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Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – June 2019

Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – June 2019

It’s June, and our thoughts turn to … comics that come out in August! That’s just the way the world works, people! So let’s dive right into Previews #369 (noice) so we can see what needs to be seen!

‘Where’s this comic convention I’ve heard so much about?’

As per usual, Travis is in black and I’m in blue. Although it’s 8 June as I type this and I’ve barely started and I haven’t heard a word from Travis. Where could he be? I can’t worry about that now – there are comics to preview!

I haven’t gotten the book yet, but I’m going to look at the digital version, because it’s the future, baby!  Or something.  I’ve been busy too.

Image:

The solicits!

Well, it’s not exactly right on page 37, since Spawn 300 ties with Cerebus, but doesn’t yet become the longest running independent series until issue 301. But I’ll probably snag a copy of this, because.  I read the first issue rereleased on Free Comic Book Day, and I think I’m going to finish the post I started about that, so I won’t go into it, but it was very interesting versus what I remember from reading it before.

This image or one similar to it appears two more times in the catalog than you’d expect!

Dan Watters is a decent writer, so I might check out Coffin Bound (page 38) in trade. It seems like it’s about a nihilistic young woman who tries to erase every trace of herself by killing everyone who’s ever known her? Does that sound right? Anyway, the art looks keen.

I … guess?  Yeah, I’ll probably get this trade.  Limbo was pretty good from what I remember.

I don’t think I know anything about writer Andre R. Frattino or artist Jesse Lee, but Simon Says: Nazi Hunter volume 1 on page 50 sounds good. A dude who was forced to paint swastikas on train cars during the war becomes a post-war vigilante and hunts down Nazis (it says so in the title!). The art is good, and the story sounds interesting.

I’m intrigued, although wary of the volume 1 tag.  It’ll just stay unfinished if it doesn’t sell well, and that will break my heart, won’t it?

Does he say that before he kills Nazis? ‘Simon says … die, Nazi scum!!!!!’

Dark Horse:

Hey, solicits!

So there’s Jeff Lemire, looking at Marvel thinking, “Hey, they’re getting sweet Conan money, and now they’re putting Conan in the modern world, and why can’t I do that with an ‘original’ creation that will give me all the moneys? And why can’t we just get Mike Deodato, who’s drawing Marvel’s Conan-in-the-modern-world, to draw it, so maybe some people who think they’re buying Marvel’s version will accidentally buy mine?” Jeff Lemire couldn’t be that cynical, could he? How else to explain Berserker Unbound (page 86), in which Mike Deodato draws a story in which a sword-and-sorcery warrior finds himself in the modern day? HOW ELSE?!?!?!?

Don’t forget that Dark Horse is probably hurting from losing the Conan license too, so they may have had a hand in suggesting this idea to Lemire!

Excellent point. They were down there in their dingy offices in Milwaukie (unless they’ve upgraded in the past 18 years, Dark Horse HQ is a really unassuming place that looks pretty bland from the outside – inside might be cool, though) trying to figure out how they could continue to make money from barbarian comics, and Mike Richardson said, “What the hell, we’ll just keep doing Conan, but we’ll call him … Bro-Man! Yeah, that’ll work. Get me Lemire on the rotary phone!” Both Richardson and Lemire still have rotary phones, I bet. And lo, a cash cow was resurrected!!!!

I’m picturing the rather tall Mike Richardson (from what I know of him, anyway), with his fingers in a rotary dial, and I’ma gigglin’!

I kind of want to get the trade of Invisible Kingdom (page 98), because G. Willow Wilson is a good writer and Christian Ward is a terrific artist, but this is only 5 issues, and I very much doubt if there will ever be more, and I imagine this doesn’t tell a complete story. If it does, maybe I will get it. Does anyone know?

On page 99, Ward is writing Tommy Gun Wizards, about Eliot Ness (is that spelled right?  I guess so!) fighting wizards and stuff.  Hey, if Steve Niles and Tony Harris aren’t going to finish Chin Music, someone ought to!  The art on Tommy Gun Wizards is by Sami Kivelä, whose art on Abbott was excellent.

Yeah, Kivelä is a good artist, so I might get this. Ah, Chin Music. So much promise!

Ward is channeling himself some Tommy Lee Edwards here, too

Dammit, the one thing about licensed comics is that sometimes good writers or artists work on them and I feel the urge to get these comics to get the work of those people, and on page 104 is a Minecraft comic with Rafer Roberts writing, among other cool people.  Why?!

Mary and Bryan Talbot have a new graphic novel, Rain, on page 109. It’s about the relationship between two women set during the 2017 floods in northern England, and I’m sure it will be pretty cool. They’ve done some good stuff together.

How can you tell I live in Arizona? If either one of those people were me, I’d be grinning from ear to ear seeing all that precipitation!

Will I actually order Wyrd on page 113 this time?  Who knows?  I was also kinda interested in Bad Luck Chuck on the same page (wasn’t that the movie where Adam Sandler and Kevin James got married?), and Calamity Kate on page 114 interested me as well.  But will I actually plunk down the ducats?  Doubtful!

I’m annoyed about having to re-order Wyrd. Maybe it will come out this time! I might get the other two, but I’m not sure. And no, the movie with Adam Sandler and Kevin James was I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (I’m ashamed I know this), and Dane Cook was in a movie called Good Luck Chuck (I’m even more ashamed that I know that). The first movie did give us this, though, so that’s all right:

She’s going to throw that towel out like it’s a vaccine! (Topical!) I was going to make a similar joke, but she’s walking it back pretty heavily, so I figured I’d skip it. But that was a fine one!

DC:

Woo! Solicits!

Page 2: Batman/Superman #1: THE TWELFTH TIME’S THE CHARM!!!!

Page 4: Battle Damaged Logos.  Oy.

You love them, Pelkie!!!! Bow down to your DC Overlords!!!!

DC, bless their heart, has let Neal Adams out of his bunker once more and unleashed him on Batman, and so we get Batman Vs. Ra’s al Ghul on page 6. As long as this is batshit insane Adams, the one who brought us that Batman Odyssey book (which wasn’t good, exactly, but was batshit insane), I’m in. Let Neal Adams go batshit, DC! What do you have to lose? (I’d say your dignity, but let’s be honest about that.)

Oh, Neal Adams, you mad bastard, you!

Warren Ellis is writing a new iteration of Wildcats on page 9. This should be good for the six issues he writes, and then we’ll see who DC gets when he gets bored with it!

Hey, he stuck it out on The Wild Storm, so hush, you!  Also, isn’t that Obama on the cover?

Every time DC releases a new printing of The New Frontier Absolute Edition (page 68), I want to get it. Then I think $100 is too much. Then I think about it some more. Some day I’ll pull the damned trigger!

I know.  I’m even worse, I haven’t even read the damn thing!

On page 70, DC has a trade that is labeled “Detective Comics vol. 1.” I’d like to know just what the hell they’re playing at. I mean, that’s just annoying.

Now that they’re past using Rebirth to market it, they’re going back to volume 1 on stuff.  I hope to do some reviews and there’s something else dumb that I will rant about with these volumes as well!

I hate to admit it, but I just might pick up … Booster Gold: The Big Fall on page 74, which collects the first 12 issues of his seminal series from the 1980s. Dan Jurgens 4EVA, yo! I’m very, very, VERY tempted by this.

Who is clamoring for this?  Really.

Shut up, man! I’m clamoring!!!! CAN’T YOU HEAR THE CLAMOR?!?!?!?

OK, bro.

CLAMORCLAMORCLAMOR!!!!!

I love how DC just keeps throwing out these random Justice League trades, as this month we get Justice League of America: The Wedding of the Atom and Jean Loring on page 82, which collects issues #149-158 and Super-Team Family #13-14. I don’t think I’ll get this, because it’s 70 (!!!) dollars, but I’m sure that marriage worked out great, didn’t it?

Well, what’s interesting is that in the Atom Special from ‘92, I think, by Tom Peyer and Steve Dillon (one of my favorite one shots ever!), Ray and Jean actually got along ok.  Like grown up, adult divorced humans.  And then … fucking Identity Crisis.  Grr, Identity Crisis!!!!

Hey, there’s a Stargirl collection on page 84.  That was actually quite a good series from what I remember!

It’s pretty good, at least the first arc (which I think is all I’ve read). I mean, Johns doesn’t decapitate anyone, so … progress!

Which is ironic since that was, I think, his first (major) work!

IDW:

Look! Solicits!

The nostalgic in me twitches at the sight of page 153 and the Transformers ’84 #0 issue.  Will I bend and get it?  I doubt it, but maybe if it’s a series (I’m unclear on that point) I’ll get the trade.

John Lees is writing Mountainhead (page 159), which is about a man and his son living off the grid and coming into contact with the lone survivor of a climb, one who’s covered in blood. Oh dear. Lees is quite a good writer, and the art looks cool, so I’ll get this (probably in trade, though!).

Me too!

HIs head looks awfully normal, I’m just sayin’

Marvel:

Behold! Solicits!

It’s nice that they actually include some preview pages at the start, even if it’s for, y’know, Absolute Carnage.  I read the first volume of Venom and thought it was ok, but I’m not thinking it’s some great stuff.

Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman are good creators, though, so this might not suck?

Um, yeah, of course I’m getting Marvel Comics #1000.  Dammit, they always suck me in!  It’s on page 24, although the creative teams are on the couple pages before that.  Should be fun.

What’s there to whine about? Of course I’m getting it, and I will love it!!!!! (There is, however, what appears to be a shocking lack of Moon Knight and Psylocke on the “collage cover” (pages 28-29), and Dazzler is waaaaaaay down in the lower right. THIS WILL NOT STAND, MARVEL!!!!!)

We march at dawn!

Agents of Atlas gets another reboot on page 36 (I know they’re in something right now, but this is a proper mini-series), and I’m not sure what to do. I own all the Agents of Atlas stuff in single issues, and I hate to cornfuse the format I have them in, but I bought those before the great shift to $3.99, and this first issue is $4.99 (!!!), so I will probably wait for the trade. But I’ll be cornfused.

OK, I might get Power Pack: Grow Up! on page 42, because Weezie was really nice to me at Ithacon recently, and June Brigman did good stuff with Captain Ginger for Ahoy.

Holy shit, the Brood AND Lila Cheney?!?!?!? What year is this?!?!?!?

1987, is that you?

Immortal Hulk is incredible (HA!), but I’m not sure I’d pay for the director’s cut issues on page 46.  I would like to look at them though …

I wonder how they choose stuff like that. I mean, it’s a good comic, but it seems almost random as to which comics they choose to get this treatment. I’m sure it’s not, but I wonder how they do it.

I think it’s been very critically acclaimed, but the sales might not be as great (which I think was the case with the Vision semi-recently).  But who knows?

This is kinda neat, the dude who submitted the idea for Spidey’s black costume (which I read about at the old place but I’m not searching for a link. Sorry, Brian!) is having his story told by Peter David and Rick Leonardi in Sensational Spider-Man: Self-Improvement on page 61. Yeah, it’s a cynical cash grab, but it’s kinda cool too.

Sure, it’s a cash grab, but in the white noise that is Marvel flooding the market, it might not be that cash-grabby. And it is a cool idea.

Squirrel Girl begins its final arc on page 84. This has been, probably, Marvel’s best comic since it launched, and I’ll miss it. I’m glad we got what we got, though, and I’m amazed it lasted as long as it did. Unless they’re just relaunching it with a new #1. Because that makes sense.

Well, yes, they’ll do that eventually, of course.  I lost track of this book relatively early on, unfortunately, with that Howard the Duck crossover messing me up, but someday I’ll catch up!

Esad Ribic is doing a Conan silent issue on page 92, and good for him. The solicit text calls it “unprecedented,” though, and I’m a bit confused about that. There have been stories of Conan as a teenager before, and there have been silent issues before – Marvel did an entire line-wide event with them! So what, exactly, has no precedent here?

Dunno, but you just made me remember the Nuff Said issues, and I’m happy about that now!

I didn’t realize that Conan hung out with Reed and Sue’s daughter … (page 94).

Hey, “Valeria” is a very common name, man!

Oh yeah!  Wait …

I should warn our unsuspecting readers that that link goes to a Pixies video, so if you click it, you have to listen to the Pixies, and that’s never good for anyone.

Ooh, man, that Timely’s Greatest: Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omni on page 110 is calling out to me, but I canna afford it, cap’n.

As is the Ditko is … Amazing! King-Size book on page 113 (so interesting that they never did these books while he was alive …)

That’s one I might consider. I’m not sure why they didn’t do these kinds of things when he was still alive. It’s not like they would have to pay him or anything (I mean, they should have, but I doubt if, legally, they had to).

Well, I was wondering where Kelly was this time, and her new run on Captain Marvel gets its first trade on page 119, which means I will be getting it.

The first issue was decent, so I’ll probably get this, too. She’s writing the Rogue/Gambit series too, you know.

That one is over now though, isn’t it?

Beats me. Like I pay attention to comics news!!!

Well, I didn’t see a new issue offered in this issue!

Dynamite:

Um … solicits?

Wait, on page 196 is Erf, an all ages story from … Garth Ennis?!

Always keeping us on our toes, is Ennis!

Boom! Studios:

Oh! Solicits!

Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora, which should be an excellent team, are bringing us Once & Future on page 210. It’s a modern-day Arthurian story, although it seems like it’s just an Arthurian villain, and not the king himself. Should be neat.

Dang, that sword is REALLY shiny!

Claire Roe is a good artist, and she’s drawing Bury the Lede (page 216), which is about an accused murderer who will only talk to a cub reporter. Sounds keen.

I just read a Wonder Woman story she drew, and she is good.  It should be interesting.

I like Eric Powell’s art, but not quite enough to drop 50 bucks on it, but if someone else likes it, they should look at page 225.

Let’s get to the back of the book!

You know I’m going to tell you about the newest Cerebus in Hell? one shot, and on page 242, Aardvark-Vanaheim gives us Tales of Sophistication, with the Iron Manticore.  I need to catch up on reading this stuff, I’m so far behind.

The second volume of Spencer and Locke, the “Calvin-and-Hobbes-except-Calvin-in-a-grown-ass-police-ociffer” comic, is on page 246 from Action Lab. The first volume was quite good, so I’m looking forward to this one.

I wish they’d reoffered the first volume, since I didn’t get that before.

Bad Reception from Aftershock sounds good, with a celebrity wedding at an undisclosed location is targeted by a serial killer.  It’s written and drawn by Juan Doe, whose art is good but I don’t know if he’s written anything before.  It’s on page 248 if you’re willing to try it!

Doe is not a bad writer, but he’s not great, either. This sounds interesting, though.

What has he written, asks the guy who can’t use google or the GCD?

Dang, you got me. I know I’ve read a thing or two he’s written, but I can’t recall off the top of my head. I too would have to use the insidious 10100!!!!!

See, now nobody’s going to want to eat the cake

Whoa, The Land That Time Forgot 1975 from American Mythology reprints the original movie adaptation, and it’s on page 266.  Same page also has a collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Fear on Four Worlds, collecting one shots of his stuff that crossed over.  I may get that, even though it says it’s only 32 pages, lol.

Who doesn’t love some olde-skool Sonny Trinidad art?

It’s weird that I was just thinking about the Archie Married Life magazines the other day, and I didn’t realize they’re apparently 10 years old, because on page 273 is a new miniseries continuing the storylines where Archie married Betty and the other where he married Veronica.  It was decent from what I remember.

I may actually get the trade of Katy Keene on page 276 from Archie. I know they’re probably not that good, but I’m fascinated by older comics these days, and it’s only 11 bucks for over 200 pages, so it’s not like it’s going to break me.

I guess it depends on your definition of not good.  I will probably snag this because it’s probably neat old comics, and the girlfriend will probably like it.

Well of course it depends on the definition! That’s true about almost everything in life, sir!

Hmm, I’ll have to consider Idolized in trade on page 280 from Aspen.  I think I read the zero issue, but now I’m not sure.  It’s about a reality show letting people join a superhero team, and it’s got a sweet Art Adams cover.

It sounds decent enough, so I might give it a look.

I hate seeing Arthur Adams covers, because it just reminds me that he doesn’t do interior work anymore!

A Wave Blue World is celebrating the bicentennial of Herman Melville’s birth with From Hell’s Heart on page 287.  Cover artist Velibor Stanojevic is doing his best Dave McKean, and there are some good artists in there as well.  I might consider this.

I saw that. That’s just weird. Intriguing, but weird.

You go on and do your best Dave McKean!

ComicMix has a couple interesting ones on page 300.  Joshua Jace: Minimum Wage Henchman sounds like The Office meets supervillains, while the one that really intrigues me is Innsmouth, about the Lovecraftian town and how the cultists might actually suck at what they’re trying to do.  A funny take on Lovecraft is a good thing to see!

I might actually get both of those!

I don’t know why, but the Drawn and Quarterly HC of Little Lulu is reoffered on page 303, so maybe I’ll get it, because I loved the FCBD special.  Of course, I love Little Lulu a ton anyway!

I’m sure our pal Simon will have something to say about Maria M., the new Beto book from Fantagraphics on page 310, since it was originally going to be a 2 volume story where the second volume never made it to print.  Maybe because splitting a less than 300 page book into 2 parts was ridiculous, Fanta, and we all saw through it?

Simon has a convert!!!!!

Hey, ones like that that are SOOOO obvious, I’m on board with him for.  That’s why I didn’t order the “first” volume back in the day even though I really dig Los Bros.

Pumpkinheads on page 314 from First Second sounds interesting. Two friends who only see each other around Halloween when they work in a pumpkin patch decide, for their last autumn together, to have an adventure. It’s written by Rainbow Rowell, whose work I’m not familiar with, but it’s drawn by Faith Erin Hicks, who’s a terrific artist. I’ll have to think about this.

Rainbow Rowell is a fairly well known YA author, who has been writing the new iteration of Runaways for Marvel, and I think has done other comics, but I’m not sure.  That does sound good, but it also sounds like one that will definitely be at the library.

I’m not sure if I’ll get the Humanoids H1 books on pages 320 and 322, but I like that they’re offering them all again.  Omni was interesting in the FCBD special, with a woman who can think faster than the speed of light, plus Devin Grayson is back on an ongoing, so that’s cool.  I guess they signed up Ariela Kristantina by the time the ad had to go in, because the listing says TBD for the artist, rarely a good sign.  The FCBD special was interesting, although I don’t really see where this “universe” is particularly different from most other superhero universes that try to be “realistic”.

Your third sentence doesn’t make sense. Do you mean they HADN’T signed Ariela Kristantina? Because if they had, why would they need to TBD the artist? I NEED ANSWERS, PELKIE!!!!

… Dammit, I wasn’t clear.  I meant that the solicit said tbd while the ad had her listed, so she hadn’t been signed yet.  Presuming that the solicit goes in first. [I should note: Travis changed the third sentence so that it makes sense, so now I look like an idiot. I DON’T NEED ANY HELP FROM YOU, PELKIE, TO LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT!!!!!] [Travis has informed me in the comments that he DIDN’T change the wording, and looking back at it, I see he’s right. I TOLD YOU I DON’T NEED ANY HELP FROM YOU TO LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT!!!!!]

Oni has the trade of Morning in America (page 344), which is about a town during an apocalypse of some sort and the weird stuff happening in said town. I still haven’t made up my mind as to whether Magdalene Visaggio is a good writer or not, but this looks interesting.

I can’t remember, was this 4 or 5 issues?  I thought just 4, which means that 20 bucks is a little pricey (I can just barely make out the price, because some genius put dark red on top of a lighter red and thought that would be legible).  But it does sound interesting.

I agree about that print. Anyway, it’s 136 pages, which even if you account for non-story pages, sounds like a lot more than 4 issues. You know, if only we were both on some device that could grant us easy access to information at any moment, this would go much more smoothly!

If only!

I like the concept of Unplugged and Unpopular on page 346, because it’s about a young girl banned from using her phone and other screens who finds that she and some old people are the only ones who can see that aliens are controlling the human race through screens.

I get that it’s exaggerated, but not every kid has a phone. And when I took my daughter’s phone away last year because she got a “C” on her report card (yes, I really did), she didn’t collapse into a puddle or lose all her friends. But this does sound fun. And the artist’s name is Tintin, which is all right.

Well that’s cool about your daughter and her phone.  You are a harsh taskmaster!  Ha!  I just heard something that the comics character is not pronounced Tin-Tin like I’ve always thought, but more Frenchy like tan-tan or something.  My world was turned on its head!

It’ll always be “tin-tin” to me! Damn the French and their snooty pronunciation!!!!

Is she about to stab her phone with her two fingers?

Hmm, I wonder if I should spring for Prion‘s collection of the original Conan the Barbarian stories, on page 354.  It doesn’t have fancy sweet fantasy art on the cover so I lean towards no.

Travis Pelkie: Judging books by their covers since 1979!

That’s right!  I think we’ll get in one more of these posts before I hit the big 4-0!

Rebellion/2000AD have great stuff as always, and the second volume of the Complete Future Shocks is new, while the first volume is offered again on page 356.

On page 358, Scout offers the second volume of Once Our Land, a post-apocalyptic story set in 1830s Germany. The first volume was pretty good, but I haven’t read the second one yet (it finished in June, but I haven’t read it yet!), so I can’t say too much, but it’s probably worth a look.

Ooh mama, I may spring for the Six Foot Press book on page 360, Bill Sienkiewicz: Revolution (I used to be able to spell his name without looking!).  It’s 50 bucks and also features Frank Miller discussing how good Billy the Sink is, and it’s the first of 3 volumes, which fills me with terror (because if I get one I’ll want them all, y’know?), so I may get this.

Yeah, I’m not even questioning this. I’m all in!

Well, that’s freaky

Source Point Press has a lot of comics offered on page 361, including the trade of Norah, which sounds like Nightmask or that show with Sarah Shahi (did I spell that right?) that was on NBC last summer.  There’s also a trade of the Rot, about a dude who uses his cancer as a weapon.  But I wanted to point out that Samurai Grandpa has the same logo as Samurai Penguin from the ’80s and Slave Labor, iirc.

Man, how do you even remember that Sarah Shahi was on an NBC show last summer (it was called Reverie, BTW)? You’re just weird.

I watched an episode with the girlfriend, who was watching it!

Obligatory

TwoMorrows does great stuff, and on page 374 they have a new issue of Retrofan magazine (#6) with Svengoolie, a horror host; Back Issue 116 with superheroes versus monsters; and the big one is Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love, compiling the last unpublished Kirby stuff, with Dingbats of Danger Street (those kid groups!), True-Life Divorce, which speaks for itself, and Soul Love, which is … I suppose they’d call it “urban”?  It’s 40 bucks but man oh man it sounds cool.

I was looking at that Kirby book longingly. I may have to pony up the ducats!

Vault has Mall 1 on page 382, which is different from the Scout book that wrapped up (I think) recently called The Mall, and was pretty good from what I read of it.

Wait, all these kids from the 1980s and 1990s are now writing comics and they’re writing about … malls? Who could have guessed?!?!?

And that seems to be it for me since I didn’t see anything egregious in the toys and stuff section! Yeah, I’m done too. We hope everyone has fun checking out the catalog, and we hope you find something cool within!

21 Comments

  1. tomfitz1

    I’d be a lot more impressed with SPAWN reaching # 300, if Todd McFarlane actually wrote and drew most of the series. He didn’t. He inked some and did covers.

    I think I stopped reading Spawn around # 190.

    Still no MIRACLEMAN though. Gaiman says its being worked on.

    I just love Sarah Shahi, but not Reverie. That was such a waste of her talents. I missed her character in Person of Interest.

    That first gif, was that Jessica Biel?

    1. Louis Bright-Raven

      “I just love Sarah Shahi, but not Reverie. That was such a waste of her talents. I missed her character in Person of Interest.”

      See, I didn’t care about her in Person of Interest, but loved her in Fairly Legal and Reverie. *shrugs*

    2. Greg Burgas

      Tom: Well, it’s still impressive that it’s been running for so long, although I imagine McFarlane making scads of money elsewhere might have something to do with it staying in business. Larsen is almost up there with Savage Dragon; will that satisfy your snobby credentials?!?!?!? 🙂

      I liked Shahi in Person of Interest, but I really liked her in Fairly Legal. The show died too quickly!!!

      Yep, that’s Jessica Biel.

      1. tomfitz1

        Mr. Burgas: Why, yes it does! 🙂 Larsen doing it all (writing, drawing) for over 245 issues is pretty damn impressive.

        Even Dave Sim on Cerebus; Sergio Aragones on Groo; Stan Sakai on Usagi Yojimbo ;
        Charles Adlard on The Walking Dead (except for six issues).
        All impressive runs. I’m sure there’s more..

        Ooh, I forgot Sarah Shahi on Fairly Legal, and The L Word. Just don’t see enough of her. 🙂

  2. Eric van Schaik

    When the first view posts are about someone called Shahi then the comics aren’t that interesting. 🙂 The only thing will be Savage Dragon 248… 🙁

    After 3 weeks my girlfriend opened her eyes. See looks at me and follows me with her eyes but there is (for now?) no spark of recognition. She can move the left part of her body and that’s it for now. I still hope for her to recover but it gets harder and harder. It’s now 08.00 in Holland and in about 2 hours I ‘ll to the hospital again.

    1. Greg Burgas

      Eric: I hope she continues to improve. It’s a long, slow process, but obviously it’s good that she’s making progress, as slow as it might be. We’re all hoping for the best.

    2. Louis Bright-Raven

      “When the first view posts are about someone called (Sarah) Shahi then the comics aren’t that interesting.”

      Well, what can we say, Erik? We have good tastes in women, and the publishers don’t seem to have any in the books they’re making? LOL

      But if you really want to know what comics I am ordering from PREVIEWS:

      IMAGE COMICS:

      I ordered SEAS OF STARS #2 by Jason Aaron, Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum and Stephen Green (pg.74), will possibly pick up a SECTION ZERO #5 for the covers (I already have the story from the SZ kickstarter hardcover edition) (p. 74), and WEATHERMAN Vol. 2 #3 by Jody Leheup and Nathan Fox (p. 78).

      DARK HORSE:

      I have completed my collection of Mignolaverse, so no more of his stuff. I’ve also completed my collection of Black Hammer stuff, so no more Lemireverse (and just in time since the asshole’s doing crossovers with DC). I ordered the last issue of SHE COULD FLY: THE LOST PILOT (#5) (pg.97)… apparently I did order the TOMMY GUN WIZARDS mini on page 99 that was mentioned above, just hadn’t remembered it because I turned in my order weeks ago. I ordered STRAYED by Carlos Giffoni and Juan Doe about the cat in the future who will trade one of his lives to save those of billions of people or something to that effect. (p. 102)

      IDW:

      USAGI YOJIMBO #3 (page 149) and HG Wells’ THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU #2 (p. 163)

      BOOM:

      ONCE & FUTURE (page 210 – the one mentioned in the article, just again, I turned in my order form weeks ago so I didn’t recall it and discovered I had when I went back to check).

      AFTERSHOCK:

      I’ve been getting Ryan Parrott and Milos Slavkovic’s OBERON in singles, and have been enjoying that, so if you’ve not tried that, I might recommend the Vol. 1 Trade on page 255.

      HUMANOIDS:

      THE FOURTH POWER TPB by Juan Giminez. (page 322) Just a Giminez fan and wanted to get his stuff.

      TITAN COMICS:

      ENKI BILAL’S MONSTER HC (page 369)

      TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING:

      COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION about the 1978 DC comics implosion and the historical impact that had on the industry. (page 374)

      ***********

      And that seems to be it. There might have been a DC title in there (HOUSE OF WHISPERS, as I planned to stop at issue #12), but that’s it. No, not even the Neal Adams Batman series. I’m rather done with Neal at this point, particularly as far as his writing goes.

      Truth be told, I’ve been more interested in seeking out comics outside of Diamond as of late.

      1. Comic Book Implosion is good if you’re interested in the topic (I am!). Thoroughly detailed on what was canceled in the implosion, what stories were recycled for use somewhere and what never emerged. Also a lot of general tales about DC at the time (Jenette Kahn and Neal Adams were an item).

        1. Louis Bright-Raven

          Yeah, it interests me, Fraser. I’m sure when / if it ever shows up (I swear I order stuff that the retailers never seem to get, usually stuff from Fantagraphics), it’ll be something I’ll read relatively quickly, especially since I’m going to be doing podcasts regularly now that I have a mic and webcam (just got it this weekend).

  3. Edo Bosnar

    “DC, bless their heart, has let Neal Adams out of his bunker once more and unleashed him on Batman, and so we get Batman Vs. Ra’s al Ghul on page 6. As long as this is batshit insane Adams, the one who brought us that Batman Odyssey book (which wasn’t good, exactly, but was batshit insane), I’m in. Let Neal Adams go batshit, DC! What do you have to lose? (I’d say your dignity, but let’s be honest about that.)”

    Saw this announced elsewhere a few weeks ago. My response is precisely the opposite of yours – even if I was the type who got new comics as they come out, this would be a hard pass for me. And yes, I’ve read a bit of Batman Odyssey – batshit insane it is, but also incoherent gibberish.

    1. Greg Burgas

      Edo: Batman Odyssey isn’t a good comic by any stretch, but it is very fun, and not as incoherent as it seems to be at the beginning. Whenever Adams tries to be “serious” these days, it seems, it’s really bad, but when he just goes nuts, it’s still not good, but it is entertaining!

  4. “Well, what’s interesting is that in the Atom Special from ‘92, I think, by Tom Peyer and Steve Dillon (one of my favorite one shots ever!), Ray and Jean actually got along ok. ”
    Roger Stern’s Power of the Atom did well with that too.
    Edo, I’m not a Batman Odyssey fan either. Other than the one scene where Batman simply steps to one side so the guy jumping him from above hits the ground with his face.

  5. Also, sir, I swear to you, I did not change that third sentence in the Omni solicit stuff, because I wanted it to appear as you saw it. It appears that when you first read it, you were more confused than you needed to be, and when I reread it, I saw the confusion, but when we look back now, it wasn’t as bad as we thought!

  6. Jeff Nettleton

    I was going to ask why the chimpanzee was waving a crowbar, until I read further down and saw it is supposed to be the bloody climber. Now, I’m from central Illinois, where a mountain is anything that ants look at an wipe their brow (do ants have brows?), so I’m not a mountaineering expert; but, is a crowbar really standard climbing gear? Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be a rock climbing axe? Or am I on a fool’s crusade to look for logic in comics?

    Stars and STRIPE was decent, at first, though I think I dropped out of it after 6 issues or so.

    Tommy Gun Wizards-the fiction of Eliot Ness having gun battles with Al Capone isn’t enough; so, we need wizards? He pulls out a knife, you pull out a wand! he sends one of yours to the apothecary, you send one of his to the necromancer! That’s the Tir Na Og way!

    Idolized-someone punch those two ladies in the back? ‘Cause it looks like their lower spine is way out of whack!

    Booster Gold gets a trade? Thank you Green Lantern!

  7. I’ve been surprised by how little I like The Wild Storm. I mean, granted, I have no interest in the Wildstorm universe to begin with (or any of the first-generation Image stuff, for that matter), but I loved Ellis’s work on StormWatch, Authority and Planetary back in the day. But alas, this reboot bores me silly.

  8. Simon

    You seen the cat?

    > “Previews #369”

    Ah, not that sorta cat. (Sure, it lists SCIENCE COMICS: CATS from Andy Hirsch who already did the great DOGS, alongside other upcoming nonfic like MOONBOUND: APOLLO 11, MARIE CURIE: A LIFE OF DISCOVERY, ALBERT EINSTEIN: THE POETRY OF THE REAL, and AMAZING WORLD WAR II STORIES: NAVAJO CODE TALKERS.

    Or fic such as YOU DIED: TALES OF THE AFTERLIFE, and stuff to be zero-dayed soon enough. Plus known quantities like Crosby & Ellerton’s supernatural romance DREAMLESS (still free online), Jon McNaught’s reflective KINGDOM (from last year), or Trondheim & Chevillard’s brief STAY (originally titled, “I Think I’m Going to Stay”). Most of them mousetraps that can wait for specs and reviews and libraries, yadda yadda.

    Not to mention the latest dead-tree volumes of Hiromu Arakawa’s SILVER SPOON and Kaoru Mori’s A BRIDE’S STORY, the latter a mostly standalone tale of Vol. 3 and 10’s couple, featuring chapters about the journey of a fabled watch, glass-plate photography, Turkish two-person swings, or Antalya’s cosmopolitan cats.) Talking about that, where’s the fine feline?

    > G: “Let Neal Adams go batshit”

    Would an editor-plotted work-for-hire be as fun as his unfiltered talks? (Like the big one he gave some years ago to an offshore Robin Hood site, off the cuff or off the rails:

    * “[My] favourite quote of Julie Schwartz is “Get the f— out of my office, Adams!” ”

    * “[Green Arrow] had lost his fortune, so he was kind of living on the edge of civilization in Harlem or close to Harlem. He was like, you know, Robin Hood in the woods.”

    * “ “How about [my new Green Lantern be], I don’t know, a Black guy? Or an Asian.” “You start trouble.” I said “Okay, Julie, you watch the Olympics?” […] He says “Well, how about we make it an Asian?” I said “Well, okay, Julie, you don’t have a really good record with Asians. [You] had a character for ten years who’s an Asian who is a friend of Hal Jordan. And you called him Pieface.” [Later, Denny O’Neil] gives me the script and [Julie’s name for the Black Green Lantern] is Lincoln Washington. [So] I go to Julie’s office and I close the door because there’s gonna be some yelling […]”

    * “So Sol comes and says “Neal, I noticed that you coloured the [new Green Lantern] kind of a darker brown. [We] usually colour Black people a little brown. [Are] you sure Black people won’t be offended?” “Ah, no. I don’t think they’ll be offended. I think they’ve been offended for the last 50 years, but no I don’t think they’ll be offended by having dark-skinned Black people.” ”

    * “It’s my turn on Kirby and it’s only a matter of draftsmanship. […] It’s just that muscles are in the right place a little bit more, know what I mean? [You] do have to do some of these bold, slashy Jack Kirby lines, nice big blacks, clunky muscles and s–t, big chompers — those big teeth that don’t seem to fit into anybody’s mouth. Yeah, I do that. But I know how to do that. You see, I started out as a cartoonist — a big foot cartoonist. What they call big foot. Big foot is a cartoon, characters with big feet. A little foot artist is a person who draws like superheroes and they have little tiny feet. That’s the difference between big foot and little foot. You just learned something.”

    * “[That 2011 costume designed by Jim Lee?] Weird. And when Superman has to pee, is there a zipper in the front? I don’t think so. I’m just saying. So I’m dealing with it, you know. I really don’t swing at high balls. I swing at low balls. But I usually connect.”

    * “[My] name is apparently one name in France, Nealadums. […] And I said “You know, you goddamn Frenchies are going to screw up comic books. You screwed up jazz, you’re going to screw up musical comedy, and you’re going to screw up comic books. Everybody’s going to take it seriously and think it’s art.” ”

    * “Marvel used to go around going “we have 2,200 characters” or whatever the number was. No, they didn’t! They had nothing! They already sold Spider-Man, they sold Fantastic Four, they sold X-Men — they sold all their characters. Who’d they have left? The Avengers. That’s it. And Guardians of the Galaxy. “A racoon. Hey, guys, let’s make something out of it.” It’s all they had to make anything out of. It’s like slicing up the smallest piece of pie on Earth and pretending they’re a big company.”

    Plenny more where that came from.) Now, where did that fussy pussy go?

    > “Image”

    Jonesy?

    > “Dark Horse”

    Jooonesy?

    > “DC”

    *clink-clink*

    > “IDW”

    …Jonesy?

    > “Marvel”

    AAIIEE–

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