On the Shelves: 4/25/07
Posted by: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez on April 24, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Reading is fundamental. Read what you like; don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit!
Despite my enthusiasm for comics being at a five-year low — five years ago, I hadn’t yet started reading them again — here’s my weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 4/25/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList.
[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]
Johnny Hiro #1 (AdHouse Books)
ADHOUSE BOOKS
Johnny Hiro #1, $2.95
Anything AdHouse publishes is always worth a look, and with a tagline like “Half Asian, All Hero” and a solicitation blurb that includes the line “The excitement never ends, even though Johnny Hiro really wants it to…”, how can I resist?
DC COMICS
52 Week #51, $2.50
Blue Beetle #14, $2.99
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #35, $2.99
I bailed on 52 back in Week 3 or 4, but was tempted to pick up WWIII until I read some of the reviews. My Buddy Dan(TM) got suckered in and hated it. I’d say I’m glad to see it finally end, but with the weekly desperate cash-grab Countdown right around the corner, it’s not really ending. Except for the steady sales, I’d guess. *** Say it with me: “Blue Beetle and Firestorm have been two of the more consistently entertaining ongoing titles DC has published since Identity Crisis forever altered the DCU.” Forever, of course, simply meaning until Didio gets canned and someone retcons a lot of the nonsense that’s occured on his watch. I have 1st quarter 2008 in the office pool.
DRAWN & QUARTERLY
Pyongyang A Journey In North Korea TPB, $14.95
This has been on my “To Buy” list for a while now, and considering how bored I am with most current comics, I think it’s time to rectify that.
:01 FIRST SECOND
Professors Daughter GN, $16.95
Tiny Tyrant GN, $12.95
Nothing like a couple of First Second titles to brighten the weekly shipping list.
LERNER PUBLISHING GROUP
Graphic Universe Amaterasu Return Of The Sun HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Atalanta Race Against Destiny HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Demeter & Persephone Spring Held Hostage HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Hercules Twelve Labors HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Isis & Osiris To Ends Of Earth HC 2, $26.60
Graphic Universe Jason Quest For Golden Fleece HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe King Arthur English Legend HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Robin Hood Outlaw Of Sherwood Forest HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Trojan Horse Fall Of Troy HC, $26.60
Graphic Universe Yu The Great Conquering The Flood HC, $26.60
Interesting business model here, with a series of graphic novels for kids targeted squarely at school librarians.
MARVEL COMICS
Daily Bugle May Newspaper, AR
Daredevil #96, $2.99
Fantastic Four #545 CWI, $2.99
Powers #24, $2.95
Both Daredevil and Powers are on the chopping block as I’ve decided to once again drastically pare down my pull list. I’m finding the serial adventures of the spandex set less and less compelling these days, especially with the speed at which Marvel, in particular, cranks out the collected editions. Fantastic Four, on the other hand, is purely a curiousity pull out of respect for Dwayne McDuffie’s skills.
STERLING PUBLISHING
Batman Sunday Classics 1943-1946 HC, $14.95
Batman The Dailies 1943-1946 HC, $20.00
I was flipping through both of these last week at Midtown and drooling.
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
Super F$$$$$S #4, $5.00
Who’s buying this? I know Kochalka has a fan base, but after reading the first issue and a smattering of his other work, I just don’t get it. Super F$$$$$S, I mean. It’s stupid and pointless, clearly meant for those who hate superheroes, but why would you willingly spend $5 for something so puerile when you can get a dose of the real thing for $2 less?
VIPER COMICS
Josh Howard Presents Sasquatch Vol 1 GN, $24.95
Woah! I didn’t realize this was going to be an OGN when I saw the various teasers. $24.95 seems a bit steep for something so random. I’ll give it a flip-through, though, simply because Viper’s earned that by publishing a solid range of good, unique comics over the past few years.
VIRGIN COMICS LLC
Walk-In #5, $2.99
Am I the only one reading this? It doesn’t really lend itself to commentary because it’s so whacked out, but it hasn’t lost me yet, either.
Magazines
Geek Monthly #4, $5.99
The one issue I saw — with Kristen Bell on the cover — showed some potential but lacked a compelling hook. It read like a generic Men’s mag with the usual departments, and features that lacked any bite. Kind of a coy attempt at aping Maxim.
10 Responses to "On the Shelves: 4/25/07"
1 | Jon Haehnle
You know, Brendan & Adan were saying it was a light week for their Picks, Pans & Scans feature so I suggested Johnny Hiro — based solely on the name! The fact that it turned out to be by Adhouse, and have such a cool (from my perspective at least) tagline just made it that much better :)
Definitely a light week for the floppies for me. I think my long-delayed switch to TPB/OGN-only is on the horizon. I’m just not feeling the serial format anymore.
Funny enough, if 52 had been Countdown, I might have been interested last year, but the whole OYL concept ruined it for me since a couple of issues in on the titles I was following, it was clear that nothing earth-shaking had happened during that missing year. Bleh.
6 | Stuart
You’re certainly not the only one reading Walk-In (although you are the one that put me on to this crazy little gem, so maybe its just the two of us). All that really needs to be said about it is: Take one(possibly disturbed) English magician, add strippers, Russian mafia and lots of LSD and hey presto, Walk-In!
@JB: I hear you, but man oh man, do I disagree. Different strokes are what makes comics great, though!
@Stuart: Hey, that’s cool! Always good to hear from someone who picked up on a recommendation that worked for them. Thanks for the feedback.
8 | Erech Overaker
Super F$$$$$S isn’t the best foray into Kochalkaland Guy. No, that honor goes to Francy Froglin :)
But yeah, Super F$$$$$S is pretty stupid and not all that great. Yet somehow, it’s still better than just about everything else you listed above. Slow week, or comment on the quality of the industry – YOU DECIDE!!
9 | Greg Burgas
Well, I hate Super F*ckers, so I’m with you. And I bought the latest issue of Walk-In because Jeff Parker wrote it. We’ll see.
My comic book store did not receive The Professor’s Daughter, and I’m still surprised that it might be out such a short time after it was solicited. Did you actually get it this week?
@Erech: A little of both, probably. Does that make me roadkill?
@Greg: I flipped through it last week and will likely pick it up at some point. The beauty of OGN/TPBs is that you usually don’t have to rush to buy it the week it’s released. Thanks to the light week for floppies, I picked up Pyongyang and Anansi Boys, the latter of which I’m hoping is better than American Gods, which I was a little disappointed in.
