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.