As with every Labor Day weekend of the past umpteen years, Austin Books and Comics hosts their annual anniversary sale (35 this year). Within the main store, all back issues are 50% off. Also, this weekend they showcased the recently relocated and freshly stocked Sidekick location, full of 50% off graphic novels and $1 comics. For the Austin comic geek, this is one of the biggest events of the year.
This year, I met up with authors Chris N. Brown and Paul O. Miles to checked out the goodies. I’m not much of a back issues collector so I managed to escape with out buying anything, choosing to save my funds for the Sidekick store. Paul picked up a ½ a dozen or so selections. Chris went absolutely apeshit, grabbing what appeared to be 50 comics but may have been as little as 30. Either way, he required a box.
Since my 800 sq foot house isn’t getting any bigger and I already own around 700 graphic novels (not to mention around 5,000 books), I tend to air on the conservative side with my purchases during this sale. While in the Sidekick store, I only picked up 4 books, though there were countless others I wanted (and may still pick up in the near future.)
The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen
Written by Otto Binder,Cary Bates, Alvin Schwartz, E. Nelson Bridwell, Jerry Siegel, and others
Art by Curt Swan, Susan S Kelly, John Forte, Creig Flessel, Marion Kaye, and others
Cover by Brian Bolland
Promo copy:
Cub reporter Jimny Olsen stars in this light-hearted volume collecting his most memorable adventures from the late 1950s and 1960s, guest-starring Superman! Jimmy undergoes startling transformations into Elastic Lad, The Wolf-Man of Metropolis, The Human Porcupine and more in these stories from SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN!
I have a secret love for the Jimmy Olsen tales. They are quirky and goofy. It’s not at all surprising that many of these stories were written by Otto Binder, who wrote many of the similarly-veined Fawcett Captain Marvel tales.
The Plain Janes
Written by Cecil Castellucci
Art by Jim Rugg
Promo copy:
Noted young adult novelist Cecil Castellucci and artist Jim Rugg launch MINX with THE PLAIN JANES, a story about four girls named Jane who sit at the reject table at lunch.
When transfer student Jane is forced to move from the confines of Metro City to Suburbia, she thinks her life is over. But there in the lunch room at the reject table she finds her tribe: three other girls named Jane. Main Jane encourages them to form a secret art gang and paint the town P.L.A.I.N. — People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. But can art attacks really save the hell that is high school?
I picked up the excellent Janes as a gift got a friend’s 12 year old daughter. Hope she enjoyed it as much as me and Brandy did.
Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci
Written by Pat McGreal and David Rawson
Art by Chaz Truog and Rafael Kayanan
Cover by Stephen John Phillips and Richard Bruning
Promo copy:
The passions of one of history’s greatest artists are captured in this volume collecting the dark and provacative 10-issue Vertigo maxiseries. Framed around the story of Salai, a young man whose beauty entrances the great maestro, CHIAROSCURO follows the struggles and triumphs of da Vinci’s illustrious career, from his early work in Florence and Milan to the painting of the Mona Lisa and his epochal rivalry with Michaelangelo.
I collected this series back when it came out but somehow missed two issues of the run. I can finally read the complete story.
Eerie Presents: Hunter
Written by Rich Margopoulos, Budd Lewis, Bill Dubay, and Jim Stenstrum
Art by Paul Neary, Ken Kelly, San Julian, Alex Ni
Tales of the Austin Books Labor Day Sale 2012 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon