Powered by RedCircle
Hellboy is heading to Iceland. Stray Dogs sells big numbers, as confirmed in a new interview with, er, us. The Reuben Awards announces winners for 2023. This is Comic Book Club news for September 12, 2023.
SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
Episode Transcript:
Stray Dogs brings in big sales.
Reuben winners announced.
Hellboy goes to Iceland.
This is Comic Book Club News for September 12, 2023.
Tony Fleecs Confirms Big Stray Dogs Numbers:
As previously reported by Comic Book Club News, a list of top-selling first issues of Image Comics has been circulating around the internet. And thanks to a new interview with writer Tony Fleecs, we can confirm this list’s accuracy.
Speaking with the very cool-sounding host of the Comic Book Club podcast at Baltimore Comic Con, Fleecs was commented on Stray Dogs: Dog Days sales figures. “That is accurate… I feel like if it wasn’t for Todd [McFarlane] we would have cracked the top five, he had those early spots staked out with all those Spawns… We did real good on that book.”
Fleecs credited the sales to retailer variant covers included with the first issue, where stores had to order 500 copies. Continued Fleecs, “When you order 100 of those, you’re already sitting at 50,000.”
In fact, according to Fleecs, by the time the original Stray Dogs series made it to issue #5, thanks to a number of horror movie-themed variants the comic sold approximately 167,000 copies in one day. That means the sequel — Dog Days — was well set up to dominate the charts.
Fleecs also teased in the interview that he and artist Trish Forstner are prepping a sequel series focusing on cats. Spawn better watch his back.
Reuben Awards Announces Winners:
The Reuben Awards, which celebrate excellence in being on rye bread with sauerkraut, Russian dressing, swiss cheese, and your choice of corned beef or pastrami, have announced their winners for 2023. Just kidding, they’re actually given out by the National Cartoonists Society.
The big winner this year was Zippy creator Bill Griffith, who was given his award by none other than Garfield creator Jim Davis in the form of a pan of lasagna. Again, we’re kidding.
Other winners included Alex Ross for Graphic Novel, presumably Fantastic Four: Full Circle though the organization’s site doesn’t specify, and Ben Bender for his comic book Bëorn.
Congrats to all the dinners. I mean, winners.
Hellboy Goes To Iceland:
Hellboy is heading to Iceland for the first time in his history, in a new winter special from Dark Horse. Titled The Yule Cat, and written and illustrated by Matt Smith — not the former Doctor Who star — the story will feature Mike Mignola’s Hellboy trying to track down the mysterious cat of the title.
Said Smith via press release provided to Comic Book Club News: “The land of fire and ice, trolls and necropants, Iceland is as natural a setting for a Hellboy story as any I could think of. Set in 1990 and coming close to the events of the Hellboy: Bones of Giants, Hellboy likely hasn’t forgotten about the wrath of old Norse giants. But a giant, child-eating cat—that would be something new.”
The one-shot will hit stores, appropriately, on December 6.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And who was that guy who interviewed Tony Fleecs, because he is good.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comicbookclublive.com.
Listen early and ad-free on Patreon.com/comicbookclub.
