Archive for November, 2009

• Monkey Covers

  Date: 2009.11.22 | Category: Comic Books | Response: 0

  Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there’s nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

  Remember: never fall asleep at your desk while holding a gun; there may be a thieving monkey in the room, as on the cover of Super Detective Library #134 (1959).

  Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

  

  

• Amazon Top 50

  Date: 2009.11.20 | Category: Comic Books | Response: 0

  Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.

  1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
  2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
  3 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
  4 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
  5 (-2). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
  6 (+1). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
  7 (+3). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
  8 (+3). Watchmen
  9 (-3). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
  10 (-2). Warriors: Ravenpaw’s Path #1: Shattered Peace *
  11 (+11). Green Lantern: Agent Orange
  12 (-). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
  13 (+3). Stitches: A Memoir
  14 (-1). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
  15 (-). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set
  16 (N). Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation
  17 (-3). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
  18 (-9). Tumor Chapter 1 (kindle)
  19 (-1). Simon’s Cat
  20 (+6). Marvel Encyclopedia
  21 (+6). The Arrival
  22 (-2). V for Vendetta
  23 (+9). Scientific Progress Goes ‘Boink’: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
  24 (+19). 14 Years of Loyal Service in a Fabric-Covered Box: A Dilbert Book
  25 (-). Batman: The Killing Joke
  26 (-5). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
  27 (-4). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
  28 (-11). Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
  29 (-). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
  30 (R). The Best American Comics 2009
  31 (N). Dilbert: 2010 Wall Calendar
  32 (R). The Complete Far Side 1980-1994
  33 (N). Absolute Justice
  34 (R). Asterios Polyp
  35 (R). Batman: Year One
  36 (R). The Complete Persepolis
  37 (N). Escape from Dullsville *
  38 (N). Bone Volume 2: The Great Cow Race
  39 (N). Dark Tower: Treachery
  40 (-16). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
  41 (+9). Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville
  42 (R). Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky: A Get Fuzzy Collection
  43 (N). Garfield Will Eat for Food: His 48th Book
  44 (R). Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
  45 (R). The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics
  46 (R). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
  47 (R). Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2
  48 (R). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
  49 (R). Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans
  50 (R). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier

  Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

  N = New listing appearing on list for first time
  R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks

  Commentary:

  * The Four Wimpy Kid volumes are back together on top of the list. Expect to see them entrenched there for a while, unless the new printing of Crumb’s Genesis gives it another spike.

  * I suspect that the recent interest in strip collections is due to the upcoming holiday gift giving season.

  * The highest debut belongs to Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation, a comic I didn’t even know existed until I saw it on the chart. Score another win for the secret comic book economy.

  * The bottom part of the chart is almost completely different from last week; eighteen of the last twenty items are either new or returning after an absence.

  * I’m pleased to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier sneak back on to the list; no doubt due to increased interest caused by the recent censorship controversy.

  

  

• Phoebe Gloeckner – Thursday

  Date: 2009.11.17 | Category: Comic Books | Response: 0

  Artist/Cartoonist/Professor Phoebe Gloeckner will be the featured speaker at the Penny Stamps Lecture Series this Thursday, 5pm at the Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor.

  If like me you are unable to attend (I have a prior commitment at the Serious Games Expo), the Penny Stamps lectures are available via podcast a few days after they occur.