Dark Horse:

There's a new Solomon Kane mini-series on page 28 (13 January), if you're interested. According to the quote on the page, Kane is the "only Puritan" Ed Brubaker has been a fan of. What about Roger Williams, Ed? He was a pretty cool guy!

On page 34, we get a hardcover collection of Blacksad for $30 (24 March). I've heard plenty of good things about this - anyone want to reaffirm the kudos?

DC:

I have no interest in DC's "final issue" thing that they're doing (although it's a clever enough idea), but I suppose I'll have to buy Suicide Squad #67 (page 69; 6 January), as it ties into Secret Six. It's another issue to test Bill Reed's patience, as Ostrander and Simone write it, but Jim Calafiore draws it. Poor Bill!

As much as I'm jazzed by Batman and Robin #7 (page 71; 27 January) because it's drawn by Cameron Stewart and features the Knight and Squire, it appears to be a "Blackest Night" tie-in. Goddamnit, even the God of All Comics can't resist!

Why is Spawn guest-starring in Batman #695 (page 71; 13 January)?

So the solicitation text for Supergirl #49 tells us that Lana Lang dies (page 77; 20 January). That's not what concerns me, though. It's this: "She is survived by ex-husband, former president of the United States Pete Ross ..." I know why Pete was president, but stuff like this just reminds me how very, very stupid comics can be occasionally.

The Mighty gets cancelled on page 83 (6 January). I guess that's my fault.

Hey, look - Mike Grell draws Warlord #10 (page 86; 6 January). Will it be enough to save the book????

The second Hitman trade gets a new printing on page 88 (24 February). Buy it. It does not suck.

The fourth Planetary hardcover is offered on page 97 (3 March). Will there be a complete Omnibus (with the specials included) in the future?

Some dude named Grant Morrison has a book called Joe the Barbarian on page 108 (20 January). If you like shitty, non-linear, pretentious comics which probably don't feature enough ass-kicking, that is.

David Lapham draws an issue of Fables (page 113; 13 January). Look at him, getting work like that!

DC is re-releasing the first two volumes of The Losers as one book (page 114; 27 January). I was ambivalent about this book through the first trade, but it gets a lot better as it goes along.

Joëlle Jones draws an issue of Madame Xanadu (page 115; 27 January). Nothing against Amy Reeder Hadley, but they get some dynamite fill-in artists on that book. Speaking of which, Michael Kaluta's arc is collected in trade on the same page.

Image:

There's a new Jack Staff comic on page 140 (27 January). That monthly Jack Staff book worked out pretty well, didn't it?

If you buy Dynamo 5 in trade, the latest one is on page 145 (27 January). It brings us up to date while we wait for the relaunch.

Proof comes to an end with issue #28 on page 156 (6 January). I hope it was just a natural place and not because sales are terrible. That always sucks.

Marvel:

Max Fiumara draws an issue of Amazing Spider-Man (page 21; 6 January). I still won't buy it, but Fiumara is really good.

Geoff Johns' run on The Avengers is collected in trade on page 100 (20 January). Is this the arc where the Wasp and Hank Pym were having icky sex?

Continuing Marvel's policy to put out a trade for everything (which is a nice policy, even if some of their choices are head-scratching), we get the first seven issues of Iron Man from 1998, written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Sean Chen and Patrick Zircher. If you were jonesing for these issues, here they are!

That's some really unfortunate placement of that console there, Marvel.

More Visionaries volumes on page 116: Another Peter David Hulk one, collecting issues #383-389, and another Alan Davis Excalibur one, collecting issues #51-58 (27 and 20 January, respectively).

You know what time it is ... time for the back of the book!

SLG offers Animal Crackers, a collection of early work from Gene Luen Yang, on page 178. I imagine it's pretty good.

Over on page 183, Antarctic Press gives us ... Obamouse!

Dear Sweet Lord.

Hey, "Rob Liefeld's fallen angel, Avengelyne," returns to comics from Arcana on page 184. Did you miss her?

Also on page 184, Archaia offers Tumor by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon. You missed their last collaboration, Elk's Run - don't miss this one!

No Hero comes out in trade on page 191 from Avatar. I'm sure you're dying to see the dude tie someone's spine onto his crotch and brandish it like an erect penis, aren't you? (Isn't this the comic where that happened?)

I haven't been reading Swordsmith Assassin from Boom! Studios, but I've read some good things about it, and there's a trade on page 202. If you're in the mood to check it out!

I shouldn't point out anything to do with Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose (page 204), but Jim Balent makes it so tough with awesome covers like this:

Well, Dynamite Entertainment does it again, with Robocop #1 on page 214. I don't know if it'll be any good, but there it is!

Dynamite also has the second Zorro trade on page 219. It's a hardcover, so you might want to wait until the softcover comes out, but it's a pretty good story.

In case Chad Nevett wants a new edition of Hicksville, Drawn & Quarterly has it on page 223!

D & Q also has Adrian Tomine's first book, 32 Stories, in a new redesign (page 223). It's sure to be caustic!

IDW has some things you might be interested in. On page 242 they reprint The Wizard's Tale by Kurt Busiek, which isn't bad. On page 243 they have the trades of The Veil, which is quite good, and Fallen Angel: Reborn, which is pretty decent.

Rick Veitch and King Hell have Abraxas and the Earthmen and a new edition of Brat Pack on page 248. I've never read these, but someone has!

Chuck Dixon writes Airfighters on page 248 from Moonstone, which means it will feature kick-ass war stories featuring brightly-garbed heroes! Can you resist????

Oni has a new printing of the Local hardcover on page 252. It's very good. Then, on page 253, the first 13 issues of Wasteland (including the prose shorts) are collected in a giant hardcover. This too is very good.

Page 256 gives us another title from Radical Comics: Aladdin. I don't know if it's going to be any good, but Ian Edginton is writing it, and he's a fine writer.

And so we reach the end of another Previews. As usual, there's some good stuff in there, if you're willing to dig! So get to it!

19 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Shaq-fu wrote:

  Those are awesome Rick Veitch comics!

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I don't know that I'd call 32 Stories caustic. It's more maudlin,or contrived. It's Tomine's extremely early work. It's interesting ...

• At November 1, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I know almost nothing abot Joe The Barbarian, other than it's written by Morrison.

  Can you tell me what it's about?

  I ...

• At November 1, 2009, Nawid A wrote:

  Proof isn't cancelled. Issue 28 is just the end of the first season (currently the plan is to have at ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  No one knows much about Joe the Barbarian. It's said to be a kind of Narnia-esque journey into a world ...

• At November 1, 2009, Joshua Long wrote:

  Joe the Barbarian is about a diabetic kid who, when he forgets to take his penicillin, hallucinates all of these ...

• At November 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I've read Rick Veitch's Abraxas and the Earthman waaaaaaaaay back in those days of EPIC ILLUSTRATED magazine. A futuristic ...

• At November 1, 2009, Zdenko wrote:

  Blacksad is very, very, very good. If it doesn't bother you that you have things like sex, racism, drugs, mafia, ...

• At November 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Tom F.--The One is still available from King Hell Press at http://www.rickveitch.com/store/ I just picked up a copy last ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Over on page 183, Antarctic Press gives us ... Obamouse!

  And also President Evil #4 (#4!) with a cover depicting Obama ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Oh, god.

  I found the solicit for Obamouse.

  And, this is real:

  The economy is crumbling like stale roquefort. We are at ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Heh, my dumbfounded-ness made me misspell "Penguin".

  Still. Wow.

• At November 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: I've only read one Adrian Tomine book, and it was caustic, so I just assumed they all were. ...

• At November 1, 2009, Joshua Fialkov wrote:

  Thanks for the kind words about Tumor and Elk's Run, Greg! Anybody who wants to check out the book ...

• At November 1, 2009, buttler wrote:

  Good lord. With names like that, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! should get some sort of royalties from Obamouse. ...

• At November 1, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Blacksad is great, get it!

  And Mike Grell has been drawing Warlord for some time now. I fear that many others ...

• At November 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Whoops! I did not realize that Grell had been drawing it. The one issue I got didn't feature ...

• At November 1, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I don't know that I'd call 32 Stories caustic. It's more maudlin,or contrived. It's Tomine's extremely early work. It's interesting ...

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Neat. I didn't know there was such a thing.

  Yeah, it is interesting to track his evolution as an artist throughout ...

See?

Dark Horse:

Ugly Cover Alert! Page 22 gives us this:

Usually, I'd be all for two nude ladies on a comic book cover, but Willow looks ... really terrible. Oh well.

There's an Empowered one-shot on page 26 (2 December). I imagine I'm a bad person because I just wasn't impressed with the first volume and I haven't been back since.

The final volume of Rex Mundi is offered on page 33 (3 February). I'm really hoping for a giant Omnibus or two.

The latest B.P.R.D. series comes to an end on page 36. I mention this only because I just heard that Dark Horse isn't planning on doing for B.P.R.D. what they've done for Hellboy; that is, releasing them in those big ol' "library editions" (the third volume of which just came out this past week). That's unfortunate; I suppose I just have to go get the trades, as I've been holding off buying them until I could get the fancy library editions.

DC:

The cover for Green Lantern #49 (page 60; 23 December) shows John Stewart looking through a scope as he's aiming a rifle. There was a cover in last month's Previews on which he was looking through a scope as he's aiming a rifle. What the hell?

Hey, look at the cover of Booster Gold #27 (page 66; 9 December):

Classy!

I like the solicitation for Arkham Reborn #3 (page 76; 23 December): "[I]t's starting to look like the new Arkham Asylum is one big joke." Really? As opposed to the fine security at the old one?

So the DC Holiday Special 2009 is coming out on 9 December (page 83). B'wana Beast stars in it! Remember, 20 years ago, when a certain God of All Comics pointed out that maybe, just maybe, that's a bit racist? But it's so kitschy! Good job, DC, bringing the name back!

There's a Steve Ditko Creeper hardcover on sale on page 91 (24 February). It's 40 bucks, but I would assume it's totally worth it. Of course, I like how it includes stories that were written by people who weren't Ditko and drawn by people who weren't Ditko. That's rather weird.

DC is releasing the Doc Savage mini-series from 1987 in trade paperback (page 92; 13 January). It's written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by the Kuberts (Adam and Andy, not Joe). Anyone want to chime in with a recommendation for this?

Vertigo has Daytripper #1 (page 107; 9 December) by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. Yeah, that's going to kick much ass.

Hey, Peter Milligan's Human Target gets a new trade on page 113 (13 January). It collects the original mini-series by the much-missed Edvin Biukovic and the graphic novel Final Cut by Javier Pulido. Is it worth it? For 15 bucks, you better believe it!

Jamie Delano writes a new John Constantine graphic novel, Pandemonium, on page 114 (10 February). Not only that, it's drawn by Jock. So you know it will look awesome.

The third (and sadly, final) trade of Young Liars is out on page 116 (20 January). Pick it up and have your mind blown!

Image:

The latest "next issue project" is offered on page 143 (9 December). It's Silver Streak Comics #24, and it features Erik Larsen and Paul Grist, among others.

The second Elephantmen trade is offered on page 148 (16 December). Excellent stuff, and it's 312 pages for 25 bucks. Not bad.

Speaking of second trades, the second trade of Phonogram is offered on page 149 (16 December). Considering three issues have yet to come out, I wouldn't hold my breath. I get sad whenever another week passes and an issue of Phonogram doesn't come out. Please tell me they'll come out, Mr. Gillen! (Mr. Gillen reads the blog occasionally, and although I can probably call him Kieron, I don't want to take the chance. He'd probably get McKelvie to beat me up.)

Speaking of tardy comics, Gødland #31 is offered on page 157 (16 December). I miss Gødland.

Marvel:

I won't be buying Avengers: The Initiative #31 (page 4; 23 December), but that's an awesome cover:

Here's the solicitation text for X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain #1 (page 14; 2 December):

"In the dark and steamy jungles of Madripoor, the flashing claws of Logan, the blazing bullets of Cyclops, and the dashing fists of the Angel met with wave after wave of beserk [sic] headhunters, all willing to protect the secrets of the Temple-Tomb of Cytorrak with their lives! The ancient treasure map of mercenary Cain Marko, with its siren-song of the priceless gigantic ruby of the fabled god-king, had lured them only into the icy claws of Death!"

Now, it's written by Fred van Lente, so I'm sure it will be good, but that doesn't really sound like noir, does it? And how nice that these stories sold so well they're getting sequels.

So last month, in the solicitation for Dark Avengers #11, the text claimed, "[A]s the world gets turned upside down and no joke ... someone dies. For reelz!! This month, for Dark Avengers #12 (16 December), they use the exact same text. I guess no one cares what's in the actual book, as long as it's, you know, kewl.

Okay, I don't have much to say about the two Fall of the Hulks specials on page 34-35 (2 and 23 December), but the fact that there's a "Hulk family" is, well, stupid. There. I said it.

Ugly Cover Alert! New Avengers Annual #3 (page 45; 2 December) is drawn by Mike Mayhew, who's fairly decent, but his cover looks like this:

Blech. Really, blech.

So Bushman is back and is letting all of the crazy people out of some asylum in the latest issue of Vengeance of the Moon Knight (page 46; 16 December). If you want to convince us that Moon Knight isn't a Batman rip-off, you probably shouldn't steal ideas from a famous Batman story.

Ugly Cover Alert! What. The. Bleep. (Page 51, by the way.)

Even though we all must love Warren Ellis, in the latest issue of Astonishing X-Men (page 57; 9 December), we learn that there's an "attempt to remove mutantcy from the planet Earth entirely." Sigh. Good plot, there. I realize it's all in the execution, but still.

X-Factor #200 is offered on page 70 (16 December), and the team is back in New York (God forbid a Marvel book take place outside of New York or some fictional location; the X-Men bailed on San Francisco for a fictional location, and now X-Factor has skipped out on Detroit). It's an odd solicitation - the issue is 104 pages, with the listing "new and reprint," but there's no mention of what's reprinted. Usually Marvel makes a big deal about what they're reprinting, so I wonder what's going to be in this one.

Ed Hannigan: Covered is a cool project (page 80; 2 December). It features some of Hannigan's Marvel covers from the 1970s and '80s, and proceeds go directly to Hannigan himself, as he multiple sclerosis. What's interesting, though, is that there will be only one printing of this book EVER (as the text loudly proclaims). I guess Marvel doesn't want Hannigan getting too many proceeds through multiple printings, do they? Still, it's a cool thing to do.

Marvel Masterworks: X-Men vol 8 (page 83; 10 March) is a keen collection: all the X-Men stuff from between the cancellation of the original series in 1970 to Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975. That's kind of neat.

For 20 dollars, you can get the Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection trade paperback (page 100; 23 December). I don't know if I can handle all the awesome that this collection will surely have.

Okay, it's time to head into the back of the book. Fear not the lack of superheroes!

Jim Rugg draws Afrodisiac from AdHouse Books on page 188. I don't know if this will be any good (it sounds like a parody/pastiche of 1970s blaxploitation movies, so I'll probably skip it), but Rugg is a damned fine artist, so it will look good.

As you recall, I'm not a big fan of Eric Powell's writing (although I love his art). But many people are, so check out Chimichanga #1 on page 188 from Albatross Exploding Funny Books (which means it's self-published), which is Powell's new series. It's the story of a bearded girl in a circus. Presumably, because it's Powell, there will be gross jokes that I won't find funny.

I would recommend getting the Secret History Omnibus on page 196 from Archaia, because it's a very good series. I'm wondering, however, if Archaia is ever going to finish publishing the original issues. I've been waiting for the final two issues, and don't want to spend $35 to get two new issues. It's vexing. If you haven't bought any of the individual issues, however, this is a very cool series, and the $35-price tag is for a 336-page comic, so it's a fairly good value.

I'm kind of bothered by Avatar's new layout in Previews. On page 205 they offer "Ignition City #5 Auxiliary" edition. I don't know what the hell that's supposed to be. But Ignition City #5, the "regular" edition, hasn't come out yet. This can't be replacing it, so when is it supposed to arrive? These are titles shipping in December, and it's not on their list of books coming out in November. I loathe "convention" specials and "variant" crap - I just want to read the damned book! (That last rant wasn't aimed directly at Avatar, as other companies do it too. Don't worry about the exclusivity of the book, worry about people reading it!)

There's a new printing of the Mysterymen Adventures trade for $20 on page 210 from Bob Burden Studios. I've never read anything by Burden. Tell me, good comics aficianados, should I purchase this?

Com.X has the softcover version of Cla$$war volume 1 (a second volume of which will probably never appear). It's actually not bad - the art quality goes down when Hairsine leaves and the fact that it's incomplete is annoying, but it's pretty good. That's on page 227, right next to a strange offering: 45, in which one man interviews forty-five super-powered individuals because his unborn child might have the gene that makes one superhuman. That's a decent idea, but here's the twist: each page is drawn by a different artist, and according to the solicit, they have some good ones lined: Liam Sharp, Jock, Charlie Adlard, and Dan Brereton, to name a few. Interesting.

Garth Ennis has a new Battlefields series coming out on page 235 from Dynamite Entertainment. This time, we get a young Australian joining a bomber squadron that's about to start runs over the Ruhr valley. It's drawn by PJ Holden, who's quite good. It's always nice to see an Ennis war story, although it would be nice to see him do other wars than WWII. It's called "Battlefields," not "World War Two Battlefields"!

On page 239, Dynamite gives us Dreadstar: The Beginning, which collects the stuff from before the ongoing series began. Yes, it's $30, but I can't wait to get this, as I've never read them.

I doubt if I'll get Death Valley #1 from Desperado (page 242), but it's a Western, it's written by Keith Champagne and drawn by Shawn Moll, so if you really dig Westerns, this might be something to check out.

Fantagraphics brings Ho Che Anderson's King back into print on page 252. Is this as good as I've heard it is?

I probably won't get Borgia (volume 3) from Heavy Metal on page 255, mainly because it's volume 3 and it's $15 for 56 pages, but it features artwork by Milo Manara, who's tremendous. And he likes drawing naked women, which is never a bad thing.

IDW keeps bringing these old comics back into print, and I certainly appreciate it. On page 263 they have Winterworld by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino. I don't know if it's any good, but it sounds like the kind of action comic that Dixon knocks out of the park, and Zaffino is a fine artist. I'll have to check it out.

You can also get a trade of The Life and Times of Savior 28 (page 267), J. M. DeMatteis's deconstruction of a superhero who decides he wants to change the world by becoming a pacifist. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.

Abby and the Crusader get married in Love and Capes #12 (page 269, Maerkle Press). I should get this series more. It's quite charming.

Justin Gray and Lee Ferguson bring us Mr. Keen: Tracer of Lost Persons on page 270 from Moonstone. It's the story of a woman who hires Mr. Keen to find a man who is "sheer evil." Oh dear. It's a good creative team, and I might have to give it a whirl.

The second volume of Chris Schweizer's "Crogan" series, Crogan's March, shows up on page 274 from Oni Press. The first of the series, Crogan's Vengeance, was quite good, and now we get a story of a different member of the family in the French Foreign Legion, fighting bad guys and creatures that like to eat people! Man, that sucks.

Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time gets a trade paperback on page 284 from Red 5 Comics. You shouldn't wait for the trade on this awesome comic, but if you do, now's your chance to pick it up!

Mercury by Hope Larson is offered on page 285 from Simon & Schuster. Hey! I already reviewed this!

On page 294 we find The Apocalypse Plan from Transfuzion Publishing. Writer Rafael Nieves imagines Heaven and Hell as corporations that track souls instead of sales. It could be a clever idea, and Dan Dougherty draws it, so it will look pretty good.

I'm sure you're dying to get your Zan and Jayna T-shirts (page 330):

The question is: would wearing the Zan one and promising that you have a Jayna one for her repel a woman or attract her? The mind boggles! (Considering they're brother and sister, perhaps it's best not to think about it.)

This figure features "cast-off clothing." Ewwwwwww (page 376).

Page 385. Blood Energy Potion. We're in hell:

Okay, maybe going too far into the back of the book isn't that good of an idea. But you can still stop before you get to the truly creepy stuff! Grab that Previews and start digging! You know you want to. Who wouldn't?

38 Comments

• At October 4, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Damn, that's a lot of goodness in one month, even without comics shipping the last week.

  I seriously did not ...

• At October 4, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I dunno, if I saw a Zan shirt at Kohl's for like ten bucks, I might go for it for ...

• At October 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Damn, that's a lot of awful in one month. Greg, I gotta share just about every criticism you made in ...

• At October 4, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I thought Detroit was fictional. Didn't they invent it for Robocop?

• At October 4, 2009, T. wrote:

  Mike Mayhew is usually pretty good but he really seems to have channeled his inner Greg Horn for that cover. ...

• At October 4, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Mr. Burgas, you have a REALLY strange sense of what an ugly-looking cover is. Especially since you didn't seem to ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Yet Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men has been, for all its delays and status quo irrelevance, the best X-Book on the ...

• At October 4, 2009, Jack Cheng wrote:

  I like the MysteryMen, but I don't think it's Bob Burden's best work. If you've never read anything by Burden, ...

• At October 4, 2009, Dean wrote:

  Jim Rugg draws Afrodisiac from AdHouse Books on page 188. I don't know if this will be any good (it ...

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  That Buffy cover reminds me of a question I've always had about comics licensed from TV shows: given that the ...

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Also, Nitz, no: I'd say X-Factor is more consistently good than Ellis's Astonishing. Ellis has superior technique in his ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " This isn't to say Alyson Hannigan or Buffy are necessarily someplace I'd expect this, givent he show's attitudes and ...

• At October 4, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  I never could figure out the racism in B'Wana Beast's name. I've googled and searched and have never figured ...

• At October 4, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  It's always nice to see an Ennis war story, although it would be nice to see him do other wars ...

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  T'was me.

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bwana

  "Bwana" is sort of like "sahib" in India: a word the natives were expected to call the guys in pith ...

• At October 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Scavenger: "bwana" is a "respectful term of address" in parts of Africa, but I believe it's usually associated with natives ...

• At October 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  D'oh! Too quick for me, Omar!

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  FGJ: I was thinking of his Spanish Civil War story in "War Stories," which was very good. I wouldn't mind ...

• At October 4, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  You will like Burden. Read his stuff.

  You will not like the O'Neil/Kubert(s) "Doc Savage" mini. Unless you like stuff that's ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " 'Do other wars'... just say what you mean Greg - we want him to do Nam! "

  He has done ...

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  He has done it, twice, and excellently, during Preacher. John Custer's experiences in Vietnam show that he's done more war ...

• At October 4, 2009, Michael wrote:

  I see no problem with the Buffy cover; then again, my Hannigan crush is well documented.

  X-Men: Noir sounds more like ...

• At October 5, 2009, Jamie McKelvie wrote:

  Issue 5's been done for almost a month, but unfortunately has been held up on the production side of things.

• At October 5, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  The Doc Savage mini wasn't awful by any means, but it does suffer a bit from "Scrappy Doo" syndrome. The ...

• At October 5, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Eric Powell's Chimichanga looked like it would fit in the vein of Goon... until I noticed that the solicit says ...

• At October 5, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  [I]in Punisher it was about Castle and how he was destined to be The Punisher well before his family were ...

• At October 5, 2009, Kieron Gillen wrote:

  Hi Greg

  Issue 5 has been held up at Image for the last four weeks due to a production bottleneck, which ...

• At October 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  KG and Jamie: This is why I can't imagine being in your shoes, when you've finished something and it's still ...

• At October 5, 2009, Gianluca wrote:

  Greg. There must be some Radical hate going on since even Stevie Wonder would have caught the The Last Days ...

• At October 5, 2009, Jay Potts wrote:

  Greg,

  Trust me, you WILL want Jim Rugg's "Afrodisiac" collection. Here's why: http://worldofhurtonline.com/tag/jim-rugg/

• At October 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Sorry, Gianluca! I did see the book, but Remender is usually hit and miss with me. I'll have ...

• At October 5, 2009, Gianluca wrote:

  Sweet. Steve Pugh and myself greatly appreciate that. I'm obviously biased on Last Days so please excuse my rant. It ...

• At October 5, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  That Buffy cover reminds me of a question I've always had about comics licensed from TV shows: given that the ...

• At October 5, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  Kieron and Jamie, that all DJs issue (was that #4? anyway) was masterful, and easily one of my favorite comics ...

• At October 5, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Mm, I'd have to say Ellis' Astonishing X-Men has been the least inspired and least exciting core X-Men book (though ...

• At October 7, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=289815

  Beau Smith has no problem with B'wana Beasts name!

• At November 9, 2009, Drew wrote:

  I know I'm joining in on this conversation way late, but I haven't been a fan of Ellis's Astonishing X-Men ...

That's a tough one. So much bad-assery! Let's get to the comics!

Dark Horse:

I'm torn about the Dr. Horrible one-shot on page 22 (18 November). On the one hand, everyone in the world (including, you know, orphans in Rwanda) loved the web movie. On the other hand, I never saw it. Because I am lame. So do I deserve to read this? On the other hand, Joëlle Jones draws this, and Joëlle Jones's art is concentrated awesome (even if typing her name means I have to check my HTML code every single freakin' time, because I never remember what the code is for a freakin' umlaut over an "e"). On the other hand (yes, I have four hands; don't you?), it won't feature Doogie Howser, who was, apparently, part of the awesomeness of the movie. See? I'm torn. But there it is, in case you're interested.

More Conan from Dark Horse: Page 29 brings us the Barry Windsor-Smith archives from the early 1970s (20 January). 200 pages, 50 bucks, and dang, I may have to purchase that.

Fear Agent volume 5 is solicited. Again (page 32; 13 January). Man, that book is slow. But seriously cool.

Over on page 37, we get the early stories of the Goon (30 December). I assume this means the Avatar stuff. I can't wrap my mind around The Goon at Avatar. That's just weird. Anyway, I have no interest in this, because I just don't like The Goon, but for 14 bucks, you might be interested.

Gantz volume 9 is offered on page 49 for 27 January. Considering that volume 6 hasn't come out yet (has it? I don't think it has), I'm not confident that Dark Horse can make this release date. Why are they soliciting it? I wonder.

Speaking of manga, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service volume 10 is finally offered on page 50 (13 January). I goddamn love this series.

DC:

DC must stand for "Dick Comics." They're giving out those rings, right? The seven different rings that all true nerds must have? So they're offered with various comics that ship in November. Retailers get them if they order a certain amount of the title. Twenty-five copies, to be exact. So that's fine for the green ring that comes with Blackest Night #5 (page 61; 25 November), because most retailers are going to order 25 copies of that. R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 (page 69; 11 November), however, is a different animal. I doubt if the retailers in Tony Bedard's home town sell 25 copies of R.E.B.E.L.S. I know it's a shameless ploy by DC to get retailers to order more of their lower-selling books, but don't be surprised if your retailer charges you a modest fee for some of these "free" rings.

On page 80, Brian Azzarello and Phil Noto have a Batman/Doc Savage Special (11 November) which leads into a mini-series by Azzarello and Rags Morales. This might be the most awesome thing DC puts out in November. It might suck, of course, but I surely hope it doesn't.

I very much doubt if I will buy The Great Ten, the new mini-series by Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel (page 82; 4 November), but I do like that DC is putting out a series with Chinese superheroes. I'm always happy to see DC and Marvel go outside the United States for some superheroing!

I want to resist Lobo: Highway to Hell on page 83 (4 November), but I might not be able to. I love that Sam Kieth is drawing it, and although I have no idea if Scott Ian can tell a story, the man who wrote "Startin' Up a Posse" can't be all bad at it, can he? It's still 7 bucks for 64 pages, though, so we'll see.

John Ostrander writes Suicide Squad #15 (I mean Secret Six #15; page 87; 4 November). That should make Bill Reed happy. But Jim Calafiore draws it. That will make Bill Reed sad. Will he choose to buy it or not? The world holds its breath!!!!!

That Batman: Confidential arc featuring Catwoman and Batgirl and drawn by Kevin Maguire gets a trade paperback on page 90 (2 December). 128 pages for 13 bucks. Sounds good!

Batman: The Cult gets a new printing on page 90 (9 December). This isn't a great comic, but damn, Wrightson's art is cool. And if you think Quitely's Batmobile/Batcycle thing in Batman and Robin #3 is keen, wait until you see Wrightson's Batmobile!

Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth on page 91? For $75? Even the extras don't make it worth $75.

The Mighty gets a trade on page 93 (23 December). I may have to check this out, because more than a few people have said it's good. Too bad Snejbjerg didn't stick around.

Wildstorm is finishing the God of All Comics' run on The Authority (page 100). Without Morrison. Without Gene Ha. Okay, G-Mozz plotted it, but still. Just move on, Wildstorm!

Ian Edginton writes Victorian Undead on page 105 (18 November). Sherlock Holmes versus zombies. As dumb as it sounds, I like Edginton a lot, so we'll see about this.

David Lapham cashes a pay check on page 106, as he writes a video game comic. I have absolutely NO problem with him cashing a pay check, believe me. Let's hope it allows him to do something I want to read.

I thought the cover of Hellblazer #261 (page 114; 18 November) was pretty damned awesome. The dude at my comic book store disagreed. What say you?

Mike Sterling pointed this out in his post on Previews, as DC missed the boat on page 130:

Batgirl dances the Watusi? Really, DC? Aren't you, you know, forgetting something about your past? (Mike links to this, which led me to this, which will make your brain explode from the radness.)

Man, this shit scares me:

Image:

You know, Image has done a lot in recent years to transform into a publisher that is putting out some of the best books in comics. And then they do this:

We're in hell. Yes we are. (Page 136; 25 November.)

And this:

A Haunt #1 collector's edition with gold-fucking-foil embossed logo, motherfuckers! (Page 143; 4 November.)

Did I say we were in hell? We're sinking fast here!

And then there's Spawn Origins Collection: Deluxe Edition Volume 1 (page 149; 18 November), bringing us issues #1-25* for $100. Okay, it features issues written by Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Grant Morrison, but really? One hundred dollars?

* Not really #1-25, unless McFarlane and Gaiman kissed and made up and that issue is in here. But that wouldn't happen, would it?

In case you haven't gotten I Kill Giants yet, there's a new, "Titan Edition" on page 150 for 40 dollars (18 November). It's oversized (for American comics; Kelly told me at San Diego that Niimura drew it "European-style," so it's meant to be "oversized"), includes the script for issue #1 and other bonus stuff. This is one of the best mini-series in the past two years, so you should consider splurging on this.

If you missed Chew #1 and don't feel like paying $100 for a first printing, the trade is solicited on page 151 (25 November). Ten bucks for five issues!

Ministry of Space gets a new printing on page 153 (4 November). It's not bad.

Marvel:

I shouldn't be too surprised when Marvel and DC recycle ideas, but the turnover between the recycled ideas is getting really tight. Case in point: Amazing Spider-Man #612 (page 19; 18 November), in which Spidey's classic arch-enemies are redefined one by one! Didn't Mark Millar do that five years ago? Shouldn't his foes remain redefined for a bit longer than that?

Paul Cornell writes and Tom Raney and John Paul Leon draw a new origin of the Black Widow (page 25; 4 November). I'm sure it will ignore all the Black Widow mini-series that came out at the beginning of the decade, but that's still a good creative team!

The solicitation text for Dark Avengers #11 (page 27; 18 November) reads: "[T]he world gets turned upside down and no joke ... someone dies. For reelz!!" "For reelz"? Really?

I like the text for Jeff Parker's first issue on Thunderbolts (page 56; 18 November): "You've heard raves about Parker's [Agents of] ATLAS ... but now it's time to turn him loose on some real fiends!" That's a good way to put it - "You've heard raves." They should have written, "You've heard raves - 'heard' being the operative word, as none of you bought it so we have to cancel it!" Sorry, I'm still a bit bitter.

The text for Vengeance of the Moon Knight (page 58; 4 November) puzzles me: "Years ago, Moon Knight lost his mind and killed a man, cut off his face and brayed at the moon. That man was his nemesis: Raoul Bushman." That event occurred in the first few issues of Moon Knight's previous series. So "years ago" doesn't seem like it makes much sense. I know Marvel and DC plays fast and loose with time in their comics, but that stretches things a bit.

Deadpool gets a third ongoing series on page 62 (4 November). That sound you hear is the world ending.

So "Necrosha" is all about old heroes and villains coming back from the dead and menacing the current heroes? Gosh, I wonder where Marvel got that idea ...

Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders bring us S.W.O.R.D. #1 (page 67; 11 November), which will probably be awesome. As with all new Marvel (and DC) books that don't feature established characters and therefore face a tough road to sales glory, I hope Gillen has planned this as a 12-issue limited series, because that's about all it's going to get, even with the tenuous X-Men connection. I don't mean to be pessimistic, just realistic. If he plans it for a year-long story, it will feel more complete than if Marvel cancels it out from under him, which they will. Or, you know, you could just buy the damned thing!

Psylocke #1 (page 71; 4 November) is the mini-series I should have written, because I love Betsy so very much. Luckily, I can complain about it on the Internet because I'm mean and bitter!

Incognito gets a trade on page 77 (25 November), if you're the kind of person who waits for the trade.

I know Powers has been delayed, so I guess Marvel figured it would be best to relaunch it with a new #1 (page 78; 25 November). I don't believe them when they say it's monthly, though. But that's because I'm mean and bitter (see above).

I buy my Marvel space epics in trade form, so I might have to get War of Kings in hardcover on page 87 (18 November). It's a ton of stuff for 40 bucks. What say the well-informed readers of the blog? Totally worth it?

Deadpool Classic volume 3 is offered on page 107 (25 November). The highlight of this collection, of course, is issue #11, in which Deadpool messes with the 1960s Spider-Man and which Our Dread Lord and Master swears is the greatest single issue in comic book history!!!!!!! (Okay, that may be hyperbole. He likes it, though.)

You know, about two years ago I spent a lot of time tracking down back issues of The 'Nam. So what does Marvel do? Release the first ten issues in trade (page 114; 18 November). Thanks, Marvel! (Of course, this is 30 dollars - I think I actually spent less for the first ten issues than that. So there's that.)

There's a third Fantastic Four Walter Simonson Visionaries trade on page 116 (4 November). It includes the Arthur Adams issues with the "fake" FF, which are hilarious comics. Plus, the other issues are probably good, too. It's Simonson, for crying out loud!

I'm fairly shocked that Marvel got out a third Essential Moon Knight volume, but there it is on page 117 (11 November). The last few issues of the first series, mostly drawn by Kevin Nowlan, are quite good, but the second series (which lasted only six issues) doesn't meet any definition of "essential." It's only 20 dollars, though, so it might be worth checking out if only for the end of the first series.

Let's move on from the Big Four and venture where angels fear to tread: The Back Of The Book!

SLG shows up on page 188 with Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures. It's the tale of a photo-journalist who tries to prove the existence of giant monsters but can never get a good photograph. Of course there are bad guys trying to cover up any proof of existence! And it features the "Sphinx-tor." Bwah-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Hey, page 190 gives us Sherlock Ninja from Antarctic Press. I have no interest in this, but I like how he's so cool he can still smoke his pipe while leaping into action:

Archaia collects all of Hybrid Bastards on page 192. This is a pretty good series in which Zeus's weird hybrid children get revenge on their father. It never finished, so it's nice that it's coming out all at once.

Warren Ellis has yet another "superhero-as-god" story on page 205 from Avatar called, appropriately, Supergod. I actually wanted to point this out because I just saw Talk Like Warren Ellis on Twitter, even though I don't follow Twitter and hardly ever go there! (Our own supergod, Chad Nevett, tweeted about it.) "Good evening, hideous orgasm pustules." See? Now everyone can talk like Warren Ellis!

Someone named Tonya Kay shows up in Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #59 from Broadsword Comics (page 230). Somewhere in South Carolina, Chris Sims pours himself a double of bourbon and wonders if this issue will be the one that breaks him.

I'm not sure if the world was clamoring for an "essential" edition of Obergeist, but it's here on page 249 from Desperado Publishing. It's an odd comic, probably not worth 30 dollars, but certainly interesting.

In case you were foolish enough to miss it the first few times around, Evil Twin Comics has The More Than Complete Action Philosophers! on page 257. With four all-new stories! Damn you, Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, for making me want this!!!!

Demons of Sherwood shows up on page 271 from IDW. It's 12 years after Robin Hood restored King Richard to his throne, but things haven't been going well for him. Now he has to rescue Maid Marian all over again! It sounds fun, and it features Bo Hampton on art. I can forgive the twisting of the historical record (the Inquisition didn't exist until, at the very least, the late 1220s, much later than the events in this book could possibly occur) if the story is good.

Joe Sacco is back with one of those books that make lazy people like me feel bad that they're not doing more to alleviate suffering the world, Footnotes in Gaza (from Metropolitan Books, page 278), about a massacre of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in 1956. I've never read a Sacco book, actually. Maybe I'll have to start with this one.

The Tick returns on page 280 from New England Comics. I don't know the writer, Benito Cereno, but Les McClaine draws it, so you know it'll look keen!

All the one-shot issues from Wasteland get collected in their own trade on page 281 from Oni Press. These are, of course, awesome. And only 14 dollars!

Radical has the collected edition of Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead on page 286. I don't know if the last issue ever came out, but the first three issues were pretty darned cool, and although 20 dollars might sound steep for four issues, apparently this has a bunch of extra stuff as well.

There's a new Tank Girl series on page 288 from Titan Publishing by Tank Girl creator Alan Martin. I've never been that interested in Tank Girl, but I do like that the cover promises "Now with added swearing!"

12-Gauge Comics on page 296 brings us Luke McBain #1 by David Tischman and Kody Chamberlain (who I met, briefly, in San Diego, and who seems like the perfect artist for this book, personality-wise). I don't have much interest in this, but I was wondering why disparate people seem to think the last name "McBain" sounds tough. What is it about the name? It's rather weird.

With that enigmatic query hanging in your brains, it's time once again to close our copy of Previews. And, as always, I implore you to explore the dark edges of the comics universe. No, there might not be a comic with a giant dude with a gaping chest wound and a sickle fashioned from a black lantern, but that's just a typical Saturday night for me, so I like to find something different! Fear not the Previews!

24 Comments

• At August 29, 2009, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  "The Tick returns on page 280 from New England Comics. I don't know the writer, Benito Cereno, but Les McClaine ...

• At August 29, 2009, Thok wrote:

  You can buy Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog from iTunes for 7.99, if you really feel bad about not seeing ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Man, I wish I had Tales from the Bully Pulpit. Stupid out-of-print comics!

• At August 29, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Dark Horse has the very bad habit of continuing to solicit VERY late manga series like they were coming out ...

• At August 29, 2009, Mysterious Stranger wrote:

  You forgot to mention the other half of the awesomeness of Dr. Horrible... Nathan Fillion. If it were biologically ...

• At August 29, 2009, Colby wrote:

  Actually, i'm pretty sure dr. Horrible is on hulu still. And as a dedicated whedonite, I am required by law ...

• At August 29, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You know me too well, Burgas. But I probably won't buy that comic.

  You should watch Dr. Horrible, though. I mean, ...

• At August 29, 2009, Cass wrote:

  The face-ectomy of Bushman takes place in flashbacks at the beginning of the Moon Knight series, we never actually watch ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I was thinking that was true, Cass, but I didn't go back and check it. It didn't seem to ...

• At August 29, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Well, you have to admit, "Years ago, Moon Knight..." is a lot more grabbing than "One or so years ago, ...

• At August 29, 2009, Ron wrote:

  The lantern rings are not free for the retailers and cost $8 a bag., and Blackest Night #5, Adventure Comics ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Wow, Ron, that's interesting to know. I just overheard my retailer talking about them, and that's what he believed. ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Well, you certainly can watch Dr. Horrible for free on Hulu if you like, but if you shell out for ...

• At August 29, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  Vengeance of Moon Knight must take place in the FUTURE! Can your mind wrap around awesomness that magnificent, Burgas!?!? The ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dang, that WOULD be awesome, sir. I don't think I could handle that!!!!

• At August 29, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Definitely go read all the Joe Sacco books you can find right away! It's not like you need to ...

• At August 30, 2009, Lawrence wrote:

  "So "Necrosha" is all about old heroes and villains coming back from the dead and menacing the current heroes? Gosh, ...

• At August 30, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  I'm so psyched Scott Ian is going to be writing a comic book. He wrote some fantastic songs and ...

• At August 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I just overheard my retailer talking about them, and that's what he believed. I wonder if he had checked it ...

• At August 30, 2009, Andrew wrote:

  I'm really looking forward to both Image United and Haunt - probably moreso than anything else in years.

  Both written by ...

• At August 31, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Both written by Kirkman - isn't that enough to get the haterZ on board?

  Not really - Kirkman has shown, most ...

• At August 31, 2009, The Cosh wrote:

  You are correct, that Hellblazer cover is rad to the power of sick!

• At August 31, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  I noticed the "for reelz" line in the Dark Avengers solicits and cringed. Unless Marvel is having some sort ...

• At August 31, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I'll recommend Demons Of Sherwood to you, Greg. I read it over at ComicMix's website and thoroughly enjoyed it. It ...

Yes, it's Previews #251, which promises that the final issue of Planetary will come out. It doesn't promise the Armageddon will occur the next day, but it might as well, right?

Dark Horse:

As you well know, I'm not the hugest fan of Joss Whedon, but I might get Sugarshock (page 22; 14 October). First of all, Fábio Moon on art is a no-brainer, but I've also heard good things about this particular Whedon story. For $3.50, I can deal with the risk!

I'm always amused (or is that bemused?) about the lengths to which American comic book companies will go to hint at nipples on women without actually showing them. Check out the cover of Conan the Cimmerian #15 on page 26:

Seriously? If she weren't wearing anything, there'd be an uproar. But those things (how are they staying there?) are okay. It cracks me up.

In keeping with their revival of every Robert E. Howard creation ever (next up - L'il Conan, which REH created when he was eight), Dark Horse offers every Marvel Solomon Kane comic in one volume (page 27; 16 December). I'm not sure if I'll get it, but check out the artistic talent: Howard Chaykin, Bret Blevins, Mike Mignola, John Ridgway, and Al Williamson, to name a few. Pretty keen.

I could have sworn Grendel: Behold the Devil had already been collected. I guess not, because there it is on page 30 (16 December). This is a beautiful comic, and although the story doesn't quite live up to the art, it's still a very good book. And you get eight issues for 20 bucks!

Dean Motter's Electropolis gets collected on page 35 (2 December). This is an odd book, a lesser Mister X or Terminal City, but still interesting. If you dig Motter, though, it's worth a look (although if you dig Motter, you probably already have it).

New Groo (page 37; 28 October). Laugh, fanboys, laugh!

DC:

Yay! A new Azrael series (page 71; 21 October)! I was waiting for it! Here's what I don't get: the advert reads "The hero returns in an all-new ongoing series!" Except it's not Jean-Paul Valley. So this guy isn't "returning" because he was never here in the first place. My head hurts.

Moench. Jones. Batman (page 72; 7 and 21 October). And this guy on the cover:

SOLD!!!!!

Okay, so the solicitation text for Superman: World of New Krypton #8 (page 80; 7 October) reads: "[W]ill the Man of Steel discover that Hawkman's legendary temper is shared by all his people?" Okay, first of all, I thought Hawkman was one of the more mellow Thanagarians, so that can't be good for Supes. Second, not to be a continuity nerd, but hasn't Superman met Thanagarians like, dozens of times? Or has he been brainwashed and I missed it?

Meanwhile, over on page 87, Justice League: Cry for Justice #4 (7 October) tells us that "Green Lantern and company wrestle with the idea of torturing villains for information in order to save lives." Considering they were cheerfully torturing villains in issue #1 and this is issue #4, I'd say they've already wrestled it and pinned it like Rey Mysterio pinning Dolph Ziggler!!!! Boo-yeah!*

There's an annual for R.E.B.E.L.S. (page 91; 7 October)? Really?

DC dips into their (well, retroactively theirs) archives and brings us DC Comics Classic Library: Shazam! - The Monster Society of Evil (page 96; 23 December). Sure, it's $40, but it's Otto Binder and C. C. Beck. You have to ask yourself - can you afford NOT to get it?????

Oh, Johnny DC, you crack me up: Batman gets turned into a monster (Batman: Brave and the Bold #10)? The Super Friends roast marshmallows (Super Friends #20)? Pet Club in space (Tiny Titans #21)? Can you stand the awesome? (All of these are on pages 102-103, by the way.)

The Winter Men gets the trade paperback treatment on page 107 (25 November). Totally worth your money.

Page 108: Planetary #27 (7 October). Man, this comic better cure syphilis. And solve the energy crisis. And figure out a workable Palestinian-Israeli settlement. And make reality television stop so that shows like Life on Mars and Kings don't get cancelled just because they don't feature mouth-breathing WT yelling at each other. And have a Manimal DVD with every glorious episode attached to it when it arrives in stores. But no pressure or anything, Warren and John.

On page 119, DC gets around to reprinting the first (and only) Shade, The Changing Man trade (25 November) and then, below that, they offer ... a second Shade, The Changing Man trade! Holy crapola! These are excellent comics, with Milligan being weird and Bachalo before he got incomprehensible. Go, DC!

* Fuck Curran. I can make wrestling references too!**

** Okay, that was a bit harsh. Sorry, Brad! Also: I stole the wrestling reference from Paul O'Brien, because I'll be damned if I can make one myself.

Image:

Okay, so I guess some news out of San Diego was that Kirkman's challenge to McFarlane about drawing something was about to see print, and Haunt is offered on page 136 (7 October). Except ... McFarlane isn't drawing it. He's inking Capullo and Ottley. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but doesn't it feel like a bit of a cheat?

I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to buy Cowboy Ninja Viking (page 142; 7 October), but you have to give AJ Lieberman and Riley Rossmo credit for going balls-out with that title.

One Model Nation on page 152 (28 October) sounds somewhat interesting. It's written by Courtney Taylor, the frontman for the Dandy Warhols, and although Gerard Way did a nice job with coming from music to comics, can lightning strike twice? It helps that he has Jim Rugg drawing his words, so you know it will look excellent.

I know this is way too easy, but I like how the face of the new Witchblade is obscured, but other parts of her body are not (pages 170-171; 7 October):

Sorry, but I just had to go there.

Marvel:

According to the Marvel solicits, Anita Blake will soon be featured in a television series (page 13). But according the comments in Chris Sims's award-winning series of annotations of the series, the books get progressively more hard-core porny. So how will they adapt it for television? And will it be as boring as the actual comics seem to be (seriously, read the annotations, because it doesn't look like anything ever happens).

Hey, remember when Marvel ditched all the Spider-Man books so that they could have three weeks every month of Amazing Spider-Man, because that's really what the fans wanted? Yeah, that didn't last long: Web of Spider-Man shows up on page 22. Okay, I'll write it (in honor of DeMatteis, who's writing the book): Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

I certainly hope the existence of an Agents of Atlas/Uncanny X-Men crossover (page 29) doesn't mean AoA is in trouble. But it probably does. Shit.

Hulk #16 (page 41) gives us Red She-Hulk. That scream of agony you hear? Yeah, it's yours.

Despite my disgust at the excessive X-crap that Marvel keeps pumping out, Wolverine in an insane asylum written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Yanick Paquette (page 70) might get me to change my mind. We'll see.

Deadpool #900 (page 72) cracks me up. At least someone at Marvel has a sense of humor about their increasingly-ridiculous numbering policy.

X-Babies #1 (page 75) features, in some capacity, the characters from Star Comics. I don't know if the series will be any good, but that idea's pretty freakin' awesome.

Marvel brings the Asgardian War thing with the X-Men and New Mutants back in print with a nice hardcover on page 90. This is quite good, with Claremont before he got too, too Claremontian, plus Paul Smith and Art Adams handle the art.

Yay! The back of the book!

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor has what might be an intriguing book on page 192: Winchester #1. It's about two people who sneak onto the grounds of the Winchester Mansion and discover, well, weird stuff. I'd love to visit the Winchester Mansion. That would be keen.

The Black Coat: Or Give Me Death returns on page 196 from Ape Entertainment. It's a Festivus Miracle! This is such a cool comic, even without Francesco Francavilla on art.

Archaia has its usual collection of cool stuff on pages 196 and 201. The Devil's Handshake (page 196) is a story about treasure hunters written by Larry Hama. Robotika gets two hardcover volumes (one on page 196, one on page 201), collecting both series. It's, you know, awesome.

Archie #602 (page 201): Archie goes to a Lamaze class. The mind boggles.

I'm not sure why 303 was out of print, but on page 211, Avatar brings it back. This is a fairly atypical war story from Garth Ennis in that it's about a soldier but it's not necessarily a war story. It's pretty good nevertheless. And Jacen Burrows's art is typically strong.

Sergio Aragonés writes and draws Bart Simpson Comics #50 on page 218 (from Bongo Comics, unsurprisingly). That's kind of cool.

Boom! Studios has a new series on page 218: The Anchor by Phil Hester and Brian Churilla. It's about a dude standing at the gates of Hell to keep back invading demons. Sounds pretty keen. Meanwhile, if you've been waiting for the trade of Unthinkable, it's on page 231. I don't know if I can recommend it, because it's not finished yet, but it's not bad so far.

There's another trade solicited on page 247 from Dynamite that may or may not be good: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes. Again, the series isn't done yet, but again, if you're waiting on the trade, there it is!

Comic Book Comics #4 gets resolicited on page 265 from Evil Twin Comics. Man, I hope it comes out this time!

So IDW is releasing every "Bloom County" strip in five volumes (the first one is on page 271). Considering it's my favorite comic strip of all freakin' time, I'll be getting this. Even though I already have most of them collected. I don't care!

Mike Grell has a new Jon Sable series on page 274. If you're interested.

IDW also has The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures on page 280. Dang, that has to be awesome, doesn't it? I've never read this, so I'll have to get this as well.

Kodansha Comics brings us new printings of volumes one of Akira and Ghost in the Shell on page 286. I've read the Akira, but not Ghost in the Shell. I might have to get these.

Speaking of Greg Rucka (and I was, just not in this post), Stumptown from Oni Press is offered on page 294. It's about a gambling detective who owes a bunch of money to a tribal casino but gets a way out if she can solve one case. The text compares it to Magnum, P. I., so Bill Reed should buy this, and it takes place in Portland, so everyone else should buy it, because Portland is awesome! Oh, and Greg Rucka is usually good with creator-owned stuff, but I judge things on more esoteric crap than that!

I mentioned that when I spoke to Anina Bennett at the convention, she told me about her and Paul Guinan's new book, Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel, which is an alternate history of the United States with their creation, Boilerplate, inserted into key moments of the past century. It's in this month's Previews, but in the book section on page 325, in case you're interested. I certainly am.

This totally cracked me up:

Well, that's all she wrote this week, folk! The bottom of the alphabet has to step up, I guess! Let's get to digging through Previews, people!

31 Comments

• At August 1, 2009, The Mad Monkey wrote:

  Red She-Hulk...

  ...sigh...

  This is why I don't buy Marvel anymore.

• At August 1, 2009, Julio Dvulture wrote:

  Well, to be honest the new guy is returning from a Battle for the Cowl mini that no one cared ...

• At August 1, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  It's good to see Bloom County collected, since this was easily the highest point of Berke Breathed's long tenure on ...

• At August 1, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I can vouch for Wolverine - Weapon X,Greg. Jason Aaron is my favourite new writer right now. In fact, ...

• At August 1, 2009, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  I'm looking forward to the first collection or two of Bloom County. Once he introduced Bill the Cat, the ...

• At August 1, 2009, rwe1138 wrote:

  Sugarshock is indeed excellent.

• At August 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Is there anything that doesn't "crack" you up?

  I'm sold on PLANETARY and BLOOM COUNTY.

  Would LOVE to see OPUS be collected, ...

• At August 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  As an afterthought, Armageddon might occur if and when Ellis might announce his return to FELL, DESOLATION JONES, and newuniversal.

• At August 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  As an afterthought, Armageddon might occur if and when Ellis might announce his return to FELL, DESOLATION JONES, and newuniversal.

  Uh ...

• At August 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dude: Yeah, after I dropped Ghost Rider, it got awesome again, or so I've heard. That means I have ...

• At August 1, 2009, Snapper wrote:

  Shade the changing man is my all time favourite comic book, ever... The trades come out on my birthday.

  I've ...

• At August 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I hated Opus. Is Bloom County any better?

  Yay for Magnum, PI.

• At August 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Bloom County is hilarious. I love it when I was a little kid; I love it even more now ...

• At August 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Hooray, it did!

• At August 1, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Michael, you really think Bill was the downfall of Breathed's comics? Admittedly there were limits to the jokes that could ...

• At August 1, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  The Solomon Kane reprint is definitely on my shopping list. That was some good stuff there, especially the Savage Sword ...

• At August 1, 2009, tk. wrote:

  The McFarlane thing does seem a bit cheaty, but when did Bachalo get incomprehensible, outside of... well, okay, maybe Sinister ...

• At August 1, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Life on Mars? Really? I wouldn't have thought that it getting cancelled was anyone's fault but their own.

• At August 1, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I'm glad Kodansha is reprinting Akira. That means I won't have to pay over $40 for volume 6 on Amazon.

• At August 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  The original, British version of Life on Mars is sooooooo vastly superior to the crappy American one. Phil Glenister forever!

• At August 1, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Sorry Ian, the only thing I'm taking away from that is that Ellis has apparently written Fell #10 and is ...

• At August 1, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Also Greg, Ghost in the Shell (and by extension everything Masamune Shirow has ever made,) is really a super-acquired taste. ...

• At August 1, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  Thanks, Dave, for convincing me I'm not crazy. Just today I finally read Shirow's Appleseed. You described its ...

• At August 1, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  One point for anyone looking at Bloom County who didn't read it at the time or is ..young....it's very 80's.

  The ...

• At August 1, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  Thanks for pointing out Rocketeer. It was on my list of comics to track down. Additionally, on the ...

• At August 2, 2009, Andrew wrote:

  "Second, not to be a continuity nerd, but hasn’t Superman met Thanagarians like, dozens of times?"

  Hasn't DC rebooted continuty three ...

• At August 2, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Oh, I'm very interested in that new Jon Sable series. One of my all-time favorite comics from one of my ...

• At August 2, 2009, Keith wrote:

  Trust me. As somebody who has been there, you do NOT need to see the Winchester Mystery house. ...

• At August 2, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  tk: Read Bachalo's Steampunk. "Incomprehensible" might be too kind a word

  Well, I liked Life on Mars. It's certainly ...

• At August 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  but when did Bachalo get incomprehensible, outside of… well, okay, maybe Sinister Spider-Man is a bit.

  His style started to shift ...

• At August 7, 2009, tk. wrote:

  Coming back to this thread a bit late; I haven't checked out Steampunk, but I adore the bulk of Bachalo's ...

Dark Horse:

Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson bring us Beasts of Burden #1 on page 22 (16 September). "When supernatural occurrences sweep the community of Burden Hill, it's up to a heroic gang of cats and dogs to keep the residents safe from harm," reads the text, and if we ignore the bad pun of the town's name, it sounds pretty keen. And it will look fan-freakin'-tastic, unless for some reason you don't like Jill Thompson. And you're not that dim-witted, are you? ARE YOU????

Pages 24 and 25 have a bunch of Hellboy-related stuff which I'm sure is very good but which I'm not buying because I wait for the trade on everything Hellboy-related. The thing I want to know is: When are they going to start printing those giant Library Editions for B. P. R. D.? That would be a purchase I'd be happy to make!

On page 26, we get the trade of The Cleaners (11 November). I just reviewed the final issue, and while it didn't work as well as it could have, it's still a pretty cool series. And maybe if a lot of people buy this, Wheaton and Fialkov can write another series!

The Amazon gets collected on page 31 (11 November). As I wrote when Dark Horse started soliciting the single issues, this isn't a great series, but it's not bad, and seeing Tim Sale's extremely seminal art is a treat.

Another trade is Mister X: Condemned on page 36 (4 November). This is another decent but not great mini-series that's notable for Motter's cool Art Deco art and odd worldview in terms of the city and his retro-futuristic style.

There's a third Beanworld trade on page 38 (25 November), which is all-new stuff, according to the text. If MarkAndrew was keen on the reprints of the old stuff, imagine his ecstasy when this hits the stands!

DC:

On page 56, there's something odd in the solicitation text for Blackest Night: Superman #2 (23 September). It reads, "Superman's dead bride returns as a Black Lantern!" Is this Lois? Is she dead? If it is, shouldn't that have been bigger news? Or is it someone else, like some weird Kryptonian chick we've never heard of until recently?

Dang, J. H. Williams III is awesome:

Okay, so on page 67, we find this solicitation for Gotham City Sirens #4 (30 September): "Bruce Wayne has always been considered the quintessential ladies' man. But he's never faced ladies quite like this before! Has Gotham City's playboy prince finally met his match?" Name one thing wrong with that text.

Superman: Secret Origin #1 (page 69; 23 September): "Geoff Johns and Gary Frank reunite to present a 6-issue event that spells out the definitive origin of Superman for the 21st century". How many definitive origins for the 21st century does that make for our favorite Man of Steel? Sheesh.

I certainly wish The Shield and The Web ongoing series well (page 74; 9 and 23 September), but shouldn't DC wait until they see how JMS's "Red Circle" event does at the box office before greenlighting series spinning out of them? Wouldn't that be wise? Oh, wait - it's DC!

Magog? In an ongoing series (page 80; 2 September)? Really? I mean, I tend to follow creators these days, and Keith Giffen and Howard Porter is intriguing, but it seems that a lot of people still follow characters, so this has to be a tough sell, right?

Batman: Monsters (page 86; 28 October) collects three stories from Legends of the Dark Knight written by James Robinson, Warren Ellis, and Alan Grant and drawn by Jon Watkiss, John McCrea, and Quique Alcatena. I'm fairly sure I have all of these, but it might be something you want to check out.

Howard Chaykin's Blackhawk mini-series from 1988 gets a trade on page 88 (28 October). Chaykin never quite works for me, but you might want this!

On page 89, Mark Millar's Red Son is collected in hardcover for a measly $25 (11 November). This isn't quite great, but it's not bad and kind of fun. Millar seems to fall into the trap of too many Elseworlds stories, and that's ending it with the hero in the exact same place he is in the "real" world. Oh well.

Vertigo breaks out more of the their graphic novels on page 103, as novelist Kevin Baker (who wrote the excellent Dreamland) writes Luna Park, which also features Coney Island in the early 20th century but spreads beyond that time and place (11 November). Daniel Zezelj draws it, so you know you want to check it out! Helpfully, DC provides preview pages!

Jeff Lemire starts a new ongoing called Sweet Tooth, which is offered on page 107 and shows up on 2 September. It's the story of a human/animal hybrid in the years after a great pandemic wiped out most of humanity. It sounds really weird, but what the hell - Lemire will make it work! And the first issue is a dollar! Whoo-hoo!

There's another Swamp Thing hardcover on page 115 (25 November), continuing the Alan Moore saga. Dang, it's good.

Image:

Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber bring us Underground #1 on page 132 (23 September). In order for you to be excited about this, I shouldn't have to write more than "Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber," but you can check out the preview pages on page 133 and see how cool it looks for yourself! Lieber showed me a ton of the art for this last year in San Diego, and I've been anticipating it ever since. And now it's here! Yay!

Page 136 brings us Beast by Marian Churchland (16 September). A sculptor gets a mysterious client who wants her to carve his portrait out of marble. Things get weird from there. I don't know if Churchland's writing is good, but her art is quite nice. And there are more preview pages on page 137!

Hey, look! Page 158 has War Heroes #3 (16 September)! I haven't been reading this, but where's it been? Has Millar been too busy turning Kick-Ass into a movie?

Marvel:

Oh, Warren Ellis. Why do we love you when you continually give us Ultimate Comics Armor War (page 17) yet no more Fell? And yet we do. Why, Warren Ellis, WHY????

You know, Marvel, can we resist the Wizardication of the solicitation texts? Please? Exhibit One: Amazing Spider-Man #606 and 607 on page 21: "Look out, Spidey! Hot on the heels of his old girlfriend's trip home, The Black Cat's back [and front!], sexier and more dangerous than ever! The deck is STACKED as the one woman that loves Spider-Man more than Peter Parker is up to some devilish shenanigans ... and nothing bugs Spidey more than shenanigans! BRAce yourself for danger, Spidey! It's gonna be ... umm ... sexy?" That's verbatim, by the way, with the capitals in place. Sheesh, Marvel. Good job.

Dark Reign Dark Reign Dark Reign blah blah blah ... Hey, what's this on page 32? M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay by Ryan Dunlavey? M.O.D.O.K. moves back in with his parents in Erie, Pennsylvania? Yeah, I'm going to be getting that.

I was going to get Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, but the solicitation on page 41 gives me pause: "Ben and Johnny prepare for a trip to Nu-Earth ..." Oh dear. Please, Mr. Hickman, don't go there. I'll still probably check it out, but that makes me worry.

Spider-Woman #1 gets resolicited on page 59. Yeah, I chuckled too. As cool as it sounds (and it does), I take exception with the hyperbolic text: "This is the start of a major chapter in one of the most high profile characters in all of Marvel comics." Really, Marvel text writers? REALLY? "One of the most high profile characters"? I can think of probably 30 characters who are higher profile than Spider-Woman without even breaking a sweat. I mean, really.

As glad as I am that Moon Knight is back (page 62), why the reboot to a #1? It's continuing the story from the previous series, after all. I get that it will bump up sales (presumably), but that never lasts. How odd.

Strange Tales #1 on page 80 is a must-buy, of course. My question is: How does Marvel get all these indy comic book guys to work on their books, while DC tends to lag behind? I presume it's just that Marvel can throw more money at them, but DC has to have some cash lying around, right? I mean, they have to be able to steal someone away from Marvel occasionally, right? Yet they tend not to. If they do, like Jeff Lemire, they let him go nuts in Vertigo but not in the "real" DCU. It's very odd. Who wouldn't want to see Michael Kupperman do a surreal version of the Justice League? It's been too long since Bizarro Comics, DC. Get with the program!

Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 2 is offered on page 87. One word: Steranko. Yeah, it's worth the 55 dollars.

I think it was Other Greg who was whinging about not having an Essential Sub-Mariner. Well, Marvel responds to grown men weeping like my four-year-old, because page 116 brings it to us! Of course, this isn't the Golden Age stuff, so maybe that's what O. G. wants? If this is what he wants, now he'll have to find something else to kvetch about! Maybe he'll take requests, because he's so good at getting Marvel to do his bidding!

And so we reach ... the back of the book!

As sick as we might be of vampires, SLG offers Pinocchio Vampire Slayer on page 182. Come on, that's pretty damned genius, you have to admit. He has an endless supply of stakes, as long as he keeps lying! Gold!

Speaking of SLG, on page 187 they have The Rockpool Files, which is about Crusht Acean, a PI with the Inter-Galactic Detective Agency who handles odd cases, such as solving a crime before it's committed! I don't know if it's any good, but Crusht Acean is a giant lobster, so that has to be something, right? (I'd explain the joke with his name, but you get it, don't you?)

Archaia continues to offer comics, but they still haven't published the new ones yet! Oh dear. I'm really looking forward to them, but now they have to step up! The latest offerings include The Grave Doug Freshley, which, if we ignore the groan-inducing title, is a comedic adventure about a boy who won't stay dead after he's killed by a gang of outlaws in the Old West. It features art by mpMann, which means it will look great. If only it and other books will come out soon!

Page 211, Bluewater Productions. Puppy Power: Bo Obama. Dear Lord, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

There's a new story arc of The Unknown on page 214 from Boom! Studios. I certainly don't mind that, as I've liked the series so far, but it's strange that it follows so closely on the first series, yet they're renumbering it. Whatever. It's good so far, so check it out! You can get the trade for the first series on page 224, if you're interested.

Drawn & Quarterly offers a complete collection of Joe Sacco's Bosnian War stories, The Fixer and Other Stories, on page 247. I'm sure this is very good. Right?

On page 254, we find Fantagraphics offering Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives, collecting every story from Ditko's first two years in his career. Well, that has to be excellent.

I doubt if I'm going to pick up Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression from IDW on page 262, but it's nice to see Scott Lobdell getting some work.

I'm not sure if The Waiting Place on page 269 is any good, but it's written by Sean McKeever and drawn by Mike Norton, Brendon and Brian Fraim, and David Yurkovich, so I can't imagine it's bad. Has anyone read it?

Hey, look, it's Buckaroo Banzai: Hardest of the Hard! on page 275 from Moonstone. Who doesn't love Buckaroo Banzai?

You know, there's some stuff beyond the "M" section, but nothing that leaps off the page. So I guess we're done, although it's always fun to check out the deep recesses of the catalog. And by fun I mean creepy:

All right, everyone, get to digging! Those comics aren't going to order themselves!

30 Comments

• At June 30, 2009, sterg wrote:

  “Bruce Wayne has always been considered the quintessential ladies’ man. But he’s never faced ladies quite like this before! Has ...

• At June 30, 2009, sterg wrote:

  Also, I am going to buy the hell out of those Modok and Strange Tales books!

• At June 30, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  "Superman's dead bride" is more than likely the Lois of Earth-2.

• At June 30, 2009, Loren wrote:

  It reads, “Superman’s dead bride returns as a Black Lantern!” Is this Lois? Is she dead? If it is, shouldn’t ...

• At June 30, 2009, Loren wrote:

  On page 89, Mark Millar’s Red Son is collected in hardcover for a measly $25 (11 November). This isn’t quite ...

• At June 30, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Three things wrong with that:

  1. This should be "these," yes, unless the "this" is describing some unknown characteristic of the ...

• At June 30, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Oh, and Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer is gonna be so awesome.

• At June 30, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Ah, Scott Lobdell. He was the Fraction, if not the Bendis, of his time at Marvel. And then... yeah he ...

• At June 30, 2009, The Ugly American wrote:

  BOOB AMA!

  AHAAHAHAAHAHHAAHAH

  BOOB AMA!

• At June 30, 2009, Josh wrote:

  Pretty sure Superman: Red Son ends with a new status quo for that world and a predestination (read: time travel) ...

• At June 30, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  They should have done a holofoil cover for the 250th issue.

• At June 30, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Hmmm. Maybe I have to re-read Red Son now. I remember the time travel thing, but I thought ...

• At June 30, 2009, Jeff R. wrote:

  While Lois-2 makes some sense (although wouldn't that be 'dead wife' rather than 'dead bride'), my original thought for that ...

• At June 30, 2009, Ted wrote:

  "“this” should be “these” in the middle sentence."

  It could be referring to the METHOD whereby Wayne faced the ladies. Like ...

• At June 30, 2009, Ryan wrote:

  Ever consider that the Bruce Wayne reference is a story told via Flashbacks?

• At June 30, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I never understand why you pick on the hyperbole in Marvel and DC's solicits, especially when you get literal on ...

• At June 30, 2009, Patrick Rennie wrote:

  Wait, MODOK's coming to Erie? I'm pretty sure we're not equipped to handle a supervillain - even one moving back ...

• At June 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  And it will look fan-freakin’-tastic, unless for some reason you don’t like Jill Thompson. And you’re not that dim-witted, are ...

• At June 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Also, I slapped my forehead when I figured out the pun of Crusht Acean P.I., but am still trying to ...

• At June 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  but shouldn’t DC wait until they see how JMS’s “Red Circle” event does at the box office before greenlighting series ...

• At June 30, 2009, Dave wrote:

  JMS claims he's actually going to finish The Twelve now that he's leaving Thor since he realized he can't participate ...

• At July 1, 2009, davidwynne wrote:

  Oh, Warren Ellis. Why do we love you when you continually give us Ultimate Comics Armor War (page 17) yet ...

• At July 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  David: I know he gets paid for the Marvel stuff, and I'm sure he gets truckloads, so I don't really ...

• At July 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  The Fixer is very good. It's much more narrow in focus than Safe Area Goradze, centered around one of ...

• At July 1, 2009, dave chisholm wrote:

  re: strange tales, indie creators on marvel and not dc...

  a few years back DC had the SOLO series...and paul pope ...

• At July 1, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  I enjoyed The Waiting Place. It was fun, lo-fi high school/college melodrama. Its setting in the frozen north of America ...

• At July 1, 2009, Evan Dorkin wrote:

  1) Greg -- Thanks fort mentioning the book, it's appreciated.

  2) Beasts of Burden is a 4-issue limited series, all ...

• At July 1, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Maybe because he actually gets paid for the Marvel stuff, and Ben Templesmith is blatantly rather more busy now than ...

• At July 1, 2009, dave chisholm wrote:

  ALSO! dc's wednesday comics looks like sweet indie-goodness as well...

• At July 2, 2009, Evan Dorkin wrote:

  I think if the series does decently they'll definitely collect it along with the first four stories. I have no ...

Dark Horse:

I've been skipping Kull because, like Conan, I was planning on getting it in trade. Well, the first trade has been solicited (page 24; 28 October), if you're interested.

If you haven't been reading Rex Mundi, you probably won't care, but the final issue is coming out (page 28; 19 August). I don't want this great series to end, but I can't wait to sit down and read it all, because it's just so damned good.

Meanwhile, on page 30, Bryan Talbot's latest epic, Grandville, is offered (28 October). It's an alternate history murder mystery, which means I am compelled to get it. Given that Talbot's Luther Arkwright is quite good and Alice in Sunderland was one of the best graphic novels a few years ago, this should be quite awesome.

Neil Gaiman and John Bolton's Harlequin Valentine is "finally back in print" on page 31 (14 October), in case you're interested. It's not bad, but for 13 bucks for 40 pages, it's a bit pricey.

On page 32, we find The Groo Treasury volume 1 (25 November), which collects a ton of Groo material (336 pages of it) for 25 dollars, which isn't bad at all.

Trade waiters of The Umbrella Academy: Dallas will find it offered on page 34 (21 October). Decent story, gorgeous art. On the solicit page there's this quote by the God of All Comics: "It's the X-Men for cool people." Considering he actually wrote the X-Men, does that make him uncool?

Insomnia Café by M. K. Perker on page 39 (21 October) sounds kind of neat. A disgraced rare books expert finds a place where books currently being written are already on the shelves. The black marketer who ruined his life the first time around gets wind of it, and mayhem presumably ensues.

There's a third "library edition" of Hellboy on page 43 (21 October). Yes, it's $50, but these are really nice editions, with a chunk of comics and some nifty backmatter. It's how I read my Hellboy!

DC:

Blackest Night Blackest Night Blackest Night blah blah blah ... Man, it's such a shame that these mega-crossovers sell so well, because DC and Marvel keep putting out so much product in conjunction with them. Shouldn't there be burnout yet?

I don't have that big a problem with J. Michael Straczynski writing four one-shots starring the old Archie superheroes (pages 80-81), but I do wonder why he just didn't create four new characters. I assume it has something to do with copyrights, which is a depressing if inevitable way to write comics.

On the one hand, I don't really care about yet another incarnation of the Doom Patrol (page 82; 5 August). On other hand, Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire doing the Metal Men has to be cool, right? I really hope DC is planning on collecting these back-up stories ...

DC is getting a new printing of the first trade of Icon on page 93 (30 September). That might be a cool thing to pick up.

Showcase Presents: Warlord shows up on page 95 (16 September). Grell's art has to be better in color, but this still sounds really keen.

Red Herring (page 102; 12 August) sounds like a fun little mini-series about a "global conspiracy of invading aliens and big businessmen." Yes, big businessmen are evil, naturally, which is a bit trite, but hey! Philip Bond is on art. That has to be good news, right? Also, I found the preview pages humorous. "Erection" and "of God" (and in "Holy Mother of God") have been blacked out. I suppose I can deal with the first, but why the second? Odd.

I find it interesting that, according to the solicitation text of Peter & Max: A Fables Novel on page 112 (7 October), it's a stand-alone book, yet in the very same text, it lets us know that secrets to several Fables characters are revealed, plus there's a story that bridges to the collected trades of the series. Doesn't sound all that "stand-alone," does it?

Image:

Chris Giarrusso has a new G-Man series out on page 136 (12 August). I haven't read the first volume yet (I got it a few weeks ago), but come on - it's Giarrusso! You know it will be awesome!

I didn't pick up Killer of Demons when it came out, but now the trade is offered on page 147 (12 August). I may have to get it, as Scott Wegener is super-duper.

The solicitation text for Proof #23 (page 157; 26 August) is odd: "The Julia arc concludes with a cold-blooded murder. Queen Victoria would have censored this issue." Why would Queen Victoria have such a problem with it? Was Queen Victoria a big-time censor?

I know it's not his name, but when I saw the cover of Savage Dragon #151 (page 158; 5 August), I thought "Land Shark." Does that date me way too much?

Marvel:

I don't think this is the time to rant about this, but there's The Marvels Project on page 6. I'm sure it's going to be fine, but I'm really sick of nostalgia porn from the Big Two. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I blame Busiek and Ross's Marvels, which is a damned good comic but unleashed years of comics that look back instead of looking forward. Every time one of these comics shows up, I despair a bit. I want comics that push things forward, consarnit! And no, bringing back the dead in a big DC crossover doesn't count. Even though I'm not a big fan of what's been going on in the Marvel U. these days, at least they're moving forward. The Marvels Project might be the greatest comic ever, but it's a bit sad that this is what fans want.

Ahhh! Scary round Spider-Man face!!!!!

I'm not going to complain about the J. Scott Campbell cheesecake cover of Amazing Spider-Man #601 (page 23), but I will complain about Mary Jane's ripped jeans. Really, Campbell? Ripped jeans? Didn't they go out of style at least a decade ago? At least? Sheesh - MJ is a model, right? Shouldn't she know fashion?

As much as I like Terry Dodson's art, doesn't Dagger look a bit ... mature in this cover? I mean, isn't she still a teenager? She looks like a full-grown woman here. That seems to be a problem with a lot of artists - they can either draw teens really well or women really well, but not both. Of course, maybe Dagger is now a bit older. I doubt it, though.

Page 38: Hulk #13. Page 39: Hulk #14. Page 50: Incredible Hercules #132 AND 133. Page 51: Incredible Hulk #601. Page 52: Son of Hulk #14. Fuck the heck? So Hulk #12 leads into Incredible Hulk #600, then goes back to its original numbering while Incredible Hulk continues with a new creative team? God-fucking-damnit. What a crock of shit. And in issue #601 there's apparently a story that has something to do with Son of Hulk. Wha????

So they're cancelling Ghost Rider and finishing Aaron's run in a Ghost Rider mini-series (page 48)? Well, that makes sense.

Yay! It's another Captain America Omnibus (page 82)! That's how I like reading my Captain America - in 20+-issue chunks!

A Deathlok Marvel Masterworks (page 83)? Really?

Don't stop now - we're moving on to the back of the book! (I have only one scans, as I scanned stuff before I left and wasn't entirely sure what I'd be writing about. Sorry!)

Page 180 brings us Western, a collection of "strips" from people like Steve Bissette, Kieron Gillen, Dwight MacPherson, and Leah Moore from Accent UK. Sounds odd enough to work!

Twenty-five dollars is a bit spendy for 120 pages, but Tom Scioli's Myth of 8-Opus: The Labyrinth, which is offered on page 186, is a blast of cosmic awesome, so you might want to check this out. It's self-published - you know you want to give it a try!

Super Human Resources gets collected in trade on page 186 from Ape Entertainment. Ken Marcus sent this to me in .pdf format a while back, and I suck because I haven't read it all yet. What I have read is quite fun, though. I'll try to review this soon, because it's a pretty good comic that you might want to check out.

Archaia has some cool books offered, unsurprisingly, although I'm still not completely sold they'll actually come out until they, you know, come out. On page 186 we get Days Missing by Phil Hester and Frazer Irving, which is about a powerful being that has wiped out certain days from the historical record, and now they're revealed! Hester is a good writer, and Irving is, of course, freakin' awesome, so I'll be picking this up. Over on page 191, Robotika #3 and 4 is offered as one issue, with the text promising "the longest fight in comic book history," with 48 pages of fist-throwing! Gold!

Howard Chaykin writes Die Hard: Year One for Boom! Studios (page 206). That's ... strange. And over on page 216, we get Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #3, which is drawn by Tony Parker. I mention this only because Parker is a local Arizonan, and he's a pretty cool dude. If that holds any weight with you coldly cynical people, that is. And finally, the first trade of Irredeemable is on page 219. It's only 10 bucks for the first four issues, which is cheaper than if you bought it in singles!

On page 220, Candlewick Press offers The Storm in the Barn, which is about a boy in 1937 Kansas who sees something strange in his barn. Spooky! It's kid-friendly, but that doesn't mean it's for losers!

If you wait for the trade for things, I Am Legion comes out in trade on page 223 from Devil's Due. Weird mystical Nazi shit and John Cassaday art! What's not to dig?

There's a Thulsa Doom series from Dynamite Entertainment on page 230. Alex Ross's cover doesn't look anything like James Earl Jones, I must say.

Meanwhile, on page 231, you can get all three Garth Ennis Battlefields series in one big ol' 30-dollar hardcover. I wasn't aware he was only doing three of these. Oh well. And on page 233, the third volume of Borderline is offered. This is a nifty, trippy science fiction story with art by Eduardo Risso. Which means it looks fantastic. Finally, Francesco Francavilla is back on Zorro with issue #15 (page 234). Hot damn!

Page 248 has Stuffed! from First Second Books. A man inherits a museum of curiosities and weird things start to happen. It sounds pretty keen, and Nick Bertozzi draws it, so it will look nice.

On page 258, IDW has a bunch of interesting stuff. First, there's a Hero Initiative book for $3.99 with a bunch of different creators, including an American Flagg! story by Howard Chaykin, Art Adams redoing classic Marvel covers, and a Matt Wagner Grendel cover. It's for a good cause! Then, next to it, there's GrimJack: The Manx Cat for the first time in comic book form. God, I hope this sells, so IDW will reprint the GrimJack trades they haven't yet. On the bottom of the page is a reprint of Starstruck by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta, and next to it is Detectives, Inc. by Don McGregor, Marshall Rogers, and Gene Colan. Other Greg has said this isn't that great, but still - that's a cool page of solicits.

Wasteland #26 is offered on page 272 by Oni Press. I mention this only because I really, really, really want issue #25 to come out. Please come out, issue #25! Where could you be?

The only reason you have for not reading Jeff Lemire's Essex County is if you've wanted a collection of all three graphic novels, and now Top Shelf gives it to you on page 280! Can you resist it now????

And with that, we've come to the end of another catalog chock full o' comics. Make sure you demand more from your comics reading, and they will be forced to satisfy you! Wouldn't that be nice?

22 Comments

• At June 3, 2009, torpor wrote:

  That Dodson Dagger cover is ridiculous. It's the same fat face he uses for Emma.

  Frankly, i'd rather see Land's ...

• At June 4, 2009, Joe wrote:

  That Savage Dragon cover makes me think of Street Sharks. If you thought TMNT was the worst about being a ...

• At June 4, 2009, Jax wrote:

  Ripped Jeans are back dude, seriously Im not even joking.

  If anything Superboy's Jeans look a bit like something that Bo ...

• At June 4, 2009, Mark Cook wrote:

  Thulsa Doom may not look like James Earl Jones, but looks dead on for Djimon Honsou.

• At June 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Re: Hulk comics. "God-fucking-dammit" indeed. I think that pretty much sums it up.

  Re: Giarusso. I loved the rather plaintive attempt ...

• At June 4, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  -"Of course, maybe Dagger is now a bit older. I doubt it, though."

  She is. She first appeared when, the early ...

• At June 4, 2009, chroom wrote:

  WOO-HOO! Big ol' pile of Groo! But why announce it SIX MONTHS in advance? Everybody knows comics fans ...

• At June 4, 2009, Adam wrote:

  I like Hulk comics, but I'm feeling Hulk-fatigued. My intention is to try everything in August and see where ...

• At June 4, 2009, C. Adams wrote:

  You know, I always doubted the Essential/Showcase format. But, i got a whole bunch of Avengers and Defenders Essentials ...

• At June 4, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  "If anything Superboy’s Jeans look a bit like something that Bo Duke would have worn, all highwaisted, borderline stonewash and ...

• At June 4, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I don't know, I thought Detectives Inc. was a pretty solid read. I mean, you've got Gene Colan and Marshall ...

• At June 4, 2009, DubipR wrote:

  No love for Love & Rockets New Stories #2?

  That's the comic I've been waiting for the entire year!

• At June 4, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You should definitely buy Killer of Demons; it was quite good and I want the sequel.

  I hope Red Herring goes ...

• At June 4, 2009, Antony Johnston wrote:

  WASTELAND #25 is at the printers. Honestly! It really is!

• At June 4, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  Does the "I am Legion" trade merely have the same issues as the DC/Humanoids print or does it have new ...

• At June 4, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Dagger has the same face that every other Dodson female does.

  Mary Jane's out-dated/cheap, trashy jeans are a perfect example of ...

• At June 4, 2009, Jesse wrote:

  "Really, Campbell? Ripped jeans? Didn’t they go out of style at least a decade ago? At least? Sheesh - MJ ...

• At June 4, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Could you possibly try to elaborate on what is hilarious about it?

• At June 4, 2009, Çteve! wrote:

  Both Captain America Omnibuses (Vol.1 & 2, although they don't call them like that) contain issue 25. It's important when ...

• At June 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Antony: Yay!

  JackKing: Yeah, the I Am Legion trade has the entire series, not just the part that DC got to. ...

• At June 6, 2009, Ron wrote:

  The ripped jeans photo of Mary Jane is an old drawing, anyway.

• At June 12, 2009, Posts about Fiction Writing as of June 12, 2009 | Eristoddle.com wrote:

  [...] first issue up with fiction by David Bell, Mel Cartagena, Karol Smolders, Manda Benson, and Larry Flippin’ ...

Yes, Amazing Spider-Man, with a little creative bookkeeping by Marvel, has reached issue #600. But that's not the only thing in this months Previews that's hitting 600 issues! What else could there beeeeeee?!?!?!?!?

Dark Horse:

As you all know by now, I purchase Hellboy-related items in trade exclusively, but on page 32, there's a new B.P.R.D. mini-series, 1947 (8 July). Joshua Dysart writes it, which is nice, and Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá provide the art. So yeah, it'll look pretty awesome.

I've never read Guy Davis's The Marquis, so the 336-page, 25-dollar trade offered on page 35 (2 September) is enticing. Any endorsements out there in World Wide Web world?

For 13 bucks, you can pick up Noir, an anthology of, well, noir stories (30 September). Contributors include: Brian Azzarello, Ed Brubaker, Alex de Campi, Jeff Lemire, Rick Geary, Paul Grist, David Lapham, Dean Motter, M. K. Perker, Eduardo Barreto, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, and Sean Phillips. I'm not sure how it's only 104 pages, because holy shit.

Mario and Gilbert Hernandez have a six-issue mini-series beginning on 8 July called Citizen Rex (page 43). It's a - brace yourself - sci-fi adventure about a reporter who discovers that a long-deactivated robot celebrity might still be around, something which doesn't make anyone happy. I wasn't terribly impressed with Speak of the Devil, Gilbert's last mini-series, but this still sounds cool.

There's an Alien Legion Omnibus on page 44 (9 September), leading to a new series from Dark Horse. That's interesting. I've never read Alien Legion, but it's nice that it's getting collected.

Matt Kindt has a new book, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, on page 47 (23 September). Everything I've ever read by Kindt has been damned good (granted, it's not much, but still), so I'm looking forward to this.

DC:

So the solicitation on page 63 (15 July) for Blackest Night #1 (is it 2009 already?) reads "Throughout the decades, death has plagued the DC Universe and taken the lives of heroes and villains alike. But to what end?" Really? "To what end?" How about this: PEOPLE FRICKIN' DIE! That's the way it is! Sorry, but that's just a silly way to sell this. Not that DC needs to sell it, because it's going to sell through the roof, but still.

Man, I hope Wednesday Comics (pages 68-69; July) sells well. It's an attempt to do something different, so I hope it sells. I have a sinking feeling it won't, though.

I won't be buying any of the Final Crisis Aftermath mini-series (pages 70-71; no, not even Joe Casey's), but it brings up a good point: What did Final Crisis do? I mean, it "killed" Batman, but did it have any effect on the DCU as a whole? It's very weird. You may hate what Marvel does in its events, but at least they run them efficiently. There seems to be no fallout from Final Crisis beyond Batman not being around anymore.

Damn, J. H. Williams III can draw:

Justice League: Cry for Justice (page 84; 1 July) sounds ... unpleasant ("This time it's personal - and it'll only get more bloody before it's over!"), but that's not what bothers me. The English major in me can't abide this text: "Batman and Martian Manhunter have been slaughtered. But he's not the only hero to fall at the hands of villains." Oh, poor use of pronouns. Whatever shall we do with you?

Man, Jim Starlin really loves the Weird (Strange Adventures; page 88; 1 July). That's all I have to say about that.

I love that DC is publishing another of its Classics Library, this time collecting the death of Jason Todd and the introduction of Tim Drake in one package (page 93; 23 September). These aren't very good comics, so save your money if you don't already have them, but I dig that they're reminding us that Jason Todd is, stupidly, back from the dead. You know, if you can't honor the integrity of a phone-in poll, what can you honor?

DC finally gets around to releasing Duncan Rouleau's Metal Men in softcover (page 96; 5 August). I know this wasn't very good (according to those who read it), but I also know it looked fantastic, so I might pony up 15 bucks just for that.

If you've been waiting for the trade on Secret Six, it's out on page 97 (26 August). It's quite good; I recommend it highly.

Man, Jonny DC books have some cool covers:

DC is releasing a big, 40-dollar hardcover of Tom Strong #1-12 (page 110; 16 September). If you've never read these, do yourself a favor a check this collection out.

Peter Milligan and Davide Gianfelice have a new series, Greek Street, on page 112 (1 July). It's another 1-dollar, 40-page extravaganza, so why not take a look? It's Milligan transporting Greek myths to modern-day London - what's not to love?

Fables is the latest Vertigo book to get a "deluxe edition" release (page 116; 30 September), with the first ten issues getting collected for $30. I liked this book from the beginning, but some people think it took a while to get going. Either way, here's where it began.

Hey, make sure you buy Young Liars #17 on page 121 (8 July). I hear sales are poor, and it's close to being cance - what's that? Oh, never mind.

Unknown Soldier gets traded on page 121 (26 August). If you were waiting for it. I like the review text from The Onion: "Unknown Soldier could be a new Vertigo classic." It's always fun to put qualifiers like that in your reviews. Well, of course it could be a new Vertigo classic. Megan Fox could walk through my door and say she wants me to lick whipped cream off her naked body, but it's probably not going to happen.

Image:

Holy crap, Savage Dragon hits issue #150 (page 141; 15 July). Say what you will about the comic, but that's pretty impressive.

I'm really curious about these Armageddon books Rob Liefeld keeps bringing out (the latest is on page 142; 29 July). Is anyone getting them?

(I'm fairly sure these people are supposed to be running, not levitating. Beats me, though.)

There's an Elephantmen one-shot on page 148 (22 July) featuring Yvette, the star of War Toys. I'm sure it will be awesome.

Page 152 brings us a new printing of The Five Fists of Science by Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders (1 July). If anyone wonders why I'm giving Uncanny X-Men so much rope, this is one of the reasons why I trust Fraction. It's quite the fun book.

I find it interesting that the latest Spawn Origins trade (page 154; 22 July) skips issue #9 and 10. Why on earth would it skip #9 and 10 (it reprints #7-8 and 11-14)? Well, I don't know about issue #10, but #9 is the Neil Gaiman story that figures in the big Miracleman brouhaha. Issue #10 features Cerebus. Did McFarlane have a falling-out with Dave Sim as well?

There's a Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer crossover on page 166. Despite being written by Mark Waid, this can't be any good, can it? Plus, Previews puts a "Gem of the Month" designation on it. Man.

Marvel:

Page 3 is black with the word "Reborn" emblazoned in white across it. It's Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch bringing Captain America back, apparently. Couldn't they do this in the regular series? Sheesh. I have a feeling the Cap from the Avengers/Invaders series will be the new one, but Brubaker wouldn't do that, would he?

All Select Comics on page 8 might be worth a look, if only because Michael Kupperman of Tales Designed to Thrizzle does the back-up story. That ought to be a hoot. Guggenheim and Palido doing the main feature isn't bad, either.

This is weird: Agents of Atlas #8 on page 34 is specifically labeled as NOT being part of "Dark Reign." I say thank God for that, but that's kind of weird. I suppose it's because there really are Marvel Zombies who will buy everything related to an "event," and Marvel wouldn't want them to continue buying the title now that the "Dark Reign" is over, would they?

Amazing Spider-Man #600 (page 42) is a pretty good deal, I have to admit. It's five dollars and 104 pages of new material. That's pretty keen.

Contrast that with The Incredible Hulk #600 (page 50), which is also 104 pages but has only 38 pages of new material. You know, I didn't do this with Thor #600 and I won't do it with Amazing Spider-Man or Captain America #600, but let's consider the "600th issue" of The Incredible Hulk. I added it up and came up with 547 issues starring the Hulk when this will be published, which is a bit less than 600 (my math might be off, but by that much?). That's 6 issues of the original series in 1962, 43 issues of Tales To Astonish in which he shared the marquee, 374 issues of the second series after Tales To Astonish changed its name with issue #102, 11 issues of the first adjective-less Hulk series that launched in 1999, 101 issues of that same series after it switched back to The Incredible Hulk (for the third time!), and finally, 12 issues of this new Hulk series after the old series changed its name to The Incredible Hercules. 6 + 43 + 374 + 11 + 101 + 12 = 547. Where is Marvel finding those extra 52 issues? I'm being a bit of a dick about this, I know, because this is a ridiculous cash grab, but at least they could count correctly. It's not even as if any of these comics have been around for 50 years, which would make a tiny bit of sense (12 X 50 = 600, so even if they hadn't been published monthly every year, you could at least make the case). This is kind of annoying. (They can't be counting the first 58 issues of Tales To Astonish, can they? Considering the fact that TtA debuted three years before the Hulk existed, that would be silly. Oh, wait, a cash grab is involved. So I guess they can count them!)

I don't know who that is on the cover of Marvel Zombies 4 #4 (of 4) (page 58), but her breasts are really out of control. Who did Land trace for that, I wonder. I'm impressed that person can even stand up.

As of this month, I should point out that there are two Deadpool ongoing series (pages 30 and 72). TWO. DEADPOOL. ONGOING. SERIES. Mull that over for a bit. Add in the fact that there's still a Deadpool mini-series going on and your head may explode.

There's a hardcover of Spider-Man/Human Torch by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton on page 92. This is quite a good series, if you haven't read it yet.

I've been hearing good things about Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil, so I might have to pick up the trade on page 106. I do like the text: "Collecting Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil #1-4 AND MORE." What? What is this "MORE"? TELL ME!!!!!!!

All right, that's enough of that. Shall we head to the back of the book? Yes, we shall!

As usual, there's some cool stuff coming out from Archaia Studios Press on page 192. The Engineer is collected (there was only one issue left) for 10 thin dollars, while the third and fourth issues of Killing Pickman come out as one big-sized issue. I always have to point out Archaia comics, because they're so darned good.

I'm not sure if Archie Double Digest #200 (page 196) is the first Norm Breyfogle issue, but there it is. This has to be a weird mix.

I don't know if I'd like Poe #1 from Boom! Studios on page 216, but it might be neat. Edgar Allen Poe searching for a killer? Why the hell not?

On page 233, Dynamite Entertainment has an "Omnibus Trade Paperback" of Dan Dare by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine. It's only 20 bucks, which is a pretty decent deal.

Dynamite also offers The Lone Ranger #17, and the text mentions that they're not going to solicit these issues until a story arc is complete. That's handy. It will avoid long delays between issues within the arc.

Fantagraphics has its usual collection of hoity-toity stuff on pages 246-47. Skin Deep is a collection of stories from Charles Burns, so it ought to be good. They also have a trade of Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman. This is a very funny book, but the humor seems a bit similar (twisted, but similar) in each issue, which is why I haven't bought every one. But it's still worth a look!

If you're interested in Niels Bohr (and why wouldn't you be?), Suspended in Language, the story of his life, is re-offered on page 249 from G T Labs. It's quite a good comic, which is surprising as it's about the father of quantum mechanics. Jim Ottaviani does a nice job making the science accessible.

Darwyn Cooke brings the awesome with The Hunter, a graphic novel from IDW on page 253. It's a crime novel! Of course I'll like it! Considering that I still consider Selina's Big Score to be the best work Cooke has done, I'm sure he'll knock this out of the park.

IDW also has the new Fallen Angel mini-series on page 261. Good to see. I'm a bit wary about the fact that it guest stars some Joss Whedon character, but I'm sure Peter David will make it work somehow.

The Imposter's Daughter on page 270 from Little Brown and Company sounds neat. It's a memoir about a girl growing up with a father who told marvelous stories about his life and who later finds out he was totally lying about it all. So she needs to figure out who she is, as she had based her life on her father's.

Also on page 270, Mirage Studios has a big ol' trade of early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (as it's the 25th anniversary of said turtles). Over 540 pages for $30 - that's not bad.

Despite my continual disappointment that NBM doesn't get new copies of No Pasaran volume 1, I do like to see what they have every month. This time around, on page 271, they have The Big Kahn, a story of a rabbi who isn't Jewish. The truth comes out at his funeral and his family has to deal with the consequences. Neil Kleid is the writer, and he's pretty good, so I'll have to check this out.

Outlaw Entertainment on page 272 isn't completely Jason Burns's company, but you'd be forgiven for thinking that. They have three comics offered, and all are written by Burns. All three sound decent, but Praetorian, which is about for immortal Praetorian guards searching for a serial killer, sounds like the best bet. Burns is a decent writer, so it will be interesting to see where this fledgling company goes.

Over on page 274, Oni Press has a hardcover of the first 13 issues of Wasteland. As Wasteland is really, really good, you might want to pick it up if you haven't yet. Johnston takes a few issues to really get going, so having them all in one package might read better. It's 336 pages for $35, which isn't bad.

I don't know if The Colodin Project on page 284 from Tool Publications is any good, but it sounds intriguing. A private investigator discovers a group of people with strange abilities and what they're up to. Yes, it sounds familiar, but I'm a sucker for stories where a lone nut discovers horrible things happening behind the scenes of the world.

Top Shelf has volume 2 of The Surrogates, a complete graphic novel that serves as a prequel to the original mini-series, on page 284. I'm looking forward to this for a couple of reasons: I really liked the first mini-series, and I already read a review of this from someone who has good taste. That person is Mr. Chad Nevett, and while I am consumed with envy that he got to read this so early when, by his own admission, he never read the first mini-series, I still trust his judgment (usually). You can also get the first trade on page 286, if you missed it the first time around.

There's a new volume of The Middleman from Viper Comics on page 300. Despite the fact that Les McClaine does not draw it (what's up with that?), I'm sure it will still rock. It sounds like it follows from the TV show, which might make it slightly less accessible if you missed that slice of awesome, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check this out!

I need to get around to writing about the latest issue of Tripwire, but before I can do that, the Tripwire Annual is offered on page 309! It commemorates both the 70th anniversary of Marvel and the 70th anniversary of Batman. Tripwire is what Wizard wishes it could be, so you might want to pick this up. It's a bit steep price-wise ($16), but the magazines are chock-full of goodness.

In the book section, some punk named Cronin is trying to pass off his half-baked ideas as something you should pay good, hard-earned money for. It's on page 319, if you're interested in funding his lifestyle of Pixy Stix snorting, crucifix defiling, and democratically-elected government overthrowing. Seriously - that's what he does in his spare time! (Of course, I already own it. But he's the Dread Lord and Master, and with his fearsome psychic powers, he would know if any of his unholy and unwilling minions hadn't plunked down the ducats for this. I had no choice. YOU DO!!!!!! Plus, I'm vain enough to like seeing a thank-you in the acknowledgements. Cronin never forgets the little people!)

I could go further into the back of the book, but, frankly, it kind of scares me. Of course, there's a Batroc the Leaper mini-bust and a Frog Thor mini-bust, so it's not that scary!

I hope you enjoyed this trip through Previews!

31 Comments

• At May 3, 2009, ThiefTMA wrote:

  re: Hulk #600.

  They counted the issues of Journey Into Mystery before Thor showed up for Thor #600, so why wouldn't ...

• At May 3, 2009, Thok wrote:

  The reason for two Deadpool series and a mini is the same reason Marvel has some ridiculous number of Wolverine ...

• At May 3, 2009, Joe wrote:

  “Throughout the decades, death has plagued the DC Universe and taken the lives of heroes and villains alike. But to ...

• At May 3, 2009, Michael wrote:

  The Super Friends are going about getting out of that hourglass backwards. Green Lantern should be blocking the sand with ...

• At May 3, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  The answer to your question about Spawn # 10 not being reprinted is no. McFarlane did not have a ...

• At May 3, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I don't know the specifics about the McFarlane/Gaiman feud. I know it has something to do with Miracleman but what ...

• At May 3, 2009, Dork wrote:

  Ugh. I still can't believe they brought Jason Todd back. Idiots. And now they've 'killed off' Batman. ...

• At May 3, 2009, Kirbydotter wrote:

  Who decides what is worthy of being collected in those DC CLASSICS LIBRARY????

  I agree that A DEATH IN THE FAMILY ...

• At May 3, 2009, Çteve! wrote:

  New England Comics has a collected edition of PAUL THE SAMURAI, a spin-off character from THE TICK comics, and it's ...

• At May 3, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Suspended in Language is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Read it!

  So is Charles Burns, so read Skin Deep, too (I will)!

  I'm ...

• At May 3, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Man, that Noir anthology from Dark Horse sounds amazing. What a fantastic line-up of creators.

  I am getting Casey's Final Crisis ...

• At May 3, 2009, Thomas wrote:

  I'm pretty sure the second Deadpool series is just supposed to be another mini, it's just not explicitly labelled as ...

• At May 3, 2009, Matthew Craig wrote:

  Re: The Marquis - get it. Excellent story, wonderfully gothic Guy Davis art. Top notch.

  "...death has plagued the DC Universe...But ...

• At May 3, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Argh. It goes like this:

  Incredible Hulk vol. 1 = 474 issues (it had a -1, which didn't count for ...

• At May 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Adam: 474 issues of "The Incredible Hulk" is pushing it, as I pointed out, 58 issues of those didn't feature ...

• At May 3, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Greg,

  Yes, but 82 issues of Journey Into Mystery didn't have Thor, and 58 issues of Tales of Suspense didn't have ...

• At May 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I didn't make the same complaint because I didn't go back and figure out where they were counting from, but ...

• At May 3, 2009, joshschr wrote:

  My head did not explode when I realized there were two ongoing Deadpool series plus a mini that won't have ...

• At May 3, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Greg--

  If it helps: I just remembered that the original Sentry miniseries from waybackwhen revealed that Incredible Hulk #7 (and by ...

• At May 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dude: The Gaiman/McFarlane Miracleman thing (who owns it?) has, I believe, spilled over into the Spawn thing. Gaiman says ...

• At May 3, 2009, neil kleid wrote:

  Hey, Greg - thanks for the kind words about BIG KAHN! Check out a ten page preview of the book ...

• At May 3, 2009, Cully C wrote:

  Although Erik had to be the big guy at Image for awhile, It's very commendable to the see the 150th ...

• At May 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Neil: Thanks for the preview. It looks pretty keen!

• At May 4, 2009, Joel Meadows wrote:

  Greg,

  the annual is $15.95 because it's 160 pages, full colour, which is cheaper than some trade paperbacks:)

  appreciate your support

  best wishes

• At May 4, 2009, Larkin wrote:

  The Marquis is one of the most disturbing and creepy things I've read. So yeah, I highly recommend it. Guy ...

• At May 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Joel: I thought I mentioned the page count! Whoops. Yeah, 16 dollars is definitely not a bad deal ...

• At May 4, 2009, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Interestingly, while Marvel are counting the early issues of Journey Into Mystery , they're not counting the issues when Thor ...

• At May 4, 2009, Andy wrote:

  I thought it was understood that Marvel was making up its numbering at this point?

  Looking forward to Iron man number ...

• At May 4, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  A Lonely Place of Dying (Tim Drake's intro) isn't a great story, admittedly... but it is an interesting read just ...

• At May 4, 2009, Les McClaine wrote:

  RE: Middleman

  I'm not drawing it because I was too busy with other projects to fit it into my schedule. ...

• At May 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks for the info, Les. I'm always happy to see more Middleman, so I'm looking forward to this.

See?

On page 7, the editor of Previews, Marty Grosser, explains that this slab is almost 50 pages shorter than February's. He blames it on the economic downturn, but is very vague about the fact that Previews is not featuring as much stuff. Does anyone recall the new standards for getting into Previews? They feature some extremely tiny comics, so I'm not sure what the standards are. Anyway, he actually writes that they're "being a little more choosy with what [they] offer." "Choosy." Yeah:

But let's check out the comics, consarnit!

Dark Horse:

If you've been waiting for the trade of Gigantic, Dark Horse has it on page 28. It's shipping on 19 August, which is good because the actual serial is coming out very slowly. I can't even recommend it, because it's not finished, but it has potential.

There are a bunch of Usagi Yojimbo trades on pages 36-37 - volumes 8-10 (19 August). I really ought to start buying these trades.

DC:

There's some comic by a Grant Morrison and a Frank Quitely on page 63 (3 June). It stars some leather-fetish old dude and some punk kid. I'm sure it will suck.

I don't have that big of a problem with Greg Rucka writing a "Batwoman" comic in Detective (page 65; 24 June), especially as J. H. Williams III is the artist (well, for one issue, at least, because it will take him two years to draw another one), but if they're going to completely change the focus of the book, I do hope Rucka emphasizes the "detective" aspects of the book. That would be keen.

You know, I want to like Guillem March's art, and I do for the most part. But then there's stuff like this:

The premise of the book is silly enough, but then there's that cover. And I'm sure the art inside will be similar. Gorgeous, sure, but creepy all the same.

By the way, that's EIGHT Batman titles this month (although not all of them star the Dark Knight). DC is looking at Marvel and saying, "77 comics in a month with Wolverine? WE CAN TOP THAT, BITCHES!"

Page 76 gives us The Flash: Rebirth #3: "At last, the answer to the question that's plagued DC fans for decades: Who's faster, Superman or The Flash?" Sweet Mother of Satan, not again? First of all, really? "Plagued"? I doubt that. Second, DON'T THESE TWO RUN THIS RACE EVERY FIVE YEARS OR SO?????? Jesus.

Re: Green Lantern #42 (page 78; 24 June): "Agent Orange"? Really?

Our Dread Lord and Master will be happy that the GOATEED SPECTRE LIVES ON!!!!

Michael Avon Oeming writes and draws The Spirit #30 (page 84; 24 June). That might be worth a look.

DC fires up another DC Comics Classic Library on page 88 (26 August). This one features George Perez's work on JLA in the 1980s. I don't know if the comics are any good, but I'm sure they look purty.

Justice League International volume 2 finally comes out in cheaper, just-as-nice-to-read softcover format (page 89; 8 July). Eighteen bucks for awesome comics!

Simon and Kirby's Sandman gets a hardcover on page 90 (12 August). Yes, it's $40, but it's 300 pages and it's probably pretty damned keen.

I'm not sure if the first eight issues of Astro City: The Dark Age have been offered before, but they are now, on page 97 (15 July). That's eight issues for 20 dollars, by the way. And they're fine, fine comic books.

Vertigo fires up their new line of crime comics this month, and I'm looking forward to them, let me tell you that much. Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos have Filthy Rich on page 107, and Ian Rankin and Werther Dell'Edera have Dark Entries on page 111 (short previews accompany both solicitations). Filthy Rich looks a bit better, art-wise, although Dark Entries, which has John Constantine on a reality television show, sounds better. Still, as I mentioned last month, I love that DC is publishing more graphic novels. Yay, DC!

I've been wondering whether I should get the trade of Madame Xanadu when it was offered, and there it is on page 118 (15 July). Check it out - it's THIRTEEN dollars for TEN issues. Damn, that's good value. I'm still mulling it over, but damn.

Image:

Josh Howard's Dead@17 comes to Image on page 138 (17 June). I've never been terribly interested in this, but I thought I'd point it out.

Chew #1 shows up on page 142 (3 June). Tony Chu is a cop who gets psychic impressions from anything he eats. That means he nibbles on corpses to figure out whodunits. Yes, it sounds twisted, but it might work!

I'm not sure if I'm going to get Derek McCulloch's latest, Pug (page 144; 17 June). I just mentioned it because Displaced Persons, McCulloch's last graphic novel, still hasn't shown up after being solicited twice. I'm a bit grumpy about that.

There's an Arnold Pander sighting on page 146, as he draws Jonathan Vankin's latest, Tasty Bullet (24 June). It sounds like a fairly typical "evil corporation versus free-spirited young girl" kind of thing, but Pander will make it look cool!

Okay, so Youngblood #10 features President Obama on the cover. Yes, it's silly. But what's sillier is that a new back-up feature in this issue, starring something called the Capeshooters. It's all very vague, but what makes me sad is that, according to the text, the concept has already been optioned by Bryan Singer. Didn't we want to believe that Bryan Singer had more taste than to option something by, you know, that guy and his protégé, Marat Mychaels?

Marvel:

Joe Casey shows up on page 31 with Dark Reign: Zodiac, which promises "a dark, brooding tale that snakes through the underbelly of the modern Marvel Universe." Well, maybe. Casey usually does best when he's left alone, and I can't imagine this selling like gangbusters, so it might be pretty cool. I'll probably wait for the trade, though.

I always have questions that aren't rhetorical, but I fail to get answers. Take page 48 and the Captain Britain and MI 13 Annual #1. According to the text, it's a "key part" of "Vampire State". Why, pray tell, isn't it a regular issue? I don't really mind, because Cornell is writing it, but it's not too much longer than a regular issue (48 pages), so what's up? I know it's just to squeeze more money out of me, but it still chaps my hide when I see something like this.

You know, I've been wondering whether or not to keep up with Uncanny X-Men (page 67), and this cover image may have clinched it for me:

I honestly don't care if it's Jean or Maddie or if Fraction is just screwing with us (the text gives no information). The fact that yet another fucking writer is even pretending to go to that fucking well yet another fucking time makes me, as you might have guessed, fucking angry. Sigh.

On the other hand, Uncanny X-Men #512 (page 68), in which the X-Club time travels to 1906, sounds awesome. Damn you, Fraction!!!!! (Oh, and I like how the Dodsons don't do the art. Good job keeping stable art teams, Marvel!)

Look! It's the Astonishing X-Men Motherfucking Omnibus* on page 85! Yay! For $75, you get ... well, a lot of comics, to be honest. 25 of them, and one's extra big. Still, if the rest of the run is anything like the first six issues, I'll be skipping this. But that's just me! You may find this excellent!

* Note: Not final title.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man gets the entire run collected on page 104, for $35. I don't know if it's quite worth it, but it is a rather fun book. It deserved better, but I'm not surprised it didn't last.

I kept hearing good things about Patsy Walker: Hellcat, so I'll probably be getting the trade on page 111. Unless, of course, someone chimes in to tell me it's the worst piece of bat guano you could ever hope to read.

Alan Davis' solo run on Excalibur gets a trade paperback on page 114, collecting issues #42-50. These are really solid comics, with absolutely stunning art. And they're quite funny, too.

All right, enough of that. It's time for ... the back of the book!

MarkAndrew might want to check out Captain Blood: Odyssey on page 188 from SLG. It's a pirate comic, so it must be good! I'm a bit confused by the big ad on page 189, though: "Powerfully told in a unique format." What does that mean? No subsequent information is forthcoming! (Plus, the ad spells it "odessey," which cracked me up.)

Arcana brings us Land of the Lost #1 on page 196. I'm not terribly interested in this (or the movie), but I thought I'd mention it, as the original series warms the heart of many a comics geek (including me).

Also on page 196, Archaia offers comics! Holy crap, new books from Archaia. That is quite awesome. They have the first trade of Awakening, an odd, Gothic sort-of zombie tale; the final issue of The Killer; a double-sized issue of Robotika collecting the first two issue of "For a Few Rubles More"; and a complete version of Some New Kind of Slaughter, A. David Lewis and mpMann's flood myth epic. Yay! Archaia's back! Of course, I won't believe it until the comics are in my hands, but yay!

There's a new Anna Mercury series from Avatar on page 206. I won't be buying it (I haven't made up my mind yet about getting the trade for the first series), but I like Ellis' description of it on page 208: "It has a huge redhead with matched silver automatic pistols fighting Techno-Vikings From Beyond Space in a mile-long Viking longship/aircraft carrier that prowls the weird tides of a pocket universe." Oh, Warren - you just keep pumping out crap for Marvel if it lets you do these kinds of things!

Speaking of Ellis, Frankenstein's Womb is re-offered on page 212. It's the "true" story of Mary Shelley's inspiration for Frankenstein. I've been wondering where this is, so maybe it will actually come out now!

You can never claim that Chip Mosher isn't ambitious, and on page 222, Boom! Studios presents perhaps its most ambitious project yet: A 24-issue (!) adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? They have quite a bunch of other stuff, including their new kids' line that seems to be getting good reviews (we get sent .pdf files of almost everything Boom! publishes, and I feel bad that I don't review more of them). But the Dick novel is an impressive undertaking. I hope it goes well!

There's a trade of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose on page 227 from Broadsword Comics. I mention this simply to link to Chris Sims' April 1st entry.

Liefeld's Obama cover and the Cerebus Obama cover simply cannot compete with what Devil's Due is doing this month. First, he fights alien invaders (page 229):

Then, he's a barbarian, fighting Boosh the Dim, Red Sarah, and Cha-nee the Great (page 230):

And just to give you some more nightmares, we get the "Red Sarah Variant Cover":

At leas the barbarian comic is a "political satire." And Larry Hama writes it. Still, some disturbing stuff from Devil's Due!

If you've been waiting for the trade of the second arc of Battlefields, Dynamite has it on page 237. Nice art by Snejbjerg and a gripping story by Ennis that doesn't play out like we expect. On page 238, the first arc of Zorro is out in softcover, if you didn't want to pay for the hardcover.

Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, has a new manga out from Digital Manga Publishing called Swallowing the Earth (page 245). It's about a mysterious woman who wants revenge on all men for all the crappy stuff they've done to women since time began. Sounds neat.

Speaking of manga, Fanfare/Ponent Mon has yet another Jiro Taniguchi comic on page 251. He only draws The Summit of Gods, a story about the quest to find George Mallory's Everest expedition seventy years after it disappeared. Yes, it's 25 dollars, but it's 328 pages, and who doesn't love mountaineering comics?

Fantagraphics on page 253 has the second (and final) volume of Fletcher Hanks' comics, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! The first Hanks volume was an Internet sensation, but I didn't read it. Recently, however, I've read two of Hanks' stories, and they're frickin' insane. Seriously. You might want to pick this up and see! (I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets!, the first volume, is re-offered on the same page, by the way.)

Peter David's Fallen Angel gets a second honkin' huge trade on page 265 from IDW. It's $75, so I certainly can't really say you should get it (despite the fact that I like the series a lot), but what caught my eye was that it collects issues #14-26. Huh? The series ended with issue #33. I know there's a new mini-series coming out (supposedly; I haven't seen an issue solicited recently), but that seems like an odd place to end this collection. Oh well.

Tucked away on the bottom of page 270 is a solicitation for Atomika #8 from Mercury Comics. Luckily, a couple pages later there's a much bigger spread advertising this. I love Atomika, and feared that it was gone forever, only halfway through its run. Andrew Dabb and Sal Abbinanti's mythic epic of a Russian superhero/god is stunning work, and I encourage you to find the trade (it might be out of print, but I've seen it at my comics store recently, so it's out there) and jump on board. You won't be disappointed!

You know you can't resist a "hot noir-crime thriller" starring a sexy blonde in a domino mask! Moonstone brings us Domino Lady on page 274, which sounds kind of neat. The ad reads:

That could get messy.

Page 281 brings us a new edition of Union Station by Ande Parks and Eduardo Barreto from Oni Press. This is a pretty good comic about a massacre at a Kansas City train station in 1933 and the fallout from the event. Parks, you may not know, is quite a good writer. Directly underneath this solicitation is the latest trade of Wasteland, which is only 12 bucks. Excellent stuff, as usual.

After releasing their series as hardcovers, Radical Comics offers them as softcovers on page 282. If you're interested but can only get one, I'd suggest Hercules: The Thracian Wars. Quite good, and definitely worth a look at $15.

Down on page 284, The Dude has a new edition of the earliest Nexus stories for ten thin dollars. It's cheap because it's in black-and-white, and the ad makes it sound like that's a good thing. I appreciate the fact that it's 216 pages for $10, but I can't imagine The Dude's art will look quite as spectacular without color. I could be wrong, of course. Still, that's a great value.

Zenescope has its usual assortment of scantily-clad ladies reliving fairy tales, but I'm a bit sad that The Straw Men seems to have fallen off its schedule. I may have to find out what's up with that. I blame the consumer who'd rather buy this than an interesting and creepy murder mystery:

I think I'd better stop before I get to the page with Ozzy Osbourne's giant crotch. No one wants to see that! As always, I hope this post inspires you to dig up some comics you might not find otherwise. We're all in this together, right?

26 Comments

• At April 5, 2009, Derek McCulloch wrote:

  Believe me, Derek McCulloch is grumpy that Derek McCulloch's Displaced Persons has been solicited twice without coming out, but there ...

• At April 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Hmmm ... I'm going to believe that you, Derek McCulloch, know something about it. I'll probably check out Pug, ...

• At April 5, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  I would be able to like Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men much better if one of the main artists was NOT ...

• At April 5, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  I can't decide if I want to get the singles of Batman & Robin and Detective Comics or wait for ...

• At April 5, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  I don't understand the complaints (however mild) about the Captain Britain annual. With Cornell writing, as you say, I ...

• At April 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Stefan: "Vampire State" is six issues long. I assume that the trade will contain the annual, as it claims ...

• At April 5, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Fantagraphics is putting out a new hardcover compilation of the first 7 Usagi Yojimbo trades this summer, which also includes ...

• At April 5, 2009, Rantz Hoseley wrote:

  Derek McCulloch is indeed grumpy that Displaced Persons in not yet complete, as Derek has been done with his part ...

• At April 5, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  I see where you're coming from Greg, but 10 more pages for one more dollar sounds good to me. ...

• At April 5, 2009, David M wrote:

  Anyone notice that the only thing Gemstone is selling is the Overstreet Price Guide? I really hope the EC archives ...

• At April 5, 2009, Random Stranger wrote:

  I've been waiting for the Kirby Sandman book. I think Kamandi and some one off stuff are the only ...

• At April 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  It does not say if the Nexus includes the record, so I'm going to say no. Wait, record? ...

• At April 5, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Nexus #3 contained a flexi-disc that included music, dialogue, and sound effects that played along with the issue.

• At April 5, 2009, Random Stranger wrote:

  And I bet you thought comic gimmicks only started in the 1990's.

  Not that I expected it for $10 but ...

• At April 5, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  The Simon/Kirby Sandman omnibus is mostly their Golden Age Sandman material, and the first issue of the 70s Sandman. Not ...

• At April 5, 2009, David M wrote:

  @Random Stranger: Kamandi was published as a 2-volume DC Archives collection and it's still in print.

• At April 5, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Yes, but the Kamandi Archives don't collect Kirby's entire run, include less content than the Omnibi, and don't fit in ...

• At April 5, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  *Slaps hand to forehead* I must scour Previews about 5-6 times all the way through before e-mailing my comic shop ...

• At April 6, 2009, Brian wrote:

  Yes to CB+MI:13 - any and all, as frequently as possible.

  Yes to Madame Xanadu trade - everyone should be reading ...

• At April 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Brian: I saw a bunch of price guides at my shop a few weeks back. So I'm going to ...

• At April 6, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  >By the way, that’s EIGHT Batman titles this month (although not all of them star the Dark Knight). DC is ...

• At April 6, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I think that Rucka has said that the Batwoman stuff coming in Detective has been done for a couple of ...

• At April 6, 2009, Grico wrote:

  Pretty good month for trades. I will be buy Madame Xanadu, the art is striking and first issue was interesting. ...

• At April 7, 2009, Brian wrote:

  Thanks, Greg. I will use the sharper eye when I'm in my LCS tomorrow.

  Cheers,

  B

• At April 7, 2009, Lupin Yonsei wrote:

  I am impressed that Osamu Tezuka is making manga FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.

  ~wooooo-eeeee-oooo~

• At April 19, 2009, Alex Sheikman wrote:

  Greg,

  At San Diego 2008 JH Williamsa showed me the first 3 issues of Detective (and they looked awesome...the best, most ...

Check it out - May is SPAWN month! Yippee!

Dark Horse:

On page 28, we get Pixu: The Mark of Evil by Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, and Fábio Moon (15 July). The twins were selling this at San Diego last year, and I thought about getting it, but I didn't. And now there's a brand new groovy edition, so I'll be checking this out.

There's a Goon trade paperback on sale on page 32 (15 July). It's volume 8, collecting only 4 issues and costing $15.95. Why so much? I'm not sure. As you may or may not know, I have tried desperately in the past to get into The Goon, but I just can't. My loss, I guess.

Michael Avon Oeming co-writes and draws The Rapture #1 on page 33 (27 May). It's the tale of the world after all the superpowered beings have left and whether two lovers can make it in the strange new world. Sounds kind of neat.

Dave McKean's Cages gets a new printing on page 37 (22 July). It's 30 bucks for almost 500 pages, which isn't bad value at all. I always meant to get this, but never did. Is it any good, fine readers?

For 100 thin dollars, you can get the entire Martha Washington saga (page 41; 1 July). It's 600 pages, so I suppose it's good value, but the few issues I read of this didn't impress me. You might like it, though!

DC:

A fun printing error comes up in the DC section. Page 61 is the solicitation for Trinity #49-52. Page 63 is the solicitation for Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1. Page 62 features solicitations for several Dark Horse products. I have no point, I just like pointing these kinds of things out.

I don't like the fact that all of these Final Crisis Aftermath mini-series are coming out, not for any good reason, but mainly because it's a crass marketing tool wielded inexpertly by DC. Only one looks interesting - Dance (page 64; 20 May) by Joe Casey and CrissCross, featuring Big Hero 6 - whoops, I mean Super Young Team - but I probably won't buy it anyway, at least not until the trade comes out in two years or so. DC puts out several good comics, but they seem to have no clue how to coordinate and market themselves. They ought to hire some people with experience in, you know, running a business.

Pages 68 and 70 puzzle me. On page 68, Azrael: Death's Dark Knight #3 and Oracle #3 are solicited. Then, on page 70, the second issues of those two series are offered. Weren't those solicited in last month's Previews? DC doesn't say if orders on them are cancelled and they're re-soliciting them, so what's the deal? Again, the business plan of DC seems suspect. This happens again and again in DC's section: Pages 73 and 75 (Supergirl #41 and #40), pages 76 and 78 (Green Arrow/Black Canary #20 and #19), and pages #77 and 78 (Jonah Hex #43 and 42). What's up?

Mark Waid writes a Batman one-shot, Batman in Barcelona: Dragon's Knight on page 69 (27 May). I like how the text reads, "When a string of bizarre murders hits Spain's beautiful coastal city of Barcelona, The Dark Knight makes solving the crime his top priority!" Um, why? I assume it will be explained in the book (and the fact that Killer Croc is on the cover might mean Bats feels "responsible"), but I like that we're just supposed to assume that not only is Batman responsible for solving crimes in Gotham, but worldwide, as well. Does he scan the world's newspapers for bizarre crimes and then say to Alfred, "I must go to Reykjavik this week! Only I can solve the bizarre hot springs murders there!" And Alfred sighs and says, "Veddy well, sir." Or is he on vacation in Spain, and as we know, superheroes can never go on vacation without bizarre crimes occurring around them! I'm thinking too much about this, aren't I?

I'm not terribly interested in the new Animal Man mini-series (page 80; 27 May), but I enjoy that the text reads "Comics legend Gerry Conway (TV's Law and Order) makes his return to DC." Poor Gerry Conway. He's a comics legend, but apparently none of his comics work is good enough to sell this, and they have to mention a television show he worked on.

Power Girl #1 ships on 6 May (page 81). I'm just going to call her War Chest from now on. Anyway, as much as I adore Amanda Conner's art, I'm not going to get this. I wish she would draw something I want to read.

Brian mentioned something about this, but the hardcover versions of Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? show up on page 85 (22 July and 8 July, respectively). They're both 25 bucks for a lot of material you can find elsewhere. I think the Batman one might be a bit better value, as the Gaiman story hasn't been collected yet and it features his classic Riddler story from Secret Origins Special #1, which is probably hard to find. But they're both kind of bloated with stuff that has been collected before, which is a bit annoying. Unless you're Mike Sterling, do you really need yet another collection with the Superman/Swamp Thing story from DC Comics Presents #85?

There's a softcover trade on All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder on page 86 (24 June). I just point that out because of DC's ridiculous policy of getting things out in softcover. When did the first issue of this thing ship, anyway? I'll tell you what - it was back when we were on the old blog, so it's been a while. If you thought to yourself, "I'll just wait for the trade," you might have forgotten this even existed by now. Unless you read Mike Sterling's blog, that is, where he often takes breaks from his Swamp Thing love to express his ASBARTBW love.

Batman: The Black Casebook trade (page 86; 17 June) collects all the issues that inspired the God of All Comics' weird run on the title. I was reading this post, in which Mr. Mozzocco wanted Morrison to write a fake entry in Batman's journal about each particular issue. That's a pretty cool idea, but I would settle for an introduction for each story by the GoAC (he writes the general intro) explaining his inspiration to fit it into his run. I love annotations of anything, and it would be neat to see G-Mozz give us a peek behind the curtain instead of just writing something at the beginning talking about his childhood reading these issues. Maybe he'll do something like that in the intro. That would be nice. Mozzocco also points out that DC is releasing this way too late - they should have had it ready to go during the run. Hmmm - DC drops the ball again!

But then, DC does something so wondrous that I can almost forgive them their idiocy. On page 89, we get ... a new printing of the first HITMAN TRADE!!!!!! Whoo-hoo! It has the same stories from the original trade (I think), and it's only 15 dollars. I just wrote about this at great length, and yes, it's that good. Please flood DC with requests for this, as then they might collect the entire series!

Pages 92 and 93 have the big ad for the collections to which retailers can direct Watchmen movie-goers who are looking to expand their buying. It's a good idea, and it's kind of cool that DC is re-releasing older issues (beginning with Swamp Thing #21) to hook new readers. However, Swamp Thing #21 is coming out on 11 March, the Wednesday after Watchmen premieres. Sure, the promotion is called "After Watchmen, What's Next?" so presumably these people will be looking for something to read after the see Watchmen, but shouldn't a few of these come out this week? If you go see Watchmen the weekend it opens and aren't a comics geek, you don't know that new comics come out on Wednesday. You're going to head to your nearest comic book shoppe and ask for more stuff by Alan Moore. The retailer will tell you it's coming out in two or three days, and you'll leave, never to be seen again. These issues should be in stores on Friday and for the weekend, when the iron is hot. I hope this works a little, but it seems that DC is, you guessed it, dropping the ball again.

Super Friends #15 (page 97; 13 May) looks again to have the best cover of the month, plus the interior is also J. Bone! And it's Batman's birthday! Man, I don't want to buy these comics, because I'm such a manly man, but I can't resist!

Holy crap, it's a new issue of Astro City (page 100; 6 May). I seem to recall that Busiek said they were only go to solicit these suckers if the entire series was done. That means we get these huge gaps between arcs, but at least they'll (presumably) be timely when they do show up! I don't know if Busiek is reading (he has, in the past), but if he is, maybe he can confirm this!

Sleeper "Season One" gets collected in one big fat trade on page 101 (17 June). Remember when Ed Brubaker worked for DC? And they thought nothing of letting him go to Marvel? How's that working out for them? Anyway, I wasn't too impressed with this series early on, but it got better and better, and this collection - 25 dollars (!) for 12 issues (!!) - is a good value. It's not as good as "Season Two," but the whole series is definitely worth it.

WildStorm continues to trot out these really odd mini-series, and the latest, Killapalooza, shows up on page 104 (20 May). It's the story of a rock band who also happen to be meta-human assassins! Well, of course they are! It's written by Adam Beechen and drawn by Trevor Hairsine. Hey, it's a Trevor Hairsine sighting! I'll probably wait for the trade, but this sounds like it could be lots of fun.

Another reason one should never solicit mini-series until the entire thing is in the can: Storming Paradise #5 is re-offered on page 106 (13 May). I can't even remember when issue #4 came out. It did come out, didn't it?

I'm waiting for the trade of Mysterius the Unfathomable (sorry, Jeff Parker!), but I loved the solicit text for issue #5 on page 106 (20 May):

From all over North America, thousands make the pilgrimage to a hot, rocky desert to express themselves in every way imaginable for a week. They gather (somewhat naked) around a towering wooden man who will burn a hole in reality and make a human into a god. Inside that sacrificial effigy are the imprisoned souls known as Mysterius the Great and Delfi the Assistant.

And they have to go to the bathroom.

Oh, Jeff Parker, you slay me.

Mike Carey rolls out his latest Vertigo series (after the long-running Lucifer and the short-running Crossing Midnight), The Unwritten (page 108; 13 May). It's the story of a young man whose father wrote a series of novels starring a boy wizard, loosely based on his son. Now he believes he might be a bit more important than that and must "search through all the places in history where fiction and reality have intersected" to uncover some mysterious cabal. I LOVE conspiracy stories, so this sounds neat. Plus, Peter Gross draws the darned thing, and the first issue is 40 pages for 1 thin dollar. You can't lose!

On page 116 we get The Nobody by Jeff Lemire, which is "inspired" by The Invisible Man. Lemire, of course, wrote and drew the Essex County Trilogy, one of the best graphic novels (split into three parts, but all really one) of the past two years. I'm very excited about this, and in Vertigo's stated policy of bringing out more graphic novels in general.

I've been skipping Madame Xanadu, despite some decent reviews, but I might have to pick up #11 (page 117; 27 May) and the four subsequent issues. Why? Mike FREAKIN' Kaluta is drawing them! No offense to Amy Reeder Hadley, who's a fine artist and a delightful person, but it's MIKE FREAKIN' KALUTA DRAWING AN ENTIRE ARC! Phew. Kaluta is really good, in case you don't know who he is (and shame on you, if you don't).

I love the solicitation text for Young Liars #15 (page 118; 13 May): "Danny stumbles upon the ultimate secret; one that changes everything not only for himself and Sadie, but for the entire world." Doesn't that happen in EVERY issue of Young Liars?

In case you're wondering if your collection of action figures is missing something, it's probably ... Constipated Batman:

Image:

If you've been waiting for the trade of I Kill Giants (and that's your only excuse for not getting this amazing series when it came out in singles), it's offered on page 151 (13 May). 16 dollars for 7 issues is pretty good value, and the story and art are phenomenal.

The second volume of Noble Causes Archive shows up on page 152 (6 May). It collects the rest of the series, and even though it's in black-and-white, it's almost 800 pages for 25 dollars. And it is one of the best superhero comics of the decade, you know, so there's that.

The solicitation for Savage Dragon #148 (page 159; 6 May) is weird: "All-new story and art from fan-favorite writer/artist Erik Larsen (Spider-Man, Wolverine)!" Marvel and DC list what their creators have worked on, because they think that if you liked that little indie book the creator did, maybe you'll like this big superhero epic. But people buying Savage Dragon probably aren't buying it because they saw Larsen's work for Marvel, especially not now (maybe 15 years ago they were). So it seems odd to list his credits.

Top Cow has a Marvel/Top Cow crossover on page 168, starring Cyberforce, Hunter-Killer, the Avengers, and the Thunderbolts. Abnett and Lanning write, Tyler Kirkham pencils, and it's the mid-Nineties all over again! Man, this has clusterfuck written all over it. I wish I still got free comics, because I'd love to read this but wouldn't conceive of paying for it.

Marvel:

The sub-theme for this month's Marvel solicits: ASS SHOTS, SO MANY ASS SHOTS! With a special guest star from DC!

On page 3 of Marvel Previews, I find it interesting that they have "product updates" from previous editions. Some of the titles are cancelled to be re-solicited later in the year (Models Inc. #1 and #2, NOOOOO!) and others have artist changes and name changes, but it's rather interesting that Marvel is doing this. Good for them!

The Halo: Uprising trade gets re-solicited on page 4. Has the final issue of this even come out yet?

I'm not as jazzed by the presence of Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers (page 12) as some people, but Chris Eliopoulos, who's writing it, should make it fun.

The final issue of Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk gets solicited on page 19. I point this out just so make sure you know that it's been three years since issue #2 came out, as Mike Sterling points out. Issue #3 is scheduled to come out this very week - keep your fingers crossed! (And yes, I just referenced Mr. Sterling for the third time in this post. Deal with it!)

Man, as much as I love Kevin Maguire, I don't think he can tempt me to get Spider-Man: The Short Halloween (page 23). Damn.

I'm not the biggest fan of Joey Q's art, but the cover for Amazing Spider-Man #593 is pretty keen:

What in the hell is Bullseye supposed to be doing on this cover to Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2 (page 31):

I may not be too jazzed by the Pet Avengers, but I'm all over Fin Fang Four Return! on page 43. Marvel monsters reduced to human size and trying to make a buck! Check out the cover:

Yeah, I'm getting that.

Man, Millar and Hitch are still doing Fantastic Four (page 49). Talk about dropping off the map, buzz-wise (I'm sure sales are still fine).

Howling Commandos #1 (page 50) sounds kind of neat, especially because John Paul Leon is drawing it and it's a war comic in the Mighty Marvel Manner, but I like that the text says it's setting the stage for Captain America: White. Has that come out yet? I thought one issue came out, and then it disappeared. What's going on with it?

While it's probably true that Tim Callahan has no soul because he doesn't like Moon Knight, can even he resist issue #30 (page 50), which features Mexican wrestler assassins, the Punisher, and the "phantom-predator Toltec"????? I THINK NOT!!!!

Fred van Lente and Greg Pak explain why Marvel characters keep coming back to life in the month's issue of Incredible Hercules (page 56). That ought to be good!

I'm not about to buy "Messiah War," but I love the covers with Stryfe on them:

More nostalgia porn on page 74, as Marvel relaunches New Mutants ... with the original cast! Look, I like those old comics as much as anyone, but I'm weary by the Big Two trying desperately to recapture something that doesn't exist anymore. Best of luck to this book, but I'm not interested.

David Lapham has another Terror, Inc. series coming out on page 83. Unfortunately, Patrick Zircher isn't drawing it. I'll have to check out Koi Turnbull's art to see if this is something I want to get in trade format. The first series was so gruesomely hilarious that even bad art might not keep me away!

Page 89 offers a Marvel Masterworks of mid-1950s Atlas stuff, with the Black Knight and the Yellow Claw featuring prominently. It's 60 bucks, but might be worth a look!

There's a hardcover trade of Avengers Forever on page 94 for $35. Is this the first time it's been out in hardcover? Despite its rather ... dense plot, this is a great series, with bookish attention to detail from Busiek and tremendous art by Pacheco.

I was waiting for the trade of Fantastic Four: True Story, and it shows up on page 111. I think that Cronin liked the first issue, but I'm curious if the series holds up. What say the masses?

Holy crap, Marvel finally brought Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 2 back into print. Maybe now I can complete the damned collection (oh, wait - volume 3 is still out of print; I hope that will be offered next month!).

As the sub-theme this month is ASS SHOTS, SO MANY ASS SHOTS, let's take a look at some of the covers from Marvel Previews this month:

Page 23, Jackpot:

I don't know if this really counts, but I'll allow it. And her gravity-defying breasts make up for it, if it doesn't count.

Page 38, Black Panther:

Because you have to stand that way when you're confronting the Panther God.

Page 46, Fantastic Force:

Are Lorna and Wanda supposed to look intimidating? Because it looks like they're admiring their asses in a mirror.

Page 53, She-Hulk:

"I'll stop the chick who stole my name with the power ... OF MY ASS!"

Our Special DC guest star, Superwoman:

"You don't know who I am, but at least I have a nice ass!"

I was looking for something for the ladies, but the best I came up with is Page 11, Human Torch:

Yeah, that doesn't quite do it.

You may ask, "What's the big deal?" and I love ass shots as much as the next guy, but I find it humorous that you have absolutely no men in similar situations, and only the She-Hulk one, possibly, is justifiable. The Fantastic Force cover is just ridiculous, the Black Panther one probably shouldn't be quite so sexy (considering her situation), and the Superwoman one is silly. Jen's ass, as prominent as it is, at least works in the context of the cover - she's confronting the new character, who needs to be featured from the front. I just like to point out the goofiness of ASS SHOTS occasionally. Let's move on to the back of the book!

Super Human Resources #4 from Ape Entertainment is offered on page 197. I point this out simply because I'm grumpy that Cronin got a preview of this and I didn't. I wept. Seriously. Okay, maybe not, but I hope there's a trade of this!

Yes, there's a comics adaptation of Leprechaun (from Bluewater Productions, page 213). Just in case you were wondering what was missing from your life (beyond, you know, Constipated Batman)!

The solicitation text for The Unknown #1 from Boom! Studios on page 214 is deliberately vague, but it's Mark Waid writing a mystery comic, so it will probably be pretty good.

Also from Boom!, Mark Sable, who's a pretty decent writer, has Unthinkable #1 on page 216, a series about a government think tank that comes up with nightmare scenarios so they can safeguard against them. Naturally, said scenarios start happening. Oh dear. Sounds pretty cool.

Dynamite Entertainment is revamping Buck Rogers (page 232). If it doesn't have Erin Gray and Hawk, I'm just not interested man! (Remember that space vampire episode? Creepy!!!!)

Dynamite is getting a lot of mileage out of reviving old properties, as they fire up Sherlock Holmes #1 on page 235. I might actually check this out.

On page 250, Drawn and Quarterly offers Wimbledon Green. As it is "The Greatest Comic Book Collection in the World" (according to the cover), I ordered this some time ago (at least a year, if not two) yet never received it. I suppose I should head to Amazon, but I'm still bitter about not getting it the first time around.

Jiro Taniguchi has another book coming out from Fanfare/Ponent Mon called A Distant Neighborhood (page 252). It's the story of a man transported back to his 14-year-old self to the day his father disappeared and his mother died. I'm certainly not as knowledgeable about manga as some of our other contributors, but Taniguchi is a very good creator.

Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim bring us The Eternal Smile from First Second on page 256. Given those two creators, you know it's going to be awesome.

I'm not interested in buying the G. I. Joe comics from IDW, but they have three trade paperbacks of "classic" Joe (the Marvel iteration) on page 265, if you're interested.

IDW also has a new Astro Boy comic on page 266. If that's your thing.

Paul Grist shows up drawing Doctor Who: The Time Machination on page 270. One would think he wouldn't have time, what with Jack Staff being monthly and all that.

Zombies in the Old West is the concept of Rotten from Moonstone on page 274. Dan Doughtery is a good artist, but I think I'll skip this.

I don't read Captain Action (page 275), but I absolutely love this Captain Action bobblehead:

Oni Press makes me happy with You Have Killed Me on page 276. Not only does it sound like a good slice of pulpy noir, it's drawn by Joëlle Jones, who's flingin'-flangin' awesome.

Over on page 282, Pantheon Books offers Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. It sounds quite neat, as the title character moves to a small town after his New York apartment burns down and we slowly find out all sorts of stuff about his life. And it's drawn by frickin' David Mazzucchelli, so you know it'll look great.

Far Arden is a graphic novel by Kevin Cannon from Top Shelf (page 290). Army Shanks is a "crusty old sea dog" who wants to find the mythical island of Far Arden, and nothing will stop him. It's 400 pages for 20 dollars, and sounds like a pretty awesome adventure.

Thanks to Our Evil Dread Lord & Master and his evil habit of bringing on excellent manga reviewers, I now have an idea about what manga might appeal to me. Therefore, when I see 20th Century Boys volume 3 on page 295 from Viz Media, I know I'm going to order it. DAMN YOU, CRONIN!!!!! (Oh, and damn Michelle's review of volume one, which piqued my interest.)

Of course, then I go find manga on my own that sounds interesting, like The History of the West Wing on page 303 from Yen Press. It's a love story based on a classic Chinese tale. I'm actually a sucker for a really good love story. I'm not sure if this is one, but I'm willing to check it out to see!

That's it for comics, but every so often, I like to delve into the deepest reaches of the catalog. On page 328, we get this:

Well, that's a bit embarrassing.

I do like adorable Captain Kirk getting all tough on page 339:

The coolest thing in this entire catalog might be on page 354:

Always remember:

I know what my mom is getting for Christmas this year!

Finally, because we can't leave on a cheery note, let's check out page 394:

The statue is bad enough, but here's the text: "This armor girl features removable armor so you can sample all of Nakayama's talents." Everyone, with me: Eeeeeeewwwwwww!

Okay, I can't leave it there, because that's too skeevy. On the same page, you can get this:

YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!!!!!

Have a grand time flipping through this month's Previews, everyone. Always remember: Now that scans_daily isn't around to do your thinking for you, you have to actually figure out on your own what comics appeal to you! (Yes, I know that's a cheap shot. Oh well. Everyone needs to chillax occasionally on the Internet.)

25 Comments

• At February 28, 2009, choirsoftheeye wrote:

  Cages is my favorite graphic novel.

• At February 28, 2009, Jim McClain wrote:

  "When did the first issue of this thing ship, anyway? I’ll tell you what - it was back when we ...

• At February 28, 2009, Mike wrote:

  re: Goon - Seconded. Lots of folks I trust LOVE this comic, but it leaves me pretty flat.

  re: Amanda ...

• At February 28, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Cages is as well drawn as any comic I've ever seen. Pretty spectacular.

• At February 28, 2009, Name wrote:

  It always mildly bothers me when the go for "wrong direction ass shot" like in Fantastic Force. It has a ...

• At March 1, 2009, Kurt Busiek wrote:

  >> Holy crap, it’s a new issue of Astro City (page 100; 6 May). I seem to recall that Busiek ...

• At March 1, 2009, Rob III wrote:

  Cages is great, the art and storytelling are fantastic. My copy of the original hardcover fell apart pretty fast, and ...

• At March 1, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  From what I was told, the DC pages in Previews were all messed up. A new DC section should be ...

• At March 1, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I just watched that vampire episode of Buck Rogers the other night! It creeped me out as a kid, but ...

• At March 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Good to know, Mr. Busiek. I always look forward to more Astro City!

• At March 1, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Yeah, all this focus on Power Girl's giant boobs has just really got so damn ridiculous. I mean, everyone -- ...

• At March 1, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  "I don’t think I’ve ever said that we’ll only solicit when the whole arc is done, though I’d like that, ...

• At March 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  If I didn't pay 70 bucks for a Bruce Campbell action figure, I doubt I'll spend 65 on Blacula, no ...

• At March 1, 2009, Check Yo Math Before Yo Wreck Yo Math wrote:

  Assume Goon vol 8 is 100pp: $15.95/100pp == .1595 $/p ("why so expensive")

  Martha Washington: $100/600pp == .1667 $/p ("a ...

• At March 1, 2009, Christian wrote:

  Does he scan the world’s newspapers for bizarre crimes and then say to Alfred, “I must go to Reykjavik this ...

• At March 1, 2009, Jack Norris wrote:

  As Buck Rogers has a history as a newspaper strip that goes back many decades before the utterly worthless & ...

• At March 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  According to the solicits, The Goon trade is 112 pages. So the math is even more in your favor! ...

• At March 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Also, Greg, I now task you with writing a Batman mystery in Iceland. Go.

• At March 2, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  "More nostalgia porn on page 74, as Marvel relaunches New Mutants … with the original cast! "

  Geez, I guess mocking ...

• At March 2, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  I'm a bit surprised that Amanda Conner's drawn PG's "ventilation hole" so large... It's been a lot more modest recently, ...

• At March 2, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Blackjak: Palmiotti and Gray. A pretty good tandem, I suppose.

• At March 2, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Interesting... Jonah Hex in a leotard, with a boob-job and plastic surgery??

  Well, I tend to enjoy their work (when writing ...

• At March 6, 2009, DBM wrote:

  The DC section was messed up, apparently there will be a new DC section published: http://previewsworld.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=23&s=216&ai=80671&ssd=

• At March 21, 2009, Jack wrote:

  I'm almost sorry to say this, since i LOVE this site, but it has to be said:

  You are an embarrassment ...

• At March 25, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  So be it, Jack. I actually know quite a few comic readers who like a lot of varied stuff ...

See?

Dark Horse:

On page 33, our friends from the Northwest offer the first volume of Tim Truman's Conan the Cimmerian (volume 7 of the series). They're offering the softcover (24 June) and hardcover (3 June) for the same price. Why would anyone buy the softcover? That's odd.

As you know, I love Rex Mundi, and I'm always happy to see a new issue solicited (page 49; 15 April). But why on earth would the solicitation text spoil a big plot point? When I see that, I have to think the death alluded to will not stick. How sad that I'm such a cynical comic book reader that I think that. Bad form, Dark Horse, by the way.

DC:

You know what disgusts me? That the Big Two publish shit like all the one-shots "spinning out of the events" of their big events. Final Crisis pissed me off partly because I didn't feel like reading all the spin-offs (even the ones the God Of All Comics wrote), yet they became somewhat important in the reading of the main story. Jesus, DC, just let Morrison tell his story in the pages of Final Crisis and let the spin-offs tell their own story. So now they're doing it again, with "The Battle for the Cowl," which has three one-shots coming out of it (pages 67-69), plus the Azrael and Oracle mini-series (page 70). Blech. What a crock of shit.

Boy, thank God Barry Allen is back (page 77; 1 April). I couldn't sleep at night without him.

The Ryan Benjamin cover of Dead Romeo (page 79; 1 April) actually looks ... good. After making my eyes bleed with his art on that fill-in issue of Batman (#675, I believe), I never thought I'd say that about Benjamin. The interiors could suck, of course, but the cover is pretty keen.

Page 84: "Titans Tower has mysteriously come to life to attack the Teen Titans!" Oh, comics. Why do I love you when you do things like this to me? (1 April.)

Mike Grell returns to Warlord (page 87; 8 April). Unfortunately, he's not drawing it, but still - it might be worth a look.

I don't want to buy the JLA Deluxe Edition volume 2 on page 91 (24 June), because I already own most of the issues, but then DC drops in the JLA/WildC.A.T.s crossover that I've never read. Damn you, DC!!!!!

There's a Static collection on page 93 (27 May). I've never read Static, so maybe this is the time to do so.

On page 106, you can get a trade of Point Blank, Ed Brubaker's "sequel" to Sleeper (6 May). It's a wonderful comic, full of weird twists and turns, and it's beautifully illustrated by Colin Wilson. Apparently, DC is re-releasing Sleeper in trades (maybe a 24-issue Absolute edition?), so this is a fine place to start.

Speaking of Absolute editions, Promethea gets the treatment on the same page (30 September). 99 dollars is kind of steep, especially as it's the first of three for the series.

Man, a Fables/Jack of Fables/The Literals crossover (page 112; 15, 22, and 29 April). It will probably be great, but man, buying all those issues is going to suck.

Preacher gets a hardcover trade for the first time on page 117 (24 June). They can put Preacher in hardcover, but there's no market for more Hitman trades? Really?

Page 119: SSSSSSEEEEEEAAAAAAGGGGGGUUUUUUYYYYYYY!!!!!! (1 April.) You know, even though I don't love the original series, it's still an interesting read. And if writing crap like, you know, some of the stuff he's written recently allows G-Mozz to also write weird stuff like this, I'll take it.

Uncle freakin' Sam gets a hardcover edition on page 121 (10 June). This isn't bad, actually. I'm not sure if it's worth 20 bucks, but it's pretty neat. Well, from what I remember. It's been a while since I've read it.

Image:

Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein have a new book on page 140 called Viking (1 April). Hmmm, that reminds me of some other comic ... I guess Vikings are the new ninjas (or robots, or monkeys, or vampires ...).

I don't know if Pherone (page 146; 29 April) is any good or not, especially as it treads familiar ground (a femme fatale rediscovering her troubled past), but it looks freakin' cool.

Page 151, 22 April: Jeph Loeb. Rob Liefeld. Smash! Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!!! (Oh, and Bruce Banner's lawyers are on line one.)

Jesus, I'm tempted to get Moby Dick, the Classics Illustrated version, on page 153 (8 April). Why? Two words: "Bill" and "Sienkiewicz."

Marvel:

What's the deal with Jean Grey's hair (page 7)?

Ultimate Spider-Man comes to an end (page 15). I can't believe Marvel won't relaunch this with a new #1. They're not killing the entire Ultimate line, are they? (They should kill all of it except this title, which is quite good.)

So Daredevil Noir shows up on page 17 with this text: "The latest addition to Marvel's red-hot Noir line ..." So is this a new Marvel imprint (note Wolverine Noir on the following page)? I thought it was a couple of mini-series. Are we going to see Thor Noir soon? Black Panther Noir? Power Pack Noir? (That would be pretty awesome, come to think of it.)

I noticed this on several Marvel titles: "Wolverine Art Appreciation Variant" cover. What the hell is that? Why does it show up on titles like Agents of Atlas and Ms. Marvel? And why is there none for, say, Wolverine: Origins?

The text for Spider-Woman #1 (page 35) reads: "... she rediscovers her life in a world she did not make." That's a stupid line. It didn't make sense when it was used with Howard the Duck, but at least that was a satirical comic. What the hell does that even mean, Marvel?

The text for Ghost Rider #34 (page 41) claims that the Highwayman shows up. If it's this guy, that would be awesome. I suspect it's not, though.

Um, Marvel? Comics don't have "directors" (Fantastic Force, page 43). I'm just looking out for you!

It really bothers me when Marvel solicits a comic without telling us who the artist is (All-New Savage She-Hulk, page 45). What the hell, Marvel?

The Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular (page 51) sounds like goofy fun ... but in the age of the Internet, is anyone really an obscure character?

Exiles #1 (page 54): Hey, the last two series didn't last ... but this one is sure to!

So ... much ... goofy ... armor ... by ... Greg ... Land ...

(And I'm sure I'm not imagining this, because it's a Greg Land cover, but check out the composition. The two ladies at the bottom have their butts together and their backs making a V-shape. The lady in between them is snaking through the space. That's creepy, isn't it? I'm not thinking too much about it, am I?)

Yes, it's time for yet another Wolverine ongoing title (page 65). Sure, it's written by Jason Aaron, but ... really? That's four, right? Plus all the specials Marvel releases every month! Sheesh. Hugh Jackman isn't that sexy, is he?

I think I got bonked on the head and, like the Connecticut Yankee, have somehow traveled back in time. How else do you explain that it's suddenly 1993?

Robert Kirkman has a new MAX series on page 73. How will that affect his "no late books" policy for the dozen he writes for Image? Still, with art by Cory Walker, The Destroyer might be worth a look.

Okay, so these Minimates of Wolverine and friends are weird enough (page 79), but is the Blob carrying ... a Thermos?

Thank God Marvel has FINALLY brought out a deluxe hardcover of Todd McFarlane's Torment. Just so you know, the text reminds us that it's "a terrifying, action-packed epic that made - and continues to make - comics history!" That's correct, you know.

The Joe Kelly run on Deadpool gets a second trade on page 109. It's 30 bucks, but it's a good chunk of comics. I didn't realize they had brought out a first trade. Maybe they'll eventually get around to a third trade with issue #11 in it.

There's a second Essential Dazzler volume on page 117. I might have to get this, even though I own the issues of her solo series. It includes the Dazzler graphic novel, which I can't find anywhere. And it has a bitchin' cover by Joe Jusko!

And so we move to the back of the book. Join me, won't you?

Adhouse Books has a collection of stories by Mike Dawson called Ace-Face: The Mod with the Metal Arms (page 196). I didn't buy Dawson's Freddie & Me, but read good things about it, and Our Dread Lord & Master liked Project Superior, whence this character sprang, so this might be good.

There's a second trade of Rex Libris on page 198 from Amaze Ink/Slave Labor. It claims to collect issues #6-12, but I do hope that's a misprint, as the series ended with issue #13. This is, of course, more awesome than should be allowed in a comic, so I encourage you to pick it up!

On page 203, there's a solicit for Walled In from Ape Entertainment. It sounds a bit intriguing, but what I'm amused by is that it's the origin story of the star of an upcoming feature film, "starring Mischa Barton." Is Ms. Barton that big a draw that we're using her presence in the movie to sell it? I'm just wondering.

Warren Ellis continues to crank out stuff for Avatar, in this case Ignition City on page 213, which takes place in a bizarre 1956 in which space pilots wander the Earth. It's drawn by Gianluca Pagliarani, and it sounds like it has the same steampunk vibe of Aetheric Mechanics, so I'm in!

On page 224, Boom! Studios pisses me off. I'm certainly glad that Mr. Stuffins is finally relaunching, but they've completely redone issue #1, with brand-new art, even. I guess I have to buy it. Damn you, Chip Mosher! Boom! also has Irredeemable by Mark Waid, in which a superhero becomes a supervillain. I suppose if anyone can pull this off, it's Waid (Empire is an underrated gem), but it seems a bit overdone, doesn't it?

Let's take a break to talk about the ad on page 236. It's of the Black Widow, done in a distinctive manga style. That's cool and all, but the text reads, "The deadly (and delicious) Black Widow wears a skin-tight bodysuit that would only be possible in the world of anime and manga." Exsqueeze me? Have any of the solicitation text-writers (I want that job!) read a Marvel comic starring the Black Widow? Ever?

All right, moving on. Dynamite jumps into the Dracula pool with The Complete Dracula #1, retelling the story using the original novel. This is after last month's Previews had a retelling of the book with Ben Templesmith art. What's going on? It's not a significant anniversary of the book's publication (112 years), so what's up?

On the top of page 287, Moonstone has Skull & Bones in trade. This is a mini-series by Ed Hannigan that DC originally published back in the early 1990s. Remember it? Is it any good, those of you who do remember it?

Oni offers a trade of My Inner Bimbo by Sam Kieth on page 288. This is a really weird mini-series. I have a feeling it's brilliant, but I need to re-read it. For 15 bucks, however, it's definitely worth a look.

I feel bad because I haven't reviewed Chronicles of Some Made yet and now it's on page 294 from Passenger Pigeon Press. Felix Tannenbaum was nice enough to send it to me, and I'll definitely review it soon. It's a strange little love story starring robots. It's quite sweet.

A new Atomic Robo series! On page 296 from Red 5 Comics! Just buy it already, will you?

Simon & Schuster gives us T-Minus: The Race to the Moon on page 297. It's written by science aficianado Jim Ottaviani and features at least some art by Zander Cannon. It's sure to be cool, man!

Some people named Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill are bringing out something called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on page 304 from Top Shelf. I might have to give these two rookie creators a look.

And so, with that shout-out for the neophytes, we end our journey through this month's Previews. Other Greg may not have found anything good from the big boys, but that doesn't mean we can't look for nuggets of comics goodness, right?

35 Comments

• At January 31, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I had essentially the same reaction to Battle of the Cowl, except I think I cursed more. Some pro somewhere ...

• At January 31, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  More Deadpool trades! YEAH!

• At January 31, 2009, James Moar wrote:

  "What’s the deal with Jean Grey’s hair?"

  *Really* bad bed-head.

• At January 31, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I heart Dazzler. And that trade is so mine.

  Also, Warlord and Mike Grell together again makes me feel like ...

• At January 31, 2009, res196e7 wrote:

  "This is an era when they actually know there are fans that prefer to wait until it’s collected in a ...

• At January 31, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  Kirkman said he finished writing Destroyer (and Killraven) a while ago. So it won't effect his Image books. And save ...

• At January 31, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Jesus, I’m tempted to get Moby Dick, the Classics Illustrated version, on page 153 (8 April). Why? Two words: “Bill” ...

• At January 31, 2009, Tobey Cook wrote:

  Just to clarify... Point Blank comes before Sleeper.

• At January 31, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Tobey: Whoops, you're right. I meant "prequel." My bad.

• At January 31, 2009, felix wrote:

  you should TOTALLY review my book if you are gonna be all nice about it like that!!! :)

• At January 31, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "Some pro somewhere — I forget who and I don’t want to blame Didio unless I know it was actually ...

• At January 31, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  “What’s the deal with Jean Grey’s hair?”

  Have you ever seen 'There's Something About Mary'?

• At January 31, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Soooo, you haven't slept since 1986 (which is the year Barry Allen died in Crisis of the Infinite Earths)?

  You must ...

• At January 31, 2009, Jim Kosmicki wrote:

  Skull & Bones was a very well done series. I'm very happy to see it being collected, and it fits ...

• At January 31, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I liked JLA/Wildcats well enough when I read it, but I got it off e-bay for a dollar before shipping, ...

• At January 31, 2009, Ben wrote:

  Seconded to the Skull & Bones shout-out. I picked up the original issues from a cheapo box recently and ...

• At January 31, 2009, DubipR wrote:

  Correct me if I'm wrong though, wasn't the Morrison JLA: Ultramarines TPB have the Wilcats story in the back as ...

• At January 31, 2009, Randy wrote:

  You are correct, DubipR.

• At January 31, 2009, Keith B wrote:

  There are (slightly larger than) thumbnails of the whole Moby Dick GN on Sienkiewicz's website. It looks gorgeous.

  http://www.billsienkiewiczart.com/gallery.asp?sc=BSMOB&page=0

• At February 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Yeah, that Sienkiewicz Moby Dick will definitely be worth picking up--it blew my 6-year-old mind when I first saw it. ...

• At February 1, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  "Jesus, I’m tempted to get Moby Dick, the Classics Illustrated version, on page 153 (8 April). Why? Two words: “Bill” ...

• At February 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: The first arc of Battlefields was pretty good - a fairly typical Ennis war story, but those are usually ...

• At February 1, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Weird, who posted just above with my username? Likely an error, as other people's names get auto-inserted into my ...

• At February 1, 2009, uhhh wrote:

  "The text for Spider-Woman #1 (page 35) reads: “… she rediscovers her life in a world she did not make.” ...

• At February 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Ah, true. I didn't read Secret Invasion, so I didn't make the connection. It's less stupid now, but ...

• At February 1, 2009, Salamurai wrote:

  Stealthwise: if it's a public computer, it will retain the name in the cookie file.

  Sam Kieth keeps changing publishers, so ...

• At February 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  That Dead Romeo cover is, by far, the best thing I've ever seen Ryan Benjamin do.

  If the interiors are ...

• At February 1, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  The text for Spider-Woman #1 (page 35) reads: “… she rediscovers her life in a world she did not make.” ...

• At February 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I will write Thor Noir for free if they'd only ask.

  Anyway, there's loads of good stuff coming out in April. ...

• At February 2, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  (Because my contempt for the "work" of Greg Land won't let me not comment)

  In addition to Greg's point about the ...

• At February 2, 2009, the cosh wrote:

  You American's should really have a national holiday in honour of Bill Sienkiewicz.

  Seaguy is the last thing of Morrison's that ...

• At February 2, 2009, Çteve! wrote:

  Speaking of She-Hulk, TPB vol.8 : Secret Invasion is complerely unnecessary. It collects issues 31-33 of this title and issues ...

• At February 2, 2009, Çteve! wrote:

  Speaking of She-Hulk, TPB vol.8 : Secret Invasion is completely unnecessary. It collects issues 31-33 of this title and issues ...

• At February 2, 2009, Çteve! wrote:

  Hm, speaking of being redundant.

• At February 2, 2009, Chip Mosher wrote:

  No, double damn you Greg Burgas for not mentioning more of our titles!

  (joke!)

  C.

What's going on on that cover? Dick is standing there looking menacing, and ignoring the fact that Jason appears to be attacking Tim with a knife. Or is Jason ignoring Tim, who appears to be ignoring the fact that Jason is attacking him with a knife, and going after someone off-panel? And if both Jason and Tim are springing into action against an off-panel foe, why is Dick standing there looking menacing and ignoring that? Oh dear.

On page 9-10, Previews shows us the fans' art gallery. Usually I skim over them and ignore them, but this one caught my eye:

Yes, fans still love those impossibly hot lesbians about to get it on! Good to see!

And then, on page 20, we get this:

Jesus.

Dark Horse:

Page 38 gives us Wondermark vol. 2: Clever Tricks to Stave Off Death (6 May). You can find this on-line, but it's more fun to read them in one volume. This is the kind of thing that if you find it funny, it's hilarious, but if you don't, it completely won't work for you. I find it hilarious.

On page 40, Dark Horse is "re-mastering" The Amazon (11 March). This is an interesting comic by Steven Seagle and Tim Sale from 20 years ago. Check it out! Or find the back issues so you can check out the neat-o Comico logo on the cover and ads for The Fish Police in the interior.

Some strange people out there like The Goon, and on page 56, you can pick up the 10th anniversary issue, which is #32 (4 March). I really, really, really have tried to like The Goon. I love Powell's art, but I just don't like his writing. Sorry!

DC:

Simon Dark comes to an end on page 80 (11 March). That's not surprising, but what is stunning is that it reached issue #18.

Remember how we can all tell that Mary Marvel is eeeeeeevvvvvvvilllllllll (page 90)? That's right, panty shots:

Good girls wouldn't let you see their unmentionables!

For 20 bucks, you can pick up a hardcover of Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories (page 97; 20 May). Apparently Mad Love is quite good, and the artists include Mike Parobeck and Matt Wagner, so why not check it out?

The DC Classics Library gives us a 40-dollar hardcover collecting the early issues of the Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing (page 98; 27 May). Somewhere in southern California, Mike Sterling salivates a bit and prepares to buy these in at least the twelfth different format.

Another Showcase volume shows up on page 100, this one the first volume of Doom Patrol (8 April). It's very good in color, but will probably still hold up well in black-and-white.

Page 105. Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3. 25 March. "President Batman." Awesome.

V for Vendetta gets an Absolute Edition on page 119 for $99 (19 August - huh?). I would say this is totally worth it, but that's a steep price. That's why you get it on-line or wait for sales!

T. bangs on Jeph Loeb a whole lot, and most of it is deserved, but The Witching Hour isn't all that bad, and DC has another printing of it on page 124 (1 April). Bachalo's art isn't perfect, because he was starting his really weird phase, but it's still not bad. Certainly better than a lot of what Loeb has done.

I don't often buy manga, because I'm such a tool, but on page 128, CMX offers a book about Genghis Khan, coolest man in history (22 April). 10 bucks for 194 pages! There will be mayhem!

Image:

I'm not sure if Killer of Demons (page 148; 4 March) will be any good (although it's not a bad concept), but Scott Wegener provides the art, so you know it will look fantastic.

Invincible reaches issue #60 (page 154; 18 March), which is impressive, but what I'm weirded out by is Sara Pezzini's costume. Is it just the way Ottley draws it, or has it always looked like hands cupping her breasts?

There's a trade of the first five issues of Golly! on page 158 (18 March), in case you've been waiting for it. It's a decent series, with lots of wacky redneck weirdness.

Marvel:

Is it just me, or do Wolverine's legs look painfully askew in this cover (page 35)? I mean, he appears to be squatting uncomfortably on the toilet and what he's waiting for just won't come out! Poor Logan.

(You can see it much better here, and it still looks uncomfortable.)

I don't buy the Marvel Adventures books (maybe I should), but the solicitations sound so much more fun and entertaining than those of the regular Marvel books. Check them out on pages 50-51: Dormammu finds a loophole in a legal contract that could let him back into our dimension; cartoon characters are pursued by their arch-nemesis and only the Fantastic Four can help them; a super-villain wants to test his new video game that will destroy New York and he uses Flash Thompson to play it; the Avengers and Nick Fury and the Howlin' Commandos are trapped in time, fighting pterodactyls in modern London and visiting 4000 BC. That's good stuff! Luckily, "real" Marvel books are more concerned with killing people.

On the War of Kings cover (page 58), my eyes are drawn constantly to Crystal's breasts. It's disturbing! Brandon Peterson is evil!

(Check out the unadulterated cover here.)

There's a new special on page 71 in which Nightcrawler quits the X-Men. I always hate stories like that, because it shouldn't be a big deal when someone "quits" the X-Men. Just let the characters go have a life for a while, and then bring them back when you feel like it. Kurt's not dying, after all.

Lots of Omnibi this month: Every Millar Ultimates issue for $100 on page 80, and every Frubaker Iron Fist issue for $75 on age 81. You know you want them!

If you've been wanting to pick up one of the Top 100 runs and can't find Starlin's Adam Warlock stories, Marvel helpfully collects them in a Masterworks volume on page 85 for $55. How nice of them.

More Sienkiewicz New Mutants goodness on page 115, with the second trade collecting the rest of his run. 25 dollars is a bargain!

You know where we're going next ... the back of the book!!!!!

AiT/Planet Lar is celebrating 10 years in business, so order one of their books (page 208). Or go to their web site, see what else they have, and order something. If you haven't bought Scurvy Dogs yet, I fear for your immortal soul!

Alterna Comics offers the second volume of American Terror: Confession of a Human Smart Bomb on page 210. The first volume wasn't bad, and I'm looking forward to seeing the second.

On the same page, Amaze Ink/Slave Labor has Strongman, which, according to the solicitation text, wants us to imagine The Dark Knight Returns if Batman had been a luchidore. A masked Mexican wrestler, drinking himself to death, needs to stop an organ trafficking ring. Come on - that's gold!

Of course you know I like detective/crime fiction, so I spotted Harker #1 on page 224 from Ariel Press. A grumpy chief detective gets involved in a murder that has the hallmarks of a crime from the Victorian age. What's not to love?

Anna Mercury gets a trade paperback from Avatar on page 230. I've been skipping a lot of Avatar books recently, because they've been quite good at getting the books out in trade. So, is this worth it? What say the readers?

Avatar also gives us a few different versions of Crossed #1 and 2 (page 231). Apparently, it "ignited an Internet firestorm!" I wondered what those flames were attacking my computer!

More from Avatar! Jamie Delano shows up again with Rawbone #1 (page 232), a bloody pirate tale. I'm tempted, partly because Max Fiumara does the art. But I'll probably wait for a trade.

If you've been wondering where Alan Grant is, he's on page 234 with Channel Evil #1 from Berserker. A television talk show host accidentally unleashes evil on the world! Damn, that sucks.

Potter's Field is back from Boom! Studios on page 242. It's only a one-shot, so there's very little long-term commitment on your part! Mark Waid also has a new four-issue mini-series starring The Incredibles on page 243. You know you want to check it out!

I've always wondered if Cla$$war would get collected, and now Com.X has it for $25 on page 246. That's a bit steep, but I might take the plunge anyway.

Del Rey Manga, in conjunction with Marvel, is publishing a Wolverine manga and an X-Men manga on page 267. They might be interesting. Antony Johnston is writing the Wolverine one, and Raine Telgemeier and Dave Roman handle the X-Men one.

Over on page 269, Desperado Publishing has Pandora's Box, a "sexy noir thriller" written by Si Spencer and drawn by John McCrea. Yay! John McCrea drawing something!

Drawn & Quarterly always has interesting stuff, and tucked away on the bottom of page 277 is The Bun Field, which sounds intriguing. Here's just one plot point, from the solicit: A girl falls and breaks her tooth, has it replaced with a tooth from her dentist's dog's mouth, and repays him by plowing a field of buns. Plus, the writer/artist, Amanda Vähämäki, has three umlauts in her last name! That's more umlaut action for your buck than you usually get!

Issue #5 of Tales Designed to Thrizzle is offered by Fantagraphics on page 282. Each issue is completely self-contained, so there's no need to worry if you haven't gotten the first four. Pick it up!

J. M. DeMatteis shows up on page 289 with The Life and Times of Savior 28 from IDW. It's a superhero story in which the hero questions his mission, which is a common idea these days, but DeMatteis is a fine writer, so he might make it work.

I guess a bunch of people don't like Ben Templesmith, but I do, and he provides 27 chapter illustrations for a version of Dracula that IDW is publishing on page 293. For 17 bucks, that's not bad. I just got The New Annotated Dracula for Christmas, but I might get this too!

For 25 bucks, you can get the Fallen Angel Omnibus on page 296. It's the first 21 issues of the series. Why they're not collecting all 33 issues and charging, I don't know, 35 dollars is odd, but who am I to second-guess?

Last Gasp is offering Tintin in the Congo (in black and white) on page 300. Racism, paternalism, colonialism - it's all here!

Page 301 has Britten and Brülightly from Metropolitan Books. A private detective gets involved in a weird murder that makes him despair for humanity. There's a longer description of it on page 278. It sounds really cool.

Chuck Dixon writes a new Airboy comic on page 302 from Moonstone. Dixon does some nice war stuff, so this might be worth checking out.

Ben Edlund doesn't write or draw The Tick: Big Blue Destiny on page 303 from New England Comics, but according to the solicitation, it's all approved by him! Who doesn't love the Tick?

Wasteland reaches #25 (page 303, Oni Press) and Johnston and Mitten celebrate by producing a 48-page full color story. Holy cow! You know you want to buy this!

Voice of the Fire is back in print from Top Shelf on page 322. Is this as impenetrable as I hear?

I'm probably not going to get The New Justice Machine trade paperback that Transfuzion Publishing has on page 324, but it has art by Darryl Banks and Adam Hughes before they were stars, so that might be kind of keen to see.

Moving to the back of the back of the book, on page 348 we find two volumes of Girls of Gaming from Play magazine. It's "more than just a pin-up book" and celebrates "gaming's vast line-up of heroines, from the cute, to the sexy, and everything in-between!" The girls are "brought to life through CGI renders, concept artwork, and commissioned and exclusive original artwork." I don't know, but this feels creepy.

Speaking of creepy, let's end this post with a book on page 362:

Let the dead eyes haunt you! Have fun making your way through Previews this month!

11 Comments

• At December 30, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  "but what I’m weirded out by is Sara Pezzini’s costume. Is it just the way Ottley draws it, or has ...

• At December 30, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I don't always agree with your comments regarding women and sexuality in comics, Greg, but I'm with you on the ...

• At December 30, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Didn't Jae Lee also do some illustrations for an edition of Dracula?

  I vaguely recall hearing about that.

• At December 30, 2008, Tim wrote:

  Voice of the Fire is pretty great, and reasonably easy to penetrate with your mind. It's more a collection of ...

• At December 30, 2008, Kelson wrote:

  Looking forward to more Potter's Field.

  Invincible: I have a tendency to forget that Image Central has a shared universe, and ...

• At December 30, 2008, Dave wrote:

  The first chapter of Voice of the Fire is really the only part that's all that difficult to understand, the ...

• At December 30, 2008, T. AKA Ricky Raw wrote:

  Certainly better than a lot of what Loeb has done.

  Faint praise indeed.

• At December 30, 2008, DubipR wrote:

  Wow, that Ross cover is in the fine tradition of his Cyclone pantyless cover and his Sgt Steel junk piece. ...

• At December 31, 2008, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  Instead of buying Absolute V For Vendetta, you could buy the nice regular-sized, much-cheaper hardcover that DC produced a few ...

• At December 31, 2008, Tracer Bullet wrote:

  Oddly shaped Bolt-On Tits (TM) attached to the frame of a woman clearly suffering from crippling anorexia? What's not to ...

• At January 2, 2009, Salamurai wrote:

  Thanks for mentioning the Tick book. I'd already gone thru Previews last week, and glossed over that because I thought ...

Let's get to it!

Dark Horse:

There's another volume (the third) of Herbie Archives on page 35 (29 April). If that's your thing.

On page 37 (1 April), we finally get a Turok: Son of Stone Archive edition that we've so desperately wanted and deserved! American Indians versus dinosaurs! How can you resist?

DC:

Okay, I don't get the cover of Batman #686 (page 66; 11 February). All the villains are ceremoniously walking into the Dew Drop Inn (of "the dude dropped in at the Dew Drop Inn" fame)? What's that all about?

I don't really care all that much, but am I supposed to know something about the "Origins and Omens" tag that accompanies several DC books in this month's Previews?

So Batman: Confidential brings us a story arc on page 69 (11 February) by four people who are very good at what they do: Christina Weir, Nunzio DeFilippis, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Kevin Nowlan. So why am I not super-enthusiastic about it? King Tut? Really? Sheesh.

I wouldn't want anyone to interpret this as a slight against Geoff Johns, who is of course the greatest writer - not just comics writer, but writer - in recorded history, but on page 78, we get text about "the orange light of avarice." Are any of the other Lantern lights good ones? And if they're not, why isn't a Green Lantern always consumed by jealousy? I'm just wondering. In no way is this impugning the absolute genius of Mr. Johns, whose tears, I'm well informed, cure polio.

I have no idea if The Mighty (page 81; 4 February) is any good or not, but does the world really need another "bold new super hero epic"? Really?

On page 85, R.E.B.E.L.S. #1 debuts (11 February). Again, I have no idea if it's good or not, but I like the text: "The future is now in this all-new monthly series!" "The future"? Isn't this a deliberate evocation of a series from 15 years ago?

It's certainly nice of DC to offer a softcover version of Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (page 92; 4 March). I don't understand DC's policy of waiting decades before releasing things in softcover, but maybe I'll finally read this!

Ambush Bug gets a Showcase volume on page 95 (25 March). As Ambush Bug stories are largely gag reels, the fact that it's uncolored shouldn't be a big deal. The five issues in here that I've read are hilarious.

I probably won't buy Bang! Tango (maybe as a trade) on page 110 (4 February), but the solicitation text cracks me up: "A passionate ex-gangster tries to make good in his second life as a tango dancer." Good stuff! Joe Kelly seems to do better when he's not writing superheroes, so this might be worthwhile.

100 Bullets comes to an end (page 114; 11 February), and you can get all twelve trades on page 115. I know some people are bored with this, but I think it's fantastic. Azzarello better not screw up the ending, though!

Air #7 is a dollar (page 116; 18 March). I may not buy it based on what happens in the next few issues, but that's nice of DC to try to goose sales in this way.

Image:

I saw a bit of Soul Kiss, Steven T. Seagle's new book (page 140; 11 February), at San Diego this past summer, and it looks pretty cool. It's the story of a girl who needs to save her boyfriend from the Devil, so she needs to find ten innocent souls and send them to Hell. Well, that can't be pleasant. Seagle writes very good stuff quite often, so I'll have to check this out.

Joe Kelly shows up with a new book on page 142 (4 February) called Bad Dog, which is a high-concept tale of two bounty hunters - one of whom is a werewolf. I still haven't read Kelly's Deadpool (I'm working on getting the back issues), but Image wants us to believe it's in the same vein, so if that appealed to you, perhaps this will.

Another Man of Action guy, Duncan Rouleau, has a nifty-sounding book on page 144 (18 February). The Great Unknown is the story of a man whose thoughts become reality, although it sounds more complicated than that. I'm waiting for DC to release a softcover of Rouleau's Metal Men, but even if that went off the rails (which I heard it did), I'm still looking forward to this.

You know, just after I finally pick up Codeflesh this year, Image decides to release a new, full-color collection with a brand new story (page 146; 25 February). Thanks, Image! Grrrr ... Yes, it's 35 bucks, but it's pretty damned cool.

Jersey Gods (page 150; 4 February): a god of war marries a girl from the Garden State. What's not to love?

Displaced Persons is re-offered on page 154 (4 February). I'm glad, because I was wondering where it had gone.

I wonder what happened to Elephantmen. Image keeps soliciting it (#21 is on page 157 for 11 February), but it's been a while since an issue came out. Maybe they should stop soliciting it until it can get back on track. I hope it's not in trouble, because it's so freakin' good.

A while back, commenters were wondering if Ted McKeever's Metropol would ever show up in a collection. Well, on page 169, it has shown up in a collection! It's the third volume of the Ted McKeever Library that Image is offering. I just read volume one (Transit), which wasn't great, but is still pretty keen.

Marvel:

The only way I'm buying Black Panther #1 (page 10) is if T'Challa gets a sex change. That would be too awesome for words.

As much as I want to buy the Agents of Atlas ongoing (page 13), I wonder if Marvel is going to sneak a $3.99 price onto it with the "giant-sized" first issue at 4 bucks and then "regular-sized" issues at the same price. They wouldn't be that sneaky, would they? Still, an Agents of Atlas ongoing is probably going to be super-duper.

It's interesting that Marvel is killing Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men (pages 24-25). I really wish they would kill all the Ultimate books except that Spidey one and just let Bendis do his thing with that. The rest of the line is pretty worthless these days.

Page 26: Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, March 2009. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! (If you don't know why this is funny, Mike Sterling explains it all!)

Marvel tries the anthology thing again with Astonishing Tales #1 (page 34). I remain convinced there's a way to publish an anthology without charging 4 dollars for it, which will kill this book faster than my endorsement of it would! But we'll see.

It's somewhat stunning that Marvel is publishing a book called Models, Inc. (page 51). First, because it's obvious that they're trying to evoke the awesome television show by that name that we all hold dear in our hearts, but more because it's just ... weird. So weird I'm tempted to buy it!

I like how the solicitation text on page 70 for X-Men Origins: Sabretooth reads, "Why IS he so vicious? Why IS he so brutal?" I emphasize the present tense just because Sabretooth is still dead, right? Marvel doesn't even pretend that the death of a character means anything anymore, which is perversely satisfying.

Cloak and Dagger gets a hardcover on page 94. I've never read it, but come on - it's Mantlo and Leonardi!

As we move to the dreaded back of the book, we come across page 205 and Ape Entertainment, which offers The Black Coat & Athena Voltaire One-Shot for two thin dollars. I'm really dying for new issues of The Black Coat and a new series of Athena Voltaire, but I'll take this!

I honestly can't recommend anything Banzai Girls, such as the Banzai Girls Annual 2009 from Arcana Studio on page 207, but the way the text describes creator Jinky Coronado is awesome: as a "fan-favorite FHM and calendar model/artist/writer." Grant Morrison can't even claim that!

Lots of trades from Avatar, if that's your thing. Streets of Glory comes out on page 218, Doktor Sleepless gets the treatment on page 219, and just for the heck of it, you can get a five-issue pack of Anna Mercury on page 220. You might like them all in one shot instead of doled out slowly! Plus, you can order Aetheric Mechanics if you missed it the first time around. Dang, it's good.

Bluewater Productions brings us Female Force: Sarah Palin (page 222). Yes, we're in Hell. Isn't this a tad late? Or did I miss an election? (To be fair, Bluewater is bringing out a Michelle Obama comic soon, so there's that.)

More Humanoids on page 232, as Devil's Due brings us The Zombies That Ate the World, with art by Guy Davis. I have never been into the zombie thing in movies or comics, but I'm sure this will look pretty cool!

Dabel Brothers Publishing brings us something on page 250 we've all been yearning for: The Warriors Official Movie Adaptation!!!!!! What better way to celebrate a 30-year-old movie?!?!?!? I never saw the appeal of The Warriors, to be honest. But at least the comic is here!

If you've been tossing and turning at night wondering where Greg LaRocque has been (and who hasn't, really?), he brings us a new series on page 264 called The Dreaming from Exiled Studios. DC lawyers on Line One! This is 10 bucks for 54 pages, but it does sound interesting.

Look at IDW, releasing Whatmen, a Watchmen parody written by Scott Lobdell. It's on page 277. Good to see Lobdell getting work!

IDW also has a full-color Next Men hardcover on page 283. It's 50 bucks for 11 issues, and I have to say - the black-and-white softcover versions IDW has published are just dandy.

Hey, look what Oni Press has on page 296! It's volume 5 of Bryan Lee O'Malley's magnum opus, Scott Pilgrim! This time, he takes on the universe! You may like this. I, because I have no soul, do not.

Radical Publishing has a new title called Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead. It was created by Warren Ellis but is written and drawn by Steve Pugh. This is, I suppose, why Pugh is no longer doing Shark-Man. This new book better be the greatest book since the Bible to justify taking Pugh away from Shark-Man!!!!!!

If you like all your robotic awesomeness in one shot instead of in monthly doses, Red 5 Comics offers the trade of the second Atomic Robo series on page 301. It isn't quite finished yet, but I certainly can recommend it based on the 80% of the series that has already seen the light.

Based on the sales figures, many people have been skipping The Straw Men from Zenescope. That's too bad, because it's quite good. If you've skipped it because it's hard to find, the publishers helpfully offer the first three issues in one package for 3 measly dollars on page 334! Can you afford to pass on a bargain like that????

On page 340, Tripwire has a "Superhero Special" for 8 bucks. Tripwire is a wonderful comics magazine, and issues rarely appear, but they're definitely worth it.

That's it for this month. Have a grand time flipping through Previews! And, I ought to remind you, you have about a day to enter my contest!

26 Comments

• At November 29, 2008, Michael wrote:

  You don't recognize a wake when you see one, Greg?

• At November 29, 2008, Justin Hilyard wrote:

  "And what exactly are the cockles of your heart?"

  It's another word for ventricle, because they're sort of shaped like cockle ...

• At November 29, 2008, Jason wrote:

  Man, Ramona Flowers looks pissed. And I wouldn't worry about lacking a soul, Greg. I think you had to have ...

• At November 29, 2008, Michael wrote:

  I played a lot of 8-bit games, and I don't get them. Mostly because there's not much to get. I've ...

• At November 29, 2008, John Seavey wrote:

  There are positive ring colors; blue is hope, indigo is compassion, and purple is love. Of course, Star Sapphire shows ...

• At November 29, 2008, Dave wrote:

  I dunno Michael, I'm pretty sure that given the massive followings of internet shitfests like Questionable Content, ctrl+alt+del and Megatokyo, ...

• At November 30, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Michael: No, I've never been to a wake. I guess because we know Batman's not dead, I didn't think ...

• At November 30, 2008, s1rude wrote:

  Boy, it's amazing how little I care about anything DC is doing these days. My feelings about the fanboy-darling ...

• At November 30, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Is Codeflesh recommended for people who have only really liked Casey’s G0dland?

  I guess it depends on why you like Godland, ...

• At November 30, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Also: Yeah, Metal Men was never "on the rails" to begin with. But, I enjoyed the hell out of it ...

• At November 30, 2008, Tyson wrote:

  I'm 37, was never really a gamer, and I'm not a fan of manga. I love the Scott Pilgrim ...

• At November 30, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Yeah, Dave, but it would not be the glorious indie comics orgasm farm it is now, is my point. Hell, ...

• At November 30, 2008, Dave wrote:

  Oh man, is Sluggy still running? Jesus, I used to read that back in middle school, I haven't even ...

• At November 30, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  You don't get the appeal of the warriors?

  Were you EVER a teenage boy?

• At November 30, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Chris: Ha! When The Warriors came out, I was 8, and by the time I might have appreciated it, ...

• At November 30, 2008, Paul C wrote:

  "As much as I want to buy the Agents of Atlas ongoing (page 13), I wonder if Marvel is going ...

• At November 30, 2008, CBrown wrote:

  I like how you can see thirteen stripes on Sarah Palin's flag, even though you don't see the top of ...

• At November 30, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I have no idea if The Mighty (page 81; 4 February) is any good or not, but does the world ...

• At November 30, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  FGJ: Yeah, I like superhero comics, but do we really need another one?

  Models, Inc, from the solicitation, sounds like a ...

• At November 30, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  FGJ: Yeah, I like superhero comics, but do we really need another one?

  Blue Beetle and She-Hulk just got canceled, and ...

• At November 30, 2008, Catullus wrote:

  re: "Dabel Brothers Publishing brings us something on page 250 we’ve all been yearning for: The Warriors Official Movie Adaptation!!!!!! ...

• At November 30, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Hey, I'm excited about the Warriors adaption. I love that film, but then again, I first saw it when I ...

• At November 30, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Wasn’t there a video game released, like within the last two years?

  The game was awesome.

  Made seeing the movie a total ...

• At December 1, 2008, Kris wrote:

  "Alice Hotwire"? .....sheeesh. That sounds like a Warren Ellis parody.

• At December 1, 2008, Jeff R. wrote:

  It occurs to me that that Ambush Bug/Action Comics cover may be the first 'Trinity' cover, and may actually predate ...

• At December 1, 2008, Pj Perez wrote:

  Totally relevant trivia of the day: There is an actual bar in Las Vegas called the "Dew Drop Inn."

Yes, I hated the cover so much I had to use the back cover! I'm just crazy that way!

Dark Horse:

Page 42 brings us another trade of Fear Agent (4 March). Fear Agent is a weird series. Remender often seems to have no idea what he's doing on the book, but when you read all the trades together, a plan does emerge a bit. It's weird. It has nice art, though, and, you know, lots of killing.

If you've been looking to complete your Grendel collection but haven't been able to find the back issues, Dark Horse helpfully collects "Devil's Reign" on page 44 (4 March). This collects the final Comico issues, #34-40, and features early Tim Sale art. It's only 20 bucks, too, and it's packed with content, telling two concurrent stories.

And then there's the Bettie Page heat-sensitive mug (page 55). Oh dear:

Remember when you were 10 and your puerile grandfather had something like this? Yeah, if you buy this, you're turning into your puerile grandfather. Just thought you should know.

DC:

DC continues to do good by releasing another JLI hardcover (page 89; 4 March). Of course, it's 25 bucks, but who knows when the softcover versions will be out?

On the same page, The Losers hardcover shows up (11 March), written and drawn by some guy named Kirby. You know, if it's not written by Diggle and drawn by Jock, I don't want to see it!

I remember when Vigilante came out in 1995, but wasn't that interested in it. Now DC has a trade (page 92; 11 February). I know it's James Robinson, so it should be good, but what say the masses? Is this any good? (And whatever happened to Tony Salmons, anyway?)

If you haven't been keeping up with the trades of Wonder Woman's "plainclothes adventures," you're missing out. The fourth (and last) volume gets collected on page 93 (18 February). It doesn't feature Sekowsky art, but that's okay!

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1 shows up from Johnny DC on page 97 (28 January). How much do you want to bet it will be the best Batman book of the month?

Or maybe not, as Chynna Clugston illustrates Super Friends #11 (page 98; 14 January), in which Bat-Mite forms a Batman fan club. Gold!

Jeff Parker writes Mysterius: The Unfathomable #1 on page 101 (21 January). Jeff Parker writing about a magician who talks to dead people? Yeah, that should work.

Vertigo has a big-ass collection of all the Death stuff you can hope for (page 113; 25 March). Two things stand out for me: One, do we really need the AIDS PSA included? Really? Two, saying something is "compleat" really annoys me. Anyway, I'm not sure if this is worth 35 bucks, but you might!

I don't know how often DC bothers to release a Sandman Mystery Theatre trade (yeah, I hate spelling it "theatre" as well, but that's the flingin'-flangin' title, so I have no choice), but there's another one on page 117 (25 February). It's been a while since I've read these, but I know they're damned good comics.

Peter Milligan begins writing Hellblazer (page 118; 21 January). Hmmmm. Might have to pick that up.

On page 134, DC offers the Phantom Lady Bust. I'm sorry, but the joke is way too obvious:

Image:

Remember when Mark Millar wrote all those new titles for a bunch of different publishers? And how Unfunnies, his title for Avatar, might be the worst comic ever published? And how Wanted insulted the very people who made him a star? And how not-at-all-obvious and clever the twist in Chosen was? Well, Image remembers that last book, and so on page 138 they offer Chosen in a new trade (14 January) that implies Millar will be returning to the book (it's now called American Jesus volume 1). I would avoid this, though. It's not very good. I just thought I'd point it out.

Dynamo 5 #0 (page 150; 28 January) is only 99 cents. Pick it up, people!

Invincible #58 (page 154; 14 January) claims that it will be "on time in 2009!" and that its "ship date" is "guaranteed!" I've grumbled about Image's problems in getting its books out on time, but is it really that big of a deal? The reason I don't like it with Marvel and DC is because they have so much counting on big events like Final Crisis. With Invincible (which I buy in trades, so lateness doesn't bother me that much), shouldn't it be more important to get the best book you can? I get the frustration of waiting for comics that never appear (as it's happened to me so, so often), but ultimately with books like this, you're concerned about the overall story, not the timeliness with which it comes out. Or is that just me?

On the same page, we get more of the same. Jack Staff #21 is resolicited (28 January). How's that monthly schedule for Jack Staff working out? Yes, I suck because I don't buy it, but I'm not talking about whether it's good or not. A big deal was made that it would be out on time. Has it been? This seems to point to "no."

Maybe it's Kirkman, as Walking Dead #57 promises the same thing on page 157 (7 January). Beats me.

Image gets the title of one of its own books wrong on page 167. It's I Hate Galaxy Girl, not "Gallant" Girl. Good stuff!

I knew that if Velocity was one of the Pilot Season issues from last year that got its own title, Kevin Maguire probably wouldn't be drawing it, but issue #1 is on page 170 and Joe Casey is writing it, while ChrisCross takes over the art chores, so that will probably work.

On page 175, Midnight Nation gets the hardcover treatment. It's 35 bucks, but it's 304 pages and it's probably Straczynski's strongest comics work. That might be because of Frank's art, and it does fall apart a little at the end, but it's pretty darned good.

Marvel:

Hey, it's Marvel's 70th year. Let's celebrate!

You know, I don't want to be cynical about Marvel and DC, because if I write one tiny thing against those two, somebody thinks I hate everything they publish, but I'm a bit tired of Marvel "classifying" the descriptions of their comics. It's - how shall I put this? - idiotic. Oh well. It's not like I'm buying any of those titles anyway.

Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña are bringing us Punisher #1 on page 50. Did I miss Punisher War Journal getting cancelled? It appears so, because it's not offered in this Previews. I guess it's nice that Remender and Opeña are getting a high-profile gig, even though I won't be getting it.

Page 53 has Ruins, which is weirdly numbered. There were only two issues, which are collected here, so why is it #1? Anyway, Ellis destroys the Marvel U., and it starts off well but quickly spins off the rails. Maybe Marvel will now collect Ellis's Hellstorm and Druid!

Okay, so Thor is getting a #600 (page 58). I need to rant about numbering and re-numbering. A few years back, Marvel trumpeted the fact that Fantastic Four was the first Marvel title to reach 500 issues, even though Thor had already reached it years earlier (Journey into Mystery started several years before FF). So now Marvel has re-numbered Thor so that they can have a 600th issue. I could forgive it when they reverted to the original numbering on Fantastic Four, because the title never actually had a break, did it? They came up with new "volumes," but if it did have a break, it was only a month, right? Thor went, what, two years without a comic to call his own? It's not even the 600th issue of a comic book starring Thor, because Journey into Mystery existed for years before he was created, and then, with issue #500, didn't it go back to Journey into Mystery before it got killed? Sheesh. Nice cash grab, Marvel. At least you know people will fall for it!

On page 89 we get something sweet: Captain Britain Omnibus. It's 100 dollars, but it's 680 pages, plus it's all the Alan Moore stories in one volume. It also features the post-Moore issues, which are almost as good, but I'm not sure if it includes pre-Moore stories. Does anyone know? I'll have to check it out. It doesn't matter, because the stuff I've read that is included - all of the above plus New Mutants Annual #2 and Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 - are fan-freakin'-tastic. I own the two Captain Britain trades, and I'm seriously tempted to get this, even for the hefty price tag.

Agents of Atlas gets a trade collection on page 110. A fun story, very nice Leonard Kirk art, and a ton of extra issues with the first appearances of the characters. Nice touch there by Marvel. I own this, but might pick up the trade anyway.

As we head into the back of the book, we come across the first trade of Terry Moore's Echo on page 192 from Abstract Studio. If you've been waiting for the trade, here it is! (Actually, I thought it had been solicited last month, but even it was, here it is again!)

Alterna Comics offers an "expanded edition" of the Jesus Hates Zombies anthology on page 194. I have no idea if it's any good, but I like how it's called "the Second Coming" of the book. Because it's a new edition, get it? Well, I thought it was funny.

There's a new "Alan Moore" comic on page 218 from Avatar called Neonomicon. A lot of the Alan Moore Avatar stuff is adapted from his prose (usually by Antony Johnston), but this one appears to be an actual comic by the master, so maybe those quotation marks are unnecessary. This is in a Lovecraftian vein, so I'll probably skip it, but there it is.

If you were waiting for the trade with all the CrossGen titles and then were a tad disappointed when the company went under, Checker Book Publishing has a bunch of them on page 229: Sojourn, Ruse, Scion, and Sigil. Your prayers have been answered! That's what happens when you wait for the trade, people!

Devil's Due has picked up the Humanoids license, and the first book they're bringing out is I Am Legion, with stunning art by John Cassaday (page 233). DC managed to get one issue out before they shed Humanoids, and I've been waiting a good 4 years or so to read the rest of this. It appears Devil's Due is splitting that issue and turning this into a six-issue mini-series. Good for them! Here's what bothers me about this. While I was buying comics this week, a customer at the store was flipping through Previews. He got grumpy when he saw that Devil's Due was publishing this. Why? Because he thinks Devil's Due is a crappy company that only publishes licensed crap and he doesn't want to give them money because he thinks they suck. But he really wants to read this. We discussed his policy, which I can understand to a degree but think is ultimately foolish. Marvel and DC, by the fact of the sheer numbers of titles they publish, probably publish far more crap than Devil's Due, but does he stop reading the books by them he likes? I felt the same way about buying The Straw Men by Zenoscope, because until they published The Straw Men, Zenoscope had published their semi-pornographic takes on Grimm's Fairy Tales and little else. The employee of the store feels this way about Avatar, because he thinks it's a place where Ellis and Ennis can take their truly crappy ideas that Marvel and DC refuse to publish because they're so crappy. There might be some truth to that, but some of Ellis's Avatar stuff is really excellent, so having that attitude is odd. It seems that Ellis takes his crappy ideas to Marvel because he knows that they're interested in re-hashing crap, but that's just me. Anyway, we debated this because if he gives his money to Devil's Due so they can publish a good book like I Am Legion (and it's pretty good, not only because of Cassaday's art), won't they publish more good books? It's a conundrum. My point has always been: Don't boycott companies based on what they did in the past. See what they're publishing right now. Maybe they'll always publish what you think is crap. But to deny yourself good comics just because they publish a lot of crap is silly. On the other hand, I think I'll stop buying DC comics just because that issue of Nightwing was so awful. That makes sense, doesn't it?

Speaking of Devil's Due, on page 243 they offer Hollow-Eyed Mary. I'm not sure if I'm going to get it or not, because it sounds like a typical weird future with crazy characters ("racist teenagers, masked assassins, cannibals, and a telekinetic hitman," according to the solicitation text), which isn't that interesting, but I thought I'd point out that Rudolf Montemayor, who drew it, is pretty good, so it might be worth it for the art alone.

Dynamite Entertainment offers the second arc of Garth Ennis's new war comic, Battlefields, on page 249. Peter Snejbjerg draws it, it takes place in Singapore, and it appears to be ... a love story? Ennis can write some good love stories, so maybe this will be something to check out. I'm sure there will be plenty of gore as well!

On page 269, Drawn & Quarterly has Baloney by Pascal Blanchet, which sounds strange enough to work. It's set in Russis and tells the tale of a few villagers struggling against the mean old monopolist who owns the only heating company in town. It's also, apparently, a homage to the music of the 1930s and '40s. Well, that's weird. But what else would we expect from D & Q?

There's a fourth issue of Comic Book Comics on page 271 from Evil Twin Comics, and the cover is a homage to Fantastic Four #1. No matter how many times someone homages that, it never gets old.

Fantagraphics has its usual collection of stuff, including Supermen!, which is offered on page 272 and reprints several superhero stories from 1939-41, many of which have never been reprinted. It sounds fun because of the inclusion of Will Eisner's Wonder Man, which led to a successful DC lawsuit killing it, but the talent on the other comics sounds good too.

A softcover version of Zot! is offered on page 276 from Harper Collins Publishers. It's 25 bucks, but it's 576 pages. That's good value. I haven't written about this since the first version of this book came out a while back, but goddamn is this a great comic book.

Journey volume 2 shows up on page 287 from IDW. I got volume 1 not too long ago, and it was pretty darned good. I'm looking forward to the second volume.

As much as I appreciate NBM's output, I get a bit grumpy with them as well. On page 294 they offer No Pasaran volume 3 again. Some of us already have volumes 2 and 3 but haven't read them yet because No Pasaran volume 1 is still out of print! Maybe, just maybe, NBM could work at getting that back in print before offering volume 3 again. Just maybe. Then some of us could read the damned thing.

Page 295 brings us the big collection of Local from Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly (I like how the genre is "slice of life"). It's 30 dollars for 384 pages, and although the ending was a tiny bit disappointing, overall it's a stunning comic. You know you want it!

I'm always torn about books from Rebellion, because the quality is usually pretty good but they cost so very much. Robbie Morrison and Henry Flint on Shakara the Assassin (page 302) sounds pretty keen, but is it worth 25 bucks? What says the readership?

Jeff Lemire's "Essex County" trilogy is all finished and offered on page 314. This is one of the best "graphic novels" of 2007-08. The first two can stand alone, but the third ties more into the first two. Just read all three of them!

That's a wrap on this month's chunk of future comics. Oh, there's a book by some punk on page 352 about the Legion of Super-Heroes, but do we really want to give him any more press? I think not!

Just remember: If you don't love everything DC publishes, this chick will show up at your door and vomit blood on you! That's just how they roll in the DCU, man!

33 Comments

• At November 3, 2008, Jim wrote:

  Can someone tell me if Greg is buying anything from DC or Marvel? I don't think he mentioned it in ...

• At November 3, 2008, lee wrote:

  Shakara is probably worth it. I've gotten a bunch of the Rebellion books and the ones by Robbie Morrison ...

• At November 3, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  From what I've read the last couple of days, "I Hate Galaxy Girl" HAS been changed to "I Hate Gallant ...

• At November 3, 2008, hilker wrote:

  "DC continues to do good by releasing another JLI hardcover (page 89; 4 March). Of course, it’s 25 bucks, but ...

• At November 3, 2008, Darren K wrote:

  If you are questioning the inclusion of the Death AIDs PSA in the Complete Death hardcover, then you have clearly ...

• At November 3, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Aquaman looks like Brock Samson.

• At November 3, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Darren: I've read it several times, as it was included in so many Vertigo books back in the day. ...

• At November 3, 2008, Dave wrote:

  Is Necronomicon the new Alan Moore/Jacen Burrows series that Avatar has been talking about for the past few years? ...

• At November 3, 2008, The Cosh wrote:

  I'd give the Shakara book a try. Henry Flint's art is absolutely splendid throughout and the story's pretty different from ...

• At November 3, 2008, Apodaca wrote:

  Why would a villainous, blood-spewing, cosmic being take the time to bind her hair in a ponytail?

• At November 3, 2008, Random Stranger wrote:

  "Why would a villainous, blood-spewing, cosmic being take the time to bind her hair in a ponytail?"

  So she doesn't get ...

• At November 3, 2008, Kevin Riddle wrote:

  Why would a villainous, blood-spewing, cosmic being take the time to bind her hair in a ponytail?

  So she doesn't get ...

• At November 3, 2008, Huwser wrote:

  Shakara: Absolutely agree with the other posters on this. Thoroughly enjoyed it when originally published in 2000AD. Henry Flint's art ...

• At November 3, 2008, Huwser wrote:

  Oops, Block Mania was Mike McMahon. I meant O'Neill. Excuse me, couple of beers to the good...

• At November 3, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dave: I suppose Neonomicon is that project. I'm not sure, though. And you'll notice that I'm not the ...

• At November 3, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Didn't that Zot softcover come out a few months ago?

  I've got it...

• At November 3, 2008, lauren wrote:

  Checker Publishing does not seem to list Ruse, but does list Negation. Was ruse wish fulfillment, or did you ...

• At November 3, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  FGJ: I'm not sure if there's any difference between the Zot! book that came out and this new offering. ...

• At November 3, 2008, Jeffrey O. Gustafson wrote:

  I am really looking forward to the Midnight Nation hardcover - it really is one of Straczynski's finest works, and ...

• At November 3, 2008, Craig wrote:

  I like how no one has actually taken the time to consider Robert Kirkman's "on time in '09". On time... ...

• At November 3, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  Re: Mark Millar. Agreed. SO agreed.

  And that Zot! is already out, but could use more press, ...

• At November 3, 2008, Dan K wrote:

  I've not read Shakara, but Robbie Morrison and Henry Flint are both quality creators so I'll probably pick it up ...

• At November 3, 2008, lee wrote:

  Isn't this the Zot hc version? For some reason they released the sc first THEN the hc. Makes ...

• At November 3, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Oh, shit!

  I gotta remember to add Velocity to my pull list.

  ChrisCross on a monthly comic again is damn good news. ...

• At November 4, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Oh, I missed that Chynna Clugston was drawing the new Super Friends issue. That explains why there's no new issue ...

• At November 4, 2008, Karlos wrote:

  @Random Stranger:

  Yes, Moore's Capt. Britain run is out in a tpb -

  http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Britain-TPB-Alan-Moore/dp/0785108556

  Or, if you're a man of means...

  http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Britain-Moore-Davis-Omnibus/dp/0785137602

• At November 4, 2008, davidwynne wrote:

  Shakara is absolutely AWESOME, so long as you like fight comics. It's basically all spectacle, with amazing locations, fantastic and ...

• At November 4, 2008, Doug Atkinson wrote:

  "I guess if it’s the “compleat” Death hardcover, it needs to be included, but why not include every appearance of ...

• At November 4, 2008, Marbles wrote:

  Yes just to ad dto the consensus that Shakara is fantastic. The art alone is exceptional. A lot of Rebellion ...

• At November 4, 2008, Eric P. wrote:

  I read Invincible in trade also, and I have to tell you that along with Powers, it's very frustrating how ...

• At November 4, 2008, Jack Norris wrote:

  "And how Unfunnies, his title for Avatar, might be the worst comic ever published?"

  Not even close. You could fill pages ...

• At November 4, 2008, Zack Smith wrote:

  I am a little wary of the Humanoids reprints because when DC did I Am Legion, the art was obviously ...

• At November 4, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Oh, shit!

  I gotta remember to add Velocity to my pull list.

  ChrisCross on a monthly comic again is damn good news.

  ChrisCross ...

Dark Horse:

Pages 26 and 27 bring us a Beanworld collection (4 Feb.) and a new Christmas Special (17 Dec.). I know MarkAndrew is wetting his pants over this, so I might have to see what all the fuss is about.
Speaking of olde-tyme stuff, Dean Motter brings us a new Mister X mini-series on page 28 (24 Dec.). I really wanted to get the omnibus offered in last month's Previews, but I decided it was a bit too spendy. But I'm all over this book! Motter is pretty darned awesome.

It's kind of hard to keep up with all the mini-series in the Hellboy universe, but Mignola isn't stopping to catch his breath: On 3 Dec., we get Hellboy: The Wild Hunt. Duncan Fregredo is drawing it, so I know it will look great.
Gerard Way is drawing the cover of Rex Mundi #15 (page 44; 17 Dec.). That's odd.

DC:

Denny O'Neil writes a two-part Batman story, by the way (page 73; 3 and 24 Dec.). O'Neil wrote some good Dark Knight stories, didn't he?
Page 79 gives us Robin #181 (17 Dec.). Here's what it says: "Red Robin is revealed, and Anarky is unleashed in Gotham City." The cover shows Anarky holding a tattered Robin tunic. Anarky wasn't always this angry, so I wonder what's going on with this. Maybe it's more of the darkening of the DCU. That would be fucking awesome.

Okay, here's the thing: Page 91 has the second hardcover volume of All Star Superman (11 Feb.). That's fine, but if you didn't buy it in single issues, why wouldn't you wait for the inevitable 12-issue hardcover? You know it's coming!!!!
I'm rather astonished the Morrison/Millar run on The Flash has never been collected before, but on page 93, there it is ... well, some of it. These are decent but unspectacular comics. It started better than it ended.
I can't imagine the James Robinson-written issues of WildC.A.T.s are great, but a trade collecting them is tempting (page 103; 28 Jan.). It's James Robinson, for crying out loud! With at least some Travis Charest art!
Somewhere, Johnny Bacardi is swooning. What's this on page 104? A final issue of Wintermen? Coming to us on the final day of the year? I'd usually use the acronym, but this deserves a WHAT THE FUCK? Where in the hell has it been? Holy crap. I was going to rename my annual award for books that never come out the "Wintermen Award," but now I have to rethink that. Maybe the "Fell Award"? Yeah, that'll work. Sweet Fancy Moses, Wintermen. Un-frickin'-believable.
A new Haunted Tank series shows up (page 113; 3 Dec.). Color me unimpressed. You know why? Those preview pages, despite featuring nice Henry Flint art, shows a few of the weaknesses in so many DC and Marvel comics these days: Overwriting and unfunny humor. Apparently, in this first issue we get a long-winded reason why J. E. B. Stuart is haunting the tank. Yawn. Who cares? Isn't it enough that a Confederate ghost is haunting a tank? Then, his descendant is black. Okay, not bad if a bit obvious. But the preview page ends with a lame joke that doesn't fill me with confidence. DC and Marvel can't resist the urge to suck all the unironic goofiness out of their old titles, it seems. Jesus. (Not that the original Haunted Tank stories were goofy, per se. But nobody felt the need to delve too much into why Stuart was haunting the tank, other than some brief panels every so often.)
On page 121, there's a trade of Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights (21 Jan.). I have no idea if it's good or not, but I know it has Seth Fisher art. SETH FISHER ART!!!!!! Sold!

Wow, DC has finally gotten around to putting out a trade with Alan Moore's first issue of Swamp Thing included (page 122; 11 Feb.). How nice of them. Shockingly, it's a good issue. If you already have the trade that begins with issue #21, I wouldn't pony up $25 just to get the issue, but if, inexplicably, you've never gotten a trade of this, it's a must-buy.

Image:

Page 142; 10 Dec.: Phonogram Phonogram Phonogram Phonogram!!!!!! Did I mention that I already love the Silent Girl, and she has only appeared on the advertisement for this series. PHONOGRAM!!!!!!

Is Armageddon Now: World War III a new Rob Liefeld comic (page 148; 3 Dec.)? I mean, I'm not going to buy it, but if it is new, I'm stunned that Our Rob managed to pencil 120 pages. Of course, the art is by "Rob Liefeld & Mike Capprotti," so maybe Our Rob only drew the preview page featured in Previews. Or maybe he did draw it all and has been working on it for 15 years. 120 pages in 15 years ... that sounds about his speed!
I have no interest in Comic Book Tattoo (page 151; 3 Dec.), but I just want to point out that the book is frickin' huge. If you have a chance to look at it, do so. It's impressive how big the thing is.
The solicit text on page 152 cracks me up. Image is bringing out a softcover version of American Flagg! on 17 Dec. So far, so good. The text reads, "collecting the series' first seven issues!" Directly below that, the text reads, "Collects AMERICAN FLAGG! #1-14." Well done, Image. Which is it?
While I like Image a lot, this section of Previews shows why I get grumpy with them (and no, this isn't the reason I'm grumpy about reading Previews this month). I count 20 single issues offered. 7 are re-solicits. It's frustrating waiting for them, is all I'm saying. Maybe they shouldn't solicit something unless they're fairly confident the books will be out.
On page 169, the second Ted McKeever hardcover is offered. This one is Eddy Current, which is 35 bucks but is 358 pages. That's not bad value!
For 100 thin dollars, you can purchase the entire Rising Stars epic in a handsome hardcover (page 179). That seems like a lot, but it includes over 30 issues. Of course, whether it's worth it or not is up to you. I thought it petered out quite a bit (not helped by the interminable delays between issues), but I also haven't read the entire thing in one sitting, either. Maybe it's better than I remember.

Marvel:

Marvel's solicitations made me grumpy. I'll try to skim what's angrying up my blood, but I might fail. You've been warned!

First, there's the whole "classified" solicits. The idea of the Skrulls staying and becoming a minority in the Marvel U. sounds okay, but I have a feeling that Joey Q and his minions will cock it up somehow. I also have a feeling it's being done because Marvel doesn't want Iron Man to be a "bad guy" anymore. Again, I'll let the events play out before I judge it, but I do wonder - are they doing these things just to prove that their events "matter"?
And then there's Marvel Noir (pages 4-6). Um, why is Daredevil included here? Isn't it already "noir"? Whatever.
I will say that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (page 15) looks pretty cool. Eric Shanower writes and Skottie Young draws? Very neat. Of course, I'll probably wait for the trade, but it's still a good pairing.

One problem I often have with Marvel's solicitations is that they're so desperate to be clever and hip. Case in point: Page 20 has Amazing Spider-Man #581, the text of which reads, "It would sure help HARRY OSBORN if he could remember the completely logical, non-magical, and totally plausible way he came back from the dead." See, stuff like that makes me grumpy. Marvel is trying to be clever, but all they do is remind us how stupid most superhero comics are (with all the resurrections and such) and how stupid, in particular, "One More Day" was. Let it go and move on, Marvel. Don't keep reminding us how idiotic that story was.
Page 30 offers the Fantastic Four Cosmic Special. There's no information about it. Fuck the heck? Do they even know anything about it? Do they only have a cover? Can't this be offered when Marvel knows, I don't know, who's writing and drawing it? My brain hurts.
Iron Fist goes to the future (page 35). I just can't see how that will work.
Kurt Busiek has a sequel to Marvels on page 41. That's nice for him.
If you think that Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon are immune to the lure of easy money, think again: On page 47, we get the "resurrection" of Ma Gnucci. Sigh. Yes, Ma Gnucci, whom Frank kicked into a burning house, is back. How charming. And is this a weekly comic? Issues #1-4 are coming out? How weird.
There are more of those "specials" coming out, with She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision on page 51 catching my eye. It's drawn by Mahmud Asrar, the artist on Dynamo 5. Those people who refuse to buy anything that isn't published by DC or Marvel should check this out, because Asrar is damned good. Unfortunately, these kind of books always lead to more work for the Big Two, and the good title - Dynamo 5 - gets left behind. Confound it! Don't do it, Mahmud! Resist the lure!
Okay, I get that Terry Dodson draws attractive women. That's cool. I like the cover of Uncanny X-Men #505, but I'm not sure what's going on. The solicitation text does mention Ororo and Emma, but not Rogue or Betsy. And is that Karma, or the Asian Psylocke? And if it's the Asian Psylocke, why is British Psylocke next to her? Why is Psylocke British again? Is this part of the Marvel Noir thing or not? My brain continues to hurt.

X-Infernus #1, page 63. Really?
You know, I have no interest in the Punisher MAX X-Mas Special on page 76, even though it's by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi, but is anyone else a bit skeevy about using the Christmas story and grafting it onto the Punisher? I don't even believe the Christmas story, but it just feels wrong, somehow, to me. Is there no respect in this world for anything?
A super-villain in the Witness Protection Program (pages 78-79). Damn, I'm going to love Brubaker and Phillips' Incognito, aren't I?
Marvel continues to mystify me. On page 115 they have a new printing of the first volume of Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson. They still haven't gotten the rest of the run back in print or even into print (with regard to the latter stages of it). What are they waiting for?
You may wonder why I'm so grumpy about Marvel, beyond what I've written here. Well, beyond the fact that Marvel is publishing more and more material these days, seemingly to drive everyone else off the shelves, so much seems to be about things that happened in the past. It's either stories set in the past or stories in the present in which we learn something shocking about the past. I may not like the idea of Secret Invasion, but at least Bendis and his section of the Marvel U. are moving things forward a bit. This obsession with crap that happened decades ago is really hampering the development of these titles. I realize the recycling of characters has always been a problem in comics, but it's more than that lately. This isn't even recycling of characters - it's revising the past, and it's annoying. On page 72, for instance, Christos Gage writes an X-Men/Spider-Man mini-series. It takes place right after Kraven's Last Hunt and the Mutant Massacre. Marvel is promoting it partly by promising Storm with a Mohawk. Remember when giving Storm a Mohawk was part of Claremont changing the characters and forcing them to grow up a little? These days, that kind of thing is verboten. Now, we have to simply revisit times when that sort of thing happened. God forbid it goes on today. On the facing page, we're reminded that Storm is, you know, married to Black Panther. Storm getting a Mohawk had implications (remember, she stabbed Callisto through the heart around that time, too). The marriage to T'Challa has been largely ignored by X-writers, so it doesn't have the impact that a freakin' haircut did. So stupid.

Okay, I'm done ranting for now. Let's check out the back of the book, shall we?

I know you can always find this on-line somewhere, but Scurvy Dogs is listed on page 202 from AiT/Planet Lar. Scurvy Dogs might just be the funniest comic book of this decade. If it's not, it's on a short list. Everyone who reads this book falls instantly in love with it. Why don't you?

Tucked away on the bottom of page 204 is Zombies Calling from Amaze Ink/Slave Labor. I'm not terribly interested in it, but I thought I'd point it out because of Faith Hicks' fascinating post about the demise of Minx. Check it out!

As you may know, I've kind of cooled on Warren Ellis, but I still think he can do good things, especially on the odd standalone graphic novel from Avatar. So I'm keen to read Frankenstein's Womb (page 224), which is about Mary Godwin (the unmarried Mary Shelley) visiting Castle Frankenstein in the summer of 1816. This is the kind of thing Ellis is good at, and I'm looking forward to it. I do find it interesting that the text reads that Aetheric Mechanics, his latest graphic novel, is a "huge" success. As far as I know, it hasn't come out yet (and if it has, I'd like to know where my copy is). So calling it a huge success might be jumping the gun a bit.

For 50 bucks, you can get a Flaming Carrot volume 1 hardcover. Lots of out-of-print stuff here, apparently. Is it worth the coin, though? Beats me. It's on page 233 from Bob Burden Studios.

At the top of page 238, Boom! Studios has a collection of Never As Bad As You Think by Stuart and Kathryn Immonen. Apparently it's been on the new-fangled Internet for some time, but you know I don't truck with that crap!
Also from Boom!, the long-awaited (by me, anyway) conclusion to the Captain Valor saga! Hero Squared: Love & Death is on page 238. I really hope it's on time!
On page 239, Station is offered in trade. I can't definitely say you should buy it, because it's not done yet, but it's pretty darned good so far!

Desperado Publishing offers a charming comic collecting all of Brian Bolland's strip The Actress and the Bishop. If you can't get enough of Bolland's interior work (and really, who can?), you should check this out.

I don't often write about manga here (because I know very little about it), but I know I like Jiro Taniguchi, so I'll probably get The Quest for the Missing Girl, which is on page 292 from Fanfare/Ponent Mon. A mountain man goes to the city to search for his dead friend's missing daughter! Mountain men experiencing the city is a grand theme - remember how awesome Shoot To Kill was?

B.P.M. on page 296 from Fiery Studios sounds kind of neat. It's the story of a DJ who is trying to succeed in the clubs of New York. I honestly don't care that you can get a "soundtrack" to the book from iTunes, but the actual comic sounds keen.

Page 305 has some bittersweet news. IDW announces that Fallen Angel is ending with issue #33. But then there's a new series in April 2009! That's strange. I'm going to assume that David is getting a new artist, but maybe he just wants to start fresh.
The second volume of Violent Messiahs is out on page 307. More disturbing creepiness from the minds of Joshua Dysart and Tone Rodriguez!

War stories abound on page 312! First is No Enemy, But Peace from Machine Gun Bob Comics. It's written by an Iraq War vet who tells the story of a sergeant he served with in the Middle East. Then, from Metropolitan Books comes Waltz With Bashir, which tells a story of a massacre in Lebanon in 1982 and the Israeli soldier who tries to remember what happened. To be honest, the latter book sounds better. Of course, the first is 3 dollars as opposed to the second one, which is 18 dollars, but still. Price is no impediment!

I don't think I have to write much more about a certain book on page 313 from Moonstone except the title: M. I. L. F. Magnet. Yeah, I didn't think so. Oh, all right, I'll show the two covers:

There's a third trade of Wasteland on page 318 from Oni Press. If you're buying the trades of this book, here's another one!
Oni also offers a new edition of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Lost At Sea. I reviewed this recently, and here's a summary: It's brilliant. Buy it.

On page 323, Tiny Life is offered from Sliver Ltd. I point this out because I just received a copy in the mail, so I'll review it soon (before it comes out, in other words). I feel bad that I didn't get a chance to review it before it showed up in Previews, but that's the way it is. It looks kind of cool, even if it was addressed to Brian. But I got it! Ha! Suck on it, Dread Lord and Master!

Too Cool To Be Forgotten is offered on page 337 from Top Shelf. Hadn't this already been offered? Well, anyway, it's quite good. Trust me.

Yes, it's more manga! On page 349, Viz Media has Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine. I knew manga like this existed, but the fact that there's a comic book devoted to food makes me happy.

As we delve into the book section of Previews, we find Holy Sh*t: The World's Weirdest Comic Books on page 370. It contains "some of the most offensive and positively strange comics that have ever been published" - with excerpts. You know Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika is in there!!!!

And so we come to the end of another edition of Previews. It's always fun to dig through it, isn't it? Who will give the love to the weird non-Big Two stuff if you don't?

33 Comments

• At September 29, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  I kind of doubt the guy who most recently wrote Cable/Deadpool is going to randomly uberdarkenify Anarky, but hey, who ...

• At September 29, 2008, Apodaca wrote:

  "I may not like the idea of Secret Invasion, but at least Bendis and his section of the Marvel U. ...

• At September 29, 2008, William O'Brien wrote:

  The Alan Moore Swamp Thing book is a hardcover. This is the first time that run has been collected ...

• At September 29, 2008, Annoyed Grunt wrote:

  I saw the film version of Waltz With Bashir at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and it was ...

• At September 29, 2008, Lawrence wrote:

  Not that it matters, but that's asian Psylocke standing next to Pixie. The real question is why they all have ...

• At September 29, 2008, Ralf Haring wrote:

  Simonson's Thor run has been published in full by Marvel in five volumes.

• At September 29, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  That's Pixie? Really?

  Ralf: Has the last volume of Simonson's Thor come out yet? I know they were planning ...

• At September 29, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  "One problem I often have with Marvel’s solicitations ..."

  Although I'm in agreement with the larger point - that Marvel's getting ...

• At September 29, 2008, Salamurai wrote:

  I've got all five Simonson Thor Visionaries volumes on my bookshelf right this instant.

• At September 29, 2008, Ralf Haring wrote:

  Simonson Thor v5

  http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Visionaries-Walter-Simonson-Vol/dp/0785127372/

  As far as having kept them all in print ... Marvel are notoriously bad at that.

• At September 29, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Rant a-way!

• At September 29, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  That's good to know about Thor volume 5. Volumes 2 and 3 are still out of print, though. ...

• At September 29, 2008, Happy wrote:

  "Hansi" is based on a prose autobiography of Maria Anne Hirschmann, who grew up in Germany in the 1930's and ...

• At September 29, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Happy --

  I think -- *hope* -- most of us know that; it's not as if Al Hartley, the artist, was ...

• At September 29, 2008, Jay Faerber wrote:

  Greg, I'd hate to make one of my most vocal supporters even more grumpy, but I gotta say, the new ...

• At September 29, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  We're all about feedback here on the blog, Jay! I was just screwing around with formats. I'll go ...

• At September 29, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, it kept making me think there was a link or something I was supposed to be looking at. :)

• At September 29, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Okay, here’s the thing: Page 91 has the second hardcover volume of All Star Superman (11 Feb.). That’s fine, but ...

• At September 29, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Yeah, it kept making me think there was a link or something I was supposed to be looking at. :)

  It ...

• At September 29, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  That was my thought process, FGJ. I'll just go back to putting breaks in between each paragraph. No ...

• At September 29, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I definitely get the idea - it was a worthy attempt!

• At September 29, 2008, Robert wrote:

  By the way thats not pixie...no wings...it probably is pre asian psylocke...these covers dont seem to have anything to do ...

• At September 29, 2008, Frank Rook wrote:

  What? Flaming Carrot HC?! I sold half my liver to buy the first TPBs and all the Atlanta Fair Vision ...

• At September 29, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Oh jeez, I totally missed that bit about this being the last issue of Fallen Angel until next year. Huh. ...

• At September 30, 2008, Jay Faerber wrote:

  Wow -- who knew I wielded such power?

• At September 30, 2008, tk. wrote:

  Whether or not it has anything to do with the comic, I think that's a ginchy X-Men cover.

• At September 30, 2008, Slaz wrote:

  Yes, the Thor reprint story is weird. The solicits to volumes 4 and 5 specifically mentioned that the out-of-print 2 ...

• At October 3, 2008, BOOM! Studios Blog » Blog Archive » Flippin’ Through Previews: Never as bad as you think wrote:

  [...] Never As Bad As You Think by Stuart and Kathryn Immonen. Excited by its December release, he says, “Apparently ...

• At October 6, 2008, BOOM! Studios Blog » Blog Archive » FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS on HERO SQUARED: LOVE & DEATH wrote:

  [...] FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS’ Greg Burgas over at CBR gets excited about the return of HERO SQUARED in December: “the ...

• At October 6, 2008, BOOM! Studios Blog » Blog Archive » FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS on HERO SQUARED: LOVE & DEATH wrote:

  [...] FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS by Greg Burgas over at CBR gets excited about the return of HERO SQUARED in December: ...

• At October 7, 2008, BOOM! Studios Blog » Blog Archive » FLIPPIN’ THROUGH PREVIEWS on STATION wrote:

  [...] THROUGH PREVIEWS by Greg Burgas over at CBR loves Station: “it’s pretty darned good so far!” Thanks so much ...

• At October 15, 2008, Mike Morrell wrote:

  Flaming Carrot HC? Definitely worth it - fo' sho'.

• At November 12, 2008, Comics Should Be Good! » High Concept Graphic Novel Reviews- The Damned, Dynamo 5, Fear Agent, Hack/Slash, and Whiteout wrote:

  [...] Mahmud A. Asrar and Colorist Ron Riley provide some very slick art. I know Burgas is annoyed that [...]

Dark Horse:

On page 26 a new Umbrella Academy mini-series begins (26 November). I've been thinking about the first one, and while I've decided to re-evaluate it and not claim it's as good as I once thought, it's still a damned fine read. I'm curious to see how Way builds on what he established in the first series. Plus, the art is sure to kick all kinds of ass.
That Kull cover on page 28 kicks ass. I don't know how I feel about Kull, but I do like Arvid Nelson, so I might check this out (5 November).

I always take promotional material with a grain of salt, but in what universe is My Name Is Bruce a "smash-hit" (page 33)? According to Bruce Campbell's own web site, the film hasn't been released yet!!!! It seems a bit presumptuous calling it a "smash-hit." Anyway, the one-shot is "available now" (I love when Dark Horse does this, as they have before), if you're interested. Bruce Campbell's popularity continues to escape me (even though I do like him, I don't see the need to seek his movies out to the degree others seem to).
Page 34 has Gigantic #1 by Rick Remender and Eric Nguyen (5 November). It sounds interesting: a brainwashed alien superhero is deposited on Earth to be the spotlight of a television show being filmed without his knowledge. As the solicitation text acknowledges, it's like The Truman Show, but with a twist! It could work.
Bryan Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is another book "available now" (page 36). It's a new edition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the comic. What say you, old school fans? Is this as good as everyone says it is?
Ah, noir comics! How I love you! Joshua Hale Fialkov and Mark Wheaton bring us The Cleaners on page 38 (12 November), a mystery starring a team of trauma-scene cleaners. Yay, bloodbaths! The word is actually used in the solicitation text, so you know there's going to be one!

DC:

I don't have much interest in reading Terra (page 64; 5 and 19 November), but Amanda Connor kicks a ton of ass, I'll tell you that much.

"In his last hours," Alfred the butler narrates the life story of Batman in the eponymous title (page 66; 12 November). This has to be Alfred in the future, because DC wouldn't SPOIL something like this, would it? That's kind of stupid.
Kevin Smith writes a comic (page 70; 12 November). Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
DC is starting a new "Masterworks" "library" on page 87 with a Superman story from 1971. Is this the one where Clark eats the Kryptonite? That was pretty cool. Anyway, I'm curious to see what will come out from this "DC Comics Classics Library." This is FORTY dollars, for instance, for nine issues. Damn, that's rough.
Hey, look at all those WildStorm books (pages 97-105)! Do people really still care about the WildStorm Universe? Oh, wait a minute - that's a completely rhetorical question!
That's a pretty darned fun cover for Army@Love: The Art of War #4 (page 112; 5 November).

Image:

Liquid City, an anthology that features creators from southeast Asia (page 134; 5 November), looks pretty neat-o. But I lament that Image feels the need to remind us what countries are in southeast Asia. I kid you not. The solicitation reads: "Creators based mainly in South-east Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam." Thanks, Image!

If you're a big, big fan of Jason Pearson, there's a one-shot of Body Bags on page 136 (26 November).
Page 144 has The New Brighton Archaeological Society graphic novel (19 November), which sounds neat. The kids first (?) showed up in Popgun volume 1, and the short stories were groovy. Now they're in a longer book. Will it be as charming as the short stories? It's four children getting into wild archaeological adventures! How can it not rock?

Ah, the last issue of Noble Causes (page 152; 19 November). So sad.
I Hate Galaxy Girl (page 161; 12 November) looks fun. It's about a girl who should have been Galaxy Girl but was passed over for a buxom blonde with no talent. Isn't that always the way?

Marvel:

I haven't been all that interested in Orson Scott Card's comic work, but I'm interested to see if the sales on Ender's Game (page 2) suffer at all now that he's going over the deep end a bit.
Page 10 brings us ... an Ultimatum checklist. Sigh. Remember when the Ultimate Universe was a breath of fresh air? Now they've let Jeph Loeb loose on it, and we get five months of crossover crap. Wouldn't it be nice if Marvel killed every book except Ultimate Spider-Man? That would be awesome.
On page 26, Marvel offers Daredevil & Captain America: Dead on Arrival. I don't have much interest in it, but I'm always a bit surprised when I'm reminded that there are lots of officially-sanctioned Marvel superhero stories that we never see in the U. S. It's just kind of interesting.
Brian Reed and Giuseppe Camuncoli bring us Ms. Marvel Special: Storyteller on page 43. Ms. Marvel and pirates! Whoo-hoo!

Sigh. According to Marvel, after Secret Invasion #8 (page 44), "the Marvel Universe will, and we're not joking, NEVER be the same again!" Jesus.
This is interesting: On page 45, New Avengers #47 promises the story of Luke Cage. I can't find Luke Cage on the cover. What's up with that? And why is Skrull Hawkeye featured when it's the story of Luke Cage?

You know what's coming ... the back of the book!

On page 200, another trade of The Myth of 8-Opus, Tom Scioli's pre-Gødland work, is offered from A-Okay Press. I just got the first one (the "prologue"), and although I haven't read it yet, it looks pretty darned keen.

I haven't been keeping up with Freakangels on-line, but Avatar has a new trade for 20 bucks (page 209), so I might pick that up, as I really hate reading comics on my computer (yes, I'm weird). I've cooled on Ellis recently, but at least he's often interesting.

It's kind of weird to see a solicitation of a Rasl trade on page 230 from Cartoon Books. How many issues does it collect? Considering only two issues have come out so far, it seems optimistic to offer a trade now.

Dynamite Entertainment has a new arc of Zorro on page 256, plus a hardcover of the first 8 issues. It hasn't been a great comic so far, but it is entertaining!

Gary Reed writes some interesting stuff, and Desperado (page 262) has something that sounds cool: The Red Diaries, which is about the conspiracy that led to Marilyn Monroe's murder and is chronicled in her vermilion journals of the title. Sounds neat.

If you're a Kevin Huizenga fan, Drawn & Quarterly has Or Else #5 on page 271. There's a Glenn Ganges story, and another called "How Are We Spending Our Tuesdays?" Yeah, that's what I'd like to know!

There's a neat collection of 1960s war comics from Fantagraphics called Blazing Combat on page 276. Archie Goodwin writes, and artists include Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta, John Severin, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Russ Heath, Reed Crandall, and Wally Wood. 200 pages for 23 bucks!

The Hero Initiative has something scary on page 285. Yes, it's Stan's Soapbox: The Collection, featuring all - yes, ALL - of Stan Lee's columns from 1967 to 1980 with historical context so we know what the heck he's talking about. Now, it sounds pretty cool, but can any sane person deal with that much concentrated Stan?????

Page 293 brings us Fishtown from IDW. It's a collection of a webcomic by Kevin Colden, and "explores what leads a group of teens to commit a heinous crime." In other words, it's a light-hearted romp!
Also on page 293, the second volume of John Byrne's Compleat Next Men comes out. I assume this finishes the series. The first volume was pretty darned good, so I'm looking forward to the conclusion!

Here's something that vexes me. On page 297, Kronos Entertainment (which doesn't have a web site) offers The Killers trade. Two soldiers on opposite sides in World War II engage in a cat-and-mouse game that blurs morality. It sounds pretty keen. In fact, it sounded pretty keen in April and May, when the two issues were solicited. I never got those issues. Does this mean they aren't coming out and I should order this? Or am I still waiting for the two issues to come out? Kronos also has Spy School, which is about, well, a school for spies. That sounds cool too. But dare I order it? DARE I?????

If I say there's a new book from Mohawk Media, you know it's about ... Mr. T!!!!!! Yes, page 301 gives us what is sure to be a modern masterpiece, as T the bodyguard gets involved in all kinds of crap and probably (hopefully!) tells kids to stay in school and lay off the drugs. You know it'll be awesome!

People keep telling me that Danijel Zezelj is really, really good, and Optimum Wound Comics gives us a chance to see for ourselves, as they offer King of Nekropolis, a private detective story in a creepy world. I've seen a little of Zezelj's art, but I'm curious to see how he is as a writer.

Rampart Press offers Cleburne on page 313. It's the story of Patrick Cleburne, the Confederate general who came up with the plan to enlist slaves into the rebel army. This didn't make him terribly popular in the South. I like historical fiction, as you know, so this sounds neat. There's a preview on pages 314-315, so check it out.

I don't want anyone to think I'm a pervert, but Titan Publishing's collection of Jane: The (Mis)Adventures of a Bright Young Thing (page 319), a cartoon strip about a British pin-up girl, sounds really interesting. I've actually read about this in History Today, which is an Anglo-centric history magazine to which I subscribe, and it sounded neat then. 20 bucks for 256 pages!

As we move to the magazine section, we find Back Issue #31 on page 352, which is all about Steve Gerber! Seven dollars for all the Gerber you can stand!

Girls and Corpses has always been a bit goofy, so the fact that the solicitation text for their 2009 wall calendar on page 354 reads: "The perfect gift for your pastor, cellmate, or parents - or even the calendar for your office!" makes me chuckle. I will buy it for you if you can prove you actually gave it to your pastor. I'm totally serious!

As you know, I dig the espionage stuff, so Super-Spies and Secret Agents, a new fanzine on page 358 dedicated to, well, super-spies and secret agents (duh!), sounds keen. It might not be, but I might have to check out the first issue, at least.

That's all for this edition of Previews. I hope you find some good stuff as you trawl through the slab! Fear not!

35 Comments

• At August 30, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  Whatever happened to Up 'N Coming?

• At August 30, 2008, TimCallahan wrote:

  Everyone should buy FISHTOWN, because Kevin Colden is awesome.

  And the Gerber-centric BACK ISSUE mag, because my "Omega the Unknown" article ...

• At August 30, 2008, Agent_Torpor wrote:

  I had no idea that Card was an idiot. Thanks for that link.

• At August 30, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Tim: Just further reflection on Umbrella Academy, really. I still enjoy it immensely, but as I've thought about it, ...

• At August 30, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  No offense, but you ARE a pervert.

  The Girls and Corpses magazine calender looks interesting.

  Maybe I should get one for my ...

• At August 30, 2008, The Mad Monkey wrote:

  On the "road of life", Orson Scott Card is a Volkswagen Beetle that has swerved into the lane of an ...

• At August 30, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  "A permanent fact of nature," what a jackass. If it weren't so Nazi-esque I'd encourage burnings of copies ...

• At August 30, 2008, Perfect Hannah wrote:

  I bought the Umbrella Academy trade pretty much based off the review posted about the series here... that review glowed ...

• At August 30, 2008, Brad Curran wrote:

  "The Hero Initiative has something scary on page 285. Yes, it’s Stan’s Soapbox: The Collection, featuring all - yes, ALL ...

• At August 30, 2008, Slaz wrote:

  Other books scheduled for the new DC Classic line include Batman: The Annuals Vol 1 (1950s), Legion: Life and Death ...

• At August 30, 2008, Kermit the Frank wrote:

  ... ... ...I still care about Wildstorm ... ... ... ::sad sigh::

• At August 31, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I like Guiseppe Camuncoli and all, but that Ms. Marvel cover just bugs me. There doesn't seem any reason for ...

• At August 31, 2008, T. wrote:

  I still don't see how Card has gone off the deep end. California judges really do overreach a lot.

  Even ...

• At August 31, 2008, Sam wrote:

  That European DD/Cap book is great. Absolutely fantastic art. It'll feel like you're reading a classic and semi-memorable ...

• At August 31, 2008, Random Stranger wrote:

  "According to Marvel, after Secret Invasion #8 (page 44), 'the Marvel Universe will, and we’re not joking, NEVER be the ...

• At August 31, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I think the Kryptonite Collection is priced that high because DC is trying a work-around to the growing-rapidly-popular Amazon dodge. ...

• At August 31, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Card has been an openly fascist lunatic for at least a decade or so, hasn't he?

• At August 31, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  T.: I'm not doubting that California judges overreach (not unlike the Supreme Court did in the 2000 election! :)), but ...

• At August 31, 2008, Conor E wrote:

  So, we have someone calling for the overthrow of the duly elected government, in the name or religion. Why isn't ...

• At August 31, 2008, Paperghost wrote:

  That Mr T book confuses the hell out of me. The publishers - or someone, anyway - sent out a ...

• At August 31, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>And Dan, he’s been conservative his whole life, but I don’t have a problem with that. T. is conservative, and ...

• At August 31, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Sometimes I feel guilty about enjoying shows like My Name is Earl (Earl and Randy are scientologists),<<

  Huh ... the characters ...

• At August 31, 2008, Cody wrote:

  I've never read The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, but, somewhere, I do have the sequel Heart of Empire: The Legacy ...

• At August 31, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Greg: I can heartily recommend "The Adventures of Luther Arkwright" As a collected work it's so much easier ...

• At August 31, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Aliens who strap psychiatrists to volcanos and then nuke them?? That’s right Mr Hubbard, keep taking the medication… yes.. with ...

• At August 31, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Dan Bailey: True. Fair point. And didn't he famously say in an interview something along the lines of ...

• At August 31, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Dan Bailey: True. Fair point. And didn’t he famously say in an interview something along the lines of “You can ...

• At August 31, 2008, David wrote:

  Even the Devil deserves an advocate, and it doesn't sound like anyone else is going to do so, so I ...

• At August 31, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  David: Card writes: "Because when government is the enemy of marriage, then the people who are actually creating successful marriages ...

• At September 1, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  "...with historical context so we know what the heck he’s talking about. "

  Oh, like the intended audience for a collection ...

• At September 2, 2008, Hush wrote:

  Hi, Greg!

  I love to read your post, especially form "comics you should own".

  And I have one question - despite your ...

• At September 2, 2008, Brian McDonald wrote:

  Greg, I doubt that Card's opinions will have much of an effect on his sales. This isn't new crazy, ...

• At September 2, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Hush: Sheesh, I don't know. There's so many good Batman comics out there. I would look at what's ...

• At September 12, 2008, TimGunn wrote:

  I've been boycotting Card for years now because of his views on gay marriage. It's a shame too. ...

• At October 6, 2008, Shredder of the Week, Top 50, Leathermouth Review — Mikey Way Online wrote:

  [...] dysfunctional family stories)’ is ‘easily the most enjoyable comic last year’. Good Comics gives us a little tidbit about ...

Dark Horse:

Mike Mignola is drawing a new Hellboy story, "In the Chapel of Moloch" (page 26; 29 October). I guess that's a big deal or something.
Boy, there's just not a lot that's compelling from Dark Horse this month. Their MySpace thing (page 49) announces a new Mister X story by Dean Motter, but that's about it. Let's move on.

DC:

On page 57, the "art and covers" for Final Crisis #5 (29 October) lists Jones and Carlos Pacheco. Pacheco is doing a cover, but is he doing interior art as well? If so, what the hell? I love Pacheco's art, so I wouldn't mind, but how long has Jones had to do the interiors of this comic? If Pacheco is only doing the cover, never mind.
Terror Titans (page 64; 1 October)? Really?
Morrison promises that the Black Glove is someone obvious (Batman #681; page 67; 29 October). I'm going out on a limb here and saying that it's Tim Callahan. How much more obvious could it be?
The sixth issue of Batman: Gotham After Midnight (page 71) takes place on Halloween, so of course DC is releasing it ... on 22 October, not the 29th. That makes sense.
I've been wondering if I'm going to keep up with Checkmate, and page 78 makes it moot, as #31 is the final one (29 October). Oh well. I'll probably just buy the rest, at least to see if Jones could have done anything with the book.
Also on page 78, we get this tidbit from Green Lantern Corps #29 (8 October): "Ice proposes to Guy Gardner!" If that's your sort of thing.
I asked Marc Andreyko why they didn't renumber Manhunter (#35 is on page 79 for 1 October), and he had a good answer: It probably wouldn't have helped sales, and he wants it to be a complete whole when it's done, instead of encompassing two "volumes." That makes sense.
DC's idiotic policy of printing trade paperbacks is spotlighted on page 84, where they offer JLA/Avengers in trade ... for the first freakin' time (12 November)! Maybe Marvel had something to do with it taking so long, but that's just ridiculous. I've been interested in this, but not enough to spend goofy amounts of money on the hardcover. 20 bucks is about right. But why did it take so long?

Hey, check it out! It's the new Top 10 mini-series that Zander Cannon mentioned at last year's Comic-Con (page 99; 1 October). Gene Ha got around to drawing it!
The new Unknown Soldier ongoing (page 106; 22 October) could be good or bad - Dysart is a pretty good writer, so who knows - but what I found interesting is that he spent a month in Uganda doing research. Two things strike me about this: Who paid for him to go to Uganda, and is the book always going to be set in Uganda? These are things I wonder about in the dead of night, when my thoughts torment me!
Andy Diggle's final issue of Hellblazer is offered on page 113 (22 October). Wasn't that only, like, a year on the book for him?
Bill Reed will be happy, as Kill Your Boyfriend gets a new printing on page 113 (29 October). Isn't it Bill who loves this? Or is it Mark? Anyway, someone here will be happy about this! And then there are others who loathe this book. Let the back-and-forth commence!

Ryan Kelly draws the next arc of Northlanders (page 115; 29 October). Damn, that's going to be awesome.
There's an alien in Young Liars #8 (page 115; 8 October). Not an alien who comes from another country, but an alien who comes from another planet. What a weird comic.

Image:

If a writer/artist team falls in the woods and no one cares, did it really happen? That's how I feel about the new McFarlane/Portacio pairing on Spawn #185 (page 130; 22 October). This isn't 1992, so I don't know how anyone cares about this.
Page 137 has a new hardcover collection of Elephantmen (15 October). It's 35 dollars, so it might be a bit steep for you, but those hardcover collections are really nice.
That's a pretty damned cool cover of Noble Causes #39 (page 148; 22 October):

In case you're interested, there's a big ol' trade of DNAgents on page 158 (14 October). It's 25 dollars for 452 pages, which ain't bad. I wonder if it's any good.
For you Ted McKeever fans (and doesn't that include everyone?), a trade of Transit is offered on page 161 (1 October), including the "never-before-published final chapter." From the fact that they're labeling this the "Ted McKeever Library Book 1," it seems like Image is publishing more old McKeever stuff. That can't be a bad thing!

Joshua Hale Fialkov mentioned to me that he and Rick Mays were doing a Cyblade ongoing, and it's offered on page 164. He said he tries to get more into Cyblade's psyche, which might make this an interesting comic.

Marvel:

Hulk have mohawk on cover of Ultimate Origins #5 (page 11). Mohawks make Hulk mad!!!!!
Marvel has gone out of its way to whitewash the fact that Flash Thompson fought in Vietnam, because that would date the character. So, on page 18, Amazing Spider-Man #574 features ... a story about Flash Thompson in the Middle East. How long before that gets swept under the carpet?
Page 20 made me chuckle. It's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1! So not only does Joey Q want us to forget that Peter and Mary Jane were ever married, he's casually erased the comic in which it happened from existence! "An Amazing Spider-Man Annual in 1987? Sorry, that's impossible. This is the first one!"
I bet you never thought you'd read this in a Marvel solicit: "All hell has broken loose in Birmingham." That's why Captain Britain and MI 13 (page 30) is so freakin' cool.
Monster-Size Hulk #1 (page 40) will probably kick ass because Jeff Parker is writing it, but the fact that the pencils are "TBA" doesn't fill me with confidence. It's August. The book, presumably, is coming out in October. They don't know who's drawing it yet?
Klaw starts a country and western band in Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #4 (page 44). That's quality entertainment.
I won't be reading Marvel Apes (page 45), but that's a great cover:

So there's a two-issue tie-in to Astonishing X-Men on page 70 called "Ghost Boxes." Remember when you could read a title and get the complete story in that title? Good times!
Speaking of Jeff Parker (and I was, just a bit ago), remember that the dude can draw quite a bit:

(Of course, he mentioned that he only did it because Kevin Nowlan was inking it, but still.)
There's a new trade of old Spidey stuff on page 112, with a collection of Amazing Spider-Man #176-180. Wouldn't it be nice if Marvel got onto releasing more Essential volumes that would collect this? I'm just saying.

With the Big Four behind us, let's peruse the back of the book! Do you dare?

Brad Curran ought to be happy: Markosia is publishing Headlocked: The Tryout (page 188), which is "the world's first real wrestling comic!" Of course, it says it "continues" even though this is a #1, but whatever. It's a wrestling comic!

Over on page 192, Amaze Ink/Slave Labor offers Rex Libris #13. I point this out only because I read somewhere that it's the final issue, although it doesn't say so in the text. That's too bad, but at least we got 13 fantastic issues out of James Turner!

I have no idea if Almighty from Blackhalo Productions (page 218) is any good, but it sounds pretty keen. I am, of course, a sucker for post-Apocalyptic stuff, and this is one of those comics.

This is weird: Cartoon Books, Jeff Smith's company, is offering Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails and Rose again (pages 226 and 227), even though they were just offered recently. What bothers me about that is I ordered Rose, but haven't gotten it yet. Do I need to re-order, or is this just a re-solicit and anyone who ordered it before can skip it?

On page 247, we learn that Jon Bogdanove apparently named his son Kal-El. Sigh.

If you're not burned out by Garth Ennis war stories yet, he has another one from Dynamite Entertainment on page 257. It sports the rather unwieldy title of Garth Ennis' Battlefields: The Night Witches, but it features chick bomber squadrons! Who doesn't love chicks dropping bombs!

Hey, there's a new Acme Novelty Library from Drawn & Quarterly on page 278. Maybe one day I'll read one of these!

For 50 bucks, you can get a signed hardcover version of the Zot! collection that just came out (page 297, HarperCollins). Or you could just find the softcover in a bookstore, because it's so very, very excellent.

There's an odd comic on page 298 from Hill & Wang: Isadora Duncan: A Graphic Biography. It sounds somewhat surreal, which might make it more interesting than just a straight bio.

I've never read Dykes To Watch Out For (mainly because I have no interest in sea barriers), but Houghton Mifflin has an "essential" hardcover for $25 on page 298. Fun Home, as you know, was quite good, so this might be something to check out.

For some reason, I've never liked Larry Hama, but apparently his G. I. Joe stuff is pretty good. He's back on the title as IDW picks up the license on page 299. It might be a good place to jump on. Of course, you can still get the "World War III" trade from Devil's Due, which was a very good story arc to end their involvement with the Joes.
IDW, never one to turn down a licensing agreement, also has a new Ghostbusters comic on page 303, right above their two comics about the presidential candidates (with the J. Scott Campbell covers). Something for everyone!
As I've mentioned, I've never been interested in Doctor Who, but on page 304, there's a collection of Grant Morrison-written Who stories from the Eighties. I still doubt if I'll get them, but I'll be tempted, I must say!
I forgot to mention something about IDW in my convention post. I spoke to some dude at the IDW booth (I didn't get his name, because I suck) who told me that the likelihood of them publishing more GrimJack trades is slim to none. Apparently I was the only person in the country buying them! That depresses me, because they only had about 20 issues to go to finish the run. I get that the initial print cost would be high, but wouldn't it be good for them to have them in print forever? I guess not. Now I have to go through the back issue boxes for the latter issues of Ostrander's early classic.

I'm quoted in Previews on page 317, which is kind of neat. Soon I will rule the world!

Steven Grant is always an interesting hard-boiled kind of writer, so Socorro from Platinum Studios on page 324 might be nice. A former CIA soldier becomes a one-man A-Team in Los Angeles. Why wouldn't he?

Yet another post-Apocalyptic comic shows up on page 326: City of Dust from Radical Publishing. Steve Niles writes it, which means it has a great hook - in the future, cops patrol for crimes of the imagination, and a homicide detective must confront a killing spree - but may not be scripted particularly well. That's the way it seems with Steve Niles books! Still, it sounds like a cool set-up.

I spoke briefly with the Brian Clevinger at San Diego, and assured him that Atomic Robo is indeed quite good. I just mention this becuase the third issue of the second series is offered on page 327 from Red 5 Comics.

If you skipped the exclusive Previews version of Watching the Watchmen, the inclusive hardcover is offered on page 330 from Titan Publishing. Of course, you can probably get it on Amazon for cheaper than 40 bucks, but it still looks like a keen book.

The third of Jeff Lemire's Essex County trilogy, The Country Nurse, comes out on page 338 from Top Shelf. The first two graphic novels are offered as well. The first two were very good, and I have no doubt the third will be as well.

That's about it for this tour through Previews. Oh sure, there's other stuff, but do you really need to know about it? Can't you just trust me? Remember to ask your retailer nicely if you can have it for free, and find your own hidden treasures! Who knows what you'll find!

32 Comments

• At August 4, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  Nothing interesting from Dark Horse? What about Herbie Archives: Volume 2?!?!?

  Yes, Kill Your Boyfriend *is* spectacular. I am also interested ...

• At August 4, 2008, Jerry McMullen wrote:

  Essential Spider-Man Vol 8 has already collected that material that Marvel is recollecting in the paperback. But yes, they are ...

• At August 4, 2008, layne wrote:

  a story about Flash Thompson in the Middle East. How long before that gets swept under the carpet?

  If I were ...

• At August 4, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  That is utter and total suckage if that's true about IDW not doing any more Grimjack trades. I had had ...

• At August 4, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I figured I was the only one getting the Grim Jack and Jon Sable Freelance trades up here in Canada.

  Apparently, ...

• At August 4, 2008, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  I was buying GrimJack in hardcover, but they only did, what, 3 of those, so I stopped there. I ...

• At August 4, 2008, TimCallahan wrote:

  You've uncovered my secret.

  Now I will send my lesser-known minions to your lair. Prepare to face Fancy Steve, the ...

• At August 4, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Bill: Yeah, I guess the Herbie thing is okay. I probably should have mentioned that.

  Jerry: See? ...

• At August 4, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I quite liked DNAgents, though it might be a bit old-school for some of our readers here. I'll be getting ...

• At August 4, 2008, Çteve! wrote:

  New England Comics is offering a Complete Ben Edlund's THE TICK, "Essentials"-style, with extras and a mock last-issue-that-never-was. I also ...

• At August 4, 2008, DanLarkin wrote:

  That Captain Britain solicit really should've read " panic on the streets of Birmingham." Somebody dropped the ball.

• At August 4, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  Kal-El is a kickass name.

• At August 4, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Putting Flash back in the army pretty much cinches that the driving force behind Brand New Day is to rehash ...

• At August 4, 2008, Jack Norris wrote:

  Just FYI: That "Tim Callahan" link doesn't work.

• At August 4, 2008, The Mad Monkey wrote:

  I keep forgetting that this is mostly a new generation of comic geeks here...

  I don't really mean that in a ...

• At August 4, 2008, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  Mad Monkey:

  I think Eclipse, First and Comico (and maybe Pacific, too) were all publishing most of their titles in color ...

• At August 5, 2008, Dan K wrote:

  Glad to see Kill Your Boyfriend is getting a new printing. I was recently agonising over whether to buy it ...

• At August 5, 2008, Craig wrote:

  I feel compelled to plug Night School by Platinum Studios on page 323. Amy Tomlinson is an old friend of ...

• At August 5, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  DNAgents!?!?! YAHOO!!

  Hang on... Who's publishing it?

  It was an Eclipse title to begin with, but don't I recall ...

• At August 5, 2008, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  Blackjak:

  DC never bought the rights to DNAgents, as far as I know. The New Teen Titans story you're thinking ...

• At August 5, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Blackjak: Image is publishing it, under the Shadowline imprint. It's in black and white, and it appears to be ...

• At August 5, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Ahh... thanks for the clarification...

  Like I said... At the time, I thought it was that DC were jealous... I was ...

• At August 5, 2008, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  Blackjak:

  Companies which owned the rights to what they published (which I think included First, Eclipse and Comico) have often sat ...

• At August 5, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Michael:

  Thank you!

  Dynamite are getting interesting as a publisher... Red Sonja was their first title wasn't it? and ...

• At August 5, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Mad Monkey-

  Regarding the color/B&W thing- it was the other way around. DNAgents was published in color during its entire run, ...

• At August 5, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Andrew: Good to know about those. I haven't even seen the Scout trade yet, but I'll have to ...

• At August 5, 2008, Stephen wrote:

  "Page 20 made me chuckle. It’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1! So not only does Joey Q want us to forget ...

• At August 5, 2008, The Mad Monkey wrote:

  Andrew and Michael...

  I stand corrected and humbled. :-)

  The last time I read DNAgents was when it was actually a ...

• At August 5, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Oh yeah, regarding the Titans/DNAgents "crossover." That was covered in an article sometime ago in Back Issue magazine, where Mark ...

• At August 6, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  You know what I've realised from all this? DNAgents was FAR more popular than I ever realised at the ...

• At August 6, 2008, Doug Atkinson wrote:

  "God help me if I can remember the two copycat teams’ names (now I’M the one feeling old…)"

  The DNAgents analogues ...

• At August 6, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Doug-

  Thanks!

  Blackjak-

  Crossfire And Rainbow did get a 4-issue spin-off mini-series called, appropriately enough, CROSSFIRE AND RAINBOW. It came out around 1985/1986 ...

Man, there's not a lot from Dark Horse this month that is really all that interesting. I mean, there's the usual stuff, but nothing that leaps out at me. On page 32 (5 November) there's a collected edition of Speak of the Devil by Gilbert Hernandez. It's a hardcover, so it costs 20 dollars for 6 issues, but that might be something to check out. I lost interest in it after a couple of issues because it moved so slowly, but apparently it got a LOT better by the end, so the trade format might be the way to experience it!
The fifth volume of Rex Mundi shows up on page 41 (5 November). Fascinating story, stunning art - what's not to love?
You could get an Umbrella Academy umbrella on page 50 (24 September), if you were one of those people who uses umbrellas. The solicitation claims that by the time it arrives, "we'll be unearthing our sweaters and shopping for the latest rain gear." Dark Horse, you'll recall, is based in Portland. Here in the Basin we'll still be swimming in the pool and hoping it gets below 100 by Thanksgiving.

DC:

It's a Judd Winick book (well, half of one, as Bill Willingham is the co-writer), but I'm intrigued by Decisions #1-2 (page 58; 10 and 24 September). Assassination attempts on presidential candidates force some DC heroes to examine their own political beliefs. It could be excellent, or it could be a simplistic view of the heroes. I'm guessing it will be the latter, but the potential is there. Plus, it's always nice to see Leonardi art.
People have brought this up before, but where does Final Crisis (page 59; 17 September) fit into the DCU at large? I mean, the solicitation makes it sound as if there's simply nothing left of the Earth whatsoever. Is this going to affect all the company's titles? If not, what's the point?
Gail Simone fires up the long-awaited Secret Six ongoing on page 63 (3 September). Annoyingly, DC obscures the name of two members in the solicitation text. I don't really care, but it's still annoying. Anyway, Simone and Nicola Scott on this book should make it a winner. I hope.

Surprisingly enough, DC has an original graphic novel on page 69 starring the Joker (22 October). I'm not terribly interested even though it's Azzarello and Bermejo, but it's always nice to get graphic novels from DC, since Marvel abandoned them long ago.
Batman Chronicles vol. 6. Page 81. 8 October. What more is there to say?
I already own the single issues of Camelot 3000, but the "Deluxe Edition" hardcover offered on page 82 (26 November) tempts me. Barr's story is good, Bolland's art is spectacular, and there's some extra stuff. If you don't already have it, I recommend it highly, even at 35 bucks.
Yet another volume of Diana Prince: Wonder Woman shows up (page 83; 29 October), with what may be the greatest cover in history:

Of course it's your fault, Diana!
Down on the bottom of page 83, you can get yourself an Omnibus edition of Kirby's Demon series for 50 dollars (19 November). That's not bad value.
Look! A third volume of Justice League International (page 84; 12 November)! Maybe DiDio doesn't hate them as much as we think!
If you've been waiting for the softcover version of The Black Dossier, DC finally gets around to putting it out on page 98 (22 October). This was disappointing, but still better than a lot of what is out there. It is Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil, after all.
I'm not sure if "The Family Man" story from Hellblazer has ever been collected, but it's here now, on page 110 (22 October). I could go either way with Delano. What say you, old-school Constantine fans? Is this worth a look?
You wait-for-the-traders should pick up the first volume of Northlanders (page 113; 15 October). Wood hasn't finished it yet, so I can't say for sure that it's excellent, but it has been so far. Plus, EIGHT issues for TEN dollars! Holy cow!

Image:

The preview art for Dead Ahead (page 136; 17 September) looks amazing, but do I really want to read another zombie book? I don't like the zombie books that are out now!
Speaking of preview art, Max Fiumara's on page 139 also looks amazing. It's for the new series Four Eyes (page 138; 24 September), and it's set in an alternate America during the Depression where dragons are real. It sounds pretty freakin' cool, if you ask me.

You can never escape Youngblood (page 140; 24 September)!
Over in the Top Cow section of Image, we get Dragon Prince #1 by Ron Marz and Lee Moder. On the one hand, it doesn't sound like something I'm terribly interested in. On the other hand, Marz did a good job with Samurai: Heaven and Earth, and I've always been a fan of Moder's. We'll see.

Marvel:

Okay, so Chris Claremont is writing a mini-series starring Japan's biggest heroes, Big Hero 6 (page 18). It could be perfectly fine. But what's with all the Japan love? I want to see Belgium's biggest heroes! Or Paraguay's! Or Khazakstan's! Or San Marino's! That would be awesome - see the Medicinator defend a postage-stamp-sized country on top of a hill from the threat of the new Burger King in the town square!
So the catchphrase of Secret Invasion is "Embrace Change" (page 36)? The only way the series would be any good is if Bendis is really saying that Barack Obama is a Skrull and this is all some kind of complex political allegory. Does Bendis want us to vote McCain? If Obama becomes president, will we all be taken over by shape-shifting aliens (Michael Savage certainly thinks so)? You be the judge!
Arthur Suydam really likes giant hands (page 53):

I'm not terribly sure if fans were clamoring for a hardcover version of Marvel Boy (page 101), but the God of All Comics and J. G. Jones give us a wonderfully insane series that remains as interesting now as it did a decade (or so) ago. It's 25 dollars, which is a bit steep, but it's sure to look great.
In other hardcover news, Omega the Unknown gets the treatment on page 102 for 30 dollars. That's actually not bad, considering it's ten issues. I've been waiting for the trade on this, so I might have to spring for the fancy edition.
Marvel is apparently releasing all those "Counter X" relaunches they tried in the late Nineties under one umbrella, because this time around it's a trade of Generation X #63-70 (page 113). I actually own these issues, and they're pretty good. Ellis and Brian Wood give us some solid stories, and Steve Pugh's art is good, too.

Now, join me as we venture ... into the back of the book! With a Tim Callahan cameo! How can you resist?

I think I'll be skipping Jesus Hates Zombies from Alterna Comics on page 190, but I didn't realize that Jesus hated the undead so much, considering he brought a dead person back to life one time.

SLG has the usual suspects, including a re-solicitation of Midnight Sun on page 192. It's quite good, so you might want to check it out.

It's 25 dollars and might therefore be too dear for you, but A-Okay Comics has a collection of The Myth of 8-Opus by Tom Scioli on page 198. I love Scioli's work on Gødland, and this sounds like it has a similar vibe. Does anyone out there have an opinion on its goodness or lack thereof?

I'm really not buying the whole "Mothman" thing of West Virginia, but Return to Point Pleasant on page 200 from Ape Entertainment, which tells a story incorporating the whole myth, sounds kind of neat. I just worry when I see "various" where the artists should be.

There's a trade of Black Summer on page 212 from Avatar. I read a few issues and was kind of torn about them. Has anyone been reading this? Is the trade worth checking out?

Gilbert Hernandez, Steve Niles, and Glenn Fabry work together ... on a Simpson's Treehouse of Horror comic (page 220, Bongo Comics)! How can you pass that up, people?

All-around swell guy Tom Peyer has a new comic, Galveston, from Boom! Studios on page 221. Pirate Jean LaFitte hangs out with Jim Bowie in Texas. Pirates and cowboys, man! How could it go wrong?

Now, I'm not entirely sure if the hardcover collection of The Lone Ranger is worth $75 (it's on page 255 from Dynamite Entertainment), but if you can find it cheaper on-line somewhere, I would check it out. It collects the first 11 issues, the Free Comic Book Day issue, and a sketch gallery. It's a very good comic, but seventy-five bones? I don't know about that.

Tucked away on page 261 from Desperado Publishing is Exit: The Complete Series by Nabiel Kanan. The only thing I've read by Kanan is The Drowners (which is offered on page 264), and it was quite excellent. So I'm looking forward to this comic. Two friends are trying to figure out what happened to a friend of theirs who disappeared for 18 months and then reappeared. So many secrets! Oh, the drama!

On page 305, IDW has a collection of Violent Messiahs by Joshua Dysart and Tone Rodriguez. This is a raw but powerful work, and it's a shame that it didn't find a wider audience. It's 25 dollars, but it's pretty darned good.

You know, just when you thought you didn't need any more Watchmen material, Titan Publishing has a new book, Watching the Watchmen, on page 331. Alan Moore wants nothing to do with any of this, but Dave Gibbons reveals all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff. I dig behind-the-scenes stuff! Yes, it's 50 dollars, but man! it looks cool.

Top Shelf always has, well, top shelf kind of stuff, and on page 346, we find Swallow Me Whole, a love story that sounds absolutely wild. It has schizophrenia, OCD, hallucinations, and animal telepathy. Come on - animal telepathy, people!

Now that Brian has joined Wizard magazine in spreading the love for Valiant, I wonder if I should splurge on the three hardcovers they offer on page 348. They've already offered Harbinger and X-O Manowar, and now they have Archer & Armstrong. They're all 25 bucks, so I'd probably be better off digging through back issue bins, but those are tempting.

It appears, from page 352, that Gamekeeper is an ongoing series. Virgin doesn't really make it clear in their section, but issue #6 is the first of a two-part story about Brock's son. As long as Jeff Parker is writing this, I'll be checking it out.

As we delve deeply into the back of the book, we find on page 385 that the first part of Tim Callahan's magnum opus about the God of All Comics, Grant Morrison: The Early Years, is offered again. Well, I guess this is the first time it's been offered in Previews, but I seem to recall Tim mentioning on his blog that this is the second printing and includes some new material. I'm really looking forward to this, not only because it's about my favorite writer and some of his best stuff, but also because Callahan is way smarter than I am, and maybe reading his book will make me smarter!

And so we come to the end of another trip through Previews. I hope you found it helpful!

23 Comments

• At June 30, 2008, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Black Summer so far has been fantastic, but what gets missed issue to (increasingly late) issue is how fast-paced it ...

• At June 30, 2008, Dave wrote:

  The Family Man arc of Hellblazer has never been collected before. Prior to the past year, pretty much the ...

• At June 30, 2008, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Speaking of Hellblazer, Is DC planning to reprint the remainder of Delano's tenure, all of Jenkins' tenure, and the one-shots, ...

• At June 30, 2008, Jeff R. wrote:

  The Family Man trade should make the collection of Delano's run complete, I think. There was a Fear Machine ...

• At June 30, 2008, Ian A. wrote:

  Jesus Hates Zombies may not be the soundest conceit, but I think we can all get behind Lincoln Hates Werewolves.

• At June 30, 2008, Scavenger wrote:

  "So the catchphrase of Secret Invasion is “Embrace Change” (page 36)? The only way the series would be any good ...

• At June 30, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  Yeah, I'ma have to get that Northlanders trade. And maybe the Marvel Boy HC. And maybe maybe the Black Summer ...

• At June 30, 2008, Evan Waters wrote:

  Heh- that SIMPSONS image is a reference to FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD. Obscure kaiju films FTW.

• At June 30, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Notable for rare use of inter-title continuity in Vertigo; we see the title character accepting the keynote speaker position for ...

• At June 30, 2008, TimCallahan wrote:

  I haven't actually seen the July Previews yet, but I'm glad my Morrison book made it in! And thanks ...

• At June 30, 2008, Tungsten Man wrote:

  I'm interested to see Simone's Scandal. There's a character with some unmined potential: is she immortal, or isn't she? Is ...

• At June 30, 2008, Brian J. wrote:

  I'm assuming the Exit book collects both Kanan's self-published series and then the second series that was published by Caliber ...

• At July 1, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Jeff R. said:

  "The Family Man trade should make the collection of Delano’s run complete, I think. There was a Fear ...

• At July 1, 2008, Filrouge wrote:

  Mr. Burgas, speaking of postage-stamp-sized-countries, did you know that Switzerland invaded Lichtenstein by mistake a couple of times (at least ...

• At July 1, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Filrouge - yeah, I saw at least one of the "invasions" in the news last year. It's always fun ...

• At July 1, 2008, Salamurai wrote:

  I didn't want to pay $50 for the "Previews Exclusive" version of that Dave Gibbons book, so I looked on ...

• At July 1, 2008, TimCallahan wrote:

  I love hardcovers so, so much. But they should still do trades, too. Seriously.

• At July 1, 2008, layne wrote:

  I want to see Belgium’s biggest heroes!

  22 pages of Captain Flemish and The Walloonist arguing whether they should go their ...

• At July 1, 2008, ykw wrote:

  "Here in the Basin" -- Lived here my entire adult (and part of my teenaged) life and have never once ...

• At July 1, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Good point, ykw. And Ron Wolfley calls it "the Basin" on KTAR 620 on his morning show, and I ...

• At July 6, 2008, Ed Degarmo wrote:

  Looking at that Venom image got me thinking. Whats the point in making an alien that is already a monster ...

• At July 10, 2008, StephenRL wrote:

  You guys are missing the whole "Jesus Hates Zombies" thing. Jesus wasn't a zombie--simply because he was resurrected with both ...

• At July 22, 2008, greg page wrote:

  [...] [...]

In my ongoing quest to tempt people to use Previews (as evil as it is) to order things instead of relying on their comics shoppe to order that hardcover of Skyscrapers of the Midwest (which I got this week almost solely on the recommendation of Our Dread Lord & Master, who loves it to death - so it better be good, Cronin, or the 2000 miles that separate us won't save you from my wrath!!!!!), I spoke to my retailer this week about it. Previews carries a $4.50 price tag, which is pretty hefty, I admit. He gives them out for free, which is swell of him. I spent $70 this week on graphic novels and collections I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, so it's a decent bargain for him. (The books were, in case you're interested: the aforementioned Skyscrapers, The Compleat John Byrne's Next Men volume 1, La Perdida, two volumes of No Pasarán, and the trade of Sorrow by Rick Remender, Seth Peck, and Francesco Francavilla.) He does say he gives them to a lot of people who don't order anything, but he also asks for them back, so he can recycle them to other customers if he needs to. Anyway, it costs him $3 for each volume of Previews, and that includes the Marvel section. So if you don't want to pay $4.50 for Previews and your retailer isn't willing to give them to you for free (and you could ask him), ask if he'll give it to you for cost at $3. Maybe that's a compromise he can live with.

Or you can just read this post! So let's get going, as Tony Harris art invites us inside!

Dark Horse:

On page 30, you can pick up the fourth volume of Empowered by Adam Warren (17 September), which features a color story "available previously only on MySpace." There are people who absolutely love this series. I am not one of them. But if it's your thing, there it is!
Bernie Wrightson's version of Frankenstein, from 1983, is offered on page 34 in a larger format (29 October). It's 30 dollars, but I can't imagine it's not awesome.

I don't have a lot of interest in the Ghost Omnibus on page 36 (22 October), but it's one of those things I'd love to see for the Hughes interior art. I know he didn't even do a lot of it, but still - Adam Hughes is fantastic. I wonder how All Star Wonder Woman is going?
Something I will want to check out is the Mister X Archives book on page 37 (22 October). Dean Motter writes weird noir as well as anyone, and if this is anywhere near as good as, say, Terminal City, I'm there. If it's better, then I'll be in heaven.
Eighty dollars for a fancy hardcover of The Umbrella Academy (page 39; 29 October)? I liked the series, but not that much!
Lots of Hellboy/B. P. R. D. stuff (pages 41-43), including a big $50-hardcover. I still have to find out if there's a movie coming out or something.

DC:

See, I have no problem with all these Final Crisis crossover events DC is throwing at us - I'm going to avoid most of them, after all (Brad Meltzer writing one? blech!). Then, on page 67, Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke write a Superman story that sounds pretty freaky (27 August). However, it claims to begin where Final Crisis #3 leaves off. Given that there is no issue of Final Crisis solicited in this volume of Previews, should we be worried about delays on the flagship title? That would be vexing.
Speaking of Ambush Bug: Year None (page 72; 27 August), given the list of stuff Keith Giffen apologizes to with regard to the book, I'm even more jazzed by it.
Yes, we have to wait until 6 August to read the last issue of All Star Superman (page 81). Damn.
The best thing in this month's Previews is tucked away on page 84. No, it's not the actual issue of Batman and the Outsiders #10, it's the fact that the solicitation begins with "Acting on a tip from Looker ..." I don't even care about reading the issue, as long as Looker is back in the land of the living. That means I don't have to revive her when Dan DiDio begs me to write the definitive Looker series. You'd buy it, you know you would!
I realize that comic-book names are often goofy, but on page 71 we had a bad guy named "Synnar" and on page 86, Hal Jordan and Sinestro fight "Atrocitus." Really?
Infinity Inc. dies with issue #12 (page 87; 6 August). I'm not surprised. I wish it had been better, because Milligan's premise was intriguing, but it just didn't work too well.
Shockingly enough for a comics blogger, but I'm not that dazzled by monkey stories. However, if you are, DC scratches your itch with a trade of olde-tyme comics featuring apes on page 91 (1 October). 168 pages for 20 bucks! Plus: apes!

The Neal Adams collection on page 92, with all his odd DC work (not the GL/GA, Batman, or Deadman stuff, in other words), looks really cool, but it's 40 dollars. Man, that's steep.
There's a Phantom Stranger trade on page 94, collecting the mini-series drawn by Mike Mignola and some other stuff. Even with Paul Kupperberg's involvement, this might be pretty danged cool. Anyone want to sound off about it?
On page 109, you can get The X-Files Special #0 (23 July) to coincide with the new movie. I doubt if I will get this, but I thought I'd point it out for a couple of reasons. First, Brian Denham is a great artist. Second, the new movie apparently has nothing to do with the grand mythology of the series. I realize that it became hopelessly convoluted at the end, but what's the point of an X-Files movie if it's just two FBI people investigating a weird crime?
Continuing my attempts to get DC to rebrand the Minx line from "the first graphic novel imprint for teens" to "the first graphic novel im