Flippin’ through ‘Previews’ – September 2017

Are we going to find some cool stuff inside Previews #348? You bet we are!

As you might recall, I’m in blue, while Travis is in black. That way it’s easier to separate the bad commentary from the good!

The bad commentary is from the one whose color starts with B!

Dark Horse:

Check out all the solicitations here!

Mignola and Chris Roberson are doing a mini-series about Rasputin and the origins of Hellboy on page 44. It’s drawn by Christopher Mitten, and I’m sure it will be good, but man I’m so sick of Rasputin. He’s one of those historical figures, like Tesla, whom comics writers need to retire for a while. I’ll think about getting this in trade.

Well, now you’ve just ruined my Rasputin vs. Tesla pitch.  Thanks!

Hey, no problem. I’d still read that, man!

Jenny Finn gets reprinted in color on page 46. This is a pretty terrific mini-series by Mignola and Troy Nixey, and I’m sure Dave Stewart’s colors will be amazing, but I’ll probably skip it simply because I already own it. But if you haven’t read it yet, it’s keen.

I actually got a copy of the trade not too long ago, but of course haven’t read it yet.  Not sure why they are reprinting it in single issues, particularly when DH has such trouble publishing new miniseries in single issues.  It amuses me also that Dark Horse is acquiring this and Only the End of the World Again, picking up old Oni books like that, since Oni basically started as a “spinoff” of Dark Horse (if you will, since they were ex-DH employees, iirc).

On page 50, Shadows on the Grave gets a fancy hardcover for only 20 dollars (for 8 issues). That’s an excellent value, and Richard Corben is pretty awesome, so I’ll probably get this instead of waiting for the softcover, even though that will be even cheaper!

The only thing that worries me, since I plan on getting this, is that the HC won’t have the same smell that the singles did.  Yes, I smelled the comic at the store!  It had a distinct newsprint odor, dammit, and it was wonderful!  Also, if there’s a story of a barbarian “reminiscent” of Den, why didn’t he just use Den?  Does Heavy Metal own that character?  That’s got to be awkward.

Ha, I didn’t notice this at first, but under the listing on page 54 for Briggs Land v2 Lone Wolves (which was the name of the “miniseries” that wraps on the same page), it says the trade collects issues 7-12.  Oops!  Someone didn’t get the memo that it’s a totally different series now, yeah, sure!

The second volume of the Grendel Tales Omnibus is on page 56, and you should get it if you haven’t read these stories already. They’re pretty great. Maybe some day I’ll actually get the first volume (my store got something completely different than it when they ordered it, because Diamond doesn’t give a shit, and a re-order hasn’t come in yet), even though I’ve already read the stories. I like my fancy big omnibi, dang it!!!!

I will be considering this stuff, but undoubtedly will kick it down the line and get it that magical, mystical time of “someday”.

On page 57 we get a collection of Michael Chabon’s The Escapist: Amazing Adventures, which includes 6 never before published stories.  Dammit!  I have the single issues, so I don’t necessarily want to buy a collection for some mysteriously unpublished stories.  Also, I’m not sure if this does include the Spirit story from one of the issues.  However, this is 400 pages for 25 bucks, so it’s a pretty good deal!

DC:

Here are the full solicits!

On page 77, Geoff Johns and Gray Frank and everyone else involved with this piss on Alan Moore’s beard and set his tarot cards on fire just because they can with Doomsday Clock #1, which has to be the laziest-named big event of all time. “What should we call this? Fuck Alan Moore? Or is that too on the nose?” “Well, it’s about a clock counting down to Doomsday, so how about Doomsday Clock?” “That’s … that’s … fucking genius!!!! Print that motherfucker!” So what is this? Superman wants to know what’s going on with Dr. Manhattan? Jeebus. How can an entire company miss the point of their own products so badly and consistently?

Am I reading right, that this too is a 12 issue series?  I swore the first thing I saw about this was that it was a 4 issue thing, which was bad enough.  Egad, a whole year of this shit?  How apt is the one cover with “The End is Here” on the placard.

Oh, it’s twelve issues, baby! You can’t get the nuances of Superman punching Dr. Manhattan in four pathetic issues, man! You need an entire year!

“They get on my case for wearing my underpants on the outside, but dude, your dick is out and it’s blue!”

“So are my balls, big boy!  C’mere!”

Hawkman Found is on page 80. I love the solicitation: “One of DC’s greatest heroes is missing!” Dang, Batman’s missing? So is Hawkman trying to find him? Anyway, DC is trying with Hawkman yet again, bless their stupid little hearts. Hey, as long as they keep paying Jeff Lemire so he can do real comics, I’m good. I’m also hoping, as this is a one-shot, that it’s just someone random like Starfire finding him at a mall in Missouri. “Hey, Carter, what’s up?” “Oh, sorry, but the Cinnabon here is so fucking good, I forgot to check in!”

Sick burn on Hawkman, man!  He just fucking died, and no one cared.  You can keep killing him, but he’s still just a fucking bird furry, ffs.

On page 81, we get Batman and the Signal, which is what we’re calling Duke Thomas now, I guess. Caleb went over a bunch of better names for Duke, but what I want to talk about is the ridiculousness of the actual premise. The solicits read: “Batman may own the night, but with new villains emerging during the day, he needs an ally to defend the city when he can’t.” So Duke Thomas – the Signal – is Daytime Batman. This idea make my head hurt. Everyone at DC knows that Batman isn’t a vampire, right? There’s no reason he can’t be out during the day except that he looks so much cooler at night, right? There have been plenty of Batman stories set during the day, and no one rioted. DC has done this kind of thing before – I remember a story with the Riddler (maybe?) where he deliberately committed crimes during the day, thinking Batman wouldn’t stop them, and even though to thwart them, Batman closed the roof of a convention center to “make it night” before he could defeat them, it was still during the day (and that idea, that he needed to make it dark, was stupid even then), and nobody stopped Batman from thwarting the crime! Listen, we know he doesn’t need a lot of sleep, because during the day, he’s often in the Bat-Cave doing shit or out bring Bruce Wayne, so again – it’s not like he’s a vampire. I get that you want to make Scott Snyder happy and if making his pet character a “Daytime Batman” is the way to do it, fair enough. But can’t anyone say to Snyder, “Yeah, we love you and you can write your DC Black Sabbath book or whatever the fuck it’s called, but Daytime Batman, Scott? Really? You don’t think that might be the stupidest idea you could come up with?” Damn, I can’t even with how stupid this idea is.

And Batman is out in the sunlight on this cover, too!  HA!  I do like Cully Hamner, though.  What was even stupider to me re: Batman not out in the daytime was back in that … War Crimes?  Was that what it was called when they killed off Spoiler?  Anyway, one of the stupid things in that one (in a storyline filled with stupid), not only is Batman not ever supposed to have come out in the daytime, but there’s never been any footage of him anywhere!  He’s been around at that point probably, oh, 10-15 years, since this was Tim Drake era stuff, but NO ONE filmed him AT ALL until then?  Fucking ridiculous.  I can see a “Daytime Batman” in the sense of a PR-friendly dude who says “hey, I work with Batman, he’s a good dude, he takes out the trash at night but I’m the bright shiny dude.  With the Signal as my name and costume.  And the signal on Batman’s chest is to get guns aimed at where he can armor himself.  Wait.  I’m here to draw gunfire with a bright costume?  Wasn’t my being black going to do that enough?”  (Too much?)

Hamner is cromulent, I agree. And yeah, I didn’t know about that “lack of footage” thing, but come the fuck on, people. Especially because DC is insistent that every Batman story has always existed and always will. So those Batman stories where he’s getting medals from the mayor in broad daylight – no one filmed those? Geddaphukoudaheer, DC!

Ooh, that’s tempting on page 87, Batman Annual 2 has Lee Weeks art on early Batman/Catwoman stuff.  He good.

Yeah, it will nice, but I could not care less about the story idea.

Jeebus, isn’t that Bolphunga the Unrelenting the dude from the original “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize” story?  He’s back in Green Lanterns 35 on page 93.  Let’s just use every Alan Moore idea ever!

Beats me – it’s been a while since I read that. I assume it is – according to DC, Alan Moore is a genius who was the last person at the company to have any original ideas and we should honor him by, you know, strip-mining everything he’s ever done and not paying him one thin dime for it, because fuck that genius!

(I don’t know why I’m so bitter about DC’s treatment of Moore in this post. Usually I think Moore, as good a writer as he is, has his head up his magicKal ass and should just shut the fuck up, but that Doomsday Clock thing is really pissing me off, for some reason.)

Hey, you can be as bitter as you want.  Somehow I’ve resigned myself to the fact that they’re going to strip mine this stuff, and the bile has failed to increase in me this go round.  But I’ve felt the anger more in the past, so it’s good that you feel it too, man!

Man, I don’t want to buy the Justice League of America Annual on page 97, but Kelley Jones is drawing it, and I’m really, really tempted.

Yeah, that one is tempting.  I’ll wait to see if the library gets the trade, though.

Batman: Creature of the Night is on page 109. It’s by Kurt Busiek and John Paul Leon and is claimed as a “spiritual companion” to Superman: Secret Identity, which is a great comic. It sounds like those “Real World” specials DC did back around the turn of the century, as Bruce Wainwright sees his parents killed but in a world with no superheroes, he’s not quite sure how to process it. Anyway, this sounds neat, and the creators are awesome, and the trade will be a nice purchase!

I never got around to getting Superman: Secret Identity, although I see the dee-loox HC is reoffered on page 144.  Yeah, I won’t get this in singles, but will eventually read it!

Tony Isabella is writing a new Black Lightning mini-series on page 110. That would make me more excited if Clayton Henry weren’t drawing it. He’s … not very good.

I’ve heard the name, but don’t associate it with anything.  But hey, the series has real world issues in a superhero world!  Wow!  That’s never been done before!

Ha! Henry drew … well, he’s drawn some of the Archer and Armstrong stuff from Valiant, I think, but he’s so bland and mediocre that it’s tough to really remember what he’s done. But he’s not all that good, unfortunately.

Andrew Constant, who’s a pretty good writer (and Australian, to boot!), is writing The Demon: Hell is Earth on page 111, with Brad Walker drawing it. Sounds like a nice trade.

Etrigan and Jason Blood’s relationship is changed forever!  Or at least until someone else wants to use the Demon and completely ignores these changes.

Man, you’re too young to be so cynical!

Yay!  I’m still young!

Alisa Kwitney and Mike Norton are doing Mystik U on page 113, in which Zatanna enrolls at Hogwarts. Wait, I’m being told it’s not actually Hogwarts, it’s the non-union Mexican equivalent, “Cerdo-Verrugas.” Still, this looks like it’s in the Prestige Format I love so much, and that’s not a bad team or a bad concept, so I’ll probably (wait for it!) wait for the trade. Unless I see the first issue and fall in love with it. PRESTIGE FORMAT, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!

I’m trying to remember what stuff I’ve read of Kwitney’s, and from what I’m coming up with, I’m not particularly excited about this, but I do dig Norton’s art and of course loves me some Zatanna, so I may get the trade down the line.

Kwitney’s written some tangential Sandman books and some other Vertigo stuff. She’s not great but she’s pretty good.

Page 119 gives us the New Talent Showcase 2017, and this year, I actually haven’t heard of the vast majority of these creators.  Also, in our continuing series of “cool names of comics creators”, we have “Owl Goingback”.  Hells yeah.

That’s a terrific name. And yeah, it’s nice to see a “New Talent Showcase” where the talent is actually new. Good for DC!

On page 131, we get Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age, 456 pages (for 35 dollars) of BOB HANEY WACKINESS. I am all over this like Jack Black on a taco. Bob Haney is a national fucking treasure.

I think I may need to get this, too.

For our crowd, I think I should mention the DCU by John Byrne HC on page 132, with a bunch of stories by the man himself.  Too bad they couldn’t include the Darkseid/Galactus one shot.  That was good.

I saw that, and hope they release it in softcover!

On page 133 we get a collection of JSA by Geoff Johns.  From what I’ve read of this series, it was ok.

I heard that Justice League/Power Rangers was surprisingly decent.  However, I’m not paying 25 bucks for a HC of it.  I’ll wait for the library to get a copy.  If I was going to spring for a book on page 134, I’d get the Kamandi by Kirby Omnibus HC, with the first 40 issues for 125 bucks.

On page 136 we get a collection of Shazam! The New Beginning from post-Crisis era DC.  This features Tom Mandrake art, I didn’t realize that.  I thought there was a Shazam! story in Secret Origins from that same era, so I wonder why they didn’t include that.  I highly doubt this storyline is worth 35 bucks in a dee-loox HC, though.

Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert finally gets a softcover trade on page 138, and I’ll probably get it. I own a few of the issues in here, but not all of them, and it’ll be nice having them in one nice book.

Shit, you know I’m way behind when I’ve had the HC version of this for ages and still haven’t popped it open.  If I’d thought they would do a SC of it, I would have waited, too, dammit.  I think this is the first Tales of the Batman to go to SC, and of course it’s the one I bought in HC.  Sigh.

I’m intrigued by the Teen Titans Silver Age trade on page 138.  I have a few of those stories, and they’re fun, and it’s Bob Haney, so I’m highly considering it.  Also, the Mad Mod AND the Demon Dragster.

I’ve never been a huge Titans fan, but I might try this. As you note, it’s BOB HANEY!!!!

Imaginary Friends on page 142 sounds neat. A girl is convicted of murder that she insists her imaginary friend committed, and before she turns 18 and gets transferred to actual prison, the FBI offers her a deal to hunt other “imaginary” monsters with the help of that same murdering imaginary friend. Tim Seeley knows how to write a solid horror story, so this might be pretty cool.

Yeah, sounds like it’ll be a good trade.  Is Vertigo coming back, man?  That’d be cool for the *gulp* 25th anniversary of the line next year.  I think.

IDW:

Take a look at the solicits here!

On page 156 we have the trade of Cosmic Scoundrels, which sounds like a fun sci-fi buddy comedy.  I like what I’ve seen of Andy Suriano (didn’t he draw Joe Casey’s Charlatan Ball?), so I may get this.

Yes, he did. I looked at this a few times in the shoppe, and it didn’t really grab me. I’ll have to think about it.

For 25 bucks, IDW is giving us The Monstrous Collection of Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson, which has three of their comics and isn’t a bad price. I own a nice version of The Ghoul but not the other two collaborations, so I might have to get this. Any Wrightson comic is worth having!

I think I have all of these in some form too (I have the treasury edition of The Ghoul, and Dead She Said and Doc Macabre are also included), but of course haven’t read them. (page 157)

There’s a new Jem and the Holograms anthology book called Dimensions on page 167, with stories by Sophie Campbell and Kate Leth and Tana Ford, and there’s also a second big HC of our pal Kelly Thompson’s run on page 166.

I’m not the hugest Judge Dredd fan, but I might get The Blessed Earth on page 179 because it’s drawn by Jason Copland, who’s a boss dude and a good artist. That’s just how I roll!

He may have done just the art on the 2017 Annual, I think, if you wanted to catch just that.

Ah, I’ll have to check that out.

Image:

Here are the full solicits for you!

I don’t know if Wes Craig is any good as a writer, but he’s writing The Gravediggers Union (shouldn’t there be an apostrophe somewhere?) on page 188. Toby Cypress provides the art, and his style is a good fit for a weird, comedic take on the apocalypse, with gravediggers. Could I get the trade? Possibly …

Hmm, there does seem to be an apostrophe needed there, but I suppose it works without?  (What band had an album with Gravediggers something or other?  Soul Asylum?  Oh, that’s Grave Dancers Union.  Never mind.)  Anyway, as with almost all these Image books any more, I’mma wait for the trade.

Port of Earth (page 196), which is about aliens opening a spaceport on our planet but abusing their privileges, sounds neat. I haven’t read anything by Zack Kaplan, but Andrea Mutti’s art is quite nice.

On page 199, we have a 10 dollar trade (supposedly …) with Regression v1, from Cullen Bunn et al.  Past-life regression goes wrong and insanity ensues.  Sounds fun!

So, Void Trip is a miniseries about the last 2 humans alive in the galaxy, trying to trip their way to the hippie paradise world of Euphoria.  Sounds like it might be a fun trade, but I point it out mostly because the artist is named Plaid Klaus, which is awesome.

I saw that name. Oh, these wacky artists with their wacky names!

On page 203, Winnebago Graveyard gets a trade. I don’t love Steve Niles, but he can come up with cool premises, and Alison Sampson’s art is stupendous, so I’m getting this.

I don’t know if Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker has been offered in softcover before, but it’s on page 207 for only 18 bucks for 8 issues. This is an insane comic from Joe Casey, full of awesomeness, and Mike Huddleston’s art is tremendous. It sounds like the two had a falling out and that’s why there were only 8 issues, but those 8 issues are pretty great.

I don’t think there was a SC before.  I know there was a HC, which included a story they did for Four Letter Worlds.  I have the singles of this, but these ones came out right around the time I got all squirrelly about how I read my comics (well, more squirrelly), so I never finished reading the series.  But I did love that story in the back matter of issue 1 about Joe Casey possibly meeting Steve Ditko!

I’d like to point out, even though I didn’t read this arc (or the second, for that matter), They’re Not Like Us concludes with volume 3 on page 233.  The first arc was incredibly good!

Huh, just noticed that Violent Love 10 on page 234 is the series finale.  I got the trade of v1, but of course haven’t read it yet.  Guess I’ll probably get v2 just to have the whole thing, though!

Well, that sucks, because Victor Santos’s art is so good. It did seem to have a limited shelf life, however, but I wonder how much they cut it short because the sales weren’t there.

In the new Image Plus v2 1, the spotlighted comic shop is one I’ve actually been in, Comicazi in Somerville, MA!  It’s a pretty good shop, from what I remember from when I’ve been in there (and hopefully I get in there in early November, when I plan on getting up to the Boston area!).

Marvel:

Are there solicits at this link? You bet there are!

Mark Waid and Chris Samnee get a crack at Captain America on page 3. Good for them! It’s bound to be better than Waid’s last turn on the title 20 years ago, which despite its reputation isn’t all that great.

Ooh, I know you’ve said that before, and I think I read them again since you did, and I mostly agree with you that they’re not quite as great as they seemed at the time.

I don’t think I’ve read anything by Max Bemis, but he’s taking over Moon Knight on page 22, and I’m very tempted because Jacen Burrows is drawing it. I really like Burrows’s art (he’s a nice guy, too), and it’s nice to see him out of the Avatar ghetto for once (although it might lend credence to Travis’s belief that Avatar is in trouble, because if they can’t keep Burrows employed, something weird is happening). So that should be a nice-looking book, even if I don’t know if the writing will be any good.

On pages 34-38, Marvel does something so stupid even I couldn’t believe it, and I’m ready to believe every stupid thing I hear about Marvel! They give us five one-shots starring relatively obscure characters – Darkhawk, Forbush Man, Power Pack, Shang-Chi, and Silver Sable – which isn’t a bad thing at all. Then they number them as if they were the next issues in their long-cancelled series! I get it, Marvel – you think all your problems are because you don’t have high numbers on your books anymore, not that your comics cost too much, they’re too short, you don’t have consistent creative teams, and you have too many titles. But throwing high numbers on these and then not having another issue next month? That’s next-level stupid, Marvel. Congratulations! I’m sure this won’t be confusing at all.

Well, don’t forget, DC did the same thing with some series during Blackest Night, where they had one shots of books like Suicide Squad and Starman and stuff that tied into the BN storyline.  I think they’re obviously testing the waters to gauge the demand for more of these characters.

Yeah, I mentioned that at the shoppe last week when I was looking through Previews, but the difference, of course, is that those were tied into an event and had a “zombie” theme going on, and you knew if you saw it randomly at the store that it was tied into “Blackest Night.” These are just completely random, tying into nothing, so people who don’t read Previews (like they should!) won’t have any idea what’s going on. It just seems confusing.

Well, at least Devin Grayson is back, on Power Pack 63!

I’m not sure if I’m going to get the hardcover of Moon Knight by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev on page 94, but I am tempted. I know this isn’t the best iteration of the character, but I still love me some Moon Knight, and reading a train wreck can be entertaining, damn it!

Didn’t you get the single issues of this?  If so, use that money you would use for this book and get better stuff, man!

Nope, never got the singles. I think I bought the first issue and wasn’t impressed. I’m still not sure if I’m going to get it, but your adamant insistence that I don’t is making me lean against it. Thanks, Pelkie!

I do what I can to save you money!

I’m not sure if Black Bolt (page 101) is any good, but Christian Ward drew it, which means it will look really cool. So I’m pondering …

I’m pondering the Cable trade on page 103, because I do like me a good time travel story.  Plus, James Robinson.

Sweet lord, I had intended to read the first trade of Hawkeye by our pal Kelly Thompson, and then got sidetracked by life, and now here on page 104 we have volume 2.  Which I will of course get anyway.

It’s a really, really good series, sir!

Did you read any of the Age of Apocalypse series that spun out of Uncanny X-Force?  I have 19.1 of that series, and maybe the first issue of AoA, but I don’t know if it was any good.  If it was ok, this trade on page 112 does have over 21 issues of stuff for 35 bucks, which isn’t a bad deal.

No, I didn’t read any of it. Nor do I want to!

Nostalgia is making me consider this X-Men Epic Collection on page 113, Mutant Genesis, which collects the stuff right around the time of the Jim Lee 5 cover X-Men #1.  Why do I let myself consider this?!

Those Whilce Portacio issues of X-Factor are really cool, though.

Let’s get to the back of the book!

This month’s Cerebus in Hell? one shot is “The Death of Cerebus in Hell?“, which I believe is a take on the death of Captain America during Civil War covers.  It’s from Aardvark-Vanaheim and on page 246.

Well, heck, it’s the final issue of Motor Girl (#10) from Abstract Studios and Terry Moore on the same page.  I’ll wait to see if he does a collection of the whole thing, since I didn’t get v1.  I wonder if he intended to do just the 10 issues?

That is kind of strange. Moore usually can do something for as long as he wants, so I wonder that too, or if his economies of scale ain’t what they used to be. I’ll still get this!

Also on 246 is the second issue of Charlton Arrow from AC.  The first issue hasn’t come out yet, but I’m glad that more E-Man exists!

On the top of page 250, Action Lab brings us Athena Voltaire: Pulp Tales, which are prose stories by a bunch of different writers with illustrations by Athena creator Steve Bryant. I assume that’s what it is from the solicits. I’m not sure if I want to get this – I want to support Bryant, who’s an awesome dude, but I’m not the biggest fan of short stories (I’m not exactly sure why not), so I may never actually read this. I’m going to have to think this over.

I may get this as well.  It’s on the long list, anyway!

AfterShock has a trade of World Reader on page 262, in which an astronaut travels to dead planets to find out what’s killing the universe. Sounds neat, and Juan Doe is a fine artist, so I’ll probably pick this up.

This sounded decent, and I believe I mocked the writer’s credits when the first issue was solicited, but actually, the Groot (mini-that-wasn’t-necessarily-supposed-to-be-a-mini-)series that he wrote was actually pretty good (I’m never getting around to reviewing it at this point, man!).  So I’m intrigued and may get this myself.

Alterna has yet another buck and a half book starting on page 264, Doppelganger, where a concussed computer engineer starts being tormented by an evil version of himself.  Sounds like fun, and I’m in anyway at that price!

Alternative collects Charles Forsman’s Slasher on page 266, which I’ve been getting in singles (as I thought it was just a one shot at first).  I’ve flipped through it, and it looks interesting, about a duo who connect sexually through their disturbing urges.  I’ll try to read and review it before the orders are due (yeah, yeah, I know!).

I’m not sure if I’ll get The Land That Time Forgot on page 269 from American Mythology, but I might. Mike Wolfer is writing it, and while I wish he were also drawing it, Giancarlo Carracuzo isn’t bad. I’ll think about it.

Also on page 271 is Eternal Thirst of Dracula, written by Wolfer and drawn by Roy Allen Martinez, which sounds bloody good.

That does sound kind of cool, and Martinez is a pretty good artist.

Whoa, back up to page 268, where unpublished Underdog stories from the Gold Key comics have been discovered and are being published by Am. Myth.  I’m sure the older people in the crowd are familiar with Steve Skeates, who wrote these.  I’m tempted to get this!

I wasn’t sure if I needed to get Rogues! volume 4, which collects Odd Parenthood, but it seems I did get this series in singles.  Provided they actually published all the singles, though.  I’m not sure on that!  Amigo is funky that way, but I like their stuff, like here on page 272.

They published them all!

Gold Digger reaches issue #250 on page 274 from Antarctic. Good for Fred Perry! I have no interest in Gold Digger whatsoever, but that’s still an impressive achievement. My shoppe gets one (1) copy, and I’m really curious about the person who gets it – is that the only comic he (or she, I guess, but it’s more statistically likely it’s a man) ever buys? Has he been buying it since the beginning? Is he actually Fred Perry himself?!?!?!?

I assume that when they refer to this as the second longest running female led comic, #1 is Wonder Woman?  And second longest run by one creator is, I assume, second to Dave Sim on Cerebus.  I may get this just to see what it’s all about.  But congrats to Fred Perry!

Hmm, Archie has, on page 279, a collection of The Best of Archie Americana: Golden Age of 400+ pages for 10 bucks.  I may give that a try.

Black Mask has the trade of There’s Nothing There on page 290. A shallow celebrity attends a weird party that turns out to be an actual occult gathering, and things get weird. I liked the look of the first issue, so I’ll probably pick up this trade.

Yeah, I was intrigued as well, and was waiting for the trade.  Maybe I’ll even read it at some point, too!  I’m also intrigued by Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart, a GN spinoff of the Black series that should be in trade soon.  I’ll try to read that when it comes out and see if I like it.

I’d just like to point out that our pal Buttler says that he also suggested a King Kong/Planet of the Apes crossover, like the Kong on the Planet of the Apes book on page 294 from Boom! (The solicitations for which you can find here.)

Boom! also has a fencing comic on page 296. You might think it’s about putting up a fence, but no, it’s the sword-fighting kind. I’m just here to point out that the artist is Johanna the Mad. Is she angry, or crazy? Or both? The mind boggles!

Funny!  What’s even weirder is that this is not the first comic about fencing (in North America, at least, as it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if there have been manga about it).  There was a book by Jane Yolen, iirc, a few years back.  Ah yes, here it is, Foiled!  (and it got a sequel too)

Godshaper gets a trade on page 299. Boom! must really like this, because it usually takes forever for them to get trades out. I’ll check this out.

I’m totally in, this looked fantastic!

Speaking of forever on collections from Boom!, we get a HC of George Pérez’s Sirens on page 301, which is one I was interested in but good lord, it’s taken forever to come out.  And I don’t know that I want to drop 30 bucks on a HC.

Yeah, I’m not getting this in hardcover. I hope Boom! puts out a softcover, because the art looked a-MAH-zing, but the story didn’t sound too, too interesting.

I’m way behind on reading it, but the first volume of Giant Days was sooooo good, and now the 2017 Special on page 304 features art by Jenn St-Onge, who did the Jem: Misfits mini, iirc.  Her art looks great, so I’m grabbing this one, in case it never gets collected in trade.

Speaking of stuff I didn’t think would be traded, on page 305 is a collection of the Boom! Box Mix Tape specials, which I never got, so I may pick this up.  I don’t know if it’s oversized like those original comics were, though.  I do believe that our pal Kelly has a story in one of them, too.

On page 308 is a HC of Snoopy.  I’ll probably write about the local museum exhibit of art by Alexis Fajardo, who went to my high school, works for the Charles Schulz people (so no doubt worked on this collection), and also does the Kid Beowulf series.  Watch for it soon!  (I hope …)

Hey, that’s pretty cool. I’m reading the second book of the Kid Beowulf series right at this moment! (Well, not right at this moment, because I’m working on this post, but it’s the comic I’m reading when I have time to chillax.)

On page 318, Cinebook offers a complete collection of Lucky Luke, which is one of those comics I always hear about but have never actually read.  I’ll consider this, though.

I’ve read a couple of Lucky Luke volumes, and I just don’t like them that much. For what that’s worth.

Hey, also on page 318 is the Classics Illustrated version of The Man Who Laughs, which of course was an inspiration for the Joker and for one of these METAL! DC issues.

I don’t know anything about the creators, but The Case of the Missing Men from Conundrum Press on page 319 sounds neat. A group of teenagers solving mysteries in a small town get wrapped up with something truly weird. It’s “Nancy Drew meets David Lynch,” according to the solicits, which is good enough for me!

Yeah, this one makes my list, and high up on it.  Sounds nicely strange!

Also from them, but on page 320, is You Are Alice in Wonderland’s Mum!, a “Pick-A-Plot” book positing that Alice’s mom had to navigate the London underworld attempting to find her daughter when she was in Wonderland.

That does sound neat.

I don’t want to love the idea behind Santa Claus: Private Eye (from Darby Pop on page 320; it answers the question of “What does Santa do the other 364 days of the year?” that no one was asking), but I can’t help it!!!!

I always figured Santa was exploiting the elves in other ways through the rest of the year.  It will either be brilliant or stupid!

Dynamite has the trade of the first James Bond arc, Vargr, that Warren Ellis did, and I believe Hatcher dug it a lot, so I may be in, on page 324. (Their solicitations are here!)

Yeah, it was pretty good, but nothing superb. Typical Ellis stuff, which I like, but not grade-A Ellis stuff. Still, slightly-better-than-average Ellis is a lot better than a lot of writers!

And damn, the covers for the Shadow 4 on the same page!  Lee Weeks, Kelley Jones (although they leave out the second e in his first name!), and Tom Mandrake!  Fuckin’ A!

For the Gumby nerds, there’s a HC on page 327 about all things Gumby (and Davey and Goliath, looks like!).

Speaking of Nancy Drew (and we were, above), we get the trade of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie on page 335. This looked pretty neat, so I’m definitely getting this.

Yeah, I was intrigued as well, so I’ll probably go for this too.  I read enough Hardy Boys books as a kid, I probably subconsciously know that stuff by heart!

Y’know, this comic Skin and Earth by Lights on page 337 looks ok and all, but your “whole life has lead up to…this”?  NONONONO!  “Led”!  “LED”!!!  Somebody pay a goddamn copy editor, will ya?!

Ugh.

Emet Comics is a new publisher on page 346, and I may get Finding Molly: An Adventure in Catsitting GN solely based on the fact that Jenn St-Onge’s art is great.

Yeah, I saw that too. I might get it for the exact same reason!

Michel Fiffe has a comic, Zegas, from Fantagraphics on page 348. It’s about siblings who have been orphaned and need to figure their lives out. Fiffe is a good creator, and this sounds tempting, but it’s also 20 dollars for 96 pages. I’ll have to think about it.

I’m also considering Street Fighting Men, a collection of Spain Rodriguez work, and man, that Studio Edition of Charles Burns’s Black Hole is tempting, both on the same page.  On 349, Charles Forsman’s mini comics are collected in I Am Not Okay With This.  Also, the fourth volume of Pogo syndicated strips are offered, and a box set of the first 3 volumes of Prince Valiant are on that page as well!

On page 352, 451 Media Group collects Humbug, which posits that Scrooge was the first paranormal investigator.  Sounded fun, so I’m probably getting it.  Glad they’re collecting a lot of the series they published in the past.

I saw that and remembered that you had mentioned it in the past, so I figured I’d let you mention it again!

Heavy Metal has a bunch of stuff offered.  On page 356, they have The Doorman, Interceptor, and Reincarnate, and I can’t remember which, if any, of these I actually got.  I think I got the Doorman, but I believe I’ve ordered them all.  Perhaps Reincarnate will FINALLY come out, as I think I’ve been waiting on that one for several years now.  Also on that page is Heroin Diaries, a GN by Nikki Sixx of the Crüe!  I may go for this, because Andy Kuhn is a good artist and Rantz A. Hoseley, who I believe must have adapted this to comics, is the dude who introduced Tori Amos and Neil Gaiman.  So he am cool.  On page 357, we’ve got The Savage Sword of Jesus Christ, which is GMozz trying to be edgy, and The Smile of the Absent Cat, where GMozz wised up and got the amazing Gerhard (of Cerebus) to do art on a weird book about a cat cartoon world.  I may have to get this, despite having the story in issues of HM!

The Doorman is pretty good, in case you haven’t read it yet. And I wondered if those Morrison stories were things from his recent editorship of the magazine or something older. I’ll have to get those, because I am, of course, a Whorrison.

Insight Comics offers Skinned on page 358, about a future world where people are outfitted with VR glasses at birth and of course, star-crossed lovers trying to bring down the society once they see the truth, man!  It does sound interesting, though.

Meh.

On page 367, Kodansha Comics has a deluxe edition of Battle Angel Alita, which is a manga I’ve always heard was pretty neat.  A detached amnesiac cyborg head gets attached to a new body.  Interesting.

Joe Casey’s Flash comic, Accell from Lion Forge, gets a trade on page 377. I’m sure this will be interesting, and Damion Scott is a fine artist, so it will look neat. I’m down with it!

Man, I went for the singles of Cloudia and Rex, which is collected on page 380, because I thought the trade would be more than the singles, but no, it’s just 10 bucks for the 3 issue series.  I’ll have to take a look at them before the order deadline for y’all!

Kerascoet and Fabien Vehlmann have a new book on page 381 from NBM called Satania, about a girl who sets out to find her missing brother, who claimed he could prove the existence of Hell by using Darwin. Sounds interesting, and the creative team is very good, so I’ll probably get this.

Yeah, sounds strangely intriguing.

Oni has The Altered History of Willow Sparks, about a nerdy girl in high school who discovers a book that allows her to rewrite her life, it seems (from the preview art). She decides to become popular, of course, and of course that means she starts losing her actual friends, and what will she do?!?!? It sounds like something we’ve seen before (Can’t Buy Me Love 4EVAH!!!!!), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good concept, so I’ll think about getting this.

I’m liking it.  I’ve heard of Tara O’Connor, I think, but I don’t know where from.

O’Connor’s autobiographical comic about Ireland was recently offered, and we discussed it in this very column!!!!! Unless you’ve heard of her someplace else, as well!

Did you ever read Soulwind by Scott Morse?  I’ve liked what I’ve read of his stuff, so I may consider this HC collection on page 391.  A boy is transported across the universe to retrieve a legendary sword and an old woman unravels the true account of creation.  So, y’know, light reading!

No, I haven’t. I’m thinking about it. It will probably be pretty good, but I’m still thinking about it.

Is this English on page 392 in this blurb about Invader Zim?  “Never has a comic so purposefully stupid lied on a foundation of comedic skill so honed and smart.”  “Lied”?  Is that the proper tense of that there?  Or is Paste magazine wrong?  Or should they just have reworded that sentence completely?

Man, yuck. That’s just … awful. The past tense of “lie” in this case is “lay,” but that’s not even correct. The use of the helping verb “has” means that this should be “lain”: “Never has a comic so purposefully stupid LAIN on a foundation of comedic skill so honed and smart.” Frankly, I hate “lain” – it sounds awkward. So they probably should have come up with a better sentence in which they didn’t need to get screwed up with lie/lay problems. But it’s “lain” in this situation.

On page 394 we get a collection of Gumby from Papercutz, including the Kyle Baker story that looked pretty good when I flipped through a copy at a local shop.  I’ll consider it!

Hmm, on page 395, from Papercutz/Charmz is Ghost Friends Forever by Monica Gallagher and Kata Kane (isn’t she Batwoman?).  A girl is getting used to life with her divorced dad and their business of helping ghosts when she meets a ghost who is tied to the paranormal event that split up her parents.  Sounds interesting.

Man, the Panini UK Doctor Who comic strip collections are intriguing, with all the great British comics talent involved, but they’re pricier than I’d go for.  (pages 395-397)

Plus, it’s Doctor Who, so who gives a shit?

Jeez, just drop that in our laps, PS Artbooks.  I hadn’t heard that Jay Disbrow died earlier this year, but in the solicit for Pre-Code Classics: Ghostly Weird Stories HC 1, there it is.  I’ll consider this book on page 397.

Red Eye Press on page 398 has The Tommy Gun Dolls, a GN about Prohibition era San Francisco, where a cross-dressing grifter leads a bunch of burlesque girls to avenge a friend’s murder.  Sounds intriguing, plus it’s signed by Daniel Cooney, the creator!

I like how cross-dressing always means a hot woman dressed in a tuxedo that still lets us see her gams. That’s HAWT!

SelfMadeHero has, on page 400, another of those Art Masters books, this one about Magritte: This is Not a Biography, where a man buys a bowler hat once owned by Magritte, and it transports him to Magritte’s imagination.  Sounds fun.

Yeah, that might be neat. Magritte was keen.

Since I’ve been getting into crime and mystery books more in the last few years, The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery TP 1 on page 403 from Seven Stories Press is intriguing.  I’ll have to consider it.

Titan continues to crank out these Hard Case Crime comics, which is awesome. On page 408 we get Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini, about a girl who decides to solve a magical mystery about Houdini, and on page 409 we get Quarry’s War by Max Allan Collins, which Greg Hatcher should appreciate. Later, on page 420, the trade of Normandy Gold is offered, which I’ll be getting. Good stuff!

Yeah, I totally thought about Hatcher with the Quarry one.  I need to start in that series somewhere.  Where’s the on-ramp for that, Hatcher?!  And yeah, I was getting Normandy Gold in trade too.  Sounded like my kind of thing!

And man, that Doctor Radar on page 412 looks really neat, with either cover being very evocative!  I may get it, since it’s just 2 issues.

On page 430, T Pub has Theatrics, which is about a 1920s actor who gets mugged and loses everything and decides to … do something about. What that is isn’t clear, of course, because you’ll have to buy the book! T Pub is Neil Gibson’s publishing concern, and Gibson has turned out to be a really clever writer, so I’m looking forward to this sucker.

I may go for this as a good Neil Gibson intro, as I haven’t gotten any other books by him yet.

Hey, look, Travis, it’s the trade of Doctor Crowe on page 430 from 215 Ink! How’s that series shaping up?

Don’t judge me.  Actually, I had intended not to pick up further issues past the first one that I reviewed, but I forgot to, y’know, actually tell my shop guy that I didn’t still want it, so I do have issue 2 to look at, and I assume once 3 and 4 come out, I’ll be getting those.  Oops!

Also on 430 is TwoMorrows offering Alter Ego 150, featuring Stan the Man!  Should be cool!

Hmm, Udon has an interesting looking book on page 433, Casa Nostra, about a group of women who run a safe house for criminals, and plan revenge after they are betrayed by a guest.  The art has a neat monochrome animation style to it, based on the pages shown here.

That does look neat, but it’s 26 dollars for 120 pages. That’s a bit dear.

Valiant.  Oh Valiant.  Really?  It hasn’t been Nin-jack this whole time, it’s been Ninja-k?  WTF?  (page 434)

Oh, sure, but when Morrison makes Wolverine “Weapon 10” you all thought it was cool, right? Damned hypocrites!!!!! (And yes, this is unbelievably stupid. So was Morrison’s retcon, though.)

Offered on page 441 is Secret Weapons in trade for 10 bucks for 4 issues, so I may snag it, and the Ninjak Complete Classic Omnibus, which tickles my nostalgia bone, but probably not 100 dollars worth.

Yen Press has a couple of interesting things.  On page 452 is So I’m a Spider, So What?, which is a fun title, at least, and on page 455, A Polar Bear In Love.  “A polar bear falls in love with a seal, but the seal thinks the polar bear is trying to eat it!”  Take comfort, seal!  The polar bear merely wants to fuck you!

On page 466, we get a resolicited art book of Jamie Hewlett’s stuff, which is probably pretty cool.

Some neat books about comics on pages 468 and 469.  Encyclopedia of Black Comics by Sheena C. Howard, which is self-explanatory.  The Expanding Art of Comics: Ten Modern Masterpieces, where Thierry Groensteen interprets 10 important works.  Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere by Hillary Chute, discussing what makes comics unique and using a cool Xaime cover to do so, and Oh My God, They Printed That?!, which features offensive stories from the past in what seems to be a somewhat prurient way.

Normally I wouldn’t care much about this, but on page 476 is Vworp! Vworp! magazine 3, with a feature on Alan Moore’s Doctor Who comic strips (and if the cover text can be trusted, an actual interview with Beardy!).  Ok, I’m probably in!

Dang. That sounds neat. Stupid Beardy McMagickson and his stupid excellent writing!

There’s another issue of the Creeps on page 477.  Number 12 has a sweet ass Frazetta cover!  I still need to read the other issues I’ve gotten of this!

I’m only mentioning this one because I want to mention something on the same page.  On page 532, there’s a Pop! figure of Conor McGregor, and hopefully there’s a variant where his ass is beat by Mayweather!

I don’t know about that, but there is a variant where he says horribly racist things. Plus, there’s a Pop! of Floyd where he’s beating up women. Collect them both!

But on the same page are Pop! figures of Tom Servo and Crow from MST3K.  I normally don’t go for these types of toys, but I do need little friends to comment on movies with me!

I…I can’t even.  Apparently there are people that will spend 170 bucks for this.  On page 559 is a Cutie Honey figure with “soft bust”.  I know I comment about boobs and stuff, but it’s mostly tongue-in-cheek.  People actually buy this stuff?!

I don’t even know what to say about that. So the boobs are squeezable? I mean … ugh. I get that some people enjoy unusual stuff and that some people are really socially awkward, but there are girls in the world who really like socially awkward nerds and will let you squeeze their real boobs if you ask nicely!

On that fun note, we’re out of here. We hope you have a good time checking out the treasures inside Previews, and we hope you’ll let us know about all the cool stuff you find in there! Have a good weekend, everyone!