Whenever I look too long at soliciations, I feel like I’m tearing a hole in the space-time continuum, but I’m really delighted by two products coming from Marvel in the spring.
The second volume of She-Hulk, Superhuman Law, collects issues 7-12 in a full-color TPB for a mere $14.99 in Apriil 2005. I was looking at the graphic novel sales for November 2004 at ICv2, and I was thrilled to see how well the first volume did in the Direct Market. She-Hulk Vol. 1: Single Green Female ranked 12th in estimated sales by Diamond to comic specialty stores. It’s completely anecdotal, but the guy who runs the shop I use says he can’t keep it on the shelves. This makes me very, very happy.
I’m even more pleased to see Marvel release a digest-sized collection of the first six issues of Inhumans in Culture Shock. This is the wonderful (and short-lived) Sean McKeever series featuring a group of young Inhumans taking part in an exchange program and enrolling at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It’s a terrific mix of fish-out-of-water comedy, interpersonal angst, horror, and action, beautifully rendered by Matthew Clark. It requires absolutely no prior knowledge of the Inhumans from their Marvel continuity, so don’t let that stop you from trying it. And it’s $7.99 for 144 full-color pages! It arrives March 9, 2005, and I think this is a Marvel title that would really sell well with the manga audience, much like Runaways.
Wow! 2005 is looking better already!