Just two books this week, but good ones:
It seems like forever since Hardware #1. In fact, Issue #1 came out August 10th, 2021 so it HAS been quite awhile. That's a shame, as I don't think anything kills a comic book faster than an irregular printing schedule. But the good news is that this issue was much, much better than Issue #1, which was essentially a new version of the first #1 (1993). This time around things start to widen out a bit, and there are some references to Static which pleased me greatly. Also most pleasing is that Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz are still on the art chores, and they are doing a great job of it. Early on in this issue there's a panel showing a close up of Curtis Metcalf (Hardware)'s face which was just stunning. It actually made me stop and just study it for a few minutes. Which is not exactly what you want comic book art to do on a regular basis, but in this case, I found it quite a pleasing scent in my nostrils.
Speaking of pleasing scents...Mamo #4 was just pure, comic book reading joy. The story of the relationship between the two witches continues to develop, the relationship between the talking crows and the witches goes to shit, and You-Know-Who finally appears. The only thing I dislike about this book is that there's only one more issue, and I am definitely not ready for the story to end. Hopefully Sas Milledge has some other stories up her sleeve. And hopefully enough people are buying Mamo to make it worth Boom! Box's time to have another round set up for us. Speaking of, let's just ask our friends at COMICHRON how Mamo is doing.
Hmmm.
Issue 1 came in at 150 of 450, and sold 17,560 copies. Not bad. Unfortunately, however, Issue 2 came in at 236 of 460, and only sold 7,022 copies. September sales haven't been posted yet, but I'm sorry to say that I'm pretty sure that I know how this goes. I'd guess that #3 was at 5,000 copies, and #4 down to 3,500 or so. I could be wrong, of course. I hope that I am. And I don't know how many copies a book has to sell these days in order to break even. But I'd guess that 5,000 is not a sustainable level of sales.
So here's your chance, kids! If it helps to encourage you, not only does Mamo give you great story and art, it's also a much better deal than you get from other books: this time around there are 27 story pages and two sketch pages for just $3.99.
Next Week's Comics:
Fantastic Four #37 I think I said I was through with this book after reading #36 and feeling cheated...but that was then, this is now.
Suicide Squad #8 With more Ambush Bug. Hmm. Wasn't this issue supposed to have come out several weeks ago? I'm getting that deja vu feeling.
King Spawn #3 I actually have zero interest in this title, but the cover sure looks like Todd McFarlane is baiting Dave Sim, so I might have to have a look at that. See?
And speaking of covers...the cover to Hyperthick #2 really caught my eye:
Never heard of this book...or even of the publisher, for that matter... but I really must have a look at it if it comes in to TGE.
And oh...I just Googled Floating World Comics and found out that they are based in Portland, Oregon, whence cometh so many good things. And that Mr. Alan Moore had this to say about the first issue of Hyperthick: “With Hyperthick, Steve Aylett has blundered like a confused and angry bear into a new dimension of poetic genius.” So, yes, I would like to have a look at that.
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