked but of whose specific works I was only dimly aware. This is Philippe Girard, and I guess the plot hinges on the very nice high-concept of a man that benefits from speaking at strangers' funerals. Or that's close to it, anyway. I'd love to see one in the shop.

MAR131187 TOMMYSAURUS REX GN VOL 01 $10.99
MAR131188 TOMMYSAURUS REX HC VOL 01 $19.99
I don't know if this is a re-release or re-publication of the Doug TenNapel work, but I bet this is the most popular of his many graphic novels of recent vintage. I would love to see someone smart and engaged write about TenNapel's graphic novels, because I don't always have a natural grasp for what he's doing and I think there's something interest about his displayed facility.

OCT121242 JEFFREY JONES DEFINITIVE REFERENCE HC $39.95
NOV121346 JEFFREY JONES DEFINITIVE REFERENCE SC (MR) $24.95
MAR131449 SUPERMAN HIGH FLYING HISTORY SC $17.00
APR131376 BOYS OF STEEL THE CREATORS OF SUPERMAN YR HC $16.99
Books about comics, including two on the Superman myth one would guess were timed to show up around the same time as the Big Blue Boy Scout strides into theaters for another go-around there.

MAR131258 MERE GN (MR) $19.95
This is the latest CF book, a collections of various comics and proto-comics made in a months-long search for a specific quality of comics to emerge from various tweaks in how they were created. CF is a very interesting cartoonist.

*****

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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