Free Comic Book Day
Thank you all who came out on either Friday night or Saturday for Free Comic Book Day this last weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed the books they got and anything they picked up in our sales.
Our overall sales were pretty good and the conversation I had at the D&D Friday was great…
Drink and Draw is Thursday
Speaking of Drink and Draw, our regular event is this Thursday the 9th at 8:00.
Our “ingredient” this month – what we are drawing while drinking – is whom else would you like to see in the Iron Man armor.
Remember, Drink and Draw is not just for artists. You can just be a comic enthusiast and looking for some good comic book conversation.
DC in need of a shake-up?
So, can we just call it good -or in this case bad- and have Wally West wake up having had a REALLY bad nightmare and say good bye to DC’s grand new 52 experiment? I say this whole heartedly as a retailer and not as a former fan of these great characters.
The sales figures for April were released and DC’s slow slide is marked by their lowest point in some time. The retail market share claimed by them was just under 26% (compared to Marvel’s near 38% and the somewhat surprising continued growth of Image, up to just over 9%. Yes, that is over one third of DC. ONE THIRD!!)
Why is this so terrible for DC? Well, after month two of the New 52, DC was at an obviously unsustainable 52% and though this grand scheme, er, idea perpetrated on the comic public was supposed to bring in new readers – and has flatly not done this. If you are an old school reader of DC though, it is being made harder and harder to read ANY of it. It was supposed to change and modernize these “boring old has-beens”… and a year and a half after being forced on us, it is easy to say the management and editorial crew has failed us.
So, how do we fix this? Well, not much ‘we’ can do. Demanding the firing of the editor in chief is probably the best start. Bob Harras, the man responsible for Heroes Reborn is that Editor in Chief and I think a countdown is probably underway on his removal. You probably – unfortunately – won’t see Dan Diddio dumped. He has entrenched – or is a better word wormed – his way into the core of the company and it would take some firings in other places first, then when that doesn’t help, you could see his removal.
Either way, you aren’t going to see much change from them for most of the summer. They will get a bump from the Superman unfettered or uninhibited or whatever the chained book is called. But when their competition has a single writer with more books in the top ten’s sales figures than your entire company does, uh, yeah, DC, you might have a problem.
Stupid Superman stuff found on the internet
I’m on a role on my hate-on for DC, so, let’s move on to their parent company, Warner Bros.
Do you need another reason other than the trailer you hopefully haven’t seen to dislike Man of Steel? Well, I have a site for you!! Io9 had a major spoiler from the upcoming movie and if you are a fan of the character, you may want to see it before you make up your mind to see it. Click here IF you want to see.
Yes, I don’t/won’t see this abomination in the eyes of Jor-el, but it could have been worse. There is even more pics and info filtering out about Superman Lives! …the one with Nic Cage. Here is a link to another Io9 story with concept art and story ideas for the villains of that movie. Marvel at the horror. If you are not totally retching, then here is more including pics of Cage in the suit. Thor almighty, that is so awfully bad. Almost as bad as the new costume. Does anyone in whorey-wood even read comic books?
And finally, why am I so mad at DC, what is it really? It comes down to underpants, red underpants. Here is a history of the war on those red underpants.
Ronnie’s best bet this week:
The first release from Black Mask Studios, this is being released alongside Ghostface’s new album of the same name, and which is the soundtrack to the story. Having listened to the record a few times, and loving it (listening to it as I type this), I am pretty excited for this. If the record is any indication, this will be a highly developed story of betrayal and beyond the grave revenge, all set in Italy’s organized crime world.
The early reviews of the first issue have been really strong, and featuring the art of Breno Tamura, Gus Storms, Kyle Strahm, Joe Infurnari, along with future issues by Francesco Francavilla, Jim Mahfood, Ron Wimberly, Paolo Rivera and Riley Rossmo, all some of my favorite artists, all doing new things in the comic world.
And since Wu-Tang is headlining 80/35 this year, maybe you’ll get a chance to get this signed.
Check out the trailer here to get a taste:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q6NrwwNoMM
May Previews Review
Once again, the new Previews catalog is in. These things just keep on coming, seemingly earlier and earlier. Orders for this one are due Monday, May 20th.
Here are some of the things I found interesting that will be released in July.
Smoke/Ashes – pg 52
This will collect another one of those Kickstarter success stories, but this success story had a huge amount of drama surrounding it. I won’t get into that here, all that gossip is readily available online.
What I do want to point out is that this Eisner Nominated series by Alex de Campi will feature the art of such varied names as Igor Kordey, Carla Speed McNeil, Bill Sienkiewicz, Richard Pace, Collen Doran and Dan McDaid, as well as covers from Len O’Grady and Tomer Hanuka.
A political thriller series, it follows the adventures of a journalist who works to expose corruption in the English ruling class, and getting way over her head when she and her assassin friend become targets of a powerful cabal trying to control the nation’s oil.
This will be released in hardcover for $60 and softcover for $30, but at 424 pages, that is a really good deal, especially considering the caliber of talent involved.
Sin Titulo – pg 57
This will collect the web comic by Cameron Stewart, whose art has been all over many of my favorite comics over last number of years, working on The Other side, Batman and Robin, and Catwoman.
Said to be a mystery thriller, it tells the story of a young man who finds a mysterious photograph left behind by his grandfather. He sets off to figure out what it is, which sets off a big chain of events.
This will be the first time I will have read Stewart’s writing, but if it’s half as good as his art, this will be great.
Star Wars #7/Trade Paperback Vol 1 – pg 68/69
Ryan Kelly (Saucer Country) is taking over the art for this series with issue #7. He has done much work with Brian Wood before, my favorite being Local. These two know how to work together really well, so I am looking forward to this.
If you haven’t jumped on board with this well-loved series yet, the first trade is getting released also. This will collect the first 6 issues, as well as the Free Comic Book Day issue that flew outta the shop last weekend so fast that even I didn’t get a chance to grab one.
But if you don’t want to wait for the trade, all the issues are available for order. We are going to try and keep them in stock for as long as we can.
Collider #1 – pg 143
So maybe Vertigo comics ain’t dead yet? This will be another of their series debuting this summer. What caught my eye about this one was the awesome cover by Nathan Fox (Fluorescent Black), one of the best artists out there right now. He’s just doing the covers, but the interiors will be done by Robbi Rodriguez, who hasn’t been published much, but I have been following his awesome art for quite a while on the site Ashcan All-Stars, you should hunt down his recent Abe Sapien drawing. I am really interested to see what this guy can do monthly.
This will be written by Simon Oliver, and is about a world where the laws of physics started to evolve and change. Slowly at first, but now seems to be speeding up dramatically. Special Agent Hardy with the Federal Bureau of Physics is now trying to figure out what’s going on, before it’s too late.
The Death of Haggard West – pg 322
Ahh, Paul Pope, easily one of my favorite artists and writers in comics. If you’ve never checked this guy out before, this $3 issue will be a great chance to get a taste. This will be the first chapter to the way anticipated Battling Boy, a graphic novel Pope has been teasing for at least 3 years.
Battling Boy is what Pope is calling a new superhero for the 21st century, which is the son of a war god and tasked with protecting a ravaged earth from monsters. The OGN is reportedly going to be two volumes of Pope’s crazy sci-fi pulp. This preview issue is 32 pages and shows the death of Haggard West, the last of the vigilante heroes.
One of the most creative artists out there, Pope’s heavy ink lines are popping up as a major influence on many of the new artists we are seeing today, especially among a lot of the Image titles coming out today.
Man, we just got the One Trick Rip-Off earlier this year, now Battling Boy later this year. Now if only we can get a collection of THB sometime….
That’s some of the cool stuff in the May Previews. Again, if you haven’t had a chance get in and look at the catalog.
This week I am gonna pick up 12 Reasons to Die #1, Batman #20, Batman and Red Hood #20 and Harbinger #12. For my youngster’s, I am gonna grab Spongebob Comics #20 and Star Wars #5.
What are you gonna grab?
