Flippin’ through Previews – October 2022

We’re trying not to be late this month, so it’s the 23rd of September, the day after I posted the previous “Flippin’,” and it’s time to start another one! Let’s see how we do!!!!

I’m starting on the 25th, late in the day!

DC:

There’s a … new Batman/Spawn book? Not a dream, not an imaginary story? Well, that’s something. McFarlane still can’t be bothered to draw it, but Capullo is a good artist, so this should look nice. It probably won’t be any good, but Todd keeps on keeping on, so good for him!

Weirdly enough, this is the first Batman/Spawn that Todd is writing!  Is Capullo inking himself, or is Toddy inking him, or what?  It looks good, though!

G. Willow Wilson and Jamie McKelvie are doing the Catwoman: One Bad Day story, and that’s very tempting. I mean, the premise of these one-shots is still wildly stupid, but that’s a good team.

Yeah, this one is even further away from the central (dumb, missing the point of TKJ) premise of these one shots, but damn, that should be a good looking, well written story!

Batman vs. Robin 4 on page 8 — I love that the Helmet of Fate takes on Bat-ears when Bruce is wearing it!

Well, duh. It knows what looks cool!

Dang, that’s a neat main cover to Detective 1067!

Um … I have no idea which is the main cover. Is it Floating Batman?

No, that is cool though, but it’s the one with the big Mister Freeze head.

Oh. Yeah, that one is pretty cool.

The dumb Dark Crisis book on page 19 is dumb, but it’s written by Mark Waid, and they call him a DC Architect, so I actually have some hope for the DCU for the first time in a while.

You should not.

I’d rail against you for being a pessimist if I didn’t know that you’re just being a realist!

On page 24, the Yellow Beetle is just a Volkswagen, right?

Don’t judge Jaime Reyes for his romantic choices!!!!

Well, WildC.A.T.s 2 on page 25 has them fighting the Court of Owls and Talon, so no, it won’t actually be very good.

Oh noes!!!! Our high hopes have been smashed again!

On that same page, is it ironic, or stupid, that a collection of Harley Quinn covers has variant covers?  That said, any of those covers were better than the lame ass Amazing Fantasy 1000 covers.

Whenever that choice is offered about DC, the answer is always “stupid.”

Danger Street is a resolicit, right? I mean, it still sounds fun, but maybe they could, you know, actually publish it?

Yeah, I don’t know why it was delayed, but this is a resolicit.  It sounds awesome.

DC, like Gretchen Wieners, continues to try to make the Dead Boy Detectives happen, so they give it another shot with a new series. It’s so odd that they’ve latched onto two random characters from a side story in Sandman, but there it is.

From what I understand, there’s going to be a Dead Boy Detectives TV show, so I guess that’s what’s going on.  It should be a decent series with Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Stokely — why do I know this artist?

Because he’s good? He did some nice work a few years ago on some Boom! comics, but I haven’t seen his name recently, so I don’t know what he’s been up to.

He was the artist on The Ludocrats — so yeah, he’s good!

I’m amused that Stan Lee is being feted by DC before Marvel, although to be fair, I haven’t looked at the Marvel book yet!  I’ll probably pick up this book of Just Imagine stories, as I do have the big Omnibus of the Stan the Man run of books.

The Absolute Edition of Batman: Three Jokers calls it “one of the most overwhelming comics events in years”.  Yeah, that’s one way to put it!

So many books that could use an Absolute Edition, and DC chooses this one. Sigh.

Milestone Compendium Two includes the Superman crossover.  I’ve had my eye on the first volume of this, and the next time I have some cash at the comic shop, I might pick it up, because that was good stuff.

Did you pick up Aquaman: Andromeda at all?  It sounds neat, at least.

Nope. It looked neat, so I’m just waiting for the softcover.

Marvel:

It had to happen: Dark Web #1, a team-up of Ben Reilly and Madelyne Pryor! BWAH-HA-HA-FUCKIN’-HA!!!!!

I forgot that “clones” was the connection between the characters.

It’s tenuous, but they had to connect them somehow!

Thank goodness they rebooted Iron Man. It was in danger of reaching 20 issues!

Oh no, Tony Stark is going to lose everything?  I can’t believe it!

Yeah, what a dumb idea. We were talking about this at the comic book store this week, and the retailer made the point about when the FF went broke – as if Reed couldn’t invent five things that afternoon that would make them millions. And if Tony is poor, they won’t do anything about his armor. Shouldn’t he sell that if he needs money? And if he’s poor, shouldn’t he be wearing low-grade armor, like corrugated tin and a bucket on his head like Ma Hunkel? I’d pay to see that! And I would also like it if the reason he loses all his friends (as the solicit claims he does) is because all of them – even St. Steve – tells him that they only liked him because he was rich. That would be awesome.

I mean, that would be cool.  I get why some people like Reed or Tony might have their money tied up in non-liquid assets and lose it all at once so stories where they lose their money seem semi-realistic (for comics…), but I would also love to see Iron Man Ma Hunkel style!

Is that Sabretooth and the Exiles cover (page 36) an homage to Washington Crossing the Delaware, or have I got the brain wasps agin? There’s a recent quarter that has that as the tail, and I liked to read it like Washington went back on his word with the Delaware, and now the river is pissed!  My brain has weird thoughts sometimes.

Ok, for the first sentence, I can only say … maybe? I don’t think so, but I mean, anything’s possible. As for your second sentence … um, what? Did you have a stroke in the middle of writing it? Please get help, sir! Blink if you need us to call 9-1-1!!!!

I’m fine but I will explain no further!

On the next page, 37, the homage variant of X-Treme X-Men by Jim Rugg is way cool!

Page 62 has the final issue of the latest Thunderbolts, and mentions it being the 25th anniversary of this title, and DAYUM!  I can’t believe it’s been that long since arguably the best end-of-issue reveal ever.

Tempus fugit, man. I accidentally have their first appearance (I just happened to be buying Peter David’s Hulk), and I wonder if my actual copy is worth anything, or if it’s not “mint” enough.

That’s right, they had a couple weird appearances before the first issue— I have a reprint of that Hulk book with the Thunderbolts logo. Probably around the time the movie comes out would be when to try to sell yours, if you wanted to.

Origins of Marvel Comics: Marvel Tales is a pretty nice package, if you’re someone who hasn’t gotten these books before, with the first issues of FF, X-Men, and Avengers, and Amazing Fantasy 15, under a neat Nick Bradshaw cover.

So Hellboy is in the Star Wars Universe now, and not during the Dark Horse years? (Page 68)

There’s a Superior Spider-Man Omnibus, which isn’t bad value ($125 for 35 issues or so). I’ve liked what I’ve read of this, so I might pick this up.

I got up to about the fifth issue, then I was put off by the apparent storyline and stopped getting it.  But I probably judged it too quickly.

Kelly’s work gets a fancy Captain Marvel Omnibus, which I might pick up. I liked the first issue, but didn’t get the trades because I suck. But this isanother not-bad value, so I might take a look.

Yeah, I think I missed a trade early on, and now I’m very far behind.

There’s a trade of the Peach Momoko Demon Days specials, and it’s a pretty good value at 20 bucks!

Image:

On page 32, we find Art Brut, which is by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo, the Ice Cream Man creators. Art Brut was originally published by IDW a few years ago, and it’s pretty keen. I’m not sure why it was called The Electric Sublime back then and is now back to the “original” title – Art Brut is a band, so the name was taken, but why is it okay to use now? Beats me, but if you like Ice Cream Man, this is in the same vein.

Well, it’s an art term as well.  I got the singles of The Electric Sublime, but never got around to reading it. I’m curious as to how different this is than that printing.  I guess… It’s a Bit Complicated?  (I do dig that album quite a bit!)

Tim Seeley writes Hexware on page 36, about a society in the future in which witch androids exist and can petition the devil for favors. Like you do. Seeley is an interesting writer, so this might be good.

All Against All (page 44) takes place in the future, when Earth has been conquered by aliens who’ve turned it into a zoo, and the only human left, who decides he’s going to “Predator” them, it seems. I don’t know the writer, but Caspar Wijngaard is drawing this, and his art is awesome, so I’ll probably check it out.

Alex Paknadel has done a number of things and apparently pals around with Ram V and guys like that.  I thought you might have gotten Friendo from Vault?  Anyway, this sounds interesting, and I do like Wijngaard a lot.

Ah, yes, I did read Friendo. I supposed I should have checked things he’s done! That was pretty good, so maybe this will be, too!

There’s a new volume of Friday on page 48 by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin. I really liked the first volume, so I’m looking forward to this. I do like how the solicits reads: “Book Two is finally here!” Um, the first collection came out in late 2021. This is due in December. Is it really necessary to use “finally” here? I mean, it’s not like it’s been decades since the last book came out.

The entire Middlewest gets collected in a softcover on page 53. This is a very good comic, with a gripping story and superb art, so give it a look. Eighteen issues for 30 bucks is not bad!

Hmm, I’ll have to consider it!

Boom! Studios:

Know Your Station (page 88) sounds neat. The super-rich abandon Earth for a space station, and now a murderer is targeting them, and there’s a young woman investigating it. We shall see.

A Vicious Circle (page 90) is about a time-traveling assassin, which will make my head hurt, but Lee Bermejo is drawing it, so there’s that. I’m not the hugest fan of Bermejo, but he’s a good artist, and in this book, he’s changing his style based on the time period in which the book is set, and it looks really, really neat.

That sounds awesome.

Dark Horse:

Bryan Talbot has The Legend of Luther Arkwright (page 135), which is not a reprint, but a brand-new story, so that’s nifty. I still haven’t read the original, but I have a nice hardcover version of it, so I guess this will give me the incentive to get to it!

I recently got his bio via Zoop, and splurged for a sketch in the book, so I’m looking forward to that.  I need to get all the Luther Arkwright and Grandville stuff.  Alice in Sunderland was amazing, as was The Tale of One Bad Rat.

Page 137 has Groo: Gods Against Groo, a new mini, the fourth issue of which, according to Mark Evanier, will be the 200th issue of Groo!

I asked Axel Medellin when the digital version of the new Elephantmen is going to be printed, and he said it was coming in the new year, and on page 143, we find Elephantmen 2261 Omnibus, so there it is! I loved this series when it was at Image, and I’m glad they got to continue it, and I’m glad it’s getting printed!

I’m confused about all the Elephantmen/Hip Flask stuff, and this is the first I knew that they weren’t at Image still, but what I’ve seen of this is amazing, and Starkings gets amazing artists on this stuff.

They did the 80-issue series, but I guess it wasn’t too viable to do it in print for a while, so they’ve been doing it digitally for quite some time now. I’m Facebook friends with Medellin, so I knew they were doing it, and I just assumed there would be a print version eventually, so I figured I’d wait, and here it is! It’s not all that confusing, honestly. There are two graphic novels by Ladronn that seem to take place in the future, and I thought Starkings was leading up to them, but I don’t know if that plan has been abandoned. But that’s not anything to worry about. You can just start at volume 1 and read it!

Nexus: Nefarious is a new trade on page 152, with Mike Baron writing and Richard Bonk on art.

Without Rude, I’m not sure there’s much point.

I would usually agree, but during the First run, Nexus had other artists at times.  The Dude has been Kickstartering some other Nexus stuff too.

Dynamite:

On page 167 is Gargoyles, the Disney cartoon that’s well spoken of.  George Kambadais is on the art, and he’s really good.

AfterShock Comics:

On page 212 there’s Maniac of New York: Don’t Call it a Comeback, a sequel series? One shot?  They tell us there’s a new Maniac, but not the one we’re expecting — well, given the title, I’m expecting LL Cool J!  Or should I NOT expect him?!

Well, it says it’s a “new story arc,” so I assume it’s not a one-shot. This is the third arc, by the way. I’m glad they’re doing another one – the second ended a bit disappointingly, and it’s an interesting comic.

All Night and Every Day is a horror one shot on page 214 written by Ray Fawkes about a woman who gets dragged to a party that never ends, so I’m assuming she’s at Paisley Park?

That sounds like Prince shade, and that’s something up with which I will not put!!!!

Oh no, no shade, I just tried to come up with someone known to party and probably never stop, and Prince came to mind!

Peter Milligan’s Dogs of London gets collected on page 222. Hijinks about gangsters in London? Good times!

Even though I don’t think they are actual dogs, this still looks quite good.

Titan Comics:

I’m interested in The Three Ghosts of Tesla, in which our intrepid inventor ends up in World War Two? Well, that’s odd. Still, sounds fun.

I assumed he would have been dead before WW2, but I see he lived until ‘43.  Huh.

Yeah, but by that time he was insane and falling in love with pigeons, so perhaps not the best person for the war effort.

Let’s check out the back of the book!

Aardvark-Vanaheim has the usual wacky Cerebus in Hell? One shot, although this is a double size annual, but the better offering on page 258 is a new printing of The Last Day, the final Cerebus volume.  I honestly don’t remember if there was a Kickstarter for this and if I bought one, but if I didn’t, I need to put in a pull list request for this at my LCS.

On page 269, Antarctic Press has Exciting Comics 31, the 100th legacy issue (although it’s not like they published the first 69 issues of the series).  It’s got some interesting stuff, like The Alternate, about a superhero who’s more into the fame who gets thrust into a world where his alternate is more powerful and heroic than him.  Atomic Blonde will, I assume, not survive a title challenge from Antony Johnston (or Charlize Theron, and she probably hits harder than Johnston), but it’s a WWII era story.  The highlight is Fatman the Flying Saucer meeting Herbie Popnecker the Fat Fury, because hells yeah!

I guess. I’ve never seen the amazing appeal of Herbie, but he’s all right. And, I mean, technically, Johnston never wrote a comic called “Atomic Blonde,” so maybe they’re counting on that to skate by?

Archie’s got a fun looking book on 271 with Happy Horror Days, with Werewolf Jughead fighting Krampus and other stuff.

I don’t care at all about 9 Circles on page 290 from Blood Moon Comics, but the artist is named “Kool as Heck.” Yes, it really is.

I swear we mentioned this before, didn’t we?  On the same page is Grits N Gears, a steampunk western with an AI rescuing people.

Did we? I don’t recall that, but it’s possible. I’d like to say I’d remember an artist with that dumb a name, but there are days when I don’t remember my own name, so who knows?

Crusade Entertainment has a monster Shi Omnibus on page 302, which doesn’t have a price on it – it’s PI, which means “Please Inquire,” which means it will cost you a kidney and your soul. What the hell, Billy Tucci?

The Kickstarter had it for $60, I think, and the order form lists it as $99.99.  Depending on the page count and page size, that’s probably not bad!

Page 323 has a new one from Harper Alley, Officer Clawsome: Lobster Cop, drawn by Chris Giarrusso of G-Man Comics and Mini Marvels fame (and who worked at one of the local comic shops in my town).

On the same page, interestingly, the 30th Anniversary of Tripwire Magazine is offered through Heavy Metal Magazine.  It’s also being crowdfunded on Zoop with some fun extras.

I never have confidence that anything from Tripwire will come out in my lifetime. Which is too bad, because it’s an excellent magazine.

Dang, not only is IDW not in the front of the book any more, but they’re not even a Deluxe publisher!

Maybe they’re doing fine without paying Geppi exorbitant prices to be a deluxe publisher?

NBM has the complete Silent Invasion in a set on page 342, and I highly recommend it!

That implies that you’ve actually read a comic, sir!

I read it years and years ago!

On page 359, Rocketship Entertainment has Action Philosophers from Van Lente and Dunlavey.  Not sure who originally published this but here it is.

When it first came out, I’m pretty sure it was self-published. My collection is from Evil Twin, which I think is still self-published.

On page 378 is Underthing Press, which has the Digger Unearthed: Complete Tenth Anniversary Collection, about a wombat engineer caught in a fantasy world.  I actually pledged for this one through Kickstarter because it sounded interesting.

I mean, sure, but that’s a good chunk of change for a story about a wombat. Wombats are cute and all, but they’re not very interesting. (Fun fact about wombats: they have a flat bone above their butt that distorts the shape of their body a bit but is there so they can go down their hole and stick the bone in the opening so predators can’t get to them and instead flail against bone. I was once encouraged to hit the bone on a wombat’s butt, because apparently they just can’t feel it. It seems true; the wombat was unimpressed by the thumping.)

You smacked a wombat’s ass?  Damn, you kinky!

J. David Spurlock and Vanguard Productions has more Wallace Wood content on page 378, as we get Cowboys and Country Girls, a collection of Wood’s “western” work. I will buy anything that Wood draws, so I’m picking this up!

Wake Entertainment has the first volume of Ascencia on page 396, with the first 6 issues of this interesting comic, about a future city of immortals, and what people might do in order to be there and stay there.  The cover reminds me of an early ‘00s Wildstorm book, and the story has sort of a Vertigo feel to it.

Tony Parker is drawing this, and Parker is a good artist and a good dude, so of course I’m getting this. I should point out that it was originally solicited in December, so I’m a bit worried about it actually coming out.

Z2 Comics has a number of neat books out this month, but on page 397 are two of the coolest.  There’s The Illustrated Al: Songs of Weird Al Yankovic, with lots of people depicting Weird Al songs; and there’s Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough album with illustrated versions of the songs from that album and its B-sides.  This is a follow up to the Comic Book Tattoo book that Image put out around 2010.  My lady preordered me a special Tour Edition of this book for my birthday, and we got to see Tori live several months ago (I still should write about this sometime!).

Yes, writing for a blog. What a concept! I always have to point out that Little Earthquakes has one of the most devastating lyrics in music history: “So you can make me cum, that doesn’t make you Jesus”. Dang, Tori!!!!

And it’s amazing watching her sing it live!

Damn, we should try to get through this post this quickly all the time!

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope everyone has a fun time checking out Previews – I’m finding less and less that I want to get, sadly, but I still find some gems!