Ladies, People, Witches & Gentlemen,
somewhere between trying not to cringe physically at Walt’s cringe×5 Y2K newsletter comedy jokes, hiding to cry because Walt always brings me back unsolicited magnets from his vacation, managing the checkout at one of our busiest open warehouse days ever while simultaneously training our six-year-old trainee, attempting to escape the logistics meeting for the WCS5Y event, and suddenly aging ten years after being asked (for the first time ever!) if I have kids of my own…
I completely forgot what I actually wanted to say.
Anyway. Why was there no GN Newsletter last month? Simple: the FOC guys already talked about every single book I wanted to cover. And why bother you twice when you can have everything in one snappy newsletter?
And if you do (or don’t) want to keep getting all these little chaos bundles from us, you can always Manage Preferences with just a few clicks. You come and go however you want to.
The Feierabend Beer
In Germany, there’s this thing called the Feierabend Bier. You drink it to celebrate the evening after work. Responsibilities dropped, mood relaxed, time officially yours.
We’re doing that too from time to time, only with anime watch nights and graphic novel reading circles. And guess what? You can do the same with all the new stuff that just dropped!
Here’s some new releases you might have missed:
- Your favourite and the latest Marvel Ultimate Universe line: Ultimate Wolverine Vol. 1: The Winter Soldier
- DC's New Gods by Ram V and Evan Cagle (with a stint by no other than Filipe Andrade in #6)
- The Power Fantasy Vol. 2 by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard
- Finally we also get Love Everlasting Vol. 3 by Tom King and Elsa Charretier!
Graphic Novels New Arrivals Here's what you don't want to miss for your next reading circle!
- The youngsters of the DC Absolute line are finally stepping into trade format with Absolute Green Lantern TP Vol. 1: Without Fear and Absolute Flash TP Vol. 1: Of Two Worlds.
- Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale: Captain America TP brings the classic story (previously only in Gallery Edition) into a much more human-friendly size.
- Then there’s Death of the Silver Surfer, a true feast for both eyes and soul.
- Also: W0rldtr33 TP Vol 03 🤩
- And last but not least, the one series that hasn’t let us down since 2022 returns with its sixth trade: Poison Ivy Vol. 6: A Death in Marshview.
We like it light and compact
I love how publishers peek at each other, spot what works, and copy it. Smart publishers don’t invent, they just steal the good ideas.
Meaning for us: compact fever is spreading!
DC kicked things off last year with their Compact line, and I love them. They’re the perfect "first taste" when someone wants to try DC (like Annika, who usually only reads manga) or just read a must-read story. They worked great at our open warehouse days and were a hit at the Superman premiere at Zoo Palast.
And now even more are up for pre-order! WE3 by Grant Morrison (only if you want to cry yourself to sleep at night) and Supergirl - Woman Of Tomorrow (timed perfectly for the Supergirl cinema release next year)!
Other publishers finally caught up too. Oni Press launched their Oni Compact Comics Edition line.
Image is starting their Backpack Edition (how cute is that name 😭) with no other story than Paper Girls. (Honestly makes me want to have a kid just so I can slip an Image Backpack Edition into their backpack before school).
Vault is calling theirs the Vault Compact Edition and they’re leading with These Savage Shores, Money Shot, and Witchblood.
We’ll add collections for these as soon as the compact edition lines grow.
I’m ashamed to admit this…
When we were planning which artists to invite for our five-year anniversary, I suggested Christian Ward, and yes, I was basically doing myself a bit of fan service by inviting my favorite artist EVER. No exaggeration this time: if there’s anyone who can make me care deeply about things and characters I normally wouldn’t, and move me to tears almost every single time, it’s him.
Christian Ward was also the very first artist to accept our invitation. To be honest, at a point when we were still asking ourselves “is this really happening?”, his yes gave us the motivation to go all in.
I do feel a little bad that I could so easily sway the lineup. So if you have an artist or writer you’d love to see signing at our shop someday, please let me know at gloriana@waltscomicshop.com. I promise to subtly name-drop them for the next signing 😉
Hey! You’re not leaving before checking out my personal pick of the month! It's a slick cyberpunk story from Fantagraphics, about a girl rebuilding herself after the world took everything from her… and yes… you read it right to left.
Enjoy!
Gloriana