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So what do all those numbers mean anyway?

Honestly, I haven't been really paying any attention to when The Beat posts the sales numbers for the past few months.  Of course, I give them a cursory glance but those numbers don't really affect the way I buy or enjoy books.  I buy books at the top of the sales charts and I buy books at the bottom of the sales charts.  But for some reason today, I decided to read this months sales reports (DC, Marvel, Indie,) really wanting to check out the comments.  The first comment in the Marvel post is from Brian Hibbs, the owner of Comix Experience out in San Francisco.

If I could make one single change in the way you report these things, sir, it would probably to change every time the word “sales” appears, to globally replace it with “orders”.

As a very general rule, the orders for an issue reflect only the sales of TWO ISSUES BACK (sometimes three)

“Sales trend” is probably OK usage, but in virtually every other case what you actually mean to be saying is “orders”, or, perhaps if you prefer, “sales to retailers” — when you talk about that line in ASTONISHING X-MEN that’s not even good speculation about consumer reaction… it will be #35 that will tell you how #33 sold to consumers…


By now, I think we all know that the "Sale Numbers" aren't true sell-through but only reflect the amount of comics that Diamond sells to comic specialty shops.  And even that's suspect since the sales numbers are really just estimates based off of arcane and secret equations, taking the square root of Batman sales and multiplying it by Pi.

It's the line about how the orders really reflect the sales of two issues back where things get interesting.  Based on the way shops have to order stuff weeks in advance of when they're published, These numbers, according to Hibbs, reflect the sales of a couple of months ago, and not actual June sales.

I would think the truth is somewhere more in the middle because retailers have to do a certain amount of speculation on titles, events, creative teams and changes to the status quo when it comes it making their choices I'd imagine.  I'm indulging in a certain amount of arm chair quarterbacking here (and it's an extremely comfy chair) but I think that there's a certain amount of reliance or just plain acceptance on the retailers behalf that something like The Heroic Age or Brightest Day will be a shot in the arm for lagging sales.  Wasn't it just last year we were talking about the undeniable dominance by Marvel in the top 10?  Now DC owns half of the top 10 as both companies ride the wave of their events.

But Hibbs's statement is probably true once we get out of the hyped top sellers and that's kind of fascinating.  As retailers adjust their orders based off their own monthly sales, the charts and distribution are lagging two months behind for your average, run of the mill, uneventful ("unevented?) comic. 

But it's had to look at the top sellers and not see anything that isn't somehow driven by a creative event or creative team.  That's what Marvel adn DC are about right now, constantly churning out books and then revamping them before you get too comfortable with them.

All I know if that I admire anyone who can make a living right now selling comic books.  You're so dependent on Marvel and DC and their decisions seem so random that you've got to be living and dying by the solicits.
 

So what do all those numbers mean anyway?

Honestly, I haven't been really paying any attention to when The Beat posts the sales numbers for the past few months.  Of course, I give them a cursory glance but those numbers don't really affect the way I buy or enjoy books.  I buy books at the top of the sales charts and I buy books at the bottom of the sales charts.  But for some reason today, I decided to read this months sales reports (DC, Marvel, Indie,) really wanting to check out the comments.  The first comment in the Marvel post is from Brian Hibbs, the owner of Comix Experience out in San Francisco.

If I could make one single change in the way you report these things, sir, it would probably to change every time the word “sales” appears, to globally replace it with “orders”.

As a very general rule, the orders for an issue reflect only the sales of TWO ISSUES BACK (sometimes three)

“Sales trend” is probably OK usage, but in virtually every other case what you actually mean to be saying is “orders”, or, perhaps if you prefer, “sales to retailers” — when you talk about that line in ASTONISHING X-MEN that’s not even good speculation about consumer reaction… it will be #35 that will tell you how #33 sold to consumers…


By now, I think we all know that the "Sale Numbers" aren't true sell-through but only reflect the amount of comics that Diamond sells to comic specialty shops.  And even that's suspect since the sales numbers are really just estimates based off of arcane and secret equations, taking the square root of Batman sales and multiplying it by Pi.

It's the line about how the orders really reflect the sales of two issues back where things get interesting.  Based on the way shops have to order stuff weeks in advance of when they're published, These numbers, according to Hibbs, reflect the sales of a couple of months ago, and not actual June sales.

I would think the truth is somewhere more in the middle because retailers have to do a certain amount of speculation on titles, events, creative teams and changes to the status quo when it comes it making their choices I'd imagine.  I'm indulging in a certain amount of arm chair quarterbacking here (and it's an extremely comfy chair) but I think that there's a certain amount of reliance or just plain acceptance on the retailers behalf that something like The Heroic Age or Brightest Day will be a shot in the arm for lagging sales.  Wasn't it just last year we were talking about the undeniable dominance by Marvel in the top 10?  Now DC owns half of the top 10 as both companies ride the wave of their events.

But Hibbs's statement is probably true once we get out of the hyped top sellers and that's kind of fascinating.  As retailers adjust their orders based off their own monthly sales, the charts and distribution are lagging two months behind for your average, run of the mill, uneventful ("unevented?) comic. 

But it's had to look at the top sellers and not see anything that isn't somehow driven by a creative event or creative team.  That's what Marvel adn DC are about right now, constantly churning out books and then revamping them before you get too comfortable with them.

All I know if that I admire anyone who can make a living right now selling comic books.  You're so dependent on Marvel and DC and their decisions seem so random that you've got to be living and dying by the solicits.
 

Weekly Shopping List 8/4/10

Last week was kind of a wash when it came to writing.  But I’ve been reading a lot, hoping to parlay it into some writing in the next week or two. 

Let me just say, a weekend with Peter Bagge and Buddy Bradley makes for a weird weekend.

  • Sweet Tooth #12-- I think this one may be getting dropped soon.  I like the series but I haven’t paid much attention to it lately.  Probably going trades-only on this one.
  • Darkstar And The Winter Guard #3-- This series has been a lot of fun.  Gallaher and Ellis have really created a nice love letter to Bill Manto’s writing here.
  • Spider-Man Gauntlet Book 4 Juggernaut HC-- And here’s another great 80s callback-- Captain Universe, the hero who could be you!
  • Casanova (Marvel/Icon Edition) #2-- Otherwise known as Casanova #2 and #3.  
  • Tezukas Black Jack Vol 12 TP-- Tezuka!  
  • Slam Dunk Vol 11 GN-- Inoue!  

Weekly Comic Shopping List 7/28/10 addendum-- Vampire Tales

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I just got back from the shop and I found an incredible book from Marvel-- Vampire Tales V1 (cover is above.)  That's a really ugly and generic cover.  Sure, it's a nice image in and of itself but it's weak when compared to the original Vampire Tales covers (check here for the cover gallery.) This book reprints for first 3 issues of Marvel's 1973 Vampire Tales magazine.  There's names like Romita, Thomas, Steranko, Bernet, Maroto and Marcos contributing stories in this collection. 

The book itself if interesting.  It's about 3/4 the size of a standard comic, well smaller than the original magazines I assume.  But the printing is really nice and clear, much better than any of the Marvel Essentials which have collected Marvel's magazines.  I would love to see Marvel use this format though to get all that stuff in print.  Heck, I'd love for Dark Horse to go back and start putting the Creepy and Eerie stuff out like this as well.

I wasn't really that excited about hitting the comic shop today but I'm glad I did and found this book.  I can't wait to get home and start reading it.

Weekly Comic Shopping List

Really kind of a light week, which is nice.  I think I'll end up catching up on stuff I already have.
  • Batman Return Of Bruce Wayne #4 -- This is the issue that was supposed to be drawn by Cameron Stewart but wasn’t, right?  I think it’s now drawn by Georges Geanty and I’m excited to see what he can do on a non-Buffy book.  I’ve really dug his art there and want to see what he can do on a period piece like this one-- Batman in the old west.
  • Four Eyes Vol 1 Forged In Flames TP-- I enjoyed Joe Kelly’sI Kill Giants and his Spider-Man stories lately.  This is the collection of an Image series that I know next to nothing about.  Hopefully it’s good.
  • Walking Dead Vol 12 Life Among Them TP-- So, I guess after years of not caring, I’m into this book now.  I’ll get this collection sometime.
  • Rasl #8-- Rasl is probably the book I look most forward to seeing.  Tesla, alternate realities and art thieves all merge together in Jeff Smith’s book to create something unique. It’s great to see Smith be able to do something that has the potential to be as great as Bone was and be completely different at the same time.

Now what? Thoughts on Mad Men "Public Relations"

“Who is Don Draper?”

It should be a simple question.  It is a reporter’s question, trying to do a simple profile piece on the new creative darling of Madison Avenue, Don Draper.  Or is that Dick Whitman?  It echoes a question from last season, as Don was trick or treating with his family and a neighbor jokingly asked “who are you supposed to be?”  In “Public Relations,” the first episode of season 4, Draper brushes off the question.  It’s not one he wants to answer.  The last time he honestly answered the question, after Betty discovered the box that contained Dick Whitman’s life, he opened himself up and lost his family.  He told Betty of his life as Dick Whitman and how he became Don Draper and, as a result, he lost everything; his wife, his children and, you could even argue, his ad agency.  After last answering “Who is Don Draper?” Don lost everything and had to rebuild again.

“Public Relations” begins as a distorted mirror of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” the premiere episode of the series, as we follow Don Draper around and see his world.  The confident Lothario of that first episode though is gone.  He’s not the darling of Sterling Cooper able to sell any ad campaign with a smile and a nod and he’s not the man who can get any woman just by smoldering at her, almost willing her into a bed.  That man was in complete and total control of his world.  The Don Draper of 1964, not so much.  

Actually, no one is the same as they were in “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”  Pete and Peggy are much more confident, less intimidated by Don’s childish outlashes at them.  Burt Cooper, the gentle patriarch of Sterling Cooper, is more frazzled than we’ve seen him before; the pressures of starting over have worn on him.  Betty Draper, the one time untouchable suburban housewife, is now a divorced woman, with all of the eyes of Henry Francis’s family all watching and judging her.  Betty’s life is in as much turmoil as Don’s is; without his protection, Betty is being judged as both a wife and a mother, neither of which she is very good at.  Maybe the only person who remains unchanged is good old Roger Sterling, who still says what he wants to who he wants.  

So, who is Don Draper?  That’s the question that Matt Weiner and his team of writers have simultaneously been trying to answer and avoid.  To define Don Draper is to close him off.   If Don Draper can answer the question who is he, he instantly becomes one of us, another man trying to get by.  Weiner worked on The Sopranos and I think it’s easy to define who Tony Soprano was-- suburban father and family man and also the leader of a mob.  The conflict in The Sopranos was the struggle between Tony’s two well-defined lives.  Don Draper doesn’t live in that kind of world.  He gave up that world after the Korean War and his deliberate identity switch with a dead man.  His life since then has been running way from the conventional things like family and identity.  He’s found them but you get the feeling he’s stumbled into them.

Now, he’s stumbled into something new; the new ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Price.  His name is on the door.  He’s marked something as his.  That actually is a bit of definition and we start to see Don stumble a bit because of it.  And maybe it’s not a stumble; maybe this Don Draper is a different man, a new man, than we’ve seen in the past 3 seasons.  You can almost see the age and weariness on Jon Hamm’s face as he plays Draper.  He doesn’t carry himself the same way anymore.  Even at the end of the episode, when trying to control the damage he’s done, Don is asked the same question again, we see a slight bit of the old Don Draper but then... something changes again.  He’s not the quiet man, who’s more confident to let his actions speak louder than his words, anymore.  He’s changed and now he’s a bit more in control, trying to mold who he is, to redefine himself.  

“Public Relations” is about rebuilding.  Matt Weiner is rebuilding his show just as Don Draper is rebuilding his life.  There are holdovers; Betty (creepily with Henry) still live in Don’s suburban house and sleep in his bed while Don has a small NYC apartment.  The lavish and open office of Sterling Cooper is replaced by a small maze of offices for Sterling Cooper Draper Price.  Both environments reflect how trapped Don’s life has become, how small and knotted.  Try to get a feel for the layout of either place from this episode and you can’t.  Don’s life has become smaller, more trapped.  In the past, we’ve seen him run away in episodes like this.  I wonder how long his life can hold together this season before he runs off again.  

reviews and quick thoughts on Blackest Night

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For some reason, a bevy of Blackest Night books coming out made me read the three main ones and write about them at Popdose.

At almost every turn in Blackest Night, Johns basically tells us that we need to feel the importance of these things but never tells us why.  Or worse yet, he just assumes we know who everyone is and how they relate to one another.  Big forehead guy?  These things are important to Geoff Johns so, by his supreme will, they’re supposed to be important to us?  Johns spends so much time coming up with new and different ways to torture, maim and resurrect characters that he doesn’t have any time to make the reader care.  A bunch of dead villians rise.  Why?  A bunch of colorful Lantern warriors show us with Green Lantern.  Why?  The big bad is some dude named Nekron.  Why?  The friggin’ Anti-Monitor show us just because I think Ivan Reis likes drawing him.  There’s no purpose given to any of the actions in this book.

You can read the full review here.

A couple of more quick thoughts:

  • It's at least better than Siege, which I also read over the weekend.  Love them or hate them, I think Bendis and Johns are the two most fascinating mainstream superhero writers right now, the way they're regurgitating ideas from their own personal golden ages and filtering them into the Avengers and Green Lantern books.  I'm not saying it's good; just interesting.
  • Wanting a good book, I've been reading the Absolute Planetary volumes and found something I hadn't noticed before.  In that issue of Planetary showcasing how the 4 had killed analogs for Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, Ellis slips in a reference to Blackest Night in the GL oath I think.  I wonder if Ellis was pulling this from the Alan Moore story as well or is it just something in the zeitgeist that makes that a good term.
  • I only got into it a bit in the review but, man, was Blackest Night (at least these three volumes) a good artist showcase.  Reis, Mahnke and Gleason all did great work.  I was ready to completely ignore anything after Blackest Night but after rereading the series, I'm really wanting to pick up Brightest Day and Green Lantern just for the art.
  • Also not brought up in the review but I hate the covers to the Blackest Night and BN: Green Lantern collections, and the way they painted over the art.  I guess it unifies the look of the series but I'd rather see the original line art in those covers.

Eisner dreaming on such a winter's day

SDCC begins today but it seems like Marvel and DC are already controlling their news cycles and have released most of their news in the past couple of weeks.  The biggest thing to look forward to are the Eisners I guess.  So here's how I handicap them this year.  My Eisner picks are in bold.

Best Short Story
  • "Because I Love You So Much," by Nikoline Werdelin, in From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the 3rd Millennium (Fantagraphics/Aben maler)
  • "Gentleman John," by Nathan Greno, in What Is Torch Tiger? (Torch Tiger)
  • "How and Why to Bale Hay," by Nick Bertozzi, in Syncopated (Villard)
  • "Hurricane," interpreted by Gradimir Smudja, in Bob Dylan Revisited (Norton)
  • "Urgent Request," by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim, in The Eternal Smile (First Second)
I haven't read any of the short story nominees.  I have no idea where most of these stories even appeared.  I have to really work better at tracking down short stories next year.  Of course, I think I've said that every year so far.


Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

  • Brave & the Bold #28: "Blackhawk and the Flash: Firing Line," by J. Michael Straczynski and Jesus Saiz (DC)
  • Captain America #601: "Red, White, and Blue-Blood," by Ed Brubaker and Gene Colan (Marvel)
  • Ganges #3, by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics)
  • The Unwritten #5: "How the Whale Became," by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)
  • Usagi Yojimbo #123: "The Death of Lord Hikiji" by Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)
I've only read two of these.  Usagi Yojimbo is a huge blind-spot in my comic reading library but Ganges #3 was a great book, following it's own internal logic.  Huizenga is an under-rated cartoonist I think who really experiments with his storytelling techiniques.

Was Jonah Hex #50 this year?  I'm surprised that didn't get a nomination.

Best Continuing Series

  • Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy et al. (Vertigo/DC)
  • Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)
  • Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
  • The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)
  • The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)
Let's go with 20th Century Books in this category because it's the only book here that I really like, even though I recently discovered The Walking Dead and have been getting a kick out of it.  My pick would probably have been Jeff Smith's Rasl if it had been nominated.  I'd maybe even include Amazing Spider-Man in this category.

Best Limited Series or Story Arc

  • Blackest Night, by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Oclair Albert (DC)
  • Incognito, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)
  • Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (VIZ Media)
  • Wolverine #66-72 and Wolverine Giant-Size Special: "Old Man Logan," by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, and Dexter Vines (Marvel)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)
3 out of the 5 nominees in this category could easily win.  I'll let you decide which two I could care less about.

Best New Series

  • Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick, art by Tony Parker (BOOM!)
  • Ireedeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)
  • Sweet Tooth, by Jeff Lemire (Vertigo/DC)
  • The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)
I'm not a fan of either Chew or The Unwritten and neither Boom title has done anything for me.  That leaves Sweet Tooth as the default winner here. 

Best Publication for Kids

  • Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf)
  • The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis (Bloomsbury)
  • Tiny Tyrant vol. 1: The Ethelbertosaurus, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme (First Second)
  • The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz hc, by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, and Skottie Young (Marvel)
I'm not a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz but I enjoyed Shanower and Young's adaptation. 

Best Publication for Teens

  • Angora Napkin, by Troy Little (IDW)
  • Beasts of Burden, by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)
  • A Family Secret, by Eric Heuvel (Farrar Straus Giroux/Anne Frank House)
  • Far Arden, by Kevin Cannon (Top Shelf)
  • I Kill Giants tpb, by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura (Image)
Far Arden was really good but I wonder how it qualifies as a "teen" book.  Dorkin and Thompson's Beasts of Burder was a gorgeous and wonderfully told series. 

Best Humor Publication

  • Drinky Crow's Maakies Treasury, by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics)
  • Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me, And Other Astute Observations, by Peter Bagge (Fantagraphics)
  • Little Lulu, vols. 19-21, by John Stanley and Irving Tripp (Dark Horse Books)
  • The Muppet Show Comic Book: Meet the Muppets, by Roger Langridge (BOOM Kids!)
  • Scott Pilgrim vol. 5: Scott Pilgrm vs. the Universe, by Brian Lee O'Malley (Oni)
Langridge has been my favorite cartoonist of the year.  His The Muppet Show books are great showcases in storytelling. 

Best Anthology

  • Abstract Comics, edited by Andrei Molotiu (Fantagraphics)
  • Bob Dylan Revisited, edited by Bob Weill (Norton)
  • Flight 6, edited by Kazu Kibuishi (Villard)
  • Popgun vol. 3, edited by Mark Andrew Smith, D. J. Kirkbride, and Joe Keatinge (Image)
  • Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays, edited by Brendan Burford (Villard)
  • What Is Torch Tiger? edited by Paul Briggs (Torch Tiger)
I haven't been much of an anthology guy the past couple of years.  There's too much noise in some of them.  Of these, Abstract Comics is still a book that I want to get sometime.

Best Digital Comic

I think this is actually one of the strongest categories this year.  The only series here I'm not familiar with is Power Out.  I have to go with The Guns of Shadow Valley here, a fantastic western. 

Best Reality-Based Work

  • A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco (Metropolitan/Holt)
  • The Impostor's Daughter, by Laurie Sandell (Little, Brown)
  • Monsters, by Ken Dahl (Secret Acres)
  • The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)
  • Stitches, by David Small (Norton)
And here's another strong category but Footnotes in Gaza was one of the best books of the last year.

Best Adaptation from Another Work

  • The Book of Genesis Illustrated, by R. Crumb (Norton)
  • Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation, adapted by Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller (Rodale)
  • Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, adapted by Tim Hamilton (Hill & Wang)
  • Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
  • West Coast Blues, by Jean-Patrick Manchette, adapted by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
O.k.  Once we get away from the month-in/month-out comic categories, we get a number of strong ones.  This is almost a toss up between Parker and West Coast Blues.

Best Graphic Album-New

  • Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon)
  • A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • The Book of Genesis Illustrated, by R. Crumb (Norton)
  • My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)
  • Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
Going totally new, I think Asterois Polyp has to take this one.

Best Graphic Album-Reprint

  • Absolute Justice, by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithewaite (DC)
  • A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld (Pantheon)
  • Alec: The Years Have Pants, by Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf)
  • Essex County Collected, by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
  • Map of My Heart: The Best of King-Cat Comics & Stories, 1996-2002, by John Porcellino (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Essex County Collected really recreated the experience of reading the Essex County books.  I like how there's some recontextualization going on as you get all three stories together to form one large story.


Best Archival Collection/Project-Strips

  • Bloom County: The Complete Library, vol. 1, by Berkeley Breathed, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
  • Bringing Up Father, vol. 1: From Sea to Shining Sea, by George McManus and Zeke Zekley, edited by Bruce Canwell (IDW)
  • The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons 1913-1940, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)
  • Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, by Gahan Wilson, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
  • Prince Valiant, vol. 1: 1937-1938, by Hal Foster, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
  • Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Walt McDougall, and W. W. Denslow, edited by Peter Maresca (Sunday Press)
I love the Bloom County book but Fantagraphics Prince Valiant V1 is a wonderful presentation of Hal Foster's work. 

Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books

  • The Best of Simon & Kirby, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, edited by Steve Saffel (Titan Books)
  • Blazing Combat, by Archie Goodwin et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
  • Humbug, by Harvey Kurtzman et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
  • The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures deluxe edition, by Dave Stevens, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
  • The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)
I'm always happy to find more Archie Goodwin comics.  And this has a nice pair of interviews with Jim Warren and Archie Goodwin.

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

  • My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)
  • Tiny Tyrant vol. 1: The Ethelbertosaurus, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme (First Second)
  • West Coast Blues, by Jean-Patrick Manchette, adapted by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
  • Years of the Elephant, by Willy Linthout (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
Fantagraphics Tardi books have been a great discovery this year but I think I almost enjoy You Are There better than West Coast Blues.  Both are excellent.

Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia

  • The Color Trilogy, by Kim Dong Haw (First Second)
  • A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Oishinbo a la Carte, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki (VIZ Media)
  • Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (VIZ Media)
  • Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
This is another of those "any can win" categories.  Today I say go with A Drifting Life, even over Pluto or 20th Century Boys.  I'm kind of surprised not to see Go Go Monter here or any Takehiko Inoue books.

Best Writer

  • Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project (Marvel) Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon)
  • Geoff Johns, Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)
  • James Robinson, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
  • Mark Waid, Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)
  • Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)
I hate to say it but are these the best of the year?  Where's Jeff Parker or Rick Remender?  Where's Fraction or Morrison? 

Best Writer/Artist

  • Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter (IDW)
  • R. Crumb, The Book of Genesis Illustrated (Norton)
  • David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
  • Terry Moore, Echo (Abstract Books)
  • Naoki Urasawa, Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka (VIZ Media)
Now this is more like it, though I'd probably substitute Jeff Smith in for Terry Moore.  I think Mazzucchelli's really showed what a good writer/artist could do.

Best Writer/Artist-Nonfiction

  • Reinhard Kleist, Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Willy Linthout, Years of the Elephant (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan/Holt)
  • David Small, Stitches (Norton)
  • Carol Tyler, You'll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)
Sacco puts you where the action is.  That's what you want in this category I think.

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

  • Michael Kaluta, Madame Xanadu #11-15: "Exodus Noir" (Vertigo/DC)
  • Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines, Wolverine: Old Man Logan (Marvel)
  • Fiona Staples, North 40 (WildStorm)
  • J. H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC)
  • Danijel Zezelj, Luna Park (Vertigo/DC)
I'm not really feeling this category.  Williams III seems to be the runaway favorite but some names I'd throw out are Gabriel Ba (Umbrella Academy,) Guy Davis (BPRD,) Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy,) Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern) or even Olivier Copiel (Thor, Siege.) 

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

  • É Bravo, My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • Mauro Cascioli, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
  • Nicolle Rager Fuller, Charles Darwin on the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale Books)
  • Jill Thompson, Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse); Magic Trixie and the Dragon (HarperCollins Children's Books)
  • Carol Tyler, You'll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)
I didn't read a lot of painted comics last year.  Painted or not, Beasts of Burden was one of the best looking books last yeasr.


Best Cover Artist

  • John Cassaday, Irredeemable (BOOM!); Lone Ranger (Dynamite)
  • Salvador Larocca, Invincible Iron Man (Marvel)
  • Sean Phillips, Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon); 28 Days Later (BOOM!)
  • Alex Ross, Astro City: The Dark Age (WildStorm/DC); Project Superpowers (Dynamite)
  • J. H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC)
Another J.H. Williams III landslide or will the cinematic covers of Sean Phillips sneak in for a win?

Best Coloring

  • Steve Hamaker, Bone: Crown of Thorns (Scholastic); Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon)
  • Laura Martin, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures (IDW); Thor, The Stand: American Nightmares (Marvel)
  • David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
  • Alex Sinclair, Blackest Night, Batman and Robin (DC)
  • Dave Stewart, Abe Sapien, BPRD, The Goon, Hellboy, Solomon Kane, Umbrella Academy, Zero Killer (Dark Horse); Detective ComicsLuna Park (Vertigo) (DC);
Dave McCaig on Mysterious the Unfathomable and Northlanders would be my vote.  Without him, I'd go with Steward as the shoe in.   

Best Lettering

  • Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abrams ComicArts)
  • David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
  • Tom Orzechowski, Savage Dragon (Image); X-Men Forever (Marvel)
  • Richard Sala, Cat Burglar Black (First Second); Delphine (Fantagraphics)
  • Adrian Tomine, A Drifting Life (Drawn & Quarterly)
It's not so much the letters but the way that Mazzucchelli uses the lettering and word balloons that make his work in this category stand out.

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

  • Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
  • ComicsAlliance, edited by Laura Hudson www.comicsalliance.com
  • Comics Comics, edited by Timothy Hodler and Dan Nadel
    (www.comicscomicsmag.com) (PictureBox)
  • The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
  • The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon
    (www.comicsreporter.com)
The Comics Reporter has to be the only site that I make sure is a daily read.

Best Comics-Related Book

  • Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel, by Annalisa Di Liddo (University Press of Mississippi)
  • The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)
  • The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, by Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, by Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Will Eisner and PS Magazine, by Paul E. Fitzgerald (Fitzworld.US)
Haven't read any of these.

Best Publication Design

  • Absolute Justice, designed by Curtis King and Josh Beatman (DC)
  • The Brinkley Girls, designed by Adam Grano (Fantagraphics)
  • Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, designed by Jacob Covey (Fantagraphics)
  • Life and Times of Martha Washington, designed by David Nestelle (Dark Horse Books)
  • Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, designed by Philippe Ghielmetti (Sunday Press)
  • Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? designed by Neil Egan and Brian Fies (Abrams ComicArts)
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow was a book I wanted to read after seeing the fantastic design of it. 

@ Popdose: The Man With the Getaway Face

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The great thing that Cooke really achieves with this story is the intensity and force of his main character.  You saw some of that in The Hunter but that longer story had its own ebb and flow.  This short story doesn’t have the time to ebb at all.  The momentum in The Man With The Getaway Face begins with the subtle action on the first page, a man getting his bandages taken off, and builds with each page up to the heist and Parker’s smoldering drive constantly driving the story forward.

You can read the full review at Popdose.

Twin Spica and Saturn Apartments @ Pop Dose

I did something a bit different this week at Pop Dose and wrote about two thematically similar manga titles, Twin Spica V2 and Saturn Apartments V1.

Asumi (Twin Spica) and Mitsu (Saturn Apartments) are similar characters, both living with the loss of a parent and trying to understand their own roles in the world.   Yaginuma and Iwaoka’s stories are wonderfully linked by their views of growing up and of living up to our parent’s dreams and legacies.  Both Twin Spica and Saturn Apartments exist in this fantasy setting but they tell their stories on incredibly heartfelt levels.  In both Asumi and Mitsu’s characters’ eyes, you can see the innocence and promise of tomorrow.


You can read the full review of both books here.