To ensure our emails reach your inbox, add PWComicsWeek@email.publishersweekly.com to your address book. Click here to learn how.

October 13, 2009

• Convert your PDF’s to ePub eBooks in minutes using the NEW ‘PDF to ePub’ software wizard
• PDF to ePub – Unlimited number of conversions – professional results - one time software fee $99

News

• Retailers and Fans Converge on Baltimore 
  Despite intense industry speculation of changes at Marvel and DC after recent ownership and management shake-ups, the doubleheader of the Baltimore Comic-con and the Diamond Retailer Summit managed to stick to an agenda of celebrating comics and finding ways to sell  more of them.
  more » » » 
• Comics Scholarship—Mississippi Style
  If the last century saw the state of Mississippi as the cradle of the blues, this century may see the region’s University Press of Mississippi set the course for modern comics scholarship.
  more » » » 
• October Comics Bestsellers
  Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid: Last Straw is king; Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead: What We Become just won’t die; and Bill Willingham follows with Fables: The Dark Ages. Bleach vol 28 and Naruto vol. 45 are next while Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson: Homecoming, Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet Book 2 and Brian Azzarello’s Filthy Rich round out the list.
  more » » » 

Announcements

• Publishers Weekly Launches New Children's Comics Review Page
  Wimpy Kid. Bone. Naruto. As the graphic novel category has grown in recent years, so has the category of children's graphic novels, adding indelible characters and timeless adventures to the canon. Original graphic novels—Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet series, the Toon Books series—and adaptations—James Patterson's Maximum Ride series, Roger Langdrige's Muppet comics published by Boom! Studios—as well as the continued success of manga lines such as Shonen Jump show that this category is thriving, both creatively and commercially.
  more » » » 

Reviews

• Red Snow
  SUSUMU KATSUMATA. Drawn & Quarterly, $24.95 (248p) ISBN 978-1-897299-86-9
  This collection of resonant short stories introduces English-language readers to the late Katsumata's distinctively poetic work, a second-wave participant in the gekiga—alternative manga—movement spearheaded by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Katsumata's frank tales of betrayal, conflict and vulnerability suggest comparisons to Tatsumi's own work. But where Tatsumi captures extreme forms of urban desperation, Katsumata narrates vignettes of rural Japanese life.
  more » » » 
• The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part II: From the Bastille to Baghdad
  LARRY GONICK. Harper, $19 paper (260p) ISBN 978-0-06-076008-3
  The final installment of Gonick's deeply funny and impeccably researched series has finally arrived, and like the rest of his Cartoon History series, the book covers a wide range of key and fascinating historical events and topics that have managed to slip through the gaps of common knowledge. The section linking the slave trade, the Haitian revolution and the Napoleonic Wars is particularly good, as are the segments on the modern history of Japan and China.
  more » » » 
• The Muppet Show Comic Book: Meet the Muppets
  ROGER LANGRIDGE. Boom! Kids, $9.99 paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-934506-85-1
  A TV musical variety puppet show that's been off the air for more than 25 years is an unlikely source for a comic book. Fortunately, Langridge is the perfect cartoonist for the job: his sense of humor draws so heavily on vaudeville, light verse and absurdist blackout sketches that it's as if the franchise were created specifically for him to play with. His timing is impeccable, and his visual style has exactly the right mix of dignified gravity and dizzy silliness. (As with the TV show, we almost always see the Muppets from the waist up only.)
  more » » » 
• Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, Vol. 1
  MASAYUKI ISHIKAWA. Del Rey Manga, $10.99 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-345-51472-1
  The typical manga situation of a young man ready to experience life as he goes away to college is made unique through some very odd characters, starting with the lead. Tadayasu can see and touch bacteria, unaided, and even talk to them; his talents either save the day or get him involved with those who want to exploit him. The title, which loosely means "mold cultivator," describes his family business, supplying starter cultures to make fermented products.
  more » » » 

Panel Mania

• Panel Mania: Luke Cage Noir
  Luke Cage Noir, set in Prohibition-era Harlem, follows Luke Cage as he attempts to put his life back together after 10 years in Riker's Island, even as he is hindered by powerful forces conspiring against him.
  more » » » 

Comics Briefly

more » » » 

On-Sale Calendar

You are receiving this email because you have requested either a newsletter or a magazine from Reed Business Information.

Unsubscribe from this eNewsletter | Manage Your eNewsletters | Privacy policy

If this eNewsletter was forwarded to you, please go to our eNewsletter subscription page to sign up for your own copy.

Begin or renew your Publishers Weekly magazine subscription

---

PW Comics Week
Editors: Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald
Contributing Editors: Douglas Wolk, Kai-Ming Cha and Laura Hudson
Panel Mania editor: Ada Price

Send editorial questions about this enewsletter to: pwcomicsweek@reedbusiness.com
Send advertising questions about this enewsletter to: cbryerman@reedbusiness.com

For additional assistance, contact us by email or at the address below:
Publishers Weekly, Customer Service, 8878 Barrons Blvd, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129-2345 USA.

© Copyright 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.