Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – April 2024

It’s time for checking out what’s coming down the pike in Previews #427, which this month features a cover so shocking I can’t show it to you this high up in the post – you’ll have to scroll down to see the abomination!!!!!

Sweet Crucified Jesus, thank you for your service!  Wait, this feels familiar, even though it’s been awhile … is this an Easter miracle, or an April Fool?!?! (That’s Travis, bolded this time around.)

DC:

Elseworlds is back (I mean, it never really went away, as that “DC Heroes in medieval times” book exists), and DC immediately shoots themselves in the foot with Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age (page 2), a sequel to Gotham by Gaslight (natch), which is … TWELVE FUCKING ISSUES LONG!!!!! The original, of course, is a 48-page “Deluxe Format” book, and Brian Augustyn managed to tell a complete and fairly compelling story in that space. Now, Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernandez are giving us TWELVE FUCKING ISSUES to tell a story with the same 19th-century Batman, and I! COULD! NOT! BE! LESS! EXCITED!!!!! Sheesh, DC, less is sometimes more, you know. (11 June)

*Cough Cough* Master of the Future *cough cough*  I mean, obviously they’re trying to monetize the different Elseworlds as much as possible, and I’m resigned to that, but what usually makes me sad is that it gets good artists stuck on bad/boring books like this instead of creating the next hit book.  I’m not really interested in these sequel series, but Batman the Barbarian could be fun, and I’m wondering what Green Lantern Dark might be (I thought they announced some vague synopses of these, but I forget what).

Oh, yeah, I forgot about Master of the Future! Sheesh, DC, you can’t even keep track of your own damned books!

DC and Marvel also do something stupid on pages 4-5 (I know, it’s shocking how many stupid things they can do, isn’t it?). They have, on page 4 the DC Versus Marvel Omnibus, which collects a shit-ton (all?) of the crossovers over the years (well, not that JLA/Avengers thing, but the one-shots, I guess), including perhaps the crown jewel, the X-Men/Titans crossover. That’s all well and good, and I would like to get this. On page 5, continuing the theme, they have the Amalgam Age Omnibus, which has many admirers. Another one I’d like to get. Of course, they’re omnibuses, so they’re both $150, and DC and Marvel … ARE RELEASING THEM ON THE SAME DAY!!!!! I mean, that’s a chunk of fucking change, that is. Well done, Giant Corporate Superhero Publishing Concerns. You couldn’t do one in one month and the other a month later, could you? “Hey,” said the slick marketing dude to the old fuddy-duddies running the companies, “you know what people have a lot of? DISPOSABLE FUCKING INCOME!!! So let’s release these doorstops on the same day, because that’s sure to drive the sales way the fuck up!!!!” Sweet Fancy Moses, DC and Marvel. (6 August … for both!!!!)

So, from what I understand, this was mostly a DC project, as Tom Brevoort said he didn’t really know much about it in his Substack newsletter (despite the first one having an afterword by him), and I wish it was a sign of more crossovers to come, but it doesn’t seem to be.  I agree that it’s dumb to do both on the same day, but as the Amalgam one is on the quarter century nostalgia schedule, they must figure those of us who caught this first time around want it in one big ol’ book.  As to what’s missing, I see JLA/Avengers isn’t in the first (which I hope they’ll reprint again, especially since the Perez memorial edition got caught up in collector mania and could have raised more charity money than eBay fees), but otherwise seems to only be missing the original — the adaptation of the Wizard of Oz!  Ahem.  Were there actually no crossovers between the X-Men/Titans and the first Batman/Punisher one?  Damn!  In the Amalgam one, it’s very weird, as it seems to be missing two one-shots, JLX and Magneto and Magnetic Men.  I assume they just missed them in the listings, but I needs to know!

Possibly a Gerard Jones alert?

It’s very nice that DC is releasing a tribute to Rachel Pollack on page 7, but let’s pump the brakes a bit with the praise for her Doom Patrol, which was pretty trash (at least what I read of it, which wasn’t much because it was, I think I might have mentioned, trash). Still, this one-shot reprints The Geek story she did with Michael Allred, which has never been reprinted, so that should be keen. (4 June)

I’ll get this, even though I think I only read one story of her Doom Patrol run, the Vertigo Jam story with Eric Shanower art, which was odd.  The Geek issue was weird too, and I have a feeling I probably just was too young to quite grasp it, but Pollack was a trailblazer.  The Time Breakers book she did with Chris Weston is being crowdfunded over on Zoop right now, and I don’t remember if I read the whole thing, but Weston’s art is really cool.

The solicit for Nightwing #115 (page 13) made me chuckle: “When things go up in flames, Dick must put his feelings aside and help Shelton, a.k.a. Heartless, find his butler.” Um, what? I know this book gets praised to the skies, and that’s cool, but that just struck me as a really weird sentence. Whose butler? Why is that the momentous plot? Do they need to find “his” butler (I assume they mean Shelton’s, as that’s the closest proper noun, but Dick is the subject of the sentence, so it could be his, too) because Shelton (or Dick) doesn’t know how to do his laundry or make a sandwich? The mind reels! (18 June)

I do not like when DC (and Marvel) have no idea who’s drawing their books, as the solicit for Birds of Prey #10 (page 15) promise a “GUEST ARTIST TO BE ANNOUNCED!” Unless it’s Bernie Krigstein risen from the grave, just tell us. And if you don’t know, figure it the fuck out, people! (4 June)

Wasn’t Green Arrow already teaming up with Amanda Waller back when we used to do this before?  They act like it’s a whole big thing in GA 13 on page 25.

DC cares not about its history, so they’ve never met and if you remember it, it’s the Mandela Effect and you certainly can’t point to anything printed to prove your point!

Ye Gods, I bet you’re right!

Javier Rodríguez is drawing Zatanna: Bring Down the House (page 30), which means I will be buying Zatanna: Bring Down the House. Yes, Mariko Tamaki is fine as the writer, but the draw, let’s face it, is Rodríguez. (25 June)

Yes, I too will get this, even though the plot seems to be the same plot that Zatanna has every time she gets restarted.

I don’t want to buy The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley on page 32, because it sounds … well, awful, but Jenn St-Onge is drawing it, and she’s such a good artist that it’s making me consider it (probably still won’t buy it, but I’m thinking about it!). (3 September)

It sounds dumb, but some of the YA books that DC has been doing have been surprisingly good.

On page 37, the plot of the Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries 6 is that the Scooby gang are foiled by Batman while they’re in competition for a competition with a money prize, and I hope it’s revealed at the end that Batman is out of funds this month.

In this issue: things take a decidedly dark and too-real-world turn!!!!!

I have a copy of the first issue of MAD Magazine (in reprint form, I ain’t rich), but I’m considering the facsimile version on page 38 because I do like to see the old ads.

So weird that DC started facsimile reprinting their big mid-’80s crossover maxiseries just a few months after Marvel started reprinting theirs!

Who could have anticipated that????

I didn’t love the art on the Fire and Ice story that sent them to Smallville, but I love me some Beatriz da Costa, so I’m probably going to get the trade of Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville on page 41. I am weak, people. Don’t look at me!!!! (6 August)

I’m interested.  But is this related to that Heroes in Crisis crisis center in Smallville that is apparently coming back with this new DC summer crossover?  And if not … wtf?  And is it tied to the Human Target series?  What is continuity, anyway?

Don’t ask too many questions, sir!

Is anyone getting Superman: Lost? The trade is offered on page 43, and I’m kind of curious, but I haven’t heard much about it, and what I have heard has been lukewarm. Let me know, people! (13 August)

It sounds neat, but oddly enough, like with the X-Men, Superman in space tends to suck.

Marvel:

You will not entice me to buy Wolverine: Blood Hunt (page 14-15), because OH MY GOD SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS!!!!!, but dang, if Juan José Ryp on art doesn’t make me tempted just the tiniest, teeniest bit. Damn you, Marvel!!!! (5 & 19 June)

[NO COVER BY RYP????? WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MARVEL!!!!] [That was Burgas, btw, before I was bold.] [Yeah, sorry about that – so much confusion!]

Marvel is ditching the Krakoa nonsense after only 3 years (pages 24-25), which was either the plan all along, or they finally realized what a CLUSTERFUCK it is long after your humble blogger told them about it. It was shit, it was always shit, and it should be purged from our memories as quickly as possible and only brought up as an object of ridicule from now on. I imagine, as X-Men “#700” is “88” pages long, that the resolution will not be what I think it should be – the X-Men sitting around the breakfast table reading their “fictional” adventures in licensed comics (as happens in the Marvel Universe) and commenting on how stupid the whole Krakoa thing is, thereby consigning it to the fictional realm even within the Marvel Universe, and I’m sure it will be something ridiculous and convoluted and feature Goofy Sinister (as Gillen is one of the writers), and … I’m kind of curious. I read the shitty beginning, so I might have to read the shitty end!!!! (5 June)

Scarlet Witch is in upstate New York (page 26).  Writer Steve Orlando is from (and maybe still lives in) upstate New York.  Coinkydink?

Yeah, probably.

Jason Aaron is writing a Scrooge McDuck comic on page 28. For those who turned away for a second: JASON MOTHERFUCKING AARON IS WRITING A SCROOGE MCDUCK COMIC!!!!! I mean, if he doesn’t slip a “Scrooge McFuck” joke in there, I’m going to be disappointed. Jason. Aaron. Scrooge. McDuck. Let that sink in, people! (19 June)

I want this so much.  Plus, it’s got a Frank Miller cover, and it’s undoubtedly in current Miller style, which means it will be amazing!  AMAZING!!!

Pages 32-36: Ultimate Marvel stuff. What the fucking fuck? How quickly will that crash and burn? I don’t care if everyone loves the first issues – people always love first issues!!!!

I’m sure it won’t last anywhere near as long as the first Ultimate stuff, but this is going into a new and different direction at least.

So, on page 61, Captain America 10 is talking about “Change Agents”, apparently a new thing that Cap is trying out, but protection coming from the Front Door Cabaret?  Like, Liza and stuff?

I had to look that up, because while I got the gist of your joke, the context was just making my brain bleed. What a weird name for an organization!

There are some great artists on page 76, but they worked on Ghost Rider 2099, f’r the luvva.  I’m both compelled and repulsed!

Jason Aaron’s run on Punisher Max with Steve Dillon is reprinted in an Omnibus again on page 78, appropriately offered the same month as the Uncle Scrooge book.  Do you remember liking this?  Is it worth a C-Note?

Why would you think that I, a world famous Punisher Hater™, would have gotten this? If Garth Ennis couldn’t make me like the Punisher, I had no hope that Aaron could!!!!

I know you’re all over that Dazzler omni on page 79.  Does this hint that the T-Swift rumors about the Deadpool/Wolverine movie are right?

Dang, I talked to a dude today whose friends with the writers of the movie, and I forgot to ask him! That omnibus is very tempting, but I have almost everything in it already, so I might skip it.

Well, Marvel finally did it: we’re getting an Omnibus of the X-Tinction Agenda, one of the worst stories ever put to paper in the Marvel Universe (page 81). Now, there’s quite a bit more in here that is not quite as shitty as those, but man, $125 is too much to pay for what’s probably 75% garbage. Avoid this like the plague!!!! (30 October)

Whenever I’ve read some of this stuff, I wondered why people dug the X-Men so much. 

Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise gets a regular-sized trade on page 94. Tradd Moore’s writing on this is pretty good, but it’s very much in the service to his mind-bending art, and while the “Treasury” edition was very keen to look at, this version is priced to move at 18 bucks! (17 July)

I’ll still probably try to find a cheap copy of the Treasury edition, though.

On page 100, Marvel has a collection of Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano’s Dracula, the solicit of which is funny. It says it’s stuff from 1974 through 2005, but at the end it says it collects Dracula (2010) #1-4. I know the 2010 series is just the older stuff presented in single-issue format, but it still struck me as funny. Anyway, I’ve read parts of this, and it’s not bad. (31 July)

I saw that too and giggled a bit.

Boom! Studios:

Peter Milligan has Profane on page 48, which sounds neat. A private detective investigates a case that points to a famous detective novelist, and things get weird. I assume there will be some metatextual stuff, because that’s what Milligan does! The art looks keen, too. (5 June)

I’m not sure if I’ll get Lawful (page 52), but it doesn’t sound bad. It’s about a society in which every mistake you make turns you a little more into a monster, which could be intriguing but could also be too vague to work (if you get something wrong on a school test, does that count?). Greg Pak writes it, and he’s pretty good, and Diego Galindo draws it, and he’s pretty good, so I might pick up the trade down the line. (12 June)

I had mentioned a few years ago that comics writers had discovered Centralia and decided that it was a Good Thing™ around which to base fiction, and Slow Burn (page 69) is the latest, as a gang of inept thieves hide out in a town very much like Centralia and find that things are kind of weird there. Ollie Masters is a pretty good writer, so I’ll probably get this, but I do find it funny that everyone, it seems, just discovered the town’s existence at the same time and thought, “Hey, we can set stories here!” (21 August)

It’s so metaphorical!

Skipping right over Dynamite, just like the good old days!

Sorry, you’re right. Oh, look, on page [X], there’s a Vampirella comic. And on the next page … a Vampirella comic! And on the next page … is that a Vampirella comic? I believe it is!

And now we’re done with Dynamite!

Titan Comics:

Wait, the new Doctor is … (gasp!) … a black man?!?!?!? Oh, my childhood has been raped!!!! A chick and now a black dude? What the fuckity hell, people?!?!?!? Look away if you don’t want to see the unredacted cover!!!!

Sigh. Do people really think this? I mean, who fucking cares? I have no interest in Doctor Who, but come on – the new series on page 130 is written by Dan Watters, who’s very good, and the art by Kelsey Ramsay looks very cool. I believe that people are this put out by shit like this, but I don’t want to believe it, because it’s so, so stupid. Double sigh. (26 June)

I may just be less online than when Jodie Whittaker was announced, but I feel like there’s a lot less pushback for Ncuti Gatwa.  It seems like there’s been more noise about trans issues in the series, so y’know, as long as you’re a dude, you’re ok.

Image:

Gerry Duggan and Garry Brown have an intriguing new series, Falling in Love on the Path to Hell (page 159), in which a female samurai and a male cowboy are mortally wounded on opposite sides of the world but meet in a “purgatory” where they need to fight their way through, and of course they fall in love. Aw, romance. Duggan and Brown have done good work in the past, and this sounds pretty neat.

Image is working hard to make their new G.I. Joe license something neat, as we get Dan Watters writing Destro and Kelly Thompson writing Scarlett on page 160. I probably won’t get either one of these (I’ve never been the biggest Joe fan, although I’ve gotten some of the comics in the past), but that’s still pretty keen!

I might get the trades of this stuff, because I’m a fan of Kelly’s, and GI Joe and (more so) the Transformers are nostalgia bait for me, so this Energon Universe stuff is intriguing.

I probably won’t get the trade of Bloodrik on page 162, but I do like how, on each cover, the title lettering is so stylized that they need to print out the name of the book in more easily legible letters underneath the main title. That can’t be a smart move, making the actual title of your book unreadable!

That is funny. I flipped through an issue on the shelf at the comic shop and it looked pretty cool, so I might get this trade as it has some extras.

I was hoping that we would get more Friday soon, and there’s the third volume on page 162! However, I’m sad that it’s the final volume. Oh well – it’s still a good comic!

Brubaker and Phillips have their latest offering, Houses of the Unholy, on page 163. Does it really matter what it’s about? It’s Brubaker and Phillips, you fools!!!!

Kyle Starks is a decent creator, so I might have to pick up Rock Candy Mountain Complete Edition on page 164. It’s a “kung fu hobo epic” – how can you resist?!?!?

I swear this complete edition was already offered a couple years back.  Surprisingly, I actually read the first volume of this, and it was quite good, but I don’t think I got the second volume.  I’ll probably cave and just get this version!

The Department of Truth is back on page 165. It’s about fucking time, says I!

And Black Cloak is also back on the same page.  No, I didn’t read the first arc yet, but I did buy it!

Wow, the order of the catalog is so weird!  I haven’t been keeping up with even looking at it without Flippin’!

Yeah, and who knows, month-to-month, which publishers are even going to keep sticking with Diamond. The loss of a monopoly is a good thing, but it’s still a mess!

Dark Horse:

Matt Wagner has a new Grendel story on page 214 called (wait for it) Grendel: Devil’s Crucible — Defiance. Colons and dashes, ahoy! I don’t care what it’s called – it’s Matt Wagner doing Grendel, yay!

Kill All Immortals sounded interesting when it was first solicited late last year … and it never came out, so now it’s resolicited on page 216. It’s the story of Erik the Red and his kids, who discovered the secret to immortality during the Viking age, but in the modern day, one of the kids wants to break away from the family, and things get bloody. I certainly hope this comes out this time!

Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and Chris Weston are the creative team of Paranoid Gardens (page 217), which is about a nurse at the “most bizarre care-center in the universe.” Way has proven he knows what he’s doing with comics, and who doesn’t love some good Chris Weston art?

As I mentioned above, Time Breakers is being crowdfunded over at Zoop, and Weston is mentioned as having a new creator owned comic coming from Dark Horse — I presume this is it!  Sounds like fun!

Seance in the Asylum (page 218) sounds neat – a defrauded spiritualist in an asylum in 1865 is given the chance to perform seances for the patients to help with their mental illnesses, but of course, what if it’s real?!?!?!? Dum-dum-dummmmm!

It’s not in this month, but last month had the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus 6!  Yay!  Now I just need to find volume 5, which I think I missed.

Yeah, at some point I’ll need to check out if these go further than the smaller volumes I have, because I’ll probably just switch them out.

IDW:

I’ll probably get the trade of Godzilla: Skate or Die on page 222, written and drawn by Louie Joyce, who drew the GN A Fistful of Pain for ComixTribe a year or two back.  He’s got a very energetic style.

That sounds … kind of cool, actually.

There’s another TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo crossover on page 225, with the subtitle Saturday Morning Adventures, which means it’s in the style of the TMNT ’90s cartoon.  Cowabunga, dude!

On page 225, we get Dark Spaces: The Hollywood Special, which doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Hollywood. A woman ends up in Pennsylvania coal country – not Centralia, thank goodness, but Minersville, where my wife grew up! – and there’s something lurking outside of town, of course (today, the lurkers would be meth-heads – Minersville is a depressing place, man). Claire Roe is a fine artist, and this sounds nifty.

I saw some of the issues, but wtf, I didn’t realize there was no connection to Hollywood (CA or FL!).  Weird!

I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but Antarctic Press has Winnie the Pooh: Demon Hunter on page 244. Because of course they do.

I think I saw this on Kickstarter, but even more disturbing is Zenescope’s Pooh Vs. Bambi 3 of 3 on page 198.  Ye Gods!

As that is on issue #3, I was going to wait until the trade was offered to roll my eyes digitally at it. Sheesh.

Bdang has When the Lake Burns on page 260, which sounds interesting. A lake catches fire and a group of teens goes out to see it … and things get weird. Oh dear.

And those kids go on to form the Meat Puppets.

Jeff Smith has collected his early newspaper strips in Thorn on page 272 from Cartoon Books. I am, of course, a big fan on Bone, so I’ll have to check this out.

That’s cool.

I don’t know if Dstlry is going to last, but I’m rooting for them! On page 284, Jamie McKelvie has One for Sorrow, which is a horror story set in 1900 London, while on page 285, Joe Henderson and Lee Garbett bring us The Big Burn, about thieves who sold their souls and are breaking into hell to steal them back. Like you do. They also have hardcovers of Somna (by Cloonan and Lotay) and Gone (by Jock) on pages 304-307, which are a bit spendy at $30 but which I might get, because they’re nice-looking comics. I don’t know if I should take the chance that softcovers will ever come out!

I’m glad whoever is footing the bill is still doing so.  I’m rooting for them too, as Will Dennis is part of the editorial team (I’m sure I’m reducing his contributions, but not intentionally), even though the solicits are confusing.  Don’t tell me this early stuff, just tell me what’s going to come out soon and what I need to order now!

Fairsquare has Tunis to Sydney (page 314), a story about a Tunisian woman living in Australia whose parents die back in Africa and her journey back there for the funeral and what kinds of emotions it dredges up. Sounds neat.

Is that the right word?

There are 36 unique words in those two sentences. SPECIFICITY, PELKIE!!!!!!

On page 318, Fantagraphics offers Braba: A Brazilian Comics Anthology, which might be neat to check out. I’m unfamiliar with the creators, but I’m always willing to take a look at unusual stuff like this!

Hot DAMN!  I’m glad Fantagraphics is bringing back Hate on page 316, with Hate Revisited, as Peter Bagge is a fave of mine, and putting out Hogbook and Lazer Eyes, a GN by Maria Bamford and her hubby.  

I’m interested in The Cannibal on page 346 from Inhabit Media. It’s an Inuit story about a family living in hard times, and the drastic measures the husband takes to survive (which you can probably guess from the title). Who doesn’t love cannibalism?

Ah, it bothers my stomach.  If that page count (44) is correct, that’s a bit spendy, but it does sound neato.

Magdalene Visaggio and Michael Avon Oeming are doing Galaxy of Madness, which is on page 356 from Mad Cave. It’s about a “swashbuckling space archaeologist” in the 41st century. I mean, that should be fun, right? (19 June)

I like that Oeming seems to be sticking with his style but also stretching it, based on these previews.

Also from Mad Cave, Paul Tobin is writing The Mammoth (page 358), a horror story about something living in the woods and the people investigating it. Tobin writes pretty good horror, and the art – by Arjuna Susini – looks pretty good. (5 June)

I don’t know what the heck Pan-Universal Galactic Worldview is, but on page 381 they have NEW MUTANTS #98: PAN-DIMENSIONAL 3D EDITION, which sounds awesome until you remember it’s New Mutants #98, which is one of the Liefeldiest comics ever. I’m morbidly curious about this (not the actual comic, which I own, but the 3D aspect of it), but not enough to pay 10 bucks for it.

I too am curious, and I may buckle under and get this.  I believe this publisher also recently did the Conan Art Edition book that Zoop crowdfunded.  I can’t remember who is involved, but they must have an in with Marvel creators.

Pocket Jack Comics on page 386 has perhaps the greatest solicit text in history for Guinevere and the Divinity Factory #1: “Like Harry Potter, but slutty.” I mean, it can’t be anything but terrible, but that’s a great tagline!

I had been getting some of PS Artbooks‘ softcovers, because they’re neat, but they raised the price and they come out extremely slowly, so I’ve been easing up on ordering them recently. However, on page 389 they have Classic Horror Comics volume 7, which features Steve Ditko’s first published comic, and I’m kind of interested in getting it. We shall see!

Rebellion/2000AD has some fun “Apex Editions” of their artists, but on page 393, they have very fancy Slaine: The Horned God editions, one for $110, the other for $55. This is a cool comic, and I might have to get it, as my collections are incomplete and a bit worse for wear (they’re the Fleetway editions from the ’90s).

Paul Tobin is also writing Messenger on page 394 from Rocketship. A bike messenger gets caught up in a dispute between gods, like you do. This sounds fun.

On page 398, Silver Sprocket has Of Thunder and Lightning, a romance set in a future where “corporate nations” wage war by using pop stars as soldiers. Sounds pretty neat.

A few years ago, I got the fancy witzend book that (I think) Fantagraphics put out, and now Vanguard has the Complete Wally Wood from Witzend on page 402, and I’ll probably get that, too! The Fantagraphics version had a broad selection of writers/artists, while this, naturally, will focus just on Wood (considering it’s from Vanguard, which is J. David Spurlock’s boutique publishing concern for all things Wood, this is not surprising). There’s a super-fancy version for $70, but I’ll stick to the $40-version!

Also on page 402, we find The Sickness from Uncivilized Books. There’s a strange illness in the post-World War II world, and two people are apparently key to figuring out what’s going on before, you know, the world ends. Oh dear. It sounds neat, and Jenna Cha’s art is very cool.

I’m not sure if it will be any good, but Flesh and Blood (page 406) from White Hart Comics sounds interesting: a paramedic in Scotland discovers a partially eaten corpse on the side of the road and that spurs her to investigate her husband’s death, which leads to no good, as you might expect. I’ll probably have to take a look at this.

I don’t know about you, but I sure did have fun doing this again.  See you next month?

I hope, but who knows. I like doing this, too, but man, time is not anyone’s friend. Have fun, everyone, checking out Previews for the coolest of the cool stuff!