Well, summer’s just about over and it’s not too soon to start thinking about the holiday season…  No, screw that, it is totally too soon to start thinking about anything beyond Halloween, unless of course you are a retailer who has to order ahead and think hard about what big ticket items to have on the shelf in November and December as gifts and impulse buys.

So, with visions of sugar plums already dancing in our heads, here are a few items of the page-turning variety that might look good under the tree.

DC Compact Comics.  There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the new line of super affordable, smaller format, full color reprints from DC Comics via Penguin Random House are really going to move the needle on so-called "evergreen" storylines, given that most longtime fans already have these stories in more deluxe and expensive formats (see "DC Launches New Line of ‘Compact Comics’").  Retailers, curious to hear your experiences with that.

But whether or not they are The Answer to catching newer fans up with canon, they are absolutely, positively awesome stocking stuffers.  Any of your store regulars who wants to be the "cool uncle/aunt" can buy a stack of them to hand out without breaking the bank, and by the holiday season, there should be a pretty good array of stories for most tastes.

Assorted graphic novels for grownups.  2024 has been a particularly good year for graphic novels outside of the obvious kids/YA material.  As we get to the holiday season, I can guarantee that titles like Emil Ferris’s My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 (Fantagraphics Books, and also an excuse to restock Book 1), David Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson’s Big Jim and the White Boy (PRH), Rick Parker’s Drafted (Abrams) and Ken Krimstein’s Einstein in Kafkaland (Bloomsbury) are going to be showing up on a LOT of year-end best-of lists, not just of graphic novels, but for any kind of literature.

Don’t forget that Alan Moore has a couple of new books coming out, including The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic (Top Shelf/IDW Publishing), which may very well finally be the last thing he does in anything resembling graphic novel format.  It’s for specialized tastes for sure, but it is Alan Moore, with art by Kevin O’Neil, John Coulthart, Rick Veich and Melinda Gibbie, among others.

Scott Pilgrim Box Set from Oni.  Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim was one of the first North American titles to capture the manga vibe, and it’s been experiencing a comeback after the 2010 live action movie proved a disappointment at the box office.  For the 20th anniversary of the property, and capitalizing on the popularity of the recent animated series on Netflix, Oni Press has put together a deluxe gift box containing the entire story presented in ten (!) gorgeously printed hardcover books, plus stickers, prints, and other goodies.  This one definitely wins the early prize in the super-premium category.

At $250 retail, you probably won’t want a lot of shelf copies, but if your store does good business in Scott Pilgrim or comparable material, maybe have something that promotes it for special order.  This collection is a genuine object of desire for fans, and the people who want it are going to have to have it.

Marvel reprints (not from Marvel Comics).  These days the finest purveyors of Marvel trade collections are the company’s numerous licensing partners.  There are the neat Penguin Classics collections that curate key stories from top titles including Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, and Black Panther.  The color reproduction leaves a bit to be desired, but the selections are top notch and the pricing is good for the format.

Abrams is doing some nice stuff with original Marvel-licensed graphic novels such as Alex Ross’s Fantastic Four and Patrick McDonnell’s delightful The Super Hero’s Journey.  This year adds The Art of Marvel Studios’ What If…? which, if you have watched the show, features some amazing graphics.

One underrated source of great vintage reprints is Fantagraphics Books’ Atlas Comics Library series.  Some of these titles like Police Action, Adventures into Terror and Venus are truly for completists, but they are gorgeously reproduced and smartly annotated, often by Atlas authority Michael Vassallo.  And honestly, what are comic fans if not completists?

DSTLRY compilations.  Speaking of picky fans, some purists don’t like that DSTLRY prints its periodicals at a size too big for standard bags and boards.  But, like European graphic albums, that’s because they belong on your bookshelf, with your books.  Now that some of the first series out of the gate, like Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay’s Eisner Award-winning erotic thriller Somna and Jock’s sci-fi adventure story Gone have wrapped up, the company is putting them out in mass market hardcover format, along with a reprint of the inaugural anthology The Devil’s Cut.  These are nice looking books featuring top work from big-name creators.  The collected format is a nice way to introduce fans to the company’s periodical offerings, and leaves nothing for collectors to complain about.

Media tie-ins.  This hasn’t been a banner year for comic book movies, but by the holidays, Deadpool & Wolverine will be streaming, Joker: Folie a Deux will have made whatever splash it’s going to make, and Sony will be dumping two more Spider-adjacent titles into cinemas: Venom 3: Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter.

There’s definitely some new Deadpool product on the way.  But will Marvel have key Venom and Kraven storylines available in trade by then?  Maybe.  (I’ll take the "under" but who knows?)  Will anyone care?  Maybe.  In any case, keep it on your radar.

Also, for what it’s worth, the adaptation of Chester Brown’s 2011 graphic novel Paying for It (Drawn & Quarterly) just debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and might get a limited release around the holidays, which could generate some special interest.  I’m not sure I’d call this a gift item, but it certainly puts the "ho" in "ho, ho, ho!"

I’m sure there will be more treats and surprises in store, including some to be announced at NYCC.  But for now, wishing a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.  Time to throw on the shorts and t-shirt for one last taste of summer!

For more great suggestions for gifts merchandising this holiday season, click here.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.

Rob Salkowitz is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture and a two-time Eisner-Award nominee.