Boom Studios

Lots going on, including signings by Shannon Wheeler, Chris Roberson, and more:

Never afraid to try that free marketing thing, BOOM! Studios is launching their new HELLRAISER comic by making a FREE STORY available only in PDF and allowing everyone to post it. As Marketing Director Chip Mosher put it:

Now this is kind of interesting. Avatar, publisher of some of the greatest writers in comics, like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and so on, is switching distributors from Diamond to...BOOM!? Wait, BOOM! is a distributor? Not really, but they have their own distributor deal with Simon & Schuster for the US and HarperCollins for Canada. Avatar will be tagging along on BOOM!'s truck route for a unique partnership. We had the chance to chat informally with several Avatar personnel about this move at C2E2 -- and it's definitely a good one for them. Moore and (to a lesser extent) Ellis are perennial bookstore bestsellers, so being able to hop on that bandwagon should definitely help their trade program. Although not noted by anyone, really, Avatar significantly slowed their trade collection release schedule over the last few months; this deal enables them to get it going again.

History repeats itself as one more Roger Langridge's Muppet comics have been put in the vault by a business move. Fans of his near-universally acclaimed run on Boom's Muppet franchise may recall that his run on the beloved puppets began as a strip for Disney Adventures magazine, which was cancelled before the strips could run. Langridge made a few mini comics which he furtively handed out at cobs and the legend of the strips greatness grew. Result: when Boom got the license a call went out.

It's the first ever Peanuts graphic novel, Charlie Brown! Last week people were speculating over the announcement that kaboom! -- BOOM! Studios' new all-ages comics imprint -- would be publishing something Peanuts-related. Was it strips reprints? Comic book reprints? What? The reality is that it's an ALL NEW adaptation of a new Peanuts animated movie, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown, which Warners Home Video is releasing in March.

Continuing its rollout of their revamped Kaboom! kids comics line, BOOM! is teasing a new series by Roger Langridge called SNARKED as part of the line. Peanuts AND Roger Langridge? This is looking better and better.

What a difference two letters make; just by adding a syllable, BOOM! has made its kid's line even more kid friendly, as the graphic above suggests. Although the Pixar license has gone back to Disney/Marvel, BOOM! is still publishing classic Disney materials, including Barks and Rosa, and the successful Disney Afternoon line, which just added DuckTales, and now, according to this image, is adding Peanuts to its lineup.

Here's a small preview of DENIS KITCHEN'S CHIPBOARD SKETCHBOOK, which presents some of his distinctive work from another medium -- cardboard! The book, published by BOOM!, goes on sale tomorrow. Following on the heels of...

After three years in top management positions, Mark Waid is leaving his current position as COO at BOOM! Studios to go back to freelancing. He'll continue to write INCORRUPTIBLE and IRREDEEMABLE, his hit titles for BOOM!, and Stan Lee's THE TRAVELER. Editor-in-chief Matt Gagnon, who stopped into that position in July, will oversee BOOM!'s creative output. Waid spoke exclusively to CBR with his usual candor about the move, stressing that unlike his tenure at CrossGen, he was leaving on friendly terms.

BOOM! STUDIOS GUESTS INCLUDE:  Eisner & Harvey Award-nominated IRREDEEMABLE & INCORRUPTIBLE's Mark Waid DARKWING DUCK's Ian Brill & James Silvani 28 DAYS LATER's Michael Alan Nelson FARSCAPE & CARS: THE ADVENTURES OF TOW MATER's Keith R.A. DeCandido

The following is a selection of new titles due to be published in September 2010.

There is no particular order to the titles presented below.

This list is not comprehensive, as there are over 275 graphic novel titles scheduled for this month. If you would like to browse them at your leisure, click here. Instead, I have selected titles which caught my interest. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore. Please be advised that publication dates are not set in stone. Also, your local comics shop might receive copies before your local neighborhood website or library. Links connected to publishers will link to the publisher's website, sometimes to the exact title. Links for the ISBN-13 (also known as the Bookland EAN) will take you to the title as featured on BarnesAndNoble.com . I consider my tastes to be rather eclectic. If you feel I've neglected or slighted a title, publisher, or creator, please feel free to mention it in the comments below.

Monthly lists such as this will be posted at the end of the previous month. I will also be posting specific subject lists (comic strips, comics history and surveys, superheroes...) for each season, but these will not have a set schedule.

With BOOM!'s DARKWING DUCK comics doing well for the '90s nostalgia crowd, was it only a matter of time before they brought back RESCUE RANGERS, as well? Absolutely. Imagining chipmunk terrorists Chip and Dale as bold adventurers, with the addition of rodent heroes Monterey Jack, Gadget and Zipper the Housefly, the Rescue Rangers were another staple of the Disney Afternoon and a favorite of furry fans everywhere. Ian Brill is back as writer, with Leonel Castellani as artist.