Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – March 2022

It’s the eleventh of March, and I thought Travis would have started this by now, but he’s decided to abrogate any responsibility he has toward making sure that you, the good readers, are properly entertained, so after I get all this other crap done, I have to start this! I don’t mind, but it’s already late, and we shall see if it gets published in some semblance of good time. As always, Travis is in sloth black, while I’m in roadrunner blue! Let’s take a look at Previews #402!

I’m sorry, I just never got around to this!  I abrogated so!

DC:

Solicits!!!

Batman: Fortress on page 4 promises that, in the wake of an alien invasion that Superman does not thwart because he’s MIA, “everything you think you know about Superman” will be turned “upside down!” Great. I love it when a tourist (the writer of Rogue One is writing this) decides to fuck with classic characters. Because not only will it suck, it won’t stick. Sigh. I’m not bitter.

Very true.  Is Superman mad because everyone always assumes that aliens are going to be invaders?

Those are some nice covers for Action Comics 2022 Annual on page 11, although I kinda think that the cover by the Dude has appeared before, like maybe for Action 1000?

I actually hate that Rude one. It’s way too freaky-looking.

Yeah, the green is a little much.

On page 12, Ram V and Christian Ward are teaming up for a horror story … starring Aquaman? That’s a good team, and this sounds very intriguing.

That does sound cool, although they might as well just say Lovecraftian!

How dare you imply they’re stealing from someone!!!!!

So, Earth-Prime 3 on page 14 appears to have Wolverine with wings, and issue 4 on page 15 is co-written by James Robinson, who I don’t think has done anything for a while in comics, unless I’m forgetting something.

The wings are on the woman, aren’t they? I agree, it’s a bit confusing. And Robinson’s done some Justice League recently, hasn’t he? I mean, by recently I mean “within the last five years or so.”

It’s hard to see, but they both have it, and since it’s actually supposed to be Hawkman, yeah, he has wings.  Joke ruiner!  And jeez, the Robinson run on Justice League was … damn, was that before Flashpoint?  I remember now looking it up that he did a couple short runs on Wonder Woman and Detective not too long ago.

Sorry, I didn’t know it was a joke. Your wit is too dry for me, sir!

Jurassic League on page 16, written (but not drawn) by Daniel Warren Johnson and drawn by Juan Gedeon (who’s pretty good, but not as good as Johnson), sounds like a good one-shot … but it’s a six-issue mini-series. I mean, can the joke be sustained that long?!?!?!?

I love it.  I mean, the Batman character looks more like a dog, but this sounds delightfully wacky.  And I wonder at what this Megalustre “Dino Skin” cover is, with Walt Simonson art.

DC is letting Tom King go nuts with weirdo characters again, as he and Jorge Fornés have Danger Street on page 20, in which Starman, Metamorpho, and Warlord “summon” Darkseid so they can defeat him and prove that they’re worthy of joining the Justice League? Yeah, that won’t go well at all. Anyway, LADY COP IS IN THIS MINI-SERIES!!!! I repeat: MOTHERFUCKING LADY COP IS IN THIS MINI-SERIES!!!!

I’m cautiously interested in this.  At least the art is going to look good!

Duo on page 22, the new Milestone book, sounds cool, even though it’s a combination of Firestorm and Dr. Mirage.

And Negative Man from Morrison’s Doom Patrol.

Page 27 has the FCBD preview of DC League of Super-Pets: The Great Mxy-Up.  I mention this because I recently explained Mr. Mxyzptlk to my girlfriend, and she was very vocal about how absurd his “say his name backwards to send him home” bit is. It was very amusing.

Well, yes, it’s stupid, but a lot of things in genre fiction don’t make much sense when you sit down and think about them.

Speaking of speaking backwards (which now makes me wonder: has anyone ever linked Mr. Mxy and Zatara/Zatanna?), there’s yet another YA GN of Zatanna, unless the same one just keeps getting solicited and is perpetually late.  I’m curious as to why she is so compelling for YA writers and the YA line that DC has going.

As I’m not a YA, I don’t know if this is new or a resolicit. I think it’s new? And Zatanna’s cool because part of her identity is being a daughter, so she slots in easily to a YA template, and she has fun powers that aren’t too “super-heroey.”

Ooh, that’s smart.

Jeez, has it been 20 years since Fables started?  I remember picking up the first trade when the buzz was hot on it, but then I never really continued with it.  Anyway, there’s a new 12 issue run on page 34, and I wonder how or if Mark Buckingham working on this will affect the return of Miracleman (see below, kids!).

I’m very annoyed by this, mainly because of Buckingham doing the art on this and not on Miracleman (I mean, good for him, but dang).

Marvel:

Solicits!!!

I like the solicit for Thunderbolts #1 on page 18, in which it’s implied that New York – NEW YORK IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, MIND YOU – is so bereft of superheroes that it needs the Thunderbolts. I mean, come on, Marvel, at least set the book in Billings, or Boise, or Spokane, or Little Rock, or Wheeling, or, I don’t know, any of the thousands of other cities in the Marvel Universe whose population of superheroes doesn’t exceed 50% of the total population!!!!!

There’s a character called Gutsen Glory in this as well, and I cannot stand for that!

Whoever did that needs to be punched.

If they reprint the original New Fantastic Four issues in the trade for this new series on page 22, I will be all over that.  I think the originals came out just before I started collecting, but this hits me right in the nostalgia!

They might, but they did get collected not too, too long ago, so maybe not.

And yes, I’m annoyed with this series, too, because Marvel and DC just can’t let anything frickin’ go.

Oh, I must have missed the collection with that.  Or forgot it was coming.

It was in the Simonson Visionaries collection, I think. Unless I’m wrong. I’m not looking it up! (And yes, that makes it some time ago, but haven’t they redone it in an “Epic Collection” as well?)

Most likely.

There’s a Gambit mini-series on page 28 set during the time right after his first appearance, because Marvel just loves “filling in the gaps” that don’t need to be fucking filled. I just can’t wait until I write the X-Men (it’s going to happen, you’ll see!) because then I can put my plan to kill Gambit in every issue into action. In fact, if I were writing this mini-series, Gambit would die in every issue and the story would go in a completely odd direction, because you never know if he’s going to die on the first page, the last page, or any page in between!!!!

(Man, I hate Gambit. Can’t you tell?)

I agree with you on filling in the gaps, and I love that idea for a Gambit series, and all I’ll say is that I’ve heard rumors about Knights of X #3, I think it was, that might make you happy.

Well, unless it’s 20 pages of Gambit getting horribly tortured and then dispatched, I doubt I’ll be too happy!!!!

(Man, I really hate Gambit. Can’t you tell?)

Marvel keeps teasing new Miracleman, much to Tom’s delight/chagrin? Now we have a giant hardcover of Alan Moore’s work, plus some other ancillary stuff, on page 80, for $100. The dude at my comic store doesn’t like this very much, but we should be skeptical of him, because these are terrific comics. Yes, they’re brutally violent and bleak, but dang, Moore was really firing on all cylinders with these, and Garry Leach, Alan Davis, and Jon Totleben do amazing work on the art. I’m very tempted to get this, even though I have this in other formats!!!!

I read these and they are amazing, but I’m a bit wary of buying them because of some of the new coloring and some of the censoring of language.  What is in the ‘85 version of Miracleman 2, 4, and 5, since they aren’t included here?

Dang, I forgot about the recoloring and especially the censoring. Stupid Marvel! And I’m not sure about the missing stuff – I think they were reprints back in the day to help the creators catch up, but don’t quote me on that!

They worked out the issues re: Predator, so that omnibus is offered again on page 91.

There was a Treasury Edition of Marvel, now in trade on page 108, wasn’t there?  Or did I just wish there would be?

There was indeed. I even wrote about it!

Image:

Solicits!!!

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino saw the success Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have been having with Reckless, and they thought, “We can do that!” So we get Bone Orchard: The Passageway (page 40), which is the first in a series of graphic novels set in the same universe. Sorrentino isn’t quite as good as Phillips, but this should still be pretty keen if it works for them.

I did like the first trade of Gideon Falls quite a bit, from what I remember, so I’m interested in this.  I’m also interested in who else they’re going to be inviting into this shared universe.

It’s amusing how Twig on page 48 can’t even create a solicit without having to compare it to several different fantasy projects.

I’m not sure if it’s their fault or if they just know that the mouth-breathing public wants everything exactly the way it was when they were 12, so they try to tap into that.

Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin have a new series on page 52 about a couple that inherit a house that attracts weird things, and they have to learn how to live with it. It sounds good, but I wish Starks and Image would shit or get off the pot: the series is called “F*ck This Place,” asterisk and all, and if you’re not going to call it “Fuck This Place” boldly, then come up with a different name. I mean, sheesh.

Apparently they’ve changed it to I Hate This Place and are only using the original, and much better, name on variant covers.  In other “old house that has supernatural stuff,” the show Ghosts is very good, and I’m glad it will be back for a second season.  I would watch the original UK version as well, but HBO Max is one of the few streaming services we don’t have currently.

That was a weird swerve, sir.

I’m all about weird swerves!

Page 64 has a new Age of Bronze tie-in special with Iphigenia in Aulis, which is damn hard to spell when the blog post maker wants to change the spelling.

I’m just annoyed that it’s not more, you know, Age of Bronze proper.

I should have known that it was a lie that the Rick Grimes 2000 stuff from the Skybound X book last year wasn’t ever going to be reprinted, as here’s a HC on page 70.  Silly me!

Bwah-ha-ha-ha!!!! You couldn’t have believed that, sir!!!!

I didn’t really, but I was more concerned that they might not reprint any of the other stuff in there.

Dark Horse:

Solicits!!!

On page 99 is a new printing of the Jinx collection, which is one of Bendis’s early works (along with AKA Goldfish, which tied into this somehow), and as I recall, what I’ve read of it is pretty good.

Is that an Aztec Ace collection on page 119? Well, that’s certainly something.

I knew it’s been in the works from It’s Alive for ages, but I wasn’t sure if or when it would actually come out.  I’m not sure if I heard about a co-publishing deal with Dark Horse, but hey, that’s cool.  I recently picked up the first 8 issues, I think, in a cheapo bin at my local shop just in case this never did come out, but also to see if it’s worth grabbing in a big volume like this.

Damn, neither of us found anything interesting in IDW, Dynamite, or Boom!

Hey, it’s the back of the book!

Ablaze has some potentially interesting things on pages 234-35. Hendrix: Electric Requiem is a biography of Jimi Hendrix, which is interesting simply because of the subject. Laura by Guillem March gets a nice hardcover, and Bastien Vivès has The Blouse, about a young woman who gets a silk blouse and suddenly finds herself the center of attention. Odd, but Vivès is a pretty good creator, so I’ll probably check it out.

Those sound cool, but I bet Z2 is kicking themselves for not getting that Hendrix one!

Page 236 has Aardvark-Vanaheim’s latest Cerebus in Hell? Presents Alien Life @, with a parody of that one Alf comic cover.  I’ll leave it to Greg to decide if he wants to share the Cerebus cover!

Ummmm … [checks Previews to look at the cover] … no.

AfterShock has The Dogs (page 240), Peter Milligan’s latest, about old London gangsters whose past is coming back to haunt them. Sounds right in Milligan’s wheelhouse. On page 242 they have Spectro, an anthology of horror stories from Juan Doe, who’s pretty good at these sorts of things, so this should be neat.

Yeah, they both sound cool.

Albatross Exploding Funnybooks #1 from Albatross Funnybooks appears on page 254, which is cool if you like Eric Powell.

On page 262 Antarctic Press has Unprepped #1, by Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, and artist Marlin Shoop, the last of whom I’m not familiar with. It’s about a couple of regular families trying to make it through the apocalypse.  I met Beatty at a shop on a FCBD about 10 years ago, and he was a nice dude, making sure I got a copy of the last issue of the Ming the Merciless comic he did back then.

You should have asked him exactly when Dixon began going around the bend!

On 265 and 266, Archie has a couple of fun ones, with The Fox Family Values with Dean Haspiel working on a new story, while Archie Meets Riverdale, with the classic gang meeting the fucking weird ass version on the TV show.

Tell us how you really feel, old man!

Behemoth has the trade of Pop Star Assassin on page 289, and I’ll have to get this, because it sounded nice and insane.

It certainly did.  I’m also interested in the two series they have starting on pages 286 and 287, Neverender, about extreme sword duels IN SPACE in the future, and Blind Alley, about a man returning to his childhood neighborhood to try to make something new, and the adversary he’s up against.

Isn’t it odd that the only thing that becomes less cool if you add “in space” to it is “X-Men”? It’s true!!!!

Eating Oreos: Cool. Eating Oreos … IN SPACE: Way cooler!

Reading “The Far Side”: Cool. Reading “The Far Side” … IN SPACE: Way cooler!

X-Men: Generally pretty cool. X-Men … IN SPACE: Blech, get the hell out of here.

It’s … uncanny!

I was with you up until that last line, sir!

On page 298 we find Hell, Nebraska from CEX Publishing. It’s about a high school teacher and his star pupil meting out punishment for sins, and sounds a bit more supernatural than that. Shaun Manning isn’t a bad writer, but for me, the draw is Anna Wieszczyk on art, because she’s quite good.

The cover art and subject manner make it look like a manga style story, which seems to be appropriate for the subject somehow.  I’m interested.  I also like the look of Hopeless Maine, the other book they have.  I think the Kickstarter for the second volume is going on now and it sounds pretty cool.

I could have sworn that was ancient, or at least a decade or so old. Am I losing my mind?!?!?!? Also, Wieszczyk kind of has a manga flavor to her art, so you’re not wrong.

Hey, they could have taken that long just to get another volume done.

John K. Snyder III adapts five Dashiell Hammett pulp stories in The Continental Op, which is on page 301 from Clover Press. Snyder is a superb artist for this kind of thing, so I’m looking forward to this.

Unfortunately, from the way I’m reading it, he’s not adapting the stories but doing illustrations for the prose stories.  Which is still cool, but not as cool.  I recently read the Continental Op stories in the nice big collection that was put out in the last few years, and those stories are really good stuff.  There’s one story that I think influenced the plot of the Sandman Midnight Theatre special, even.  Also on 300 is Cassidy’s Secret, about a lawyer in a world where there are a minority of people with powers, and the art is by Antonio Fuso, who is pretty good.

Dang, I think you’re right. Consarnit!

I know you think Travis is only slow when he’s doing the Previews post, but he’s slow about letting me know about cool Kickstarters, too, so I missed the one for the latest Sink comic, which is on page 303 from ComixTribe. It’s a standalone, extra-big issue, and I’m quite excited about it!

Well, tell people it’s called Dig, at least!  I gave you all of an hour or so, sir!  I pledged for the KS myself so I should probably get it before comic stores do.

Shelterbelts on page 304 from Conundrum sounds interesting. A megachurch sets up near a Mennonite community, and battle lines are drawn! The story is apparently told through a series of short vignettes, and I dig me some series of short vignettes! This sounds neat.

That does sound neat.

Ibrahim Moustafa is the creator of Jaeger on page 312, which comes to us from Fairsquare. It’s about a French-Algerian spy who was tortured during World War II and is now tasked with hunting down Nazi war criminals. Sounds nice and bloody!

Technically the title seems to be Classified Jaeger, in my most pedantic voice.  It’s hard to decide between the three covers though, because besides Moustafa, there are covers by Dennis Calero and Phil Hester, and they’re all neat.

Fantagraphics has some cool stuff on page 314-15. Golden Boy: Beethoven’s Youth is, well, about Beethoven … in his youth. It’s wacky! The Treasure of the Black Swan is about the battle over a shipwreck which is found by Americans but probably belongs to Spain? One Eight Hundred Ghosts is about time-traveling thieves who steal recordings for … some reason? I’m sure it will become clear in the book! It looks neat.

If I’m understanding the solicit of the last one, the time travelers are trying to release Thriller before Michael Jackson does, as its success leads to Jackson having the power to commit the crimes against kids that he’s been accused of having done.  Considering that Michael Jackson was famous since his youth, I don’t know how these people would affect the change they wish to.  Anyway, I’m also looking forward to the second volume of Nuft and the Last Dragons from Freddy Milton, which I have read some of in old issues of Critters.

Oh. That doesn’t make a damned lick of sense. Sigh.

On page 318 from Floating World is a collection of Steve Aylett’s Hyperthick, which is weird surreal stuff that Beardy McGrumpypants endorses, so I’m there for it!

I was curious about that, but Tim Callahan, who generally has good taste in comics, was not a fan of the first issue, so I’m a bit wary now. I still might get it, but it’s not a done deal!

Where is he writing now?  I lost track of him after CBR changed, but last I knew he was at Tor Books, I think?

He’s not really writing anymore anywhere, I don’t think. He wrote about the comic on Facebook, and I’m friends with him, so I saw it. He’s too busy playing frisbee golf all the time, if you can believe it. He’s getting pretty good, too.

Graphic Mundi on page 324 has Jacob’s Apartment, which is a coming of age story and I know you’re not big on those, and I’m not hooked by this one, but Joshua Kemble’s art looks really good just based off what I see of the cover, so maybe he’ll eventually do something we do want to read!

Yeah, I’m ambivalent about this. I’ll have to think about it.

I’m not sure if I’ll get 3 Protectors from Invader Comics on page 333, but the beginning of the solicit, I admit, does intrigue me: “Intergalactic kung fu gods …” Exsqueeze me? Baking soda? “Intergalactic kung fu gods”? Dang, that’s a hook.

That is the new name of the company formerly known as 215 Ink, btw.  It sounds like a cool comic, though.

Spike Trotman and Iron Circus Comics are back at it, bringing us Radium Girls on page 333, which is a tale about the women who painted watches with radioactive powder in the early 20th century. That was not a good idea, and this is how they fought back when their bodies starting falling apart.

I thought I’ve heard of a comic about this topic before, but maybe I’m thinking of the prose nonfiction book about this.

Magnetic has a couple of interesting books on pages 340-41. Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Thief has a new story (presumably) with the classic character, and it looks neat. Adrastea is about a Greek king who wants to know from the gods why he’s immortal and if they could, you know, knock it off. It also looks neat!

Again, the Lupin book looks like it’s an illustrated prose book and nothing new, unless I’m misreading the solicit.  The other one looks cool, though.

Damn you, Pelkie, for your reading comprehension being at a higher level than mine! I feel like Tori Amos!

Say what?!  You better not be dissing Tori!  I’m due to finally see her live come mid-May, and hopefully it works out!

Hey, I’m not the one who named her first album!

On 342 is The High Desert from Mariner Books is about a Black teen in the late ‘80s finding his community in punk and skating, and how things are building to conflict between other people in those peer groups.  Sounds interesting.

That it does.

I will probably get Bauhaus on page 359 from Prestel, as it sounds like an interesting book about the architectural movement, but I am the teeniest bit disappointed it’s not about the band … even though I’m not the biggest fan of the band. Yes, I’m weird, and no, you don’t have to point it out!

No, that’s cool, and I’m not sure which one I’d most like to read about either!  Someone needs to do a book that combines both subjects somehow!

I think you like Lucy Knisley, unless I’m thinking of someone with a similar name, but on 362 Random House Graphic has her new book Apple Crush, another YA coming of age thing.

I like the concept of Lucy Knisley, because she’s a good artist, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by her because she does books like this, which just aren’t in my zone of interest. [You’re probably thinking of Lucy Bellwood, who’s awesome.]

Rebellion/2000AD have the usual goodness, but the spotlight is undoubtedly The Art of Carlos Ezquerra on page 363.  His stuff is great.

Midnight Western Theatre on page 367 from Scout has David Hahn art and is set in a weird Old West, so it sounds pretty interesting. And there are monsters, because of course there are.

That does sound cool.

I am extremely disturbed by Mr. Boop (page 368), which is about the author’s marriage to Betty Boop. Yup. I’m sure it’s a lot deeper than just that, and now it’s in a fancy hardcover from Silver Sprocket.

Very strange.  I hope it’s a way of making interesting commentary on the world, and not just the author’s weird fantasies.

TwoMorrows has The Team-Up Companion on page 392, which is all about the team up books of the ‘60s through ‘80s, like The Brave and The Bold and Marvel Team Up.  Should be good.

So at first I thought the Wattpad Books listing on page 408 was After the Graphic Novel, with no punctuation, then I realized there’s a colon after the word “after”, then reading the listing and realizing what it’s about, I realized that it’s a graphic novel version of a Wattpad One Direction fanfic, which I only know, I swear, because sometimes we leave the YouTube that the kids all like on all night, and the rabbit hole led down, by the time I woke up, to this very long and involved summation of said fanfic by some young lady.  Hey, it was stuff my girlfriend was looking at!

Okay, A: Yeah, sure it was. B: You don’t use punctuation, so why should anyone else, right? C: I am fascinated by people who leave shit on all night or even those who leave their television on during the day as background noise. It’s such a weird phenomenon to me. Every electronic device we have is off when we go to bed, unless it’s an alarm so we can get up the next morning. I know you’re not the only one who does that, but it’s just so bizarre to me. Is this modern man – unable to sleep without the white noise of technology?!?!?!?

I think part of it is that it keeps the thoughts in my head quiet if I have something else to focus on instead as I drift off.  During the day I prefer music for background but will take TV noise instead.  I get scared in a quiet house!

I get it. I love a quiet house, though!

On page 410 Z2 has some neat stuff, with a GWAR book with a Kelley Jones cover and Motley Crue: The Dirt Declassified, which has entirely too much talent working on it, as well as positing that the Crue were secret agents.  I heard the “Time For Change” song in a commercial recently, and found it was the Crue when I looked it up, and now it’s stuck in my head.  Why did I listen to so much hair metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s?!?!

Andy MacDonald draws some of that GWAR book, so it might actually look good. As for your question … because hair metal is AWESOME!!!!!

Also, respect the umlauts, sir! That’s Mötley Crüe to you!

I don’t remember where the html list of special characters like that is. OK, I know where but I’m too lazy to find it each month.  It’s hard enough to write the regular stuff!

Obligatory:

That’s all for this month, folks. Thanks for reading along, and you should still have time to ask your retailer to grab you some things, if that’s how you get your comics! Have a great weekend, and will we be more timely next month? Let’s see …

Well, dang.