Celebrating the Unpopular Arts
 

Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – July 2020

I got Previews #382 at my comic book store on Wednesday, 24 June. I had to finish my review post and I was doing some other stuff, so I didn’t start it until Friday, 3 July. Travis could have started it before me, but he’s just that lazy! I don’t know what we’re going to do with that young man. So let’s take a look inside the catalog, and remember – Travis is in black print, and I’m in blue!

It’s true, I am very lazy.  Or else it’s the fear of a blank page.  But mostly lazy.

Of course, Travis got his stuff done last week, and it took me a few days to catch up. So now I’m holding things up! Such is life!

How can you fear something nobody cares about?

Since DC is in a snit, I think we’ll just start with them. Here are the solicits. So Newsarama is no more, eh? The world keeps on a-turnin’, I guess.

I haven’t been following comics news much anyway, so I missed the death of Newsarama.  I only heard about the Warren Ellis stuff when Hatcher mentioned it on our Slack!

Detective Comics #1027 goes on sale, and DC of course turns it into an event. I like how the 10-dollar version of this is 144 pages, which is a really good value, and then they give us a hardcover version of the same issue, and it has some extra pages (pin-ups, maybe?) and costs $20. Fun stuff!

Technically, shouldn’t 1026 have been the big deal issue, as it was the 1000th Detective issue with Batman in it?  This sounds interesting but it also sounds like there are too many tie ins to the recent stuff in the Bat books, which has sounded stupid and awful.  But hey, Riley Rossmo Deadman looks cool.  (Also, like you, I’m not even going to try to figure out the page numbers from DC Connect #2.  Just download it from somewhere and flip along with us!)

Look at you, nit-picking like a pro! Don’t think about it so much, sir!

Is that Promethea on the cover of Dark Nights: Death Metal Multiverse’s End?  Sigh.  When she came back for that Justice League America storyline, she was completely wasted.  Why you gotta keep fucking around with perfection, DC?

I don’t … think so? It looks more like Stan Lee’s Wonder Woman and some variation of Phantom Lady? Maybe? Gadzooks, I hope it’s not Promethea. I hadn’t realized that she had already been back!

Let’s ask Michael Golden, as he drew this (pretty awesome, to be frank) cover!

There’s Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, which is by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson and sounds fun, even if I could live with never meeting another person Constantine knew in the past who re-enters his life. I have my limits, people! I love how they’re doing this under the “Black Label” … label. If only they had had a mature readers line in the past where they could have put these kinds of things!

He just happened to lean against that graffiti like that?

I liked Under the Moon: a Catwoman Tale fairly well, so I think Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story by the same creative team of Lauren Myracle and Isaac Goodheart (those last names, though!) might be pretty good.  I’ll probably eventually read it from a library.

I might grab the HC of Basketful of Heads from the Hill House line, as I’ve been interested in those books but waiting for the collections.  $25 for 7 issues doesn’t seem too bad, and I like what I’ve read of Joe Hill, mostly.  I might also get the Dollhouse Family HC, as it sounds like a creepy story in the vein of Coraline.  And I was just reading some of a Carmen Maria Machado book recently, and she’s a good writer, so I may get the HC of The Low, Low Woods.  It seems odd that they’re pushing all 3 of these out at the same time, though.  And I wonder if that back up story from the Hill House books is going to be collected separately or with something else.

I’m thinking about these, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll probably skip the middle one, because Mike Carey, but the other two might be worth checking out.

Was it Mike Carey?  It’s been so long since the first issue of that was solicited I forgot if that was him or a relative or what.

I still don’t have all of Planetary, so I’m tempted to go for the Absolute Edition, but it’s likely to be pulled with the recent accusations against Ellis, so I probably won’t bother.

I doubt it will be. It probably still makes money for them, so they probably won’t do anything about it. They might push it back, but other than that, I can’t see them permanently shelving this.

Ooh, neat things on the next page, with Batman Adventures: Nightwing Rising, a cheap collection of some kinda rare animated style comics, I think — I don’t think the Batman Adventures Lost Years series sold a bunch.  And there’s also Batman: 80 Years of the Bat Family, with Detective 1000 and the 80th Anniversary as well as the Robin, Catwoman, and Joker specials.  I think I read the Detective 1000 one, and that was pretty good, and I think you thought the Catwoman one was quite good and the Robin and Joker ones were mediocre, right?

Yep. That is a good deal, though – 10 dollars off the prices of the single issues.

Batman: Curse of the White Knight gets collected in a hardcover, and it’s a pretty good deal – 9 issues, it appears, for 30 bucks. The first series was pretty good, made better by Sean Murphy’s art, so I’ll probably get this … if DC doesn’t pull it, that is. We shall see!

The first series made some interesting story decisions, and it was pretty good over all.  In the Previews ad for this DC Connect 2, there’s supposed to be a Harley Quinn special tied in with this series, but I don’t see it in here, and it’s not supposed to be in this HC.  Whut happund? And why are you suggesting DC might pull this?

He’s the latest dude that someone has accused of being creepy. Look it up, man!

Jeez, I can only keep up with so many of these!  I saw about Cameron Stewart and Warren Ellis and Jason Latour, but I missed this stuff.  And then there’s the dudes like Scott Allie and Charles Brownstein and Scott Lobdell, who’ve apparently been creepy for years.

Huh, DC is collecting some mid-late ‘90s Detective stuff in Batman: Knight Out, 16 issues that are actually pretty good stuff.  I think I might have all of Tec 703-718, so I don’t need this, but I don’t know that it’s worth $40 in HC.

It’s not. They’re certainly not bad issues, but 40 bucks? I mean, 16 issues might set you back about that much if you find the single issues, so maybe. It just seems high because they’re good, but not great comics.

Same page has the deluxe edition of Batman: The Man Who Laughs, which was Brubaker’s take on the Joker’s origin, and which was supposedly a sought after book for quite awhile.  Guess I won’t be getting mad money for selling my copy of it now, huh?  It’s collected with a story of Batman and Alan Scott solving a murder and Batman: Gotham Noir, the first Brubillips collab.  Was that a special comic?  An Elseworlds maybe?  I don’t want to look it up right now.

Neither do I, man. I’ve read it (I’m pretty sure), but that’s all I can say about it.

I’m a bit annoyed that the Doom Patrol trade is offered, mainly because all the issues haven’t actually come out yet. I’ve really liked Gerard Way’s reboot, but it probably didn’t sell and it’s been plagued by delays, and now DC seems to be releasing very few comics after the restart (Marvel is releasing fewer, which is also annoying). So are the issues going to come before the trade? That would be nice.

I thought I saw that Doom Patrol was one of the comics that came out either during the shutdown or right at the start of the reopening, but I could be wrong.  But who knows with DC.  Maybe they’ll go digital first/only with it.

My retailer is pretty good about letting me know what’s coming out, and I didn’t see it. I could have missed it, of course!

I think it might have been one of the books where the new distributor was involved.  Maybe.

Okay, issue #7 came out on the 8th, so I guess I just missed issue #6.

Wow, DC is releasing a trade of the complete Hard Time, which is by Steve Gerber and Brian Hurtt and is a pretty terrific comic. It’s 19 issues, and while it does get cut short a bit because it didn’t sell, it’s still very good. DC keeps digging through their archives and saying, “Hey, that’s a pretty good book – we should collect that!”

I have parts of this but never read it because it was just parts (no, I don’t know how this happens either), but I always heard good things about this so I might snag it.

Put some shades on, man!

Same page has the Fables Compendium one, with 40+ issues of that series.  I read the first trade and liked it, and at one point missed out on getting a big run of the series for quite cheap, but is it worth it?  Or should I read other stuff instead?

The price is great, and for the first 75-80 issues (I can’t remember exactly when the Big Bad gets defeated – #75, I think, but I could be wrong) this was one of the best series going at the time. Then it started to stagger a bit. But yeah, these issues are really good, so you might want to think about it.

I love the Legion, so I might get the trade of the Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium, and hope that Bendis didn’t screw things up too much.

I’ve been curious about the Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage series, and now it’s offered in HC.  I’ll probably get it because Lemire, Cowan, and Billy the Sink are all awesome.

Huh, that’s not at the link I provided. Weird. I’ll have to see about the price, because I might just wait for the softcover.

I believe it said that the HC was $30.

That seems a bit dear. It’s four issues at 5 bucks a pop, right?

I thought the singles were 6 or 7 bucks each, but I could be wrong.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen gets a complete trade, so I’ll pick this up. It’s Fraction and Lieber, and I enjoyed the first issue, and I’m glad DC is just doing a 12-issue collection, one which is slightly cheaper than the single issues. Thanks, DC!

I thought it sounded interesting, and I saw some art from the 11th issue, I think, and if it’s actually wacky fun like what I saw, I’m in.  DC is pretty good about doing these sorts of nicely priced big trades like this.

Image:

Here are the solicits!

I’m intrigued by The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (doing his best ‘80s Billy the Sink, it looks like), about a group that covers up the fact that all conspiracy theories are true, on page 30.  I like both covers, so I’ll probably wait for the trade (that’s right, if I like both covers, I don’t buy EITHER of them in singles!).

I’m still not sold on Tynion as a good writer, and I already read The Illuminatus Trilogy. But perhaps I’ll get the trade.

I’m not the hugest fan of Chip Zdarsky, but he’s not bad, and Ramón Pérez is a terrific artist, so I might get Stillwater on page 34 (in trade, natch). It’s about a town where nobody dies. It’s a horror book!

I like the concept and that is great looking art, and Zdarsky isn’t horrible, so this will be worth a look in trade.

Why does that kid have no bones showing up on the X-ray? T: Lead onesie

Alex de Campi always brings the crazy, and Erica Henderson is a good artist, so I’ll be getting Dracula, Motherfucker! on page 38, in which everyone’s favorite vampire wakes up in 1974 Los Angeles. Because of course he does.

I’m in for this.  It looks cool.

I’m interested in Inkblot on page 42, cocreated by Emma Kubert (with Rusty Gladd), whose art both doesn’t look like her grandpa or dad’s, and still looks like it shares some qualities, and it’s about a cat that can travel through time and space but doesn’t care and won’t listen, which proves it’s a real cat.

Yeah, that might work.

I’ve wanted to get into Ice Cream Man so I’ll probably get the Quarantine Comix Special on page 46, which has 6 online “issues” by the regular creators and a bunch of cool guest creators.

Ice Cream Man is an odd series. It’s basically The Twilight Zone, as each issue is pretty much self-contained (there might be a two-parter in there?), and the titular character isn’t really in it that much. The stories are good, but it feels like it’s hinting at something deeper, and it never gets there. Maybe Prince and Morazzo are just having too much fun doing these weird, twisted stories!

I’ll probably pick up Gunning for Ramirez (page 48), in which a Mexican cartel believes a vacuum repairman in Arizona is actually a hitman who once betrayed them. Well, that sounds fun.

It does sound interesting.  Note that it’s the first book in a trilogy, in case you missed that.

Gotta have chicks with guns!

I’m not sure about Protector on page 53. I certainly enjoy Artyom Trakhanov’s art, and Simon Roy has written some decent things, but it also sounds like a generic fantasy adventure. I’m leaning toward getting it, but I don’t know.

Yeah, I’m not sure either.  I liked the stuff I’ve read of these creators before, but this does sound generic.

I liked Johnnie Christmas’s art on Sheltered, but I’m not sure about his writing.  I missed The Unsound, so I don’t know about Jack T. Cole’s art, but I might go for Tartarus volume 1 on page 54, about a galactic war where a new cadet finds out she’s the daughter of an infamous criminal, and must decide whose side she’s on.

Cole’s art is quite good. And yeah, I’m on the fence about this.

I was kind of waiting to see if Little Bird would come out in trade, and now it’s here on page 58, but I’m not sure it is much cheaper than the HC was.  I’ll have to look it up.

I might have to check out Savage Dragon 252 (on page 76), with an entire issue of comic strip parodies.  I always like to check out the Dragon here and there, and it’s been awhile.

Dark Horse:

The solicits are here!

Evan Dorkin and Roger Langridge are doing a Bill and Ted comic (page 88). That should be ginchy.

That explains why Boom! did those omnibuses and trades of the Bill and Ted stuff they did.  Those weren’t bad, from what I’ve read, and I’ll have to let my friend who digs Bill and Ted know about this.  I’ll also have to tell him about the He-Man Toys encyclopedia on page 95.

That’s a weird pose for Keanu

The second volume of the Neil Gaiman Library HCs is on page 93.  I recommend this for “Harlequin Valentine” on its own, but all the stories that I remember having read are good.

Of course, I’ve not read one of the four, because that’s how it goes. The Zulli one – Miss Finch – is gorgeous, as you might expect.

And not connected to any specific comics here, I hear that Alien and Predator have been snapped up by Marvel, after having been at Dark Horse for almost 35 years.  Damn, what does Dark Horse have left?!

I know, I saw that. That seems very weird, partly because I wonder how that works – is there a contract that’s up, and anyone can bid on it? I assume. Plus, it feels like a very weird fit for Marvel, and now I fear we’re going to see Thanos using xenomorphs as shock troops and Predators fighting Squirrel Girl. Actually, that would probably be awesome.

I assume the comics companies contract with a licensor for a set period of time, which is probably annually until they establish they’re good, then the licensor gives the comics company more years, but eventually the contract runs out.  And that would be Squirrel Girl defeating Predators, sir!

IDW:

Take a look at the solicits here!

I probably won’t get Star Wars Adventures on page 117 (possibly in trade?), but Nick Brokenshire and Ilias Kyriazis are very good artists, so the book should look pretty keen, is all I’m sayin’.

I’m, like, just enough of a nerd for Jim Lee’s X-Men stuff that the Artist’s Edition on page 126 is tempting.  There are so many iconic images in that X-Men 1!

The Transformers vs the Terminator book on page 131 might be fun, so I’ll hope a library gets it.

We must root for … the machines?!?!?

Whoa, I totally forgot about the Batman/Maxx crossover, but on page 132 is a Lost Year Compendium of the first 3 issues and thumbnails of the last two issues.  It’s 8 bucks for all of that, so I’ll probably get this.

Yeah, I didn’t mention it because I’m still waiting for the trade, as I’ve been doing for years now.

Hmm, there’s a new TMNT Best of series with tales from different publishers, and it begins with Raphael on page 134.  It’s almost 100 pages for 6 bucks, so I might snag this.

Andi Watson remembered that you can do comics for adults, too, so on page 138 we find The Book Tour, about a writer whose tour becomes nightmarish. It’s described as “Kafkaesque,” which, fine, but Watson is really good, so I’m looking forward to this.

It looks really nice.  His line work looks a lot like someone else’s stuff (someone of the New Yorker type crowd, I’m thinking, but I’m blanking on), but it’s very interesting.

Hey, Amateur! on page 140 is a strange anthology that gives one-page stories about how to create comics and also, apparently, other real-world things. Different comics creators do every page, and it sounds … very weird, but also very cool. So sure, I’ll pick this up.

Yeah, it’s weird, but I love a whole lot of these creators, so I’m in.  We like to have fun with our comics, dammit!

Who needs to learn how to draw when you can learn how to use a blowtorch!

Marvel:

The solicits are here!

Wait a minute, there’s an Iron Man #1 on page 12? Isn’t there already an Iron Man series? Did that end? What the everlovin’ fuck, Marvel? Jeebus.

I think it ends in this Previews, later on. (Maybe not, actually!). It’s yet another of those pendulum swings on Iron Man, it sounds like, as he’s “back to basics” here, after having been a robot in the last series (or an AI, I forget from what I’ve read, but the Slott run was pretty good).

The Rise of Ultraman, Marvel (page 24)? Really? I didn’t realize Marvel was the House of (BAD) Ideas!

I hope this means that Jeff Nicholson will reprint his Ultra Klutz comics!

I don’t mean to pick on Kelly Thompson, because she’s writing Black Widow (page 26) and that’s great and Elena Casagrande is a good artist and maybe the (19th? 35th? 77th?) attempt at Black Widow will stick, but remember when Kelly used to rail against the kind of drawings that J. Scott Campbell gives as his variant cover? Fight the power, Kelly!!!!!

It’s cool that they’re using Kelly’s name to sell the book, though, which means they dig her enough at Marvel that they realize she’s a selling point as a creator!

Come on, J. Scott Campbell, it’s like you’re not even trying

It amuses me that on page 30, the post-Empyre books are Fallout for the FF and Aftermath for the Avengers.  I guess the alliteration was more important than using the same title for both!

I have another chance to decide whether or not to order the tribute to Giant Size X-Men 1 over on page 46, where other artists redo the original story that reintroduced the X-Men.

If you’ve ever resisted getting the Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz Moon Knight issues, Marvel has the Moon Knight Omnibus volume 1 on page 60, which collects the first 20 issues of the series plus a bunch of other MK-related issues from the 1970s. This is before Sienkiewicz became “Sienkiewicz,” but it’s still very worthwhile. I won’t be getting it because I already own all this stuff in two different formats, but it’s still a great package!

I am very tempted by this.  I’ve always wanted to see that early stuff.  I’ll have to see what the Epic editions cover, to see if it’s cheaper/better to try to get those books instead.  That Defenders storyline you just recently wrote about was, like, just the third Moon Knight story?

I don’t think it was that early, but yeah, it was pretty early on.

I’ve never read Kraven’s Last Hunt, so I’m pondering the HC of this on page 76.

Well, it’s Zeck’s art, and it’s gorgeous. It was, for a long time, overrated, but I think people have come down on it a bit, so it might be properly rated now! It’s a good story, some parts are superb, and, as I noted, it looks great.

“Properly rated now” is an amusing turn of phrase, but I like it, and I wonder if there are other books that fit that definition!

I can’t remember if I actually ordered the Star trade before, but it’s offered again on page 79, so I’ll have to consider it again.

And on page 84 is the trade of Kelly’s run (or at least the first part), with King Deadpool a trade I need to consider again.

Even though I had no real critical discernment in my early years of reading comics, I did know that the Heroes Reborn Avengers book was absolutely terrible.  If you want to see how bad it was, the trade is reprinted on page 88.

I’m not sure why they’re reprinting Hellstrom: Prince of Lies on page 89, but this collects the series before Warren Ellis took over, I believe.  I think I have these issues, though.

I might get the regular size trade of Silver Surfer Black on page 90, after passing on the treasury size edition before.  And on the same page, I’m sure you’ll also recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it the X-Men SWORD trade, which was one of the very few cool stories involving any X-Men in space!

Yeah, it’s a nice, tight, five-issue trade. It’s very ancillary X-Men, though, so that’s probably why it works!

I never read the stories that predate Venom’s first real appearances, but there’s a collection on page 91 of Spider-Man: The Road to Venom that have the Sin Eater as well as later Venom origin stories.

The Captain America Epic Collection volume 10 on page 97 has a bunch of the DeMatteis/Zeck issues, and that makes me want to get it!

It looks like it ends right before the Deathlok stories, or else I would recommend this volume for that arc.  I guess you’ll want Epic 11!

Dynamite:

Back to Rich for the solicits!

On page 157, we have Bettie Page: Queen of the Nile, an old book getting a facelift. This is by Jim Silke, and while it’s pulpy garbage, it’s achingly beautiful pulpy garbage, as Silke never met a drawing of a woman he couldn’t make super-sexy. I don’t know if it’s worth $17.99, because you might be able to find the original for much cheaper, but it is, I have to admit, wonderful to look at.

That sounds fun, and it looks like it has more than just what was in the original, so it’s probably worth a little bit more.

Very functional clothing, here!

I did like Max Bemis on his Worst X-Man Ever book, so the Black Terror: Dark Years trade on 168 might be ok, even though we’ve seen the “retired superhero wants to return to fight crime” thing before.

Boom! Studios:

Al Ewing has a new book called We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, which is about astronauts harvesting the resources of dead gods (page 174). Like you do. Ewing is a terrific writer, and Simone di Meo’s art is pretty keen, so I’ll probably get this in some format.

What an awesome title.  Yeah, I’ll be getting this somehow because Ewing is amazing.

You ain’t gonna find anything if you fly right into those letters!

People are interested enough in the Power Rangers/TMNT crossover that they want to see it in B&W?  (Page 184)

Back of the book!

I’m liking the art for Trese volume 1 on page 198 from Ablaze, and they sure got a lot of cool people to blurb for them.  I’ll consider this.

Graveyard Wars on the next page sounds pretty good, too, although I’ve never been the biggest fan of A.J. Lieberman.

Aardvark-Vanaheim has the latest Cerebus in Hell? one shot on page 201, with Batvark:PENIS.  If that title offends, there apparently is a version with XXXXX as the title, so ask your retailer for more info.

On the same page are several books from various Abrams imprints.  Abrams Appleseed has a new Jillian Tamaki book called Our Little Kitchen about a community using their garden to come together to share a meal.  Abrams Books for Young Readers has The Vampires of Blinsh from Daniel Pinkwater (of NPR and Car Talk fame) and Aaron Reiner, about the vampires of a small town.  And Abrams Comicarts has Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the Infamous Prison, telling stories of the people incarcerated there and the people affected by it.  Serious but important stuff.  From the same imprint on page 204 is Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio from Derf Backderf, about the horrible murdering of 4 US college students by our own government, and Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Artistry of Peanuts 70th [!] Anniversary Edition, which apparently is a reprint of a book that Chip Kidd was involved with.

On page 205 is Action Lab’s newest book, Miranda in the Maelstrom, about a young woman who uses a supernatural storm to explore alternate realities.  It could be fun.  Page 208 has the trade of Sweet Heart, about a small town whose inhabitants are “chosen” by monsters (to be killed, I guess), and how the town has essentially given up.

Shark-dog!!!!!!!

Miles To Go from Aftershock sounds pretty good, about a woman who was a killer as a preteen, but who changed her life around, but who now has her own daughter threatened.  What has B. Clay Moore been up to lately?  And artist Stephen Molnar looks pretty good here too.  I’ll get the trade.  Also from them is Shoplifters will be Liquidated in trade on page 218, which I believe we discussed a few months back.  And on page 219 is Out of the Blue, complete in HC, which is another Ennis war comic, and I think it was one that came out in 2 volumes recently?

Apparently Moore has been writing this! I haven’t seen his name on a book in while, so maybe he had to get a real job for a time? Out of the Blue was a two-issue deal, and I’m not sure if I’m going to get this in hardcover or wait for a softcover. This isn’t a bad price, and Keith Burns is a very good artist, so maybe.

Hyuk hyuk on the Moore comment, sir.

Page 220 is all sorts of awesome, with AHOY offering us the last issues of Ash & Thorn and Billionaire Island, as well as the trade of the second volume of Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror (and the first volume is reoffered).  And Albatross Funnybooks reoffers the Fearless Dawn Meets Hellboy one shot, which I will be reordering, thank you very much.

It would be nice if that came out this time.

Fortunately they (and a lot of other slow artists) can use the virus as an excuse for why their books are late, and it will be believable for the next year, probably!

Antarctic Press has a zombie book on page 231 called Rags, which seems to focus more on the nearly nekkid lady’s quest for pants than zombies.  For some reason.

One of the issues of that – #1 or #2 – was super-hot for a while, due to, I think, the nekkidness, which is odd, because it’s not as if nekkidness is hard to find, if that’s what you’re into.

AWA/Upshot has Grendel, Kentucky on page 238. It’s about a town in Kentucky (fancy that!) that has made a “Faustian” bargain with a monster to ensure its prosperity. Tommy Lee Edwards draws it, and a Tommy Lee Edwards book is always cause for celebration!

We can all agree that the dude should do more comics, right? T: True!

Behemoth Comics has an interesting one on page 243 with The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which seems to be an adventure comic based on William Blake contacting a demon.  The cover art looks neat.

On the same page is Birdcage Bottom Books and Eddie’s Week, about a dude who somehow is in charge of a convict, who manages to get the drop on him, and wacky hijinx ensue.  I assume.

Seems like a situation for hijinx.

On page 247 are a couple of Fleetway Picture Library books from Book Palace, with Pirate Tales being a selection of different artists, and Westerns featuring the art of Ruggero Giovannini.  They’re old British comics, so they might be cool.

Dead Reckoning has the Atlas At War HC again on page 253, so I get to consider adding them to my list again.

The editor told me on Facebook that it’s ready to go, so we shall see!

I like Tenacious D enough that I might get the Post-Apocalypto GN on page 258 from Fantagraphics.  Jack Black’s art is crude but actually seems to work, and you get to stream the audiobook and get the songs from the album too, so it’s a pretty cool deal.

Gallery 13 reprints the Bernie Wrightson Frankenstein book on page 266.  What I’ve seen of this is awesome, so it might be worth it.

Holy crap, Heavy Metal jumps up to $14 an issue with #301 on page 270.  Guess that will help me decide whether or not to drop the mag!

That’s insane. It doesn’t help that anything from it that supposedly gets collected never comes out!

Let’s see if the new regime try to get anything out from the GMozz era, like The Smile of the Absent Cat in particular, featuring Gerhard art. Otherwise, they seem to be banking a lot on Dan Fogler.

Magnetic has another volume of The Collected Toppi on page 278, this time focusing on Africa and India. You aren’t enjoying comics unless you’re checking out some of Toppi’s work!

Also from Magnetic, on page 279 we get the final volume of Infinity 8, which the solicits spoil in a shockingly blasé manner. I mean, guys, exercise some restraint, eh? Anyway, this has been a very cool series, and I look forward to re-reading all the volumes together!

Did the last volume come out in singles first?  I was betting that at some point during that run, the book would go directly to the trades, so I was waiting on that.  I wonder if they’ll ever do a big ass Omnibus?

Possibly? I have seen the single issues solicited, but I didn’t pay attention to them, because I knew I was getting the trade. It wasn’t too long ago that they were in Previews, but maybe those were for volume 7 and they just jumped ahead.

On page 281 is Trots and Bonnie, a collection of the Shary Flenniken strip from National Lampoon, brought to us from New York Review Comics.  I’ve seen some examples of this and it looks like good stuff, so I’m strongly considering this one.

Same page has an offering from Nobrow that sounds interesting, Mason Mooney: Paranormal Investigator, about a heartless dude trying to prove he’s the best.  However, I’m puzzled by the listed price of $132.99!

That seems … excessive?

Oni has Odessa by Jonathan Hill on page 284, about a post-apocalypse society where a young woman’s mother left when the girl was very young, and how she’s tempted to search for her mom when she receives a mysterious package for her 18th birthday. The art looks pretty good (and familiar, do I know this creator?).

It does look interesting, but to be fair, maybe it’s not “post-apocalyptic” per se, just on the West Coast, part of which fell into the ocean. Maybe the rest of the world is fine? And you might know the artist, but he has a very familiar style of art, I agree – it’s bugging me because it reminds of someone, but I don’t know who.

They look really mad at the bridge – it’s not the bridge’s fault, people!  T: Unless that’s the twist of the story …

I also was waiting for the trade of Backtrack, offered on page 290, about a woman in a car race that covers all sorts of time periods.  I’m not sure, does this book include issue 6, offered on the next page, or just the first 5 issues?

I don’t know! You figure if they’re calling each issue 32 pages (doubtful), 32 x 5 = 160, which is more than the trade, so I’m going to say it can’t be more than 5 issues (if we assume the trade is slightly smaller than the five regular issues due to lack of ads or extraneous crap). Let’s say 5 issues, shall we? Still it’s weird that the trade is scheduled for November but issue #6 is scheduled for September. The mind reels!

Pegasus Books has My Captain America: A Granddaughter’s Memoir of a Legendary Comic Book Artist by Megan Margulies, about Joe Simon.  I’m not sure what time period this covers, but it’s probably interesting.

I always like PS Artbooks stuff, and the more recent softee SC books they’ve been offering have been interesting, although I don’t think any of them have come out yet.  But on page 303 we get not only Amazing Ghost Stories volume 1, but we get a SC reprint of It Rhymes With Lust, often thought of as the first graphic novel, and it’s got the first Arnold Drake work as well as art by Matt Baker.  I’m in.  And damn!  On the next page you’ve got Anarcho, Dictator of Death, with Radar International Policeman from Master Comics, and that’s a title I’ve seen for years in the Overstreet Guide but never thought I might see.  And you’ve got Weird Tales of the Future softee v2, with plenty of Basil Wolverton art!  So much awesome!

It Rhymes With Lust is quite good, and of course it looks great!

Rebellion/2000AD has the usual crop of goodness on pages 306-307.  Battle of Britain 2020 Special has a lot of cool war stories by a lot of cool creators.  The Essential Judge Dredd: America trade has recolored art from John Higgins for a dark and complex story about the inhabitants of Mega-City One.  And there’s a new Misty and Scream Halloween Special for 2020.  Good stuff that I hope to review soon.  Hopefully.

Red 5 has a trade of Butcher Queen, about an interstellar world where off-worlders are being removed by a clandestine military group, and the aliens turn to a disgraced cop turned mercenary for help.  It’s offered on page 307 as well as Angela Della Morte TP 1, offered again.

I’m telling you – when you need a cover concept, chicks with guns always works!

Scout Comics has a few neat things on page 309, with Shiver Bureau in trade, said to combine Sherlock Holmes with Ghostbusters, and Tinkers of the Wasteland, with a post-apocalypse where chickens are scarce and deranged orphans are following a treasure map.  They reoffer a few of their other books as well.  Stabbity Bunny was pretty good from what I remember.

Same page has a biography of Orwell from SelfMadeHero, and Orwell is a fascinating dude.  At least his books were readable when we had to read them in school!

Storm King Productions, John Carpenter’s comic company, has a couple of neat trades on page 310, with Storm Kids: Hyperbreed, written by Louise Simonson and with a Billy The Sink cover, with a future where spaceships can fold space and Government and Corporation at odds; and Night Terrors: Graveyard Moon, a Steve Niles story of the Jupiter moon Callisto being used as a graveyard planet, and ghosts haunting the crew transporting the latest shipment of bodies, all under a Kelley Jones cover.

T Pub offers The Traveller GN (again, I think) on page 321, which sounds cool.  It’s not one of the books that Hatcher discussed recently, but I’m sure it’s probably pretty good.

Same page has Alter Ego 166 from TwoMorrows, featuring Kurt Schaffenberger and Alex Ross and their art on the original Captain Marvel.  On the next page is Back Issue 122, with the New Teen Titans and their 40th anniversary.  I bet our pal John will have an article in that one.

I don’t entirely understand what Uncivilized Comics has with Cartoon Di(e)lectics 2 by Tom Kaczynski, but apparently it’s got to do with how we’ll only understand the apocalypse through comics, which makes sense …

Vault reoffers Heavy 1 on page 332, and it sounded good.  I have to see if they still are offering a pdf of this issue for people who bought gift certificates from their local comic shops during the Covid crisis.  Also, the third and final trade of Heathen is offered on page 337.

Tony Akins is a good artist, and he’s drawing Hundred Wolves on page 333, which is about bloodthirsty Cossacks, so that might be keen.

Everyone loves angry Cossacks!

Z2 Comics on page 338 has Electric Century GN from Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, and Toby Cypress, about a former sitcom star who has to go to hypnotherapy to deal with his alcoholism.  This gets him addicted to going back in hypnosis to his childhood in Atlantic City, and there are mysterious shadows there …

Kodansha Comics has a neat sounding one on page 348 with Heaven’s Design Team volume 1, about how God outsourced the creation of the animals to a design team, which seems to explain a number of animals (probably the platypus).

And on page 351 they have With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun v1, which is a very true statement! I know from experience.

Yen Press has King of Eden v1 again on page 375, about an impossible to contain killer from the mountains.  Uh oh.

Seven Seas Entertainment has a neat one on page 386 with What the Font?! A Manga Guide to Western Typefaces, a GN where a sales rep meets the anthropomorphized versions of different typefaces that are used in English translations of manga.  Weird, but could be educational.

Flip side!

I think Lobo is a visually awesome character, and the deluxe diorama of him and his bike on M16 is proof.  I’m tempted, but it’s probably too rich for my blood.

I like the Rainbow Batman Funko POP on page M49, and it amuses me that it’s for Pride Month, which is now over.  They understand at Funko that Previews solicits things 2 months ahead, right?

Every month is Pride Month, son!

Come on, this has nothing to do with Pride Month, it’s just one of the costumes from the Morrison run!

Thanks for reading, everyone! We hope you can find something cool to read – let’s face it, you’re not going to be seeing too many movies or television shows in the near future, so why not read some comics?

7 Comments

  1. tomfitz1

    Thanks for mentioning Batman/The Maxx crossover. I nearly forgot about this. It looks like the last 2 issues will be released soon. Finally!!!

    Also, I hope that Matt Wagner doesn’t have a snit about the of Grendel in the upcoming series, Grendel, Kentucky.

  2. Eric van Schaik

    Really not much this month. Only Fearless Dawn/Hellboy (again).
    Oh well.

    On vacation now with my youngest 2 and my girlfriend. In 4 weeks she lives with me.

  3. BB

    Hey, it does look like volume 8 of Infinity 8 is trade only. I’m sure it’s Covid’s fault they skipped the singles, but at least they get to wrap it up. It’s been a fun series! And, yeah, maybe a spoiler in the solicit, but that sure does sound like a fun, unexpected way to end it!

    1. Greg Burgas

      BB: That’s probably it, although it’s not unprecedented for a low-selling series to stop doing single issues. I’ve been getting the collections all along, so as long as this comes out, I’ll be happy. I’m keen to re-read them all.

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