News, events, and information about Comix Experience and the Graphic Novel of the Month Clubs.
Wowsers, huge number of things shipping this week -- it's time to go into the comic book shop if you've been putting it off for a week or two! Our new launch standouts are DUNE #1 and SCUMBAG #1, and the intriguing looking GOITER #5 (I don't see ever being offered #1-4 before). And, oh! Lisa Hanawalt has a new book in I WANT YOU. That's just the barest tip of the iceberg -- full list below the cut! What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreNow this is a good, thick week of comic books! Things yould keep your eyes on? DRACULA, MOTHERFUCKER is a sweet original graphic novel, and I liked the first issues of COMMANDERS IN CRISIS, WE LIVE, and TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS NATIONAL ANTHEM! But there's a metric shed-ton of comics coming out this week, under the cut.... what looks good to YOU?
Read MoreAnother fine week for funny books! A lot of people have asked for THE WALKING DEAD in color, so here comics the launch of that; while P. Craig Russell adapts Neil Gaiman's NORSE MYTHOLOGY; and the modern romantic comedy GETTING IT TOGETHER sports a famous pose. TONS more under the jump — what looks good to YOU?
Read MorePretty nice looking group of comics. I think we're most excited by THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #1, but there's some strong nostalgia for the GIANT SIZE LEN WEIN TRIBUTE. Plus we're always thrilled when a new volume of MONSTRESS drops! Tons more under the cut; What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreAnother fine looking week o' comics! Obviously the kick off of the X-MEN crossover is the big book, but we're also loving new launches from Vault (AUTUMNAL #1), Boom! (UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS #1), and Aftershock (MILES TO GO #1!) There’s plenty more under the cut — what looks good to YOU?
Read MoreHoooo-ee, I’m going broke with all this good content. Vault’s HEAVY looks pretty compelling, and Dark Horse is only a little late with YOU LOOK LIKE DEATH (but we’re so excited for more Klaus we don’t even care!). Image’s STILLWATER has garnered itself a fair bit of interest as a new horror series and there are too many graphic novels for me to pick out just a few (but also I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I’ve been waiting for the TOM OF FINLAND book for what feels like years…). What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreWe’ve got double Keanus this week with BILL & TED ARE DOOMED and CYBERPUNK 2077 TRAUMA TEAM! As the resident cowboy enthusiast, I’m really looking forward to checking out BLACK HEROES OF WILD WEST, and SEANCE TEA PARTY looks almost painfully cute. EMPYRE is finally coming to a close with AFTERMATH AVENGERS and FALLOUT FANTASTIC FOUR. And there’s so much more under the cut—what looks good to YOU?
*Please note that DC will not be arriving until Thursday.
Read MoreRaise your hand if time has lost all meaning and you have no idea what month it is because you could have sworn some of this stuff was in Previews eight months ago…oh, right, that’s because of the pandemic! I forgot that was happening because my roommates keep bringing new people into the house. Well, anyway, for this super busy week I’m super excited for Aftershock’s LONELY RECEIVER (a woman slowly going crazy after her android girlfriend stops working), Boom’s WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEY’RE DEAD (giant alien gods being used for fuel), Image’s INKBLOT (featuring a trouble-making cat), and the Nib’s new anthology, BE GAY DO COMICS (can’t tell what that one’s about). What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreYou would not believe how many boxes we’re getting from Diamond this week. Seriously, drop by on Tuesday and watch us weep. Anyway, we’re looking forward to the new series Locke and Key: In Pale Battalions Go, the return of Canto with its second season, and ahhhhhhh, a new Junji Ito collection! And Fantagraphics is, as usual, dropping a book we suspect will be sold out within hours of Wednesday morning: Julia Gfrörer's Vision, following a “spinster escaping the demands of life through a sexual relationship with a haunted mirror.” Sigh. Aren’t we all?
Read MoreSlim on the new stuff, but hey, who doesn’t need a week or two to catch up on the backlog? Still, we’ve got some occult detective-work coming from Vault with SHADOW SERVICE, space adventures with IDW’s adaptation of VOYAGE TO THE STARS, and—wow—only one new Marvel series, MAESTRO!
Read MoreThe comics just don't stop comin'! I'm looking forward to seeing how Mark Russell's BILLIONAIRE ISLAND wraps up, and curious what Jason Howard will do with BIG GIRLS. And there's much more under the cut! What looks good to YOU?
It's a really nice looking week, HEDRA from Image, PULP by Brubaker & Phillips, and the third volume of THE ADVENTURE ZONE. Plus so much more, there under the cut! What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreA fine looking week for comics -- new series launches that look cool include CHU and BLISS, and everyone everywhere should have a copy of BLACKSAD in their library! What looks good to you?
We're really struggling with the best way to list new comics each week, considering how little of this material we have shelf copies of these days, and how DC's are no longer in our Diamond shipments (seriously, it adds the whole extra layer of work to something as simple as a shipping list). I really enjoyed the first issue of ENGINEWARD, the Hickman X-Men machine starts running again with GIANT SIZE MAGNETO, and SAVAGE DRAGON hits #250! Much more under the cut; What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreNope, no DC or Marvel periodicals this week! We're thrilled for a new "Walking Dead" story with NEGAN LIVES! Also the long-waited relaunch of GODDAMNED: VIRGIN BRIDES, ooh, and a second issue of PSYCHODRAMA ILLUSTRATED! Much more under the cut! What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreHello you amazing Comix Experience customer!
Starting this week, the City of San Francisco is allowing some retail stores to open again to walk-in business, with several restrictions.
We are going to take it slowly, for now, and proceed with caution, and only partially reopen for the moment as we feel out both the safety as well as the economics of returning to regular business.
From 6/15 to 6/30 our schedule will be:
DIVISADERO
Mon, Tue: CURBSIDE PICKUP ONLY
Wed: 11-6 (except 6/17 where we need to shut at 5, sorry)
Thur – Sun: 12-5
OCEAN
Sun-Tue: CURBSIDE PICKUP ONLY
Wed: 11-6
Thur-Sat: 12-5
We are hoping/expecting that our hours will expand afterwards, but we’re taking this two weeks at a time to see how things will work.
At BOTH stores:
• YOU MUST BE MASKED (no exceptions)
• You must sanitize your hands upon entry (no exceptions)
• We will remain touchless payment only, so we will not touch cash. You can give us cash in an envelope, but we are not giving any change at this time.
• We will have physical limits on the number of people allowed in the store at one time, and we will limit your browsing time to 15 minutes. Divisadero will limit to five people at a time, while Ocean is going to limit to two people.
• If you are sick, PLEASE STAY HOME, even if it is minor. We will ask folks coughing or sneezing to leave.
• You must endeavor to stay six feet away from other customers.
We know this is a lot; it’s a lot for us, too. We ask you for your patience as everyone adjusts to the new pandemic-driven realities of stores. We are doing this for your safety as well as ours and our extended families.
We will still be offering pre-purchasing books and comics for curbside pickup through our website. You can find these links on www.comixexperience.com in the pull down menu for “Locations”, but for a direct link, Ocean’s webstore is https://comix-outpost.myshopify.com/ while Divisadero’s webstore is https://comix-experience.myshopify.com/ Those both have each stores individual non-back issue inventory.
If these hours don’t fit your life, we’re going to offer an extremely limited number of pre-scheduled private shopping times outside of these hours. Please contact either divisadero@comixexperience.com or ocean@comixexperience.com to enquire about availability. And give us at least 72 hours to schedule.
Again, we apologize for these rules and restrictions; everything is a Work in Progress right now!
# # # # #
In other news, many of you have heard that DC Comics has withdrawn itself from the normal comics distribution process, and instead is only selling to us via two of our largest mail order competitors. With history as a guide, we strongly suspect that these businesses are going to have a difficult time scaling up to handle Wholesale distribution (it’s much harder than it seems), and it will absolutely be adding to our costs and time to handle DC periodical comics at a time that no retailer anywhere has any time, nor profit, to spend – but we’re committed to filling all customer pre-orders that are placed on time. We have no idea how available reorders are going to be for DC (we suspect it will be extremely spotty), so if you want to be 100% sure that you are getting 100% of the DC single issue periodical comics that you want, do yourself a favor and set up a subscription order. You can inquire about this in person, or through the location-specific emails above.
This should have zero impact on how we carry graphic novels from DC, just the individual periodical comics.
In general, from all publishers, we will be severely reducing the risk we take on periodicals going forward, so setting up subscriptions is going to be the smartest thing to do in any case. You’ll notice we will be especially thin on new periodicals at first because we were still closed to walk-in by the City when we ordered the next week or two of comics, and we were further really unsure how many of you are going to come out and shop. Periodical comics are usually non-returnable to comic book retailers, so we bear 100% of the risk if they don’t sell, so you will please understand our caution in these early days until we understand how the new world is actually going to operate (as opposed to our theory crafting)
Things are going to continue to be weird for a little while, but we strongly think that comics is a community and that you’re all members of our comics family. Families look out after one another, and every change and policy we implement right now is designed to protect both you as well as our astonishingly awesome staff. We truly appreciate your patience.
If you’d like to support the stores more broadly, we’d like to continue to recommend any of our three Graphic Novel of the Month clubs – www.graphicnovelclub.com/start -- because the income from these go directly to paying staff wages (and have kept everyone at full hours and pay throughout the shut-down)
If we don’t say it enough: thank you for your business. It truly means the world to us and while it might be some time yet until we’re able to share a smile with you again, there’s nothing we love better than sharing our love and passion for comics with YOU.
Yours, in the love of comics
Brian Hibbs, Head Cheese, Comix Experience
On behalf of:
Zoe Hu, Divisadero Manager
Jeremy Talamantes, Ocean Manager
Emma Munger, Art Director
Nathan Williams, Back Issue Manager
Tony Guzman, All Around Swell Guy
There's actually a solid amount of real comics coming out this week, despite us still being in curbside-only mode by the City of San Francisco. Despite the obvious B-word choices this week, I think the most interesting things coming out this week are ADVENTUREMAN from Fraction & Dodson, or possibly the dirty ol' FAITHLESS II from Azarello & Llovet. If you like that Conan action, then maybe it is that Euro-comics CIMMERIAN: RED NAILS. Many swell things on the book-side: 920LONDON or the new edition of LUTHER ARKWRIGHT (yay!!!), or not even on this list but something we got last week: CHECK PLEASE v2.
Do you need to set up a subscription for the comics you want? Email divisadero@comixexperience.com !
SO MUCH MORE under the cut: What looks good to you?
Read MoreWeek three of the return of new comics is a very very very small one. We're enthusiastic about something new from Garth Ennis: BOYS DEAR BECKY, a new Beto joint: PSYCHODRAMA ILLUSTRATED and finally the first collection of Hickman's X-MEN! Much more after the jump — what looks good to YOU?
Read More*creak* goes the machine, as it slowly spins back up for another Wednesday release. We remind you that we are limited by the City of San Francisco to contactless curbside pick up only, so most periodicals are limited to preorders only. We're ECSTATIC to get you signed up: just call 415-863-9258 or email divisadero@comixexperience.com. I think the new original graphic novel BOG BODIES looks swell, and a nice superhero reprint is Geoff John's STARGIRL. Want a deeper track? Brian enthusiastically recommends I THINK HE'S CRAZY, a collection of B.K. Taylor's NATIONAL LAMPOON comics. Much much more under the cut: What looks good to YOU?
Read MoreWe hope the regular readers are staying healthy!
Welcome back to new comics shipping, just in time for curbside pickup. Because we had to order these comics when we thought we were still forced to be closed, we don't have rack copies of most of these periodicals, but we're happy to reorder for you -- just email divisadero@comixexperience.com or call 415-863-9258 and we'll get whatever comics your want for you!
Most of our received graphic novels ARE in stock, you can order some for Wednesday contactless curbside pickup (WEAR YOUR MASK) by using our webstore at https://comix-experience.myshopify.com/
We do have stock on Kieron Gillen's LUDOCRATS, the best kids book is SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN, and a superb reprint (and value) is that EX MACHINA COMPENDIUM.
Everything is under the cut, so what looks good to YOU?
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