I spent most of December recuperating from the previous semester, cloistered in my comics cavern feverishly pawing through page after page of sequential narrative in a desperate attempt to unlock some heretofore undiscovered secret of the universe. Still haven’t figured that out, but the upside is that the shop is full to bursting with new (old) books.

Look upon and purchase!

Ghost World needs no further introduction from me. This particular publication is the first softcover edition from 1998. I was looking for a copy without a whiff of the movie and found this. Plus I like the cover more. Fanta clearly knew this was a hit but it’s still a pretty restrained production. There’s wear on the front and back cover.

I spent a while collecting the first Squadron Supreme mini-series. I first became interested after a Michel Fiffe Gruenwald appraisal that should still be up on his archive. This series was published almost at the exact same time as Watchmen and offers some interesting ideas when read in that context. For one thing, Gruenwald was not a revisionist, and this series, though still a somewhat grim exploration of power, is fundamentally a meat and potatoes superhero story. Furthermore, there’s a direct crossover with an issue of Captain America (also collected here) that comes at the halfway point of the series. The integration with the rest of Marvel that Gruenwald took pains to steward during his time at the company is a key component of the series. This is both a strength and limitation, but more broadly it reflects the different company culture of the Big Two. DC is expansionist, Marvel Labyrinthine; DC is liberal with history, Marvel is conservative. That Gruenwald chose the Squadron, a Roy Thomas Justice League pastiche, to tell this story should not be lost on us.

Many of these issues have shop stamps on the back cover. Click through to view scans of each book.

Amazing Adventures 5 has this sweet Neal Adams story and a Gene Colan Black Widow story! What else do you need??

Maybe this reprint of Silver Surfer 6? That’s a pricy one but the reprint is pretty damn good!

To be honest I got this for the Kelley Jones covers. But the story inside ain’t half bad. Peak ‘90s Dark Horse story about Vampires versus Werewolves and a detective caught in the middle. Written by Steven Grant and featuring black and white art by Gary Erskine. Good fun. Has the same energy as a direct to video action movie

I also collected all four issues of the Javier Pulido Ninjak series that got royally fucked by both editorial decisions and fan response. What we have is a compromised masterpiece, the defaults of which are well documented on Pulido’s blog. Despite the problems, these comics are still better than most and provide some fascinating insight into the process. Recommended.

Spider-Man’s Tangled Web is a frequent pickup depending on the creator involved. I like seeing Sean Phillips art from this time period when he was still getting superhero work. Good Spider-Man!

Nice set of later issues of Fanfare. 49 has the Wild West Dr. Strange and Nick Fury story that you didn’t know you wanted!

Also for sale: a complete run of the Eclipse/Viz translation of The Legend of Kamui an important early manga translation in the states and an interesting counterpoint to the imperial fantasy of Lone Wolf and Cub. There’s also some amazing shark fights in the early issues. 37 issues plus an issue of Amazing Heroes with a Kamui cover story.

A nice little pocketbook of NVS strips from when he had a weekly(?) comic strip in Columbus. They nailed the homage to Peanuts pocketbook collections down to the dyed red page edges.

James Bond Dark Horse comics! One complete one never finished! David Lloyd art on one! Click through to see all the details.

I assembled a nice six issue lot of Daredevil comics from when Gene Colan was at the peak of his powers. This page is a nice simple example of what he could do. I love seeing DD leaping around NYC.

Sergio Aragones got to do a 6 issue miniseries at DC where he got to collaborate with virtually every great artist who worked at DC. I’m showcasing the Batman issue because come on look at that list, but you should click through to see all the others.

This TPB is damn hard to find. Collects a great Leonardo miniseries rendered almost completely in silhouette by Jim Lawson. Somehow it doesn’t feel old!

More Turtles (and more will be in the future!) This is from the first collection of Tales of the TMNT

Marder’s Beanworld is a visionary masterpiece. It’s hard for me to imagine a more influential and unsung influence on contemporary altcomics than this.

Speaking of, Michael DeForge is a good example of that influence. Seen here in the collection of issues 2-5 of DeForge’s Lose that Koyama put out several years back.

Or how about DeForge’s compatriot Patrick Kyle. This collection, Don’t Come In Here brings together some of Kyle’s early short form comics. Highly recommended.

Finally, We’ve got the Gazeta anthology. This came out a few years back and brings together alternative comics from all over the world. Nice stuff, I especially like the Belkis Ayón prints (seen above) that are reproduced in the book.

That’s all I have the energy to highlight in the newsletter, but there’s actually even more updates in the shop! and plenty still available so please click through and have a look!