Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, HRL

The Diamond Retailer Breakfast Runs Through Plans From Boom!, AfterShock, Dynamite, And Valiant

Published Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:40:37 -0500

Lauren Sisselman reports in from the Diamond Retailer Breakfast at Baltimore Comic-Con:

OK, it was more of a brunch, but still. We previously mentioned the Boom! news about Mech Cadet Yu which got a grand response from retailers, as well as Marc Guggenheim writing new Swords of the Swashbucklers from Dynamite… but there was more to learn.

Diamond is gearing up for this year's Halloween Comic Fest comic book giveaway, which will be presented by Netflix and Stranger Things. retailers will have 18 mini-comics and 12 full-size comics to give away (or sell in multi-packs for trick or treaters) as well as a Francesco Francavilla promo shirt — and Casper pins!

Diamond promised their Retailer Summit would coincide with C2E2 next year in Chicago.

They also announced that for retailers, there would be new-to-order tags when ordering products online which will help clear up whether comics being offered are new — or old. And more retailers will be able to pay online, as well.

AfterShock Comics is celebrating its third year of publication as a creator-owned publisher of comics and went over the 2017 launches, stating that most did extremely well. New books due out this fall include Animosity Evolution, Brilliant Trash, Backways, and Monstro Mechanica. They will also have a special edition of Baby Teeth #1 for Halloween and will be participating in Free Comic Book Day next year.

Dynamite presented its one-shot story James Bond: Solstice while also highlighting Gunny Imagined: The Story of Art Clokey, Vampirella tarot cards, and an Elvira spirit board for November. December will bring the comic book debut of Barbarella in the USA, alongside Grumpy Cat/Garfield and Ten Frames Per Second. They will also be adapting George R. R. Martin's Clash Of Kings, the sequel to A Game Of Thrones.

Boom! Studios talked about trimming back comics, which allows them to focus on better content, better creators, and more unique titles, believing that this ultimately helps shops sell better books and that less noise in the market means better profits. They do, however, promise to deliver new concepts and creators, including December's Judas. They also believe that Fences will be a big book, with a big online fan base.

With Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life due out soon, that is expected to be biggest Boom! launch in a while.

Valiant celebrated a great year so far, claiming X-O Manowar as the biggest independent series of the year. They announced Bloodshot Salvation will have three big story arcs, with Bloodshot 4001 AD coming later.

Ninja-K, coming out in November, will tell the history of Ninjas before Ninjak. It will be a super spy book. Quantum and Woody #1 is due out in December.