On the Shelves: 3/15/06

Support GOOD Comics! Try something new EVERY month!

Check out the Independents’ Day Campaign, a rallying cry for comics fans to…you guessed it — TRY SOMETHING NEW: “This coming New Comics Day, give up your copy of Teen Titans and New X-Men and consider instead Femforce, Hero Squared, GI Joe America’s Elite or Starship Troopers Blaze Of Glory.”

Ironically, I feel like I’ve hit the wall with my own sampling, much more likely to pick up an OGN or TPB than I am a new floppy these days. I have no interest in subsidizing the industry and its broken business model that effectively eats its young. I’ve also stopped feeling guilty about waiting for the trade, the same way I don’t feel any guilt over waiting for the DVD. I’ve realized recently that I’m not really the Direct Market’s target customer anyway, and I’m less and less inclined to support “comics” like some misguided cause célèbre (minus the célèbre), preferring to focus on buying things that catch my fancy, same as I do with books without pictures.

Of course, that means publishers and creators are going to have to think outside of the Direct Market box in order to get my attention and, more importantly, my hard-won dollars. I think it’s time for some Pull List spring cleaning.

With that in mind, my weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 3/15/06. The full shipping is list 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]

BOOM! Studios has been receiving a lot praise recently for their approach to publishing comics — including being named “Best New Publisher” by Wizard — featuring a reasonable number of titles, and a mix of established creators working in relatively safe genres. I’ve only picked up a couple so far, and flipped through a couple more, and they seem to be solid, if unremarkable comics. It’ll be interesting to see how this JLA parody sells, as it’s primarily dependent on one’s appreciation for Keith Giffen’s bwahahaha scripting that seemed really threadbare in his recent Defenders mini-series. In some ways, it’s like the opposite of Speakeasy’s approach, which took a gamble on lesser-known creators doing off-kilter work and lost big. You have to wonder what kind of market there is out there for non-Marvel/DC superheroes and zombie stories, which makes up almost half of BOOM!’s current line. That said, I’m intrigued by Talent.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Conan #26, $2.99
Conan Book Of Thoth #1 (Of 4), $4.99
Perhapanauts #4 (Of 4), $2.99

A double dose of Conan makes me happy! Perhapanauts #3 was surprisingly uneven — with, IIRC, two short stories and the first part of a longer story — as if they weren’t actually expecting to get a third issue out. Still a fun read, but if it were an ongoing, I’d likely be jumping off now.

DC COMICS
Batman Year One Hundred #2 (Of 4), $5.99
JLA Classified #18, $2.99
Teen Titans Annual #1, $4.99

A surprisingly light week, something I wasn’t expecting to see once One Year Later kicked in. Batman and Teen Titans are huge maybes, as I still haven’t read the first issue of Pope’s mini and I’m not sure what’s in the Annual.

DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
GI Joe Sigma 6 #4, $2.95

G.I. Joe, Conan, Planet of the Apes…can someone PLEASE pick up the Riddick license and give me the comic book I really want!?!?!

IDW PUBLISHING
Angel Old Friends #4 (Of 5), $3.99
Spike Vs Dracula #1 (Of 5), $3.99

Spike vs. Dracula?!?! Really? I wonder if these Buffy comics have an audience outside of the Direct Market?

IMAGE COMICS
Atheist #3 (resolicited), $3.50
Grounded #5 (Of 6), $2.99
Mora Vol 1 All Beasts Will Show Their Teeth TPB, $12.99

Finally with Atheist!! And Grounded seems like its late, too. I have the Mora floppies, but never read past #2 as it felt like it should have been an OGN. If there’s some extras in the TPB, I might pick it up.

MARVEL COMICS

Um…wow. Nothing this week of interest? That’s not cool.

NEW DIMENSION COMICS
Voltron Collectors Set, $9.95

Collector’s set of what? I used to love the Voltron cartoon, but never picked up any of the comics. For $9.95, though, I might take a chance on a TPB.

Magazines
Back Issue #15, $6.95

It’s the “Weird Heroes” issue, featuring Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, The Demon, Deadman, ‘Mazing Man, and Ragman, whom I’ve always been curious about. Plus, some great Gene Colan art!

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.