New Releases

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

February 19, 2017 by krisis

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

September 15, 2015 by krisis

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!

Crush 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

Newly Released Graphic Novels & Collected Comics – Sept. 1, 2015 Edition

September 1, 2015 by krisis

This month I’m going to revisit an old habit, where I blog the new collected comic releases each week with some color commentary. If you find this useful I’d really appreciate a comment or a tweet – I already know what I’m buying every week, so it’s only worth it to do this if you’re finding it helpful!

Dark Horse Comics

Aliens: Salvation Premiere HC

A $11 hardcover reprint of a 1993 David Gibbons / Mike Mignola take on Aliens where two mean abandon ship and are left alone with a xenomorph? Pretty damn tempting, I’d say, but I feel that way about most things Mignola. Pity they didn’t pair it up with the 2001 sequel Aliens: Salvation and Sacrifice, though.

Conan, Vol. 18: The Damned Horde HC – Collects Conan the Avenger. #7-12

I know, you’re looking at this and asking yourself, “Volume 18? Really? Do I need to pick up all 17 other volumes?” And I don’t know what to tell you, because I own all of one Conan comic and it was my father’s and I’ve still never read it.

Here’s what I can say: Fred Van Lente is a reliable scripter, and they wouldn’t have just rebooted the title if Vol. 17 wouldn’t be a halfway-decent picking up point despite the number stretching from Conan the Barbarian and Conan: Road Of Kings before that and Conan The Cimmerian before that and just plain old Conan before that way back in 2003. So, if you love Conan and want to get back to his comic roots (well, he was a novel first, but then very famously a comic), maybe you should start there. Or, you know, dip way back to Vol. 1, still readily available in TPB, because Dark Horse knows how to manage their backlist.

Hmm… now I kind of want to read Conan. This is how it happens. (Note that the awesome cover is not drawn by the interior artist Brian Ching, but I think his art is strong – it’s just not the cinematic style of the cover.) [Read more…] about Newly Released Graphic Novels & Collected Comics – Sept. 1, 2015 Edition

Marvel Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, October 2011 Edition

November 15, 2011 by krisis

I’m here with my weekly peek at Marvel’s collected editions, packing recent and classic comic storylines into handy hardcovers and trade paperbacks.

Since I’m still at a bit of a lag, this week we’re taking a lot at all of October – and there were a slew of great collections that month! Read on for capsule reviews of the X-Men books out in October, plus the skinny on all of Marvel’s other new collected editions from last month.

If you’re looking for more X-Men books, head over to my Definitive Guide to Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels. Or, some X-background, read my Intro to X-Men (on a budget). Trying to decide where to jump in? Check out Where to Start Reading X-Men.

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Marvel X-Men Collection of the Month:
Daken: Dark Wolverine – Big Break Hardcover
Collects issues #10-14 and 9.1

Note: This is not the cover of the collection, though the issue does appear inside of it.

CK Says: Buy it! This isn’t the first time I’ve featured Daken as my top pick, and it won’t be the last. There’s something about the dastardly, amoral, bisexual, pheromone-exuding, tattooed, illegitimate son of Wolverine that I find delightfully subversive when written well, and a year into his solo outing Rob Williams has him down pat.

This collection finds Daken trying to take control of LA the only way he knows how – putting the screws to the existing bad-guys a la Joker in Dark Knight, and sleeping his way into secrets of the scene with a young up-and-coming actor.

The twist? Daken samples the street drug du jour and is both terrified and thrilled to find it shuts off his healing factor! The result are some bloodier-than-usual fights as Daken enjoys handicapping himself while tripping out in Ralph Steadman-esque illustrations. (PS: The interiors are not quite so froggy as the front cover.) Available for pre-order as a TPB.

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Marvel Non-X Collection of the Month:
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 4 TPB
Collects Fantastic Four #583-588

CK Says: Buy it. Writer Jonathan Hickman has re-made a Fantastic Four fan out of me with his operatic two-year run leading up to the issues in this collection. He divides comics’ first family with a war on multiple fronts against traditional foes like Galactus, Namor, and Annihilus as well as by their hard feelings at home, but this story is anything but old school.

Though the big build-up was for the death of a team-member, what’s really worth witnessing here is the rebirth of the FF franchise as one of Marvel’s hottest titles. Interior artist Steve Epting draws such stately, beautiful characters you’ll swear you’re reading Superman.

You may want to pick up Volumes 1, 2, and 3 as well – you can score the entire four-volume run for under $50! Also available in hardcover.

xXx

What X-title do I hate with such a passion that I have to abstain from giving it a rating at all? Keep reading to find out, plus get capsule reviews of books from X-Men: Legacy, X-Factor, and X-23 and summaries of the rest of the Marvel Universe. [Read more…] about Marvel Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, October 2011 Edition

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, Late September Edition

November 8, 2011 by krisis

Back after a while in mothballs, it’s my X-collections recap!

Marvel hardly lets a single comic book issue go uncollected in book form, which means every week brings new hardcovers and trade paperbacks packed with their most major heroes – including The X-Men.

Read on for capsule reviews of the X-books out in the second half of September, which were unusually focused on past stories. Plus, get the skinny on all of Marvel’s other new collected editions from the latter half of the month.

If you’re looking for more X-info, head over to my Definitive Guide to Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels. Or, for a more basic approach, my Intro to X-Men (on a budget). New to the X-Men? Try my Where to Start Reading X-Men to pick a place to jump in.

X-Men Collection of the (latter half of the) Month:
New Mutants: Fall of the New Mutants TPB

CK Says: Buy it! When I first picked up the hardcover version of this collection earlier this year it was out of habit, but I quickly discovered the book was impossible to put down. Writer Zeb Wells capitalizes on a dangling plot thread from 80s blockbuster Inferno anda year of slow-boil character development to deliver a complex saga worthy of the X-Men’s rich dramatic history.

It’s hard to imagine a story more harrowing or epic than what the team had just endured in Second Coming, but Well’s pulls it off with art from Leonard Kirk, an efficient, unflashy penciler I’ve grown to love. I don’t want to spoil the story – if you enjoy this team of characters you’ll love it, particularly developments for Cannonball, Moonstar, Karma, and Magik.