Flippin’ Through ‘Previews’ — September 2022

I’m starting this extremely late, but what’s new?  I miscounted and was thinking this was the 60th straight Flippin’ that Greg and I have done here at the Atomic Junk Shop, but I think this is the 72nd, along with however many years we collaborated before that, and then Greg himself had written this solo for a number of years.  This bit of rambling courtesy of “this is how Travis warms up his keyboardin’ fingers!”

Well, we’ve been here almost six years, so 72 sounds right. I’ve been doing this since 2007, I think, so yeah … man, tempus fugit, don’t it?

DC:

So, I’m probably stupidly interested in this Batman and the Joker: The Deadly Duo on page 1 (hey, what’s Larsen got to say about that subtitle?!), but I love how it’s called “meticulously crafted”, aka “took a shit ton of years to draw”.  I think I’ve read he’s been working on this since around Flashpoint/ nu52 started!  Looks kewl though.

I’m a fan of Silvestri, so I’ll probably get this eventually. But I don’t think it’s going to be good. It’ll look nice, though.

Damn, I’m totally going to buy the Batman/Spawn Classic Collection on page 6, aren’t I?  Even though I know I have the Miller/McFarlane one shot (and I love that it fits in the DKR/DKSA/ASBAR version of the character), and I probably could find the War Devil book festering in some back issue bin for cheap.

Yeah, you should avoid this. Neither of them is any good.

I wish they’d keep Geoff Johns away from the JSA (Pgs 10-12) … although I do have to say that Todd Nauck is a better artist than I remembered.

Nauck has always been pretty good. And I thought people actually like Johns on the JSA?

I hope the Blue Beetle movie ends up coming out, and being, y’know, good.  I’ve seen trailers for the new Shazam and for Black Adam and neither of them impress me much.  But there’s a Blue Beetle Graduation Day special mini on page 14, so hopefully that will be decent.

Man, those ‘90s covers on pages 16-17 are fun.  And Marvel’s doing “extreme” covers too.  What’s in the water, man!?

Everyone who started in the Nineties have hit the age where they get all nostalgic. It happens, man.

Maybe WildC.A.T.s will work this time? (Page 18)

I … doubt it?

Waller vs Wildstorm on page 20 sounds good, and with Spencer Ackerman, an experienced reporter as co-writer, it should have an interesting approach to it.

I’d like it to be good, but I don’t have high hopes, sadly.

So the Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special, which comes only, like, 2 years after they finally got the 25th Anniversary HC out, includes the stories from that HC in floppy form, which is cool for someone like me who didn’t shell out for the book.  However, it’s interesting that they seem to be hiding a name that did a story for this — I know there was a Warren Ellis story, and they must have figured if they just don’t mention him, the comics “journalists” just will forget that he’ll be in this.  Not that I actually care, but I find it amusing.

Yeah, that’s probably it.

I might snag the Wonder Woman 204 facsimile edition on page 31, just to see what the book looked like back in the day.  There’s also a Detective 38 facsimile on page 33, and a Special Edition of Superman 75 for the 30th anniversary of the Death of Superman.  I read there were going to be some specials related to this, have I missed the solicits for them?

I thought they already offered something, but I don’t pay that much attention to single issue solicits, so I can’t say for sure.

I don’t remember if they had collected Joker’s Asylum in one volume before, but here it is on page 52.  It’s a pretty good collection of one shot stories about Batman’s villains.  The Penguin one by Jasons Aaron and Pearson is fantastic, and I seem to remember the Riddler one being deec.

How did Pearson get a Batman book without paying his dues, damn it?!?!?!?

Also on 52 is a new edition of Deathbed by Joshua Williamson and Riley Rossmo, for some reason.  I have the trade from a few years back when it was a Vertigo book (and they used that cover for this solicit), but I’m curious as to why this is being reprinted.

So am I, actually. I saw that and thought it was weird. Must be some reason!

Tom Taylor seems to be having a lot of fun with Nightwing, and I should catch up at the library at some point.  But if you like buying comics, the first two volumes are on page 54 (although v.1 has issues 78-83 while v.2 has 87-91 and Superman: Son of Karl-El 9, so I dunno where issues 84-86 are — probably some dumb Bat crossover).

And the trade of Superman: Red and Blue is on page 55, which is a book I should have read by now!

Why? This is the first time it’s out in a softcover, so what’s the rush?

Marvel:

I imagine that the editors and artists at Marvel had a meeting to discuss Gold Goblin #1 (page 8) and at some point someone said, “Hey, you know that excellent, iconic Goblin outfit? What if we totally fucked it up?” and everyone nodded in agreement. Sigh.

Yeah, this looks like one of those alternate Spidey outfits that became Slingers.  I’ll give them gold, but I don’t see any Goblin!

Hey, Fantastic Four is getting a new #1 on page 10! That’s so clever! Ryan North is writing this, so I might give it a look, even though I’ve never been the biggest fan of the FF.

It’s interesting that he’s apparently starting with solo stories of each of the members, so I look forward to when the library gets this.  I’m not sure, however, if the Phil Noto X-Treme Marvel cover is worse, or if the Frank Miller Thing is worse.  Egads to both!

I think it’s Miller’s by a wide margin, but Noto’s ain’t great, either.

I don’t know if you saw the post over on Bleeding Cool about this, but Buckingham is redrawing Miracleman: The Silver Age (page 15) from the original script.  It’s pretty amazing, what I saw, but I hope a collection includes the new version and the original.

That’s kind of neat. I’ll have to compare and contrast!

I’m not that keen on Tiger Division (page 20), but White Fox is in it, and White Fox is awesome, so I might have to check it out.

Yeah, it’s nothing I’m wild about, but I’d read the trade from the library.  How is it a “solo series” for a team, tho?

Don’t question Marvel Logic, sir!!!!!

Much like James Stokoe, Tradd Moore is the kind of creator that Marvel and DC should be chucking money at to let him do whatever he wants, and I must say, Moore doing a Doctor Strange book (page 22) has “awesome craziness” written all over it.

I like it!

Two things about X-Treme X-Men on page 28 (why isn’t it called “X-Treeeem” instead?!?!?): One, who’s the audience for the cat variant cover? Two, and more importantly: Marvel has been paying Claremont for years not to write for them or anyone else, so what changed? Why did they let him near a comic? It’s odd.

One: Who isn’t the audience for the cat cover?!  Two: Yeah, that’s weird that they’d suddenly let him write again, but I think he’s been doing a few short stories for specials here and there (didn’t he write a New Mutants thing with Billy the Sink a year or two back?), and they probably figure it’s better to have him create more material they can make money off of rather than have him waste away.  If I’d had the time this month, I was going to try to list/calculate all the stuff in this Marvel Previews that was rehashed of old stuff, as it seemed especially egregious this month, but the sheer enormity of the task did me in!

I point out Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man 2 on page 34 only to mention that Juan Ferreyra, who’s drawing this, will be doing one of the Substack Comics that Matthew Rosenberg is doing, so that should be cool.

Ugh, I hate Substack. Like I have time to keep up with all that shit!

I know, but I got tricked into it by Rich posting about it over on Bleeding Cool for FCBD.  Our pal Kelly Thompson has one that’s fun, at least for how much I can read in the free version!

On page 38 we find Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis. DeMatteis wrote “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” so if you’re going to do a Kraven origin story, you could get a worse writer, certainly. But, again, two things make me chuckle: One, “Revealing secrets and answering mysteries Spidey fans have been waiting for — prepare to explore the depth of what made Kraven the Hunter the powerhouse villain he was!” Ok, what Spidey fans have been clamoring for a Kraven origin? Oh, hey, here’s this dude who likes hunting and decides to hunt Spider-Man. Origin told! And “powerhouse”? He managed to get the drop on Spider-Man once, and sure, it was a great story, but … “powerhouse”? And two: Peter and Mary Jane prepare for their news lives in … Portland? Really? I mean, I know Portland was hip and trendy for a while, but is it still? And there aren’t a ton of high skyscrapers in Portland, so how is Spidey going to swing around? Maybe it’s Portland, Maine? That would be even more fun!

Sometimes I hate ruining your lovely rants with facts, but here goes.  As it says, this is set in the time of Spider-Man: The Final Adventure, which was during the whole Clone Saga and shit, so it’s when Peter let Ben Reilly be Spidey for a time.  They lived in Portland, although I’m not sure which one!  But yeah, if Kraven wasn’t getting a movie, this wouldn’t be happening.  As you say, he like to hunt, he decides to hunt Spidey.  If it’s a Sony movie with no tie to Spider-Man directly, a la Venom or Morbius, wtf is his motivation going to be, though?  Also, the Epic Collection of Kraven’s Last Hunt has a new printing on page 114.

Like I can keep track of when Peter was Spider-Man and when he wasn’t!!!! Stupid Marvel.

Someone at Marvel must have been doing some spring cleaning, and when they moved a file cabinet to dust behind it, a CrossGen comic fell out, and everyone said, “Oh, shit, yeah, we own these things!” It’s the only way to explain the reprinting of four CrossGen first issues in CrossGen Tales on page 73. Look, I enjoyed Ruse as much as the next guy, and I wouldn’t be averse to Marvel bringing back some CrossGen titles, but I assume this is just to keep the copyrights alive and they have no intention of ever doing anything with these. I assume they just shoved it back behind the file cabinet!

I think Ruse, Mystic, and maybe Sigil came back when they tried to resurrect CrossGen several years back, so they’re just attempting to bring back books that already weren’t popular enough to come back a few years ago!  I wonder if they will try to do more with them coming up.  Too bad the Ultraverse can’t come back!

Ruse had a six-issue thing, I think. I didn’t know about the others. And they really should bring the Ultraverse back. IT MUST BE DONE!!!!

I know the Mystic series had like, a 4 issue mini, with Amanda Conner covers.

I forgot I heard that Marvel got Planet of the Apes again, so on page 87 we’ve got a Planet of the Apes Adventures: Original Marvel Years Omnibus.  But is that right, only 224 pages for $100?

Dang, that sucks. Come on, Marvel, drop the price a little bit!  

I‘m also interested in the Adam Warlock Omnibus on page 89, as I’ve read parts of this but not the whole thing, and I dig Jim Starlin stuff!

Page 98-99 have good trades, like Fantastic Four: Antithesis, the Mark Waid/Neal Adams book, Amazing Fantasy, the Kaare Andrews weird ass thing, and Ant-Man: Ant-iversary, the Al Ewing look at all the different Ant-Men, along with some classic Ant-Man stories.

Those first two are ok, but nothing special. Just so you know!

I figured, but thought I’d mention them anyway!

Page 112 has the first Epic Collection of Defenders, which I’ve heard has pretty good stuff, and then of course leads to the legendary Gerber run.

Image:

Annie Wu and Ming Doyle are drawing Two Graves (page 36), which sounds neat. I will have to check it out!

I’ve been wondering where Ming Doyle has been, I haven’t seen her work in a while.  This sounds interesting, because the two artists are drawing different perspectives of the story.

Hell to Pay on page 42 sounds like a mystical version of student loan debt, so that’s fun.  Charles Soule and Will Sliney are behind this one.

I doubt if it will be that deep, but this does sound decent enough.

Cannibals at a furry convention? Sure, why not! That seems to be the premise of Plush (page 46), and I am here for it!

Sounds delightfully nasty!

Does the Bitter Root Omnibus on page 56 mean the series is over, and if so, is it one that’s worth getting in a nice HC, I wonder?

I don’t know, but I didn’t love the first trade, so I didn’t get the second (or any subsequent ones, if they exist).

Too Dead to Die (page 61) is a spy comic by Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin. Yeah, I’m getting that.

Cool, sounds like the format was inspired by the Reckless books by Brubillips.  Hope it’s good Chaykin, too.  Too bad they have to list his achievements as Wolverine and Blade, like he never did American Flagg or American Century!

Those are what the kidz like!

Are you shitting me?  On page 65 they have the nerve to offer the Chew Smorgasbord Edition again, after so many years where I couldn’t find it, and my lovely girlfriend finally got it for me last Christmas.  Is this a sign that I need to finally read the whole series?!

I mean, you should have read it a long time ago …

Supposedly on page 75, the eighth issue of the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology has a new Casanova story, but the cover image in the online solicit says issue 7, so who knows?

I think the solicits for issue #7 had the new Casanova, so maybe this is “chapter 2”? But yeah, that cover image is wonky.

Back of the book!

John Lees, who’s a good writer, has The Last Ride of Pillar and Pryde on page 216 from AfterShock. It’s about two men who did something heroic when they were boys but their lives aren’t going well now, and they return to their hometown to try to recapture some glory. It’s drawn by Joe Mulvey, who’s pretty good, so this should be interesting.

That sounds fun.

Ronin: Book II shows up on page 253 from Frank Miller Presents. Let’s be honest: Ronin is kind of hot garbage, but it does have a weird sort of appeal, one that is probably lost when Miller isn’t actually drawing it. But who knows? Phillip Tan isn’t horrible, so this might be weirdly good. I don’t know if this is a one-shot or part of a longer serial, as the solicit does not say.

Ronin is one I’ve never actually read.  The online solicit and order form says this is the first of 6 parts!

Diamond must be in trouble if they’re making a “second tier” of “deluxe publishers” like AfterShock and Frank Miller Presents!

On page 260 has Aardvark-Vanaheim’s CIH? Presents BTVRK, riffing on BRZRKR from Keanu.  More weird stuff from Dave Sim!

Edo wrote about Climate Crisis Chronicles, and now AWA has it on page 281. Priced to move at $9.99!

On the previous page, they’ve got Gatsby, a new reimagined modern-day version of Fitzgerald.  They don’t need to do that, it’s in the public domain!

Don’t need to do what? Lots of things are in the public domain, and people still do “new” riffs on them.

Blood Moon Comics on page 288 is loving the ‘90s, as they’re reprinting Pakkin’s Land from Caliber, which was a hot comic for about a week. Damn, Wizard would make anything hot!

Blue Juice Comics has Knights of the Fifth Dimension collected on page 290, which might mean that they’re going to let the sun shine in, but more likely means we can get a hardcover or trade of the series that has hints of Promethea, where a comic book series has been transmitted through different creators over the years, and they’ve got to team up to keep the bad guys from invading our reality.  Walt Flanagan, Kevin Smith’s friend, does the art, and he is surprisingly good.

Why is that surprising? Is everyone associated with Smith terrible?

Invader Comics has Recall on page 348, which sounds like it’s about an alien abduction, but also sounds like it’s not about an alien abduction, exactly? Anyway, it sounds interesting, and it’s drawn by Danijel Zezelj, whose name I haven’t seen attached to a comic in quite some time but who is a terrific artist.

Sounds cool.  He’s probably been doing fine art stuff.

On page 357, New York Review Comics has Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos, which is a strip from the 1940s. The artist, Jay Jackson, took the strip (which had been around a while) and turned it into an anti-racist science fiction adventure, and it’s pretty interesting. I’ve only read a little of it, but it made me interested in this collection!

That sounds awesome!

TKO Studios has finally decided to put their stuff in Previews, so I can remember to order it, and on page 399 we find Sara, which is a Garth Ennis/Steve Epting war story, and Sentient, a horror/sci-fi comic from Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta. These have been done for a while, so did anyone get them? Are they worth the time?

We apologize for the lateness of this post, but that’s the way it goes at times. Will next month be more of the same, or will it be up in a timely manner? NO MAN CAN SAY!!!!! Thanks for reading!