This week’s edition of ComicList is like the poster for some ultimate fighter title bout. With the exception of a certain bewhiskered trainee ninja, all of the heavy hitters will be arriving simultaneously, sizing each other up for a sales cage match.
In this corner, plucky orphan Tohru Honda! She’s taking on an ancient family curse, but can heartfelt pluck stand up to the one-two punch of…
The Elric Brothers? They’re looking for the secret to eternal life, but will it be enough to fend off the deadly, note-taking onslaught of…
Light Yagami? The sleuthing sociopath is taking names in this battle of the commercial juggernauts! Who will win?!
Well, comics retailers with even a rudimentary manga selection, for one. (To be fair, none of the above will probably come within spitting distance of this release from Marvel in terms of sales in the Direct Market.)
If none of the above interest you in the slightest, not to worry, because both Tokyopop and Viz are unleashing an absolutely insane number of titles. Tokyopop is rolling out 18, and Viz is offering 37. Thirty-seven.
One of those 55 titles is the sixth volume of Minetaro Mochizuki’s Dragon Head (Tokyopop), much loved by bloggers like me, but disappointingly ignored by the average bookstore browser. Seriously, there aren’t that many volumes out, and new ones don’t come out that often. You have plenty of time to catch up with this tense, apocalyptic suspense story.
Sick of hearing about comics from Japan? No problem. There are also comics from France, most notably a prestige edition of Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert’s The Professor’s Daughter from First Second. I’m going to hold out for the $16.95 paperback instead of the $29.95 collector’s edition that’s coming out tomorrow, but I strongly suspect it will be lovely and delightful either way.
And wow, how long as it been since a new issue of Jimmy Gownley’s wonderful Amelia Rules! (Renaissance Press) came out? Too long, almost certainly, but these fun stories are always worth the wait.