James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire reunite for ‘The Nice House by the Sea’

The award-winning team behind ‘The Nice House on the Lake’ return for more end-of-the-world shenanigans.

The award-winning team behind The Nice House on the Lake returns in July with another house, another cast and more end-of-the-world drama in The Nice House by the Sea.

James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire and Andworld Design reunite for the story of Max, a woman who invites several “titans of industry” to her house by the ocean as the human race is being eradicated.

“The people in this house do not like each other,” Tynion said. “They don’t want to spend time with each other. There have been some weak bonds that have formed over time, but none of them are particularly affectionate toward each other. This is a house of strangers and tension much more than a house of friendship, and we’re going to see the way that guilt, boredom and loneliness has twisted each of them.”

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Quick Hits | ‘Demon Slayer,’ Dav Pilkey, Bill Watterson top 2023 graphic novel sales charts

Plus: ‘Monica’ wins in Angouleme, the Bram Stoker Awards ballot and more.

Pulling information from Circana BookScan, ICv2 has listed the top 20 graphic novels sold in 2023 in the superhero, manga and “author” categories. They’ve also posted lists of the top adult and kid’s graphic novels.

Looking through the lists (which don’t provide exact numbers, just rankings), it looks like the first volume of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge is the big winner, topping both the manga chart and the adult graphic novel chart. Or maybe I should say “a big winner,” because over on the kid’s graphic novel chart, Dav Pilkey rules supreme, as Dog Man and its Cat Kid Comics Club spinoff took 13 of the 20 positions, including the top 3.

Also, I’m not exactly sure how the superhero and author categories are defined. For instance, the Invincible Compendium shows up on the author list — which makes sense, given how popular the Amazon show is — with Robert Kirkman listed as the author. But I would have expected it to be on the superhero list, given it’s about superheroes and Kirkman isn’t the sole author.

Then for superhero graphic novels, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin hardcover topped the list, followed by Tokyopop’s Nightmare Before Christmas: Battle for the Pumpkin King manga. I think you could make the argument that the Last Ronin is a superhero title, but the Nightmare Before Christmas manga seems like it’s in the wrong place. But maybe I’m misunderstanding the catgeories.

All that aside, sales numbers for comics disappeared during the pandemic when the industry went from a single distributor to multiple distributors, so seeing any kind of data like this is appreciated and interesting.

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Preliminary ballot announced for this year’s Bram Stoker Awards

The annual awards recognize “superior achievement” in horror and dark fiction, including graphic novels.

The Horror Writers Association has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards. The annual awards for horror/dark fiction include a “Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel” category.

The graphic novel category includes 10 selections that voting members can choose from to select the final ballot and eventual winner. The final ballot is expected to be announced in late February.

Four selections this year come from Image, while three were published by BOOM! Studios. Of particular note is that James Tynion IV appears on the ballot for four different works — The Closet, The Nice House on the Lake, House of Slaughter and Something is Killing the Children.

The preliminary books listed in the graphic novel category are:

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Time to get dolled up for ‘The Hellfire Gala’

Scholastic’s Miles Morales OGN arrives, plus new Rick and Morty, Brecht Evens, ‘North Force,’ ‘The Nice House on the Lake’ and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital this week. This week brings new comics and graphic novels from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, Dark Horse and more.

Check out a few highlights below, or visit Diamond’s website for this week’s almost complete list of new comics arriving in stores — you can visit Lunar Distribution’s home page to see DC’s release — and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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Tynion + Martinez + Bellaire book a trip to ‘The Nice House on the Lake’

Pack appropriately.

James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno and Jordie Bellaire will bring original horror to DC’s Black Label imprint with The Nice House on the Lake, a new creator-owned, 12-issue series.

Tynion described it as a personal horror story to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Sometimes it helps to look at yourself from the least flattering angle, especially when you are dealing with horror,” Tynion told The Hollywood Reporter. “Horror is a genre that is all about taking about societal fears and personal fears. And this is me taking apart those fears in this book.”

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