Walking Dead Series

AMC has begun it's filming for the Walking Dead series, which for those of you who don't know, is based on a fantastic comic book series by Robert Kirkman. The above picture is a zombie makeup production photo. I think it looks pretty dang fantastic!

I hope that the series will bring more readers to the comic book series. This usually does happen, at least temporarily, with the comic book based movies. Will it work with a TV series? That we've yet to see. I know the Buffy comics and Star Trek comics based on the TV shows sell well, but those series are no longer on and these are supplements to the story. While Walking Dead, at least at first, is going to be a retelling of the comic book series, so it does have the potential to poach new readers. At Neptune Walking Dead is one of our consistent sellers because it is timeless, well written, and easy to sell off of the shelf. I'd hate to see that stop because of the show, yet as a Walking Dead fan I'm excited to see those black and white sketch stories come to life.

The series is set to premier this October at AMC Fearfest. For more information on the Walking Dead series and some additional pics, click here to go to the official site.

Outlaw

A new publisher of graphic novels is entering the scene, according to ICV2.com.

"New company Outlaw Entertainment has announced three graphic novels for June, the first in the “up to fifteen titles a year” it is planning. The company plans to produce a diverse line of graphic novels, and also be a source for intellectual property development. The graphic novels will be 112-page, color books at $7.99."

The price is nice, provided the quality of the material and the production value is good. The guys involved in the company have anime and video game creation backgrounds, so they should have a sense of visual quality, I hope.

Regardless of price it can be difficult to get adults to buy product that they aren't familar with - either characters or talent involved in the project. This particular publisher might be best off creating all-age and young adult material. They might be going that route--I couldn't quite tell from the brief column. Those age groups are much more open to trying new things, especially since most of them are new to the medium anyway.

The column doesn't mention if the publisher is selling these items through the monopoly distribution channel Diamond Distribution, or via their own web site. I'll have to check out the June Diamond Previews catalog next month and see. With Diamond's order regulations it can be tricky for a small publisher to meet the requirements and get their stuff out into comic book retail stores, so any new publisher has to do a good deal of PR to get the word out and order numbers up where they need to be. I've seen many a good comic disapear when order numbers fell below Diamond's required minimums.

To read the column on ICV2 click here.

Election Day

Today is election day here in the united states, and we get to choose a new president today. If you have not yet voted and your area polls are still open, head out and get your vote cast - as long as you've done some research. Don't just vote to vote--make an educated decision.

I think that it doesn't matter who wins, the country is going through a rough time and neither president will be able to bring it around quickly. In addition, with a senate and house controlled by Democrats we can't expect the president to do much that those members don't want done. Plus the country and all of us seem to be so angry and politically divisive that either way people will be angry tomorrow when we have a new president elect.

OK. On to other things...

What do you think of this? (taken from ICv2)

Heroes' Shake-up

Alexander, Loeb Off Show

Published: 11/03/2008 01:09am

In a weekend shake-up, co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb have been removed from the staff of Heroes, according to Variety. The show’s ratings have been sagging this year. The show’s production has also been running over budget, according to the report.




Low ratings and high costs - never good in TV land. Personally I think this season is better than last year's partial season. But the show does seem to have too many story lines running and too much time jumping for most people's taste.


Did you hear, David Tennant is off Dr Who. That makes me oh so very very sad. I really really liked him as the Doctor. One of these days I will have to check out the old, classic show, just to see how it compares to the new one I've so enjoyed. (The comics are great too, by the way) Rich on his LITG at CBR says that Tennant wanted more pay, a movie, and a break in 2011, but BBC wasn't going for it.

Speaking of LITG, Rich said last week that it looks like $3.99 may become the new base price for most Marvel comics in 2009. Is this price too high? In this economy it may be. Barns & Noble and Borders are already feeling an economic pinch. People are already cutting back with the $2.99 price. Can the industry still sell comics at the higher price? I think we can, but in this economy it will be trickier. Or at least sell as many comics. We may see more switches from periodicals to trades. We may see people cutting back more, keeping what they spend about the same but buying fewer titles. We already see more and more comics coming out at that higher price, so there is a chance it could just be a seamless change for many people. Personally I'd like to see the price stay at $2.99, maybe $3.50, and that's that. But look at magazines - many sell for $8 and up! Can writers and artists sustain a career at the $2.99 price - are the publishers able to pay a fair wage for work? Or do we need an increase in the cover price? Will YOU cut back if the price goes up?

Watchmen Game

Wasn't my last post about video games too? Yes, I believe it was. Anyway...

Newsarama had a press release from Warner Brothers saying that they're creating a Watchmen video game, based largely upon the movie, that will come out in 2009.

Here are the details: It will be available for the top tier machines: XBox 360 & Playstation 3, and will be an "episodic downloadable game based on the film."

“We’re bringing the Watchmen universe to gamers in a distinct episodic game revealing action and combat for a great overall experience for fans,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The filmmakers have been extremely helpful in developing the high-quality game story and we are working to match the outstanding visual style of the film.” The videogame based on WATCHMEN will go beyond the film and delve into the characters, rivalries and challenges in a mature action-brawler. The game provides gamers with visceral superhero combat as urban vigilantes Rorschach and Nite Owl.

I want the Watchmen movie to be good. I want it to do well in the theater. Do I expect those things to happen, well, I think it looks good from the trailers, but I don't know that it will be a blockbuster in the theater. I also don't know how true to the graphic novel they can be using the standard 2 - 3 hours most movies are done in. The game could also be cool. But if people don't have interest in the movie they won't have interest in the game. It will be interesting to see what happens when this comes out!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

My Trade Paperback Recommendations

If you have not read these in single issues, now's the time to check them out - in trade. I have been reading the issues and recommend the stories.

• JACK OF FABLES PAPERBACK VOL 03 THE BAD PRINCE
• UMBRELLA ACADEMY APOCALYPSE SUITE PAPERBACK
• WALKING DEAD PAPERBACK VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER
• SWORD PAPERBACK VOL 01
• TEEN TITANS PAPERBACK TITANS OF TOMORROW
• CRIMINAL PAPERBACK VOL 03 DEAD AND DYING

This is just a graphic novel story, but I think it should be good, especially for people like me who enjoy a good Koontz story:

• IN ODD WE TRUST PAPERBACK

Pick up one - there's always time for a graphic novel.

New, Deluxe JLA

I was reading Lying in the Gutters today and saw that DC is going to be repackaging Grant Morrison's run on JLA. They are 250+ page hard covers for only $30, which I thought was an OK price. The book isn't quite an "omnibus" but a bit more than just your standard graphic novel.

Watch for the first volume in late summer. LITG says it will contain issues 1-9 of JLA as well as the JLA Secret Origins Special. If you have thought about picking up JLA in trade this is another option for you.

Best Sellers for 2007

I took a look at the key items we sell at Neptune and wanted to share some of our best sellers for the year.

Toys

Best selling figures: The Marvel Classic Lead figures were by and large our best seller, but they are more decoration than toy, so our best selling articulated figures for the year were the Star Wars 30th Anniversary figures.

My favorite toy of the year was the Captain Teague action figure by Neca from the Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End movie.

Games

Best selling board game: Settlers of Catan

Best selling constructible game: Wizkids Pirate’s at Ocean’s Edge
Best selling miniature game: Wizkids Marvel Heroclix, the best selling individual set of Marvel Heroclix was the Marvel Avengers set

My favorite game this year is Ticket to Ride Marklin edition. This isn't a new game, but it IS a good one.

Comics

Best selling comic book super-hero mini-series: Civil War Fallen Son
Best selling comic book non-super-hero mini-series: Dark Tower Gunslinger Born
Best selling comic book mini series overall: Dark Tower (nearly twice as many sold than the next closest series)
I did not figure out the best selling issue or regular series because it was just too difficult. But, if I had to guess, I'd say Dark Tower #1 would be best non-superhero issue and Captain America #25 would be the best selling superhero issue.

My favorite new super hero comic this year is Justice Society of America. My favorite new non super hero series is Criminal. My favorite series that ended this year is Manhunter (DC). Comics we need more of in 2008 are Dark Tower and Buffy.

Books

Best selling manga series: Naruto
Best selling manga issue: tie between Naruto volume 1, Naruto volume 13, Naruto and Naruto volume 15

Best selling graphic novel series: Walking Dead, based upon total sales of all volumes of the series
Best selling single volume DC super-hero graphic novel: Batman The Dark Knight Returns soft cover
Best selling single volume Marvel super-hero graphic novel: Civil War
Best selling single volume non-superhero graphic novel: 300
Best selling non-graphic book: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was first, but we had the book release party for that one. The second best seller - one that didn't have a big release party affiliated with it was the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.

My favorite graphic novels this year are Walking Dead Vol 7 and Heroes Vol 1. One of my resolutions for next year is to read more graphic novels - now I just need to find the time.

My favorite comic book movie of 2007 is definitely 300. It was very accurate with the comic with the exception of the extra story about the Queen that they added.

Dark Horse Excitement

I finally took a look at the Dark Horse Previews that have been on Comic Book Resources this week. WOW!! They've got some exciting stuff coming up!!

One cool thing about Dark Horse is that, especially lately, they've been doing some great comics that have real crowd appeal to both superhero comics fans and people who don't typically set foot into comic book stores. This publisher has brought many new people into my store with comics like Star Wars, Umbrella Academy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Any publisher that can do that for me is top notch in my book! The comic book industry needs more of these kinds of things if we want to survive - more comics about stuff that has mass appeal. DC did it with Supernatural: Origins and the Heroes hard cover and Marvel did it with Stephen King's Dark Tower. But I want more!! And Dark Horse is answering my call.

In their January previews for stuff coming out in March they are starting some series that should prove to be big sellers and bring in lots of those folks who aren't into super hero stuff.

One example is Serenity. We sold TONS of the firs series when it came out and we are looking forward to more of that. The comic will be written by Joss Whedon, so I have no doubts people will drive out here to find a copy. They even got Adam Huges to do the cover (pictured)! Sadly it's only 3 issues. But back at the Diamond Retailer Summit we were promised at least one more Serenity mini-series from Dark Horse.

They are also going to release a movie adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - the 4th movie.

The Terminator and Buffy Omnibus' are awesome as well. And I see a Hellboy Companion book that they say will release around the time of the next Hellboy movie.

Keep up the good work Dark Horse, and keep this awesome stuff in print!

Valentine's Day - My Suggestions

You should remember a few posts back, where I laughed a bit at Diamond's suggestions for Valentine's Day. I know it is kind of early to think about Valentine's gifts, as we've not even gotten to Christmas yet, but if you are going to special order something from a comic book retailer for your loved one's Valentine's Day gift, you need to do it soon.

Before I get to my suggestions, let me first say this - guys, don't expect your wife or girlfriend to love comics just because you do. Don't think that if you bring her just the right one she will fall in love with them. As long as she loves you and lets you enjoy comics on your own terms you've got yourself a good gal. But, if she does express an interest in comics then this list might be helpful for you. If she reads some of your comics from time to time or has said that she'd like comics but not ones where men wear their underwear on the outside of their clothes, then this list has a few things that you could consider as gifts. Some couples, like Heidi from Comics Fairplay and her husband, are lucky enough to both share a love of comics. But believe me, that's rare.

The big problem with Diamond's suggestions was that it looked like the choices were either comics geared toward kids, or fetish fantasy comics. Neither choice seems overly romantic to me. So, in keeping with what Diamond attempted, I've made a list of six items solicited in the most recent Previews catalog that should arrive in time for Valentine's day. (click to enlarge)


Because there are lots of women who enjoy manga, even women who don't like most regular monthly comics, I had to put a manga option on here. Honey & Clover is a new manga published by Viz. The book won a few awards in Japan.

For women willing to try out superhero comics but not wanting anything overly violent, Shazam! Monster Society of Evil is a great choice. Jeff Smith's art is cute and the story is fun. If she likes to watch the DC cartoons with you then she would probably like this graphic novel.

True Story Swear to God is the choice for the romantic. It is a love story based on the real life and love of the creator, Tom Beland. It is well written and details the ups and downs of a real-life relationship. This collection contains the first 17 comic book issues - so it's a lot of story.

Mignola's Jenny Finn is the choice for gals with a dark, poetic side. If she's a fan of Lovecraft and/or Hellboy then this is a nice choice. A bit of horror, a touch of mystery - any fan of those might enjoy this collection.

Eden Factor is my pick for the gamer gal. She likes strong, butt kicking women and she lives that role in video games. It is a science fiction story that a woman of action could appreciate.

For the woman who is a fan of fantasy, maybe she plays D&D or just enjoys Gothic romance, Favole is a good choice. A typical main-stream gal might not like this, but if you take a look at the cover and read the description - and know what your gal likes, you should be able to get a feel for weather or not she'd be interested in something like this. Previews is soliciting the third volume as new with the first two volumes being offered again. So, if she enjoys the first one you have future gifts all set to go!

If you have any suggestions feel free to share!

Gift Ideas

Now that we are into December it is time to stop ignoring the fact that Christmas is right around the corner and get those gifts purchased.

To help, I thought I'd share some gift lists with you - with items you can find at your local comic book store. So while you're picking up some new comics for yourself you can also shop for others.

Here is a list for comic book fans of some pretty cool, higher end items that make nice gifts. And The 24/7 has a good list too.

This year Newsarama.com did a three-part series on gifts suggested by those that work in comics.
Here is part one
Here is part two
here is part three

Here is amazon.com's Geek shopping list.

The Single Gamer has a nice list.

Here are some of my suggestions, and these are things that most people, even those that don't read a lot of comics, would probably enjoy:

• 300 Hard Cover graphic novel
• Watchmen graphic novel or, if you want to give an upgraded version the Watchmen story is also available in an Absolute edition.
• Kingdom Come graphic novel - it comes in soft cover or Absolute size
• Captain America Omnibus - these stories are what brought many non-comic book readers into the store.
• The New Frontier graphic novel set of 2, or the Absolute edition
• Fables 1001 Nights hard cover
• The Marvel Vault collection
• Bone complete edition soft cover
• World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide soft covers make a great set for the horror fan
• Heroes hard cover for a fan of the show
• Any edition of the Ticket to Ride board games
• Niagara board game & expansion

How about you? Please share your gift recommendation list by posting on your own blog & linking it, or by posting it in the comments.

• Jimsmash posted his Dork Shopping list. Thanks Jim!
• King World has Scott's ultimate shopping list. Good stuff, Scott!
  

Tart Columns

I hope everyone survived "Impending Doom 2" the killer snow storm. It was pretty nasty outside and we even had to send KellyAnn home at 2 pm before it got bad enough for her to have to stay in the store overnight.

On Sunday we had a table at the Burnham Bowl "show" which I will call a specialty flea market. It is funny, spending a few hours at this kind of thing really gets to me because many of the mentalities there are the exact things we're trying to work against here at the store. How cover price is a bad, bad thing. Crazy collector mentalities. Gack! Plus Burnham is an old bowling alley so it smells of 60 years of cigaretts plus old paper comics and dusty toys. My sinuses were so bad I thought my eyes might just be forced out of their sockets. But we managed to offload the rest of our silver age comics purchase from back in September, so it wasn't so bad.

This week it is practically Lisa Lopacinski week on Sequential Tart! I wrote both of the columns under Features: An Interview with G. Willow Wilson, author of the book Cairo. (You should check this out, she is a very interesting woman and I thought the interview was great.) And my discussion of the Heroes Vol 1 hard cover book and how it relates to the TV show. I also wrote up the All Access piece under columns, on the Miscellaneous Adventures of Stykman comics. My only other submission for the month was my Retailer's Corner piece, which will run on December 17th. I might get a few reviews in there as well. Plus, I wrote a couple of paragraphs for the Tart Time Machine on Christmas Music, which will probably be up closer to Christmas. Anyway, check out my takes on three great items: Cairo Hard Cover, Heroes Hard Cover and the Miscellaneous Adventures of Stykman comics over at Sequential Tart.

Comics Vs. Graphic Novels - Survey Results

A few weeks back I posted a discussion about comics vs graphic novels - who buys what, why, and how it effects the different parts of the comic book retail business. I also had a survey to find out what readers of my blog are reading: comics, graphic novels, or both. The results so far are below. The survey is still live, so if you have not yet responded, please do.

So far, it looks like most people read a combination of comics and graphic novels. What WAS surprising to me was that more respondents said that they read mostly graphic novels and only a few single issue comics, than those that said they read only comic books. At Neptune we gross almost twice as much in single issue new comics than we do in graphic novels. This makes me wonder if graphic novel buyers are buying their graphic novels somewhere other than their local comic book store. It also makes me wonder which comics are picked up by those that only pick up mostly graphic novels but a few single-issue comics, and why.

Dabel Brothers Update - Del Rey

According to the Dabel Brothers web site:

NEW YORK, NY – November 14, 2007 – Dabel Brothers Publishing and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books, have announced a new agreement for distribution of Dabel Brothers graphic novels into the trade book market.

In spring 2008 the popular literary comic book publisher will launch comic book adaptations of three major properties: New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son; Jim Butcher’s bestselling The Dresden Files; and George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards. The graphic novel versions, to be distributed by Del Rey, will go on sale in summer/fall 2008.

The long-term arrangement will result in broader distribution for their graphic novels than they have had in the past, explains Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Publishing. “While we will retain our autonomy and continue to operate as an individual company, we expect the Del Rey sales team to greatly expand our reach into such markets as libraries and independent bookstores.”

Click the link above to read more of the details. To read about the Marvel/Dabel split, click here.

I thought most of what Del Rey did was manga, so this is different and surprising. Sounds like Dabel will do direct to graphic novel stories. That's probably a good way for them to go since they had some trouble getting single issues out consistantly. In GN format the whole story will be self contained and we won't have to worry about 5 month delays between issues. Overall I always enjoyed Dabel's stuff, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things change/improve/progress with Del Rey.

Comics Vs. Graphic Novels

On Friday I had two separate customers come in and talk to Craig and I about weather or not people still bought single issue back issues and comics, or if trades were taking over. One customer even suggested that I discuss this on my blog.

Well Jeff, it's a great idea. So here goes. First, let me start off with a quick survey - what are YOU reading? (if this poll jumps to the bottom of the post, I have no idea why, as I'm an HTML idot, but please scroll down there and fill it out)

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Choose one answer. I hope you can also post an answer here in the comments as to why you made the choice you did.

As I discussed with both customers, back issues, at least at Neptune, are fairly slow sellers these days. There are still fans of single issues who refuse to buy a graphic novel no matter how hard an issue might be to find or what the cost of buying them in that format might be. Many do so because they want to collect them, often in the hope of seeing them increase in value. Others do so because that is just the format they grew up on and prefer.

On the other hand, over 40% of all of the total revenue we take in here comes from new comic book single issue sales. All of those people who come in week after week looking for their weekly dose of comics keep the single issue floppies as our #1 best selling category.

Graphic novels are our second best selling item category. What graphic novels sell? It is quite a variety! We sell lots of super hero graphic novels, but of course there are a lot of them for people to choose from. We also sell a ton of the non-superhero graphic novels like Walking Dead, Fables, Invincible and Powers, for example. With some of the non-superhero titles we sell more of each of the graphic novels than we sell of any single issue of the corresponding comics. While titles like Superman and Spider-Man, characters that have been around and loved for years, sell great in single issues, but not that well in graphic novel form. Often many of the super hero collected editions sell well the first few months and then drop way down to selling on rare occasion, while the non superhero stuff can sell fairly well for years. But, there are of course some super hero graphic novels that sell well for years too: Watchmen, Batman: Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come and Marvels are some examples.

Neptune wasn't around when this happened, but we have heard the stories of how many comic book retailers cringed when graphic novels first came onto the scene. For years comic book stores made a good deal of sales, and money, off of single issue comic books. Some feared what graphic novels would do to those sales. Since then, I believe that many comic book stores that refused to embrace the graphic novel as part of their product mix suffered financially. Between graphic novels and eBay, many of those old-school single-issue-only stores went the way of the dodo. Some have endured, some closed up, some travel the country doing comic book conventions, some sell on-line only. But it is, in my opinion and based on my experience, difficult to run a profitable comic book store without graphic novels. Here at Neptune, because we are a newer store, we specialize in new products and have very little older stuff. And because of that, we could easily survive without a single back issue comic. We don't - there are a few back issue bins here in the store - but we could. I had one customer tell me that the store he used to shop at told him he didn't like carrying graphic novels because he "didn't make any money on those." To this day I wonder what exactly this store owner was trying to say.

Graphic novels seem to have gained such popularity, however, that it seems like just about anything gets collected, no matter how poorly it sold or how horribly it was received. The other day I was at a Hollywood Video store that was going out of business. They had lots of DVD's left on the racks, but not much of anything good - it was a great demonstration in how much utter crap ends up getting made into a move and put on a DVD for anyone to buy or rent. Graphic novels are starting to go that way as well. There are a ton of great collected comic stories, and a ton more that are absolute dreck! Vertigo, for example, has a number of single issue comics that sell less than 3,000 copies per issue, but yet they print the trade, and the trades might only sell another 2,000 copies.

While graphic novels could replace back issues in my store, they could not replace new comic books. We need those single issues every week to stay in business.

Retailer Brian Hibbs recently said, "At the end of the day, I think the serialization is utterly crucial for the comics marketplace as it is constituted; and anything that works against maximizing the amount of periodicals sold (even if there’s a long term goal of having a strong-selling perennial product at the end of it), is something to be strongly avoided. Yes, books are wonderful, profitable things, but without a system to healthily feed the creation of individual pages, production and profit has to dramatically tamp down. Heck, even the steamroller that is manga is (nearly?) universally serialized first in Japan before being collected in a perennial format."

You can click here to read the rest of what retailer Brian Hibbs says about trades in a recent Tilting at Windmills column.

DC January Solicits - My Opinions

HOLY COW!! January solicitations already! MAN! Where does the time go?

Anyway, I took a look at the DC solicitations for the November Previews items that are coming out in January & later. Here’s what I thought:

Looks like a lot of Teen Titans coming up. There’s the “Lost Annual” (pictured) and the Teen Titans Year One #1, along with the regular series. Plus Teen Titans Go! – DC’s all-age series. The Year One series sounds fun, but I do not know why they have to do a “colorful reimagining of how the teammates bonded...” rather than just going with the original story. But, since I didn’t read it back then, I won’t really notice.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #4 – Ollie lives, but someone else dies??

Black Adam: The Dark Age #6 of 6 – we FINALLY get to find out what the magic word is. Another retailer told me it’s “sorry,” (highlight to see- protected in case someone really doesn't want to know) and we will all see if he was right when this issue arrives.

Robin #170 – Chuck Dixon is back on the series, and they claim it’s going to be a new era for Robin. Sounds interesting to me!

Action Comics #861 – I don’t read the series, but MAN the cover wierds me out. (pictured)

They’re doing a Countdown Special about the New Gods – and I am wondering why they didn’t do this BEFORE they started the Death of the New Gods mini-series that starts this week.

In Justice League #17 we’ll finally start to find out what’s going on with Vixen and why her powers aren’t working right.

They’re doing the Killing Joke again in a special edition hard cover to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the story. It is going to be recolored by Bolland and also have “An Innocent Guy” from Batman: Black & White in it. All for $18 – which seems a bit pricey, but this story is always a consistent seller, so I know we will load up on it for the store so we have it in stock for a while.

They have a bunch of other Alan Moore trades solicited too, including League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volumes 1 & 2, Complete Wildcats, and Wild Worlds.

Wonder Woman fans should be excited about Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol 1. (pictured) “featuring stories that have never been collected before from issues #178-184 and SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #93.”

Both The Batman Strikes and Justice League Unlimited have Harley Quinn stories in them – so I will have to read them. These all-age reads are great because the stories are usually one-shots, so I no one has to read every issue to enjoy just one.

Crayon Shincan Vol 1 is coming out courtesy of DC’s CMX manga line. It’s also an Adult Swim show – but I have never seen it. Is it any good? If nothing else, it should have an instant following thanks to the show. It looks like it would be for kids, but according to the “MATURE READERS” label in the solicitation, I’m going to have to say it is not for kids.

The final issue of Y the Last Man is solicited. Yeah, that means I MUST catch up on this series. Side note – I was really excited when my mom said she wanted me to get her the TPB’s of this for her birthday or Christmas or both because she heard about it on the Daily show. She’s on an anti-man kick right now, so I am sure she will enjoy it.


Nothing too exciting in the DC Direct section. The World of Warcraft series 2 figures are solicited – I might be more excited about these once I see how the first series sells. I don’t play the game, so there’s no connection there. There’s a Batman/Joker set of figures based on Brian Bolland’s art – to go with the new printing of Killing Joke. More mini-mates and a set of figures based on Showcase Presents (pictured). Shouldn’t the Showcase Presents figures be black & white like the books – well, they’re not – just retro looking and I can’t figure out why the Hawkman figure looks so funky.


DC’s new mini-series seem to be letting up a bit. Here’s what we’re looking at:

1 new series and 2 one-shots; 14 mini series in the middle of their runs and 1 mini ending. That is much better than a couple of months ago! Again, this is just the main DC line, not any of the Wildstorm or Vertigo stuff that I’m referring to here.

To view the full solicitation yourself click here.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier Preview

Entertainment Weekly has a 4-page sneak peak preview of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier, by Alan Moore. It is FINALLY scheduled to hit shelves on November 14th - after a delay of over a year.

According to EW: "What you need to know: The story is set in an alternative-history England roughly 50 years after the Martian invasion of 1898. Quatermain and Murray, both strangely younger than when we saw them previous (and they were quite old back then — like, liver-spotted and wrinkled-prune old), are trying to track down a mysterious book that contains secrets about their League adventures and revelations about other League teams throughout history. Natch, there are some baddies who are desperate to make sure the dynamic duo fail in their quest."

According to rumors, Moore plans another LOEG comic book series that will be published via Top Shelf. But, he is never quick to get his stuff out, so do not expect it anytime soon.

THE BLACK DOSSIER is an elaborately designed, cutting-edge volume that includes a "Tijuana Bible" insert and a 3-D section complete with custom glasses, as well as additional text pieces, maps, and a stunning cutaway double-page spread of Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine by Kevin O'Neill. Don't miss what's sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year! We will have plenty of copies of the Black Dossier in-stock on 11/14/07, so be sure to pick up a copy for yourself or a friend - it will make a great holiday gift. It is 208 pages and will be $29.99.

Zombies are Coming!

Halloween is only a month away now. Since it's so close, and after all, Halloween Express has had the HUGE inflatable pumpkin store set up over at our state fair grounds since early September, it seems like a good time for the zombies to start arriving.

Yes, that's right, the zombies are coming. In fact, some are already here.

We have already received some Marvel Zombie T-Shirts and posters. The Marvel Select zombie Spider-Man and Cl. America have arrived in stores. We have only a couple left of the Marvel Zombie Minimates! (pictured)
Marvel is officially making October "Zombie Month" by having zombie variant covers for a number of comics every week. This coming week's special zombie covers are: Howard the Duck #1 and Ms. Marvel #20. Keep in mind that these are NOT zombie stories, just variant covers featuring the characters as zombies.

Walking Dead Volume 7 tpb, the Image comic series created by Robert Kirkman, just came out this week. It is a really great story, and we always sell a TON of every volume of this one. It isn't just a story about zombies either, but about human survival and adaptation.



World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War soft cover is coming 10/16. We had this book in the store in hard cover and it sold well. It's going to be a movie too they say - Brad Pitt's production company bought the option. So I am sure the soft cover version will continue to sell very well! We have the companion book: The Zombie Survival Guide in soft cover currently, and in the one year we have carried it, it has made the top 100 books sold at Neptune since we opened - that tells you how popular this is!



Last Night on Earth game is coming in on Monday. Some pictures below. Enlarge them to see in more detail. It has actually been out since Gen Con I think, and our distributor sold out and we had to wait for the next shipment to arrive. Our game distributor rep told me that the game is GREAT and they've heard nothing but positive things. It not only has a B-Horror Movie feel to it, but it plays that way too. Pick one up to play at your Halloween party or to give to a zombie fan for the holidays. The pieces and cards look great and I have no doubt we'll sell a lot of this one.



Marvel Zombies 2 is also coming soon. There are so many Marvel Zombie fans now that I am sure this mini-series will be hugely popular and stores will sell out. We ordered a ton - so if you don't already shop here at Neptune and your store sells out, check with us to see if we've got it.


So, brace yourself - you never know when the Zombie War will begin. Will you be ready?

Based on my risk analysis, Craig and I would only have a 29% chance of surviving the Zombie War.

Someone needs to make one of those image converters where you can turn yourself into a zombie - THAT would be cool. If there is one already and you know about it, please share.

My Favorite Wonder Woman Story

At the request of Heidi at Comics Fairplay, I am posting my favorite Wonder Woman story.

Wonder Woman Eyes of the Gorgon
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Drew Johnson, James Raiz, Sean Phillips and Ray Snyder
Cover by J.G. Jones
WONDER WOMAN #206-213!


Wonder Woman's friend, Vanessa (Silver Swan), is dying from her cybernetic implants, and Wonder Woman heads out for a cure. Unfortunately Medusa is plotting against her.

Medusa turns people into stone with just one glance, making her a dangerous enemy. Wonder Woman agrees to battle Medusa in an arena, with the battle televised. It's a pretty awesome fight - one of my favorite parts of the story. She battles and battles, and just when it looks like she might loose because she can't continue to avert her eyes from Medusa's gaze, she takes snakes from the head of Medusa and uses the venom to blind herself so that she can defeat the monster goddess.

Wonder Woman remains blind for a while, and at the end of the story arc, she has to prove to the other members of the Justice League that even without her vision she can still be an effective member. More great fights continue - with her thanking Batman for being the only one to not take it easy on her.

I am a newer comic fan, so this more recent story, is my favorite. I do plan on reading the Showcase Presents Wonder Woman so that I can get more back story on her. Anyway, Rucka is a good writer and the art in this arc is incredible. If you want to try out a good, action-filled issue of Wonder Woman, check out Wonder Woman: Eyes of the Gorgon - it is collected in a trade paperback and should be available at a comic book retailer near you.

Strangers in Paradise

I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but I never read much Strangers in Paradise before. Before last week that is. I found this Pocketbook at a 1/2 price used bookstore and picked it up, figuring I should probably have read at least a bit of Strangers in Paradise. I'd read an issue here or there in the store, but it never really sold, so we decided not to carry it.

Anyway, I really liked it! Now I'm trying to decide if we should carry the paperbacks in the store. Maybe just the first few to see how it sells. I will have to think about it. But, I did like it, so I could imagine that others would as well.

USA Today Reviews

On Wednesday USA Today reviewed 4 graphic novels. They were: Batman: Ego and Other Tails, By Darwyn Cooke; Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, an anthology Edited by Jason Rodriguez; Stop Forgetting to Remember, By Peter Kuper; and Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures, By Laurell K. Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, Brett Booth.

The article starts out, "At $330 million in sales a year and growing, graphic novels now represent the biggest segment of the comic-book publishing world. USA TODAY checks out some of the summer's best offerings..." and then goes on to list these for recent arrivals.

I have read Anita Blake in single issue form - good stuff if you're a vampire fan. I've not read Batman: Ego, but we have it in stock here and Darwyn Cooke is great. The other two we don't have in stock and I'm not familiar with, but we could get them in if someone was so inclined as to want to read them.

My only complaint with these types of columns - they don't give the site address or phone (1-888-COMIC BOOK) number for the comic shop locator service. People need to know that these graphic novels are often readily available at comic book stores, not just at the Barns & Noble. And those B&N's typically only carry a small selection of graphic novels (although due to increasing popularity those sections have begun to increase in size), so if you have to special order it because B&N doesn't have it, and the comic book store doesn't have it - ask the comic book store to order it for you. It will, more than likely, cost you the same either way, and your local comic book store owner will actually appreciate your business.