Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

John Romita's The Amazing Spider-man: Artist's Edition

Graeme McMillan

Congratulations, Dark Horse: You pretty much own my first $15 for the week, with Dark Horse Presents #8 ($7.99) and Star Wars: Dawn of The Jedi #0 ($3.50) both being my go-to new releases for the week. DHP has the new Brian Wood/Kristian Donaldson series The Massive launching, as well as more Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson and new Skeleton Key by Andi Watson, which is a pretty spectacular line-up, and the new Star Wars book coincides with the latest flare up of my irregular longing to check up on that whole universe’s goings-on. Apparently, I’m keeping it local this week, who knew?

If I had $30, I’d add Action Comics #6 (DC Comics, $3.99) and OMAC #6 (DC Comics, $2.99) to that pile — I’m particularly treasuring the latter before it goes away, although I have to admit that the time-jumping nature of these Action fill-ins has gotten me more excited than I should ‘fess up to — as well as a couple of Ed Brubaker books, Winter Soldier #1 (Marvel, $2.99) and Fatale #2 (Image Comics, $3.50). I wasn’t bowled over by Fatale‘s debut, but it intrigued me enough to want to give it another go, while the noir + super spy sales pitch for the new Marvel series pretty much guarantees my checking the first issue out at the very least.

When it comes to splurging, there is nothing I would buy – were I rich enough — more quickly than IDW’s John Romita Sr. Amazing Spider-Man Artist Edition HC ($100), because … well, it’s classic Romita as the pages originally looked on his drawing board. How anyone can resist that (other than the price point), I don’t know.

Action! Mystery! Thrills!

Chris Mautner

There’s not much I’m interested in at the $15 level this week, so I’ll likely keep it to the issue #63 of The Boys.

If I had $30, I’d put that issue of The Boys back on the shelf and pick up Action! Mystery! Thrills!, a colorful collection of comic book covers from the Golden Age edited by Greg Sadowski. It’s not as insightful as some of Sadowski’s other books like Supermen!, but it’s still a clever pop-candy tour through comics’ yesteryear.

Almost defining the term splurge this week is the Madman 20th Anniversary Monster, a $100 tribute to Mike Allred’s creation featuring new work by folks like Kyle Baker, Peter Milligan, Peter Bagge, Dave Cooper, Dean Haspiel, Paul Pope, Craig Thompson and many more. And a new Madman story from Allred. I doubt in reality I have the cash to justify this sort of purchase, but hey, I’m splurging, right?

Cross Game, Volume 6

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, all but a penny of it would go to one book, vol. 6 of Cross Game ($14.99). Viz is releasing this baseball/drama series in delicious, double-sized volumes and the sweet story and easy-to-digest artwork make it one of my favorites.

If I had $30, I’d mix it up a bit with a stack of floppies: Ice Age: Iced In ($3.99), a lighthearted, all-ages comic from KaBoom; Sergio Aragones Funnies #7 ($3.50), because someone was just commenting on how funny Aragones is; Terry Moore’s Rachel Rising #5 ($3.99); and with what I have left, I’ll try out Dynamite’s Lone Ranger #2 ($3.99), which looks kind of cool. That’s a little over budget, but maybe I’ll get a deal on one of these.

Usually the splurge category is where I go for thick, colorful books of classic comics, and while that fourth volume of Dark Horse’s Archie Archives is calling out to me, this looks like a Fantagraphics week, with two compilations that span opposite ends of the love spectrum: Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics ($29.99), and The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat ($19.99). That’s a whole lotta reading for $50.

Magic: The Gathering #1

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d start with a series I’m following that has a new issue this week, Fear Itself: The Fearless #8 ($2.99) and then I’d add some new things I want to try. I’ve said before that Winter Soldier #1 ($2.99) is the closest thing we’re going to get to a Black Widow series for a while, so — while that’s sad — I’ll take it. I’m also cautiously curious about Image’s nasty-sounding Alpha Girl #1 ($2.99) and Zenescope’s Jurassic Strike Force 5 #1 ($2.99). I don’t have a lot of confidence in Zenescope’s brand, but dino-soldiers from space need looking into.

If I had $30, I’d add some more expensive comics to that pile, starting with Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #4 ($3.99). I’m also looking forward to seeing if IDW can do the same thing with Magic: The Gathering #1 ($3.99) that they did with their Dungeons & Dragons comics (ie make it really good). Then I’d circle back to the Boom rack for Ice Age: Iced In ($3.99) – because my son loves those movies and will love that comic – and check out Dynamite’s John Carter/Gullivar Jones mash-up, Warriors of Mars #1 ($3.99).

If I’m able to splurge, I’m always interested in the new Dark Horse Presents ($7.99), but especially when it has new BPRD and Beasts of Burden stories. And since that’s not a huge splurge, I’d also grab the Xombi collection ($14.99), which coincidentally comes out the same day as Static Shock #6.

The Art of Brett Ewins

Creators | Former Judge Dredd artist Brett Ewins suffered serious head injuries Saturday after he allegedly stabbed a police officer who responded to complaints about a man shouting throughout the night. Police say when they arrived the 56-year-old Ewins attacked them with a knife. One of the officers received minor wounds during the struggle, but Ewins was hospitalized, where he remains in serious condition. The newspaper report asserts the artist, best known for his work on Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper for 2000AD, has a history of mental-health problems. [Ealing Gazette]

Digital | Salon staff writer Andrew Leonard relates his son’s disappointment upon learning that Viz Media was turning Shonen Jump magazine into an online publication: “The older we are the less we like change. But for every grumbling codger who departs this mortal coil there’s a new baby born who seems to know how to do a two-finger swipe on an iPhone touch screen right out of the womb. And yet here was a clear example of a bond with the printed word, the material object, that transcended generational divisions. Eli told me to he wanted me to sign him up for Shonen Jump Alpha, but he didn’t seem enthused by the prospect of reading the latest installments of his favorite manga on the flat screen. If my 14-year-old could be transformed into a crotchety old codger, then maybe, just maybe, the culture really is losing something valuable as everything goes virtual.” [Salon]

Golgo 13, Vol. 1

Creators | The Sankei Shimbun newspaper profiles Takao Saito, the 75-year-old creator of Golgo 13, who reveals he’s planning the ending for his long-running action manga. Golgo 13, which follows the global exploits of an assassin for hire, debuted in November 1968. [Anime News Network]

Creators | Greg Pak discusses his new Aspen Comics/Valhalla Entertainment miniseries Dead Man’s Run. [USA Today]

Creators | Brian Truitt spotlights Guillaume Bianco, whose graphic novel Billy Fog and the Gift of Trouble Sight was recently released in North America by Archaia. [USA Today]

Creators | Texas artist Trent Westbrook talks about the local success of his comic Corpus Christi. [Caller-Times]

Eric Stephenson

Publishing | Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson talks about the ups and downs of the past year, including getting Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn on a tighter schedule and the difficulties of selling all-ages comics: “There’s this really blinkered mentality in comics that “all-ages” means only for kids, despite the relatively easy to understand implication that all-ages books can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Diamond even has this graphic they use for all-ages comics in Previews and it’s these two children that look like toddlers or whatever. People seem to miss the point that most the comics we love from the ‘60s or ‘70s or even the ‘80s to a large degree, were all-ages comics. Stan & Jack’s Fantastic Four was an all-ages book. And it was brilliant.” [Multiversity Comics]

Digital | Viz Media, the largest manga publisher in the United States, began releasing its graphic novels on Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet and Nook Color devices today. As on the Viz iOS app and website, the manga are priced from $4.99 to $9.99 per volume, and they read from right to left, in authentic Japanese fashion. 107 volumes from 18 series are available at launch, although the selection skews a bit older than what’s available on the iOS app, with no sign of the Shonen Jump blockbusters Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece, at least in the initial announcement. [press release]

Art Spiegelman

Creators | Tom Spurgeon kicks off his annual holiday interviews with a talk with Art Spiegelman. [The Comics Reporter]

Comics | Joey Esposito makes the case for a Lord of the Rings comic series. [IGN]

Comics | Health care economist Jonathan Gruber talks to NPR’s Radio Boston about his new graphic novel, stirringly titled Health Care Reform. What It Is. Why It’s Necessary. How It Works, which does for the Affordable Care Act what Project X: Cup Noodle did for ramen-in-a-cup—takes something boring and turns it into a stirring adventure tale. Or at least makes it less boring. [Radio Boston]

Creators | Funky Winkerbean creator Tom Batiuk reflects on the many ways in which Cleveland influences his work, including real places and real people that have popped up in his comics over the years—including fanatical band director Harry L. Dinkle, who was based on Batiuk’s junior-high band director, Harry Pfingsten: “With most real characters, I exaggerate their traits. With Harry, I had to tone him down just a little.” [Cleveland.com]

Reviews | Larry Cruz reviews Tony Cliff’s swashbuckling adventure comic Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Comic strips | Seattle Times book editor Mary Ann Gwinn highlights Fantagraphics’ Pogo collection and a Pogo exhibit at Fantagraphics’ bookstore in Georgetown, Wash. [Seattle Times]

Awards | The Japanese Ministry of Cultural Affairs has given out its 15th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards, and top honors in the manga division went to Hisae Iwaoka’s Saturn Apartments, which is published in the U.S. by Viz. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home also won an Excellence Prize. [Anime News Network]

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

20th Century Boys, Volume 18

Chris Arrant

If I only had $15, I would only be buying one title this week: 20th Century Boys, Vol. 18 (Viz, $12.99). Sorry Americanos, but Naoki Urasawa is delivering a gripping, sprawling drama that most other books can’t live up to. Wait, I’m wrong – I’d buy two comics with a $15 budget this week; I’d snag the $1 The Strain #1 (Dark Horse, $1) for the price point and Mike Huddleston. I’ve read the novels, but for $1 I can’t miss sampling at least the first issue.

If I had $30, I’d be thankful to double-back and first get Uncanny X-Force #18 (Marvel, $3.99). This issue, the finale of the “Dark Angel Saga,” has been a long time coming and I’m excited for the writing, the art and the story itself; and I can’t forget colorist Dean White, sheesh he’s good. After that I’d pick up my usual Walking Dead #92 (Image, $2.99) and then try Ed McGuinness’ new work in Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (Marvel, $3.99). I’m a big fan of McG’s work, but also realize just how different he is than the standard Marvel (or mainstream super-hero) artist in general. I’ve loved his storytelling sense since Mr. Majestic, and will pick up most any of his work without knowing much about the book itself. Next up would be James Robinson & Cully Hamner’s The Shade #3 (DC, $2.99). I’m surprised DC hasn’t done more marketing for this book, especially considering it’s a character who’s never held a series before; they’ve done little-to-any marketing to define just who the character is, relying on his ties to a lesser-selling series that ended ten years ago (no matter how good it was). Getting off my soapbox: those that have been reading The Shade know it’s good. After that I’d round it off with the best looking comic on shelves, Batwoman #4 (DC, $2.99).

If I was to splurge, I’d double-up my J.H Williams 3 fix with the final volume of Absolute Promethea (DC/ABC, $99.99). Although I already own these issues in singles, getting it over-sized and in hardcover is a treat. I’m hoping it also includes some production art or process sketches – I’m a nut for that.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller

Graeme McMillan

If I just had $15 for comics this week, it’d be gone in one fell swoop, with Fables, Vol. 16: Super Team (DC/Vertigo, $14.99) filling that empty void in my heart I’ve had for the last few months as I’ve awaited the latest collection of Bill Willingham’s long-running series.

If I had $30, however, I’d be picking up The Shade #3, Batwoman #4 and Demon Knights #4 (All DC, $2.99) to continue some of my favorite reads from the New 52 set-up, and sampling the much-hyped Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (Marvel, $3.99) to see if the future of Marvel Comics looks significantly different from its recent past (I suspect that it won’t. Spoilers, as River Song would chide).

In the world of splurging, it really has to be Archaia’s Jim Henson’s The Storyteller hardcover for me ($19.95); with a creative line-up including Jeff Parker, Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Ton Fowler and more, this is pretty much an all-star must-read for me, and one I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.

A Tale of Sand

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15, I’d stick to singles. Let’s start with Doctor Who #12 ($3.99), from IDW; it’s a Christmas story by Tony Lee. Sold! Next, issue #2 of P.C. Cast’s House of Night ($2.99), from Dark Horse. Yes, it’s vampires — oh, excuse me, “vampyres” — but Joelle Jones’s art kicks it up a notch, bringing in a sense of energy that pushes the story beyond the usual teen-vampire melodrama. Then just for fun I’ll take Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #4 ($3.50) and Roger Langridge’s Snarked #3 ($3.99). Now that’s a nice stack of comics.

If I had $30, though…the floppies would have to wait, because I’ll be buying A Tale of Sand from Archaia ($29.95). Based on an unproduced film script by Jim Henson, illustrated by Ramon Perez, this book has a lot going for it — the art alone looks fantastic — and I can’t wait to see it.

Splurge: I think I would find it hard to resist the first volume of the Hermes Press collection of My Favorite Martian ($49.99). I loved the show as a kid (although come to think of it, I don’t remember the comics), and I’m hearing good things about Hermes’s production values. And there has to be room in my splurge for vol. 18 of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, still one of the best manga being published in English.

The Sigh

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: In what must be one of the most notable “gets” in a long while, Archaia picked up the rights to Marjane Satrapi’s latest graphic novel, The Sigh, a seeming Persian-styled fairy tale about love and longing. I really don’t know much about this book other than it’s out, but I’m extremely curious to see what the author of Persepolis is up to now.

If I had $30: I still haven’t gotten the first volume, but new Tezuka is always cause for celebration, so let’s herald the arrival of the second volume of Princess Knight. This brick-sized book collects the remainder of the maestro’s gender-swapping tale of a girl who must pretend to be a boy in order to inherit the throne. I’d also pick up the latest issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle, because, hey, Michael Kupperman.

Splurge: 500 Portraits is a collection of drawings by the mighty Tony Millionaire of various people, some famous, some not so famous. I’m sure it all will be exquisitely rendered. If I was indeed splurging, this is what I’d go for.

Demon Knights #4

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d grab the latest issues to some series I’ve been enjoying. Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #4 ($2.99) is my easiest pick. I love that series and I’m even more eager to continue reading it having heard about what Jeff Lemire has planned for the future.  Avengers 1959 #4 ($2.99) puts us into the home stretch on that exciting series and like Chris A and Graeme, I’m very much enjoying The Shade, so #3 ($2.99) is another must-get. Demon Knights #4 ($2.99) also goes on the pile, because I’m growing fond of the characters. It also has a fun, high-concept battle going on; I just wish the story moved faster than it is. Since I’ve got $3 left in my pocket, I’ll give Batwoman #4 ($2.99) a shot to see why everyone loves it.

If I had $30, I’d add Moonstone’s Airboy Presents: Air Vixens #1 ($3.50), because I like Valkyrie (no, not that one; the other one) and Black Angel. The rest of my money would go to Marjane Satrapi’s The Sigh ($10.95), because she’s only ever surprised and delighted me.

There are a ton of items I’d love to splurge on, but I managed to narrow the list to three. I’m reading a lot of old Wonder Woman comics lately, so Showcase Presents Wonder Woman, Volume 4 ($19.99) is a welcome release. But I’d gladly wait on that to get either one of Archaia’s Jim Henson books coming out this week: Jim Henson’s The Storyteller ($19.95) or A Tale of Sand ($29.95). Both sound fantastic, but if forced to choose, I’d grab Storyteller first for its impressive line-up of its own storytellers. In addition to the ones Graeme mentioned above, I’m especially looking forward to stories by Roger Langridge, Marjorie Liu, Ron Marz, Francesco Francavilla, Chris Eliopoulos, Colleen Coover, and Janet Lee.

First Flight by Dave Guertin

Viz Media will release Art for Hope, a digital art book anthology that benefits Architecture for Humanity’s ongoing disaster reconstruction efforts in Japan, on Dec. 1 through VIZManga.com and the Viz Manga app for the various Apple devices. The art book, which will be available until May 31, contains contributions from 40 artists from around the world, including Chew co-creator Rob Guillory, Long Tail Kitty and Mr. Elephanter creator Lark Pien, muralist Sirron Norris and Skullkickers co-creator Jim Zubkavich.

According to the press release, each of the 40 artists participating in the anthology used Autodesk SketchBook digital paint and drawing software applications in some way to create original pieces for the anthology. Selections from it will also be exhibited at the Autodesk annual user conference, Autodesk University, taking place at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. Access to the exhibit is free to the public.

You can find a list of all the contributors after the jump.

Janet Alvarado
Asuka 111 (Patipat Asavasena)
Azure
Greg Baldwin of CreatureBox
Alan Bay
Drew Blom
Steve Boura
Carsten Bradley
Matthew Britton
Veronica Casson
Geikou Chen
Gemma Correll
Kalii Delarosa
Conrado Hernan Villa Gil
Dave Guertin
Rob Guillory
Rodolpho Langhi
C. Lijewski
Chris Lui
Holly Mongi
Jorge Monlongo
Brian Muelhaupt
Shaun Mullen
Susan Murtaugh
Ray N.
Joe Ng
Sirron Norris
Jacques Pena
Luis Peso
Lark Pien
Kyle Runciman
Francesco Salvati
Janet Shaw
Brad Silverman
Joseph Strachan
James Turner
Colie Wertz
Pinar Yalcin
John Yandall
Jim Zub

Chris Claremont

Creators | Longtime Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont is donating his archives to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The collection includes materials for all of his major writing projects over the past 40 years, notebooks with story ideas, drafts of short stories, plays, novels and comic books, and materials from his early training in the theater and his career as an actor. “We hope this is the first of more comics papers to come to the University,” said Karen Green, Columbia University’s ancient/medieval studies librarian and graphic novel librarian. “We want it to be a magnet for these kinds of archives in New York City, where the comics medium was born.” [Publishers Weekly]

Awards | USA Network and DC Comics’ Burn Notice webcomic has won a Media Vanguard Award from Advertising Age. [Advertising Age]

Creators | Michael Cavna talks to two comics creators with very different takes on Occupy Wall Street, sequential journalist Susie Cagle, who was arrested as part of the Occupy Oakland protests, and conservative editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler, who walks past the Occupy D.C. site every day and regards it as “quaint,” smelly, and out of step with the rest of the country.” [Comic Riffs]

Bleach, Vol. 49

Publishing | Viz Media prepares for its digital relaunch of Shonen Jump, which will feature near-simultaneous releases of Naruto, Bleach and four other series with their Japanese counterparts, by speeding up its digital releases of Bleach — and skipping ahead to the next story arc. [About.com]

Creators | Eight veteran MAD Magazine creators, including Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones and Jack Davis (whose work appeared in the very first issue) got together in Georgia recently to talk over old times. Jaffee and Aragones are still going strong, but Davis quit the magazine 20 years ago. He explained, “I like all the guys up there a lot, but I felt like it kind of got a little raunchy.” [The Associated Press]
Retailers | Ralph Gardner Jr., revisits St. Marks Comics after 20 years away and finds it still going strong. [The Wall Street Journal]

Habibi

Commentary | Jonathan Liu looks at Craig Thompson’s Habibi. [GeekDad]

Commentary | Just call them comics, says Dave Scheidt, who decries the blurring of the distinction between comics and graphic novels: “A graphic novel in the purest definition is a front to back story in which told in a single volume most usually self-contained, and not a collected edition of numerous single issues, even if they are apart of an ongoing story. If it were just released as volumes and never single issues, ding ding! Graphic novel.” [The Huffington Post]

We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!

Marvel Entertainment

• Desktop Analyst
• Linux & SAN System Administrator
• Manager, Digital Customer Acquisition
• Network System Administrator
• Retail Analyst
• Systems Administrator, Marvel Digital Media Group

DC Entertainment

• Associate Editor
• Executive Assistant II

Note: DC doesn’t allow internal linking; go to Time Warner’s career page and search for DC Comics.

IDW Publishing

• Senior Editor

Viz Media

• Digital Business Manager
• Animation Marketing Manager
• Publishing Marketing Manager
• Financial Analyst

Diamond Comics Distributors

• Director of Business Development, Comic Book Specialty Market (CBSM)
• Part Time Retail Sales Associate (GEM)
• Retail Sales Manager (GEM)
• Tech Support/Point of Sale Specialist (DCD)

Graphic.ly

• Product Designer
• Super Marketer

Comixology

• Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer – Mobile and Web
• Senior Mobile Developer
• Project Manager
• Admin (Temp to Perm)
• Temp Admin – Project is through 12/9 (possibly extended to 12/16)

An additional note: Many comic companies hire interns. Check with each publisher’s website to see the details and the hiring process.

Comics by comiXology

Digital | Comics by ComiXology has topped Apple’s charts as the top-grossing iPad application for the last six Wednesdays. ComiXology cited the launch of DC’s New 52 initiative, as well as many other comic companies moving to a same-day digital release schedule, as reasons for its success. “When have comic books, not comic book movies, not comic book merchandise, but the actual comic books been #1 in anything, much less high tech?” comiXology CEO David Steinberger said in a statement. “Being the number one grossing iPad application six Wednesdays in a row isn’t just a huge milestone for comiXology, but a huge milestone for comics as a medium … and we could not be prouder.” [press release]

Creators | An auction for the naming rights to a character in Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons’ The Secret Service raised $5,100 for St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, where Millar attended. The money will be used to pay for field trips for the school’s students. “I’m a former pupil at St. Bartholomew’s and have so many great memories of the place,” Millar said. “I know there’s not a lot of money in local government at the moment and I was sad to hear that the annual school trip for the children had been cancelled. By establishing this fund, I hope to have a pot the head-teacher can dip into every Christmas and take the entire school to a pantomime every year.” [Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser]

Brian Azzarello (by Seth Kushner)

Creators | Christopher Irving profiles Wonder Woman and Spaceman writer Brian Azzarello. [NYC Graphic]

Creators | Werewolves of Montpellier creator Jason discusses his career and influences, including Tintin creator Herge: “I borrowed his albums at the library as a kid. I started drawing my own cartoons. And I think you can have a much worse teacher than Hergé. It’s not really the clear line that is the most important thing, even if that is part of what I like with him, it’s more the very clear storytelling that you find in his books. On page three you’re hooked. I think you can read his books in a foreign language, in Russian, and still understand the story and enjoy it. I don’t re-read the books that often, but I often take them out, my favourite albums like The Broken Ear and The Shooting Star, and just look at the drawings.” [The Casual Optimist]

Manga | Deb Aoki interviews the editors of Viz Media’s new yaoi manga line SuBLime, which will offer boys-love stories in both print and download-to-own digital form—with many digital offerings being available worldwide. [About.com]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity turns her sights on the classic, criminally overlooked series Basara: “Almost alone among long-running manga, Basara reads not like a serial, but like a single 28-volume graphic novel.” [Anime News Network]

Digital | Mashable profiles Graphicly founder Micah Baldwin, who also started the “Follow Friday (#FF)” meme on Twitter. [Mashable]

Kobo Vox

Digital | While it’s not getting as much attention as the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Kobo Vox color e-reader shows some good potential as a comics reader, and it comes pre-loaded with an Archie comic. [The Beat]

Review | Greg McElhatton reviews Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick’s graphic biography of physicist, raconteur, and “major horndog” Richard Feynman: “Reading Feynman did what few other books about scientists have done for me; it made me think, ‘I wish I’d met this guy.’” [Read About Comics]

Accessories | The New York Times takes its readers inside the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, where the trendy New York superhero can buy particle guns, thunder inducers, grappling hooks and, of course, capes. [The New York Times]

Events | Isotope Comics in San Francisco will host Lark Pien, Thien Pham, Alex Puvilland, Jordan Mechner and Mark Siegel this Saturday for a Halloween-themed party. [Isotope Comics]

Conferences | Peggy Burns recounts, with many photos, her trip to the University of Iowa for the Comics, Creativity, and Culture Conference. Guests included Jeet Heer, James Sturm, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and a host of other comics luminaries. [Drawn and Quarterly]

As the shape of the digital comics world emerges from the haze of uncertainty, readers are saying one thing loud and clear: “I want to own my digital comics.” And most publishers are sidestepping the whole issue by saying “We will gladly sell you a license to read our digital comics” and going no further.

So when Viz Media reps unveiled their SuBLime line of Boys Love (yaoi) manga at Yaoi-Con on Saturday, they made manga history: They will be publishing some titles digitally in a download-to-own format, according to manga blogger Deb Aoki, who was tweeting from the panel. The licenses will be worldwide, not restricted to the U.S. and Canada like Viz’s other digital releases. What’s more, the downloads will be PDFs, which can be read on a Kindle, Nook or iOS device as well as pretty much any computer.

That’s right: DRM-free downloadable comics, available worldwide. And the cover price on these e-books is a very reasonable $5.99.

But … but … what about piracy? The SuBLime Manga Twitter (yes, it’s up already) makes a good point: “Piracy is unavoidable no matter what we do unfortunately. People upload English translated books by scanning them. ” After all, print books are the ultimate DRM-free medium. The Viz folks did say that if piracy becomes an issue, they will re-evaluate the model.

Viz is not the first to do this — DriveThruComics and SLG Publishing have been doing it for years, and Digital Manga recently added its Vampire Hunter D manga to the DriveThruComics storefront. But it’s unusual in manga, which has been slow to adapt to digital distribution, and it’s also unusual for such a high-profile project.

For this enterprise, Viz is partnering with Animate, a Japanese retailer that has been selling yaoi manga for the Kindle for over a year now, and the Japanese yaoi manga publisher Libre. And some of the volumes will be published in print form. Lissa Pattillo has a good summary of the news, including a list of the 12 titles that Viz announced this weekend, at her blog, Kuriousity.

In addition to the Twitter, Viz has already set up a website Facebook page, although they are just placeholders right now.

Manga blogger extraordinaire Deb Aoki sat down with the Viz folks at NYCC and asked some hard questions about their relaunch of Shonen Jump as a digital magazine (to be renamed Shonen Jump Alpha). The magazine will be available via the Viz iOS app and the Vizmanga.com website, but only in the U.S. and Canada.

Aoki asked Viz VP of digital publishing Brian Piech when Shonen Jump Alpha would be available in other regions, and he responded that it depends on Viz parent company Shueisha, which controls the rights. Simply put, Viz has the print rights in the U.S. and Canada, and other companies have those rights in other countries:

This is something that the entire publishing industry is dealing with, not just manga. Digital rights (to a given book or manga) wasn’t always included in the original contracts.

Now, with everything that’s happening, everyone wants the digital rights. But it’s not clear if the print publisher (of a given book in a given territory) has first dibs, or if the rights holder can just shop (the digital rights) around to whomever wants it.

So it’s possible that someone will be publishing Naruto digitally in other countries, but it won’t necessarily be Viz.

There are pretty much three reasons for piracy—price, speed, and regional availability. Viz has the speed thing licked—with the launch of Shonen Jump Alpha, they will be publishing chapters of six of the most popular manga in the U.S. within two weeks of their Japanese release, and there’s a good chance that they may eventually go to simultaneous release in the two countries. On price, the ability to buy a chapter for the magic price of 99 cents (through Viz’s website as well as iOS apps) is a pretty good deal for the casual reader (although the yearly subscription price of $25.99 is a better deal in the long term). But region restrictions, whatever the reason, are bad news; they seem to be driving a lot of the traffic on pirate sites, judging from the comments. Two out of three ain’t bad—but if Shonen Jump Alpha does well, and the Shueisha honchos loosen the restrictions, that hat trick could prove very lucrative for Viz.

We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!

Marvel Entertainment

• Customer Service Coordinator
• Desktop Analyst
• Financial Analyst
• Inventory Manager, Worldwide Technical Services
• Linux & SAN System Administrator
• Manager, Digital Customer Acquisition
• Network System Administrator
• Retail Analyst
• Senior ERP Project Manager
• Senior Royalty Analyst
• Systems Administrator, Marvel Digital Media Group
• Web Interface Developer

DC Entertainment

• New Talent Administrator, Digital

Note: DC doesn’t allow internal linking; go to Time Warner’s career page and search for DC Comics.

Viz

• Digital Business Manager
• Animation Marketing Manager

Yen Press / Orbit

• Editor
• Online Marketing Associate

Diamond Comic Distributors

• Part-Time Retail Sales Associate
• Tech Support / Point-Of-Sale Specialist

Graphic.ly

• Product Designer
• Super Marketer

Comixology

• Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer – Mobile and Web
• Senior Mobile Developer

An additional note: Many comic companies hire interns. Check with each publisher’s website to see the details and the hiring process.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Hark! A Vagrant

Chris Arrant

If I had $15, I’d spend several musty dollars on Fear Agent #31 (Dark Horse, $3.50). This penultimate issue has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to see Remender and Moore enlist Mike Hawthorne to help get these final issues done – big fan of all three of them! Next up would be two of DC’s New 52; Action Comics #2 (DC, $3.99) and Swamp Thing (DC, $2.99); I admit that I feel weird not being more excited about Morrison’s run than I am, but somehow the first Action Comics wasn’t as gripping as the first All-Star Superman … and it’s not the art. For the last pick, I’d get X-Men: Schism #5 (Marvel, $3.99). It got off to a slow start, but Jason Aaron’s an expert at nailing his landings, and I’m intrigued to see how it all goes down.

If I had $30, I’d start off with a pair of number ones – Pilot Season: Test #1 (Image/Top Cow, $3.99) and Roger Langridge’s Snarked #1 (BOOM! Studios, $3.99). Pilot Season has always been a must-buy for me; sometimes the concepts don’t live up to the promise, but they still have a good track record. I just wish more ended up as ongoing series. Next up I’d get the long-running Invincible #83 (Image, $2.99); seriously, this hits all my itches harkening back to my younger comic-reading days. Last up I would get Animal Man #2 (DC, $2.99); I love what Lemire and Foreman started here; I just wish there were more of it!

If I found some extra cash, I would double-back for Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant (D+Q, $19.95). This reads like a literary nut’s comic strip, and I love every bit of it. For some reason it reminds me of Gary Larson’s The Far Side but in a very modern way.

Snarked #1

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15, I’d make a beeline for Roger Langridge’s Snarked #1 (BOOM! Studios, $3.99) first of all, having loved the #0 preview and being curious as all get-out to see where things are about to go next. For the same, “But what happens now?” reasons, I’d grab Action Comics #2 and OMAC #2, my favorites from the first week of DC’s New 52 books (Both DC Comics, Action: $3.99, OMAC: $2.99), and also Marvel’s wonderful and underrated Mystic #3 ($2.99).

If I had $30 this week, I’d put Mystic and OMAC back on the shelves, and pick up Drawn & Quarterly’s Hark! A Vagrant HC ($19.95), the print collection of Kate Beaton’s spectacular webcomic that may have been released last week, but shows up on the Diamond list for this week. There’s no way this won’t be awesome.

When it comes to splurging, I’m going to go for the seventh volume of Bakuman (Viz, $9.99), a manga I’m a latecomer to, but have finally been won over by. Yes, it’s ridiculous and over the top, but that’s grown on me to the point where I can’t quite imagine anyone doing a story about the inside workings of the manga industry that wasn’t approaching operatic levels of emotion and intensity.

Bakuman, Volume 7

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

The new Casanova and Boys are the obvious picks for me. And probably that first issue of Snarked as well. I might consider getting Action #2, although, to be honest, like Chris I wasn’t that enthralled with it.

If I had $30:

Hello, new volume of Bakuman! How nice to see you again! (Oh, and welcome to the club, Graeme.)

Splurge:

Everyone’s already mentioned that swell Kate Beaton book, and NBM has its first foray into manga, Stargazing Dog, but I can’t think of a more significant release this week than Vertical’s latest entry from the Osamu Tezuka library, The Book of Human Insects. This is one of Tezuka’s dark, later works from the ’70s and hopefully will be as gonzo insane as Ode to Kihrito and MW were.

Action Comics #2

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d return for a couple of DC series I enjoyed last month. My reaction to Action Comics was more in line with Graeme’s than the Chris’; possibly because my expectations for it were so mixed. I expected it to be interesting, but I didn’t predict how pleased I’d be with the less-powered Superman whose passion for social justice (as well as criminal) reminded me of the character’s earliest appearances. I’m eager for #2 ($3.99), though disappointed that the price is still not holding the line at $2.99; more pages or no. I’m a little less interested in Static Shock #2 ($2.99) knowing that John Rozum is leaving the series, but my fondness for the Milestone characters will keep me around long enough to see how it does without him. Next, I’d add the new Huntress #1 (2.99) because I like that character and – switching over to Marvel – grab Avengers 1959 #1 ($2.99) because Namora and Killraven on a team together sounds like a lot of fun.

If I had $30, I’d add Josh Fialkov’s Last of the Greats #1 ($3.99) to see him tackle a creator-owned superhero story. I also enjoyed the zero-issue of Snarked enough to come back for #1 ($3.99), so that goes on the pile too. I can’t pass up the price on Moonstone’s pulp crossover, Phases of the Moon, so I’d also grab the second issue ($2.50) featuring Honey West and Kolchak. And finally, with six bucks left in my pocket, I’d check in on Moriarty #5 ($2.99) and Reed Gunther #5 ($2.99), though in truth I’m trade-waiting both those series.

My splurge item this week is a no-brainer. Everyone’s already singing the praises of Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant ($19.95) and I’ll gladly add my voice to that choir.

Pogo

Publishing | Mark Evanier, who is providing editorial assistance on Fantagraphics’ long-awaited Walt Kelly Pogo collections, notes that the first volume has gone to print. “My friend, the lovely Carolyn Kelly, lovingly supervised the loving restoration of her lovely father’s lovely strip and she also did the lovely design of this lovely book and its lovely dust jacket and the lovely imprints under that lovely dust jacket. Sure sounds like a labor of love to me. Not that the contents need any help but the strips are supplemented by a foreword from writer (and friend o’ Walt’s) Jimmy Breslin and essays/annotations by Steve Thompson, R.C. Harvey and myself. If I were you, I’d read all that text stuff after I read the strips themselves about eleven times.” [News from Me]

Comics | Todd Allen runs through some of the “actual changes” to the DC titles come September, noting the eight new (or fairly new, or returning after being absent) writers, plus four who have been “poached” from Vertigo. [Indignant Online]

Comics | Martin Wisse takes The Atlantic to task for publishing an “utterly dull and middlebrow” list of 10 nonfiction graphic novels they called “masterpieces.” He notes that when commenters call out the author for not listing any works by Joe Sacco, she responds that she “chickened out” on including Footnotes in Gaza because “the topic is so polarizing.” Tom Spurgeon has commentary as well, noting, “It’s galling that an author can admit to not including something for publication because they were afraid of Internet reprisals and not be automatically fired and/or laughed out of town.” [Wis[s]e Words, The Comics Reporter]

Manga | Former manga editor and adapter Lianne Sentar casts a critical eye on Tired of Waiting for Love, the first manga localized by an amateur translator for the Digital Manga Guild. [Sleep Is For the Weak]

Passings | French cartoonist Jean Tabary, co-creator of the Iznogoud series, passed away late last week at the age of 81. [The Comics Reporter]

Rebus

Art | Dana Jennings looks at five recent comic art books, including James Jean’s Rebus and IDW’s Walter Simonson’s The Mighty Thor. [The New York Times]

Manga | Alvin Lu, senior vice president and general manager of Viz Media, sits down with ICv2 for a two-part interview about the state of the manga market, the effect of the Border’s bankruptcy, and the future of digital manga. [ICv2: Part 1,http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/20861.html Part 2]

Creators | Eva Volin continues her series of video interviews with comics creators with a talk with Ryan Sias, who contributed to the Flight anthology and creator of the new kids’ comic Zoe and Robot: Let’s Pretend. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Francoise Mouly’s commencement address to students at the Center for Cartoon Studies traces her own odyssey from her first night in New York City (spent locked in a room at the YMCA) to her current career as publisher of TOON Books and art editor of the New Yorker, ending with the command “Here, now, is your diploma. Think of it as a map and go get lost.” [CCS Visiting Artist Blog]

Review | The market is flooded with vintage Archie anthologies, but Sean Gaffney checks out the recession-friendly (400+ pages for $9.99) The Best of Archie Comics, and finds it very satisfying. [A Case Suitable for Treatment]

Webcomics | Johanna Draper Carlson lists the webcomics she discovered at last weekend’s Baltimore Comic Con. [Comics Worth Reading]

Conventions | Caleb Goellner calls out the panels that may be of interest to comic fans at this weekend’s gaming convention PAX. [ComicsAlliance]

Comic strips | Jon Carroll pens an appreciation of Walt Kelly’s Pogo, a newspaper strip that has fallen into undeserved obscurity. [SFGate]

The Incal

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. JK Parkin is off in San Diego trying to get that Elvis Stormtrooper’s autograph, so I’ll be your host today. Our special guest this week is George O’Connor.

O’Connor is probably best known as the author of the ongoing Olympians series of graphic novels, which attempt to retell classic Greek myths (the latest, Hera, just came out from First Second). He’s also the author of such books as Journey Into Mowhawk Country and the children’s picture book Kapow, as well as the artist of Ball Peen Hammer, which was written by Adam Rapp.

To see what George and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have been reading …

Chris Mautner: Dustin Harbin is quickly becoming one of my favorite cartoonists, at least among the under-35 crowd. I love the amount of detail he throws into his drawings, even the tiny ones; his gift for caricature and goofy faces; and his genuine wit.

Thankfully, Koyama Press has two new books out from Harbin right now: The second volume of his Diary Comics, now published in a (perhaps more appropriate) mini-comic size; and Dharbin!, a collection of his first two self-published comics, most of which contain simple one or tw0-page jokes or stories. OK, so it’s not all entirely new material, but it is quite good. Harbin is a born raconteur, and he has a gift for making even simple events like hanging out with friends or working late at night seem special or revealing. Plus, he’s a really funny guy.

Daredevil #1

Tim O’Shea: How happy am I after reading Daredevil 1 by Mark Waid along with artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin? After finishing the issue I felt as hopeful and engaged as I did in the early 1980s after reading Walt Simonson’s Thor 337 (the first issue in his epic run). Now while I sincerely doubt that I will get a three-issue run from this creative team, I am hopeful that I will least get a year. It was interesting to see how both artists experiment with how to convey DD’s radar sense. Of the two styles, I find myself partial to RIvera’s approach. Also Riviera does nice little details to his story, such as when Murdoch is going through a metal detector and has to take off his trademark ”blind” glasses. And I have to quote and agree with Michael May from this week’s Food or Comics?, who wrote: “Mark Waid fills me with confidence about every Marvel or DC series he writes, but I’m just happy to see a superhero smiling”.

Hated seeing the six-issue Vertigo miniseries Cinderella: Fables are Forever, by writer Chris Roberson and artist Shawn McManus, end this week. Of the Fables (hell Vetigo) universe, CInderella has become my favorite character.

Judging by the female empowerment speech that Matthew Sturges gives Power Girl to say in  the opening of Power Girl 26, I find myself hoping that in the coming days of the new 52 DC Comics the writer finds himself an assignment. He’s a solid writer who should have been on one of the creative teams in the first place (instead of some of the questionable creators that garnered assignments instead).

Archie & Friends 156

Brigid Alverson: I have been reading a lot of Archie comics lately. I don’t think I would have picked up Jughead at all if it wasn’t for the much-praised Jughead #200, written by Robot Chicken creator Tom Root, but it’s actually one of the more interesting comics in the Archie line. In Jughead #207 and #208, written by Craig Boldman and illustrated by Rex Lindsey, Jughead actually leaves home after a blowup with his father. First he settles at Archie’s house (having discovered that he and Archie are distant cousins), then he moves to Ethel’s for a spell. I particularly liked the first story, as it showed a bit more depth than your typical Archie comic; the parents get involved in the situation, for instance, and Jughead shows a remarkable (for him) capacity for introspection. The story isn’t over yet, and I’m more than mildly curious to see what happens next.

Of course, it’s all in good fun, and so is Archie & Friends #156, which is set at Riverdale Comic Con. The script is by Archie Comics publicity director Alex Segura, who knows a thing or two about cons (he came to Archie from DC Comics), with pencils by longtime pro Bill Galvan. The whole gang shows up in costume, and they are followed by a mysterious but obnoxious robot as they sample the delights of the con and compete in a costume contest (with real-life movie producer JJ Abrams as the judge). It’s a very Archie plot, complete with an itching-powder double-cross (who carries itching powder any more?), but Segura and Galvan toss in some sly insider references, both verbal and visual (Archie dresses as Pureheart the Powerful, the gang heads to the MLJ Comics booth to see Dan Parent, and Archie is searching for a back issue of The Shield, a character he replaced in Pep Comics). Incorporating current pop culture into a comic is risky, but Segura and Galvan pull it off nicely.

Finally, let’s talk about Kevin Keller, who gets his own series next year. Kevin Keller #1 (actually Veronica #207) is scripted and penciled by Kevin creator Dan Parent, who gives the characters a smoother, simpler look than the traditional Archie style‹he eschews those two parallel lines across the bridge of the nose that are such an Archie trademark, for instance, and his Veronica doesn’t have bangs, which really changes her look. The basic conflict is a contest again (they seem to have a lot of those in Riverdale); this time, it’s Jughead versus Kevin in a pie-eating contest. The story includes a flashback into Kevin’s past as a nerdy kid with braces who rescues a friend from a mean trick, and it introduces Kevin’s father, Col. Tom Keller. Yes, Kevin is an army brat, and he wants to go into the service himself someday, which is just fine with everybody (well, Veronica worries that he will get wounded somehow, but Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell doesn’t merit a mention). We even get to see Kevin come out to his parents. But the place where the story really breaks new ground is with the pie-eating contest, because (spoiler alert!) Veronica has left the cream pies in an overheated car, a fact that Kevin and Jughead learn only after eating six apiece. I believe this is the first time anyone has ever vomited in an Archie comic, although of course we don’t see the actual act. Anyway, the comic has a lot of backstory and goes a long way toward establishing Kevin’s personality. If he has one flaw, it’s that everyone likes him too much (apart from the central-casting bullies in middle school). I’d like to see Reggie pull some pranks on him and Veronica give him the frosty treatment‹then we will really know he is one of the gang.

George O’Connor: Wow, thank god you’re asking me this while I’m actually reading some interesting things.

The Incal Classic Collection, by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius.. I finally picked this up, because (A) I just don’t have enough Moebius in my collection and (B) a couple of my studiomates (cartoonists Jason Little and Joe Infurnari, to be specific) are huuuge fans of Jodorowsky and so I figured, hey, I really ought to check this guy out. Story-wise, I have to admit it’s not particularly gripping me. It reads easy enough, but the characters slip out of their humanity and into being these, I don’t know, super-evolved avatars a bit too often, and kind of fly around delivering exposition. That said, Jodorowsky does an even better job of pulling out crazy ideas that Grant Morrison, and the artwork by Moebius—wow.  If you too do not have enough artwork by Moebius, get some. He’s incredible. In this collection in particular I can see his influence on such masters as Dave Gibbons and P. Craig Russell.

The Mighty Thor Omnibus by Walter Simonson and Sal Buscema. Simonson’s run on the Mighty Thor was largely responsible for turning me into the comics fan (and pro) I am today. This absolute cinder block of a book has been sitting on my nightstand table for a month now as I slowly but surely wade through its contents, which is the entirety of Simonson’s 1980s run on the Mighty Thor book, as well as the Balder the Brave miniseries.  A lot of this I hadn’t read since high school, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up. The new coloring is actually quite nice too. My one complaint is the enormous dent it’s putting in my sternum as I read this thing.  Seriously, it must weigh 25 lbs.

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White, by Taiyo Matsumoto. My girlfriend and I had seen the anime made from this previously and LOVED IT, so I finally got around to picking up the original Manga.  I’m actually lying a little bit when I said I’m reading this now—it would be more accurate to say I was reading it, but my girlfriend has now absconded with it and now she’s reading it. My impression: the story is very familiar to what I’ve seen in the anime, but there’s a rougher edge to the artwork by Matsumoto that I’m really digging. Strangely, publisher Viz Media opted to print this western-style, so the book is read from left to right., as opposed to traditional Japanese right  to left.  To accomplish this, Viz must have reversed all of the artwork, which, in my experience, must have distorted it somewhat. I’m going to have to track down a Japanese version one of these days just to see the art how Matsumoto intended.

Fear Itself by Matt Fraction, Stuart Immonen, and Wade von Grawbadger. Normally, I’m one of those guys who grumbles about crossover series like this, but I love Stuart Immonen’s work and had to pick this up. Now that I’m looking at them all together, I seem to be missing one of the issues, but writer Fraction does a very good job of moving the story along at all the points it needs to hit, and man, Immonen can draw.  Von Grawbadger is his best inker, and the whole team has created the perfect comic-book equivalent of a popcorn flick, at least so far. Sometimes these things fall apart in the climax, you know?

Finally, the last book I’m reading is a bit of a cheat, as I’m included in it, but I literally only drew one page. Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies, featuring the work of 31 different cartoonists and edited by Michel Fiffe, is an anthology book featuring twisted takes on Erik Larsen’s venerable Savage Dragon and his supporting cast. The contributors are almost exclusively “indie” cartoonists, and they each bring their own idiosyncratic takes to their short tales of the Dragonverse. Some standouts so far are Kat Roberts “2000 Light Years from Home”, Chris Sinderson’s “Vicious Circle Therapy Group” and the aforementioned Mr Fiffe’s “The Date”, featuring a rotting character with the awesome name of Abner Cadaver. My own contribution was part of a short story ‘jam’ written by Joe Keating, and featuring artwork by my studiomates Simon Fraser, Tim Hamilton, Mike Cavallaro, Joe Infurnari and Dean Haspiel, with bookends by Mr Larsen himself.

Viz Media

With Comic-Con just around the corner, the Viz Media website was hacked on Saturday, apparently by hackers who go by the handles Warv0x and Krypt0n. Warv0x has taken credit for hacking the PBS website and the Blizzard mobile server in recent weeks.

The first mention of the hacking seems to be a post on the Naruto forums at 4:27 p.m. Saturday. By 8 p.m. there was a note at the top of the forum saying “If you’re experiencing technical issues with the site, know that we are aware of them and working on it. Sorry for any inconvenience.” Neither the Vizanime.com nor the Vizkids.com site was affected, but the Shonen Jump site was hacked the same way as the main site. The site was back to normal by Sunday morning.

A post subsequently appeared at Pastebin.com stating that the site was hacked by “Warv0x & Krypt0n @ Virtual Luminous Security” and the reason given was “Krypt0n: THEY STOLE MY NAME OMFGBBQ.” The stated goal: “Pretty much nothing, just messing around with the box,” and they added: “We do not support defacing, since it’s really skiddish. Our one was due boredom.”

According to Wikipedia, Warv0x is a “self-described gray-hat hacker” who is currently in a rivalry with the hacker group LulzSec.

A screencap of the hacked site, which contains some offensive language, is below the jump.

The Viz website as it appeared on Saturday

We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!

Marvel Entertainment:

• Legal Assistant/Contracts Coordinator (New York, NY)
• Desktop Analyst (Manhattan Beach, CA)
• System Administrator (Manhattan Beach, CA)
• Manager, Marketing (Manhattan Beach, CA)
• Web Software Architect (New York, NY)
• Web Interface Developer (New  York, NY)
• Product Manager, Marvel Kids Website (New York, NY)
• Associate Product Manager (New York, NY)

DC Entertainment:

Note: DC’s job site doesn’t allow direct links. Go to http://www.timewarner.com/ and do a search for Careers, then DC Comics

• Director, Publicity
• Manager, Franchise Management
• Executive Assistant I
• Events & Retailer Services Representative
• Coordinator Talent Relations & Services

Viz Media:

• Digital Media Production Coordinator
  

Diamond Comic Distributors:

• Customer Service / Sales Representative
• Marketing Supervisor (DST)
• Pop Culture Sales Representative
• Tech Support / Point of Sale Specialist

An additional note: many comic companies hire interns. Check with each publisher’s website to see the details and the hiring process.

FF #1 -- Marko Djurdjevic variant

Publishing | On the heels of Monday’s direct-market overview for March, ICv2 has released its sales estimates for the month, placing the top-selling FF #1 at 114,472 copies — more than 37,500 ahead of the No. 2 title, Green Lantern #64. The retail news and analysis site notes that the relaunched FF #1, aided by variant covers, joins the Human Torch-killing Fantastic Four #587 as the only titles to sell more than 100,000 copies in the past six months.

While 11 of the Top 25 comics saw sales increases, if only slight, the graphic novel category looked decidedly more grim, with just the third volume of The Unwritten and Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn breaking the 4,000-copy mark. [ICv2.com]

Crime | Los Angeles police have recovered a copy of Action Comics #1 stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage in 2000. The 1938 comic, worth as much as $1.5 million, was discovered last month by an unidentified man who claims to have bought the contents of an abandoned San Fernando Valley storage locker. It’s now in an LAPD evidence safe while the department’s art details detectives try to track down the thieves, but Cage says he can’t wait to get the comic back. “It is divine providence that the comic was found and I am hopeful that the heirloom will be returned to my family,” he said in a statement. [Ventura County Star, Los Angeles Times]

Crime | Artwork stolen from Ethan Van Sciver at WonderCon turned up on eBay, but has since been returned to the artist. [Bleeding Cool]

Stan Lee

Legal | Eriq Gardner examines potential evidence in the drawn-out legal battle between Stan Lee and failed dot-com Stan Lee Media, which sprang back to life in February. [Hollywood, Esq.]

Legal | Local charges have been withdrawn against four men under federal indictment in connection with the murder last summer of a 77-year-old comic collector in Medina, N.Y. The move clears the way for the federal case to proceed. [The Daily News]

Publishing | Viz Media is expanding its Viz Kids imprint with the acquisition of five licenses: Hero 108, Mameshiba, Pokemon: Black and White, Mr. Men and Little Miss, and Voltron Force. [press release]

Retailing | If you can get past the headline — “Crunch! Thump! Zap! Bam! Pow! — Wow!” — this is a decent profile of Las Vegas retailers Jim Brocius and Brian Fudge, whose Cosmic Comics has experienced a rise in sales just as it moved to a new, larger location. “This was our best January, and I think this will be our best February,” Brocius said.  [Las Vegas Business Press]

Webcomics | Whitney Matheson recommends three webcomics. [Pop Candy]

Comics | David Brothers looks at a sequence from Osborn #3, by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios and José Villarubia. [4thletter!]

Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1

Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading, where we all sit around the virtual coffeehouse and talk about the books we’re currently enjoying (or not as the case may be). Our guest this week is Wilfred Santiago, author of the soon to be released biography of Roberto Clemente, 21. Look for an interview with me and Santiago about his new book in the coming weeks. In the meantime, click on the link below to see what he and my fellow Robot 6ers are reading this week.

Turok #1

Michael May: Somehow Turok: Son of Stone #1 (the recent Dark Horse version) slipped down in my To Read pile and I just found it again. It boasts 48 pages on the front cover, but of course 10 of those are ads and another 16 are the reprint of the original Turok story from 1954. That still leaves 22 pages of original Turok story though and the whole package was only $3.50, so who’s complaining? Those 22 pages are packed with action as Turok and Andar not only meet, but run a tense, grueling race against pursuing Aztec warriors. And it’s fun to compare the modern version with the original and see what Jim Shooter has changed and what he’s kept the same.

In 1954, Turok and Andar are already hunting companions, but are in desperate need of water. An enormous, swirling colony of bats reveals a cave that Turok hopes has water in it, so they explore and discover an underground “land of the lost.” It’s no less tense than being chased by Aztecs, but not quite as thrilling. In 2010, a strange, possibly supernatural storm replaces the bat colony and appears to be responsible for sending both Turok’s group and the Aztecs back in time. What caused the storm is a mystery that I hope to see solved one day; almost as much as I want to read the resolution to the frying-pan-to-fire cliffhanger at the end of the issue. I’ll be looking forward to the collected edition.

Continuing to dig deeper into the To Read pile, I found a four-page mini-comic by Sigrid Ellis and Erika Moen (Bucko) called Plants vs. Zombies: Bedtime. The only thing I love more than the splash page of gourds, melons, flowers, and cattails defending a family from a zombie horde is that the Bedtime sub-title suggests the possibility of more like it. Also, there’s a great first page of a little boy’s room with toys scattered around (including a Millenium Falcon) and a poster on the wall for Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber’s Underground.

I also completed the first volume of Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea, mostly on the recommendations of Chris Mautner and Brigid. Like Chris, I feel a deep Miyazaki vibe, though I wouldn’t have been able to recognize it as that before re-reading his review. What I felt was the book’s ability to pull me into its world and make me feel like I was part of this seaside community and witnessing the strangeness there for myself. There’s one scene when the main character is floating in the ocean and looking down into the water below and you can actually feel how deep and endless the water is. It’s frightening and exhilarating at the same time. Just a wonderful book and I can’t wait to dig into volume two.

What else? I’m a big fan of James Baker’s Rocket Rabbit, so while I’m waiting for the collected edition of that, I’m enjoying some of his mini-comics work like Sephilina the Nauti Girl. From her tentacle-like hair, I thought at first that she might be a mermaid-like character, but in actuality she’s an alien in a charming and funny space pulp story. She’s a Squoid, a race of aliens so hideous that just looking at one puts intelligent beings into a coma. Fortunately for Sephilina, the Squoids are also shape-changers, so she’s able to transform into a cute space girl. Unfortunately, everyone knows what she is and avoids her like death in case she accidentally reverts to her true form. It’s a fun concept and Baker’s cartooning makes it pay off.

Justice League: Generation Lost #21

Tom Bondurant: Not that I am a great prognosticator, but I had a feeling that Justice League: Generation Lost #21 (written by Judd Winick, drawn by Aaron Lopresti) would turn out like it did. That feeling only grew stronger the deeper I went into the issue. You all know by now how much I’ve enjoyed JL:GL, and I thought this issue did a particularly good job of using character moments in conjunction with advancing the plot, and even building a little suspense.

I’ve also enjoyed Zatanna (written by Paul Dini), but issue #11 (drawn by Cliff Chiang) might be my favorite issue so far. Zatanna takes an especially bitter enemy back to the ol’ homestead in hopes of restoring him to his human form — an ineffectual human form, to be sure — but things don’t exactly go as planned, resulting in one of the creepiest cliffhangers I’ve seen in a while. In this regard Chang really sells the story, giving Zatanna’s ancestral home the appropriate airs of grandeur and mystery, making the magical battles exciting and unpredictable, and wrapping everything up with a sequence whose apparent banality makes it all the more horrifying. Can’t wait for issue #12.

Finally … well, last week I mentioned the Gen13 paperback, which reprints the introductory miniseries by Brandon Choi, Jim Lee, and J. Scott Campbell. I did not expect to have such a strong reaction to this book. I don’t have anything against the creators, and I’ve liked other things they’ve done. Regardless, I remember buying Gen13 out of curiosity lo, those many years ago, and it will be a long, long time before I take this book off the shelf again. Put simply, it hasn’t aged well. Campbell’s work isn’t as off-putting in its exaggerations as, say, Rob Liefeld’s, but it still takes some getting used to. The script reads like a laundry-list of teen-superhero tropes run through a military-conspiracy blender and distilled until only the most potent sugars remain. This book was garish, obvious, and overly familiar. I could practically feel the creators elbowing me in the ribs, daring me not to like it. Sorry, fellas — I’m sure Gen13 got better, and I know you all did – but I come from a land of well-made liquor; and this turned to vinegar long ago.

Empire State

Brigid Alverson: Jason Shiga’s Empire State is sweet, funny, and depressing all at once. It’s a sort-of love story that reminded me very much of what it was like to be in my 20s, and why I’m glad I’m not any more. It’s the story of a cigarette-smoking, wisecracking girl who moves to New York and a quiet, stay-at-home guy who follows her there. It doesn’t end up being the romance of the century, but there’s a lot to enjoy about this book, both Shiga’s sly humor and his dead-on portrayal of difficult emotional moments. His cartoony style helps keep the reader from getting too emotionally involved‹his characters are all rounded and slouching, and I wouldn’t have guessed that the male lead was Asian if it one of the characters hadn’t mentioned it. On the other hand, Shiga includes lots of details and gives his characters quirks and interests, which makes for a rich reading experience.

Page by Paige, by Laura Lee Gulledge is a YA graphic novel that walks a very fine line between preachy and surrealistic. It’s the story of a self-conscious, introverted high-school girl who has just moved from Virginia to New York. She confides her feelings to her sketchbook, and sometimes her internal monologue sounds like something out of a self-help book. What redeems it, though, are her surrealistic drawings of Paige’s states of mind‹a crowd reduced to bundles of paper dolls, a landscape scattered with banana peels, her family’s faces replaced by framed pictures. She has an uncanny knack for drawing what teenagers think. I do think the book would be better in color, though. Gulledge works in black and white with lots of toning and grays that get a bit lost on the page; color, even limited color, would really bring this book to life.

Captain America: The Korvac Saga #4

Tim O’Shea: Man, I was sad to recently read that Zatanna’s numbers continue to drop in sales. Plenty of books are dropping in numbers, but in my opinion Zatanna’s stories have improved over the months. Honestly I dropped the book a few months back, but because I like Paul Dini’s writing typically, I was willing to give it another go. And with this current arc featuring the art of Cliff Chiang, I’m over-the-moon happy with the book. Zatanna 10 ended with a plot twist that ensured me I’ll be back for issue 11. If you are not currently reading Zatanna, I’d loved to learn the reasons why not.

Ben McCool’s Captain America: The Korvac Saga overall was a tad uneven for my taste. That being said, with issue 4, McCool sets up a scenario where Cap has to make a choice that I would have never considered constructing in a Cap story. While I cannot recommend the miniseries to folks if it comes out in TPB, I do hope to see more writing for McCool down the road. I also hope artist Craig Rousseau gets more high profile work at Marvel in the near to long term.

Superboy 5: Jeff Lemire has surprised me by making Lori Luthor one of the most interesting cast members in Superboy. I expect she’ll eventually become the book’s villain, but for now I enjoy her presence in the book.

Hawkeye-Blindspot 2 (of 4): I never tire of Jim McCann’s encyclopedia-scale knowledge of Hawkeye history. And he jams this issue full of Hawkeye’s history, with Nick Dragotta & Brad Simpson delivering absolutely stellar flashback scenes.

Cinderella-Fables are Forever 2 (of 6): Artist Shawn McManus is known for drawing great monsters, but dang if his female characters are not equally exquisite. I doubt writer Chris Roberson and McManus would want the grind (and pressure) of an ongoing monthly, but damn if I would not read it. Roberson’s use of flashback (in this issue alone he takes us to 1943, 1983 and 1984 [in addition to present day action]) is another factor that pulls me into this miniseries. I never tire of this female Fable equivalent to James Bond.

Oishinbo

Wilfred Santiago: On my nightstand…

The complete TORPEDO volume one.
Good reprint by IDW. Not for everyone. Torpedo is a mean, slimy, nasty asshole. He is not too smart, he knows he is not and he has no scruples. In real life you don’t want to be near someone like Torpedo. If you don’t mind reading about this type of character then get this book now. In glorious black & white, Bernet has an amazing range with his brush and his synergy with Sanchez Abuli’s script is seamless, simply one of the best writer/artist teams. Alex Toth is an all-time favorite of mine and he did a couple of stories in this volume, but Bernet owns this series. You can smell the pee on the streets.

Dark Horse reprint- THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN volume 1
John Buscema’s* pencils are amazing. You could read one of his stories without word balloons and still get it. Simply put, his characters act. Interesting, the different but excellent interpretation of such strong line work through the inks of individual artist like Alfredo Alcala and Pablo Marco. This is so much more enjoyable if you block the narrator’s captions. No offense to who is ultimately responsible (Roy Thomas or Robert E. Howard?). Sometimes superfluous with redundant mood and scene descriptions, things that are clearly already rendered in the great art featured. Good stuff. (For more Buscema magic, check kids, Wolverine #1 – #16 (Vol.1)!)

MAD ABOUT THE MOVIES Mad Books
A collection of Mad Magazine movie parodies. I read these growing up; Mad was a staple of my reading diet ’till my late teens. Mort Drucker is an unequaled master at what he does, and the main reason for looking at this book. And don’t forget the deceiving simplicity of Sergio Aragones!

MY DEAREST FRIEND Letters of Abigail & John Adams Belknap Harvard
A fascinating book of correspondence between John Adams and his wife Abigail through the years. Revealing accounts of their relationship as intellectual equals, which it was at odds with the times. As its backdrop, a new nation is being built. Loving and sometimes heartbreaking. Great supplement if you enjoyed the HBO mini-series, John Adams.

OISHINBO: The Joy of Rice VIZ Media
Like food? Like manga? This is for you. Very rich, funny, engaging, serious at times. Delicious book all around.

Thor the Mighty Avenger #8

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 for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Chris Arrant

With $15 worth of dingy bills and loose quarters, I’d go my local comic shop and start with Thor: The Mighty Avenger #8 ($2.99). Probably the pick of the week in some circles (even for a square like me), it’s a celebration of what Langridge and Samnee accomplished – and although it’s the last issue, there’s that FCBD issue on the horizon. I’d also pick up two number ones -– Casanova: Gula #1 ($3.99) and Daredevil: Reborn #1 ($3.99). With my last $4, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between Thunder Agents #3 ($2.99) and Infinite Vacation #1 ($3.50), but would probably pick the latter –- Nick Spencer’s on both, but Christian Ward’s art makes Infinite Vacation #1 worth the buy.

If I ended up in a comic store with $30 in my hand, I’d probably throw back Daredevil: Reborn and Infinite Vacation #1 until reviews or money next week, and pick up Oni’s Sixth Gun Vol. 1 ($19.99). I’ve been meaning to try this series for awhile, and the guys over at the iFanboy podcast have been talking it up for some time now.

As for the splurge, it would definitely be the New Avengers Premiere Vol. 1 hardcover. At $24.99, this six-issue collection is a great buy—especially when you consider it’s a hardcover. I’d love to find out it had some extras in it, but even without it I love Marvel’s Premiere printing quality.

Graeme McMillan

Infinite Vacation #1

It feels like another slow week this week, but my $15 will end up going towards the first issue of Nick Spencer’s Infinite Vacation (Image Comics, $3.50), the first Chris Roberson issue of Superman (#707, DC Comics, $2.99) and Marvel’s “Ha, bet you feel silly for buying it first time around for $3.99 per issue” three-issue collection of Wolverine: Wolverine Goes To Hell Must-Have (Marvel Comics, $4.99), which I’ve heard enough good things about to make me risk $1.33 an issue for second time around. If only I had 50 cents extra, I’d throw in Casanova: Gula #1 (Marvel/Icon, $3.99), but it’s not like I didn’t read these stories the first time around (But, oh! That coloring! That lettering! It just looks new again in these reprints).

If I had $30, I’d probably look at adding the similarly complimented Avengers Academy: Meet The New Class Must-Have (Marvel Comics, $4.99), the final issue of Paul Cornell’s Batman & Robin run (DC Comics, $2.99) which has been good enough to make me wish that Cornell was sticking around for a bit, the first issue of Andy Diggle’s Daredevil: Reborn (Marvel Comics, $3.99) to see whether it’s all been worth it, and then probably go for a little Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6 (DC, $2.99) to see how the first storyline ends.

Splurge-wise, its all about Marvel’s Avengers: The Coming Of The Beast hardcover ($19.99), collecting the storyline that brought Hank McCoy to the team that appreciated him the most. Steve Englehart and Tony Isabella awesomeness for (just) under $20? Yes, please.

Chris Mautner

Casanova Gula #1

If I had $15:

Everything Graeme said about Casanova goes double for me, especially as I think this particular story arc is arguably the best thing Fraction has written. It’s definitely on my pull list for this week.

After that, if I’m not feeling too wounded that Alan Moore refuses to join my online Scalped fan club, I’ll pick up the seventh issue of Dodgem Logic, Moore’s ongoing magazine about various and sundry non-comics related things.

Beyond that, it’s a pretty short week, filled with plenty of nothing I’m that interested in. Certainly if you haven’t read the first Casanova collection yet, there’s a new $15 trade out that I heartily recommend.

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15:

I would pick up the second volume of Cross Game ($14.99), Viz’s coming-of-age manga about a boy whose family runs the local batting center and his relationship with the girls who live down the street. I haven’t read the whole first volume, but the first chapter struck me as really sweet, in the way manga can be sometimes. And baseball will get me thinking about spring. Viz is publishing this in omnibus editions that combine two of the original Japanese volumes, so that’s a lot of reading for the money.

If I had $30:

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth - Gods

I would add in Uncle Scrooge: Like a Hurricane ($9.99), because BOOM! does a nice job with these trades and I haven’t read one in a while. And then B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Gods #1, as it’s starting a totally new storyline.

Splurge:

It’s a splurge because I already have it in single issues, but I would really like to have the trade of The Sixth Gun ($19.99). It’s a great story, well done, and the sort of thing I’m likely to re-read, so add that to my list.

Michael May

If I had $15:

Like Graeme and Chris, I’d buy Casanova ($3.99) again to see the new printing. And like Brigid, I’d check out the launch of the new BPRD mini-series ($3.50).

If I had $30:

I’d put back Casanova (trade-waiter) and grab The Sixth Gun ($19.99) instead. I’ve been wanting the collection of Oni’s supernatural Western since the series was first announced. Glad to hear from Brigid that it’s worth the wait.

Splurge:

The definition of “splurge” to me is “something expensive that I don’t really need.” That describes the Doom Patrol: Brotherhood collection ($17.99). I like the Doom Patrol concept, but have never read Keith Giffen’s take on it and have no idea if it’s really my thing. I’m also guessing that the second collection in the series isn’t the best place to start, but curiosity gets the best of me and if had some unspent Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, I’d check it out.

The Sixth Gun

JK Parkin

If I had $15:

I’d start off with Secret Six #29 ($2.99), which concludes the story that was started in Action Comics, pitting the team against Vandal Savage and Lex Luthor. I’d also grab the second issue of Heroes for Hire, which had a fun start, and the latest Justice League: Generation Lost. That leaves me room for two more $3 titles, so let’s add the last issue of Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Thunder Agents #3 … although if I had just 50 more cents I probably would have gone with the other Nick Spencer title this week, Infinite Vacation.

If I had $30:

…which seems like a good place to start. Let’s add in Infinite Vacation #1 ($3.50), as well as the new Daredevil miniseries, Daredevil: Reborn #1 ($3.99). I also like the idea of these cheaper “Must Have” editions that Graeme pointed out, so I’d add in the Wolverine one as well ($4.99). That doesn’t leave me much room, but I’ll throw in the Unwritten #21 ($2.99) and borrow 50 cents from Chris Mautner this week.

Splurge: Although I already have the singles and don’t need the trade myself, I would also recommend the Sixth Gun trade paperback for anyone who hasn’t check it out yet.

This got me thinking. I know there are any number of logistical and financial reasons why such a thing doesn’t exist for comics. But we comics readers are an imaginative bunch, no? And today I choose to imagine a world where I can load up pretty much any book I can think of and read to my heart’s content. So here’s what my imaginary “Read Instantly” queue would look like, circa today. Check it out, then let us know what’s on your queue in the comments!

1. Powr Mastrs 3 by C.F. (PictureBox)
2. H Day by Renée French (PictureBox)
3. Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines (AdHouse)

This trio of eagerly anticipated alt/art-comix releases have been generating best-of-the-year buzz for weeks now, if not longer. I can’t wait to see what the fuss is about in all three cases.

4. Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee (Marvel)

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this all-ages-yet-not-kids’-stuff comic, from sources of the sort I wouldn’t normally expect to say good things about this kind of comic. Seeing as how I’m a big fan of a lot of “off-model” Marvel stuff, color me intrigued.

5. Twin Spica by Kou Yaginouma (Vertical)
6. Ax: A Collection of Alternative Manga Vol. 1 by Mitsuhiro Asakawa (compiler), Sean Michael Wilson (editor), and various cartoonists (Top Shelf)
7. A Drunken Dream by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)

My manga reading has been absolutely woeful this year — my short attention span (seriously, I don’t call my blog Attentiondeficitdisorderly for nothing) makes reading long series only after their completion more or less a must for me, while I’ve got a shelf full of prestige projects from American art-house publishers waiting for me to crack their spines. These recent releases are at the top of my manga must-read list.

8. The ACME Novelty Library #20 by Chris Ware (Drawn & Quarterly

I already read this the day I got it, then picked it up and read it again the next day. But it’s so chillingly good I want access to it 24/7.

9. Achewood by Chris Onstad

Now here’s where it gets a bit embarrassing: I’m literally years behind on Onstad’s much-beloved webcomic, which is especially galling considering that I was an early and vocal supporter. But for a while there I just didn’t have the wherewithal to follow any comic on a daily basis. This strip’s been going on for so long that maybe this is the equivalent of all those Mad Men and Breaking Bad DVDs that have cluttered up my queue waiting for the right time for literally months now, but someday…someday…

10. Wednesday Comics by Mark Chiarello (editor) and various writers/artists (DC)
11. Scarlet by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Marvel/Icon)

These are two titles to which, despite the presence of creators whose work I’d greatly enjoyed over the years, I found myself less warmly disposed than I’d have otherwise thought. In Wednesday Comics‘ case, it was my suspicion that nostalgia might be too heavy a presence; in Scarlet‘s, it was disappointment with the pair’s previous collaboration on Spider-Woman. But on a rainy weekend afternoon it might be fun to see what, if anything, I missed.

12. Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Dark Horse)

This long-running action-adventure serial has stealthily but steadily become one of the most influential books around in artcomics circles — Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit wears its influence on its sleeve, for example. I can’t see myself buying all 30-odd available volumes, but in my imaginary “Read Instantly” world, finding out whether Berserk is as berserk as everyone says would be irresistible.

13. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (DC)
14. The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner (Frog)
15. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison & Dave McKean (DC)

A trio of all-time favorites to which I never grow tired of returning. Yes, one of these things is not like the others.

16. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga (DC)
I read these in those gray-toned trade paperbacks ages ago and still feel the impact. The time has just never been right for me to plow through the four gorgeous Omnibus collections DC put out back-to-back. But I’ll get a chance at some point!

17. The Incal by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius (Humanoids)
18. Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

And now the really embarrassing bit: I’ve never read so much as a panel by the masters of two of the world’s three major comic book traditions. Deeply, deeply sad. Well, now that I’ve outed myself, there’s no place to go but up, and I understand these are the books to start with.

19. Or Else #2 by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn and Quarterly)

The short story “A Sunset” in this issue of Huizenga’s series is the best comics short story I’ve ever read, I think. There’s nothing else like it. I want to be able to study it whenever the mood strikes me.

20. Boy’s Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press)

I also want to be able to laugh at dick jokes until my sides hurt.

Well, there you have it — my imaginary “Read Instantly” queue in all its glory. I’ve showed you mine, now you show me yours!