Comic Cuts - 20 November

Another week with not much to report. I spent the whole week on Eagles Over the Western Front scanning original artwork and stitching the pictures together as I had to do them in two parts. Thanks to my antiquated computer (so fast when I first switched it on!) I had lots of spare moments while the machine was clanking its way through photomerge to dig around for info. on some of the authors and books I'd scanned last week, hence the rash of paperback cover galleries that have appeared on Bear Alley recently. Hope you're enjoying them, because I have many more.

With sales figures increasingly hard to come by, I haven't been running regular charts as I have in previous years. However, I've managed to get some rough figures for recent sales. No totals, these were just the numbers for the week ending 7 November, so it's just a snapshot and already a couple of weeks old.

Top 3 selling books
1 Guinness World Records (unknown)
2 The Associate by John Grisham (34,780)
3 The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (26,410)

Top 13 Annuals
1 Beano Annual (approx. 13,400)
2 Peppa Pig: The Official Annual (approx. 12,500)
3 Hannah Montana Annual (approx. 10,800)
4 Ben 10 Alien Force Annual (approx. 9,800)
5 Horrid Henry's Annual (approx. 9,200)
6 Top Gear Annual (approx. 9,100)
7 The Official Doctor Who Annual (approx. 8,850)
8 WWE Annual (approx. 8,000)
9 High School Musical Annual (approx. 7,800)
10 Shoot Annual (unknown)
11 Disney Princess Annual (unknown)
12 Broons Annual (unknown)
13 Star Wars Annual (unknown)

Here are a couple of books that should now be released: Captain Britain Vol. 4: The Siege of Camelot by Steve Parkhouse, John Stokes & Paul Neary (Panini UK ISBN 978-1846534331, 5 November 2009), Knights of Pendragon Vol. 1: Once and Future by Dan Abnett & Gary Erskine (Panini UK ISBN 978-1846534317, 18 November 2009), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 14 (Rebellion/2000AD ISBN 978-1906735296, 15 November 2009) and Nikolai Dante: Amerika by Robbie Morrison, John Burns & Simon Fraser (Rebellion/2000AD ISBN 978-1906735128, November 2009).

Also due very shortly, Century 21: Escape from Aquatraz, ed. Chris Bentley (Reynolds & Hearn ISBN 978-1904674085, 30 November 2009), Charley's War: Underground and Over the Top (Titan Books ISBN 978-1845767976, November 2009), Dan Dare: Safari in Space (Titan Books ISBN 978-1848563728, 27 November 2009) and Tales of the Dead Man by John Wagner, John Ridgway & Will Simpson (Rebellion/2000AD ISBN 978-1906735197, 15 November 2009).

And, finally, our column header... a first look at the cover for Johnny Red: Falcons' First Flight. It's not due out until next February, but you know me... I don't like to keep these things to myself. The lead time on books is incredible these days: I heard from Carlton today that two of the books I've edited for them, due out next April, are already on their way to the printers.

Next week, more action from "Ben-Hur" and whatever else I can fit in around work.