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.

*****

FEB121067 ARE YOU MY MOTHER A COMIC DRAMA HC $22.00
One thing that's appealing about this new Alison Bechdel work is that other than it ostensibly being about her mother in contrast with her last major work's focus on her father, I know nothing about it. Another thing that's appealing is that Bechdel's in a creative place right now I don't have to know much about what she has planned to know that I want to check it out.

FEB121116 CROGANS LOYALTY HC $14.99
This is the third book in Chris Schweizer's series of historically-informed morality tales via extended family anecdote. I just read them: I enjoyed this one and the other two quite a bit. There's a feel to this book that's very appealing, something I think is the reward for the research and preparation work that Schweizer puts into these volumes.

FEB121149 BUT I REALLY WANTED TO BE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST GN $24.95
These are stylishly drawn, personal-observation cartoons from Margaux Motin, the art maybe distracting from the really fine line Motin straddles between "humor based on the kinds of things people really think about" and "please stop talking now."

MAR120040 BPRD HELL ON EARTH DEVILS ENGINE #1 (OF 3) $3.50
JAN128084 HELLBOY TP VOL 02 WAKE THE DEVIL (6TH PTG) $17.99
Two from the Mignola-verse. I've mentioned here that there are definitely people that have based their comics consumption on this material, either mainly or solely, but I sometimes wonder how many. Then I wonder why it isn't more. You could be perfectly happy, I bet, just buying these comics, the way that a comics reader could have been happy keeping themselves to the EC line in the early '50s or the Marvel line in the early '60s. The series effort above features artist Tyler Crook.

MAR121230 FLOWERS OF EVIL GN VOL 01 $10.95
This one's staring back at me right now, and I haven't taken the plunge. Jog's description here makes it sounds like a BBC comedy-drama as it might be shown on North American basic cable, the kind of thing where the execution of the basic premise is full of eye-popping moments for readers familiar with the basic soap-opera models on which it's based.

MAR120037 CONAN THE BARBARIAN #4 $3.50
MAR120033 RESET #2 (OF 4) $3.50
MAR128079 FATALE #1 5TH PTG (MR) $3.50
MAR120499 SAGA #3 (MR) $2.99
MAR120609 DAREDEVIL #13 $2.99
MAR120587 WINTER SOLDIER #5 $2.99
MAR120884 ADVENTURE TIME #4 $3.99
The Conan is Brian Wood and James Harren, and sounds pretty interesting if it approaches the kind of off-book treatment discussed here. Reset #2 is the second issue of Peter Bagge's latest effort, which makes it a must-buy for me. The next two are from Image's latest, high-profile efforts to feature new series work from established creative teams -- Brubaker/Phillips (for whom a fifth printing is good news) and Vaughan/Staples (a book that's delighting a lot of advance-readers for that kind of material, based on almost incremental story movement). The Daredevil and Winter Soldier comics get a pick-up and look-at based on reputation in the men-beating-each-other-up genre. The Adventure Time book is the indie/not-really-indie comic of the moment, drafting in the wake of the growing-in-popularity cartoon.

FEB120290 DEADENDERS TP (MR) $29.99
Whoa, there's a lot of Ed Brubaker on the list this week. This is a not-exactly-successful effort from early last decade, heavily -- albeit informally, mostly -- hyped at the time and probably possessed of sales figures that would more than warrant its continuation were it to be published today. Warren Pleece art.

MAR120398 COMPLETE CHESTER GOULDS DICK TRACY HC VOL 13 $39.99
This is your giant "I can't believe we get collections like this on a routine basis" book of the week.

MAR121180 BEST OF ENEMIES HIST OF US & MIDDLE EAST RELATIONS HC VOL 01 $24.95
New David B. on a weighty, worthy subject -- in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Filiu. It was hard for me to type anything past "David B." and not leave the computer to start driving to the nearest store that would have this -- probably about nine hours away, actually. But for the sake of this column, it's good to know that it's out and you should of course consider yourself super lucky if you shop in the kind of shop that carries a shelf copy. I'm also voting this the book that everyone references as the one they didn't get to reading as the year begins to slip away from them, like the Katchor last year.

*****

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 on me. I apologize.

*****



*****
*****
 
posted 6:00 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives