Author Archives: Ashley Kronsberg

I Breathed a Body

1 - I Breathed a Body

I BREATHED A BODY

Published by AfterShock Comics

ISBN: 9781949028706
Price: $16.99
On Sale: October 5, 2021

A science fiction horror series about social media, big tech, and influencer culture.

It’s The Social Network meets Hellraiser. When the world’s biggest influencer posts something irredeemably horrific online, the world changes in an instant. Now it’s up to his social media manager, Anne Stewart, to fan the flames of outrage and create a sensationalist campaign that rewrites the rules of “banned content.” Thus begins a carnival of lust, revulsion, desire, and disgust – all for viral videos.

Written by Zac Thompson (LONELY RECEIVER, UNDONE BY BLOOD, X-Men) and illustrated by Andy MacDonald (Multiple Man, Rogue Planet), I BREATHED A BODY is a horror series about the voyeurism of violence and the Big Tech companies who engineer patterns of fear in society.

Contributor Bio(s)

ZAC THOMPSON is a writer born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Canada. He’s written titles like Marvelous X-MenYondu, Absolute Carnage: Avengers, Cable, and X-Men: Black for Marvel Comics. Along with indie books such as Her Infernal DescentRelay, and The Replacer. In 2019, Zac became the showrunner of the Age of X-Man universe at Marvel Comics. His critically acclaimed miniseries, Come Into Me, was called the best horror comic of 2018 by HorrorDNA. His debut comic series, The Dregs, was called “lowbrow brilliant” by New York Magazine. His novel, Weaponized, was the winner of the 2016 CryptTV horror fiction contest.

ANDY MACDONALD is a veteran comic book artist who has worked with virtually every major comic book publishing house. He likes making comics and doesn’t have time to go on the epic quest this magic ring he found is compelling him to go on. He lives in an orbiting sentient space station with multiple personalities.

Key Selling Points

  • A supernatural horror book set in Silicon Valley about the voyeurism of violence.
  • The use and misuse of social media, its ownership and its adherents has never been more topical.
  • According to its author, an indictment of the Big Tech companies who engender and profit from a vitriolic environment designed to keep us outraged, engaged, and fearful.
  • Zac Thompson is the co-author of UNDONE BY BLOOD, recently optioned for development as a television series by AMC, and the author of LONELY RECEIVER, one of AfterShock’s most provocative (and successful) recent series.

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A Difficult Thing

A DIFFICULT THING: The Importance of Admitting Mistakes

Published by Ablaze

Written by: Silvia Vecchini
Illustrated by: Sualzo
ISBN:
 9781950912438
Price: $9.99
On Sale: December 21, 2021

Every child, at some point, makes mistakes and must learn to deal with and admit those mistakes. This charming, two-tone, wordless comic deals with that very lesson and shows just how powerful the word “sorry” is.

This beautifully rendered volume is a good lesson for children and adults alike.

This edition includes a discussion guide and activity guide.

Product Details

Ages: 4 to 8
Genre(s): Juvenile Fiction, Children’s Literature, Social Themes, Adolescence & Coming of Age, Values & Virtues

Page Count: 48 pages
Format: Hardcover

Key Selling Points

  • A charming book that parents and kids can read together to learn the important lesson of admitting mistakes.

About the Creator(s)

SILVIA VECCHINI is an Italian author who writes picture books, novels, poetry, and comics for children. She runs workshops for schools, libraries, and bookshops and also holds creative writing classes.

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“Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” Rushes Back to Print

(August 23, 2021) Albatross Funnybooks is going back to press for a second printing of Eric Powell and Harold Schechter’s “DID YOU HEAR WHAT EDDIE GEIN DONE?” ahead of the acclaimed graphic novel’s release in bookstores on August 24th, 2021. The original graphic novel is co-written by Schechter—the author of true crime classics including Deviant and The Serial Killer Files—and Powell—the legendary creator of The Goon and Hillbilly, who illustrates the 200-page book.

Painstakingly researched and illustrated, Schechter and Powell’s true-crime graphic novel presents Gein’s infamous story like never before. The book delves into the twisted history of Ed Gein, his family, and the notorious violence that inspired Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

Ambitious and thoroughly researched, the book has received widespread attention:

“Eric Powell and Harold Schechter aim to cut through the myths and reveal the true history of a true American villain.” ― IGN

“As extensively researched as the Alan Moore/Eddie Campbell Jack the Ripper graphic novel From Hell, ”Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” is a masterpiece of the form, standing as the best possible dramatization of Ed Gein’s tale in any medium.” ― BLOODY DISGUSTING

“Incredibly horrific.” ― COMICS BEAT

“A brand new, and one of a kind perspective on one of the most notoriously deranged murderers in American history.” ― SCREENRANT

“Eric Powell and Harold Schechter team up to tell the true story of Ed Gein in a unique format for true crime. I can’t wait!” ― John Carpenter (Director of Halloween, The Thing)

“Painstakingly researched.” ― HORROR DNA

Nightmarish.” ― PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

A requisite addition to any true crime fan’s library.” ― COMICON.COM

To say I’m excited about this one would be one of the great understatements of the 21st century.” ― Mike Mignola (Creator of Hellboy)

“This is a new true crime comics essential.” ― SYFY WIRE

DID YOU HEAR WHAT EDDIE GEIN DONE? is available now in comic shops and will be in bookstores on August 24th, 2021. The second printing will be released in late September. For more updates on Albatross Funnybooks and DID YOU HEAR WHAT EDDIE GEIN DONE?, follow the company on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

Harold Schechter is an American true-crime writer who specializes in serial killers. Twice nominated for the Edgar Award, he is the author of the nonfiction books Fatal, Fiend, Bestial, Deviant, Deranged, Depraved, The Serial Killer Files, The Mad Sculptor, and Man-Eater; the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men; the Amazon Original Stories collection Bloodlands; and Ripped from the Headlines. Schechter received his PhD in American literature from the State University of New York in Buffalo. A professor emeritus at Queens College, he is married to the poet Kimiko Hahn. For more information, visit www.haroldschechter.com.

Eric Powell is a comics publisher, writer and artist who has contributed work on such comics titles as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Hellboy: Weird Tales, Star Wars: Tales, The Incredible Hulk, Black Panther, The Avengers, The Hood, MAD magazine, Devil Dinosaur, Swamp Thing, She-Hulk, The Simpsons, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Action Comics, and Creepy. But he is mostly recognized for his critically acclaimed dark comedy series The Goon.

Awards: International Horror Guild: 2004 Best Illustrated Narrative, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2004 Best Single Issue (The Goon #1), Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Humor Publication, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Continuing Series, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Writer/Artist—Humor, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Painter or Multimedia Artist.

About Albatross Exploding Funnybooks: Launched in 2002, Albatross Exploding Funnybooks has always been a labor of love for award-winning, Nashville-based cartoonist Eric Powell. The label began as a means to publish Powell’s creator-owned series THE GOON, which mainstream publishers had deemed “too different.” Although THE GOON later found a home and wider audience with Dark Horse Comics, Powell continued to publish, celebrate, and cultivate creator-owned titles through Albatross Exploding Funnybooks, including his all-ages comic CHIMICHANGA and Rebecca Sugar’s PUG DAVIS. In 2016 Powell shifted sole focus to his publishing company and has since published such titles as HILLBILLY, GRUMBLE, BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON, MEGAGHOST and TANK GIRL.

Gray Volume 1

GRAY VOLUME 1

Published by Clover Press

ISBN: 9781951038328
Price: $26.99

A contemporary reimaging of the classic Oscar Wilde novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Gray is a supernatural revenge thriller about an alluring but violent woman, Dorian Gray, who seeks vengeance on a cabal of powerful men who wronged her years ago; and of the straight-laced African American detective with a past of his own, who is tasked with stopping her.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s only novel and one of the classics of gothic literature, is the tale of the most beautiful man of his age, who sells his soul and his conscience in exchange for eternal youth, beauty and power — and who spends his life murdering, raping and corrupting. All the time in his attic, his picture degrades and rots.

GRAY takes that basic idea but flips its moral framework and gender archetypes: our DORIAN GRAY is a Millennial social media princess who drifts through the coolest cliques of NYC, breaking hearts and turning heads wherever she goes. But Dorian has secrets. For one thing, she’s a violent criminal. For another, she’s an immortal creature of magic, who commits violent burglaries and assaults some of New York’s most powerful men.

30 years ago, whilst an innocent student, Dorian was sexually assaulted by these men. In that moment that she became something both more and less than human. 30 years later, but not a day older, she’s ready for her revenge. Then Dorian meets Detective HANK WUTAN, the African-American NYPD detective assigned to stop these crimes, struggling with his own loyalties as a Black cop in the era of Defund the Police. Despite the fact that Dorian is his suspect number one, and he is effectively working for her abusers, they fall for each other, hard.

GRAY takes Wilde’s classic novel and reinvents it as a tale of cathartic revenge for the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter era, a violent fantasy about how powerful, super-rich white men don’t always win, how the powerless can find justice, and about how a murderous demon and a law-abiding detective can be soul mates.

Advanced Praise

“An inventive, empowered, and thoroughly entertaining twist on a classic. Gorgeous, provocative, and damn hard to put down.” — Diablo Cody (Oscar winning screenwriter of Juno, Jennifer’s Body, and Young Adult)

“I can resist everything except a really clever contemporary take on The Portrait of Dorian Gray.” — David Baddiel (Best selling British comedian and author of The Parent Agency, and The Secret Purposes)

“Incisive, intriguing, wickedly funny. Every bit as clever as it thinks it is.” — Mike Carey (Eisner nominated writer of Unwritten, and Lucifer)

Key Selling Points

  • A graphic novel from Clover Press, by the mind behind Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Darkness Visible, and Jagged Little Pill on Broadway, GRAY is a reimagined, modern feminist, politically charged update on Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray.
  • In simultaneous release with the graphic novel, Arvind Ethan David is producing a full audiobook drama, with a press and media push to promote. This titillating dramatic adaptation will star powerhouse Broadway and TV star Laren Patten as Dorian (Jagged Little Pill, Blue Bloods), seasoned favorite Neil Brown Jr as Detective Hank (Straight Outta Comption, Insecure, SEAL Team), Emmy & SAG Award-Winner Richard Schiff as Hank’s partner Detective Bracknall (The West Wing, Ballers, The Good Doctor), leading man Samuel Barnett as Baron Arnheim (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Penny Dreadful), and directed by the dually talented Milena Govich (FBI, Finding Carter, Rescue Me), who will also play Baroness Lauren Arnheim.

Preview Pages

Book Trailer

‘Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?’ With Eric Powell and Harold Schechter

One of the greats in the field of true crime literature, Harold Schechter (Deviant, The Serial Killer Files, Hell’s Princess), teams with five-time Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist Eric Powell (The Goon, Big Man Plans, Hillbilly) to bring you the tale of one of the most notoriously deranged serial killers in American history, Ed Gein. Check out the interview with both creators below!

The Orphan King Volume 1

7 Orphan King

Published by A Wave Blue World

ISBN: 9781949518146
Price: $16.99
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Ages: 13+

On Sale: August 17, 2021

After training in secret with his mother’s sister, the magical Lady Taleissa, Prince Kaidan returns home to find his kingdom destroyed and his parents, King Gorlan and Queen Olwen, gone. With the monarchy overthrown, Kaidan is set adrift in a lawless land where his birthright is no longer recognized. To make matters worse, there’s a price on his head set by the warlord who wants to ensure that the royal line has no chance to return.

Kaidan seeks refuge with a merry band of outlaws hiding in the forest, who were neither loyal to the monarchy nor to the current leadership. Kaidan joins them until they betray him, selling him out to a local merchant and giving the money to the poor.

Now a captive, Kaidan prepares to be exchanged for the reward money until his outlaw friends reveal their plan to rescue him. Kaidan then discovers that the King was indeed killed but his mother is most likely alive, though imprisoned by the warlord.

Kaidan’s rescuers offer him a new home among them. He’s tempted, but with his mother still missing, he realizes that his aunt, the Lady Taleissa, must be searching for her. Kaidan resolves to find them both and set things right even if being King is no longer a reality.

Key Selling Points

Advanced Praise

  • YA coming-of-age adventure that’s a twist on the classic King Arthur story.

  • Examination of power, privilege & toxic masculinity.

  • Strong female role models: his teacher, Lady Taleissa (who combines Merlin & The Lady of the Lake); his mother, Queen Olwen; and rival student, Raefen

KIRKUS — A young prince returns home to find his kingdom destroyed. in this graphic offering, the first in a proposed series, readers meet Prince Kaidan, who left his homeland, Aesolan, to train at the Isle of Woman. When he arrives back home, he discovers Aesolan destroyed and its people gone. All Kaidan has left is Taliburn, a special sword bequeathed to him by his father. Meanwhile, Aesolan and the surrounding lands have fallen under the control of the sovereign Scathelocke, who wants to capture the young prince. Confronted and pursued by dangerous men and beasts, Kaidan soon meets up with three people who seem kind-Anne, Sir Robert, and Sturdy Jon-but who have ulterior motives. As the story alternates between flashbacks and the present, Chin-Tanner builds this medieval-flavored tale that mixes together monsters and men, ample battle scenes, and nods to Arthurian legend and Robin Hood. Falling somewhere between original and familiar, this will be a comfort read for fans of such tropes. Boyle’s full-color illustrations are highly stylized and tidily arranged, with cinematic flourishes emphasizing action and close-ups. Each chapter ends with a tantalizing cliffhanger, keeping pages flying as Kaidan overcomes each new obstacle. The majority of characters present White; Sturdy Jon has locs and brown skin. An intriguing, adventure-filled series opener. (character designs) (Graphic fiction. 12-16).

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2021 Harvey Awards Nominees Revealed

The Harvey Awards have announced the nominees for the 2021 awards. 

The Harvey Awards are one of the comic industry’s oldest and most prestigious awards. Recognizing outstanding achievement in multiple categories, the Harvey’s have been a fixture of the comic industry since 1988. The Harvey Awards are an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the best & brightest, helping new readers, current fans, booksellers, retailers and librarians distinguish the best comics of the year as voted on by their peers. This year’s nominees were selected by a handpicked contingent of industry voices and voted on by qualifying professionals.

Check out a list of Diamond nominees below! To see all the nominees, click here

Book of the Year Nominee

Best Adaptation from a Graphic Novel Nominee

Best Adaptation from a Graphic Novel Nominee

DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH VOLUME 1
Image Comics

The Boys Omnibus Volume 1
Dynamite

INVINCIBLE: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOLUME 1
Image Comics

August Digital Review Copies Live Now!

Every month, Diamond Book Distributors offers exclusive digital review copies (DRCs) on Edelweiss+ and NetGalley for our most anticipated titles. For a list of available downloadable DRCs for this month by publisher, keep scrolling!

To jump to a publishers, click one of the links below.

IMAGE COMICS

SLJTeen Live 2021

Diamond participated in the annual SLJTeen Live on August 5, 2021.

With hope on the horizon of an unprecedented, traumatic year, educators, librarians, and students are wondering: Where do we go from here?

So much of adolescence is preparing for the future—college, careers, adulthood, the next grade—and that’s even tougher when no one knows what the future will look like. As we adjust to a new normal, we must move forward while remembering where we’ve come from. After a pandemic and amid continued tragedies of racist violence, teens and adults alike are called to heal and grow, to learn more, and to further conversations about history and justice. Through it all, books reflect and illuminate our lives, telling boundary-pushing stories that take publishing to the next level. As teens consider what comes after childhood, we all must think about what the future holds for students and storytelling.

Check out our list of featured graphic novels and author chats below!

CLICK A LINK TO JUMP TO A SECTION

IMAGE COMICS BOOTH

AUTHOR CHATS

EMMA KUBERT
PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE
ED BRUBAKER & MARCOS MARTIN
JULIO ANTA

Author Chats

TYLER CHIN-TANNER
THE ORPHAN KING
A Wave Blue World

NEO EDMUND
THE RISE OF THE CANDY CREEPER
Storm King Kids

STEVE NILES
SACRED HEARTS
Storm King Kids

ARVIND ETHAN DAVID
GRAY VOLUME 1
Clover Press

MEGHAN PARKER
TEACHING ARTFULLY
Clover Press

CHRISTOPHER MARLON
FRIDAY FOSTER
Ablaze

Book Trailers

Gray Volume 1 Trailer

Trese | Official Trailer | Netflix Anime

EMBODIED | "Be Okay" Performed by Angela Elia

ROMEO AND JULIET | William Shakespeare | Official Trailer

Becstar Trailer

Nottingham Trailer

We Live Trailer

Battlecats Vol. 3 Finale Trailer

Bountiful Garden Trailer

Honor & Curse Vol 2 Trailer

David Hazan & Joe Corallo Discuss Their Upcoming Books from Mad Cave Studios

David Hazan is a comic book writer and editor based in Sydney, Australia. He is the writer and creator of the upcoming series, Nottingham, from Mad Cave Studios and a winner of the Mad Cave Studios 2019 Talent Search. … His clients include Mad Cave Studios, Gestalt Comics and Grit City Comics.

Now, Hazan partners with Mad Cave Studios to bring you NOTTINGHAM. In this twisted medieval noir, the Sheriff of Nottingham hunts a serial killer with a penchant for tax collectors. The Sheriff’s investigation leads him to target England’s most nefarious power-brokers. That’s to say nothing of the Merry Men, terrorists lurking amongst the trees of Sherwood, led by, an enigma known only as “Hood.”

Joe Corallo is a comics editor whose work includes the Eisner nominated (Best Short Story) and Ringo Award winning MINE! anthology, the GLAAD nominated KIM & KIM and the Ringo nominated DEAD BEATS anthology. He also wrote SHE SAID DESTROY which he co-created with illustrator Liana Kangas at Vault Comics.

BECSTAR is a star hopping mercenary-gone-full time-gambler light years away from Earth. Leaving her old life behind with the help of her magical luck dagger and her fan-turned-regret filled-friend Sally Soolin, Becstar ekes out a living under the nefarious Shadow Syndicate’s radar. But when a mysterious girl appears with grim news and an urgent quest where the fate of the universe hangs in the balance, Becstar has no choice but to join… and regret it immediately.

Check out our interview with both creators below!