Boxing Week

Its that time of year again when all that's on everyones mind is"What's on sale".

First off, I will be closed on Tuesday-Christmas Day, and Wednesday-Boxing Day. Its the only time all year that I take two days off together. But I will be open at 11:00 on Thursday for the first of 4 days of sales. Each day will be a different door-crasher special.
The first 10 customers each day will be entitled to a special offer.
THURSDAY- A FREE copy of Hulk or Spiderman Encyclopedia.
FRIDAY - Any 2 Marvel Legends figures for $5.00 each
SATURDAY - DC Digest comics( J.L.U. Scooby-Doo and Titans) $2.00 each, Limit of 3
SUNDAY - Buy one-get-one Free Pokemon or Yu-GI-OH booster packs. Limit of 3
Not mentioned on the ad is that I will be doing a buy 2 get 1 free offer on all paperbacks and hardcovers on the shelves. As usual the lowest price of the 3 will be the Free book.

Remember that all RED TAG items, already priced ridiculously low, will be up to 50% off from Thursday-Sunday next week.
PLUS anyone stocking up on supplies will get a FREE comic box(small) with the purchase of 200 comic bags and boards.

Closed For Snow Day

I'd like to apologize to anyone who braved the weather today only to find me closed. I've been fighting a terrible cold all week and decided with the snow and such that today would probably be better spent at home recuperating.
Please let me know next time you are in if you missed me today, I'll give you a nice deal as an apology and thank-you for your support.
ROB

RECOMMENDATIONS

Continuing my list of books you should be reading, you know Walking Dead is great because it pushes FABLES to the number two spot. Basically the premise of Fables is that all the fairy tale characters are real and used to live in their own realm in the Homelands, in a dimension outside ours. I say used to, because due to an evil conqueror known only(at first) as the Adversary, they have had to flee to safety in our world. The first storyline is genius as it involves a fairly mundane murder mystery, which helps ground the characters in a real world situation making it easier for us to relate to them.

Due to the fact that we are basically already familiar with the characters,(anyone who's ever read a children's tale knows most of the ones we've met ) less time needs to be spent on introductions every time someone new enters the story. Despite a cast numbering in the hundreds, the story moves along quickly.

The main book has since spawned a spin-off, Jack of Fables. Jack of course is a popular name in fairy tales, and this one character is the composite of all the heroes who share that name. I normally hate when a book spits out a character to run in its own title,(this usually just serves to divide the readership) but this time it works well as the main comic has turned towards a more serious storyline, while the Jack adventures remain more light hearted and tongue-in-cheek.

Well written, well drawn, fun month after month, I heartily recommend Fables and Jack of Fables to anyone who comes in the store looking for a great fantasy to read.

REVIEWS

I'm not sure why, but I've always been a little afraid of posting reviews of comics and/or books up here. Considering its my job to sell you these things, you'd think the more info you get the easier it would be for you to make a decision regarding what's good. And that's probably my problem, the worry that just because I think something is good doesn't neccessarily mean any of you will. But with the season for giving now firmly upon us, I feel I should give you all some ideas for what to give to the loved ones in your reading circle( or perhaps just to treat yourself).

I've seen a lot of these top ten type things done and they always run in reverse order, but Bobby don't play that way. I'm going to start you off with my fave right off the bat.

WALKING DEAD
I just have to say I'm still amazed at how well this book reads after the second or third time and I still add the newest issue to the top of my must read stack every time it comes in. There's been times I'm tempted to change the name of the store to Walking Dead & More considering how many copies of the trades I go through every month. No matter what a customer asks for in a read, I always seem to end up steering them to this title, and I can't think of a single time I've sold someone the first volume and not seen that same person back in less than a week to pick up the next( and sometimes every volume available). The world record has to be 40 minutes. A fellow was in just last Tuesday, and apparently got partway home on the subway while reading volume 1 and turned around and came back to the store, and the first words out of his lips was" I need to know what the hell happens next"
My good friend Chuck was in the store yesterday and commented he's never read it because he's not into zombie comics. Well Chuck I know what you're getting for Christmas now and let me assure you this isn't just a zombie story. I don't have the words to describe how well written the characters are in this book. In fact I think what helps me sell it is the part of my speech where I just start stammering and my pauses between words get longer as I search for a way to say, " This is the best freakin comic I have ever read" And 4 years in, I still count the days until the next issue arrives. Let me just say in closing that the title of the book doesn't refer to the zombies.The survivors of whatever the hell caused this, are themselves The Walking Dead.

More Reviews to come + check out the review section of the on-line store.

http://shop.comicsnmore.ca/online/reviews.php?osCsid=26e1ed3410f7b145492af18692f9d89e

FEBRUARY PREVIEWS

DARK HORSE

Just a couple Mignola items to note this month.

Hellboy hero Abe Sapien gets his first solo story in The Drowning. Set in the '80's Abe must search for the remains of a warlock defeated over 100 years earlier.

Speaking of Hellboy, Dark Horse finally gets around to giving him the deluxe hardcover treatment. Volume 1 will contain the first 2 adventures, Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil, along with additional material including a Mignola sketchbook.

DC

Not a lot to list at all from DC this time around.

Booster Gold gets a Zero Hour crossover, 10 years late, but worth the wait. How will Boosters meeting with Hal Jordan Parallax turn out? And what's up with all the Blue Beetle's on the cover?

Action Comics Annual #11 finally arrives to finish off the "Last Son" storyline by Johns and Donner that started some time last year it seems. I'm not sure I even remember what this one was all about, something with Zod having a kid while in the Phantom Zone.

Tiny Titans #1 will probably go down in history as the cutest possible comic of all time. I'm
not sure if I'll enjoy it as much as the Teen Titans Go stuff, but it'll be nice to have another comic I can recommend to parents with young ones just starting in to the whole reading thing. No world threatening events or super bad guys here, just the challenges of a new puppy or a melted ice cream cone dilemma.

MARVEL

Clandestine#1 ...WTF?...I can't believe that Marvel is trotting this one out again. How many times will Alan Davis try to start up this group.

If I thought there was any chance of seeing more than 3 issues of this thing I wouldn't mind, but I sincerely doubt we'll ever see a 4th issue. Please let me know if you are interested in this as I really don't want to put more than a few of these on the shelf.

Speaking of slow artists, Fantastic 4 #554 starts the run by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. Yes the team that brought us 7 issues of Civil War in only 10 months feels they can do a monthly Fantastic Four. Marvel must have guessed that retailers and fans would be wary as they released a statement that the first 6 issues of this run are already pencilled and Hitch is at work on the next arc. I'll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile the story here seems to be that Reed was married before and Sue has a new super team of her own. Personally I'm wondering if Millar has been told that there is a difference between the regular universe and Ultimate versions of these characters.

FANTASTIC FOUR: The Lost Adventure sounds like a neat little piece of history. The original unfinished issue of Fantasic Four#103 finally completed. Working from the original Kirby pages, Stan lee and Joe Sinnot have recovered this lost piece. Included is a complete reprint of Fantastic Four #108 which originally used parts of the unfinished story as flashback material. Sounds a little like when that Star Trek episode with Capt.Pike was cobbled together from the unaired pilot episode.

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men extends Joss Whedons run by just one more issue than its intended 24 , but I don't think anyone will really mind. This double-sized special brings the X-team back to Earth with the bad guys close behind and promises one of the X-Men will die by issues end. Not really necessary guys, trust me you don't need a death to sell a book by a team like Whedon and Cassaday.

The entire X end of the marvel universe continues its revamps as formerly adjective less X-Men adds the word Legacy to its title. From the looks of the cover, X-Men Legacy will feature the original classic 5 X-Men, but Marvel isn't giving out any details on the story until the Messiah Complex wraps up.

Wolverine has his hands full as he stars in yet another comic as X-Force restarts. The genesis of this title seems to be "how many characters with blades, claws and fangs can we fit in one book". Just having Wolvie and his little clone X-23 in the same book seems redundant, but with Wolfsbane and Warpath in here I'm surprised they didn't call the book W-Force.

Man-Thing is back and he's dirtier than ever. Dead of Night Featuring Man-Thing is a mature readers only MAX title, which probably means a lot more gore and occasional boobie shots.

Also from the mature end of the Marvel catalog we get a restart to the excellent crime series Criminal by Ed Brubaker. The book is being relaunched as a 40 pager with heavier covers and a price increase of 50 cents, but it'll be worth every penny. This has been one of my favorite new titles of the last few years and any fan of Brubakers run on Daredevil,Capt. America or Iron Fist, should be picking this one up as well. In fact I'll be adding this stand alone issue FREE to any (adult) member who picks up any of the other Brubaker titles. And check out the on-line store for a great deal on the first 2 paperback collections of the series.

Even more mature fun comes our way with Mark Millar and John Romita doing Kick-Ass. Not much info on this one other than the tag line " realistic super-heroes taken to the next level". Sounds like a decent idea for a one-shot special, but this thing seems to be listed as an on-going. Lets just hope it doesn't get in the way of Millar getting the scripts to fantastic Four in on time.

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION EVENT

A few people have been in this weekend and/or called about the Customer Appreciation Event I usually hold this time of year. To be honest, I've just been so busy this month that the time just wasn't there to do something special. I moved the Buck Back Issue sale so that it could be a month long deal rather than packed all into one weekend, and I actually got in so many deals on Hardcovers and paperbacks that I had to start selling them early just to make room for the Christmas stock coming in.
To make it up to everyone, I'll be giving the members a 20% discount off any RED TAG items in the store from now until Christmas. Don't for a second believe that you've seen everything already either. I will be putting out even more paperbacks and hardcovers every day at ridiculously low prices, plus marking down all kinds of toys, games, busts, and other stock as well. And all members get 20% off these fantastic prices.
As for Holiday hours, I will be open my regular times + 12:00-5:00 on Monday DEC.17th and Monday DEC. 24th, for any last minute shopping. I will be closed on CHRISTMAS DAY and BOXING DAY as well as NEW YEARS DAY. The new comics will be arriving on Friday both those weeks.

BOOK SALE

Its that time of year again when I'm counting on you guys to help me clean out my basement and fetch yourself some great bargains as well. Heck give them away for Christmas and make yourself look more generous than normal. Here's some of the great deals you'll find out on the back table over the next few weeks, but there'll be lots more than I can list here. Just look around every time you come in for sale stickers and RED TAG specials.

LEAGUE of UNFRIENDLY GENTLEMEN

***** REMINDER: LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER SALES RESTRICTIONS
Dear Retailer:
Please be reminded that due to legal concerns, DC Comics is limiting its sales of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER to customers in the United States.
Anyone that resells copies of this book outside of the United States in contravention of DC Comics’ territorial restrictions does so at its own legal risk and can be held directly liable for damages in any action that any person or entity might bring claiming that the book violates or infringes his, her or its rights.
Accordingly, DC Comics asks that you not make any sales of this book directly to consumers outside of the United States or to any third party that you have reason to believe intends to resell such copies outside of the United States.
Thank you for your cooperation.
DC COMICS
*************************************************************
That said, I can't see any problem with a trade deal involving this book, if anyone out there has an extra copy or 2.

JANUARY PREVIEWS

I can’t believe I’m reviewing books arriving in January 2008 already. Time indeed flies when you’re having fun, and despite occasional rants and complaints, I have to admit I still love what I do here and wouldn’t trade my job for anything.( well, playboy billionaire would be a pretty good alternative)

DARK HORSE starts out strong with a new B.P.R.D. 5 issue mini set in 1946.Travel back to the beginnings of the team that discovered Hellboy, Abe Sapien and the rest.

Bruce Campbell has a new movie coming up, appropriately titled They Call Me Bruce, and you can check it out with the 1-shot movie adaptation arriving mid-January. Starting about then will be the newly expanded 4 –issue version of the original Evil Dead adaptation, with new painted art by John Bolton.
The 3rd Classic Harvey volume is coming, and this one is devoted to that cute little devil Hot Stuff. If you haven’t seen them, these books are beautiful glossy collections featuring close to 500 pages of pure joy. Most of the book is B&W with only about 60 pages in full colour, but the reproduction quality is fantastic. I can’t tell you how much I miss the whole Harvey universe and really wish someone could get them back in stores on a monthly basis. Every day I see more and more parents coming in with young children, and Casper, Richie and friends would be perfect starter material for this new crop of readers. If Dark Horse were smart, they would produce a Free Comic Day issue for release next May, and help me sell a ton of these.

Originally solicited for earlier this year, the

Dark Horse 20th Anniversary hardcover

has been relisted to go on sale in January of ’08. It may be a year or more late but it’ll be worth the wait. This beauty will feature over 400 pages of classic story and art from the publisher’s 20 year history including work by some of the biggest names in comics, Miller, Mignola, Hughes, Kubert, Eisner and more. In celebration of my own 20 year anniversary, I will be offering this book at the special price of $15.00, or roughly 40 % off the U.S. cover price. Quantities may be limited so add it to your list as soon as possible.

DC Comics is scaring me lately with their new previews. They haven’t had any real big first issue launches for a couple months now, and I can only assume they’ll be making up for lost time sooner or later. They seem to have more books wrapping up than beginning. Probably clearing the path for the huge launch of Final Crisis in the spring.

A couple of Titans projects being launched the same month seems odd, especially as neither one looks all that great. Teen Titans Year One #1 of 6 could be good although the art isn’t really to my taste. A little more interesting is the Titans Lost Annual, a one-shot special set in the ‘60’s, written by Bob Haney before his death, making it a true “lost” annual. The Titans must race into space to rescue JFK from aliens. Classic Haney.

Spirit #14 enters a new age as Sergio Aragones comes on as writer with art by Mike Ploog. I think Darwyn Cooke fans will be missing out if they write this one off their list.

DC gives us a 20th anniversary present with the release of the Killing Joke Special Edition hardcover. Probably one of the most famous and recognized comic covers of all time wraps this newly re-coloured version which includes an extra story “An Innocent Guy”, originally printed in Batman Black and White. I’ll be offering this book at a special price of $12.00 to members as well,(see Dark Horse Preview section) And don’t miss out on the Killing Joke Box Set, a beautiful new sculpt of Batman and Bermuda shorts Joker figures, it includes a copy of the original format Killing Joke.

Alas poor Yorick we knew you well. Y-The Last Man#60 wraps up probably one of the finest Vertigo titles I've ever read, and it will indeed be sorely missed. If you've never experienced the joy of this excellent book, don't fret. I'm sure you'll be seeing all 10 volumes of this series in print on shelves for years to come.

Backstock Sale

Well the $1.00 sale continues with more backstock issues flying out the door. It's become apparent these last two weeks that people still like the single issue format, and there are plenty of comics from the last decade or two they are interested in owning, if the price is right. When I first opened 20 years ago, it was still common to price most back issues below the price of a new comic. As the collector mentality took over, prices began to rise higher with the justification that labour, storage and protection(bags & boards) all factored in to the cost of the initial books. Many stores even began adding U.S. exchange to back issues(yeah I know I did it too). In effect, retailers were pricing themselves out of sales.

As I restock the empty bins over the next few weeks, the fresh stock will be priced to sell. Gone are the days of Overstreet plus 20% for NM. I'll instead be using the Comic Buyers Guide http://www.cbgxtra.com/price lists which are actual retail prices realized from stores across North America, and is a much fairer representation of what a comic can realistically sell for in todays market. I'm expecting that when I'm done about 90% of the comics in the bins will be priced at $3-4.00 and less. The effect should be that back issue bins will rotate stock on a more regular basis as comics sell quicker giving customers a reason to check through them more often.

I'm just finishing up a batch of Daredevils and I think most people will be surprised at the prices some of these great classic Miller issues are going for. By next weekend I should have a great run of Byrne era Fantastic Fours bagged and priced.

Remember the sale continues with all titles starting with M-R at a $1.00 each from Tues. Nov.6th-11th. And all S titles start on sale Nov. 13th.

SELLOUT

Wow I can't believe I sold out on Countdown #27 this week. I keep hearing the series slammed on message boards and other blogs and yet 3-4 people walked out of here so far this week without a copy. I'd like to review it and find out just what has fans jumping back on, but I never got to read it. I guess I'll find out next week when the re-orders show up.
The backstock sale is moving along better than I'd hoped too. You guys really like a bargain I guess because the A-E section of the bins looks like a ghost town right now and the sale runs to Sunday. Some people are just picking out prestige format Batman's ( great stuff that's hard to justify paying $6-$8 for) while 1 guy took a near full run of Batgirl's home with him.The section with titles starting with F-L goes to a buck each starting Tuesday October 30Th. Fantastic Four, Hulk, Legion, and more for a dollar a piece.
Now the real work starts, refilling those empty bins with fresh stock.

SALE TIME

Speaking with a customer the other day, the subject of sales came up. He mentioned his favourite all time sale was the Alphabet backstock sale I did a few years ago. Basically a different section of the bins would be on sale each week. This gives the customer a smaller section to concentrate on when making his/her purchases as well as plan ahead for the titles they might be most interested in. This works well for me too, as it gives me time to update the bins at a more leisurely pace as the sale progresses.
So, an Alphabet sale it is. Starting Tuesday October 23rd – Sunday October 29th, all titles in the main bins (in the center of the store) starting with the letters A-B-C–D and E, will be going for the low price of $1.00 each. That’s right, all Avengers, Batman, Captain America, Daredevil, and others in that section will be $1.00 each + tax. Remember that my bins are mostly sorted by character rather than title so that Amazing Spiderman or Action would be in the S section.
Each Tuesday the sale will move to the next section for one week, so next up will be all the titles from F-L. Each week’s sale will be listed clearly in store and I will follow up here on the blog every Sunday.
MEMBERS BONUS- To make the sale even more special for the members (and to make up for the lack of a discount card this time around) for every $10.00 spent on backstock during the sale, you will receive a $1.00 credit towards paperbacks. You can use this credit right away, or save it up until the end of the sale. Remember that Customer Appreciation Day is the last weekend in November, lots of great deals will be made even better when using the credit you earned during the backstock sale.

HALLOWEEN COMICS BUNDLES

Its that time of year again when the ghouls and goblins(and probably a few Paris's and Britneys) will be showing up at your door looking for something good to eat. Tell 'em what I say,"Its better to rot your brain than your teeth". Give those little monsters a comic instead of candy and help spread the joy of reading.
Once again I'm selling packs of comics for the low cost of only 10 for $1.00, thats 10 of the same comic(all Free comic day editions) for 10 cents a piece. Cheaper than sweets and better for them. Choose from Little Archie, Sonic, Legion, Spiderman,Marvel Advs,+ a few others. They went fast last year and quantities are limited, so buy what you need early.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY DELAY

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday Monday October 8th, the regular comic delivery will be delayed till Thursday that week.

DECEMBER PREVIEWS - CONTINUED

Holy Crap, I know the Marvel Ultimate line is famous for lateness, but does anyone even remember when the first half of ULTIMATE IRON MAN came out? I guess Orson Scott Card is a busy man, lets just hope he used this time to actually finish all 4 issues before this was announced.
( Then again the full series was originally billed as a 6 issue that was later turned into 2, 5-parters, and now the second half is only 4)
Don’t get me wrong I thought this was a great comic, and I’m looking forward to the wrap-up, I just wish that Marvel and DC would wise up to how these lateness issues make the whole industry (and my livelihood) look like a joke.

Speaking of late titles ULTIMATES 3 is finally ready to start. The team for this book was announced more than a year and a half ago while we were still waiting for Ultimates 2 to finish up. The main reason for this was the idea of putting Joe Maduriera on the art chores. Anyone remember Battlechasers? The book it took Joe Mad 3 years to get 7 issues out. I notice this volume of Ultimates is listed as a 5 issue mini, rather than the 12-13 issue arcs the first 2 runs got. The next batch (volume 4) has already been announced with the art by Ed McGuinness, it might have been smarter to give us the more reliable McGuinness first and give Maduriera more time to catch up. The art is also a radical departure from the more realistic style used by Hitch, but both artists have a solid fan base so sales should be fairly consistent.
There is also the promise that this series will change the Ultimates Universe forever. Marvel seems serious about getting people on board for whatever is coming up because they are releasing a special FREE comic featuring art and info on all the Ultimate titles new and old that will be shipping during 2008. Simply titled ULTIMATE MARVEL it will be given to all regular members who order any Ultimate titles regularly.

Peter David returns to the Hulk in a special one-shot pitting him against that other big green monster, FIN FANG FOOM. Its 48 pages of mayhem with a bunch of classic slugfests as backup. (It doesn’t say how much of the 48 pages is new material but I’m expecting it to be the standard 21-22.) I’m kind of surprised they don’t have an artist listed. You think that would be the first order of business. Lets all hope for someone like Dale Keown and not Liefeld.

World War Hulk continues with WARBOUND, a 5 issue mini-series that features the monster squad the Hulk brought back with him from space, fighting against an old Hulk enemy in the New Mexico desert.

The latest fad seems to be to bring back old Golden Age characters and throw them together as a group. This was done well with the underrated Marvel series Agents of Atlas earlier this year. Now J. Michael Straczynski is putting together THE TWELVE, twelve individual characters from the glory days of Marvel back when they were known as Atlas Comics. This #0 issue is a preview for the upcoming regular series, and features the reprinted origins of 3 of these classic characters from the 40’s, along with preview art from Chris Weston.

Dynamite Entertainment is releasing their 40's revival series the same month, only theirs features story and some art by Alex Ross.

SUPERPOWERS #0 is a special 40 page preview issue to start of this amazing new series and as a bonus its only $1.00!! The book comes with 2 connecting covers that will be worth the price of the comics themselves.

The BADGER is back at last in, THE BADGER SAVES THE WORLD. Apparently our favourite crazy hero is up to his old tricks, kicking butt and saving Larry from the forces of evil. First Nexus and now Badger? its like Mike Baron is helping me celebrate my 20th year in the comics business by bringing back the 80's singlehandedly.

You'd think Branson was serious about getting into the comics business or something with some of the latest books listed from Virgin comics. November starts the revival of DAN DARE by Garth Ennis and now in December comes the 25cent preview issue of Jenna Jameson's SHADOW HUNTER#0. Although limited to mature sales only, I'm sure this one will be a quick seller at Christmastime.

DECEMBER PREVIEWS Part 1

Wow it hardly seems like a month since the last time I did this.

Dark Horse starts off with an end of the world superhero title that’s billed as a cross between Lord of the Rings and Watchmen. THE END LEAGUE, are Earths last hope to stave off the forces of evil by finding the lost artifact Thor’s Hammer. This looks like it could be good except that it is listed as an on-going title. I have trouble getting into any quest style book that doesn’t have an end in sight. If the heroes are searching for something, they either find it, or they don’t, end of story.

IT ATE BILLY ON CHRISTMAS is the simple story of a small girl who watches her young brother get eaten by a funny little monster, and starts looking for other "things" to feed it.

Written by Lenore creator Roman Dirge, this one-shot hardcover will make an ideal Christmas gift for any weird little kids (or parents) on your shopping list.


DC

COUNTDOWN ARENA is a 4-issue weekly event that pits superheroes from around the multiverse against each other. Ever wonder who was stronger, Red Son Superman or Dark Side Superman? Who will win out between Vampire Batman and his Gotham by Gaslight counterpart? This series could be huge fun for fans who’ve read all the various Elseworlds books that will be referenced, but highly confusing to those who haven’t. Even the instigator of the whole thing, Monarch is the former Capt. Atom and should not be confused with the previous Monarch who turned out to be Hawk. ( makes my head hurt to think of it)I’m not even sure of this guy’s motivation for the whole thing. He professes to be raising an army to battle the Monitors, but only seems interested in the most vicious of the alternate heroes. Still, 4 issues of super people waling on each other sounds like Contest of Champions all over again.

More Countdown action as the hunt for Ray Palmer takes Donna, Kyle and friends to the worlds of RED SON and SUPERWOMAN/BATWOMAN. I’m not sure what else I can say about these, other than they are the last of the series, and I still have no idea what makes Ray Palmer so important to the whole future of the multiverse in the first place. They seem like nothing more than an excuse to review scattered elseworlds stories that now find themselves part of continuity thanks to Infinite Crisis and 52. If it turns out Ray Palmer was the real Monarch all this time I won’t be the least surprised.

Western comics have made a real comeback with Loveless and Jonah Hex selling strong several paperbacks into their runs. So it’s no surprise to see another great character get his own title even if only a mini-series. BAT LASH has appeared a couple times already in Jonah’s book but here he’s on his own. The real beauty of this series is that its being co-written by Sergio Aragones (Groo) who I was not even aware helped create Bat Lash almost 40 years ago!! Even better, classic western artist John Severin is doing the art for the book with covers by Walt Simonson. I like the idea of this book so much that it will be my push book of the month. Add this title to your reserve list by the first of December and get the first issue FREE with the option to take it off your list at any time. <<< Remember that you have until OCTOBER 1st to add CRIME BIBLE featuring the Question to your list for the same deal. And the push book for November is the Grendel series BEHOLD THE DEVIL by Matt Wagner.>>>

It’s like the 60’s all over again as Jim Shooter returns to the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES in issue #37. Its been more than 40 years since then 14 year old Shooter created such classic characters as Karate Kid, Princess Projectra and the Fatal Five. Does he still have the magic? Or will this read as outdated as the stuff Stan Lee has written in the last few years. A lot of Legion fans will be returning to find out. Me, I’ll just be happy once Supergirls name is off the covers.

The Vertigo end of the catalog will seem a little empty without Y-the Last Man but NORTHLANDERS looks like a great replacement. Writer Brian Wood has delivered some solid hits already like Demo and DMZ, but now he's entering a whole new era, 1000 A.D. to be precise. Sven is a viking prince returning from exile in Constantinople, to recover his enheritance, but stays to fight for his family and friends who've been enslaved by his uncle.

NOVEMBER PREVIEWS -CONTINUED

I can't believe its taken me a more than a week to get back to this. But here's the Marvel end of the books due out in November. Not a lot of new series from Marvel either, although a 1/2 dozen or so regular titles have annuals coming out.

The Annihilation contines with Conquest #1 as the heroes who've been introduced in the various mini-sereies come together to battle the cosmic threat of Annihilation.

Marvel can't finish one Ultimates crossover ,- Ultimate Power is running months behind, when here they come with another. Ultimate Origins will apparently explain the huge connection between all the powered characters of the Ultimates universe. Bendis writes the 6- issue story, and I would assume he's had this planned for sometime, but if it turns out they are all Skrulls I'll scream.

Captain Marvel #1 finally reintroduces the classic character back into the Marvel universe. He returned in the late pages of Civil War ( in maybe 2 panels) and hasn't been used since. Lets hope this 5-issue mini-series was worth the wait.

From the I can't believe it files comes Return to the House of M:Avengers. Set as a prelude to events that happened in the House of M series, I have to wonder, Why Now? Wouldn't it have made more sense to release this, oh maybe 2 years ago, when it was relevent.

Silver Surfer: In Thy Name begins a new 4 issue mini-series featuring galactic terrors and demonic beasts.

PREVIEWS FOR NOVEMBER

Only a couple of Dark Horse to mention this time around, but they are both good bets by two of the best writers in the industry.

Hunter Rose returns in a new Grendel series, Behold the Devil. When Matt Wagner began doing Batman and the Monster Men for DC, I hoped this was just a way for him to set up time to start on his own stuff again. Its been about 10 years since the last time we saw original Grendel stories so many of you may not be familiar with the character but trust me, this book will sell quick. I would really like to know when we’ll ever see the third Mage story, but in the meantime, 8 issues of the greatest master criminal and assassin in the world will tide me over fine.

The Scream #1, doesn’t strike me as a typical Peter David book, the story seems to be about a young man manifesting bizarre reactions in others. Is he really bringing thoughts and dreams to life, or is he just crazy? I know I’ve liked everything Mr. David has done to date, so I’ll definitely be trying this one out.

DC COMICS is a little busier than Dark Horse this month, but still not as many new titles as usual. Maybe they’ve finally decided to take it a little easy on their customers.
Starting off are a couple more of those Countdown one-shots featuring Kyle, Donna, and BOB, travelling from Elseworlds to Elseworlds righting the wrongs that once went right. This time they pop up on the Gotham by Gaslight world and the Batman Red Rain reality. Its nice to see they got Kelley Jones to draw the Red Rain issue, I’m not sure they couldn’t have talked Mignola into another Gaslight story, ( then again he’s been pumping out a lot of Hellboy related titles lately).
The only real problem I have with these stories (besides the impossibly long titles) is the need to call them all #1’s instead of just running them as a mini-series. Anyone who isn’t in the store every week is going to lose track of how many and which ones they have. Numbering them as 1 of 6, 2 of 6 etc. would make it a lot easier to follow.
It’s the same with the other series of spinoff one-shots that fall under the Sinestro Corps Presents banner. This time Ion gets the spotlight, and while they all look great and could be important to the overall Green Lantern storyline, it would have been better to sell them as numbered issues of a mini-series rather than continuous one-shots.

Salvation Run looks like fun. A true “villains unite” as a host of DC bad guys (looks mostly like Flash’s rogues) get exiled to another world to fight for their lives against a population that doesn’t want them any more than Earth does.

Teen Titans East Special puts together a second group of Titans lead by Cyborg. Some of the characters look familiar and some not. I’m not sure the Titans franchise is solid enough right now to support a second regular title, but occasional specials like this are fine.

SHIPPING DELAY

Just a note to warn everyone that the new books will arrive on Thursday next week due to the Labour Day holiday.

Convention Wrapup

Well another convention season is over. I'd like to thank everyone who came to any of the shows the last few months and supported Comics & More. I'd also like to apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced by the odd hours and Sunday closing this last weekend, but it really was unavoidable.
The show was huge this year with even more fans in costume than ever. As we left on Saturday night we were witness to a gathering of Stormtroopers, I swear there must have been 40-50 of them along with various other Star Wars characters, all in the most amazing first rate outfits.

There's lots of great deals left over from the Expo that have come back to the store, the main thing being the packaged sets. There's about 4 long boxes of comics wrapped up in neat little sets and runs, a perfect way to read a whole story without missing any parts. The beauty is that many of these stories have never been collected in paperback format! Check out these gems on the bargain table in front of the "new" comic rack while they last.

Convention Weekend

Just a note to remind everyone that I will be attending the Comic Expo http://www.hobbystar.com/ComicConToronto2007/CC_Main.asp
this weekend from Friday 24th- Sunday 26th. As a result the store will be closing early on Thursday to allow us setup time at the show and closed all day Sunday.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and hope to see you at the show.

ON THE SHELVES AUGUST 8TH

A little busy yesterday and today with the 20 cent sidewalk sale happening, but I'll try to give you a quick look at next wednesday's delivery.

Some weeks its not so easy to find something to mention from the new delivery. Don't get me wrong, theres a lot of great stuff coming in as usual, just nothing out of the ordinary. The only first issues worth mentioning start with Black Adam the Dark Age. Teth had one of the best storylines running through "52" last year and a lot have people have been wondering how he got his powers back (as seen in Countdown). I'm still kind of wondering how the two weekly series fit in continuity as they seem to contradict each other on a few points. Countdown almost seems to take place right after the events of Infinite Crisis, and don't even get me started on the One Year Later stuff.

A little easier to understand is the BPRD Killing Ground which takes place right after the last mini-series Garden of Souls. Mignola seems to be working overtime with all the Hellboy universe stuff thats been hitting the shelves lately.

OCTOBER PREVIEWS-THE END

This may not be as much work today as the last 3 since the Marvel catalog, for once, is not loaded down with new titles. In fact a few of the #1's they do list have little or no appeal to me.


Howard the Duck is one of those characters that's been hanging around the back of the M.U. for a while and I'm not surprised to see this mini-series come up. Ty Templeton should deliver a fine story, the problem I have is with the Bobillo art. This cartoony style does not do Howard justice. Perhaps Marvel doesn't understand the original appeal of the duck is that he wasn't a cartoon, but a living being from a dimension where ducks were the dominant life form on Earth. As such, he should look as realistic as possible. If anyone is still interested in this book after seeing the cover, make sure to get your order in, there won't be a lot ( if any) copies going on the shelves.

Another Gerber character is resurrected in October, Omega the Unknown , and I can only assume from the art on this one too, that Marvel really does not want either of these properties to succeed. I usually try not to judge books so harshly but Omega first debuted in the 70’s, so I am pretty much its target audience, and I don’t find this book the least bit appealing. Again, if you have an interest in this book speak up early or miss it entirely.

Speaking of resurrections, another Marvel Zombies mini-series begins.Marvel just seems intent on beating a dead horse as dead as possible. This time around the dead "heroes" return to Earth to be greeted by an amazing, astounding discovery. Not since the days of Stan Lee have so many adjectives been wasted in one solicitation. Your money would be better spent on the Walking Dead paperbacks, a series Kirkman would be better off spending more time on before his increasing lateness issues start to hurt his sales.


Before you think I'm just in a Marvel bashing mood, I am looking forward to the What If? Hulk one-shot. 3 short stories each with a different twist on the Planet Hulk story. Greg Pak writes them all, and the Marvel site lists Leonard Kirk as an artist(although his name is missing from the Previews listing), still the cover alone should sell this one.

Marvel has had an on-going series of 1-shots for a while now that seem to slip under most peoples radar. Mythos Fantastic Four is the latest in this run of painted origin stories.

X-Men Messiah Complex one-shot is billed as the start of the big X-men event of the decade. I'm pretty sure that's the same thing they said about Endangered Species. I love Ed Brubaker on his crime and espionage stories, his Captain America run is the first time I ever cared about the character. But other than that first mini-series, Deadly Genesis, his X-Men stuff has left me a little cold.

Claremont writes Exiles, Claremont writes Excalibur, so how long before the two books have a crossover? X-Men Die by the Sword#1 was just a matter of time ever since he added Psylocke to the exiles. All I can say is, both titles have been slowly losing sales since Claremont came on. Exiles was one of my favourite Marvel titles for a couple years running, but I doubt if I'll bother to read this.

Marvel gives us another Max Sampler this year, its a good way to introduce some new stuff, and for a buck its a pretty good deal. Inside is a preview for Foolkiller #1 which brings back another 70's character who basically was a joke version of Punisher. Now that the Max line has given us a more mature ( violenter?) Punisher, I guess it's time to bump the Foolkiller up a notch as well.