Flippin’ Through ‘Previews’ — June 2022

Why, the last one isn’t even posted yet and here I am starting on the new one!  Travis here, looking at Previews #405 and DC Connect #25, and holy crap, is it almost June already?  Yipes!  Let’s get into it, though!  I’m in black and Greg is in that shade of blue that I have trouble doing myself!  (Well, that didn’t quite work out….)

DC:

Here are the solicits!

I mean, that art looks great, but Batman: One Bad Day — The Riddler on page 2 just makes me sad.  The One Bad Day in these titles are seemingly deliberately misreading what Beardy McGrumpypants intended (and thanks to my autosuggest for finally getting McGrumpypants in there!) with The Killing Joke, and making Riddler a killer just makes me think of that (holy crap is it that old?!) 30 year old Secret Origins story by Neil Gaiman and Bernie Mireault (or was it Matt Wagner with BEM colors?) where the Riddler bemoans the loss of innocence in these stories. Damn, that story is closer to Batman ‘66 than we are to it, knowwhatI’msayin’?

It’s Gaiman and Mireault. And yeah, this makes me sad. I don’t think the Riddler should ever kill, and the fact that he does in Milligan’s old story annoyed me, even though they explained it. I’m sure there will be a similar reason here, but I agree with you about everything you wrote there. How often does that happen?

On page 4 is something intriguing, though, with Batman: Dear Detective, which apparently is creating a narrative through all the different covers for Batman that Lee Bermejo has done.  That’s a cool idea, and one I hope they pull off.  Obviously, the person sending the letters is … well, should I ruin it for everyone, or have you guessed it too?

I don’t guess at shit like that. But Batman’s “greatest enemy”? Based on Bermejo’s art, an ironing board? Roughage? The sun? It could be anything!!!!

At first on page 17 I was nonplussed, because Sandman 1 is one of the most reprinted books in comics, and very easily accessible, but then I saw that there’s a facsimile edition of Detective 27, and I want it I want it!!!  I still wish they did the reprint of Detective 1-26 that they cancelled a while back.

I doubt that will ever come out. It’s too bad.

There’s some cool trades and stuff on pages 24-25.  First, the first half of the Human Target series that’s an homage to Darwyn Cooke, as well as a special prelude issue.  Then there’s the first half of Dark Knights of Steel series, where the DCU characters are fitted into a medieval setting.  Rounding off the trades is DC vs. Vampires, which is hard to suss out what that’s all about.

I’ll probably snag the trade of Catwoman: Lonely City, but seeing the solicit for the variant cover of issue 4 on page 35 and seeing that José Luis García-López is still alive and working made me happy after the losses we’ve had recently!

If you’re too lazy to put accents in his name, I ain’t doing it for ya!

Ha!  Now I did it!

On page 37, who is DC’s “most inscrutable hero” appearing in I Am Batman 12?  I’m stumped!

Matter-Eater Lad?

I assume that Batman Black and White trade on page 42 is the series from just over a year ago?

Why would that not be so?

Because there have been other Black and White series and usually they indicate a volume number or year. And they don’t list creators so I don’t know for sure it’s the latest series.

And damn, it’s been 20 years since Hush “graced” the pages of Batman?  I remember when the first issues of that were really hot and I saw a copy of one of the first parts on the magazine rack of a local supermarket.  And I didn’t buy it.  I could be slightly more wealthy than I am right now, dang it!

It’s funny that you think that.

Oh my gosh, page 43 has the Batman Silver Age Omnibus, collecting all sorts of tasty ‘50s (I think?) Bat stories.  Want!

Yeah, I’ll probably get that. Although I wish I could be certain they’d release it in softcover, because that’s pretty dear.

Also on 43 are the trades of Blue and Gold, the latest in the Booster Gold and Ted “Blue Beetle” Kord saga, as well as the first trade in a new series reprinting the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle series, which was pretty good from what I remember reading.

Justice League Incarnate is in HC on page 44, and that sounded like a really cool series exploring the Multiversity.  Whether or not it was that, I don’t know.

I didn’t realize the Phantom Stranger first appeared in 1952, but anyway, his Omnibus is on page 45.  I have most of this in black and white in the two Showcase volumes, which I flipped through recently some since Neal Adams did covers for the series, as well as art for one issue.  This contains a lot of cool stuff I don’t have, though.

Didn’t they just offer something like this? I guess that’s been canceled and this has replaced it?

Maybe?

If I didn’t already have most of this stuff, I’d definitely want the Flash by Mark Waid Omnibus 1 on page 46.  It cuts off just before the stuff I first bought off the spinner racks (I got the rest in back issue bins) when Impulse was introduced, but it includes that killer arc where Wally thought Barry returned.

I’ve never been able to get into the Waid Flash. I don’t know why.

Page 47 has a new printing of the Wonder Woman by Perez first Omnibus, and his death reminded me I should check out this run.

Image:

Solicits here!

On page 32 is The Last Shadowhawk, a one shot, I guess, set in the future with some character inspired by the original Shadowhawk.  Or other Shadowhawks.  I always liked the original series, and the Shadowhawks of Legend book that Beardy McGrumpypants contributed to was excellent as well (and probably was an impetus for Promethea, for what it’s worth).  This sounds … generic, but I’m sure I’m going to get it.  I just heard that Phillip Tan is doing the pencils for Ronin 2, which makes me wonder why bother doing a sequel at all, but then, $$$ is the reason, of course.

Ronin as in Frank Miller’s book? You have to be kidding me, right? That’s … ridiculous is such a bad word these days for some things that are going on in the world, isn’t it?

Yeah, Frank Miller is starting a publishing concern with Dan DiDio, and among the things that have been announced are Ronin 2, a Sin City prequel that Miller himself is writing and drawing, another Sin City book with art by Manara, and some other stuff too.  It’s fascinating!

I saw that announced, and saw the Manara book, but I didn’t know about Ronin. Sheesh.

Page 36 has Love Everlasting, a series by Tom King and Elsa Charretier, about a woman trapped in romance comics, which is a great hook, and King is pretty good not on Batman, and Charretier is great, so I feel good about this one.

I like how the solicit reads: “Her bloody journey to freedom and revelation starts in this breathtaking, groundbreaking FIRST ISSUE.” First of all, I’m not sure this is all that groundbreaking, but ok. I like the capitalized and bolded “FIRST ISSUE” more, because, um, where the hell else is it going to start?

I know what you’re saying, and it is funny, but since it’s Image, it could have been the zero issue!

Old Dog is on page 40, written and drawn by Declan Shalvey, about a CIA op who wakes up in the future after his “last mission” went haywire.  Sounds fun!

20th Century Men on page 44, about a WWIII at the end of the 20th century that mixes in superhero fiction in sounds interesting.  I’m not familiar with the creators, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good!

The Deadliest Bouquet (page 47) is about the three daughters of a murdered Nazi hunter who need to solve their mother’s murder. Sounds nifty!

On page 50 is Golden Rage, hyped as a combo of Golden Girls and Battle Royale, which sounds like a good time!

It sounds fun, but let’s look at the solicit: “Created by writer Chrissy Williams (editor of Die, The Wicked + The Divine) …” I think the more pertinent information should be “Wife of Kieron Gillen.” I would love to benefit from nepotism, but let’s not pretend that didn’t have a little something to do with this.

That is interesting to note, and I’m sure this book got a look at Image that it wouldn’t have if that wasn’t the case, but I believe it means that you’re a misogynist for pointing this out.

Yeah, probably.

Now Brigade gets remastered on page 52?!?!  Damn, Liefeld is regretting selling off the rights to Youngblood, huh?  (Honestly, WTF did he do that?)

Don’t you question the business acumen of a genius like Liefeld!!!! (He said, only half-jokingly.)

So Die was a 20 issue series, and the HC on page 55 collects the whole she-bang?  That’s a pretty good deal.  I think I only got the first trade, and I of course haven’t read it yet.

I was waiting on a trade of Monkey Meat and the First Batch trade is on page 56.  It’s just fun to say!

Page 72 has the fifth issue of the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology, and there’s a new Pro story by Palmiotti and Conner as well as a story by Joe Casey and Nathan Fox of the EXTREME! character Dutch.  Y’know, Dutch!

There is nothing in the solicit about any Palmiotti/Conner collaboration. Put the LSD down, sir, and seek help!

Check the solicit online, sir!

Oh, look at you and your fancy “on-line” solicits!

Boom! Studios:

The solicits!

On page 90, we’ve got I’m Still Alive, not an adaptation of the Pearl Jam song, but about a journalist who took on the mafia in Italy.  The art is by Asaf Hanuka, who’s pretty good.

Your “joke” would be funnier if that were the actual name of the song. And Gomorrah, the television show (I haven’t read the book), is quite good. Bleak, but good.

Dammit, you’re right about my joke.  Argh!

Dark Horse:

You know these are the solicits!

Dark Horse is doing Star Wars comics again.  Huh.  (Page 118 and 120).

I assume this is the stuff IDW was doing?

Yeah, most likely.

Minor Threats on page 121 doesn’t feature Ian MacKaye, but it’s about the C-list villains in a city being harassed by the heroes because a big-time villain killed a sidekick, and the sidekick’s mentor is out for blood.  But the C-listers decide to take out the big time villain themselves.  This is co-written by Patton Oswalt, so it should be pretty funny.

Oswalt seems like the kind of person who would put MacKaye in this, in a cameo.

I had to fix my last sentence, because I had Oswald instead of Oswalt, as I apparently have the Penguin on the brain!

On page 124 is Survival Street, about a post-America where the corporations have taken over, and the members of a certain educational program traveling around to kick ass and educate kids.  This is written by the dudes that did The End Times of Bram & Ben, and that was a pretty good mini.  (Shit, that’s almost a decade old now!)

And you still haven’t read it!

No, I actually did read Bram and Ben.  That was around the time I stopped keeping up with everything I bought, though, I think!

Hellboy: Weird Tales on page 126 collects the two volumes of stories into one paperback, and I think I’ve read these books and they were pretty good.

Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography by Dave Gibbons appears on page 133, which sounds like it will be really cool, since Gibbons has done so much cool stuff and I believe was also an early adopter of digital artwork (I think he was the person that Walt Simonson said was all digital now, and it was surprising).  There’s also the bit about his falling out with Beardy McGrumpypants, so for prurient reasons that’s interesting too.

I hope the part about Moore is one sentence: “He’s a douche.” That would crack me up.

I would get a kick out of that!

Page 134 has a collection of Bendis and Mack’s Cover, about their counterintelligence work, and how comics creators were recruited because of their travel for cons.  I don’t remember if DC ever collected this when they were publishing this, but I was interested in this one.

They did, because I got it. It’s pretty good, too. Better than Pearl.

After I wrote that, I did spot the DC version of the trade in a comic shop I was in.

On page 136 is 40 Seconds, a book by Jeremy Haun and Christopher Mitten, about scientific explorers trying to answer an alien SOS.  These are good creators, so it should be good.

On 142 is Girlfiend in Paris, a new Pander Bros. GN.  I wish they offered the previous volume as well, as this sounds cool.

You should have gotten it when it first came out, fool!

Also on 142 is Blackwood Library Edition, the Evan Dorkin and Veronica Fish take on a Harry Potter type school.  This was cool sounding, and I never got this, so I’m interested in this.

The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz is collected by DH and It’s Alive on page 143, and I’ve been looking forward to this.  It’s the noted anti war comic that Charlton published, with art by Sam Glanzman.

Dynamite:

Hey, solicits!

There’s a new 007 book on page 157.  I got the Dynamite Humble Bundle of James Bond comics a while ago, but haven’t gotten a chance to read any yet.

As a child of ‘90s comics, I am interested in the Evil Ernie 1 remastered edition on page 167.  I didn’t realize that Eternity Comics published it originally, and I find it interesting if they can include stuff about Lady Death in this, her first appearance, since apparently Pulido owns Lady Death (again, I guess) but it’s separate from the rest of the Chaos stuff that Dynamite publishes.

Yes, Pulido owns Lady Death. He lives in AZ, and several people at the comic book store I frequent know him, so I hear many stories about Pulido.

He seems to me kind of like Liefeld — they do a particular type of comic, they do well with it financially (I assume), they have haters, but they seem to genuinely love comics.  So at least they have that going for them.

Marvel:

It’s the solicits!

How tf does an Avengers/X-Men/Eternals crossover shoehorn in Gwen Stacy coming back to life (apparently)?  Ay yi yi!  (Page 9)

I’ve never understood the idea that he feels guilty about Gwen’s death. It wasn’t his fault! How will he be judged? “Eh, he’s fine. No foul.” I mean, come on!

He heard that snap too!  He knows it was his fault!!!

Although then there’s the description of Avengers 60 on page 11, which reads in part: “Hawkeye is called upon to justify his existence. As a benchmark, Hawkeye must prove that he brings at least as much joy and usefulness to the world as a randomly chosen mailbox, which, admittedly, is a pretty high bar.”  HAHAHA!  This issue is going to be so good, it appears on the website they’ve already had to postpone it in order for all the awesomeness to be fit into this book!

I get that it’s a joke because the book is written by Mark Russell (and drawn by Greg Land, which is a whole different kind of joke), but with a publishing company that gave us Emo Self-Harming Speedball, Marvel should probably be careful about picking on a dude who can shoot deadly weapons really well.

I have no idea how they decided to make it Amazing Fantasy #1000, but they’ve got Kurt Busiek and Neil Gaiman involved, so I’m probably going to get it (page 14)!

Yeah, that’s beyond stupid. Sigh.

I assume the faces the New Fantastic Four are making on page 47 are the same they make when Johnny Storm farts.  Yeah, I went there.

That’s funny, sir, but man, that cover is godawful.

So the bad guy in Black Panther 9 (page 53) is called the Colonialist.  It’s so on the nose it needs rhinoplasty!

Sheesh, John Ridley, look up “subtle” in your dictionary, please!

Back of the book!

Ablaze has Red Lightning on page 216, a story about David Bowie’s death, and how a man reacts to the news.  He travels centuries into the future, as the grieving often do.

Unless you’re related to or close friends with Bowie, the correct reaction to his death was “Oh well, that sucks” and then you move on with your damned life.

Well, I’d also say listen to his music because it’s really good, but I get your point.

Made this a few years ago, still relevant:

The new Cerebus in Hell? special from Aardvark-Vanaheim on page 222, Kurtz vs. Kurtz, pulls together riffs on Harvey Kurtzman, Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now, and Steamboat Willie in one no doubt ridiculous mix.

I assume there will be a softcover version of The Night Eaters, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takada’s first volume of their horror trilogy, which is on page 224 from Abrams Comicarts. That’s a good team (I fell behind on Monstress, but it’s not a bad comic), and this sounds neat, and Abrams does this fancy hardcover thing pretty often.

It does sound cool.  I’m also digging the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus on the same page, collecting some? all? of the comic book take on the annual special.

Abstract Studios on page 226 has Parker Girls, a new Terry Moore series that is tied into Strangers in Paradise somehow.  I recently got the Humble Bundle of Moore’s stuff, a collection of I think all of his comics to date, so I’ll have to dive into that sometime soon.

Aftershock has some pretty good stuff on offer, starting with page 230 and Samurai Doggy, a sort of post-apocalyptic anthropomorphic samurai story.  Then there’s The Vineyard on 232, about what happens when a woman stops the sacrifices to Dionysus that her family has performed for centuries.  And on page 239 are trades of The Naughty List, a new hard edged take on the Santa story, and The Revisionist, a time travel story.

Amulet Books has a good one on page 243 with Adventuregame Comics v1: Leviathan, by Jason Shiga, another choose your adventure type book like his fun Meanwhile.  I thought he was doing some other multi book series, though.

On 252 from Archie is Big Ethel Energy, which disturbs me because of where that title derives from.

If that’s a new Fearless Dawn on page 259 from Asylum Press, then huzzah! for the good news. It claims it’s a “first printing,” which is a weird way to put it, but it’s the old cover of the original mini-series, which makes me suspicious. The description doesn’t help, because it’s been a while since I read it. I’ll have to dig out my copy to see if this is just a new package of an old book. But if you don’t have any Fearless Dawn comics, here’s your chance to check them out, because they’re fun as all get-out!

They are good stuff.  Were the originals in color, because this says this version is in color, so is that the difference?  There’s also the one shot Shorts, and I think that’s new stuff?

When it became its own title, it was in color (the original stories were not). I’ll have to see what I can find, because if it’s new work, huzzah!

Maybe it’s a batch of first printings they found in a warehouse.

Behemoth has some good sounding ones.  Kingdom Come: Deliverance on page 272 sounds like it’s up your alley, about the Kingdom of Bohemia and stuff, but it’s also the prequel to a video game, so there’s that.  And on page 275, there’s the trade of No Holds Bard, the Shakespeare as superhero book written in iambic pentameter.

Good dude El Torres gets Phantasmagoria back into Previews on page 276 from Black Caravan. I have been patiently waiting since 2018 for this series to finish, so fingers crossed!

This is a different artist than the book that IDW put out, so I’m not sure if this is a redone version of the mini or what.  Man, this was originally supposed to be out from Amigo years ago, wasn’t it?

I’m talking about the Amigo stuff, sir, of which I have three issues! But yes, it’s a different artist, so perhaps it’s a “re-worked” version. I’m friends with Torres on Facebook – I should ask him!

Well, then, what was the IDW stuff?  I think I have that, but I thought the Amigo stuff never came out, but I guess it must have if you have it!

Cex Publishing on page 286 has Sparks of Chaos, apparently a steampunk take on Greek myth.  I don’t quite understand it but the Greek vase-style cover looks cool.

Clover Press has 50 on page 289, which sounds intriguing. A serial killer decides to challenge the FBI by hunting down the other 49 worst serial killers in the country, and if they get to the other killer first, he’ll leave a clue about his own identity, but if not, he kills them. Sounds nice and creepy.

And the cover looks good, too.

Toddler-pocalypse on page 291 from ComixTribe sounds fun. Stories with all the standard end-of-the-world tropes, but the people are dealing with their kids as well. Could be goofy fun.

Yeah, this was on Kickstarter and it looked pretty good, but I didn’t end up pledging.  I didn’t realize ComixTribe was going to be putting it out for general consumption.

Kate Beaton has a new book on page 293 from Drawn & Quarterly: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, about her time working in the Alberta oil rush. Beaton is a terrific creator, so I’m looking forward to this!

It will be interesting to see what she does with something more long form than the Hark! A Vagrant stuff.

Fantagraphics has Slash Them All on page 300, a story that takes all the tropes of 1980s slasher films and makes them all, you know, artsy. Sounds neat.

On page 304, Fairsquare Comics has a new Classified book, Black Box, a story of a music box that was in the White House and recorded all the conversations there.  The art was done by Tom Lyle before he passed away a few years ago, so it should look cool.

Harper Alley has one on page 312 that sounds cool, with Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo, about a girl at a witch school who is looking into the disappearance of a fellow student.

On page 328, IDW has TRVE KVLT, about a dude who’s been flipping burgers for years and plots a heist wherein he needs a satanic weapon.  Hijinks ensue.

Lev Gleason presents good stuff on page 332, with Comic House having a new version of the Golden Age Daredevil (The Greatest Name in Comics: Daredevil), as part of a family of stunt people, and even more interesting, Comic House Archives has a reprint of Daredevil Battles Hitler, a key Golden Age book.  Not only is the Charles Biro Family Estate getting royalties, but the book is getting remastered but not digitally recolored, so that’s cool!

On page 365, Scout has the first volume of Impossible Jones by Kesel and Haun. I know you probably already have this because your Kickstarter obsession is just a bit worrying, but in case any readers missed it, here it is!

I do in fact have this, although I believe mine is the HC, and the latest issue of Impossible Jones just finished up on Kickstarter, as our pal Edo told us about!

They’ve also got some other good stuff on that page and the one prior.  Eternus is about Heracles having to protect the one witness to his father Zeus’s murder, with art by Karl Moline and Andy Owens, so it should look good.  Forever Forward is a time travel tale where the travelers must keep moving forward in time.  Kingjira: Hungry Like a Monster Legacy Edition is a large size (black and white?) humorous take on kaiju.  The Life and Death of the Brave Captain Suave is a superhero take on Don Quixote that looks interesting.  And Meta: Metalinguistic Crimes Division is the preview issue of a trade that is all about meta stuff with a dude that might have been killed by the comic book characters he created, and how his co-creator girlfriend is investigating, along with the titular police force coming into the fray.

I know I’m getting old because that Gun Honey variant cover on 384 from Titan just makes me think, “man, that’s going to be hard to get out of the sheets.”

On pages 406-407, Vault has four trades that sound interesting. The Rush has been solicited twice already, I think, but here it is again – it’s about horrors in the Yukon gold rush. The Last Book You’ll Ever Read is about a woman who wrote a book about the coming apocalypse and needs protection from the crazies who keep coming after her. The Blue Flame sounds like a very metatextual superhero comic. Peter Milligan’s Human Remains, about monsters hunting emotions, is also collected. Maybe these will all come out one day!

I don’t see The Rush in the order form or online, so I don’t know about that one, but the others all sound good.  I also think The Brothers Flick: Impossible Doors on page 413 sounds like a fun ride, being an Edwardian-era supernatural mystery book.

On page 414, Z2 has Blondie: Against the Odds, a GN by Amanda Conner and other folks, and I just think it would be cool to do a Blondie the band comic in the style of Blondie the comic strip!

On page 427, Viz has Rooster Fighter, but I doubt this rooster can hold a candle to Poyo!

It’s the crossover event of 2023!!!! Although that title confuses me. Usually if you call something “Rooster Fighter” or “____ Fighter,” that means the person/animal/sentient vegetable is the one fighting the first word, as in “That’s guy’s fighting roosters … he’s a real rooster fighter!” This title, though, is saying that the rooster is a fighter. Maybe it’s a translation thing, but doesn’t it sound weird? Like it should be called “The Fighting Rooster” or something?

You are correct, sir!

Flipside!

On M-27, there are action figures of La Borinqueña, the Puerto Rican superhero I’ve read a little about, and they look pretty good, but my main reason for pointing these out is that I find the description of her being given her powers on her study abroad semester amusing.  She was totally fine without the powers during her regular undergrad work, but once she went abroad, she needed those powers!

It’s the 22nd of June, and I apologize for being late with this. I blame Travis, mostly, because I feel like it. I don’t get to this until it’s already late, but Travis – I mean, he starts it because he’s all “Look at me, getting started on this!” and then he does, like, DC, and then he disappears. Where does he go? Does he go to Peru? Does he go to Skartaris? Does he go crazy when the full moon comes around, and no one can find him? So I try to get the stuff done, and I was done with my part over a week ago, but Travis was out BASE jumping or studying carp or writing sonnets in Finnish or whatever the hell he’s doing to make the world safe for democracy, and when he finally decides to show up and put in the work for you, the good readers of the blog, it’s pretty much too late for me to comment on what he wrote, which is why I didn’t. I may have to hire someone to shave his beard as punishment. Hey, that sounds like something that could be in a comic book. Nah, no one would be that silly …

I accept the blame, but not the beard shaving!

We’ll see what happens next month. Thanks for reading!