Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

New Releases

This week in comic book collected editions & graphic novels – March 15, 2017

by

Whether or not you are a comic book die-hard, shouldn’t it be an easy thing to say, “Hey, what comic book collected editions are out this Wednesday? Is there a list? Do you think I would like any of them?”

I think it should by easy. And it… kind of is? Previews Magazine has all of the solicits listed, but you can’t actually buy anything from it unless you’ve ordered months in advance through a direct market comic shop. Otherwise, you’re just window-shopping, without even ISBN numbers to guide you.

Plus, the schedule can change literally up until the last day before release. Plus, each publisher releases books at different intervals to the mass market – Dark Horse has some books out this week, DC’s are all next week, and Marvel two weeks from now.

No wonder there’s no easy-to-consume list and relatively few blogs covering the entirety of it.

Luckily, you have this massively obsessed human being to help you out with that. This post covers all of the collections out this week, explains what they are and what they contain, and provides easy links to Amazon, where you can either buy them or at least get more helpful info like their prices and ISBNs.

Publishers:

What are the must-read books this week?

I’ve got two picks this week, and you might be a little bit shocked to learn that neither of them are superheroes!

Different people in different parts of the world have different ideas of what constitutes a “graphic novel.”

In the US we tend to think of them as collections of individual comics, or less often as singular works like Maus or John Lewis’s March. In Europe, they are “graphic albums” of original work. In Japan, they might be a single Manga book or a massive omnibus.

No matter the definition, just as Will Eisner’s historic work helped to define the comic medium in the 40s, so did his graphic novel A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories literally coined the term “graphic novel” in the US when it was released, partially due to Eisner’s wish that his work be marketed to traditional book shops rather than newsstands and the direct market.

A new volume, Will Eisner’s Contract With God Other Tenement Stories hardcover, collects this work with newly-scanned art and a introduction by comic storyteller and academic Scott McCloud.

It is a collection of four grounded, philosophical, and frankly sexual stories from the same tenement building in Brooklyn, occupied by Jewish-American immigrants and first generation citizens.

Also, the collector in me can’t help but highlight The Chronicles of Conan Volume 34: Betrayal in Zamora and Other Stories. That’s right, Volume Thirty Four. It’s the final Dark Horse volume collecting Marvel’s 25-year run on Conan the Barbarian,

To celebrate it’s release, I crafted my very own Guide to Conan to help you find the 33 other volumes (and what they contain).

And now, onto the full list of books! [Read more…] about This week in comic book collected editions & graphic novels – March 15, 2017

This week in comic book collected editions – March 8, 2017

by

For a number of arcane reasons, it’s hard to say, “These are the new comic collections out this week!”

Out where? Mass market booksellers like shops and Amazon get comic collections at a different time than comic stores do, and that lag differs from publisher to publisher.

What’s out? Not every publisher is as big or as consistent as DC and Marvel. The release list shifts day-to-day in the final week before they hit the shelves, so that you have to check the Preview Mag website on a Saturday to see what definitely hit the trucks.

Ah, but here’s the important question: Why care?

First, because single issue AKA “floppy” comics are a pain to keep up with and to keep. It’s way easier and more satisfying to buy complete stories.

But, more importantly – some of these comics are really good stories.

Publishers:

What are the must-read books this week?

DC’s Rebirth initiative has generated a lot of hype for major heroes like Wonder Woman and Superman, but some of the below-the-fold titles are generating the most buzz amongst fans.

One of those has been Deathstroke, by beloved author Christopher Priest – who was also responsible for the definitive run on Black Panther. Deathstroke Vol. 1: The Professional is the first volume of his reboot and from what I’ve heard it’s great. If you’ve never read Deathstroke before, he’s the totally serious and merciless assassin that Deadpool has parodied to much greater success.

And now, onto the full list of books!

[Read more…] about This week in comic book collected editions – March 8, 2017

This week in comic book collected editions – March 1, 2017

by

Whether you’re a comics obsessee or a floppy books neophyte, parsing the new collected editions out each week is a chore.

Sure, a faithful fan can visit the Previews catalog to see what’s out, but it doesn’t always explain what each series should collect and why you ought to care.

And, why would (or: should) a new or dabbling fan have to know what a Previews catalog even is!

I want to help both the masters and the newbies find the books that interest them the most. Thus, this post.

Publishers:

What are the must-read books this week?

I think DC has the market cornered this week with two of their three scant releases – Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy and Zatanna by Paul Dini.

More on the Zatanna below. As for Lumberjanes: EV has been addicted to Lumberjanes ever since she turned three, to the point that she always has an invisible camper holding her hand when we cross a street. I’m not sure if Gotham Academy is similarly addictive, but this is probably a good buy for your early-grades comic fan – the most objectionable thing about Lumberjanes is generally how much time they spend hollering.

If you want to get started with Lumberjanes, Volume 1 is just okay, but the story begins to get interesting in Volume 2. For more on Gotham Academy collections, see Guide to Gotham or DC New 52.

And now, on to the books!

[Read more…] about This week in comic book collected editions – March 1, 2017

This week in comic book collected editions – February 22, 2017

by

The comic collected editions scheduled for release by major comic publishers on any given week are a surprisingly unknowable and subjective list, which is exactly why I’ve done my best to summarize them here in a single post for you.

Why is the release schedule of trade paperbacks, deluxe hardcovers, and omnibuses so unknowable when other new media releases like novels, films and DVDs, and music are so predictable?

Preview Magazine tells us what comic publishers have scheduled to release to the direct market as of three to six months out from publication dates. Yet, that the schedule frequently changes and is not updated in a uniform fashion (although Previews does continue to update it right through the last moment before releases are shipped).

Meanwhile, Mass market booksellers receive comic collections on a delay from the direct market, but the delay differs from publisher to publisher depending on their distribution arrangements. Marvel is consistently delayed two weeks, while Image can range anywhere from one week to over a month.

Yikes.

So what is the book list below? It’s based on a combination of the Previews catalog, Amazon listings adjusted for the common mass market delay, and a poll of the top comic selling websites. There’s no other place you can find a similarly curated list.

Publishers:

What are the must-read books this week?

There are a lot of good collections out this week, but just one is must-buy – and that’s not even due to my personal affinity for the character! Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies is the first Wonder Woman collection of the present-day story from her Rebirth comic, written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Liam Sharp. Fans already loved Rucka from a mid-2000s WW run, and they’ve been raving about this one.

And now, on to the books! [Read more…] about This week in comic book collected editions – February 22, 2017

Newly Released Graphic Novels & Collected Comics – Sept. 15, 2015 Edition

by

Sometimes being a comics fan is about branching out.

As I have documented in the past, I started reading comics with Marvel’s X-Men #3 in 1991.  At the time I had no aspirations of reading other titles or publishers – I just wanted to know what these mutants were all about. However, once I visited a comic store, the purchase pattern started expanding. All the X-Men. Then a bit of Image. Oh, and Wonder Woman of course. Hey, these new Dark Horse superheroes look cool!

That’s part of why I like putting together this list. I’m a complete Marvel Zombie, a phrase historically indicating someone who reads the entire Marvel line. However, I’m not just a Marvel fan – I’m a fan of the comic medium. That means sometimes I need to just see what’s out there to break out of my normal fan comfort zone.

Hopefully this list helps you with that, too!

heart-in-a-box-ognCrush of the Week: Heart In a Box OGN

Buy this comic. Buy it. Buy it!

Kelly Thompson is the brilliant author of the CBR “She Has No Head” column and the books The Girl Who Would Be King and Storykiller who finally exploded as a comic author in 2015 with Jem from IDW and Captain Marvel and the Carole Corps from Marvel. She is the real deal when it comes to amazing characters, and she also weaves in a thick vein of feminism (i.e., everyone has an equal opportunity) into all of her work. This is her first original graphic novel, paired with artist Meredith McClaren, about a girl who needs to literally put her heart back together after a breakup. You need it.

Interesting Unknown: Universal War One 

From writer/artist Denis Bajram, the solicit: The whole world is at war. And it’s about to get worse. 2058. Humanity has colonized our entire solar system. In the middle of a civil war between the core planets and distant outlying planetary settlements, an immense black wall appears, cutting our solar system in two.”

This is a French comic translated and released by a Marvel imprint. The confusing thing is that it’s hit hardcover before – once for the original series, and once for the follow-up Revelations. This is longer than each of those , but not long enough to be both of them in one book(the original series were 64pg issues, the follow-up 48 – we’d have to assume 20% ads to fit into this sub-300pg book, which is high). I’m not sure what to tell you, but it looks cool!

Now, on to Marvel and the rest of the publishers!  [Read more…] about Newly Released Graphic Novels & Collected Comics – Sept. 15, 2015 Edition