WHATS NEW HERE: DIRECT MARKET RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 13TH Comics are back! Or at least the Big 2 are doing well again. Figures released point to a $44.7 million Diamond haul, the biggest of any month since Febuary 2003. Half a year short of a full decade! The charge was lead by Marvel’s fight comic Avengers vs X-men, the third and the fourth issues of which moved 175,695 and 178,330 copies respectively.  The top 300 bestsellers list (numer 300 on the list, by comparison, moved around 5,000 copies, with the 300 comics combined being 7.3 million in number) forms something of a S&P 500 for “mainstream comics,” and this last month’s list beat May 2011’s by over 40 percent in both copies sold and sales revenue.   A few observations from the release: 1.) Gay superheros sell comics. Hence, the New 52 debut of Earth 2 moves 86k copies at number eleven on the list. It’s even beating the Flash! 2.) The highest-ranking non-DC/Marvel issue in May was Walking Dead #98, just shy of 50k issues moved in the 38th position. It’s also the only black and white series on the charts. 3.) The highest selling debut of an original story is at number 48, with the first issue of Dial H by China “Oh, you read contemporary faux-lit fantasy novels? You’ve probably heard of me” Mieville. Dial H, which in any other circumstance would probably be a Vertigo branded title, has been promoted under the main “DC” branding. Yet Karen Berger, aka Tha Comix Game Rick Rubin, is editing it! Must be Illuminati.  4.) 31,413 people pick up DC’s All Star Western. 5.) For those of you wondering, the Adventure Time comic is doing well at number 125 with 20,289 copies moved. That’s twice that of the Game of Thrones comic. There’s hope for our children yet. New comics. MASSIVE #1 by Kristian Donaldson, Brian Wood and Dave Stewart. Brian Wood’s new techno-thriller series at Dark Horse, which was previously being serialized in Dark Horse Presents, the spotty, uneven but usually adequately awesome monthly house anthology. This is the first issue in a three issue arch, of what is supposedly going to be a 30-issue series. But lookit that cover! It’s by Rafael Grampá. You know a comic is good when it has a cover by Rafael Grampá. MIND THE GAP #2 by Jim McCann, Rodin Esquejo, Francesco Francavilla and Sonia Oback. The solicited cover for this comic, which to me looks delightfully manga-esque, caught my eye when the first issue dropped last month. A girl is in a coma after being attacked in the subway, and she can’t remember her assailant. There’s a lesbian married couple in this comic! SIEGFRIED VOL 1 by Alex Alice. Part one of three, as translated from the French. Cursorily research says that this book, a Métal Hurlant-meets-Flight adaptation of the The Ring of the Nibelung, is the result of a stalled animated film project. Alice won a Spectrum award for fantasy art in comics, which was presented to him by Mike Mignola. A fine pedigree. KITCHEN PRINCESS OMNIBUS VOL 1 by Natsumi Ando,  Miyuki Kobayashi and assistants. I’ve never looked at or heard of this series before, but apparently it’s popular and well recieved enough to merit an “Omnibus” edition. I’m a huge sucker for the food-porn shojo genre, the queen of which is Fumi Yoshinaga. Not digging the art here, but I’m there for the cake recipes. THE LOXLEYS AND THE WAR OF 1812 by Alan Grant and Jean-Claude St. Aubin. A straightforward bit of historical fiction about that one a bunch of us Americans got hella drunk and decided to invade Canada. I don’t even think we got in trouble for that one! Apparently some Canadians remembered it though, and so here’s this comic. From what I’ve seen of it, it looks well written. That dog on the cover better be awesome though. Everyone else seems to be upset with what is probably their house burning down behind them, but the dog stands regal and unfazed. It knows where it’s going. PLANETOID #1  by  Ken Garing. Ahh, indie digital comics. The first issue of this new series was self-published on Graphicly before moving in with Image. The comic is an Orc Stain-style one man show, about a space marine surviving in an alien landscape. It’s a beaut to look at, and reviews of the self-published version of this point out its close kinship with the likes of Brandon Graham’s Prophet. KISS #1 by Nick Runge, Jamal Igle, Chris Ryall, and Shawn Lee. The Seventies, but now, inexplicably  in the 1920s. Look at those hats they are wearing! I looked at the four page preview of this, and at one point a guy experiences a vision of the future, specifically a vision of a brain-melting Kiss concert, before he gets flung through a flaming pentagram into unkown, hellish dimensions. I don’t know the mythology of the band’s discography, apocrypha or other related ephemera, yet I can’t look away. NEW YORK MON AMOUR by Jacques Tardi. Four short stories by the French Tardi set in New York City. The biggest thing about Tardi is his range, even within the confines of a single story. He can effortlessly move from silly, mannered humor to explosive, gruesome violence. Tarantino, if he had become a cartoonist, would have wished that he could be this guy.

WHATS NEW HERE: DIRECT MARKET RELEASES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 13TH



Comics are back! Or at least the Big 2 are doing well again. Figures released point to a $44.7 million Diamond haul, the biggest of any month since Febuary 2003. Half a year short of a full decade! The charge was lead by Marvel’s fight comic Avengers vs X-men, the third and the fourth issues of which moved 175,695 and 178,330 copies respectively.  The top 300 bestsellers list (numer 300 on the list, by comparison, moved around 5,000 copies, with the 300 comics combined being 7.3 million in number) forms something of a S&P 500 for “mainstream comics,” and this last month’s list beat May 2011’s by over 40 percent in both copies sold and sales revenue.  

A few observations from the release:

1.) Gay superheros sell comics. Hence, the New 52 debut of Earth 2 moves 86k copies at number eleven on the list. It’s even beating the Flash!

2.) The highest-ranking non-DC/Marvel issue in May was Walking Dead #98, just shy of 50k issues moved in the 38th position. It’s also the only black and white series on the charts.

3.) The highest selling debut of an original story is at number 48, with the first issue of Dial H by China “Oh, you read contemporary faux-lit fantasy novels? You’ve probably heard of me” Mieville. Dial H, which in any other circumstance would probably be a Vertigo branded title, has been promoted under the main “DC” branding. Yet Karen Berger, aka Tha Comix Game Rick Rubin, is editing it! Must be Illuminati. 

4.) 31,413 people pick up DC’s All Star Western.

5.) For those of you wondering, the Adventure Time comic is doing well at number 125 with 20,289 copies moved. That’s twice that of the Game of Thrones comic. There’s hope for our children yet.

New comics.


MASSIVE #1 by Kristian Donaldson, Brian Wood and Dave Stewart. Brian Wood’s new techno-thriller series at Dark Horse, which was previously being serialized in Dark Horse Presents, the spotty, uneven but usually adequately awesome monthly house anthology. This is the first issue in a three issue arch, of what is supposedly going to be a 30-issue series. But lookit that cover! It’s by Rafael Grampá. You know a comic is good when it has a cover by Rafael Grampá.


MIND THE GAP #2 by Jim McCann, Rodin Esquejo, Francesco Francavilla and Sonia Oback. The solicited cover for this comic, which to me looks delightfully manga-esque, caught my eye when the first issue dropped last month. A girl is in a coma after being attacked in the subway, and she can’t remember her assailant. There’s a lesbian married couple in this comic!

SIEGFRIED VOL 1 by Alex Alice. Part one of three, as translated from the French. Cursorily research says that this book, a Métal Hurlant-meets-Flight adaptation of the The Ring of the Nibelung, is the result of a stalled animated film project. Alice won a Spectrum award for fantasy art in comics, which was presented to him by Mike Mignola. A fine pedigree.



KITCHEN PRINCESS OMNIBUS VOL 1 by Natsumi Ando,  Miyuki Kobayashi and assistants. I’ve never looked at or heard of this series before, but apparently it’s popular and well recieved enough to merit an “Omnibus” edition. I’m a huge sucker for the food-porn shojo genre, the queen of which is Fumi Yoshinaga. Not digging the art here, but I’m there for the cake recipes.



THE LOXLEYS AND THE WAR OF 1812 by Alan Grant and Jean-Claude St. Aubin. A straightforward bit of historical fiction about that one a bunch of us Americans got hella drunk and decided to invade Canada. I don’t even think we got in trouble for that one! Apparently some Canadians remembered it though, and so here’s this comic. From what I’ve seen of it, it looks well written. That dog on the cover better be awesome though. Everyone else seems to be upset with what is probably their house burning down behind them, but the dog stands regal and unfazed. It knows where it’s going.


PLANETOID #1  by  Ken Garing. Ahh, indie digital comics. The first issue of this new series was self-published on Graphicly before moving in with Image. The comic is an Orc Stain-style one man show, about a space marine surviving in an alien landscape. It’s a beaut to look at, and reviews of the self-published version of this point out its close kinship with the likes of Brandon Graham’s Prophet.



KISS #1 by Nick Runge, Jamal Igle, Chris Ryall, and Shawn Lee. The Seventies, but now, inexplicably  in the 1920s. Look at those hats they are wearing! I looked at the four page preview of this, and at one point a guy experiences a vision of the future, specifically a vision of a brain-melting Kiss concert, before he gets flung through a flaming pentagram into unkown, hellish dimensions. I don’t know the mythology of the band’s discography, apocrypha or other related ephemera, yet I can’t look away.



NEW YORK MON AMOUR by Jacques Tardi. Four short stories by the French Tardi set in New York City. The biggest thing about Tardi is his range, even within the confines of a single story. He can effortlessly move from silly, mannered humor to explosive, gruesome violence. Tarantino, if he had become a cartoonist, would have wished that he could be this guy.


blingee whats new here new comics novi ao diamond marvel avx avengers vs x-men top 300 massive Kristian Donaldson Brian Wood Dave Stewart Jim McCann Rodin Esquejo Francesco Francavilla Sonia Oback gay mind the gap lesbian queer comics SIEGFRIED Alex Alice the french KITCHEN PRINCESS Natsumi Ando Miyuki Kobayashi Fumi Yoshinaga
  1. novicomics posted this