Category: Comic Books

Beyond Diamond Previews: Tracking Comic Releases in a Split Distribution World

Tracking Comic Releases is really hard these days for those readers with a broad range of tastes. What we offer here is a guide in how to navigate this now complex world.

Tracking Comic ReleasesNow that the dust has settled after Diamond Comic Distributors filed for bankruptcy last year, tracking comic releases, especially for new material, has become a challenge. To cut costs, they have trimmed their once-massive catalog and moved it entirely to digital.

Flipping through hundreds of pages of ads and solicits was never perfect, but at least it was centralized. Then came the Great Comic Distributor Breakup: DC left Diamond for Lunar Distribution, Marvel teamed up with Penguin Random House Comics, and several indie publishers found new homes elsewhere. Now, tracking releases feels like trying to collect all the Infinity Stones.

I’m not about to miss anything tied to Disney’s Stitch and Gargoyles, kaiju rampages, or Cthulhu’s tentacled reach. Even the occasional DC or Marvel hook can pull me in. Thankfully, I’m on a few key retailer mailing lists. For the rest, I’ve developed a system to keep tabs on what’s coming out and where to order it—one worth sharing.

Publisher Solicits & Calendars

The New Distributor Map

Diamond isn’t gone — it’s just not the only player anymore:

Comic Book Row

Retailer Tools Are Your New Best Friends For Tracking Comic Releases

Want to see what’s shipping this week — from everyone? These sites have you covered:

Social Media Sleuthing

Creators love to tease upcoming projects when you go talk to them at conventions. Next is X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok. Sometimes these hints drop months before official solicits and when certain talents do the tour, although they can’t disclose specific details, one can at least learn when these titles will tentatively drop.

Don’t Forget the Digital Shelves

Platforms like ComiXology, GlobalComix, and crowdfunding hubs like Zoop aren’t just for buying comics. They can also tip you off to what’s headed for print in the future. We’ve covered a platform launch, like Crunchyroll’s. Even Manga Mavericks has their own service planned.

The Nightmare Brigade Review: Gothic Dreamscapes, Hidden Traumas, and Why You Can’t Look Away

In The Nightmare Brigade, a gothic YA graphic novel series, a team ventures into surreal dreamscapes to confront hidden fears and uncover long-buried truths. Across four volumes, it blends psychological thrills with rich, expressive art.

The Nightmare Brigade Book One Cover
Buy volume one on Amazaon USA here.

Papercutz

Nobody is safe from their bad dreams in The Nightmare Brigade. This graphic novel series, written by Franck Thilliez and illustrated by Yomgui Dumon, quietly blew me away when I stumbled on it a few months ago. What begins as a story about battling nightmares quickly reveals a deeper question: Who has the right to mess with someone else’s dreams?

At the center is Professor Angus, the mastermind behind a secretive psy-ops program. His mission? Rescue kids from recurring nightmares and reshape the dream worlds where their fears live. Though Angus created the program, the story truly belongs to Estevan—a lost boy with no memory of where he came from. While those around him don’t seem troubled, readers are left in the dark—and that mystery lingers across all four volumes. It isn’t ignored, just… deferred. And the deeper you read, the more you wonder whether the truth is something even this hero can handle.

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Fantastic Four First Steps – A Visually Daring Reboot That Undercuts Its Own Cosmic Legacy

Marvel’s Fantastic Four First Steps embraces a retro-futuristic vision and moral complexity but stumbles by downplaying 1960s history and reimagining Galactus as a lesser threat. A thoughtful but flawed cosmic reboot.

Fantastic Four First StepsFantastic Four First Steps is a visually striking and thematically ambitious take on Marvel’s “First Family.” Having read the early comics, I appreciated how the film evokes the optimistic worldview of a time when humankind stood on the brink of space exploration. Yet while it aims to capture that spirit, it also sanitises the era it tries to portray.

The 1960s weren’t all sleek rockets and moon landings. Assassination, war, and civil unrest—JFK, Vietnam, and the violent targeting of civil rights leaders—shaped the decade. The film glosses over these realities. And while its alternate-universe setting may justify the omissions, the lack of historical weight ultimately weakens the choice to set the story in this time period at all. That’s because the narrative Stan Lee originally crafted contained all those themes, and it’s beautifully explored in the essay “How Did the Original ‘Fantastic Four’ Change Comics?” published on History.com.

Despite a committee-written script and Matt Shakman’s steady direction, the film’s strengths lie more in its aesthetic than its narrative. It’s full of promise—but frequently stumbles.

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When “Bonds” Are Important, We Also Need To Know Zenzo, The Creative Talent Behind This Reimagining of Monkey King

ZENZO’s debut manga Bonds offers a visually stunning and emotionally nuanced retelling of a portion of Journey to the West, focusing on the complex relationship between Sanzo and Son Goku.

Bonds Manga Cover
Available to read digitally (Kindle).

Manga Mavericks Books

ZENZO is a promising new artist whose enigmatic pen name stirs curiosity. With Bonds being his debut let’s hope he’s not a one-hit wonder. All we know about him so far is that he studied under Takafumi Adachi, the creator of Beyblade: Metal Fusion, and he won  both the Japan Representative Selection and Candidate Award in the Featured Manga category for the 2019 Goku Cup manga contest.

His debut work reimagines a small part of the Chinese version of The Odyssey, and as a standalone work, it’s a fitting reintroduction to one of China’s most revered heroes! This adaptation takes one chapter from Journey to the West and dives into examining the intricate relationship between Sanzo, a Buddhist monk, and Son Goku. The latter has not yet become The Monkey King.

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Unleashed: Manga Mavericks’ Fall Lineup

When the Summer daze feels long, Manga Mavericks has those hiding in the sun covered with their release of titles this week. And just in time, they also announced what’s coming for Autumn!

Manga Mavericks Books CardManga Mavericks Books announced their next wave of book releases! And these one-shots promise more adventure and also fun for readers who want something different in their Japanese comics. Manga Mavericks Books will release these titles this fall. For those wondering about their ongoing series, I’ll See You at Ebisu Studios, a two-volume series, launches in October. Red String, a Japan-based localization company, will partner with MMB on this.

Details on these Manga Mavericks releases are:

FIRST TIME IN TAIWAN- A DELICIOUS ADVENTUREFIRST TIME IN TAIWAN:
A DELICIOUS ADVENTURE!
by Muta Yuki · Print SRP: $7.99 / Digital SRP: $3.99 · 44 pages · ISBN: 9781968054120 · For Readers 13+ 

Available October 2025

Told through the visage of cute animal avatars, this delicious manga travelogue follows the journey of a mangaka and friends’ as they explore Taiwan via both illustrations and photography. Readers can pull up a chair and enjoy the deliciousness in this release without the need to worry about calories!

Print Pre-order:
https://store.mangamavericks.com/products/first-time-in-taiwan-a-delicious-adventure

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Ghostbusters Dead Man’s Chest Is A Yo Ho Ho of Drama Than A Battle At Sea

When the accidental summoning of Captain Kidd’s spirit disrupt the Spengler family’s continuing problems with a new life in NYC, Ghostbusters Dead Man’s Chest better not be opened too!

Ghostbusters Dead Man's Chest #1 CoverDark Horse Comics
Mild Spoiler Alert

Although Phoebe isn’t afraid of no ghost, she has a lot more to fear when being the odd girl out at school in the second series of the comic book continuation of who makes up the team. Two issues into Ghostbusters Dead Man’s Chest, readers like me get to determine what this key tale is about instead of seeing pirates take over Manhattan! As this continuation is more concerned about how well the Spengler family adjusts to having a father figure around, perhaps mom is worried about losing control. After all, this is New York!

To let them loose in a big city might seem dangerous, and as long as they don’t venture into certain neighbourhoods, they are safe. While the young girl has enough to deal with at school because everyone recognizes her, she’s at least able to make a friend–Sammy. Meanwhile, Trevor has trouble figuring out how to advance his relationship with Lucky. They are friends, but it’s easy to know he wants more!

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