Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – May/June 2020

Our Fearless and Great and Not At All Stupid Leader has declared victory over the virus ’cause we’re ‘Muricans, and that means the great cogs of ‘Murican capitalism can once again crush us into a pulpy mess who’ll vote Our Superb and Intelligent and Not At All Racist Overlord back into office, just in time to stop us from thinking that maybe we should have been a bit more prepared for this thing. In that spirit, Previews is back, baby, and we’re going to check it out! Well, not the DC part, because DC is going without a printed catalog and, according to my retailer, will probably stop going with Diamond in the very near future. DON’T THEY KNOW THAT MONOPOLIES ARE THE KEY TO ‘MURICAN GREATNESS?!?!?!?!? So let’s check out what’s in the catalog and I guess we’ll see what DC is offering on-line. I don’t know what kind of liquor they were drinking in Burbank during the past few months, but I want some!!!!!!

Hey, if Travis shows up, he’ll be in black, and I guess I’ll stick to blue. Unlike DC, I fear change!!!!!

I am here.  I’m seeing a lot of stuff we’ve already talked about so this might be a short one!

Image:

Here are the solicits!

On page 38, Jason Howard writes and draws Big Girls, which doesn’t sound super-promising – men turn into giant monsters who want to destroy the world, and only girls can stop them, which is just a bit too subtle for me – but I dig Howard’s art, so I’ll think about this. I guess this means Trees is officially dead.

I guess the girls can get big too?  I suspect this won’t last long, so I wouldn’t necessarily rule out more Trees.

Of course, that’s probably more on Ellis than Howard …

Yeah, that came to mind as well.

Ales Kot has a new comic on page 42 called Lost Soldiers, about three dudes who knew each other in Vietnam and what’s going on with them 40 years later. Kot can be great or so far up his own ass he can see out his navel, so we’ll see which dude we get!

I was just wondering where Kot had been lately.  I may get the trade.

Jesse Lonergan is an interesting creator, and on page 50 he gives us Hedra, which is a one-shot about an astronaut leaving a nuclear-war-destroyed world in search of life. We shall see, but I’m sure it will be keen.

It looks promising, at least.  Hopefully there’s more to it than the preview.

Because I am a bad person, I’m seriously thinking about buying the “25th Anniversary Edition” (meaning: reprint) of Witchblade #1 on page 58. Don’t judge me!

I won’t, since I’m thinking the same!

The trade of Outer Darkness/Chew is on page 60. I’ve only read the first issue, but of course it was good, so I imagine the other two are good, too! This is actually a dollar more than getting the three issues, because Image sucks. Boo, Image!

Oh, you know the trades are usually going to be a little more than the singles!  Would you have complained about the price if this had been a one shot at 13 bucks?  Anyway, I’ll be getting this myself.  I still have to find somewhere to order the first Smorgasbord edition of Chew, though.

… Yeah, probably. But that’s what the internet is for!

Dark Horse:

The solicits are here!

I was wondering why they were putting out a Library Edition of The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, available on page 84, but then I saw that My Chemical Romance was supposed to have been getting back together this summer before all the stuff went down.  I liked the Danger Days album, and this comic was decent, from what I remember, but I’m not sure it merits the $40 HC treatment.

The good timing award continues to go to Dark Horse, which released the single issues of Tomorrow before this thing hit and is now soliciting the trade on page 93! It’s Peter Milligan, so I’ll probably get this, but man, Dark Horse has to be annoyed about this.

I’d say they should share it with Image’s The Clock, but I get what you mean.  I’ll probably spring for this too.  I might get Bang! on the same page, the new Matt Kindt book.  What a cool blurb by Keanu, there!

That is pretty cool. Good for Keanu!

The trade of X-Ray Robot is on page 94, and the first issue was pretty keen, so maybe this would be something you’d like. It’s Mike Allred being weird!

I knew the trade would be more than the singles, but I also gambled that it would have the variant covers as well!

I mentioned a while back that the Alter Nation toys looked like pretty cool ‘90s throwbacks, and now on page 97, they appear in a comic that sounds like a cool ‘90s throwback.  Tim Seeley is writing and Mike Norton is drawing this, so that notches it up a level for me.  Might be fun!

Yeah, the creators are good, but that sounds generic as heck.

As was ‘90s Image …

Page 105 features a resolicit of the second edition of Henchgirl, and since Kristen Gudsnuk was the first creator I ever interviewed, I’m glad to see she’s doing well.  If I didn’t order this last time (I think I did, though), I will be this time.

On page 107, the trade for Starship Down is offered. This sounded neat – a woman investigates an alien ship buried in the Siberian ice for thousands of years, which upsets pretty much everyone. Fun!

I’m going to consider this one.  It looks quite neat, anyway!

DC (the solicitations for which are here, and while I usually link to them anyway, this month I can’t resist saying they’re here because DC is saying “WAHWAHWAH SOMEONE AT DIAMOND WAS MEAN TO US AND WE DON’T WANT TO PLAY WITH THEM ANYMORE!!!!!! Plus, they charge too much and Jim Lee had to sell one of his speedboats and now he only has five and if you don’t have a half-dozen speedboats you might as well have NONE!!!!!!” because I think someone at DC has been spending too much time on Our Wonderful and Generous and Not At All Attention-Span Challenged Grand Poobah’s Twitter account)(T: I find it hard to believe that DC won’t use Diamond still.  If anything, this seems like the smartest thing they could be doing because they aren’t staying beholden to a monopoly so that they can still release comics regardless of what happens otherwise.)(… and, just like that, DC has cut ties with Diamond, which is fine, but they better make sure the distributors they’re using are good, because my retailer is already missing some collected editions – Diamond is an evil monopoly, sure, but they know what they’re doing!):

OK, I don’t care that much about this Dark Nights stuff, but Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights 1 (whew!) has stories by both Ennis and Ellis, so I may cave and get this (Page 8, I guess?)

So they’re doing another one of those YA GNs, this one called Swamp Thing: Twin Branches, in which Alec Holland has a twin brother. Well, that won’t cause any problems, I’m sure!

That’s quite the different take on that …

Holeeeeeeeee shit, there’s a “card stock variant” cover of The Batman’s Grave #9 by … STEPHEN MOTHERFUCKING PLATT. God damn, I might buy just that issue while I’m waiting for the trade!

And it’s pretty fucking good!

So DC had two months off and they still didn’t fix the fact that Morrison’s Green Lantern has been truncated to eight issues. Or … is it back up to 12 now?

I hadn’t heard about that.  Is it possible that GL is going to do like The Terrifics apparently are, and move to digital only/first and then in trade?  If GMozz is either getting truncated or going to digital only for single issues, how bad is the state of the industry?

There’s another olde-tyme Aquaman collection, Deadly Waters (Deluxe Edition), which collects issues #49-56 and features Skeates and Aparo. I’ve never read these, so I’ll probably pick this up!

I may have some of the single issues, but I’ll probably wait and use Hatcher’s tricks to get this trade cheap!

It’s $75, but DC collects the three Ra’s al Ghul graphic novels they published back in the day, and they’re all good comics. The first one, which is beautifully drawn by Jerry Bingham, gave us Bat-Baby that was out of continuity until the God of All Comics decided it wasn’t; the second is the weakest one, but it’s still pretty good, and Tom Grindberg’s art is nice; the third is Ra’s al Ghul’s origin, and features stunning painted art by Norm Breyfogle. I wonder if you can find these cheaper in single formats, because it’s a bit dear, but it’s not the worst thing you can buy this month!

I thought there was a version in SC at regular comics size trim out sometime in the last few years, because I know I’ve read these books relatively recently.  They’re good but I don’t know if they’re that good.

Batman: The Road to No Man’s Land Omni is offered on page 68, I guess, and I mention it only because it has one of the greatest one shot titles ever, Blackgate: Isle of Men (say it slow …).

Did you get the first Booster Gold HC?  Because the second is also on page 68.

Yeah, I saw it. I did get the first one, and it wasn’t bad. Not great comics, but pretty good.

Dang, DC is releasing the first collection of Mike Baron’s Flash series from right after Crisis. I’ve always been interested in this, and while I’ve never been a fan of the Flash, I’ll probably give this a look.

That’s probably a good deal, with almost 20 comics for 40 bucks.  I didn’t realize William Messner-Loebs was on the book so early on in the run.

Another dude I’ve never really been into is Captain Marvel, but DC is collecting the Jerry Ordway series, so I’ll give that a look. It’s 50 bucks, but it’s a nice chunk of comics.

I have a decent chunk of this series, and it was pretty good, from what I recall.  I didn’t ever have the GN, so this HC might be worth it just for that.  If they do the whole series, this should be volume 1 of 3, from what I see.

Why reprint all that Tim Hunter stuff as the Sandman: Books of Magic (on page 74?) if you don’t include the original BOM mini?  I do like the Mister E and Vertigo Visions inclusions, though.

Who knows what’s going on in the heads of DC!

I wouldn’t pay full price for the Super Sons Omni on page 75, but I agree with Hatcher that Tomasi is rockin’ it.

It’s spendy, but it is JLGL art on the reprint of the Superman/Wonder Woman tabloid comic (page 76).

I like how you just assume everyone knows that that’s José Luis García-López. Not everyone am as smart as you is, you know!

I got you to type it all out, accents and all, didn’t I?

IDW:

We’re all over the place with the solicits!

I’m interested in the TMNT: Last Ronin mini, on page 118, because it’s partly based on an idea from the original creators, and because I do like a good alternate future tale.  I’ll get the trade down the road.

On page 122 is Locke & Key: Keyhouse Compendium, which collects the entire series for $125, which doesn’t sound that bad. Last time I mentioned Locke & Key, people told me I really needed to read it (I read the first trade and didn’t love it), so I might get this. What say you people? What’s good about it?

Yeah, let me know too, because the little I’ve read of it (FCBD stories and stories from Joe Hill Treasury edition comics, iirc) didn’t grab me either.   Also, can I watch the show without getting into the comic first?  And will this new one shot from page 123 be included in this Compendium?

Over on page 131 is the trade of Wellington. Yes, it’s another “historical figure is really a monster hunter” comic, this time with the Duke of Wellington as the hunter, but hell, those are usually fun, and Piotr Kowalski is a fine artist, so I’ll probably get this.

I do like Kowalski, so I probably will spring for this.

Didn’t you get at least one of the issues of the Vader’s Castle books, if not one of the trades?  On page 135, Star Wars Adventures: Beware Vader’s Castle collects the two miniseries in one $20 HC, which is a pretty good deal, and those artists are good.  I might spring for this.

I got the first one, and the next one should be out by the time I publish this. The first one was fun.

The first volume of Sleeping Beauties is on page 141. This sounds neat, but it’s also only ten issues, and you know a giant-sized collection is coming eventually, so I’m not sure if I’ll get this.

I’d wait.  You’re already waiting on the singles, plus the novel has been out for several years, so why not wait for the whole GN in one book?

Chris Gooch has a new comic, Under-Earth, on page 144 (from Top Shelf). I know he’s been working on this for a while, and I swear it was already solicited, but maybe not? Anyway, Gooch is an interesting creator, and this book, about inmates in an underground prison forming a society, sounds keen.

I think there was a similarly named book?  Because I know what you mean about it sounding familiar somehow.  But this sounds interesting.

Korem Shadmi, one of the stranger comics creators out there, has a new book on page 145 called Bionic. It’s about a geeky teen whose object of affection becomes … well, Jaime Sommers, apparently. It will sure to be weird!

It does look both odd and yet strangely cliché at the same time.

I don’t really want to buy The Crow: Lethe, which is in trade on page 147, because there should be only one Crow story, and it’s already over, but Ilias Kyriazis is a really good artist, so I’m tempted!

You reminded me how good the original is, and I need to dig that out and read it again.

I’ll argue anyway that For Better or For Worse is one of the best comic strips ever, but volume 5 on page 151 includes the Farley saving April sequence that helps strengthen that case.  I may be tearing up thinking about it, ok?

Marvel:

Take a look at the solicits here!

Hey, Marvel is back in the big book! Good for them! On page 155, we find Peter David on Maestro, which is a five(!!!!)-issue origin of the Hulk’s Future Bad Guy Alter Ego. FIVE issues? Sheesh, Marvel, way to flog a 30-year-old dead horse. Anyway, if Marvel is going to do this, at least it’s David, and at least Dale Keown draws some of it. They should have found Jeff Purves, though – that would have been a coup!

I’m glad to find out Purves seems to be among the living still.  My knee jerk reaction to your last bit was to make a joke that it would have been a coup to bring him back from the dead! Anyway, yeah, we never really NEEDED to know the Maestro’s origin, but if there was ever a time we need it less, it’s amid the fantastic run of Immortal Hulk, with its own take on the Hulk’s future.  And good lord, on the next page is yet another reprint of Future Imperfect.  Marvel must make beaucoup bucks off that (and yet I don’t think I own any version of it, just read it from a library!).

Also, Marvel will be out of the big book next time.

BOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Okay, so Mark Waid writing Fantastic Four: Antithesis isn’t a big deal – he’s done it before. But Neal Adams drawing it? That’s … strange. I’m going to guess it won’t be as batshit insane as when Adams writes his own stuff, but maybe Waid will channel him and it will be goofy fun.

I’m not fond of the way the Thing looks on page 165 here.  As our pal Jim recently mentioned in his column, Thing is the heart and soul of the FF, and he looks like a big rocky turd here.

Wait, that new version of God Loves, Man Kills that I was mocking last time is … two issues long? Are you fucking kidding me? (Page 168)

I think I mentioned that when it was first solicited.

So Marvel is releasing a “facsimile edition” of Spider-Man #1 (page 174), and I don’t get it. Doesn’t anyone who would want this actual issue (as opposed to the trade) already own, like, five copies of it? I know I have that many, or maybe six? They’re mint, I tells ya! Anyway, remember when I wrote an entire Comics You Should Own about this arc solely as an April Fools’ Joke? Man, when did I ever have that kind of time?

Weirdly enough, I don’t think I have a copy of the original of this.  I’ve read the story in a reprint, but even with all the variants, I don’t have any copies of this.  Weird.

Well, it’s too late now, because it’s worth thousands!!!! THOUSANDS, I TELLS YA!!!!

Is House of X/Powers of X worth dropping 45 bucks for the trade offered on page 179?  Or should I wait for the libraries to finally reopen?

God, no. It’s awful. Honestly, one of the worse X-Books since Chuck Austen was on the book, even worse than the Uncanny X-Men relaunch that K. Thompson worked on, which wasn’t that good. If you can get it for free? Sure. But spend no money on it!

Egads!  I guess I’ll be waiting for a library to get it.  Have you risked any of the trades or issues of the new series that have come out of this, or are you soured on the X books until Hickman is gone?

I read some of the first issues of the new series (you should read our blog occasionally!), but I don’t think I’ll be getting the trades. They just weren’t that great, unfortunately.

I can’t remember everything you read.  I can barely remember the stuff I buy!

I already have almost all the issues contained therein (I’m missing the Magik mini-series), but dang, I want the New Mutants Omnibus vol. 1 on page 183, which includes the first 34 issues and some other stuff. I probably won’t get it (it’s $125), but dang, that’s a nice package.

I can’t recall the name of the trade that had an X-Men issue and the Magik mini, but I read it fairly recently.  I think it included X-Men: Storm and Magik in the title.  Anyway, I think I have most of the stuff I want of what’s in here.  How strange it must be for some people to see the more traditional superhero look to the team in the first half, and then Billy The Sink cuts loose in the second half?

So on page 168, Marvel has the revamped God Loves, Man Kills. On page 186, we get the “extended cut gallery edition,” which collects the two issues. Then … on page 188, we find a new printing of The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol. 3, the solicitation of which notes it includes “Marvel Graphic Novel #5,” which is, you guessed it, God Loves, Man Kills. Are they only allowed to mention the title a certain amount of times in Previews and they ran out before this? Are they trying to sell the other version and think you’ll think this is a different Marvel Graphic Novel? Did the solicitation writer get bored writing the name out so many times? The mind boggles!

I must point out, sir, that the solicit text for the Omni does say the title of that GN, in all caps no less.  But otherwise, jeez, how many times are they going to offer the same thing?!

Oh good, I can reconsider getting The End trade on page 195, as they offer it again.  Yay!

Dynamite:

Hey! Dynamite has their own solicits!

I don’t know if I’ll get this trade, but John Layman is writing Mars Attacks Red Sonja (page 206), which will be, of course, ridiculous. I haven’t seen the art yet, but that might be the only thing stopping me from buying it.

Yeah, Layman was ridiculously funny with the other Mars Attacks stuff he’s done, so I’ll be getting this trade.

Boom! Studios:

Check out the solicits here!

Tom Taylor gets out the DC salt mines to give us Seven Secrets, a series about seven things – “words, wonders, weapons” – with the power to destroy the world, and the group of people who protect the world from said things. One dude gets to keep one, but of course things go pear-shaped, I imagine. I haven’t read much of Taylor’s DC work because he’s usually writing things I have no interest in, but he wrote some cool stuff early in his career, so I’ll probably pick this up.

I don’t know if I’ve read any of his stuff.  I do like how they misspell Scott Snyder’s last name in the blurb on page 222.

#FacePalmGif. I mean, come on, people, it’s not a hard name to spell!

I’m not sure I trust it, but it looks like Ryan North and Albert Monteys attempted something different in adapting Slaughterhouse-Five, so I might get this book on page 230.  I might wait for a library to get it, though, too.

I’m a sucker, so I’ll probably get this. North is a good writer, though, so I have hope.

I don’t remember that all the issues were solicited, but Heartbeat by Maria Llovet is offered in trade on page 242.  I’ll probably get it.  On the same page, if you got the Irredeemable Omni last time, don’t miss out on the Incorruptible Omni here, the flip side where a villain goes good.

I figured they would have this eventually, so I’ll pick it up.

Also, the final Giant Days trade is on page 244.  I will have to give the whole series a big read/reread once this is out!

All right, let’s get to the back of the book!

On page 254 is the latest Aardvark-Vanaheim Cerebus in Hell? One shot, Amicable Spider-Vark Annual.  I assume that since it’s an annual, it will actually be 8 bucks and not 4.  In case I don’t post in time about it separately, there’s a Kickstarter for a reprint of the original Cerebus #1 that ends Tuesday night, so if that interests you, look it up!

Antarctic Press has a collection of Teether on page 278, a horror tale about a girl … infected with teeth?  I’m not sure, but it sounded neat.

Sure, I’ll get that. Why not?

Archie has a couple on page 280 that sound good.  Archie and Friends Forever collects a number (5, maybe?) of one shots that Archie has been doing of the gang that have been fun little stories, while Explorers of the Unknown was based on a cartoon, I think, and is action packed!  Plus, that trade is only 9 bucks, which I suspect is some kind of misprint.

I glanced at the solicit for the latter one, and I thought the first word, which is actually “monsters,” read “Montreal.” I was hoping it was a travelogue of Archie and his buddies wandering around the city.

I’m sure there is an Archie comic like that!

Dang, I got all the way to page 286 before something jumped out at me. On that page, we find Victory Point from Avery Hill Publishing. This is by Owen Pomery, who did British Ice, and it sounds like a similar kind of interesting, contemplative book. A young woman returns to the coastal town where she grew up and tries to find herself. That’s always fun!

They also have What We Don’t Talk About, about an interracial couple facing the fallout from him introducing her to his family, and Zebedee and the Valentines, about a British band in the early ‘80s whose gigs are booked by the devil (the Smiths?).

AWA/Upshot has Bad Mother on page 288, the high concept of which is “What if the Punisher were a soccer mom?” Now, this sounds like Jennifer Blood a little bit, but it might work. Mike Deodato draws it, so it should look keen.

It also sounds like Lady Killer without the Mad Men drag.  It could be good though.  I’ve been getting the Upshot Now books which publish the full issues in B&W, if I understand right (I got to sort my comics during this corona down time, but I haven’t gotten to read them all yet.  Whattaya, crazy?!), so I’ll have to take a look at this one.

It’s a bit spendy but I like the company name (Baby Tattoo Books) and the book title (Time Traveling with Your Octopus), so I might spring for this HC on page 292.

On page 292, Behemoth Comics offers up Cardinal Dagon #1, about a rakish cardinal who, after the pope dies, tries to bring about the ruin of the Earth. You know, like you do. Sounds fun.

Yes.  I don’t understand it, but it sounds like it could be really fun.

Then on page 293, they have The Gatherer, which is about an alien parasite that lands on earth, takes possession of a tramp who also happens to be a former quantum physics professor, and uses him to do evil, I guess. Also sounds fun!

Based on what the guy on the cover looks like, my guess as to the evil that was done was the writing of the Violator miniseries and a run on WildCATS, and the parasite also told him not to finish the 1963 Annual …

Hey, stop picking on Grumpy McBeardypants!

I’m not picking on him, since that’s approximately what I see in the mirror!!!

Christophe Bec is a pretty good writer, and the art looks nice, so I’ll probably get Sunlight on page 299 from Clover Press. It’s about three kids trapped in a mine. Well, that sucks, especially as it’s probably haunted.

I would almost swear that Humanoids or someone was going to publish this at some point in the last few years …

It sounds like something they would do, so maybe!

Did D&Q finally put out the first Little Lulu HC (offered again on page 304), because they delayed the hell out of that, but now volume 2 is finally offered on page 303.  Any Lulu stuff is good stuff!

Beats me. I’m not a ten-year-old living in 1935, so the strip has no meaning for me!

Harsh!

I’ve been wondering what Matthew Southworth has been doing with his time other than buying houses with his sweet, sweet Stumptown money, and on page 310 from Fantagraphics we find him drawing The Cloven, about a half-man, half-goat genetically modified human. That’s always groovy! Southworth is a good dude, so I hope this does well for him.

It’s an intriguing sounding story.

On page 313 is one by the Fillbach Brothers, Tales of the SS Junky Star, which it says is now in full color HC.  Have you read this in another format, and is it ok?

It’s fine, although 20 bucks is a bit high. It’s not one of their brilliant comics, but it’s fun. My copy is really small, so it would be nice to get it enlarged and in color, but man, that’s a good chunk of change.

Flesk Publications has The Big Tease: The Art of Bruce Timm in SC, featuring his drawings of women in various states of undress.  It’s on page 314.

Heavy Metal has the 300th issue on page 321, but they also have three different comics at least co-written by Dan Fogler. I know Fogler has co-written comics in the past, but it’s weird to see so many offered. Anyway, Brooklyn Gladiator is drawn by Simon Bisley and Fishkill is drawn by Ben Templesmith and they both sound keen, so if Heavy Metal ever decides to actually collect them, I’ll pick them up. Or maybe I’ll actually order the single issues in the hopes they actually come out! (Heavy Metal doesn’t seem to have a good track record in this regard.)

If I can catch up with reading the magazine by the time they release 300, I’ll see if it’s still worth me getting.  I started getting it with the GMozz issues, and now Tim Seeley is EIC, and while I think he’s a fine creator, he’s not GMozz.  I don’t know who Dan Fogler is, but the interview earlier in the Previews made these series of his sound interesting.  Did Brooklyn Gladiator come out with an issue zero from someone else, I wonder?  Anyway, I’ll trade wait even though HM sucks for trade waiters.  Also, on page 324 is Suneater, about … supernatural Viking shit, I guess, but it’s by the Suite Life of Zack and Cody kid, so there’s that.

Yeah, that’s bizarre. Dan Fogler is kind of a low-rent Jack Black/Jonah Hill. Come on, man, he was the star of Balls of Fury, the greatest ping-pong movie ever made!

Looking at him again, it looks like he’s the uncle on the Goldbergs.  So he has amused me on occasion.

Hermes Press has Ditko Shrugged: The Uncompromising Life of the Artist on page 324, and since the solicit text seems rather … reductionist, I’ll wait to read some reviews before I get this.

I already ordered this, so I’m glad they’re re-offering it so I can order it again! Hermes is just terrible at getting stuff out on time. Fingers crossed!

Knopf Books for Young Readers features on page 331 The Montague Twins v1: The Witch’s Hand, which appears to be a take on the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, if those detectives had supernatural forces helping them out.  If I’m getting the gist of the solicit right.

McFarland and Company has, on page 334, Archie’s Rivals in Teen Comics 1940s-1970s: An Illustrated History, a reference guide to all of the non-Archie teen comics published in that time span.  It’ll be fun to look through for those of us who dig those books!

Oni offers Titan on page 338, which is set on the moon and is about a mining colony where things are going poorly. It sounds interesting, and François Vigneault’s art is pretty keen.

I am intrigued.

Dead Dudes on page 340 is written by Christopher Sebela, who’s done good stuff, and drawn by Ben Sears, and it’s about the hosts of a ghost hunting show who die at a particularly haunted location and now have to work together to save the living and so forth.

Yeah, that might be fun.

There’s some ‘90s throwbacks on 344 and 345 with Smoove City, about a wannabe boy band getting into the shady record business, and My Riot, about a teenage girl who discovers she’s a riot grrrl at heart.

PS Artbooks has their usual goodness on page 355, with softee GNs for 25 bucks.  There’s Beware volume 1, featuring 3 issues of that title as well as Phantom Witch Doctor and Night of Mystery; and Planet Comics volume 2, with issues 4-5 of the title book.  I have to check if they already offered that and if I ordered it.

I’m not sure if I’ll get Kerry and the Knight of the Forest on page 356 from Random House Graphic, because I might be a bit old for it, but Andi Watson is a fine creator, so I’ll think about it.

Rebellion/2000AD didn’t stop publishing through the pandemic, but they did shuffle some print release dates.  Just wanted to mention that.  Also, I’m intrigued by the Tammy & Jinty Special on page 357, with stories about two orphaned siblings, one of whom appears to be getting powers, and a reboot of Cat Girl, which implies that England previously had a Cat Girl character.

Red 5 has Angela Della Morte volume 1 on page 357, which sounds interesting. It’s about a woman who works for a scientist who develops technology that allows her soul to get into dead bodies and use them for undercover missions. Things go horribly wrong, of course – it’s a comic! Salvador Sanz is a terrific artist, so I’ll probably get this.

Yeah, there have been plenty of comics and movies with methods of getting into other people’s bodies, but this does have a neat hook.  I might get it.  And hey, volume 2 starts right on the next page!

Scholastic has Half Past Peculiar volume 1 on page 359, by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen, about twins in a creepy town who search for lost pets and find a portal to a magical world.  Those two creators did so good with Li’l Gotham!

Yeah, but’s it’s a illustrated novel. I mean, it could still be good, but it makes me a bit less enthused.

The solicit calls it a hybrid novel, so maybe parts of it are comics?

I’m waiting for Scout Comics to put out the trade of this one, but the title Atlantis Wasn’t Built for Tourists on page 360 is excellent!

That does sound keen. I’ve read a few things by Eric Palicki, and he’s pretty good.

I’m intrigued by the cover and solicit of Source Point Press’s book on page 361, Burning Tree.  I figure since it’s a one shot it won’t hurt my wallet too much to pick it up!

Storm King Productions has John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction: Redhead in trade on page 366, about a woman who awakens to find that anyone who comes within 3 feet of her will die instantly.  I won’t make the same joke I made when the first issue of this was offered.  But I might get this book.

Taschen America has, on the same page, Masterpieces of Fantasy Art in HC, with Michael Whelan and Frazetta and others featured, and I’m sure it’s a good looking book but it’s 200 bucks.  Which is why I find it hard to believe that the Jamie Hewlett Taschen 40th Anniversary edition HC with nearly the same number of pages is only 25 bucks.  But it’s tempting.

On page 366, Ten Speed Press has Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics, which is written and drawn by Tom Scioli, which is pretty danged awesome. It’s 29 bucks, but dang …

I’m tempted.  It’s too bad the FCBD preview of this didn’t get to come out before this solicit, because that would have helped me decide how much I wanted this.

I wonder if Titan’s set of the 3 Snowpiercer GNs on page 371 is worth the 60 bucks.  Did you read any of this?

I read the first two. They were pretty good, but I didn’t really feel the need to read the third. That’s not a bad deal, though.

They also have a box set of Bloodborne’s 3 volumes on page 372, which I guess is a video game but Ales Kot wrote the comics and Piotr Kowalski drew them.  I did want those comics eventually …

I’m interested in Comic Art in Museums on page 376 from the University Press of Mississippi, because the history of getting comics art in museums is something I’ve kind of been able to watch over my time collecting, and I geek out over stuff like this.  I wish they’d call it comics art though.  I don’t like it referred to as “comic art”.

You’re just turning into Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable, aren’t you?

… maybe …

Vault has Shadow Service on page 384, about a PI who’s a witch, but maybe she’s also a spy?  And the criminal underworld seems to be becoming literally that.  I’ll wait for the trade.

I was tempted by Zenescope’s Conspiracy: Planet X before, and now it’s relisted on page 394, so I might get it this time.

Whenever I see that, it cracks me up that it’s a repurposed Marvel book. I don’t know why it cracks me up, but it does.

Wait, what?  I see that the logo is almost exactly like the Ellis two parter from the ‘90s, but what do you mean otherwise?

It’s the exact logo, and it was Abnett, not Ellis. I don’t know, I’ll have to drag it out, but the fact that the Marvel book ended on a cliffhanger and they’re using the same logo and the solicit sounds vaguely like it could easily use Marvel characters makes me think, without any confirmation!!!!, that it’s the part of the Marvel book that never got published. I could be wrong, but I just like to think that.

Viz has on page 417 Venus in the Blind Spot, another collection of works by Junji Ito, this one presented as a “best of”.  I always want to get into his stuff, but I just never do.  I guess I’ll try now, though!

Flip siiiiiide!

I don’t know about all this DCeased stuff, but the visual on M17 of a zombie Batman in a Mr. Freeze suit does have that kewl factor to it that appeals to the kid in me.

I’m kind of surprised that they never seem to go to the Joker in white suit look from DKR in the comics, unless I’ve been missing stuff.  Anyway, my musing comes from seeing the cool looking but very speedy figure on M62.

Um, I don’t think that figure moves very fast unless you throw it off a building. Just sayin’, typo boy.

Fucking autocorrect doesn’t recognize your “spendy”, which is what I meant.  Dammit.

On M95 is a Weird Al Chia Pet, and it’s his old look.  I think he’s had the no glasses/moustache-less look for about as long as he looked like the picture on this box.  I recently rewatched UHF on Tubi TV, a cool free streaming site, and it held up fairly well as an entertaining movie.

M96 has Tribble cat toys, for all of your Trekker kitty pals.  It’ll get them hooked on the ‘nip, though!

M104 has a Bob Ross Rubik’s Cube and Monopoly board game.  I’ve been watching but really more listening to his shows lately as “comfort food”.  It helps me fall asleep (although lots of stuff helps with that, it’s staying awake that’s my problem!).

All right, everyone, that’s it for this month. Thanks for hanging with us, and while comics aren’t really important in the grand scheme of viruses and killer cops and lunatics in the White House, let’s hope they provide you with some entertainment going forward!