New Comic Releases for the Week of 2-25-2015
We’re pleased to announce that Winston World was apparently a phenomenal success and will be back next year! Winston handed out tons of paw-to-graphs and attendance was through the roof! We’ll be sure to figure out a way to make it bigger and better next year.
Jim and I just got back from our yearly ComicsPro meeting in Portland Oregon, meeting with the best retailers and vendors in the industry, and walked away with many ways to improve the shop. We even gave a lecture ourselves on marketing and event planning in your comic shop. Here’s a link to our lecture overview along with links to things we did last year. www.cnjcomics.com/site/
Watch for a greater focus on small press suggestions from the staff with a focus on Image, Dark Horse, BOOM, and ONI titles. Ben’s also very pro Valiant lately, so be sure to go to him for info on their indie superhero titles. Look for the new comic small press wall to return to universal alphabetical order, not by company anymore.
Don’t think we’ve gone too Indie though, another focus will be on finally getting superhero level reader books in, so you can guise your kids reading with the appropriate level book.
Which leads us to this weeks featured new comic releases, starting with some Indie titles.
First up is the two punch hit of the Fade Out Graphic Novel and the Criminal Special Edition, both from Brubaker, Philips and Image Comics.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are at the top of their game when it comes to Crime Noir. Fade Out is their new graphic novel set during the golden era of Hollywood. Priced at only $9.99 too, like most of Image’s introductory collections.
For an even more reasonably priced book from the duo, you also got the $4.99 Criminal One Shot this week. It’s a self contained prison story set in 1976 with throw backs to creepy old 70’s horror magazines.
If your looking for back list graphic novels from this duo, check out the Sleeper Omnibus, or any of the Criminal, Incognito, or Fatale graphic novels. Comics shops are an incredible resource for crime noir and the subject is a staff favorite. (get Parker and Gotham Central too!)
Archie throws an impressive hat into the game, with The Black Hood #1.
Archie Superhero properties are coming back but this time they are definitely not for kids. Archie’s having a successful adult run with it’s zombie infused After Life With Archie and Sabrina, and they are going to the next level here. The new Black Hood is a pill popping, murdering cop and this book has a Punisher in the 90’s feel to it. Also with art by Cleveland’s Michael Gaydos, who drew Alias for Brian Michael Bendis over at Marvel. We look forward to more books like this from Archie. (a grindhouse inspired Archie/Predator is coming out and it looks incredible.) Their will also be a free comic book day book featuring their adult stuff in May. NOT FOR KIDS!
Next, BOOM’s giving us some all girl action with Curb Stomp #1.
Imagine the movie ‘The Warriors’ if it was all female gangs. Names like Fever-Machete Betty, Derby Girl, Bloody Mary, Daisy Chain, and Violet Volt lead the pack.
Vertigo’s got a new title this week too, with Suiciders #1.
Lee Bermejo, the spectacular painter responsible for JOKER, BATMAN: NOEL, and BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH. writes and draws this new post-apocalyptic story where warriors get drugged up and fight on live television. Worth a flip through at the table.
Back to the world of mainstream for the eagerly anticipated Spider-Gwen #1.
Written and drawn by the original creative team from the one shot, the run away hit character from Spider-Verse gets her own title. Amazing Spider-Man #15 is also out this week and it’s a epilogue to Spider-Verse.
The Thor Annual also has some pretty interesting content.
With three stories including King Thor by Jason Aaron, the new female Thor by LumberJanes’ Noel Stevenson (!); and the writing debut of CM PUNK with young Thor in a drinking contest! It’s also got three covers, all at cover price.
This past week we had a weird run in with the website www.sequart.org .They published an article about how “Amazon Killed the Comic Shop” but made the mistake of using a picture of our shop in the article. (they plucked it off the interweb) After what we felt was a legitimate apology, they offered to have us write an editorial reply. If you’ve got a second please check out that article here. We’re quite proud of it and of how it represents our industry. Amazon did not kill the comic shop!
In general we learned quite a few customers visit their website regularly, and most of the articles are quite good.
One final note, due to weather conditions, quite a few reorders are taking longer to get in than expected. (probably longer than ever before in our history. Point being, if any of our featured items interest you but are sold old, please inquire at the counter because more copies are likely on the way, just delayed. That pretty much goes for everything n the shop right now you can’t seem to find.
Be sure to stay warm yourself during this weather, and be sure to come out and see us at the shop!