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Monday, July 24, 2023
Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for July 26, 2023
Monday, April 25, 2022
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for April 27, 2022
Monday, March 14, 2022
Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 16, 2022
Monday, January 10, 2022
Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 12, 2022
Monday, July 19, 2021
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for July 21, 2021
IDW PUBLISHING
MAY210422 BERMUDA #1 (OF 4) CVR A BRADSHAW (RES) $4.99
MAR210442 COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF ANIMATION TP $17.99
APR210027 FCBD 2021 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 30TH ANNIVERSARY $PI
APR210006 FCBD 2021 STAR WARS HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES $PI
MAY210438 GODZILLA MONSTERS & PROTECTORS #4 CVR A DAN SCHOENING $3.99
MAY210439 GODZILLA MONSTERS & PROTECTORS #4 CVR B PHOTO CVR $3.99
JAN210497 LOCKE & KEY KEYHOUSE COMPENDIUM HC (RES) $125.00
MAR210454 MARVEL ACTION AVENGERS TP BOOK 05 OFF THE CLOCK (RES) $9.99
DEC200427 MARVEL ACTION SPIDER-MAN #4 $3.99
MAY210447 MLP TRANSFORMERS II #4 (OF 4) CVR A TONY FLEECS $3.99
MAY210448 MLP TRANSFORMERS II #4 (OF 4) CVR B BETHANY MCGUIRE-SMITH $3.99
APR210651 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #42 CVR A TRAMONTANO $3.99
APR210652 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #42 CVR B ABBY BULMER $3.99
MAY210455 STAR WARS HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES #6 CVR A TOLIBAO $3.99
DEC200458 TMNT ONGOING (IDW) COLL HC VOL 13 $59.99
MAY210471 USAGI YOJIMBO #21 CVR A SAKAI $3.99
Monday, April 12, 2021
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for April 14, 2021
IDW PUBLISHING
FEB210441 CANTO & CITY OF GIANTS #1 (OF 3) $3.99
JAN210432 CHAINED TO THE GRAVE #2 (OF 5) CVR A SHERRON (RES) $3.99
DEC200485 GALAXY HUNTERS GAME $79.99
DEC200482 GALAXY HUNTERS NEW WAYS TO HUNT EXPANSION $29.99
NOV200373 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #279 CVR A SANCHEZ $3.99
NOV200374 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #279 CVR B FICO OSSIO $3.99
NOV200376 GI JOE TP VOL 01 WORLD ON FIRE (RES) $29.99
NOV200362 JOHN ROMITA AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ARTISAN ED $39.99
SEP200426 LOCKE & KEY SANDMAN HELL & GONE #1 CVR A RODRIGUEZ $6.99
SEP200427 LOCKE & KEY SANDMAN HELL & GONE #1 CVR B JH WILLIAMS III (C $6.99
SEP200428 LOCKE & KEY SANDMAN HELL & GONE #1 CVR C KELLEY JONES $6.99
JAN210450 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #96 CVR A FLEECS $3.99
JAN210451 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #96 CVR B JUSTASUTA $3.99
DEC200445 STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION THE GIFT $5.99
FEB210476 TMNT JENNIKA II #6 (OF 6) $4.99
JAN210507 USAGI YOJIMBO #18 $3.99
Monday, December 14, 2020
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for December 16, 2020
IDW PUBLISHING
APR200791 INVISIBLE MEN TRAILBLAZING BLACK ARTISTS OF COMIC BOOKS HC ( $34.99
AUG200568 LOCKE & KEY IN PALE BATTALIONS GO #3 (OF 3) $3.99
OCT200471 STAR TREK VOYAGER SEVENS RECKONING #2 (OF 4) CVR A HERNANDE $3.99
OCT200472 STAR TREK VOYAGER SEVENS RECKONING #2 (OF 4) CVR B PHOTO $3.99
Monday, December 7, 2020
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for December 9, 2020
IDW PUBLISHING
SEP200521 COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF ANIMATION #1 (OF 5) CVR A DUNLAVEY $3.99
SEP200522 COMIC BOOK HISTORY OF ANIMATION #1 (OF 5) CVR B DUNLAVEY $3.99
AUG200588 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #276 CVR A DIAZ $3.99
AUG200589 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #276 CVR B SHEARER $3.99
SEP200490 GOOSEBUMPS SECRET OF THE SWAMP #3 (OF 5) $3.99
JUL200576 HEY AMATEUR GO FROM NOVICE TO NAILING IT IN PANELS SC $19.99
JUN200568 KILL LOCK TP $24.99
AUG200567 LOCKE & KEY SANDMAN HELL & GONE #0 $3.99
SEP200498 MARVEL ACTION CHILLERS #3 (OF 4) LUSKY CVR $3.99
JUL200560 MARVEL ACTION SPIDER-MAN SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM TP $9.99
JUN200621 MONSTER ON THE HILL TP EXPANDED ED $19.99
OCT190824 MOUNTAINHEAD #5 (OF 5) CVR A RYAN LEE $3.99
SEP200466 SCARENTHOOD #2 (OF 4) $4.99
JUN200577 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG TP VOL 07 ALL OR NOTHING $15.99
OCT200460 TMNT ONGOING #112 CVR A NISHIJIMA $3.99
OCT200461 TMNT ONGOING #112 CVR B EASTMAN $3.99
SEP208135 TMNT THE LAST RONIN #1 (OF 5) 2ND PTG $8.99
SEP200483 TRANSFORMERS #25 CVR A HERNANDEZ $7.99
SEP200484 TRANSFORMERS #25 CVR B ANNA MALKOVA $7.99
SEP200518 USAGI YOJIMBO #15 $3.99
JUN200581 WELLINGTON TP $17.99
AUG200566 WHAT IF WE WERE TP $14.99
Saturday, October 3, 2020
#IReadsYou Review: BASKETFUL OF HEADS #1
BASKETFUL OF HEADS #1
DC COMICS/DC Black Label – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Joe Hill
ART: Leomacs
COLORS: Dave Stewart
LETTERS: Deron Bennett
EDITORS: Mark Doyle and Amedeo Turturro
COVER: Reiko Murakami
VARIANT COVER: Joshua Middleton
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (December 2019)
“Ages 17+”
Basketful of Heads created by Joe Hill
Bestselling dark fantasy and horror novelist, Joe Hill, and DC Comics have launched a new “pop-up line” of horror comics entitled “Hill House Comics.” The initial offerings from Hill House consist of five comic book limited series: The Dollhouse Family, written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Peter Gross; The Low, Low Woods, written by Carmen Maria Machado and illustrated by Dani; Daphne Byrne, written by Laura Marks and illustrated by Kelley Jones.
Hill is writing the other two – Plunge, which will be illustrated by Stuart Immonen, and Basketful of Heads, the first Hill House release and the subject of this review. Basketful of Heads is drawn by Leomacs; colored by Dave Stewart; and lettered by Deron Bennett. The series will feature a young woman and an ax that has the supernatural power to lop off a human head in a single stroke. But the lopped-off heads keep talking!
Basketful of Heads #1 opens on Brody Island, Maine in September 1983. There, we meet a young couple staying on the island for the summer. They are vivacious party girl, June, and Liam Ellsworth, who is working as a temp officer with the Brody Island Police Department. They are enjoying a day in Liam's “dune buggy” police car when they get a call from Brody Island Police Chief Wade Clausen.
It seems that some prisoners have managed to escape from “Shawshank Prison” (a reference to a fictional state prison that appears in the work of Joe Hill's father, legendary novelist, Stephen King). The escape leads to June and Liam inadvertently house-sitting, which is when the story really begins.
Basketful of Heads #1 is mostly an introduction to the series' setting. Eighteen of the twenty-two pages of this first issue walk us through the world of Brody Island and introduce the main characters, while hinting at what will be June and Liam's first deadly dilemma. The narrative really does not begin until the twenty-first and twenty-second pages of this issue – the last two pages.
Hill does a good, but not great job with this first issue, and I find the characters and the setting only mildly interesting. But the last two pages make me think that I will be more than mildly interested when the proverbial shit hits the fan – hopeful in issue two.
Artist Leomacs' graphical style seems just right for a horror, thriller, or crime comic book, and Dave Stewart's coloring establishes a sense of foreboding. Deron Bennett's lettering does most of the heavy lifting in giving this story a sense of rhythm and the feeling that it is actually going somewhere and is not just introducing some people who live on a tourist-trap island. Basketful of Heads #1 is good enough to make me want to check out another issue.
“Sea Dogs” Part One: “Boarding Party”
STORY: Joe Hill
ART: Dan McDaid
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Wes Abbott
EDITORS: Mark Doyle and Maggie Howell
“Sea Dogs” is a comics serial that will run in four-page increments at the back of every issue of Hill House Comics (apparently in the initial run of series). “Sea Dogs” will tell the tale of how werewolves helped the Thirteen American Colonies and its Continental army win their war against Great Britain.
The first chapter, “Boarding Party,” opens in May 1780, at a secret rebel stronghold in upstate New York. The mysterious Mr. Bolton meets a trio of men, who can transform into werewolves. He wants to recruit the men and their special abilities in order to help the American rebels. Their target is the powerful British Navy, which is destroying the Continental navy and other colonial ships by the hundreds and is also creating a blockade that has left the Continental army half-starved and poorly equipped.
The art by Dan McDaid and colors by John Kalisz recall the comic book art of classic DC Comics horror titles of the late 1960s and 1970s like House of Mystery and Ghosts. Letterer Wes Abbott's fonts are delightfully old school, and I must admit that I am quite intrigued by Joe Hill's concept here. Plus, I also love werewolves!
[This comic book also contains an essay by Joe Hill.]
7 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Monday, August 24, 2020
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for August 26, 2020
JUN200569 CANTO II HOLLOW MEN #1 (OF 5) CVR A ZUCKER $3.99
NOV190660 GEARS OF WAR HIVEBUSTERS TP $17.99
FEB200686 KODI GN VOL 01 $14.99
JUN200565 LOCKE & KEY IN PALE BATTALIONS GO #1 (OF 2) CVR A RODRIGUEZ $3.99
APR200758 MARVEL ACTION CAPTAIN MARVEL TP VOL 02 AIM SMALL $9.99
APR200777 SLEEPING BEAUTIES #3 (OF 10) CVR A WU $3.99
APR200778 SLEEPING BEAUTIES #3 (OF 10) CVR B WOODALL $3.99
FEB200618 STAR WARS ADVENTURES CLONE WARS #4 (OF 5) CVR A CHARM $3.99
FEB200687 THEY CALLED US ENEMY EXPANDED ED HC $29.99
JUN200560 TMNT ONGOING #108 CVR A DANIEL $3.99
JUN200561 TMNT ONGOING #108 CVR B EASTMAN $3.99
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Book Review: FULL THROTTLE: Stories
WILLIAM MORROW/HarperCollins – @WmMorrowBks @HarperCollins
[This review originally posted on Patreon.]
AUTHOR: Joe Hill
ISBN: 978-0-06-220067-9; hardback; 6 x 9 (October 1, 2019)
496pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S., $34.99 CAN
Full Throttle: Stories is a 2019 short story collection from author Joe Hill. Originally a hardcover release, Full Throttle: Stories, which is Hill's fourth short story collection, contains 13 short stories of varying lengths.
Hill, whose birth name is Joseph Hillström King, is the son of legendary horror novelist and dark fantasy author, Stephen King, and novelist, nonfiction author, and poet, Tabitha King. Hill is also a novelist and comic book writer (best known for the Locke & Key series from IDW Publishing).
Joe Hill collaborates with Stephen King on two of Full Throttle's stories. Hill will never be the author that his father is, nor does Hill have to be Stephen King, who is one of the greatest short story fantasy authors of all time. Hill only has to be himself, and Hill is quite the inventive, ingenious, and imaginative short story writer himself.
From the tale of a vengeful trucker ("Full Throttle," co- written with Stephen King) to the funky, near-future, have-and-have-not sci-fi (“All I Care About is You”), Joe Hill takes readers on a non-stop, break-neck journey through his own version of “The Twilight Zone.” This is Joe Hill's trip through “Tales from The Darkside” in such edgy fare as the cautionary faerie fable (“Faun”) and the historical parable (“The Devil on the Staircase”). Once you sit your ass inside this crazy ride, you won't have any choice but to go along Full Throttle, dear readers.
After being part of the British pop music recording duo, Eurythmics, for a decade, singer-songwriter Annie Lenox embarked on a solo career, beginning with the 1992 album, Diva. I remember reading a review of her second album, Medusa (1995), in which the author of the review stated that every album should have two “great” songs. I don't remember the name of the author or the place of publication of that review, but the review has had a deep influence on how I regard short story collections.
I insist that every short story collection have at least two stories that I consider great in order for me to consider the collection worth reading. I also need to find two great stories in order for me to honestly recommend the collection to people who read my reviews.
Full Throttle: Stories only has one story that I consider piss poor, the werewolf-ish tale, “Wolverton Station.” It is the kind of misfire that a published author can get published, but a novice author would need a miracle to get a recognized literary journal or fiction publication to publish such a minor tale. “Wolverton Station,” the third story in the collection, is Full Throttle's “unlucky number 13.”
Otherwise, Full Throttle: Stories is one of the few great short story collections that I have read that are not written by someone named Harlan Ellison (1934-2018) or Stephen King. The collection's best story is “Late Returns,” the lovely fable of the complexities and misunderstandings in parent-child relationships. The Hallmark Channel could mine this story for a long series of made-for-TV movies. I think what makes the story so memorable and exceptional is that it deals with the unasked questions, but also with the answered questions we don't realize were answered ages ago.
It was hard to choose a second favorite or second best, but I am going with “You Are Released,” an eve-of-apocalypse tale about Captain Leonard Waters, his crew, and the passengers of the 777 commercial jet airliner, “Delta 236.” It puts readers in a front row seat to nuclear Armageddon, but it also exemplifies the hope, love, and reconciliation that humanity can have if it so chooses.
Joe Hill's two collaborations with Stephen King are heartbreaking, but for different reasons. The first, the title track, “Full Throttle,” is a crime thriller that recalls road-rage-revenge films like Duel (1971, Steven Spielberg) and Joy Ride (2001, John Dahl). The second Hill-King collaboration, “In the Tall Grass,” recalls King's short story, “Children of the Corn” (1977) and that classic tale's dark blend of blighted small town America, Americana, and paganism.
Hill actually tops the Americana of “In the Tall Grass,” with a brilliant spin on American separatism and inherited mental illness in the crazy and crazily brilliant “Mums.” That story summons the is-it-or-isn't-real surrealism of Henry James' “The Turn of the Screw” (1898) and plants it in the black soil located in the dark corners of American culture.
So there is all kind of good stuff in Full Throttle: Stories. It is a must-have for fans of dark fantasy short story collections. I think the stories in this collection also suggest that, while he is in his late 40s, Joe Hill is just hitting his stride as a master of speculative and fantasy prose short fiction.
9.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
www.joehillfiction.com
www.facebook.com/joehill
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Monday, June 22, 2020
DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 24, 2020
MAR200517 AQUAMAN #60 $3.99
MAR200518 AQUAMAN #60 TYLER KIRKHAM VAR ED $3.99
FEB200432 BATGIRL #46 $3.99
FEB200433 BATGIRL #46 INHYUK LEE VAR ED $3.99
FEB200419 BATMAN #93 $3.99
FEB200420 BATMAN #93 CARD STOCK FRANCESCO MATTINA VAR ED $4.99
MAR200523 BATMAN BEYOND #44 $3.99
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MAR200502 BATMAN THE SMILE KILLER #1 (MR) $5.99
MAR200503 BATMAN THE SMILE KILLER #1 KAARE ANDREWS VAR ED (MR) $5.99
MAR200589 BOOKS OF MAGIC #20 (MR) $3.99
FEB200552 DOOMSDAY CLOCK HC PART 02 WITH SLIPCASE $24.99
MAR200536 FLASH #756 $3.99
MAR200537 FLASH #756 CARD STOCK DANIEL W JOHNSON VAR ED $4.99
MAR200488 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 $9.99
MAR200489 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 1940S VAR E $9.99
MAR200490 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 1950S VAR E $9.99
MAR200491 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 1960S VAR E $9.99
MAR200492 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 1970S VAR E $9.99
MAR200493 GREEN LANTERN 80TH ANNIV 100 PAGE SUPER SPECT #1 1980S VAR E $9.99
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FEB200455 HARLEY QUINN & THE BIRDS OF PREY #2 (OF 4) (MR) $5.99
FEB200456 HARLEY QUINN & THE BIRDS OF PREY #2 (OF 4) ARTHUR ADAMS VAR $5.99
MAR200591 JOHN CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER #7 (MR) $3.99
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MAR200622 LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT MATT WAGNER HC $49.99
MAR200585 LOW LOW WOODS #6 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
MAR200586 LOW LOW WOODS #6 (OF 6) JENNY FRISON VAR ED (MR) $3.99
MAR200587 PLUNGE #4 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
MAR200588 PLUNGE #4 (OF 6) GARY FRANK VAR ED (MR) $3.99
MAR200562 RED HOOD OUTLAW #46 $3.99
MAR200563 RED HOOD OUTLAW #46 PHILIP TAN VAR ED $3.99
MAR200566 SUICIDE SQUAD #6 $3.99
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MAR200572 SUPERMANS PAL JIMMY OLSEN #11 (OF 12) $3.99
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MAR200574 TEEN TITANS #42 $3.99
MAR200575 TEEN TITANS #42 KHARY RANDOLPH VAR ED $3.99
IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for June 24, 2020
OCT190848 DAVE COCKRUM X-MEN ARTIFACT ED HC $125.00
APR200781 LOCKE & KEY #1 FACSIMILE ED $3.99
FEB200715 MARVEL ACTION SPIDER-MAN TP BOOK 04 VENOM $9.99
FEB200626 MY LITTLE PONY FEATS OF FRIENDSHIP TP VOL 01 $9.99
JUL190817 RADICAL SHIFT OF GRAVITY TP $24.99
FEB200607 SLEEPING BEAUTIES #1 (OF 10) CVR A WU $3.99
FEB200608 SLEEPING BEAUTIES #1 (OF 10) CVR B WOODALL $3.99
FEB200697 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #28 CVR A BULMER $3.99
FEB200698 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #28 CVR B CURRY $3.99
FEB200700 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG TP VOL 06 LAST MINUTE $15.99
FEB200614 STAR WARS ADVENTURES CLONE WARS #2 (OF 5) CVR A CHARM $3.99
FEB200722 STAR WARS ADVENTURES TP VOL 09 FIGHT THE EMPIRE $9.99
FEB200742 THEY CALLED US ENEMY TP SPANISH ED NOS LLAMARON ENEMIGO $19.99
FEB200662 TMNT JENNIKA #3 (OF 3) CVR A REVEL $4.99
FEB200668 TMNT ONGOING #105 CVR A CAMPBELL $3.99
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FEB200659 TRANSFORMERS VS TERMINATOR #2 (OF 4) CVR A FULLERTON $3.99
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