COLIN JACK BLOG

Colin Jack is a Toronto Character Designer I just met. His work is a lot of fun and I urge you to check it out.


his Blog is here:
http://www.jackomtablet.blogspot.com/

Neil Gaiman Dave Mckean - The Graveyard Book

In Store on Tuesday September 30. NEW Neil Gaiman Novel with illustrations by Dave McKean. What more do you need to know?

This Wednesday .. Moomin 3 and plenty more.

Exterminate! Now you too can join the Dalek Forces with your very own Voice Changer Helmet. Can't get cheesier than this one, and if you're a Dr.Who fan like I am - you know that Cheese is Good.

The Wait is over - Tove Janson's original series Moomin (also known as Moomin Trolls) #3 is finally out this week. It's great for all ages. Huge in Japan, with a theme park in its native land of Finland and fans all over the world -its a series really worth checking out. #1 and 2 in stock as well.

New From Drawn and Quarterly : If you want something unique - give Aya a try.

More fun and great art with Kamichama Karin Chu #2.

One of the greatest illustrators of the last century - books on Leyendecker, long out of print command huge prices on the secondary market. This new book is as beautiful as it is massive. If you aren't familiar with his work, try and find some time to look him up. Most of his work was featured in magazines like the 'Saturday Evening Post' -years before Norman Rockwell. He also did a ton of adwork. All of it - really top notch.

Not sure why, but we really cant get enough of Graffiti books in the store. This week we got two new books ( Street Art -not shown). The one below, Street World is by the same guys that put together Graffiti World and Graffiti Women. Thick and juicy.

Stephen King Fans Rejoice as part two in the Dark Tower Saga is finally collected into a book. The Long Road Home leads to Wednesday when it will be on our shelves. If you're missing part 1 - we got a few copies still left at bargain pricing. Stop by and get one before the price goes back up!

Action. Action. Action - Gantz 2 delivers it. #1 also in stock.

Garth Ennis writes really intense stuff. Not for the faint of heart. His other books like Preacher and Hellblazer are perrenial favourites.


This next one is a reprint of the IDW Transformers Guide Book that has been out of print for close to 10 years. Thick and full of awesome drawings, with detailed information on your favourite transformers. Really happy to see its back in stock. The perfect gift for any transformers fan.


The full list:

ALCOHOLIC HC

AMERICAN DREAM TP BEYOND COURAGE

ANGEL DIARY GN VOL 06

AUTHORS PET GN

AYA OF YOP CITY HC

BAD BOY 10TH ANN HC

BLACK HEART BILLY COLOR ED TP

BLEK LE RAT SC

BLUE BEETLE TP VOL 04 ENDGAME

BOGLE GN VOL 02 (OF 3)

BOYS TP VOL 03

CAIRO SC

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS TP VOL 03

COVERS OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS HC

DARK TOWER LONG ROAD HOME HC

GANTZ TP VOL 02

GHOST WHISPERER HAUNTED TP

GHOST WORLD SPECIAL ED HC

GOD OF DOGS GN

GREEN LANTERN REVENGE OF THE GREEN LANTERNS TP

HALO 3 MASTER CHIEF BOBBLE HEAD

HALO SERIES 3 AF ASST

HARVEY COMICS CLASSICS TP VOL 04 BABY HUEY

HISSING GN VOL 04

JUSTICE TP VOL 02

KAGETORA GN VOL 11

KAMICHAMA KARIN-CHU GN VOL 02

LEGEND OF ZELDA ICE ARROWS 18 PC DISP

MARVEL BOY PREM HC DM ED

MARVEL ZOMBIES TP HULK DM COVER

MARVEL ZOMBIES TP IRON MAN DM COVER

MARVEL ZOMBIES TP SPIDER-MAN COVER

MILLENNIUM DARLING 2006 GN

MOOMIN COMPLETE TOVE JANNSON COMIC STRIP HC VOL 03

MY HEAVENLY HOCKEY CLUB GN VOL 06

NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE HC

NUMBER OF THE BEAST TP

ONE NIGHT LESSON GN

ONE NIGHT LESSON GN

PHOENIX WRIGHT ACE ATTORNEY GN VOL 01

PUNISHER MAX TP FROM FIRST TO LAST

S NOVEL VOL 02 (OF 4)

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 04

SHONEN JUMP NOV 08

SHY INTENTIONS GN

SILENT HILL OMNIBUS TP

SILENT LEAVES GN VOL 02 EXCEPTIONS TO LIFE

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES TP VOL 09

SPACE DOUBLES COLLECTION TP VOL 01

STREET ART GRAFFITI REVOLUTION SC

SUGAR SUGAR RUNE GN VOL 08

SUPERMAN THE THIRD KRYPTONIAN TP

SWEET REGARD GN

TEZUKAS BLACK JACK PX HC VOL 01

TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE TP VOL 01

ULTIMATE IRON MAN II PREM HC

ULTIMATE IRON MAN II PREM HC DM ED

WALLFLOWER GN VOL 17

SPIRIT HC VOL 02

BOHDA TE #1

ABSOLUTE RONIN HC

GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY WEDDING ALBUM HC

SUPERMAN KRYPTONITE HC

DOCTOR WHO DALEK VOICE CHANGER HELMET

DRAW 16, ABE SAPIEN AND TEZUKAS BLACK JACK AMONG OTHERS..

coming wednesday september 24:


Attention Hellboy fans: New Abe Sapien #1

Draw #16 is out. Yay! The best magazine on the subject on the planet is landing in a couple of days and I for one can't wait. I mean wait that much more. It's taking so long between issues. But its so good.

Fairy Tail #4 -from the creator of Rave Master. A real hit. If you like manga, you got to check it out.

Forgot to mention this one last week:


New Cover (international edition) same great book by the one and only Alan Moore! and Dave Gibbons Too.

New Spawn #6 collection is out.


New cover for a new edition of Kingdom Come by Alex Ross. So pretty.


coming Wednesday Sept 17

100 BULLETS TP VOL 12 DIRTY

ABE SAPIEN TP VOL 01 THE DROWNING

ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #192

BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE TP VOL 03

BERSERK TP VOL 25

BLACK PANTHER TP BACK TO AFRICA

BLACK SUMMER TP

CABLE PREM HC VOL 01 MESSIAH WAR

CONAN HC VOL 06 HAND OF NERGAL

CONAN TP VOL 06 THE HAND OF NERGAL

CY BELIEVERS GN VOL 03 (OF 3)

DEAD AT 17 TP VOL 04 13TH BROTHER

DOMO FACE BELT BUCKLE

DRAW #16

FAIRY TAIL GN VOL 04

GEARS OF WAR 7-IN AF SER 2 ASST

IRON MAN PREM HC LEGACY OF DOOM

JLA SALVATION RUN TP

JUXTAPOZ VOL 15 #10 OCT 2008

KINGDOM COME TP NEW EDITION

LUCKY LUKE TP VOL 12 RIVALS OF PAINFUL GULCH

MADAME MIRAGE TP VOL 01

MARVEL ILLUSTRATED PREM HC MOBY DICK

ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS GN VOL 05

PUGLEE UGLYDOLL 12IN PLUSH

PUGLEE UGLYDOLL 7IN PLUSH

SCORPION GN VOL 01 DEVILS MARK

SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAL MEN TP VOL 02

SPAWN COLLECTION TP VOL 06

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY TP ITSY BITSY BATTLES DIGEST

STAR WARS CLONE WARS TP VOL 01 SHIPYARDS OF DOOM

SUNDOME GN VOL 03

TEZUKAS BLACK JACK PX HC VOL 01

UBU BUBU #3

ULTIMATE VENUS GN VOL 02

UNCANNY X-MEN TP DIVIDED WE STAND

VAMPRESS GIRLS GN VOL 02 WITCHES OF CAZADOR

WITH THE LIGHT RAISING AUTISTIC CHILD GN VOL 03

WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS TP ROOKIE

X-FACTOR PREM HC ONLY GAME IN TOWN

YGGDRASIL GN VOL 02 (OF 3)

YOURE SO COOL GN VOL 02

+SOME OF THE HUNDREDS OF ITEMS BACK IN STOCK:'

BATMAN THE BLACK GLOVE HC

BATMAN THE SPIRIT

DEVIL MAY CRY 3 DANTE ARTFX STATUE

DEVIL MAY CRY 3 VERGIL ARTFX STATUE

DEVIL MAY CRY 4 DANTE VER 2 ARTFX STATUE

DOCTOR WHO DALEK VOICE CHANGER HELMET

ESCAPISTS HC

GOTHAM CENTRAL HC VOL 01 IN THE LINE OF DUTY

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE TP

KINGDOM HEARTS 2 AXEL AF

PANTHEON TP VOL 01 WELCOME TO THE MACHINE

TOP COWS BEST OF MICHAEL TURNER TP

WATCHMEN TP INTERNATIONAL EDITION

NEW James Jean XOXO (Hugs and Kisses)

For those who don't know yet, I am a very big fan of the artist James Jean. So as you might imagine, I was quite excited when I learned there was a new book by him. It was released at Comic-Con in San Diego in limited quantities but is finally out in store. Yes -its in the store right now. It's a 60 page postcard book and its beautiful. Small. Inexpensive and very, very pretty.


Oh - and if that's not enough for you JJ fans - the Fables Artbook is coming next month.

XOXO

WHAT ARE ALL THE PICTURE BOOKS FOR?

For those of you who have visited the Labyrinth store in Toronto, you are no doubt aware that we are not a comic book shop. We are also not a typical bookstore or a toy store. Usually, this blog is used to talk about new product, but today I was thinking about the store as it relates to our blend of customers and our unique mix of books.

The best way I can think of to describe what The Labyrinth is, is that it's a Graphic Arts Bookstore. Everything in the store has a graphic component. That includes, the thousands of Mangas and Graphic novels. It also explains why we carry Children's books, Anime Artbooks, French Bandes Dessinee, Sketchbooks, Graffiti Books, books on life drawing and so many other neat books.

Now, we have a ton of customers that shop with us that are primarily interested in stories. Stories in Graphic Novels, Mangas, etc.. In fact, we truly value these readers. You can see this in our store by looking at our expanded selection of author based displays. When we first opened the store front just over a year ago -we had 24 shelves of graphic novels. All the titles were alphabetically organized. Everything from Acme Novelty Library to X-men..all mixed together.

Today we have more than 50 shelves of unique titles and the fastest growing section is the author based section. Good writing, we believe is the backbone of a successful graphic novel and without it, there's almost no point collecting a title. Still, this doesn't diminish the importance of the artist or art on a book.

In fact, as we have pointed out at the top, we are a graphic arts bookstore and one of the appeals of our store to those who do art is the wide array of art styles you will find in our selection of books.

On more than one occassion I have been asked the question by non-artists -what are these picture books for (refering all the art books we sell. Many of them, like the sketchbooks have no or little words in them.) As an artist myself, the question seemed strange, but totally legitimate.

As an artist, looking at books full of pictures gives me endless amounts of pleasure. I like to analyze: line and form, and colour and shape. I also love studying composition, design and artistic techniques. I also look at books to be inspired.

Being both an artist and acting as the book buyer for the store, I often try and figure out why are some books more popular than others? What makes certain artists more successful, or some books more successful than others. Just as often I get questions from artists that aspire to publish their own books as to what they should do. Art is so personal, so subjective that this is a hard question to answer.

They say that success is 98% perspiration and 2% inspiration, but I don't believe this is the case when it comes to being an artist. As an artist it's probably more like 50/50. You've got to have strong technical knowledge, but also be full of great ideas. To artists, the great thing about our books is, that they can learn practical skills and find inspiration in them at the same time.

It's been said that there are no new ideas, but that you can be original in the way you combine elements of existing ideas. That's why its so important to analyze and examine the work of other artists. Not to copy or plagiarize, but to help give artists a point of reference to start from rather than working from a blank canvas or piece of paper. That's why picture books are important, and that's why The Labyrinth is around.

MARY BLAIR JON SCIEZKA ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Following the Cinderella childrens book -using Mary Blair's fine concept art paintings, comes Alice in Wonderland. This time its using concept art she created for the movie back in the day. The story is retorld by Jon Scieszka. You may know him from books like Stinky Cheese Man and Math Curse.

Both Alice and Cindy are in stock now.

NEW: BRIAN WOOD, LOVELESS 8, GOTHIC LOLITA 3 ENGLISH, MORE..

COMING SEPTEMBER 17SMURF PLUSH + SMURFETTE AND PAPA SMURF!

LOVELESS #8

CASTLEVANIA 1.

GOTHIC LOLITA BIBLE 03 IN ENGLISH
FROM THAT AWESOME CANADIAN CARTOONIST BEHIND PYONGYANG AND SHENZEN - THE BURMA CHRONICLES. I WAS EXCITED WHEN I FOUND THIS BOOK IN FRENCH A FEW MONTHS AGO. GLAD ITS FINALLY MADE IT INTO ENGLISH!

BRIAN WOOD FANS - THE 12 ISSUE MINI IS FINALLY 1 TOME.

2 BOOKS OUT THIS WEEK BY THE ARTIST OF VAGABOND. SUMI AND WATER. ABOVE IS THE COVER TO SUMI. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS WATERCOLOUR AND PEN WORK.
VAGABOND BIG EDITION #1 IS ALSO IN THIS WEEK.


THE COMPLETE LIST:

SHOJO BEAT OCT 08

SPIKE AFTER THE FALL #3 (OF 4)

YEN PLUS MAGAZINE #3 OCT 2008

ANIMA GN VOL 09 (OF 10)

ART OF VAGABOND HC SUMI

ART OF VAGABOND HC WATER

ASTRO BOY TP VOL 1 & 2 COLLECTED VOLUME

BURMA CHRONICLES HC

CAPTAIN AMERICA TP VOL 02 DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA

CASE CLOSED GN VOL 25

CASTLEVANIA CURSE OF DARKNESS GN VOL 01 (OF 2)

CHIBI VAMPIRE GN VOL 10 (OF 13)

DEATH NOTE COLLECTORS ED HC VOL 01

DRAGON BALL VIZBIG ED GN VOL 02

FUTURE LOVERS GN

GAKUEN ALICE GN VOL 04 (OF 14)

GOTHIC AND LOLITA BIBLE VOL 03 (OF 6)

HER MAJESTYS DOG GN VOL 10

I SHALL NEVER RETURN GN VOL 04 (OF 5)

INCREDIBLE HERCULES AGAINST THE WORLD TP

JANES IN LOVE

JSA PRESENTS GREEN LANTERN TP

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA TP VOL 01 TORNADOS PATH

KAMISAMA KAZOKU GN VOL 02

LOCAL HC

LOVELESS GN VOL 08 (OF 8)

LOVELESS TP VOL 03 BLACKWATER FALLS

MAGIC LOVERS TOWER GN VOL 01

MAGIC LOVERS TOWER GN VOL 02

MAGICIAN APPRENTICE TP VOL 02

MAKE LOVE & PEACE GN VOL 01 (OF 2)

ME & MY BROTHERS GN VOL 05 (OF 8)

PATH OF THE ASSASSIN TP VOL 13 HATEFUL BURDEN

POWER PACK TP DAY ONE DIGEST

PRINCESS AI ENCOUNTERS GN

RAVE MASTER GN VOL 30 (OF 35)

SPIDER-MAN PREM HC VOL 03 BRAND NEW DAY

SWITCH GN VOL 04

TOGARI TP VOL 08

TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT TP VOL 03

VAGABOND VIZBIG ED GN VOL 01

WELCOME TO NHK GN 08 (OF 8)

YAKITATE JAPAN TP VOL 13

YAKUZA IN LOVE GN VOL 03 (OF 3)

JARO FABRY ART FASHION STYLE HOLLYWOOD 1930S 40S

TOLERANCE HC

PEZ DISNEY FAIRIES 12 CT DISPLAY

DOMO FACE BELT BUCKLE

SMURFS 12-IN PLUSH ASST

BEN BALISTRERI WINS AN EMMY FOR FOSTERS

A bit behind on my blog reading -but just learned that Ben won an Emmy for his work on Fosters Home for imaginary children. Way to go Ben! Ben's new book Seaweed is completely awesome. Below is a blue pencil page from the upcoming issue 2. According to his blog -this is the unfinished stage before colouring. If it were up to us -we would totally reproduce the book in this raw stage. It's just that good!




Read more about Ben here:
http://benbalistreri.blogspot.com/

BRUCE CAMPBELL IS BRUCE CAMPBELL

So it's no secret but I am a huge Bruce Campbell Fan. His new film ' My name is Bruce' is coming shortly and I hope it's Bad. I mean good -bad. You know, so bad it's good. Yes -that's the kind of Bruce Campbell movies I love most.

Even with all my love for B.C., I have never thought to look at his website. Yes he has one.
here it is:
http://www.bruce-campbell.com/

If you go to it, be sure NOT to skip the intro. Yeah, yeah - I usually skip ALL intros -but this is Bruce Campbell we're talking about. He has a cheesy emotional photo montage happening with a danny elfman/conan-sounding soundtrack to it. After you look at the whole intro, you may enter the site. Not before.

Oh -and here's the trailer for his new film:



On his site, he talks about doing a tour to promote the film. After examining the list, it became clear Toronto is not one of the stops. I am going to go back and watch the intro to his site again...

PURE ALPHABET? OR CATEGORIZE? THAT IS THE QUESTION

Customers of the Labyrinth on Bloor Street in Toronto's Annex district already know that unlike most other stores, our manga is organized alphabetically by category. The original thinking was that a person could find like items next to each other without having to search the entire manga wall of thousands of books. This means Action is with Action, Horror with Horror, Fantasy with Fantasy, Shojo with Shojo and Yaoi with Yaoi.

This also means that titles like Yu-Gi-Oh (action) that younger fans enjoy, are not directly next to titles like Yellow (Yaoi).

We are revisiting this idea however, after a new customer showed some frustration with trying to learn our system. The argument is that some titles can fall into multiple categories -so where should one look? (I get his point, as this was always something that bothered me at Blockbuster when I was searching out old movies.) Traditionally we solved this problem with customer service. You don't know where something is, you ask us, we find it for you. Next time you come by, you know where to look.

Still - we are thinking about going Purely Alphabetical. We would love your input. You can leave comments here or tell us what you think in person when you stop by the store.

CHRIS SANDERS AND DEAN YEAGLE TOGETHER AT LAST

NOW IN STOCK:

Chris Sanders' Kiskaloo book is back in stock. Good things are worth waiting for, but now that its here - no more waiting. yay!


Sitting on our shelves, right next to Kiskaloo is Dean Yeagle's Mandy Portrait Gallery featuring plenty of talented artists doing their renditions of Mandy. All copies come signed by Dean -which is in fact the reason the book is so late in coming to the store in the first place.


Here are a couple of picks we snagged from www.imaginismstudios.com by two of our favourites: Bob and Kei. Yes -they contributed to the new Mandy Portrait Gallery. Check out the other 30 something artists images in the book itself when you stop by. We would love to see you.

Mandy and Skoots by Bob Chiu.


Mandy and Skoots by Kei Acedera.

COMING WEDNESDAY SEPT 10

Coming on Wednesday. Plenty of big hitting stuff, and some cheesy fun stuff too.

First off: Can't get cheesier (or better- IMO) than Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. The cover alone makes me want to vommit in a good way.

Next is a blast from the past - The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers get their own giant omnibus edition. This material has been out of print for some time, so its nice to know it's back and in a collected format.

Ok - for all you HSM fans who like to sing when no one is looking, there's a graphic novel with your name on it coming on Wednesday.

Naruto gets the deluxe treatment in this Hardcover collectors edition #1.

Angel after the fall #2 Hard Cover. Joss Whedon fans -the wait is over.

New Indy title -with a lot of promise. American Widow worth checking out.

Alex Ross Portfolio - where were you two weeks ago when Ross was in town?! Well, never mind - we still love you. 12 colour prints -featuring the covers to Justice by superstar painter Alex Ross. Same format as the sold out Adam Hughes Portfolio.

Low Brow Fans unite! Graeme Base Art book is here.


The long out of print Bad Boy by Frank (Sin City/300) Miller is back in print, in a deluxe format. 2 covers available.

Afro Samurai - the Manga #1.

Burst Angel #1 -the Manga!

Prince of Persia #1 from First Second Books. First Second (:01) books has put out nothing but quality from day 1. This one looks equally exciting. Whether you're a fan of the game, or just want a good book to read - we think you will enjoy this one!

From the writer of Spiderwick and the artist of Courtney Crumrin comes the Good Neighbors. We love Ted Naifeh.



THE FULL LIST:

ARMY OF DARKNESS TP VOL 06 FROM THE ASHES

BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #164

AMERICAN WIDOW HC

ANGEL AFTER THE FALL HC VOL 02 FIRST NIGHT

BAD BOY 10TH ANN HC

BAD BOY 10TH ANN HC MILLER CVR

BLOOD PLUS GN VOL 03

BURST ANGEL MANGA VOL 01 (OF 3)

COMPLETE CRUMB COMICS SC VOL 11 NEW PTG

DAZZLE GN VOL 09 (OF 10)

DEITCHS PICTORAMA SC

ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY TP BOOK 02

FREAK BROTHERS OMNIBUS TP

FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH TP

GET BACKERS INFINITY FORTRESS GN VOL 01 (OF 13)

GOOD NEIGHBORS HC VOL 01 KIN

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL GN VOL 01 LASTING IMPRESSIONS

KING OF HELL GN VOL 20 (OF 26)

KNOCKOUT MAKERS GN VOL 03 (OF 3)

LORDS OF AVALON SOD HC

LOVE & ROCKETS NEW STORIES #1

MONOCHROME FACTOR GN VOL 03 (OF 4)

NARUTO COLLECTORS ED HC VOL 01

NEGIMA GN VOL 19

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN PREM HC DM ED

PORTABLE FRANK SC

PRINCE OF PERSIA GN

SAMURAI DEEPER KYO GN VOL 30 (OF 38)

SILENT HILL SINNERS REWARD TP

SPIDER-MAN RED SONJA TP

TACTICS GN VOL 06 (OF 9)

ULTIMATE POWER TP

WARRIORS TIGERSTAR & SASHA GN VOL 01 INTO THE WOODS

WITCHBLADE SHADES OF GRAY TP

WOLVERINE ORIGINS VOL 05 DEADPOOL PREMIERE HC

X-MEN VS APOCALYPSE TP VOL 02 AGES OF APOCALYPSE

YU GI OH COLLECTORS ED HC VOL 01

AFRO SAMURAI SC VOL 01 (OF 2)

ART OF GRAEME BASE HC

ART OF MARC SILVESTRI SC

COMIC BOOK COVER PORTFOLIO #2 JUSTICE COLLECTION