This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
Queen of the Black Black
by Megan Kelso
168-page black & white 7" x 9.25" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-459-7
"A new edition of the long-out-of-print collection of Megan Kelso's early work, mostly from her self-published Girlhero series. I love Kelso's stuff — her book Artichoke Tales from last year is tremendous — and the neat thing about the short stories collected here is that you can watch the young Kelso surprising herself, testing out her power and interests, figuring out what kinds of stories she wants to tell and what her art looks like." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance
Wandering Son Vol. 1
by Shimura Takako
208-page black & white/color 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-416-0
"A sophisticated and literary manga, addressing an important subject with a delicate touch — pretty much a guaranteed winner for me. That this book–about two transgendered teens coming to accept their identities and their place in the world–is also popularly and critically acclaimed, a bestseller in Japan, and has already spawned anime adaptations? Icing on the cake. Really looking forward to this!" – Chris Butcher, The Beguiling
"While most manga about cross-dressing involve lots of shrieking and embarrassment, Wandering Son takes a quieter, more introspective approach…. It's a very sweet manga with realistic characters — no dead parents or crazy teachers, just ordinary, loving families and supportive friends. This manga is a beautifully produced, hardcover book, and… it's worth every penny." – Brigid Alverson, MTV Geek
"If I had $30, the world becomes a brighter place, because now I can afford the first volume of Wandering Son ($19.99), Shimura Takakao’s quiet, sensitive story of a boy who wishes he was a girl and a girl who has already started dressing like a boy. Fantagraphics has produced this in a beautiful hardbound edition as part of their lit-manga line, and it’s a must-have." – Brigid Alverson (again), Robot 6
"This literary/alternative manga is about two 5th graders with a secret: one is a boy who wants to be a girl, the other is a girl who wants to be a boy." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy
And from TCJ.com's Joe McCulloch:
"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: A new English-language hardcover release kicks off for artist Shimura Takako’s 11-books-and-counting chronicle of a boy that wants to be a girl and a girl that wants to be a boy with Wandering Son Vol. 1; $19.99. Also: a new edition of an early works collection for Megan Kelso with Queen of the Black Black; $19.99."