The Spirit Book One

Darwyn Cooke (with the aid of J. Bone’s inks) is responsible for the most exciting re-imagining of a character this decade: Will Eisner’s Spirit. Book One is a handsome hardcover collecting the first six issues of the series plus the Batman/Spirit crossover written by Jeph Loeb. The book itself stands apart from the usual collection. The hardcover binding consists of images instead of plain color boards, and the dust jacket has the Spirit letters cut out to show the art […]

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Comic Retailer References

There’s a lack of good reference information about best practices specific to comic retailing. I’m only aware of two books worth recommending, and one is out of print. So You Want to Be a Comics Retailer So You Want to Be a Comics Retailer was first put out in 1995. That’s prior to the distributor collapse, when DC went exclusive with Diamond, knocking off a string of dominoes that left them the only practical distribution choice. That makes some of […]

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Death Note

The biggest disappointment I’ve read recently is easily Death Note. I’d wound up collecting all 12 books of the series, and over the Thanksgiving holiday, I started reading them. Volume one was as involving as they’d said it would be. Super-student Light Yagami finds a notebook dropped by a death god to cause trouble. Anyone whose name is written in the book will die if the person writing it also pictures their face. The art, by Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no […]

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Death Note & Favorite Manga of 2007

This was the year I realized that just because a manga was translated and launched in the US didn’t mean it was great. It used to be that mostly the best Japanese comics made it over, but ever-growing demand means more and more material is coming just because it’s available. Nothing wrong with that, only one has to pay more attention to descriptions and reviews. I became more selective, and I gave up on several long-running series because their volume […]

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FCBD Books Now Must All Be for All Ages

In previous years, the Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) committee has required that Gold titles (which participating retailers must purchase) be suitable for all ages, but Silver titles were able to put out more mature work with appropriate labeling. That’s good, since some comic publishers, like Fantagraphics, TCAF, and Alternative (to name past years’ participants), don’t focus on selling kid-friendly books, and so their FCBD comic can thus be reflective of their product lines. This year, however… the participating publisher […]

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Exit Wounds

Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan uses a Tintin-like “clear line” style to tell a modern story of the effects of terrorism and the search for a life of one’s own. In Tel Aviv, Koby drives a taxi cab. He’s been estranged from his father, so he’s not sure how to feel when a soldier tells him his father might be the unidentified victim of a cafeteria suicide bombing. The soldier, Numi, tries to talk Koby first into a DNA test […]

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Interview With David Gallaher

David Gallaher, writer of winning Zuda webcomic High Moon, was kind enough to answer my questions over the weekend. What does winning mean for you? Were you offered an online publishing deal? If so, what is DC paying? What are you giving them in return? Winning this competition means that Steve Ellis (artist), Scott O. Brown (letterer), and I can finish the first High Moon story on the Zuda site, which is really rather exciting. High Moon is a story […]

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Minx Selling More in Direct Market?

David Welsh responds to my recent Minx overview by saying: I can understand the desire to quash the notion that the books actually sold better in specialty comic shops than bookstores, because that certainly couldn’t have been the desired outcome. Well, it might have. That result makes sense, once you look at the factors involved. Bookstore buyers aren’t afraid of manga and are eager to carry a full range of graphic novels. The same for librarians, who have a good […]

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