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June 29, 2022 1:50 PM Subscribe
Over the past decade or more, the conquest of the cultural landscape by quippy spandexed superheroes has been Napoleonic. The idea that a citadel of bookishness has fallen to this siege of adolescent fantasia could easily take on outsize importance. from Prestige Comics: On the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection
Everywhere and Nowhere in “Pulp Empire”, a review of The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism
Seduction of the Innocent
Previously excellent
Everywhere and Nowhere in “Pulp Empire”, a review of The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism
Seduction of the Innocent
Previously excellent
I'm with the author of the piece in that Marvel is an odd place to start for a "Penguin Classics" line of comics, but "Penguin’s first foray into comics" is somewhat inaccurate. Penguin has published the Vol. 2 editions of Art Spiegelman's RAW anthology series, and I also have a Penguin-published Barefoot Gen volume on my shelves. Penguin has not only published comics in the past, but really good comics.
As much as I'd like to see a Penguin Classics graphic novel line featuring A Contract with God and Persepolis and Akira and Junkwaffel and The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and so on, what with publishing and rights deals being what they are, I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime. Maybe for some very early works that make it into the public domain. God's Man was a great suggestion. Winsor McCay's comics would be a great fit as well, though ideally presented in a large format.
posted by May Kasahara at 5:03 PM on June 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
As much as I'd like to see a Penguin Classics graphic novel line featuring A Contract with God and Persepolis and Akira and Junkwaffel and The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and so on, what with publishing and rights deals being what they are, I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime. Maybe for some very early works that make it into the public domain. God's Man was a great suggestion. Winsor McCay's comics would be a great fit as well, though ideally presented in a large format.
posted by May Kasahara at 5:03 PM on June 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
When The Criterion Collection decided to include Armageddon and The Rock, I was going to wring my hands, and then I decided that if this was what they had to sell to get me good copies of Jean-Pierre Melville's works, I'd just put up with it.
posted by nushustu at 6:00 PM on June 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by nushustu at 6:00 PM on June 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
Penguin Random House was also Marvel's distributor to the direct market as of last year and will be their exclusive distributor starting in 2023 (Diamond, who had a virtual monopoly on US comics distribution from the nineties till the past couple years, will still be a wholesaler for Marvel.)
Penguin also does at least some distribution business with other comics publishers for the direct book market, but I was never clear on how the rights situation worked there. DC's historically had a more reliable back catalogue to lean on than Marvel and I'm sure Marvel and now Penguin would be happy to close that gap a little.
This was interesting and I definitely want to check out Pulp Empire, thank you!
posted by jameaterblues at 6:53 PM on June 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Penguin also does at least some distribution business with other comics publishers for the direct book market, but I was never clear on how the rights situation worked there. DC's historically had a more reliable back catalogue to lean on than Marvel and I'm sure Marvel and now Penguin would be happy to close that gap a little.
This was interesting and I definitely want to check out Pulp Empire, thank you!
posted by jameaterblues at 6:53 PM on June 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Similarly, the Folio Society has been putting its own Marvel Collection.
posted by bouvin at 4:07 AM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by bouvin at 4:07 AM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
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