trade paperbacks
Vertigo plans deluxe Death, new Ronald Wimberly OGN in late 2012
Prince of Cats
DC Comics unveiled their plans for collections, trades and original graphic novels yesterday for late 2012, both for the DC line (which included the Amethyst news) and for Vertigo. In addition to collections of ongoing titles like The Unwritten and the upcoming Saucer Country, the Vertigo list included a few items of note:
- Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland, which was supposed to be out last fall but was delayed until September 2012, has now been pushed back to November 2012.
- Just in time for Halloween is a deluxe edition that collects the various Death miniseries that Neil Gaiman wrote during his epic run on Sandman. It includes both The High Cost of Living and The Time of Your Life, as well as the Death-centric stories from Sandman #8 and #20. It also includes a bunch of shorter stories, like the Death tale from the 9/11 book DC put out and the infamous public service announcement piece about the proper way to put on a condom, starring Death, John Constantine and a banana.
- And in September Vertigo will release an new original graphic novel by Ronald Wimberly, who drew Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm and some other books for Vertigo. I’m not sure exactly what the book is about, but Wimberly has a Tumblr set up where he is posting art, like the piece up top.
- January 31, 2012 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
King City collection due from Image Comics in February
King City
Brandon Graham confirmed on his blog today that Image Comics will release a collection of King City on Feb. 22. The 424-page book will be the same “Golden Age” size as the individual issues Image released last year for $19.99.
“There’s a couple new drawings but for the most part I kept it pretty close to what was in the issues,” Graham said. “It’s still got all the back ups, covers, games and puzzles that were in those. I’m a big advocate of the fun of getting a book in issues as it comes out and I didn’t want the people who had picked it up month to month to feel like they should have waited.”
Image teased the collection last week. The first half of the well-regarded series was published by Tokyopop in 2008, and after that publisher’s OEL implosion, Tokyopop and Image reached a deal for Image to publish it as a 12-issue series. No doubt some fans have been waiting since its original release to see the second half–I certainly wasn’t going to wait, but hey, different strokes–so this will give them a chance to own the whole thing.
- November 15, 2011 @ 08:12 PM by JK Parkin
DC Comics reveals collection plans for first arcs of the New 52
DC Comics Presents #6
DC Comics announced 51 upcoming trade paperbacks and hardcovers yesterday, as they plan to start rolling out collected editions of their New 52 relaunch titles next year. They’ll publish 7-8 of them each month from May to November.
Yep, they only list 51 trade paperbacks — Wonder Woman is missing. And it looks like the DC Universe Presents trade will collect both the Deadman story that wraps in issue #5 and the Dan DiDio/Jerry Ordway Challengers of the Unknown tale that starts in issue #6.
Coming out first as hardcovers are the first New 52 story arcs for Justice League, Batman, Green Lantern, Detective Comics, Batwoman, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Action Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern Corps, Aquaman, Green Lantern: New Guardians, Flash and Superman. DC’s choices for the hardcover treatment line up almost perfectly with their top-selling titles for September; Teen Titans outsold Batwoman and Aquaman, but will go straight to trade paperback.
Check out the complete list after the jump.
- November 10, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Tightening its belt, Marvel reportedly cuts into collection royalties
Amid staff layoffs, multiple title cancellations and “new budgetary mandates” word surfaces of still another cost-cutting measure at Marvel, this time involving trade paperback royalties.
According to Bleeding Cool, about a month ago the publisher issued an updated payment agreement that finally addressed digital sales while also amending the percentage of trade paperbacks exempt from royalties because of “returns, anticipated returns, promotional copies and damages.” What used to be 25 percent is now 30 percent, which the more math-minded note is a nearly 7-percent hit to creators.
Rich Johnston describes the exemption clause as “ambiguous,” something expanded upon by Graeme McMillan, who points out that Marvel doesn’t actually offer promotional copies to reviewers like DC Comics and most other publishers do.
- November 9, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics? | Everybody wants a piece of the Action
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Graeme McMillan
It’s a slow week, this week; if I had $15, I’d use it to catch up on some recent enjoyments like Action Comics #3 (DC, $3.99) and OMAC #3 (DC, $2.99), two of my favorite titles from the New 52 relaunch–OMAC in particular has been a really weird and wonderful joy–as well as the final issue of Marvel’s great and sadly underrated Mystic revival (#4, $2.99). I’d also see if the parody-tastic Shame Itself #1 (Marvel, $3.99) lives up to its potential, because “Wyatt Cenac + Colleen Coover” sounds pretty promising to these ears.
- November 1, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Is DC Comics bringing an end to writing for the trade?
DC Comics
One of the most frequently criticized hallmarks of modern mainstream comics may be a thing of the past at DC Comics.
During a nearly four-hour meeting Friday in New York City, part of a nationwide push by top DC executives to sell direct market shops on the September relaunch, retailers were reportedly told that writers will no longer be expected to “write for the trade.” That means they won’t have to construct stories in, say, six-issue arcs to more easily fit the collected format.
“Writers have been told to write the story they want to write and not worry about the trade collecting,” Mike Gendreau of Modern Myths in Northampton, Mass., writes in a meticulous report to Bleeding Cool. ‘If they can tell a well-paced story in 4 issues, they’ve been told not to pad it to make it 6 issues. Editorial can worry about how it’s going to be collected. Going forward, books will be trade-collected depending on how the story fits. If a book has a 4-issue arc followed by a 3 issue arc, the trade will collect both. If it’s 2 4-issue arcs or 3 2-issue stories, those will get collected. As a side note, DC is looking into a new trade dress to represent the New 52 and a better spine design to call out information for fans.”
Frequently lumped in with decompression, the practice of “writing for the trade” has often been the target of comics fans who accuse writers of stretching out a story that could be told in two or three issues to five or six simply to fill the trade paperback. Even veteran writer Chris Claremont, whose classic X-Men storylines sometimes bled into each other, criticized the modern tendency, telling Graphic NYC, “One problem for me, as a reader, that I see in the modern presentation of comics, is the evolution of things to trades. What you have now are five issue bursts. Why? Because everything’s going to go into trade. I find that counter-productive; I want the flexibility and luxury of being able to expand a story by an issue if it’s working well, or cut it by an issue if it’s not. I don’t want to sit there and be locked into a defined format, which would make it awful for me to be a TV writer.”
- June 27, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Saturday Shelf Porn
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where comic fans show off their comic-filled shelves. Today’s Shelf Porn comes from Ian Wells from England, who shows us his comics, toys and more.
If you’d like to submit your own shelves for the whole world — or at least our viewing audience — to see, then send me pictures and write up: jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here’s Ian …
- May 21, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn
Welcome to another edition of Shelf Porn. Today’s shelves comes from 17-year-old Grady Dixson in upstate New York, who shares a room I wish I’d had when I was 17.
If you’d like to show off your collection, it’s easy — just send a write-up and some jpgs to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here’s Grady …
- April 23, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
20th century Boys
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Brigid Alverson
If I had $15,
I’d get volume 13 of 20th Century Boys. This series is fantastic, and I hear there’s a big reveal in this volume.
If I had $30,
I’d add some floppies to the mix. This is a good week for a lot of the series I have been following on and off: Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #4 ($3.50), Sixth Gun #9 ($3.99), Kill Shakespeare #9 ($3.99). Since I have a bit left over, I’ll throw in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #716 ($3.99), because I really have been enjoying that classic Disney.
- February 22, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Chew Omnivore Edition
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly round-up of the comics and other stuff that have escaped the unread stacks of books next to our beds. Our special guest this week is Nathan Edmondson, writer of the Image comics Who is Jake Ellis?, The Light and Olympus. To see what Nathan and the Robot 6 crew have bene reading, click below.
- February 13, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn!
Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn, where, like on Valentine’s Day, love is always in the air … love for pictures of people’s comic stuff, anyway. Today’s Shelf Porn comes from James Parmenter, who shows us pictures of his comic and toy-filled loft.
If you’d like to share the love, we always need more Shelf Porn. Send your write-up and pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now let’s head up stairs to James and his loft …
- February 12, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Saturday Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, our weekly look at someone’s shelves … and this week you get a second dose, as we move the feature to its new home on Saturday! Today’s collection comes from newlyweds Scott and Jessica Greenfield, who share their really awesome Hobby Room/Nerd Shrine of action figures, graphic novels, posters and more.
If you’d like to share your collection with the world, please email a write-up and pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
- January 22, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Steel #1
Welcome to the first Food or Comics? for 2011. Every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Graeme McMillan
Hey, it’s the first week of 2011, and time to get some awesome comics, right? Right? So for my $15, I’ll pick up… Oh. Kind of a slow week, then, huh? Well, there’s always Steel #1 (DC, $2.99), the sure-to-be-controversial one-shot that launches the retro “Reign of Doomsday” crossover, and my love of James Robinson’s Justice League will ensure I pick up the Starman/Congorilla one-shot (DC, $2.99), if only to find out what all those interludes in the middle of the current “Omega” storyline are all about. Curiosity compels me to pick up Image’s Walking Dead Weekly #1 ($2.99), if only to see if it’s pretty much an exact reprint of the original first issue with a different cover, but that remaining $6 may just end up burning a hole in my pocket. Maybe I’ll put it toward my $30 haul…
- January 4, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Thor: The Mighty Avenger
Welcome to our weekly “Food or Comics?” feature, where we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comics come home for Christmas dinner and which ones stay on the shelves, sitting cold and lonely through the holidays. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if they only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.
Check out Diamond’s release list for this week to play along. Because of weather issues, shops on the West Coast won’t be getting everything; Brian Hibbs has a list of what to expect in his store in San Francisco, which should give you an idea of what is and isn’t showing up out here.
Brigid Alverson
If I had $15…
No question, I’d get the first trade of Thor: The Mighty Avenger ($14.99). Back when I read superhero comics, The Mighty Thor was one of my favorites, and I’d love to revisit the character without getting tripped up by all the continuity I missed. This series has gotten great word-of-blog, particularly since it was canceled, and that has me curious as well.
- December 7, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Milligan and McKeever’s The Extremist resurrected at Vertigo
Following last month’s announcement that they’re planning to release older material under the “Vertigo Resurrected” banner, DC’s Vertigo imprint announced today that Peter Milligan and Ted McKeever’s 1993 miniseries The Extremist will return to print in November. Unlike the first Vertigo Resurrected title — Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez’s “Shoot” that was originally intended to be published as Hellblazer #141 — The Extremist was published, but I don’t think it has ever been collected in trade paperback form.
According to the Graphic Content blog, the book is about “three ordinary people who succumb to the allure of a mask and a costume and all the power that comes with it, creating a shocking and controversial exploration of the nature of freedom and sexuality.” Greg Burgas at Comics Should Be Good! has a great overview of the series here.
- August 11, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin