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.

*****

DEC121112 CHILDREN OF PALOMAR HC $22.99
You should go to your comic book shop and buy this. It's beautiful-looking, the stories are mysterious and cool, and Gilbert Hernandez is a flat-out great cartoonist: restless, confident and unsatisfied. This is like five regular-sized comic books in cost, too, which isn't much at all. I've re-read mine twice already. Children Of Palomar might have slightly more resonance for those of us that spent a significant amount of time before now reading stories about these characters and that place, but there's only jumping in the deep end with Beto, so don't be shy.

MAY131078 ANNA AND FROGA I DUNNO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO HC $14.95
I am a great fan of the look and feel of these children's comics from Anouk Ricard; I think they have a unique sensibility and some days 90 percent of what I want from comics is to be exposed to someone's idiosyncratic way of engaging the world.

JUN130030 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #110 $3.50
JUN130056 CONAN THE BARBARIAN #19 $3.50
JUN130029 LOBSTER JOHNSON SCENT OF LOTUS #2 $3.50
JUN130245 BATMAN 66 #2 $3.99
JUN130536 BOUNCE #4 (MR) [DIG] $2.99
JUN130557 REVIVAL #13 [DIG] $2.99
JUN138088 QUANTUM & WOODY #1 2ND PTG $3.99
JUN130628 DAREDEVIL #30 $2.99
JUN130626 INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #12 $3.99
JUN130920 ADVENTURE TIME #19 MAIN CVR $3.99
These are the serial comic-book comics that feature genre work that jumped out at me on the list this week. I'd probably buy two or three. Dark Horse offers up not one but two books from its Mike Mignola-driven comic book line; those are almost always solid. I haven't looked at the Conan work for a while, but they have featured interesting artists since re-numbering. The Batman 66 is one of those comics that I think should be for me until I read it and decide it's not for me, but I love that it exists and I want to go to the comic book shop where that is a top five seller. Bounce is the latest comic from Joe Casey, who is highly prolific right now in a way that's making for all sorts of weirdly interesting comics. Revival is one of those Image books that feels like it's right there in terms of steamrolling a bit, but one can also imagine it just kind of settling in where it rests right now. I enjoy that one when I see it, but I almost never see it. The Quantum & Wood comics are well-liked by people and apparently the rights situation is not horrific, so I'd look at it. I'm always interesting in catching up with superhero comics written by Mark Waid, although I tend to wait for later on. And Adventure Time remains the licensed-property comic of the moment, at least in my world of comics.

APR131166 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #200 SP ANNIVERSARY ED $8.99
APR131062 RED SONJA #80 (NOTE PRICE) $4.99
JUN130877 SIMPSONS COMICS #205 $2.99
JUN131226 SIXTH GUN #33 $3.99
JUN130044 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #27 (MR) $7.99
Here's a bunch of comics that caught my eye just for the high issue numbers. I would have guessed a little less than half for the Knights, and about 3/4 of the way there on the rest. The Dark Horse Presents having 27 issues is the one that fairly boggles my mind, to be honest with you. Although come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any of these new Red Sonja comic books.

JUN130880 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #9 (RES) $3.50
JUN130716 OUTLIERS #1 $5.00
Here are the two serial-style comic that I'd be most likely to buy, if I'm being completely honest about it. I'll buy anything Sergio Aragones does, and I've enjoyed this series of short stories from the cartoonist a great deal. I wish there were a similar comic book for every cartoonist of Aragones' stature. The Outliers book is an honest-to-god independently produced, narratively-driven, alt-comic book. It's a really pretty package. I believe Outliers was kickstarted a couple of years back, and I'm pretty certain the comic has been available in some stores through alternative distribution means -- or maybe just through the mail -- for a little while now. But new work from artists is what I go to the comic book shop to read, so Beto aside, this is the one I'd focus in on of all the comics listed here.

APR130028 NEXUS OMNIBUS TP VOL 03 $24.99
Nexus feels done, doesn't it? The way a band you liked as a teen seems done is the way Nexus feels a part of the past. For some reason, this makes me feel older than all of the usual things that make me feel older. But it's a nice bunch of comic books, with a lot of highlights for those willing to dig into one of the ways it was published and take a look. I still enjoy looking at them.

JUN131142 COMPLETE PEANUTS HC VOL 08 1965-1966 (NEW PTG) $29.99
I'm glad to see that Fantagraphics is keeping this material in print in this format. It's a type five comics work, and this volume is right in its prime time.

MAY131142 EC AL FELDSTEIN CHILD OF TOMORROW HC $28.99
MAR131164 EC JOHNNY CRAIG FALL GUY FOR MURDER HC $28.99
I'm loving these creator-driven collections of EC comics work, and the Johnny Craig has been my late-night reading for a few days now. He was just a super-solid comics maker, and the visual virtues are what I keep going to, in part because the stories can be cliched and ragged. Al Feldstein has been the subject of the slowest moving reconsideration of any artist ever, but I do think is reputation is twice what it was 20 years ago, so for that I'm glad.

MAY131140 GAHAN WILSON SUNDAY COMICS HC (RES) $29.99
APR131131 PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 07 1949-1950 $35.00
Here's how staggeringly and routinely great a certain kind of comics publishing is right now: these are two volumes that could make any best-of-year list of 10 items or less in 1999. They still might this year, but I think in a lot of the years 10-20 years ago they would have been a slam dunk, and for a large number of comics people they won't be paid attention to in the slightest.

MAY131285 AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES HC 1950S $40.95
MAY131427 CURING POSTMODERN BLUES READING MORRISON & WESTON FILTH SC $12.99
A pair of books worth picking up, at least to look at. I wasn't a reader of The Filth, so I'm probably out on that one, but I do enjoy Bill Schelly's thorough, measured approach to comics history -- that doesn't mean I always agree with the tone or conclusions, but I get a lot from them -- so anything new he has out is likely to be of interest: it's an era he does well, anyway.

APR130412 BERKELEYWORKS BREATHED BLOOM COUNTY & BEYOND HC $59.99
IDW has done an excellent, excellent job with re-presenting Berke Breathed to an audience of fans that was still very, very fond of him despite anecdotal evidence that might have suggested a bit of audience burn-out. I think they've also done a good job for themselves, if that makes any sense: the works seem to have all been at a price point that Breathed's fans are willing to pay that seem to make this a profitable part of the business for IDW. Anyway, I would totally flip through this, putting down other comics to do so, and I look forward to catching up to it at some point.

*****

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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