Flippin’ Through ‘Previews’ — August 2022

Travis and I started this a while back, but life keeps getting in the way – I have kids to deal with, and Travis has to make sure his marble collection is color-coordinated. IMPORTANT THINGS, PEOPLE!!!!! So let’s take a look at Previews, because you can still get an order in if you want to! You know the drill with the colors!

DC:

The art looks quite good, and I dig the Riddler, but dang, I just can’t get behind The Riddler: Year One on page 2. Can’t he just be a dude who likes riddles? MUST HE BE GRIM-‘N’-GRITTY?!?!?!? Sheesh, Paul Dano. Wait, Paul Dano is writing this and Jim Lee isn’t taking my phone calls for my own Riddler story? NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD, I TELLS YA!

Page 12: Batman: Gotham Knight – Gilded City #1. The solicit: “A mysterious virus has infected Gotham City – turning its victims into rabid, yellow-irised maniacs driven to looting, theft, and bursts of anger.” So … Tuesday?

I wouldn’t have come up with it on my own, but now that I have been presented with it, it makes perfect sense that Phil Hester is the artist for Gotham City: Year One on page 14.

He will kill it, and I’ll probably get it, but they’re really stretching the “Year One” concept, aren’t they? I mean, all cities have corruption in them, so there’s not much interest in Gotham’s. This really should have been about the real “Year One,” when the Dutch swindled the Indians out of the land that would become Gotham and built a fort!

I mean, GCPD: The Blue Wall sounds okay, and Stefano Raffaele is a good artist, but they’re really leaning into “Academy Award Winner John Ridley” instead of leaning into “UNDERCOVER BROTHER EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JOHN RIDLEY!!!!!”

Oh shit, it’s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (page 20)?  I didn’t see that coming!!!  /s

Yes, you did …

Seeing that MAD Magazine 28 on page 40 is the 70th anniversary and has new material means that I’m going to want to get a copy!

… and not read it …

Arkham City – The Order of the World is in trade on page 45. Dan Watters and DaNi make a cool team, so I’ll be picking this up.

Pages 46-47 have some cool looking trades.  One-Star Squadron should be a good Mark Russell/Steve Lieber exploration of what makes a hero, while Superman and the Authority was GMozz attempting to make sure Superman didn’t fall into fascist mode.  There’s a new Sleeper Omnibus, which makes me wonder if either Brubillips has some sort of claim on partial rights to this that they lose if DC reprints it (unlikely, as it’s tied into the Wildstorm stuff), or if there’s an adaptation on the horizon.  Then there’s The Other History of the DC Universe, where we see the DCU through the eyes of its people of color.

I’m going to get One-Star Squadron, but The Heckler looks terrible in what I’ve seen, and I hope he’s not just a joke to Russell. He’s an interesting character. And maybe DC is reprinting Sleeper because they just want us to have access to good comics! You ever think about that, you cynical bastard?

I’m cautiously optimistic that the Sandman TV show will be pretty good.  Cautiously!  [I still haven’t watched any of it yet, a week later!]

It’s good. You should watch it!

Image:

I still haven’t read Geiger yet, nor gotten the special, but Junkyard Joe gets a special or series here on page 32.  And yet the Old Soldier from Astro City maxi-series still hasn’t happened yet!

I mean, blame Busiek!

The Birthright team reunites for Dark Ride, about a scary devil-themed, uh, theme park, on page 38.  I never got any Birthright but I know you always said it was quite good.  This sounds like fun.

Definitely looking forward to this!

3Keys on page 42 sounds interesting, with artist/writer David Messina diving into the Lovecraftian realm with a book about who can save reality from the Great Old Ones.  Might be fun and the art looks decent.

I mean, it sounds like every other apocalyptical kind of story, but Messina’s art is better than “decent,” you heathen, so I’ll probably check this out.

Kaya on page 46 is a new one from Wes Craig, with a fantasy series about a couple of young kids trying to survive in a monster filled world.

Again, this sounds a bit dull, but Craig’s art is very good.

Luana Vecchio is a good artist (not sure if she’s a good writer), so I’m cautiously optimistic about Lovesick on page 48, even though its description – a dominatrix doin’ some fun torturin’ and getting hunted down because of it – sounds as if it might make Maria Llovet (who provides an alternate cover) say “Whoa, slow down a bit.” I’ll wait for the trade, but I will check out issue #1 to see what’s what.

Revolvers (page 50) is about a police detective trying to solve his own murder. That sounds fun!

I don’t love autobiographical comics, but I do love Zoe Thorogood, so It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (page 58) is something I’m probably going to get, as it’s by Ms. Thorogood. Dang it!

The guy at my comic book store, who I’m not positive isn’t James Tynion IV using an alias, has been pimping Tynion’s stuff hard recently (to be fair, Tynion has been pumping out some good stuff recently), and he’s on board with The Closet, which gets a trade on page 63. Here’s the thing, though: the issues, of which there were three, were 4 bucks each. The trade is 15 dollars. What the everlovin’ fuck is up with that, Image and James Tynion? Why do you hate trade-waiters?!?!?!?

Boom!:

The Approach on page 92 sounds fun. In the middle of a blizzard, a plane lands at an airport, and two employees realized it’s been missing for almost 30 years, and it’s not the only thing coming out of the storm!!!! Oh dear.

That does sound good.

I guess Once and Future 30 on page 116 is the last issue?

Those of us who pay attention have known that for some time, sir!

Dark Horse:

Scott Snyder and Francesca Francavilla are teaming up for Night of the Ghoul (page 124), which sounds neat. A horror film guy is researching a lost movie from the 1930s, and weird things start happening. It seems like it’s been a while since Francavilla has done interior work, so this will cool to see.

Yeah, I don’t know how I missed that when I first looked.

On page 137 there’s the Criminal Macabre/Count Crowley crossover one shot, and that sounds like fun.  I’ve got to catch up on both.

Do you know what a comedian you are, or is your ignorance about how funny your statements are make them even funnier?

Dynamite:

There’s the oversized HC of the Complete Gail Simone Red Sonja on page 163, and I figure that’s a neat looking book if you like that sort of thing.

Marvel:

Miracleman 0 has Ty the Guy Templeton doing something, which does make me want it more.  I’ll probably just wait for the trade, though. That’s on page 1, and The Silver Age starts again on page 2.

I’m curious about the zero issue. New stuff, I suppose, but I wonder what kind of stuff. Marvel really ought to reprint the Apocrypha!

Thank goodness there’s another Spider-Man #1 on page 6.  I can’t tell if the Frank Miller variant on page 7 is a new piece or not, but damn, I saw a picture of him from San Diego and oh my, he has not aged well.

I mean, it’s been a few months since we had a new #1, so give them a break!

C’mon guys, Thor: Love and Thunder wasn’t that bad!

Stanley “Artgerm” Lau does good work as a matter of course, but that Dazzler image on page 10 is particularly lovely.

How tempted am I to get the poster of that cover on sale in the back of the book? Far too much, I tells ya. I feel like it’s 1982 all over again!

I like how it’s worded on page 12 — “Iron Fist faces his greatest challenge – an A.X.E. tie-in!”

“Can anyone emerge with their reputation intact?!?!?”

I’m guessing if Bloodstone and the Legion of Monsters is getting reprinted on page 20, one of the Bloodstone family is going to appear in the MCU soon.  Probably the Halloween special that’s coming up.

Come on, an Elsa Bloodstone television series would kick so much ass.

A Namor mini-series set a century into the future (page 28)? Even though it’s set in the future, people still haven’t figured out a dignified way to void their bowels, as we see from the cover!!!

Hey, it’s the throne, man!

Re: Venom #12 (page 59): Are they about to make out?

Let’s hope so!

There’s an Omnibus of Thunderbolts on page 74, and it doesn’t include the run of issues where there was an underground fighting club, or whatever, and I just think it would be funny if the MCU Thunderbolts that is coming up will be based on that short run!

That is odd. They just skip a bunch of issues in this!

Well, it’s that whole Marvel renumbering shit (not like DC is better).  The underground fighting club run ran from 76-81, then New Thunderbolts, included here as 1-18, “counts” as 82-99, then with #100 it went back to just Thunderbolts.  So they just aren’t including those 6 weird issues!

Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood Treasury Edition is on page 86, and it looks cool.

I’m all over this like white on … well, Moon Knight, I guess.

Back of the book!

Aardvark-Vanaheim has the latest Cerebus in Hell? Presents Hell’O Dali on page 220, because of course Dali might go to Hell?

Abrams Comicarts has, on page 222, a trade of Silver, the formerly self-published comic with vampires and heists.  I believe that was another one you liked, and I never got around to getting.

Yeah, I dug this. I Pelkied the final volume, but I’ll get around to it eventually. The first three are quite good!

Wait, is Penguina on page 250 from Antarctic Press actually a sequel of sorts to the ‘80s comic Samurai Penguin?  WTF?!

I mean, it’s right there in the solicit, so … yeah?

On 252 is the Chilling Adventures of Salem, a horror one shot by Cullen Bunn and Dan Schoening, another fun Archie book.  I just watched some of season 6 of Riverdale with my gf and that show is wacky!

I loved the first season, but fell behind after that, and I hear it has not gotten better, unfortunately.

A Wave Blue World has Mezo volume 2 on page 260. The first one was quite good, so I’ve been looking forward to this.

Band of Bards shows up on page 272 with Prospects, a story about a town in the middle of a mad scientist war, with zombies and cyborgs fighting it out, and a regular dude who gets caught in the middle.  I got the Kickstarter of the first few issues of this but I’ve yet to read it.  It sounded really fun, though.

On page 275 from Blood Moon Comics, the return of an early ‘90s character (of course, from the name) with Bloodfire: For God and Country.  He gets his powers from AIDS, somehow.  I thought this was one of the books where the print run was imprinted on the cover to make it more collectible, but that was some other ‘90s crap.  This just had “chromium covers” or some such.  Ah, the ‘90s!

This was real? He got his power from AIDS? I don’t get offended by much, but that seems horribly wrong-headed. Sheesh.

That’s the solicit text here: “Bloodfire was the world’s first superhero to get his powers due to the AIDS virus!” Like it was a good thing, or something!

Oh, so you’re just going by the solicit. I very much hope he’s someone new and the creator are just parodying the x-treeeem-ness of the ’90s.

No, no, no, I am going by the solicit as to the powers from AIDS part, but he was an actual character from the ‘90s.  It was from Lightning Comics, who also did Perg, which I believe is where Karl Kerschl started.

On page 278, Bloomsbury has the Alan Moore short story collection Illuminations, and I’m looking forward to it.

Clover Press has The Golem of Venice Beach on page 289, which features art by people like Mike Allred, Paul Pope, Steve Bissette, and Billy the Sink.  I missed out on the Kickstarter of this, but I may need to get a preorder into my LCS.

That sounds interesting.

Damn you, Fantagraphics!  They’ve got a bunch of great stuff on pages 302-305, starting with the 8 volume Love and Rockets First Fifty Classic 40th Anniversary box set, albeit for the incredibly spendy price of $400.  True, you’re getting the first 50 issues of the magazine in facsimile form along with a volume of commentary.  And there are few comics creators who deserve such a retrospective, but Los Bros are some of those creators!  I’m not sure what’s so funny about Detention #2, by Tim Hensley, adapting Stephen Crane’s Maggie, a Girl of the Streets Classics Illustrated style, but the solicit writer seems amused.  Home to Stay finally collects all of the EC adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s works into one nice volume, so that should be worth getting.  And for those of us traveling the spaceways, from planet to planet, there’s Sun Ra: Art on Saturn, a book of the handmade artwork for various Sun Ra albums for his own Saturn label.

On page 337 from Living the Line is The Abolition of Man, an experimental AI drawn comic masterminded by Carson Grubaugh, who finished out The Strange Death of Alex Raymond.  Looks creepy, and it’s so weird that AI has the same artistic style as Dave McKean and other people who love Barron Storey.

You can tweak AI art, so maybe that’s what he did?

A Legacy of Violence from Mad Cave Studios on page 338 is a new horror tale by Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti, about a doctor having weird flashbacks.  These creators mean it should be creepy good.

Magnetic has Temudjin on page 339, a weird quasi-biography of Genghis Khan. Sounds nifty!

Oni has a couple of neat ones, with Area 510 on page 355, where a cop and criminal suspect are on the run from aliens, and it’s by Jay Faerber and Justin Greenwood, so it should be good.  And on page 357 is Open Bar, about a couple of dudes trying to make a go of a bar that one of them inherits from his dad.

I’ll probably get both of those, plus the Krampus book on page 356!

Source Point Press has, on pages 386-393, a bunch of interesting stuff.  I got the Kickstarter of Caffeinated Hearts (there are a few Kickstarted books from SPP here), but of course haven’t read it, but the art by Stefano Cardoselli looks neat.  Hyper/Aware, like Caffeinated Hearts written by Jonathan Hedrick, is about a spaceship where 2 of the 3 astronauts can go into hypersleep but the other one has to stay awake with the AI.  Bad stuff has happened when the 2 wake up!  Tuff Stuff is a cat with a Miami Vice feel.  Ultramax is a trade of a story where a lowly henchman killed the world’s greatest superhero, and also has to not get caught out as a federal snitch in the prison he’s in!  Wild Bullets: Homicide for the Holidays is a trade of a story where a family became different kinds of pulp adventurers, and how they handle each other.  Doctor Rigby: Where Dwells the Ghostly Baron is a mix of horror and spy stuff, and sounds neat.  And The Argus is a time travel story about how the dude who invented time travel now has to face off against himself — or at least another version thereof.  I thought Action Lab had this book before, so I wonder if with their troubles they didn’t ever publish this.

It probably won’t come out on time, but Tripwire has a new magazine on page 411, celebrating Grendel’s 40th year and the 60th year of Spider-Man, Thor, and James Bond (movies, I have to assume). Tripwire is awesome, but dang, they have distribution problems, it seems!

Over on Zoop, another crowdfunding site, Tripwire 30 is going to fund soon.  So yeah, this one isn’t coming out any time soon.  Other cool Zoop stuff includes a bio of Bryan Talbot that is currently funding, and recently funded the Comics for Ukraine book, and at some point funded an Artist Edition of The Wintermen.  Unfortunately I can’t quite figure out how to order something that’s already been funded.

Jack Kirby Collector 85, from the good folks at TwoMorrows on page 412, focuses on Kirby and animation, and apparently has a feature with Evan Dorkin and a Kamandi animated series that could have been.  Day-um!

I’m not sure why I even looked at the Valiant stuff, since they’ve apparently had a bunch of layoffs and are probably not long for this world, at least in the state they’re currently in.

Yeah, it sounds like they’re done. Too bad.

Viz Media on page 457 has Drip Drip, about a woman who gets a nosebleed whenever she encounters something dirty, which I believe is the manga visualization of arousal.

Yen Press has, on page 460, The Gay Who Turned Kaiju, about a gay teen who wishes he was someone else, and gets turned into a giant monster.  Sounds interesting.

On 496, Vertical Comics has a Collected HC of Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito, which sounded really neato when I’ve read about it.

Flip side of the book!

On M-51 is a centennial Funko Pop version of Nosferatu, so that looks pretty cool.

I am positive my daughter will dig this, so I’ll probably get it for her.

Thanks for reading, everyone! We hope you found some interesting things in the catalog!