What Are You Reading? | Jimmy Olsen says goodbye, plus Empyre, Gunland and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Marvel and DC’s big summer events are in full swing this week, as we look at new issues of Death Metal and Empyre, plus the wrap-up of Jimmy Olsen’s maxi-series. Also, Gunland! Do you know about Gunland? Michael May makes his long-awaited return with a look at a wonderful comic about cowboys who ride dinosaurs.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

Continue reading “What Are You Reading? | Jimmy Olsen says goodbye, plus Empyre, Gunland and more”

Comics Lowdown: Comic books sales up in 2018, Marvel top publisher; stalker sets cosplayer’s car on fire

Plus: ‘Drama’ drama with the Ottawa Catholic School Board! Faith Erin Hicks! Jed MacKay! And more!

The 2018 direct market numbers from Diamond are in and comic sales are ever so slightly up from 2017. Comics saw an increase to sales by 3.3%, but graphic novels were down by 6.6%. The combined sales of the two formats mean a wee increase of 0.6% for the direct market.

Marvel Comics increased their market share slightly to gain an extra 2% over DC Comics, who seemed to have flat lined and lost 0.3% of their market share. This indicates that Marvel’s market share gains mostly come from the expense of small publishers or independent comic sales, with the exception of Image Comics, who also saw a slight increase.

The best-selling graphic novel of the year was Infinity Gauntlet. The 1991 story is enjoying a revival because of the Avengers: Infinity War movie. The best-selling comics was Action #1000, a landmark issue featuring unpublished artwork by legendary Superman artist Curt Swan and the introduction of writer Brain Michael Bendis to the DC universe.

Complete lists and more insight are available on comichron.com.

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Comic books sales up in 2018, Marvel top publisher; stalker sets cosplayer’s car on fire”