FCBM5 Day 9

It's day nine of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Max C. Bosshart. The five comics that Max listed are:

1. Marvel Zombies
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
3. Outsiders
4. Detective Comics
5. GI Joe

And his other thing of interest is Doctor Who.

For Max, I have the first three issues of Robert Kirkman's Tech Jacket.

For Max's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Peanuts Halloween comic.

Max's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
17 entries
22 free comics sent so far
22 days remaining

Amazon Top 50

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

1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (-). Watchmen
3 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Star Trek: Countdown TPB
6 (+5). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
7 (+2). V for Vendetta
8 (-2). Stephen King's Dark Tower: Treachery
9 (-1). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
10 (+8). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
11 (+1). Batman: The Killing Joke
12 (N). The New Yorker Book of Mom Cartoons
13 (+3). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
14 (N). Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Volume 4
15 (+11). Wolverine: Origin
16 (+7). Blueberry Girl
17 (-7). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3: Century #1 *
18 (N). Deadpool Classic, Vol. 1
19 (-6). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
20 (+17). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
21 (+3). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3
22 (-1). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
23 (+20). Deadpool Classic, Vol. 2
24 (-4). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
25 (+10). Weapon X (Wolverine)
26 (-4). Batman: Year One
27 (+21). Marvel Zombies 3
28 (N). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 *
29 (-1). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
30 (N). The Complete Persepolis
31 (-16). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
32 (+15). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
33 (+11). Batman: R.I.P.
34 (N). What the World Needs Now: A Resource Book for Daydreamers, Frustrated Inventors, Cranks, Efficiency Experts, Utopians, Gadgeteers, Tinkerers and Just about Everybody Else
35 (N). The Manga Guide to Databases
36 (+6). Bone: One Volume Edition
37 (-1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
38 (-6). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
39 (N). Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
40 (N). Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part 3
41 (N). Wrapped-Up FoxTrot: A Treasury with the Final Daily Strips *
42 (-35). Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
43 (-5). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
44 (-27). The Joker
45 (-31). Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky: A Get Fuzzy Collection
46 (N). Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 18 *
47 (N). Y The Last Man Deluxe Edition Book Two *
48 (-21). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
49 (N). Vindication (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 5) *
50 (N). Angel: After The Fall Volume 1


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


Commentary:

* Marvel's Wolverine-related comics trend way up, bucking the trend wherein comics sales fall after a movie's release. Will the halo effect last long?

* The other big mover are the Buffy season 8 collections, as volume four's release is imminent.

* The highest debut is for The New Yorker Book of Mom Cartoons, no doubt due to the impending Mothers' Day holiday.

* Naruto is nowhere to be seen, but The Manga Guide to Databases debuts at #35, and a preorder of a new volume of Fullmetal Alchemist pops up near the bottom.

Shameless Friend Promotion: JimO Q&A

The National Post has a Q&A with pal Jim Ottaviani, in advance of his appearance as a guest at this weekend's Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

(I just last evening completed an email interview with Jim, which I'll be posting here on the blog early next week.)

FCBM5 Day 8

It's day eight of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Paul Freitag. The five comics that Paul listed are:

1. Justice Society of America
2. Ex Machina
3. Wasteland
4. Birds of Prey
5. Hero Squared

And his other thing of interest is cult film.

I'll be sending Paul the first issue of War Heroes, drawn by Ex Machina's Tony Harris.

For Paul's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Peanuts Halloween comic.

Paul's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
16 entries
18 free comics sent so far
23 days remaining

Villainous Heroes of History

Bizarro is brought to you today by Budget Family Cruises.

Like pirates, vikings were ruthless killers, thieves and slave owners. Their main source of income was sailing to another country, killing the men and stealing everything they could find a use for, including their women. And yet, we have made pop culture heroes of them.

In spite of their lack of positive social contribution, I love to do viking cartoons. Drawing their ships, outfits and horny hats is a kick and there is something about infamous amoral hellions that makes for a seemingly never-ending pool of humor.

Viking gags run in my family as I am married to the step-granddaughter of Dik Browne, the creator of Hagar the Horrible, which conveniently also makes her the stepdaughter of his son, Chris Browne, who took over the strip after Dik passed. All told, CHNW is related to five professional cartoonists, including her bio-dad (Ralph Smith, editorial cartoonist and former syndicated dude), an uncle (Chance Browne, Hi and Lois), and me. I'm pretty sure that's the record.

Free Digital Comics from the US Goverment

More Free (Digital) Comics!

The library at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has put up a Government Comics Collection. These are scanned copies (TIFF files in a PDF wrapper) of comics produced by the United States Federal Government. Some of the creators represented include Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Scott Adams, Peter David, Al Capp, Walt Kelly, Charlz Schulz, Eduardo Barreto, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Joe Orlando, Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Dr. Seuss. There are 167 comics in all!

FCBM5 Day 7

It's day seven of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Billy Hogan. The five comics that Billy listed are:

1. Superman
2. Watchmen
3. Planetary
4. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
5. Powers

And his other thing of interest is David Weber's Honor Harrington novels.

I'll be sending Billy the fourth issue of the old First Publishing Crossroads series, featuring a meeting between Grimjack & Judah Maccabee (from Nexus).

For Billy's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Donald Duck Halloween comic.

Billy's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
16 entries
16 free comics sent so far
24 days remaining