Here are just a few selected highlights of this year’s San Diego Com-Con, including debuting books.
Jack Kirby centennial: The revered cocreator of the Marvel Universe will be spotlighted with a souvenir book, panels, and tributes for his 100th birthday.
Drawn & Quarterly: Debuts include the second volume of Mimi Pond’s memoir, The Customer Is Always Wrong, and Poppies Of Iraq by Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim, a look at of Findakly’s childhood in Iraq.
Fantagraphics: Debuts include Otherworld Barbara, Vol. 2, the concluding volume of pioneering shojo manga artist Moto Hagio’s classic science fiction work; a new edition of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez’s Love and Rockets series; and Santiago Garcia and Javier Olivares’s Ladies-in-Waiting, the English-language debut of an award-winning Spanish graphic novel based on a famed Velázquez painting.
First Second: Guest of Honor Shannon Hale promotes her kids graphic novel Real Friends, Nick Abadzis and Jerel Dye’s children’s fantasy Pigs Might Fly debuts, and notable newcomer Tillie Walden signs her eagerly awaited memoir Spinning.
IDW: Two new artist editions—an acclaimed hardcover reprint series with art reproduced at its original size—spotlight Jack Kirby, including the Fantastic Four World’s Greatest Artist Edition, along with two new Walter Simonson hardcovers featuring Beta Ray Bill artwork from Marvel’s Thor series and Simonson’s creator-owned Ragnarok series. IDW is expanding into merchandise with more than a dozen enamel pins, plus daily bundle deals of IDW books, with free variants and print by Mondo artist Tom Whalen.
Top Shelf: Debuts include new author Campbell Whyte’s YA graphic novel Under the River and Shannon Wheeler’s comedic Sh*t My President Says: The Illustrated Tweets Of Donald J. Trump. And the March creative trio of Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell will do a panel and signing on Saturday.
