Hey, we’re still doing this! Good times! Travis is in bold to match his fiery personality, while I’m in not-bold because I am meek and retiring. That’s just the way it works, people! Let’s take a look at Previews #431!
DC:
Earlier this year, Jerry Jones, the desiccated owner of the Dallas Cowboys, claimed that he was “all in” on this year, then he did nothing in free agency to shore up holes in his roster and he has not actually paid two of the Cowboys’ biggest stars, quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. People wondered, quite rightly, if Jones actually knows what “all in” means, and at Dallas’s training camp a few weeks ago, he offered a kind of mealy-mouthed explanation for what he meant when he said “all in” that seems to confirm that he doesn’t actually know what it means. Anyway, I say this because when I got DC Connect, their “Previews,” I wondered if DC’s “ALL IN” initiative, which is lauded this month, means the same as Jerruh’s: not what you think it means, and it probably won’t amount to much anyway. Yes, I’m cynical! I mean, what does DC actually mean with “All In”? I mean, it simply looks like they’re creating an “Ultimate Universe” with their Absolute Universe (no copying of Marvel here, nothing to see, move on!), but they’ve had a multiverse for a while now, so … what? A bunch of titles are getting new creative teams, but that happens all the time. I mean, yes, they’re cleverly claiming that the most exciting stories in the world (wow, really?) are ALL IN DC series, and ALL IN your local comics shop … but that’s not really what the phrase means, does it? Sigh. Marketing. I just don’t get it. It seems to consist of a bunch of bros hanging out and coming up with “awesome but meaningless” phrases that they simply attach to things and getting paid more in a year than I will make in my life. Nice work if you can get it.
Anyway … let’s take a look at this thing, shall we?
On page 6, Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta are doing Absolute Batman, in which he has no money. You know what Batman without any money is? A freakin’ psychopath, is what. Will Snyder have the balls to tell that story? No, he will not. And if Dragotta designed that new Bat-Costume, with its godawful “bat” on the chest, then I say … shame on you, sir. That’s just … I mean, what the fuck is that thing, anyway?
On page 7, Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval are doing Absolute Superman. “Without the fortress … with the family … without a home …” reads the solicit. You know what you get when Superman doesn’t have Glenn Ford telling him not to be a dick? A crazed god, that’s what. Will Aaron have the balls to tell that story?
On page 8, Kelly Thompson (yay, Kelly!) and Hayden Sherman are doing Absolute Wonder Woman, in which she was, I guess, not raised on an island that preached peace? You know what Wonder Woman without Paradise Island is? A man-killing harpy! Will Thompson have the balls to tell that story? (You know what I mean!!!!)
I mean, good for them, especially Kelly and Sherman, who have been doing excellent work on lower-profile stuff for a while. But this sounds … dicey, is a nice way to put it. I could squint and see it working for Superman and Wonder Woman, because they have actual super-powers. But Batman without any money? He’d get killed in the first issue or two!!!! We shall see.
I’m always bummed out that these reboots always seem to go darker with the universe. The DC heroes are supposed to be paragons of hope and inspirations (even Batman is supposed to inspire criminals to be fearful and end their wicked ways). But things always go darker. GMozz tried to claim Final Crisis was going to be a bright shiny DCU, but I think people took from that series stuff like Turpin beating the Mad Hatter with a toilet seat being soooo kewl! and they should be following a different path. But maybe that’s just me.
That said, I’m probably about as cynical as you but I am much more susceptible to marketing hype than you, so I will probably be getting these and seeing what’s going on. But these Elseworlds books (I said it!) are different than the past ones in that the old ones would have one main difference in the story (a Superman landing in Russia, a Batman who gets a Green Lantern ring) but other elements of the character would come into their life, in different ways, with supporting characters and locales appearing anew. These books seem to be taking away all the core elements of the characters but trying to claim they’re the same character somehow, and who knows what will happen. I’m not hopeful but I have always been a DC fan, so I’ll check these out.
By the way, I called it a couple months ago that they were going to be doing something big post-Absolute Power (maybe not in so many words, but my sentiment was there!).
Wait a minute … you said that coming out of a Big Event™, DC would do Something Huge™ that would Change Everything As We Know It™?!?!?!? I mean, your prophetic powers are staggering, sir!!!!!
I saw that many creative teams were changing, and this amount of change is different … somehow! So yes!
On pages 12-13, Action Comics is going weekly. Because remember how well it worked out the last time DC tried it?
Hey, I like that run of Action!
I’m not commenting on the quality, I’m commenting on the fact that it didn’t seem economically viable, yet here we are again. It’s FIVE BUCKS A WEEK if you’re getting each issue. Sheesh.
That’s true, the ’80s version was $1.50 an issue for a 48 page comic, but that wasn’t too far off price-wise of other comics at the time and had many more features, so it might have been a pretty good deal.
We do get a Catwoman 69 on page 18! Nice!
I love that those two are reuniting to do Waiting for Godot. It’s excellent!
I already told my wife we need to make a trip to New York next year to see it!
John Layman is writing Titans on page 21, which is nice for him. I know he’s been bummed out on comics since the COVID year, really, and I know he’s glad to be getting back to work. He’s always an interesting writer, even when he’s toiling away in the DC salt mines!
Yeah, I’ve been glad to see his name popping up on different titles recently, even the Spawn Kills Every Spawn thing!
Mark Waid and Chris Samnee are doing Batman and Robin: Year One on page 26 (which DC already did with “Year Three” back in the day, but whatever), so I’ll have to get this trade, because Waid and Samnee are a great team.
Those black and white preview pages are amazing. I love that Robin pose a la Burt Ward on the first page!
I might pick up Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees on page 28 (it appears to be a one-shot?), because G. Willow Wilson and Mike Perkins are a good team, but the solicit refers to Ivy as the “Verdant Villainess,” and I don’t know if I can take it seriously after that.
I wish they would refer to her like that more, it’d be a more fun DCU!
I like Kelley Jones’s art, and the Batman one is pretty cool, but he draws very odd looking “young” heroes on these Halloween covers on page 29.
You’re not wrong.
Green Lantern Dark on page 34 is an Elseworlds revisiting the Tangent Universe, ffs. Those of us who liked that stuff aren’t really hoping that the return of that universe would be as an undead zombie-verse. Jeez.
On page 43, My Adventures with Superman 5 features a character they’re calling Bloodshot. Um, did someone forget something?
Is a lawsuit coming?
DC is releasing a collection of the “Shakespeare stuff” from Sandman on page 45, but the only reason I bring this up is to write, Goddamnit it, Neil, really? Shit.
Unfortunately I’m not entirely surprised by the claims somehow, and it’s got me reluctant to read his stuff or watch shows associated with him. It’s a shame this book is going to feature the recently deceased Michael Zulli’s work but it will probably be overshadowed by the allegations (even though I’m surprised I’m not hearing more about these allegations, given how big Neil is).
I would have a lot to rant about with this, but not here. It’s just depressing.
Jeff Parker is writing Batman–Santa Claus: Silent Knight on page 47. What the heck is this thing? Is it something that was digital only and is now getting printed, or is it new? I’m sure I will get it, but it’s still wacky!
It came out in 4 issues around Christmas last year, I believe, maybe even weekly. It was a little under the radar so I’m not surprised you missed it.
Really? Well, dang, I completely missed it.
I forgot about that Loeb/Bachalo version of The Witching Hour that’s getting collected (again, I guess?) on page 49. Dang, it’s about 25 years old! Is this around the time Bachalo got wacky with his layouts, or had he been doing that more with Generation X before that?
Steampunk was really where I first noticed it, so after Gen X. This book is kind of right on the cusp of him becoming incomprehensible!
Dang, Steampunk, I forgot about that one!
Damn, that’s some good stuff on pages 50-51 with the DC Finest books (aping the Marvel Epic collections, it seems, with a big chunk of comics from a certain run of a series or character). It’s probably the cheapest collection of the Justice Society’s early appearances so far, and there are also some nice Justice League and Green Lantern books that collect past where I’ve read/bought in the past. I’ll probably get the Legion book, as I’ve always been a fan, and that Zero Hour book one is tempting me.
On page 52 we’ve got the second volume of Elseworlds: Superman, which features some good stuff, most notably Superman: True Brit, cowritten by John Cleese, and I remember that as being fun. Superman: Kryptonite is the deluxe collection of a story written by Darwyn Cooke and drawn by Tim Sale, and I’m depressed that both of them have passed since this book (and since I met them both at the 2011 Boston Comic Con, both super nice dudes).
Didn’t we just have a collection of Batman: The Cult? We’ve got a softcover on page 53 now, ffs.
You can never have enough versions that feature Monster Truck Batmobile!!!!
On page 54 we have a Deathstroke the Terminator Omnibus, because everything will eventually get reprinted except for the Heckler, it seems. We also have the “reprint to retain the rights” of Joe the Barbarian, which I think is where I first saw Sean Murphy’s stuff.
Brilliant marketing on DC’s part, the new Planetary Outsiders series gets collected on page 55 a couple of months after the series gets cancelled. Oops. I read the first two issues and I was less than impressed.
Too bad. That ought to be a cool series.
Also on that page is a new printing of the Absolute Promethea, which is probably a great way to read the series, but I’m reluctant to give DC my money to directly fuck over Beardy McGrumpypants.
I mean, you can’t really read modern DC without Moore getting fucked over, so you might as well lie back and think of England!
Marvel:
Wait, you mean they’re bringing Marc Spector back to life (page 4)? Wow, this is, I mean …
Iron Man has a new #1 on page 8, and I might pick it up because the writer, Spencer Ackerman, is someone whose Substack I get for free (I don’t remember how I signed up for some of them, and this is one of those), and he’s offering free swag if you show proof you’re preordering this book, and I do like swag.
You’re like the dog from Up, I swear:
Venom War: Wolverine 2 on page 15 claims that Wolverine isn’t saying he’s the best tasting when he says he’s the best there is, but now I’m curious how Wolverine might taste. Probably gamy.
Definitely gamy!
I don’t really want to get Mystique on page 18, but it’s by Declan Shalvey, and dang if it doesn’t sound intriguing.
Yeah, I’m digging the concept, but which Nick Fury are they referring to? They’re both depicted on that cover!
ALL the Nick Furys!
I’m curious about the Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts Omnibus on page 87. It’s the Englehart/Brunner stuff from Marvel Premiere, then his new 1970s series. Is this any good? Lots of interesting creators, but I’ve never read any of it.
I’ve never read any either, but it appears this is the run where Ben Franklin put the moves on Clea, so just for that, it should be good!
I’m not so sure I buy the solicit text for the Jackpot & Black Cat trade (page 110): “The two best female characters in comics …” I think I’m going to have to disagree with you there, deliberately hyperbolic solicit writer!
I’m not even sure they’re the two best female characters in Spider-Man comics!
At least Marvel gets their trades out in a fairly timely manner, within, like, a year of the issues coming out.
Boom! Studios:
Pine & Merrimac gets a trade on page 53. This sounded neat, so I will get it!
It does sound like an interesting mystery with darker undertones.
Ed Brisson is a pretty good writer, so I’m going to pick up the collection of The Displaced (page 62), which is about a Canadian town that suddenly disappears and how the remaining inhabitants deal with it. Sounds nifty.
It sounds like the survivors are disappearing in a way, too, which is weird. Freaky-deaky stuff like Comeback, which I think is where I first read Brisson’s stuff.
Man’s Best on page 63 is one that sounded cool to me, with dogs and a cat searching the universe for a new home after Earth is finished. With Pornsak Pichetshote writing and Jesse Lonergan on art, it should be a good book.
Underheist is collected on page 64. It’s by David Lapham and it’s a crime story. What more do you need?!?!?
The supernatural twist? No, I don’t even need that, I’m in!
Dynamite:
Dynamite continues to be a weird publisher, pumping out licensed comic after licensed comic, and then dropping Last of the Gladiators (page 89) on us – a hardcover graphic novel about a mob lawyer based on his son’s memoirs and written by Jonathan Vankin. I don’t know if I’ll get this (it does sound interesting), but good for Dynamite!
Dang, I haven’t heard about anything Vankin has done in a while.
Then on page 132, Dynamite has a couple of US Post Office Mr. Zip propaganda books. How would they even know to try for that license?
Dynamite: Throwing darts at the wall of licensed properties since 2004!
Titan:
Over on page 144, Titan has the Marvel King Conan: The Original Comics Omnibus, which I don’t trust. They’ve solicited at least one Conan omnibus that hasn’t come out yet, and it’s bugging me. I will order this, but I don’t trust it!
It seemed like Titan solicited every damn Conan omni that Marvel had done over a few years in the space of a few months. It was crazy.
There’s a new Ms. Tree collection on page 153 which you should check out. These are neat comics.
They are. I wish I knew which issues of the original comics were collected in each volume, but it’s all good stuff.
Yeah, God forbid they tell us. I know the first collection did NOT start at the beginning, as Collins wanted to start when the stories were a bit more polished, and the solicit for this one makes it sound like they might be the older ones?
From what I remember of the original run, I would guess these ones might be middle to later ones of the regular series, possibly. If this is the sixth volume, they’ve probably gotten through a fair amount. There were, I believe, 50 issues of the original run (maybe more), the 8 or 10 Quarterly issues that DC did after, and several earlier stories through Eclipse Magazine, and looking at the GCD briefly, it appears the earliest stuff got reprinted in volume 3, and they’re getting maybe 8 issues per volume, so this might be volume 6 of 9 or 10? Just at a guess? Also, I forgot that Aardvark-Vanaheim had such a hand in publishing the issues after Eclipse was involved!
Image:
Nullhunter (page 175) is, and I quote, “a kinetic cyberpunk retelling of the Labors of Hercules.” Sure, why not? Michael Walsh is a pretty decent writer, so I’ll probably give this a look.
Hot damn, the late Jason Pearson’s creations are back in Hack/Slash/Body Bags on page 176. I think I’d trust Tim Seeley to do right by the characters, so I think this might work.
I feel like we’re living in the 1990s and Caliber is a publishing presence, as Joe Pruett has a new book out on page 177 called The Voices in My Head, collecting a bunch of short horror stories, one of which is drawn by Michael Gaydos. Is it 1997?!?!?!?
I’m not entirely sure that these stories weren’t from ’90s Caliber books, like Negative Burn et al.
Yeah, but one of the artists is Juan Doe, and he wasn’t drawing back then, was he? The mind reels!
I was going to mention him as the one that I wasn’t sure about!
If you skipped Birthright so far, there’s a big collection on page 177 for 65 bucks, which gets you the first 25 issues. This is a really good series, and that’s not a bad price.
I did skip that, so I’ll consider this. How many issues did the series last?
Sheesh, putting me on the spot like that. Doesn’t the internet exist? Let’s see … had to head over to my bookshelf, you know, like a chump! to find out it was 50 issues (I knew it was something like that). So there will two of these nice collections, I assume.
Sounds good, thank you. I’m helping you with your exercise routine!
The Deviant gets a trade on page 178. My retailer, who really likes James Tynion, really likes this comic. Take that as you will!
This is volume 1 of 2, I believe, as I think this is a 9 issue series, which kept me from getting it in singles. It sounded nice and creepy, so I might check it out.
Shoot, you’re right. Maybe I’ll wait for the fancy hardcover collecting the entire thing!
It seems like it’s taken a really long time for Drawing Blood, the “fictional” story of not-Kevin Eastman, to come out, but it gets collected on page 178. I’m curious about it!
Well, the first 4 issues (plus the Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls one shot), out of 12 (issue 7 is on page 181). My retailer decided this was a book I was getting now that Image started publishing it (I can’t remember the original publisher), so I have the first few issues (and of course have not read them yet). I don’t remember if Image has reprinted the RRRR book as a separate issue, so I may need to get this trade anyway!
Yeah, I wrote this and then was reminded later that it’s not even the entire thing. I’ll still think about getting it, although I can’t imagine a complete collection won’t show up eventually.
Also on page 178 are a couple of big books, with Creepshow Deluxe Book 1 collecting the first two Image volumes, and GI Joe Compendium One, collecting the first 50 issues of the Marvel run from the ’80s, which they needed to Kickstart for some reason. When I read the collections of those GI Joes that IDW did ages ago, I was surprised at how good the issues were, and how they were relatively just done-in-one stories.
Jill Thompson’s fun Scary Godmother has a compendium on page 179 with This Was Your Childhood, collecting all the stuff and including some new stories.
Those are groovy comics!
Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans have a graphic novel out, We Called Them Giants (page 180), which sounds like both a somewhat standard post-apocalyptic story and a slight rip-off of I Kill Giants … but of course I’m going to get it!
Ablaze has Parliament of Rooks on page 195, which is by Abigail Jill Harding and Richard Starkings. Sounds like a nice, creepy horror story, and Harding is a terrific artist, so this should look keen.
I don’t know that I’ve heard of her, but that is some good looking stuff.
She did Ask for Mercy, which I reviewed … here and which is very good (it was #24 on my Best Of list last year). A second volume was supposed to come out, but I haven’t seen it yet!
On page 209 from Massive Entertainment, we’ve got Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse #1, which has art by El Terrorifico Dr. Napalm (hell yeah!), and it’s about a mystical guitarist and the reporter searching for clues about him. Sounds fun.
Teddy Kristiansen is back with Black Hammer: Spiral City 1 on page 230 from Dark Horse. Where has he been? I think I was just wondering that recently!
Just because he’s not doing American comics doesn’t mean he’s not doing comics, sir. Expand your horizons, ya xenophobe!!!!
Well dang, now I have to look into what he has been doing!
On page 233, Dark Horse has Welcome to the Maynard by James Robinson and J. Bone. It’s about a hotel where magical beings stay, and there’s a mystery. Of course there is! Sounds nifty.
Man, I haven’t seen anything from J. Bone in a while. I’m very happy about this one!
Page 235 has the Complete Kabuki 30th Anniversary Edition HC, collecting the entire Library Editions sans bonus material. There’s also two from Rich Douek, with Heartpiercer, about the aftermath of the actions of a slayer-type woman, and Drive Like Hell, where a couple of bank robbers drive off in the devil’s getaway car.
Drive Like Hell is drawn by Alex Cormack, so it will definitely look keen.
Space Circus by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier gets collected in HC on page 236. This was a fun little thing, but I’m not sure it needs a $30 HC.
The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, which comes to us from IDW on page 237, is about the new president, who discovers the White House is home to demons. It sounds juuuuust goofy enough to be awesome.
Hopefully it utilizes some of the Founding Fathers’ ties to Freemasonry and such. That might be cool.
The same page has Godzilla’s 70th Anniversary HC, and I’m not sure if the James Stokoe story in there is a new one or not, but if it’s new, it might be worth picking up, because he’s done fun stuff with Godzilla.
So I got the IDW separate catalog this month, which doesn’t always happen, and there are a few differences. On Previews page 243, we’ve got the For Better or For Worse Complete Library Volume 9 (of 9), which collects the rest of one of my favorite comic strips, but it’s not in the IDW catalog. However, there is one not in Previews that I am totally getting, if it’s available yet (it’s on the order form for page 237) — Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre by Tom Scioli, with the first issue telling the tale of Godzilla vs Gatsby. Fuck yes I want this!
Well, that sounds stupendous. I’m sure it will show up next month in Previews, maybe?
I’m going to try to order it, and maybe the print run will be lower because of this error, and I will have a valuable funnybook in my hands at last!
On page 243 are a couple of cool things too. Hell, Ink & Water: The Art of Mike Mignola is a HC catalog for a NYC art gallery show that’s taking place in September and October (hmmm, do I need to make travel plans?) focusing on his watercolors. And after literal years and one of the cowriters leaving this mortal plane, we finally have The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, with Messrs. Moore giving us a grimoire to become magicians. Beardy, teach me! I’ve been wondering if I missed this in the catalog, as Chris Staros has been emailing info about it for a bit, so now I can get my order in!
I’m tempted to get the new Ronin collection on page 246 from Abrams ComicArts, but I’m also not sure. It looked wacky enough when it came out, and who doesn’t love batshit Frank Miller, but it’s also 40 bucks, although it seems like a cool package. So many decisions!!!!
Well, if you don’t want to drop all that dough, you could go for the Manga Edition on page 489, which somehow has about 90 more pages (I’m guessing any multi-page spreads or foldouts are printed just as regular pages in this edition?). For just $13, it might be a better deal to see what batshit Miller came up with. I still haven’t read the original, btw. Almost got it in singles recently but thought I should get a collected version for the same price, but then I thought that was foolish, but my local shop guy had filed them back away and isn’t sure where that set is now. D’oh!
Everyone’s favorite curmudgeon, Alan Moore, is 70 years old and doesn’t seem particularly inclined to work fast. I say this because he has a new novel out on page 296 from Bloomsbury (good for him!) called The Great When: A Long London Novel. It’s 336 pages long, which ain’t bad, but it’s also … “the first book in an enthralling new fantasy series”. Hmmm. Should Moore really be starting a sprawling series at his age? Can’t he just do standalone things? I don’t know if I’ll get this – I haven’t gotten any of Moore’s prose works – but it does sound keen.
*cough Neverwhere cough* I kid, though, as I will undoubtedly be getting the audiobook of this. I have most of Moore’s prose but haven’t read it all or listened to it all yet. I know you’re shocked!
Sink is back on page 313 from ComixTribe. This is a very good horror series, so yay! You can also get the two trades, if you happened to miss the issues the first time around.
Dang, they’re just soliciting #11? They’ve already done 12/13 as a double issue (and I think I just got that in the mail from the Kickstarter), and a new Kickstarter for 14/15 just started Tuesday (today as I write this … a few days ago when you read this?). I am pretty sure I have all the singles, but I need to get back up to speed as I don’t remember where I left off reading.
Cosmic Lion has a couple of cool ones on page 314, with Printopia, a new GN by Bob Fingerman, and Termite Mound 1, a reprinted (? the solicit is unclear if he had published this in the ’90s or if it’s just from then) book from Matt Howarth, who is an underrated creator, I think. Those Annoying Post Bros. was a pretty fun title, and he did some stuff with DC/Helix too. Hope he’s still creating!
Dead Sky Publishing has some potentially interesting things on page 316. The Case of the Bleeding Wall is a “supernormal” investigator (does that mean she drives a Volvo and listens to Celine Dion?) who goes to Italy to check out … well, something. It’ll come to me! Deprog is about another detective who’s hired to infiltrate a cult … and she, herself, was once in a cult, so of course that’s going to be problematic! These sound fun.
Yeah, the art looked cool for Deprog, and the story sounded good as well. The Case of the Bleeding Wall is co-written by Joe R. Lansdale, of Bubba Ho-Tep fame, as well as writer of the Hap and Leonard books, a GN of which, Mucho Mojo, is also offered on this page. I’ve read some of those stories, and it’s good stuff.
Drawn and Quarterly has a new printing of a Chester Brown work on page 320, Paying For It: The Film Edition, about his utilization of sex workers. I never read this but I’ve always been a Chester Brown fan.
You may have missed this from Keenspot on page 374, but Spillblood is a one shot, I think, from Jonathan Hedrick and Stefano Cardoselli, about a doomed priest caught between Heaven and Hell who, um, spills blood.
Of course I saw it! What do you take me for, sir!!!!
On pages 384-385, we find Mad Cave‘s Hexiles by Cullen Bunn, in which six children with “infernal” powers meet up at their father’s funeral and find out dire things about their fate and Murder Kingdom by Fred van Lente, which is a mystery about people getting killed at Disney World. Well, not Disney World, but “Disney World.” Fun stuff!
Also from Mad Cave, on page 391 they have the final trade of Nottingham, which has been a surprisingly good comic. There’s also a trade of Love Me, which has groovy Stefano Cardoselli art. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve been getting the single issues, so I’ll get to it soon!
Those both sound good!
Skin Police, from Oni on page 404, sounds nice and wicked – in the future, cops have to hunt down cloned children who go rogue. Daniel Gete is a pretty decent artist, so this should look pretty cool.
They finally freed him from Avatar prison? Cool. It’s written by Jordan Thomas, who’s done interesting things with Shaky Kane, so I’ll definitely get the trade of this!
Page 425 has, from Putnam Sons BFYR (that’s what it SAYS), The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance. Lucy’s Ethel is a YA teen detective? Or is this about the time Tim Gunn “met” Vivian Vance … at FBI HQ?
That’s … strange. I wonder why they used that name, specifically.
Viz has a couple of interesting ones, with Uncanny: The Origins of Fear on page 472, Junji Ito’s meditations on the horror genre, and on page 473 is Spider-Man: Octo-Girl, with Doc Ock’s consciousness trapped in the mind of a young Japanese girl. There’s no way that could turn out icky, right?
Flip Side!
I don’t want to say too much else, even though I’d be amazed if anyone here has still avoided spoilers about the Deadpool Wolverine movie, but I will say I will probably get that Dogpool Funko Pop on M-31, as that character was a favorite with my lady and me. Such a fun movie!
Well, I’ve avoided spoilers, so, you know, thanks for that. *muttergrumbleStupidPelkiegrumblemutter*
Dang, sorry, I guess I didn’t consider Dogpool a spoiler. If you’ve avoided everything else, you are lucky, though, sir!
I’m just kidding – I don’t care too much about spoilers, and no, it’s not really one. Since I wrote that, I’ve seen the movie, so spoil away!
On M-37 is House of Terror, a GN and record set reprinting a Neal Adams monster comic with an accompanying record of spooky sounds, I guess. Could be fun.
Why is the Crow t-shirt on M-60 using Sin City style lettering? That doesn’t make sense!
It’s comics – it’s not supposed to make sense!!!!
We hope everyone enjoyed going through Previews with us! Remember: the good stuff exists, you just have to find it!
Not much to get excited about there, I want to like and support DC but that Absolute nonsense looks terrible.
Not previously heard the news about Gaiman but there’s no way I’m stopping reading his work, he’s one of my favourite authors.
I think the whole cancel culture is a blight on society and needs to stop, even convicted criminals get second chances.
Absolute does not inspire. The Absolute Power with Amanda Waller trying to do Operation Zero Tolerance for metahumans had a well-written first issue but I hated the issue (and reducing Waller to a two-dimensional villain).
“Cancel culture” in most cases seems to mean “how dare you say that respected white person suffer for their actions.” Convicts earn second chances by serving time (in practice, of course, they don’t get second chances. Try getting a job with “convicted felon” on your rap sheet. Gerard Jones served his time; his career’s still over); in most supposed cancel cases it’s “well he lost his job after it came out he sexually harassed those teenage interns — come on that was six months ago, surely you can’t hold it against him, he’s changed!”
Redemption is a complicated process; if the person’s famous and well-connected enough, a lot of people want a simplified “dude process” where we pretend it never happened.
Even assuming the allegations about Gaiman are true, you don’t have to stop reading them. I have the three movies Bill Cosby made with Sidney Poitier and I love them (okay, the first two), even knowing Cosby’s a rapist shitbag.
Rant over.
Man, I really miss The Cosby Show. Not been shown on tv for years due to obvious reasons.
It’s one of the few American sitcoms I can actually enjoy, along with Cheers and Frasier.
I have good memories of his low-key comedy series from the early 1970s. It never hit as big as the Cosby show did.
Sure, I still read Planetary every couple years – not gonna let Ellis’s assholery take it away from me, haha!
I have never been able to get into any of Ellis, including that. He’s simply pitched at a frequency I do not pick up.
I’m the same with Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I never get tired of reading it.
Elisabeth deserved better than Anthony, dammit!!!
But yeah, Gillen+Hans=Buy…and the same goes for anything by Waid and Samnee, regardless of its originality – Samnee’s Welcome to the Maynard cover is absolutely gorgeous, too!
And yeah, zero interest in Absolute Batman/Superman…but I’ll give anything Kelly Thompson does a shot, and Al Ewing on Absolute Green Lantern is gonna be a must-buy!
Wait, Vampiro: Rockabilly Apocalypse is not about a Canadian luchador who teams up with Eddie Cochran to fight zombies? Dammit!
The Robinson book is the first thing of his, since Airboy, that sounds like a return to form.
I own the Poitier/Cosby films, too, though I have less problems with Cosby in those, than The Cosby Show. I have discs and tried watching it a few years back and all I could think of, watching it, was “rapist.” I think the problem is more that Cliff Huxtable was such a moralistic character and the show took that kind of tone, vs what he was doing in his private life. There is a certain amoral sensibility to those films, especially Let’s Do It Again, though they are not doing it for personal gain.
I have been less wowed by Gaiman’s writing, in recent decades, before the allegations. I don’t think his work is in the same league as his friend and contemporary, Kim Newman, with collaborator Terry Pratchett, or with Alan Moore’s work in comics. I still like a lot of it, including Sandman, except I didn’t think much of the ending and sam for some other projects. He has a great way with language, but plot sometimes gets away from him. As for the allegations, reading some of Sandman and a couple of other things gives me the vibe that there is fire there. At best, it is horribly poor judgement.
Finally a new Amazing Spider-Man omnibus and I’m tempted to get the Daredevil by Nocenti/Romita JR omnibus.
Nothing else this time.
Regarding the Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts Omnibus
the art is certainly noteworthy – Frank Brunner’s work is awesome, Barry (Windsor) Smith and (P) Craig Russell make good contributions and I trust I don’t need to say anything about Gene Colan.
(Jim Starlin does a fill-in issue but starts his run proper after the stories in this collection).
As for the stories
it has a good start with one-off by Barry Smith and Stan Lee
then comes a 7-part story featuring cultists and monsters created by Robert E Howard. This suffers a bit from the lack of a consistent creative team – the first part is plotted by Roy Thomas and scripted by Archie Goodwin, then Gardner F Fox takes over for the next 4, with Steve Englehart beginning his run on part 6. While Frank Brunner started his art run on this story (working with Barry Smith on the first part) but 3 of the next 4 issues had guest artists – while I was not personally too keen on the art by Sam Kweskin and Ron Perlin, the other 2 are by Russell and Starlin and very good. The final part of the story introduced possibly the weirdest Marvel character to be featured in a Capcom video game.
After this Englehart started going “big concept” with Doctor Strange meets “god” followed by the classic Silver Dagger story.
Then came the 4-part “Alone against Eternity” with it’s controversial ending
Then the 2-part Dracula crossover story marketed with a statement telling readers to buy both to find out which dies.
Then Englehart began his occult history of America but left after 4 parts. Marv Wolfman took over and soon started retconning
The story in the annual is a good one drawn by P Craig Russell – though it seems he wasn’t satisfied and later rewrote and redrew it (as “What is it That Disturbs You Stephen?”)
Overall, I would say it’s a pretty good set of stories (with Silver Dagger and the first annual being the 2 stand-outs).
Although some parts of the storyline are wrapped up in the 6 issues after the collection (4 issues by Jim Starlin and the first 2 issues of Roger Stern’s run)
Note – this is my second attempt to write this. The first was deleted by captcha as it felt I had taken too long to type it – to avoid a recurrence I am writing my second attempt in a document on my own pc to copy and paste).
just noticed that a bit went missing while I was typing
After the Silver Dagger story, Gene Colan took over the art starting with a 4-part Dormammu story in which Clea had a bit of a family reunion.
Probably the most “normal” Dr Strange story in this collection
I will happily say that I think DC is currently at its highest creative point in like 30 years, based on what I’ve been reading. The writers have a good handle on the characters, the art is great, there’s an absence of grimness in the main line, and a number of interesting Black Label books.
To spin off of what Travis is saying, DC regularly has cycles where they promise things will be optimistic again, until eventually they trend dark again, then have to have some soft relaunch to lighten things up again, etc. I fear that cycle restarting.
I admit that I’m not seeing the “hook” for the Absolute line. Snyder apparently wanted to call the line Absolute Frontier so they could have a comic called Batman AF, which I guess is a hint to the direction they want to go with. It sounds like “Ultimate” versions of the characters where everything that, as Travis said, removes the “core elements” that make them up. That is not enticing to me at all. But I do like the creators involved, and will keep an open mind and check them out.
I also want to see Waiting for Godot next year.
If they’re doing Action Comics Weekly, they better have Wild Dog in there!
I have no interest in Titans, but Layman might get me to pick it up!
The first wave of DC Finest books doesn’t quite grab me, but the announced second wave sounds interesting– collecting the original Peacemaker comics, old Jimmy Olsens, Jack Cole Plastic Man, etc. Tempted to rebuy some things like Drake and Premiani Doom Patrol which I already have in Showcase editions and digitally.
Not sure if I’ll pick up Outsiders or not, though I’ve liked Kelley and Lanzing elsewhere.
I’d like to shout out the Nocenti-focused Daredevil Omnibus solicited, though I think it’s volume 1 of 2. I’ve been buying the ROM and Micronauts and Godzilla Omnibi from Marvel. And experiencing lost time during the full moon. Worried I’m becoming an Omnibus Guy.
Scioli’s Godzilla crossover with Gatsby sounds amazing.