Ok, it’s not Previews anymore and most of it is on-line, so I don’t really “flip” through it, and I’m not telling Travis about this because he’s so keen on the real world these days that I don’t even know if he knows what the interwebs is anymore, but I happened to check out some of the solicits for upcoming books and I got kind of excited, so I thought an “EMERGENCY FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS” was warranted! Let’s do this thing!
Clover Press!
The Dick Tracy Collection — 1942 is the first in the series, which Clover is collecting in softcover and in fancy slipcases. It presents each full year of strips, which is neat. I’m not getting this, but it’s only 30 bucks, which isn’t a bad price.
DC!
VERTIGO IS BACK, YA LOBCOCKS!!!! DC, realizing they probably shouldn’t have killed the imprint in the first place, brings it back. Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian, who collaborated on 20th Century Men, have Bleeding Hearts, which is a zombie story so I shouldn’t be interested, but it sounds fun — in a world where zombies have become the dominant life form, what happens when one of them … sort-of becomes human again? Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh have End of Life, about a hitman hiding out in his hometown (which, I mean, seems foolish, but what do I know, as I am not a hitman on the run). Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips have decided to take the sweet, sweet Warner Bros. money instead of slaving away at Image and have The Peril of the Brutal Dark, which features a P.I. who studied archaeology looking for a supernatural artifact in 1941 New York. Inject that shit right in my veins, yo.
Tini Howard and Babs Tarr have Sirens: Love Hurts, in which Black Canary enlists the help of Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy to hunt a serial killer. Why those three notorious criminals? There’s probably a dumb in-story reason, but we know the real reason: POPULARITY AMONG THE CONSUMING PUBLIC!!!! Come on, people, keep up! I will, of course, be all over this.
I’m not entirely sure if I’m going to get Superman: Chains of Love Special, but shit, Livewire is pretty awesome, and she starts a romance with the Creeper in this book, and that sounds awesome. I’ll have to think about it!
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum gets a hardcover, and I’ve heard good thing about it, so I might get this instead of waiting for the softcover. W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo put Supes through the Kryptonite wringer!!!
Batman: Dark Patterns gets a big ol’ trade, collecting all 12 issues. Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman? Yeah, I’ll be getting this.
I dug Sophie Campbell’s first issue of Supergirl, so I’ll get the first trade. I know she didn’t draw the entire thing, which is a bummer, but it’s probably still pretty neat.
The DC Finest trades are pretty cool, and in this catalog they have the earliest Justice League stories from 1960-63 and a bunch of Western tales from 1970-73. I will get both of them!
Drawn & Quarterly!
Jessica Campbell has Hot or Not, in which she looks at 20th-century male artists and judges whether, you know, you’d like to bang them. This looks very funny.
Dynamite!
Roger Langridge has Muppets Noir, which ought to be fun. Langridge knows how to make good comics, and any time the Muppets get put into a pop culture genre, it’s keen.
Fantagraphics!
I don’t know why Fantagraphics keeps releasing old Marvel stuff, but it’s all been gold so far, and now they have The Marvel Creator Collection volume 1, which features the early Marvel work of Barry Windsor-Smith on such titles as Iron Man, The Avengers, and Ka-Zar. You know it’s good stuff!
Hermes Press!
I won’t be getting The Art of George Wilson, because I tend not to get art books, but I’m sure it’s neat-o, and I know Greg Hatcher would have dug this thing, so if it’s your deal, check it out!
The Curse of Dark Shadows is an original graphic novel, and it looks kind of neat. I don’t know Craig Hurd McKinney, the writer, but Jok is a pretty good artist, and the story seems keen.
IDW! (IDW and Marvel are not distributed by Lunar, so you’ll have to find them somewhere, but I’m still writing about them!)
Layman is doing The Rocketeer: The Island, which is nice for him. It’s based on an outline by Stevens, so there you go.
Smile For the Camera is a story about a model who becomes possessed by something supernatural and she and other models have a rough time with it. Hannah Rose May is a decent writer and the art looks neat, so this should be pretty good.
Image!
Look, I will get Five Gears in Reverse, the new Criminal book, and I will love it, I’m sure, but I am the tiniest bit bummed that Brubillips are doing more Criminal rather than other things. I get why — there’s a new television show based on the comic, and they want to have new material out there, and I’m very happy that they’ve both been able to do so well on their own, doing all these nifty graphic novels, but … I still want more Reckless, or something new entirely. Still, this new book will be awesome, because when is their stuff not awesome?
Tyler Boss and Martin Simmonds are doing The Phantom of the Opera, the latest “Universal Monsters” book. I’m sure it will be cool.
Marvel continues to farm out their work, as Image puts out a Doctor Strange by Paul Smith Artist’s Edition. I mean, yeah, it’s probably cool, but like all of these Artist’s Editions, too rich for my blood!
I, Tyrant gets collected in a trade, and I’ll probably get it, even though I can’t exactly understand what the book is about. Is it about a modern-day playwright getting menaced by a 7th-century king in some way? I have no idea, but what the hell, I’ll check it out!
The Juniper Lodge collects stories from Dustin Weaver’s PAKLIS, and I will pick it up. The last collection from that series was really good, so why not this one?
Mad Cave!
Barbarian Behind Bars is a story of a Conan-esque figure who turns up in the modern day and in jail (for, you know, murdering his enemy) and the public defender who has to come up with a defense. Sounds fun!
I would tell you what The Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre is about, but it’s pretty much right there in the title, and I am here for it!
Vincent van Gogh: Sadness Will Last Forever sounds like a big ol’ downer, but dang, the art is really cool.
Marvel!
Thank FSM they’re rebooting Daredevil with a new #1. I don’t know what I’d do if they just continued the numbering! How would I ever figure it out?!?!?
Thank FSM they’re rebooting The Punisher with a new #1. I don’t know what I’d do if they just continued the numbering! How would I ever figure it out?!?!?
Thank FSM they’re rebooting Moon Knight with a new #1. I don’t know what I’d do if they just continued the numbering! How would I ever figure it out?!?!?
Oni!
Halloween Boy sounds groovy. It’s about an “archaeologist-for-hire, magical ghost hunter, and super-scientist explorer” who has adventures. It looks very keen.
All right, people, I know that was quick, but there’s still a lot of cool stuff out there, even if Diamond is not longer with us! Go to Lunar Distribution for their on-line catalog, and go … somewhere else for IDW and Marvel! (I actually get the physical catalog for those companies, so I don’t know where they are, but I’m sure they’re out there in digital-land somewhere!) And have fun pre-ordering comics, because you never know if something cool will simply not show up at your comics retailer!
Thanks for bringing this back.
What are the best sites to find sollicitations?
Lunar does most of them, so Google “Lunar Distribution” and you’ll find it. As for IDW and Marvel … I’m not sure. I imagine if you Google something to do with IDW/Marvel solicitations for January 2026 you’ll find it. CBR always has something about solicitations, as do other sites. I just usually Google stuff, because that’s the easiest thing to do.
I’m not sure if it’s back, but I was jazzed by a lot of the new stuff coming out! It might just be a one-time thing!
I usually peruse a combination of Comic Releases and Bleeding Cool, but a search for “comic solicitations” also found me League of Comic Geeks and “https://comicsolicitations.com”. I also trawl through DCBS’s listings every month. With the fall of Diamond, though, DCBS seems to carry less stuff.
Between Assorted Crisis Events, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and Ultimates, I’m All In! (Oops, wrong column) on Deniz Camp. I still have to read 20th Century Boys, and will probably order it if I get any Amazon cards in the upcoming holiday season.
Kyle Starks & Steve Pugh? Yes, please.
I’ve been spending too much on comics lately, and hearing there are more upcoming books that sound good is not helping. Luckily, Marvel continues to put out a ton of comics I couldn’t care less about. There’s something weirdly comforting about not being interested in new volumes of DD, Punisher, and Moon Knight.
Moon Knight has been solid, you really should give it a try.
Ok, it suffered a bit art wise after Marvel decided to waste Cappuccio on Ultimate Wolverine but it’s still pretty darn good.
Barbarian Behind Bars is a very cool premise.
Of the items I’ve seen solicited, I’m in for Kryptonite Spectrum, Dark Patterns, Supergirl, and probably DC KO Boss Battle, which seems to feature guest appearances by other publishers’ characters, like Red Sonja and the bear from Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees.
I would not be surprised if I pick up all of these Vertigo books in trade.
Dark Horse’s EC Archives collection of Panic sounds intriguing, but not sure I’ll bite.
Is this what it’s like to be cheated on? (No, wait, I do know what that’s like from years ago, this is WORSE!!!!)
My problem has been finding the new solicits, so I’m glad you went ahead with this, perhaps the new year will get more of this from us. I get the DC and Marvel ones in print, and occasionally the IDW or Dynamite ones, but the rest has been hard to find. Without actually doing any searching lol.
No specific comments right now, maybe later, but I’m glad to see this stuff.
One comment — I am totally getting a Blind Bag for the new Daredevil #1. It needs to be done!
As someone who rereads a lot of his old comics, even outside my Silver Age reread posts, the numbering drives me nuts. I reread my collection of JLA a few years ago (mostly down to random minis and things like JLA: Incarnations now) and when it got to the 1990s, trying to figure out the order for JLA, Justice League, Justice League America, etc., etc., drove me nuts. Hmm, no, that’s not actually a numbering problem.