Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – April 2018

I don’t know about you, but I found some cool stuff in this month’s Previews, so let’s check it out!

As per usual, I’m in blue, while Travis is in black. To be honest, it’s the 30th of March and I’m kind of worried about Travis. I haven’t heard from him in a while. Let’s hope he’s hidden himself away so he can finally catch up on his reading!

I’m cool.  Dealing with some stuff, but nothing too terrible.  I hope.  Maybe.  Um, let’s move on.  I do have something good going on in life, so that’s good.

Well, that’s good. Good to hear!

The big news this month is that Boom! and Dynamite move up to the front of the book! Yay, Boom! and Dynamite! I guess DC is getting their own book like Marvel has, too, but that didn’t happen this month. Oh, the changes!!!!

Well, plus manga has its own section, all the print stuff is mixed in together, and the flip book is for toys and games and shit.  So we’ll be able to ignore it even more.

Ignorance is bliss!

Dark Horse:

Check out the solicitations here!

Brian Wood is writing a Viking series again, with Sword Daughter on page 44. Evil dudes slaughter an entire village except for a dad and his infant daughter, and once she’s older (I assume, given the preview page), they embark on a quest for revenge. Sounds neat-o. I’ll be getting the trades!

At least they come right out and say it’s inspired by Lone Wolf and Cub.

No plot is new!!!!!

Likely Stories (page 46) by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham better be old, or it means they’re working on this instead of MIRACLEMAN!!!!!! When, oh when, will Miracleman return? Come on, Gaiman and Buckingham!!!! What the living fuck is the hold-up?!?!?!? Not that I’m bitter or anything.

I was going to mention that (the Miracleman stuff, and poke Tom with it 😉 ).  This collection might be old stuff, as I seem to recall hearing about them doing adaptations of these stories long ago, maybe from Eclipse?  I’ve read at least some of the prose versions of these and of course they’re good.

On page 51 is a new comic from two creators that I’ve met in person.  Rafer Roberts (who does the delightfully weird Plastic Farm, which I need to read and review here) writes and Kristen Gudsnuk (of Henchgirl, as well as, I believe, the first creator I’ve interviewed!) draws Modern Fantasy, a story of what appears to be The Office meets Dungeons and Dragons.  Might be fun.  I may get the singles on this!

This sounds all right, but I’ll wait to decide until the trade. I was not as enamored of Henchgirl as you were – it was okay, but nothing special – but that doesn’t mean I won’t try more of Gudsnuk’s work!

I’m on her email list and just got an email with stuff she’s doing (including this) as I was typing up some of this stuff! Here she is drawing some of her characters, and I also found a blog post where I was apparently quoted about Henchgirl (from my interview), although the damn site doesn’t want to load for me. (I think the author of that commented at the old place, if I remember right.)  Just google my name and hers together and it’s the Graphic Novel Resources one, if Greg doesn’t go ahead and include the link himself.

All right, here it is.

On page 52, Dark Horse manga editor Carl Horn has a nice letter about Dark Horse publishing manga for 30 years blah blah blah. Nowhere in this motherfucking letter does he mention The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and when new editions are coming out, so fuck him. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

Harsh, but necessary, because I need more of that series as well.  Thank you for the recommendation whenever it was, so I got those 4 big omnibi.

Did you say you’d read Gantz?  Because there’s a big omnibus of it on page 53, which they’ll probably stop releasing new volumes of in the middle of the series….

Yeah, I read a little more than half of Gantz, even though I own all the volumes. It’s not bad, and one day I’ll get around to the rest of it, and it seems to be popular for Dark Horse, so I don’t doubt that they’ll actually finish this project. If you like a lot of violence and, at least in the early volumes, a good amount of nudity, it’s for you!

You say that like you don’t know me by now (you will never never ever know me!).

I’m not all that interested in the story of Crystal Fighters (generic magical girl stuff, it appears), but Jen Bartel’s art is pretty nifty, so people may want to take a look at this trade on page 57.

On page 59, Matt Kindt’s 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man is offered in an expanded edition, with fancy bells and whistles. Like much of what Kindt does, this is a tremendous book, and it’s not badly priced at 20 dollars.

Yeah, I’d like to get this, so I’ll be considering this.

I’m very torn about Sullivan’s Sluggers on page 60. On the one hand, IT’S DRAWN BY JAMES STOKOE, which should be enough to make me drop down some ducats on it, no questions asked. On the other hand, I heard some horror stories about the way the writer, Mark Andrew Smith, handled the Kickstarter for this some years ago, so I don’t know if I want to give money to someone who seems this douchey. It’s a puzzler!

The sad thing is that Smith has done some pretty good comics, but from what I’ve heard with this (and I think at least one other project), he might not be the best dude to collaborate with or give your money directly to.  I wonder if the Kickstarter for this ever was completely fulfilled?

I’m not sure, because I lost track of what was going on. I’ll probably get it, I think, but I’ll feel dirty about it.

We’ve got the complete collection of Charlton’s Hercules: Adventures of the Man-God on page 61, from Joe Gill, Dennis O’Neil, and art by Sam Glanzman.  I am wary of it being showcased “exactly as it appeared in its original state”, because from what I hear, the Charlton comics were crappily printed, and this implies they did absolutely nothing beyond scanning pages from printed comics for this book.  So I won’t be picking it up.

I have some mild interest in it – Mike Sterling posted some art on his blog, and Glanzman was on fire, it appears, but you’re right that it would be nice to know what that copy actually means.

Vampire stories aren’t exactly my thing, but Mammon on page 72 sounds and looks neat. Michael Hague is a terrific painter (I’m not sure about his writing skills), so I’m leaning toward getting it. It’s only 20 dollars, which is not bad.

It did look interesting, at least, but I think I’ll be passing.  Too much other good stuff here this month.

The Vinegar Teeth trade is on page 74. This comic looks terrific – Troy Nixey represent! – and it sounds neat, as a regular cop is partnered with a Lovecraftian monster, as happens occasionally. Damon Gentry is a fun writer, and I’ve been looking forward to this.

Yeah, I’m pretty certain I’m getting this, because of the coolness.

DC:

Here are all the solicits you can shake a stick at!

Bryan Hitch is weird. It seems like he would have enough pull to work on books he wants to, and now he’s drawing … Hawkman (page 80). Wait, Hawkman? Yep. I mean, if he wants to, more power to him – he’ll last five issues and get replaced by Neil Edwards – but he seems to want to draw AND write these days, and Robert Venditti is writing this. So bizarre. But good for DC, trying Hawkman yet again!!!!

From what I heard, the Hawkman special from recently did quite well, so apparently people want him.  I’m not sure why, other than he looks cool as fuck.  The character is so fucking convoluted, even by DC standards!  And so harsh yet true re: Hitch’s inevitable stint on this book!

It’s a stupid storyline tearing down all the good work that’s been done to make me not hate Superman’s son, it sounds like, but the new Bendis Man of Steel mini has a great batch of artists.  Although I’ll be amazed if the Sook or Hughes issues come out on time… (pages 82-83)

Yeah, but presumably they’re already working on their issues and have been for some time, so maybe that will help! And while I doubt if Bendis would do something so callous as kill off Superman’s family in his first story, the solicit copy makes me nervous …

Gail Simone writing Plastic Man (page 84) is probably going to be good, but I do hope that she brings some humor to it. It sounds like they’re going back to his roots by making him a thug and thief, which is fine, but even the original comics had plenty of humor, and it would be nice if that didn’t get lost in the GrimDark™ DC-ness of it all. I’ll have to take a look at this when it comes out and decide if I want the trade.

Yeah, that’s my fear, that it will be too dark.  I trust that Simone can bring the funny, but Plas is even more wacky than just funny.  So I hope she brings that.

I don’t like that the ™ appears like that on the screen. It’s annoying.

So what is DC trolling Marvel with on The Unexpected (page 86)? It sounds … wow, really dumb – the hero has to fight a fire every 24 hours, and she draws two mysterious things to her, one of whom wants to kill her and the other wants to save her – but Ryan Sook drawing the first two issues before needing a break should make it look really purty. Anyway, I’m going with Midnight Sons for the Marvel analog. What say you?

My friend, you misread this.  She has to START a FIGHT every 24 hours, not fight a fire (which would also be dumb).  Yeah, I’d guess Midnight Sons as the closest Marvel analogue.  Hey, maybe they came up with an idea of their own.  A stupid one, but still!  Also, Sook is sharing art duties with Cary Nord, it appears.  So he might last a couple more issues (or didn’t even last the one before he was pulled for Man of Steel!)

Yeah, I did misread that. That’s possibly even dumber, although I guess it’s easier to start a fight than find a fire every 24 hours (although I guess you could start a small one yourself?). And yeah, I’m not reading very well these days, because I missed Nord’s name. I wonder if they’ll trade off issues or actually try to do arcs? And by the way, apparently there’s a very similar character in X-Men: Red these days. DC is up-to-the-minute on their trolling!

Aquaman and Jabberjaw (page 87). It had to happen!!!!

Jabberjaw!

Honestly, the Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special (page 88) sounds amazing. It’s set in the 1970s, and Hong Kong Phooey is … wait for it … a Vietnam vet. Oh yes. Plus Cowan inked by Sienkiewicz on art is always a treat.

Yeah, DC definitely is going out there with the Hanna Barbera stuff.  So weird!  Almost as weird as when Sublime did the Hong Kong Phooey theme!

Hey, DC’s Hulk meets Man-Thing in Damage #6 (page 102). That’s a nice crossover.

Jim Lee made it two issues on The Immortal Men, if you had that in the pool (page 111).

More than I would have guessed, actually.  I see they’ve mixed these comics in with the rest of the DCU listings, anyway.

That Scooby Apocalypse 26 cover on page 125 is the stuff fetishes are made from….

I don’t know, looks like a typical Saturday night around my house!

And holy shit, the Scooby gang teams up with the JSA in issue 39 of Scooby Doo Team Up (page 126)!

For a cool $75, you can get Absolute Flashpoint on page 131. Flash Fact: It ain’t worth it.

I bought the singles and the 20-25 bucks or whatever I paid wasn’t worth it.  Maybe if they included all the crossover issues in there, in a big ol’ Omnibus, it might be worth the scratch.

I don’t know if I heard there would be new stuff or just that this stuff was getting reprinted, but I’m not surprised that there’s a new edition of Batman: Thrillkiller on page 134, from Chaykin and Brereton.  Did you ever read this?

Indeed I have. It’s pretty good. Not good enough to be featured in my coveted “Comics You Should Own” column, but worth a look, especially for the art.

If you didn’t get The DC Universe by Mike Mignola in hardcover a few months ago, it’s on page 135 is softcover for 20 dollars. It’s a good value for the giant amount of stuff packed into it, plus the stuff is actually, you know, good.

I am tempted.

If you’ve never read the original Doom Patrol, DC has Doom Patrol: The Silver Age volume 1 in trade on page 135. It’s only 30 dollars for 16 issues, and these are very neat comics. Whenever someone talks about how cool Marvel was in the 1960s and how square DC was, you should show them these comics, because they’re pretty weird.

Yeah, I passed on the Omnibus whenever that was offered in the last year, and I’m not sure if it ever came out.  Is this the first of…three trades, then?

Sounds about right.

The trade of Ragman shows up on page 137. It’s Ray Fawkes and Inaki Miranda, and it looked pretty neat in the single issues, so I’ll be picking this up.

Early on in my collecting, I got most of the Giff/Broderick mini of Ragman, so the character has a special place in my heart.  I’m interested in this but a bit wary because it does look so different.

Orion by Walter Simonson gets a first trade on page 137, and you really should pick this up. Simonson is the only person after Kirby who gets the grandeur of the New Gods, and the story is terrific. I might have to get this, actually, even though I own the issues, because it has a good amount of extra stuff. Damn you, DC!!!!

Yeah, it’s good stuff from what I’ve read of it.  In the DC Guide to Pencilling or whatever it was called, Klaus Janson uses a lot of examples from this run for showing powerful covers and layouts (from what I recall, Simonson uses a lot of circles).

Why on Earth would you buy an omnibus of 31 issues of Red Hood and the Outlaws from the New 52 for 100 dollars? I don’t know, but DC is betting you will, because there it is on page 138!

Yeah, it’s weird the Omnibi they’re offering.  There was a Tony Daniel Deathstroke one last month, FFS.

I’ve never read Ronin, so I may get this new edition of the trade of the Frank Miller book on page 138.

It’s pretty cool. A tiny bit incomprehensible, but still cool. I love me the Absolute Edition, because Miller’s weird-ass art is blowed up to giant size!

Page 139. Superman Blue volume 1. Just let that marinate in your brain for a while.

Those books have a place in my heart, though.  I wonder if this means Bendis is going to use stuff from that run, then?

On page 144, we get an omnibus of American Vampire. This is a very good series, but I have no idea if it’s over or not. It’s been on hiatus for a long time, but I was under the impression that Snyder (and Albuquerque, I suppose) wanted to keep going with it. Does anyone know its status?

It’s hard to say without knowing anything, because you could look at it like it’s done and that’s why they’re collecting all this, or you could figure they’re collecting all this because they’re going to restart it.  Who knows?  Not me.

It’s a mystery!

IDW:

Yes, we have the solicits!

There’s a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen mini-series coming out on page 157, and I will be getting it. According to the solicits, not only is Alan Moore quitting comics, but so is Kevin O’Neill. Hmmm. Although I like how Alan Moore has been quitting comics for, what, the past five years or so, yet he keeps putting out comics!

Shit, Beardy has been quitting comics since after the second LOEG mini from DC, hasn’t he?  He still has to do the history of magic book, but maybe he’s having trouble contacting Steve Moore on the other side to get his input.

But yes, I am totally getting this in singles, and I hope I can figure out if I need any of the rest of LOEG before the orders are due.

OK, I get that with the license IDW is putting out a collection of the Bodycount mini of TMNT on page 159, but why is it from the Top Shelf brand in particular?

Because Simon Bisley’s art is KLASSY!

Lowlifes from Brian Buccellato and Alexis Sentenac on page 183 looks like something Image would be putting out.  Did IDW finally outbid them for once?  It sounds like a semi-generic sleazy noir crime comic, but the art is decent from what I can see.

Yeah, it looks all right.

On page 187, we get the trades of The Spider King and Comic Book History of Comics: Comics For All! Neither of these is finished yet, but Comic Book History of Comics is by van Lente and Dunlavey, so of course it’s awesome, and The Spider King – about an alien invasion in the 10th century that needs to be fought off by Vikings – looks pretty neat so far. So you’ll have to decide if you want them without knowing too much about them!

From what I understand, The Spider King was a kickstartereded thing that was published in singles from IDW after the trade was out through Kickstarter.  Is Comic Book History of Comics a new thing?  I thought it was, but then this solicit made it sound like it was a color version of old stuff?

Yeah, that’s a weird solicit. I haven’t read this yet because I’m waiting for it all to come out, but I’ve flipped through a few issues and I don’t recognize it, so it’s either new or my memory is just that bad. The singles are in color, too, so maybe they just mean that the previous series was in black and white (which it was), although that’s a weird way to write that. You see the re-offering of the first trade underneath it, so I think we can safely say that this isn’t that.

Yoe Books has The Unknown Anti-War Comics! on page 189, which sounds neat. There’s a Ditko story in there, apparently, and it’s 30 dollars for over 200 pages, and Craig Yoe usually does a nice job with these collections, so this sounds neat.

The objectivist man doesn’t need to fight a war for the lousy peons.

I could barely turn the page from 192, because that’s where you’ll find Bill Sienkiewicz’s Mutants and Moon Knight Artifact Edition, 125 dollars worth of staggering art. It’s not even complete stories, just pages of art without, it seems, any context, and I’m STILL thinking about getting it! Damn, that’s a book all right.

Well, it’s Billy the Sink, if anyone is worth looking at for context-less art in comics, he’s one of the best.  I would be sorely tempted more if I had more money to spend.

Image:

Take a look at the full solicits here!

Nathan Fox is drawing The Weatherman on page 197, so that might be something I’ll get in trade. It’s by the writer of Shirtless Bear-Fighter, and it’s about a dude who’s been accused of wiping out almost the entire population of Earth and the galactic manhunt that ensues, even though he doesn’t remember if he did it or not. Sounds pretty good, but Fox’s art will make it super-duper.

Yeah, I too will wait for the trade.  But it does sound neato.

Landry Q. Walker can be a good writer, and Justin Greenwood is a pretty good artist, so The Last Siege on page 198 might be good. A stranger shows up at a medieval castle which is filled with mean soldiers trying to force the rightful heir to the throne – an 11-year-old girl – out. It sounds good, although 99% of succession in medieval days was based on primogeniture, so an 11-year-old girl would have been married off and her husband taken over, but whatevs.

I’ll wait for the trade on this, too.

Shanghai Red (page 202), is written by Christopher Sebela, who’s pretty good, and the preview art looks nice, so it might be worth getting. It’s about a girl who was “shanghaied” from Portland in the late 1800s and returns years later for … REVENGE (and possibly ice cream)!!!! Should be oodles of fun!

It sounds like an interesting story born from the actual history of the area, so it should be extra cool.

Joe Keatinge isn’t my favorite writer, and Stellar (page 204) sounds like a standard “woman kicks ass” comic, but it’s drawn by “legendary” artist Bret Blevins (according to the solicits, that’s what he is!), which is pretty cool, and when they list the various stuff he’s done (as they do), they use … motherfucking Sleepwalker!!!!! I did not expect that at all. I showed this my retailer, who as a joke keeps a copy of Sleepwalker #1 on the wall where the expensive comics are, listed at various ridiculous prices (he crosses them off and changes them occasionally). I think on Wednesday it was listed at $200, and he immediately took it down and raised the price to $500. Get your back issues of Sleepwalker now before the Bret Blevins Renaissance takes off!!!!!

Fuck yeah Sleepwalker!  Greatest comic of the ’90s by far!  Ok, I’m only being slightly facetious. I actually think that more Image books (or from other publishers) should utilize the skills of “older” (I have no idea of how old Blevins is, but if he was working in the ’90s, he’s at least into his 40s) artists, since they know how the game is played and how to hit deadlines.  Maybe then you don’t end up with a great creator like William Messner-Loebs homeless AGAIN when they’ve done lots of great stories over the years.  Keatinge did a fantastic job with Glory (helped of course by the amazing art of Sophie Campbell), his Morbius was awful, and [that one that starts with S about the young woman and multiple worlds and stuff that just wrapped up recently art by Leila Del Luca] was mostly forgettable. [note: originally this stuff is in the brackets as editing notes to myself, but given Greg’s answer below, I’m leaving this in!]

I know you know this, but it’s Shutter.

I’m twitching as I type this, but I think I may get the Bloodstrike Brutalists issues from Michel Fiffe on page 206.  I am so very weak regarding crappy ’90s comics, but this might be interesting.  Issues 0 and 23 are offered this month.  These issues create issues that were never published after the Images of Tomorrow published issue 25 and then the book was cancelled with 22, I guess.

Michel Fiffe is a pretty cool creator, though, and if this gets him money to make more Copra, I’m all for it!

The Hard Place, from the 12 Gauge guys, sounded like a typical crime comic, but Doug Wagner did some good stuff with The Ride, as I recall, so I may get this trade on page 216.

Ice Cream Man gets a trade on page 217. It’s $17 for 4 issues, which seems skewed from the way Image usually does things, but it seems that the issues were a bit longer than usual? Maybe that’s it. Anyway, this sounded neat, and it looks cool, so I’ll probably get it.

Grr, it’s looking like Image is getting away from the 10 dollar first volume trades, as I don’t see any this month.  Dissonance on page 213 is also 17 bucks for 4 issues and it’s annoying.  The main thing with this one is that the first issue (at least) had 2 different covers, so it would have been more than the trade to get all of them.  I liked Judas: the Last Days, from what I recall, but of course haven’t read One Week in the Library yet.

I’m probably getting The Red Hook trade on page 218, because I like Dean Haspiel a lot and a sentient Brooklyn sounds interesting.

That does sound neat.

Dan Panosian’s Slots gets a trade on page 219. It sounds very clichéd, as a down-on-his-luck boxer is looking for redemption in Las Vegas, but Panosian is a fine artist, which might be enough to push me to get this. We’ll see.

That’s true, the story is blah.  But he is pretty good.  I’m more on the fence now.

On page 233, the final issue of Kill or Be Killed (#20) is solicited.  I never got around to reading this (or even buying it), but this will probably be a nice size complete series HC at some point, and I’ll have to consider that.

It’s quite good. I’m not sure how they’re gong to wrap it up by issue #20, but I assume they have a plan!

On page 240 is the fourth volume of Rumble, although this is the first drawn by David Rubín. I believe I have the first three volumes, although I only read the first, I think.  I’ll probably just get this anyway, though, because that first one was pretty good stuff.

That’s funny, because I was not impressed with the first arc. Oh well.

Sometimes it’s hard to decide on which cover to get for books with multiple covers, and other times, like with The Wicked and The Divine 37 on page 244, it’s pretty easy to decide that the B cover is more gooder.

Marvel:

Back to Newsarama for these solicits!

How many #1 issues of Thor has Jason Aaron written? This one on page 2 has got to be number four, right? I think? Sheesh. Good job, Marvel.

Heck, only 4 #1s isn’t bad in this day and age!

On the cover of the new Iron Man book on page 7, it looks like he’s going to command us to Kneel Before Tony.

They’re going back to the Hulk only coming out at night (page 10)? Sure, why not. They’re also claiming it’s a horror comic. Joe Bennett does not leap to mind as an artist when you’re doing horror, but good luck to him anyway!

Weirder too is that it sounds like Banner can be killed repeatedly and he’ll come back as Hulk each night, but then be Banner again in the morning.  If I’m understanding this.  Maybe I’m wrong?  I might try the trade, because I always hear that Al Ewing is very good.

Yeah, that is weird. Ewing is a good writer, though, so maybe I’ll consider the trade …

Why, oh, why could they be teaming up Ant-Man and Wasp in a series together (page 16) just in time for summer? WHY?!?!?!? I do like how it’s the wrong Wasp, though. Even Marvel’s synergy efforts aren’t great!

That is a striking graphic cover for Multiple Man 1 on page 19.

Man, Mark Bagley is an ok artist, but he’s got this trend of disturbingly tight masks that show off character’s lips entirely too well.  He did it with the Scarlet Spider book he drew for a bit, and now with Deadpool: Assassin on page 20 he’s done it again. I’m surprised he doesn’t do this all over the costume, and that I can’t tell who Deadpool’s rabbi is!

On page 22 is Marvel Rising: Alpha, which you pshawed last time (or the time before, I don’t remember), so I assume you won’t be participating in the related… in-store Father’s Day event?  I guess I get that this would be a book to read with the kids, but it just seems weird to have a Father’s Day tie-in to a book with two teenage girls prominently featured on the cover.  I’m probably overthinking this, though.

Man, taking something nice and making it dark. Way to go, Pelkie!!!!

That’s my style!

The Sentry (page 23)? Sure, why not.

I do like how the solicit admits that this is a bad idea.  It’s trying to present it as in-story not being good, but the solicit text actually reads: “Fresh from the pages of Doctor Strange…but is that really such a good thing?”  HA!

Speaking of Doctor Strange, his new series takes him into space, which sounds kind of neat.  It’s on page 25 and 26.

It’s a Greg Land cover, so it’s not that surprising that this is the case, but that is a disturbing cover on Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor 2 on page 30.  Never trust a Greg!

That’s certainly true. You definitely can’t trust those Gregs. And that cover … yeah, I don’t want to think about it too much.

I’ll wait until it’s in a cheap back issue bin down the road, but the Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 1 on page 42 has art by Mike Allred and a backup story written by one of the dudes on Sam Bee’s show.

I like how, when Dazzler was introduced, Marvel made her a disco diva just to be trendy. Now, in the one-shot Dazzler: X Song (page 54), she’s a punk, but if you tell writer Magdalene Visaggio that SHE’S just being trendy, I have a feeling she’d get pretty mad. Because let’s face it, punk is trendy these days. Still, any Dazzler is nice, and I might actually buy this!

Oh no you di-int!  I figured you were totally on board with this and would be getting the Billy the Sink cover.  I’m considering this.  Don’t forget, the Ultimate Dazzler was a punk, too, unless I’m forgetting something.

Yep, and it was trendy then, too.

Snob.

Ugh, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 32 is introducing a new character, Princess Fisk, who seems to be some relative of the Kingpin’s.  Oy.  (page 64)

I don’t know about the book, but Cable 158 has a great looking cover on page 72.

I said, those are some nice looking PIPS (because it’s Domino 3, y’see, on page 73), but I can see your confusion with it being another Greg Land cover.

[Not shown: another fucking Greg Land cover. I just can’t, man. One per post is pushing it!]

So on page 92, Marvel has a complete collection of Warren Ellis’s work on Daimon Hellstrom, which includes the final ten issues of the regular series and the four-issue Dr. Druid mini-series. Fine, fine comics. It’s a hardcover, though, so Marvel is charging SEVENTY-FIVE FUCKING DOLLARS for this, which is insane. You could probably find these 14 issues for about 30 dollars, and a nice trade would probably be priced about that or possibly 40 dollars. Look, these are well worth owning (I wrote a post about it!), but $75 is not only highway robbery, it’s highway assault and battery with probably some rape thrown in. Joey Q should be first against the wall when the revolution comes for charging this much for these comics.

What I saw is that this will also include the issues of Satana that the Code declared were not suitable for humans.  So it might be worth it, although I do have almost all of the Hellstorm series.  Never found the Druid mini, though.

Which issues about Satana? That ain’t in the solicit. Explain yourself!

According to a Bleeding Cool post, which I can’t find because that shitty site kills my computer no matter what browser I use, one of the things included in this book are the two (?) issues of Satana (is that 2 n’s?) that Ellis wrote when Marvel was going to do a Vertigo-esque line that was neutered before it began by slapping the Code on it (there was also a Man-Thing book, and something else, I think, that actually came out).  The story is that when the Code sent back the script/pages from the finished book, they expected it to be covered in comments, but apparently there was just a note saying that they suggested no fixes because that comic should not have been read by humans.  Ellis took some of the ideas and went to Avatar and did… Strange Killings, I think, so it’s sort of come out since, but in a very different form.  All I have to go by is something Rich said, so take that with a grain of salt.  Suffice to say, if it DOES include that stuff, I still doubt it’s worth that much, but when there’s an eventual mark down to retailers, this will be a book I’ll try to have my guy get for me.

On page 94, we get Thor: Heroes Return Omnibus, with what I think is Dan Jurgens’s entire run on the title. I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but Jurgens’s run on Thor is really, really good, by far the best thing I’ve ever read by him, and this has a crap-ton of comics collected in it for only $125 (I’m not counting, but there are over 50 issues in this?). So, in case you’re interested, here it is!

There’s now, on page 100, a hardcover of our pal Kelly’s contribution to Star Wars, Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi — Captain Phasma.  Hope that gives Kelly some extra cash!

On pages 108-109, we get trades of Legion by Peter Milligan and Wilfredo Torres and Rogue & Gambit by Kelly Thompson and Pere Perez. I’ll be getting both of these, even though Gambit makes my teeth hurt. That’s how good Kelly is!

Yeah, I’m definitely in for R&G, and maybe on Legion.  Too much good stuff out this month!  I kind of feel the same with Gambit, but it should be fun from what I’ve been hearing about it.

I might have to get the trade of Marvel 2-In-One: Fate of the Four on page 111. Chip Zdarsky isn’t a bad writer, and who doesn’t love a good Torch/Thing team-up?

I have been getting this for my friend at work who’s a Doom nut.  I haven’t read issue 5, which just came out, but I think the first 4 issues are good enough that you probably want to get this.  I may need to pull together a review of these issues soon.  Hey, it could happen!

I am tempted by Thanos Wins by Donny Cates on page 113, collecting the latest arc of the Thanos comic, if only to see if this Cosmic Ghost Rider is as dumb as it sounds!

Dynamite:

Check out the solicits here, but beware! it’s CBR!

John Layman has a few irons in the fire, and on page 252, we get one of them: Charlie’s Angels with Joe Eisma on art. Yeah, this will be fun.

I wish Image would get my shop a copy of the first Chew Smorgasbord edition!  The other two are waiting for me, tauntingly.  I’ll get the trade on this, because Layman is good and so is Eisma.  I like that Layman outs himself as the solicitation text writer as well.  Fun stuff.

Speaking of fun stuff, Kelly Thompson and Jenn St-Onge are doing Nancy Drew on page 254. Good times!

I guessed this was the book Kelly was going to have announced (at C2E2? recently) based on the teaser art, but I did not recall Nancy Drew as a redhead.  Not that I’m complaining.  But I will be getting the trade to get all the sweet cover art! Interesting too that these two books also have really good interior artists, which is…not always a given with Dynamite, shall we say?

Joseph Michael Linsner is doing the art on Vampirella: Roses for the Dead on page 258. Man, when was the last time Linsner did interior art? Those weird Marvel comics he did, what, a decade ago?

That Claws stuff?  I don’t even know the last time he did interiors.  Cover art must be a sweet gig.

Apparently Dynamite didn’t quite get all of the Edgar Rice Burroughs characters, many of whom are featured in The Greatest Adventure HC on page 263, because American Mythology has a Carson of Venus book on page 332 that will crossover with other ERB stuff, like the Land That Time Forgot.  I’m passing on The Greatest Adventure, because that HC price is a bit too dear for me, but down the road I wouldn’t mind grabbing it.

Boom! Studios:

The full solicits are also at CBR!

Well, the book says it’s 12 issues while the order form says 5 issues, but on page 280 we have By Night by John Allison (of Giant Days and Bad Machinery) and Christine Larsen. It is about a pair of friends who explore abandoned buildings and find a portal to another world.  As you do.  Allison is so good, I’ll definitely be getting these trades as they come out.

If it’s 12 issues, then many years from now Boom! will put out a giant hardcover. I’ll probably wait for that!

I must point out Planet of the Apes Visionaries: Rod Serling on page 282, not only because it sounds neat, showing the early version of the movie from Serling’s script, but because Rod Serling is a hometown hero in my area.  Ooh, next year will probably have 60th anniversary of the Twilight Zone stuff going on around here!

I saw that and thought it looked neat. I figured you’d write about it, though, so I let you!

I am the monkey guy.

There are entirely too many good artists on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Lost Chronicles v1 on page 293, like Rob Guillory, Terry Moore, Frazer Irving, and more.  But that’s still not enough to get me to buy this!

Yeah, me either.

Judas gets a trade on page 298. This looked pretty keen, so I’ll take a look at it.

It’s nice that Mega Princess from Kelly Thompson and Brianne Drouhard is the featured comic from kaboom! on the entirely too easy to rip out fold out bit in between pages 304 and 305.  It’s available on the order form under page 307 if you missed it, btw, and I’m hopeful that if they feature it like this, they like it enough that they’ll bring it back when/if Kelly and Brianne have time.  So good!

Hey, it’s time for the back of the book!

The latest Aardvark-Vanaheim Cerebus in Hell? one shot is on page 312 and called The Un-Bedable Vark, an Incredible Hulk parody cover that’s amusing looking.

Action Lab has the trade of Athena Voltaire and the Sorcerer Pope on page 314. I’ve only read the first issue (I think this collects four of them), but it’s typical Athena Voltaire stuff, which means it’s very fun pulp action. Give it a try if you haven’t dived into Steve Bryant’s world yet!

I believe that 4 issues were solicited.  I have most if not all of the Athena Voltaire stuff and it’s fun from what I have read, so I’ll probably have to get this.

Lost City Explorers on page 321 from Aftershock is giving me Final Sacrifice flashbacks.  Rowsdower!

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.  Tell us what issues are collected in your trades, Aftershock!  The second volumes of Babyteeth and Alters (pages 318 and 326) and the HC of Insexts Year One (on page 320) all have full page listings but do not tell what issues are included.  I got the first trade of Insexts, I need to know what was in the second, and if it was just two trades included in this HC.  At least Fu Jitsu v1 on page 327, which sounded like weird fun about the world’s smartest, un-aging boy protecting Earth from the world’s tallest man, tells us it’s the “first five issues”, which probably actually means it’s the ONLY five issues.  Oy.

I agree with you, but that’s some very specific anger you have going on there. If you got the first trade of Insexts, why didn’t you just get the second instead of waiting for the giant hardcover?

Look, I need to know, don’t question it.  More I’m wondering if there are enough bonuses in the HC to justify getting the HC instead of the second SC if I like v1.  Sort of.  But in general, I think publishers need to tell us what issues are in their trades, dammit!

I’ve been curious if Trespasser would come out in trade any time soon, and on page 330, Alterna has it. I read the first issue of this some time ago, and it was pretty good and the art was terrific, so I’m glad it made it to the collected edition stage. It’s only 10 bucks, which is nice.

I got the buck and a half singles but have not gotten around to reading them because I am super disorganized but I hope to change that soon.

Alterna also has, on page 328, a couple of interesting new/old things.  Metaphase 1 of 2 is a reprint in cheap form of a trade they did before, I’m pretty sure, about a boy with Down Syndrome who wants to be like his superhero dad, and the company that can give people superpowers.  It Came Out on a Wednesday is an anthology book of 48 pages of features for 2 bucks.  I believe that cover is Eli, not Eric, Powell, though.  He’s on Hillbilly above that on the page!

American Mythology, briefly mentioned before, also has Eric Shanower on a couple of books, the Casper’s Ghostland 100 on page 334 and The Three Stooges Matinee Madness on page 335.  Shanower gotta eat too!

Some day he will finish Age of Bronze!!!!

I guess this is a new Nancy in Hell book from Amigo on page 336.  I’ll wait and see if they reprint this and the original at some point.

Sigh.  Barack Panther from Antarctic on page 339.  That’s all I’ll say about it.

You didn’t have to say anything, you know!

But this is what we do here, we point out the absurd!

OK, Arcade Publishing has Broken Glory: The Final Years of Robert F. Kennedy on page 340.  It’s illustrated by Rick Veitch, and it’s an epic poem written by Ed Sanders of the Fugs.  So weird!

I like how Sanders isn’t listed in the solicitation text, because that seems rude. And I also like how it has “fascinating novelty value.” I want to get things that are, you know, good, not things with “fascinating novelty value”!

Isn’t that how they sell fart noisemakers?

Archie‘s got several neat things.  The latest Marvel Comics Digest features Ant-Man and the Wasp (page 342).  The Superteens are battling the Crusaders, which promises to be fun, on page 343.  And the collection of the original Cosmo the Merry Martian, which was recently resurrected, is available on page 344.  I’ll probably snag the Cosmo one, because it seemed like goofy fun.

So if Beardy is retiring from comics (no, really), how much longer is Cinema Purgatorio going to be around, and when that goes, what happens to Avatar (page 354)?  Side note, they FINALLY got some of those cheapo Avatar trades to stores that they solicited probably about a year ago, so I finally got my cheap copy of Captain Swing.  We’ll see what else actually comes out!

You always seem overly concerned about what’s happening to Avatar. Do you have stock in the company? Are you, in fact, Garth Ennis? What’s the deal, Pelkie?!?!?!?

I…I like some of their stuff?

Black Mask has a trade of Calexit on page 359. It’s the story of California voting to leave the country and the chaos that ensues. It’s only 3 issues but somehow it’s 160 pages long, and it’s drawn by Amancay Nahuelpan, who’s very good. I’ll have to think about this sucker.

It sounds dumb but it might be good.  I’m intrigued by the fact that it’s described as a dystopian work, because you’d think it would be presented as a liberal fantasy.

Hey, Broadsword offers the trade of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose that has the haunted vagina issue in it (volume 10, on page 368)!

You cannot mention that without linking to Chris Sims’s epic review of that issue!

Also on page 368 is Caliber, with another good batch of stuff.  I’ll point out the Deadworld Archives, which is actually a pretty cool zombie comic from the ’80s (and beyond!).  This has the first 4 issues and features early Vince Locke art.  It’s gory!

I think we saw the three books that are collected by Conundrum Press on page 370 as The Curse of Charley Butters, and I’m tempted.  Not only because it’s about an obsessive search for a missing artist, but because the main character is “sensitive soul Travis”, and I really relate to that 😉

What a weird description. I mean, not for you, as you’re so very sensitive, but just in general.

On page 371 from Craig A. Taillefer Comics and Books are the two volumes of Wahoo Morris, a book that Image put out briefly and where I first heard about it (about — gulp! — twenty years ago!).  I missed the Kickstarter for the second volume, so I’m glad that I can get these comics still, as I recall them being interesting, about a band dabbling in the occult.  Which seems redundant or something.

Yeah, that seems all right. I’ll have to think about it.

On page 372, Devil’s Due/First has Malefic volume 1, which is 28 bucks but is also over 200 pages. Haven’t you read this, sir? Is it any good? I’m very tempted.

I have not read this but I have read other stuff by the same writer.  I assume this is the full 8 issues, which makes me wonder why TF they have to call it volume 1, but we’ve been fighting that fight for ages.  I will probably be getting this.

Oh, look, there’s Caroline Munro in a skimpy outfit on the cover of 007 Magazine Presents: Bond Girls of the 1970’s [sic]: Caroline Munro (page 374).

There’s also a calendar on page 521 with this picture on it.

Fantagraphics has neat stuff on pages 382 and 383, like usual.  Jim Woodring has a new Frank book with Poochytown.  Georgia Webber has a memoir about losing the ability to speak in Dumb.  Carol Tyler talks about the Beatles in Fab 4 Mania.  And the two (?) volume set of the Fantagraphics-era Usagi Yojimbo is reprinted, which is the book they put out just after reprinting almost all of the individual volumes that they had done.  And which I bought.  And I would have waited for this thing if I’d known….

I might order this, although $75 is a bit dear. They offered a smaller collection of this stuff quite a while ago and either it never came out or my shop never got it, so I never got it. So I suppose I could try again!

Yeah?  A smaller collection?  I’m not sure what you mean.  I know this is the equivalent of 7 volumes that are about digest size, and they had reprinted several, if not all of them, but I didn’t get quite all of them when they were offered, so that’s what angried up my blood about this collection when it was originally offered.  There was apparently a HC version of this in 2010 that goes for mad cash on Amazon, but I swear there was this version offered before.

Maybe I’m thinking of that hardcover. I went back and looked at some recent order forms I have, but I couldn’t find it, so maybe it’s further back, but they had a Usagi Yojimbo book with a bunch of stuff in it that I thought was cheaper. But maybe it wasn’t.

The Hero Initiative has a Nocturnals Anniversary Art Book trade on page 395, with a lot of neat creators doing art as well as collecting some rare one shots.  I think I have to get this, because Nocturnals look cool and Hero Initiative is a good cause.

Humanoids has an interesting one on the same page, Luisa: Now and Then GN, where a photographer is visited by her teenage self who has traveled into the future, and how this changes her (their?) life.

Luckily, we’re not in India, so we can buy this with impunity!

Insight Comics has a few interesting ones on page 398.  Clockwork Lives is a comic for the Rush fans out there, as it expands on the Clockwork Angels stuff.  Scoop is about a teenage girl trying to clear her father’s name of embezzlement by using the power of journalism.  And Skip to the End is about a guy from a Nirvana-like band who can travel back in time with a magic guitar.  Sounds cool, and if I remember right, this was originally going to be out from Heavy Metal.

THE POWER OF JOURNALISM!!!!

Lion Forge now has Mae, the Gene Ha creator-owned book that started at … Dark Horse? Image? Anyway, there’s a trade on page 404 and new issue underneath it. This didn’t sound like my thing, but Ha’s art is always nice to see, so there it is.

Dark Horse. I thought DH put out a version of the trade, but also might have done an issue or two after.  I’ll check GCD in a bit and see.  Well, GCD claims there were 6 (possibly 7) issues, but they only have covers for 4, which I believe was all that was in the first trade.  So who knows?  It’d be nice to know exactly what is or isn’t in volume 1, and if volume 2 #1 is what was supposed to be issue 5.

I dig the Prisoner (what I’ve seen of the original, I missed a few episodes several-10-or-more years ago when BBC America aired it), and Alex Cox’s book on page 415 from Oldcastle Books, I Am (Not) A Number: Decoding the Prisoner posits that one should watch the episodes in the order that they were made in order to properly understand the show.  I need to find the big DVD set they had of this a number of years back!

I think that Alex Cox really doesn’t like me. I’m not sure – it could be someone else – and if it is him, he might not remember me at all, but I’m pretty sure he really doesn’t like me, or at least he didn’t at some point in the past.

Oh!  Is this the dude that co-founded the old blog?  Went on to be some board member of the CBLDF or something?  I keep thinking it’s the Repo Man director.

I … think? There was an Alex back there whom I thought was Alex Cox, and I’m pretty sure he thought my taste in comics was utter trash and my writing was awful. I can’t say he’s wrong on both counts!!! But I’m not sure if it’s he.

Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt are doing a ten-issue series set in the world after the end of The Sixth Gun called Shadow Roads on page 416 from Oni. That should be neat. I don’t know what this means for The Damned, which also has an issue this month, but maybe Hurtt is just that fast!

I believe Bunn and Hurtt are co-writing this, and someone else is drawing, unless I’m misreading the solicit.

Dang, you’re right. I can’t read or, apparently, look at the preview art. Zamudio is actually quite good, though, so this will still look keen.

(Makes an “at your age” joke….)   This is something I will get down the road when I eventually finally get all the Sixth Gun stuff together.  What I read of it was great, anyway.

Rebellion/2000AD has the Complete Future Shocks volume 1 on page 429, which is a big chunk of comics (over 300 pages) for 25 dollars, which ain’t bad. It annoys me, though, because I have many of these in other collections, but I don’t know how much overlaps. So I’ll be skipping this, but if you haven’t read them yet, the talent involved is amazing, beginning with Old Beardy McGrumpypants himself.

On page 428, they’ve got the 2000AD Sci-Fi Special 2018, which has an all-female roster of creators, which is interesting “stunt casting”, and Judge Dredd Megazine 397 has a crossover with Razorjack, John Higgins’s creation.

Secret Acres has, on page 432, Entropy GN, about a golem trying to understand his own creation, while encountering strange creatures.

On page 440, Titan has Tyler Cross volume 1: Black Rock, which is written by Fabien Nury, who’s pretty good. It’s a noir tale set in 1950s America, and the art looks pretty keen. It’s 25 bucks for a slim volume, though, but I’ll have to think about it.

Yeah, that’s about my diagnosis, neat but pricey.

Fuggin’ A, they’re collecting the GMozz/Rian Hughes version of (Dan) Dare from the ’80s, I think, on page 442.  I think I must have this (as in, I want it), but have you read it?

Yeah, I have. It’s pretty good. Neat art. A bit spendy here ($17 for 80 pages), but still pretty cool.

Lucy Bellwood is one of my favorite people in comics, so of course I’m going to buy 100 Demon Dialogues, in which she draws a cartoon a day in which she argues with the “demon” that tries to bring her down. It sounds silly, but I’ve seen some of them (she’s been doing it for a while on-line), and they’re awfully fun. It’s on page 454 from Toonhound Studios.

It certainly sounds interesting, and I should get more of her stuff, based solely on your recommendation.

We know TwoMorrows is great, and on pages 454 and 455 they continue to prove it.  Back Issue 106 has articles about the ’70s version of JSA, the All-Star Squadron, and Ostrander and Mandrake’s Spectre.  There’s a book about the Comic Book Implosion of 1978, which is a topic I’ve always been interested in since reading in the Overstreet Guide about the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade “collections” of all the killed books that were apparently Xeroxed and passed around.

I’m very keen on that DC implosion book. Sounds neat-o!

Vault Comics still hasn’t put out the last 3 issues of Insurgent/Failsafe yet, but on page 464 they have the second trade of Heathen, the lesbian Viking book (which I’m sure reduces the book greatly!), and the trade of Zojaqan, a story of a grieving mother transported to a future fantasy landscape, and how she survives.  It sounded interesting, so I may get it.

I’m not that interested in Heathen, but Zojagan does sound keen.

Z2 Comics has the collection of The Sweetness in HC on page 465.  I liked what I saw of it, and the art is by friend of the blog Kevin Colden and written by his wife Miss Lasko Gross.  He’s someone I met at a con and chatted with (a couple times, actually), and he’s literally a friend of John’s!  It’s highly unlikely, but I’ll try to get a review of it done … soonish.

I’ve been waiting for a trade of this, because I really like Colden’s art, so it’s cool that it’s coming out!

On page 502, Yen Press has Shibuya Goldfish v1, about a trendy part of Tokyo being overrun by man-eating goldfish.  Which happens at times.  Same page also has Little Witch Academia, the title of which I need to show someone….

Seven Seas Entertainment has Cutie Honey: The Classic Collection, of Go Nagai’s character, complete, I guess, in one HC on page 514.  I’m interested, but probably won’t get it.

And so we come to the end of another Previews post. We certainly hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to check out Previews, because you never know what cool comics you’ll find inside!