It’s time once again to go through the new issue of Previews, the catalogue put out each month by Diamond Distributing to comics shops and their patrons so that orders can be made for two months hence; in this case, product shipping (supposedly) in November. Below are my thoughts as I go through the book.
Dark Hor
se
Dark Horse Presents has a story by Fábio Moon this month! I can’t make up my mind about this title since it relaunched, and while I like some of the features (Concrete, Finder), I hate others (Neal Adams’s Blood being the worst). Putting Moon in the book, and continuing to feature the Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson means that half of this comic could be written by Jeph Loeb with art by Rob Liefeld, and I’d still buy it.
DC
It’s a little difficult to judge DC books right now. Having not read most of the ‘New 52’ yet, I’m still basing my decisions on past experience with the creators. I’m sure there will be a few titles that I become interested in that I haven’t added as of yet, but I’m also counting on the fact that retailers will be over-ordering for the first few months until they see their actual sales figures.
Nothing I’ve seen yet about The Fury of Firestorm makes me want to read it, except for Gail Simone’s name being attached. I think I’m not going to order #3. I think I’m also going to drop Suicide Squad. Despite the horrible character designs, I was on board because Marco Rudy was going to be drawing the series. Now it would seem he isn’t. If the first two issues are excellent, I’ll continue picking it up, but it doesn’t look good…
Conversely, I think it’s time to add I, Vampire to the pull-list, just on the strength of Joshua Hale Fialkov’s name. I’ve been feeling more an more like this is the book that I should have ordered from the beginning, and one that probably will need a strong show of support.
I’m pretty happy to see THUNDER Agents back on the schedule. The first story arc was excellent, and the second was interesting, but hampered by Dan Panosian’s art. This new series will have art by Wes Craig, who I loved on Guardians of the Galaxy, even if his style was more cartoony than the other artists that worked on that series. For that same reason, it’s weird that they have Andy Kubert doing covers for this book – it will be a pretty jarring difference in style.
Hey – DC is finally giving Chase a trade paperback. I loved this comic. I remember there’s an issue where Agent Chase is dealing with Shining Path guerrillas wearing decommissioned Rocket Red armor in South America, and thinking it was one of the coolest things I’d ever read. I don’t know what ever happened to writer D. Curtis Johnson, but we all know where artist JH Williams III ended up. This book was genius – if you’ve never read it, you need to get this.
The new Vertigo hardcover, A.D.D. sounds interesting. Douglas Rushkoff writes some interesting comics about how technology will affect our lives in the future, and I expect this to be a lot more grounded than Testament, which was pretty freaking weird. Also, it’s been too long since we’ve seen much from Goran Sudzuka.
I’m not sure how I feel about The Unwritten becoming bi-weekly, but with art by Bryan Talbot, Rick Geary, and Michael Kaluta, I’m not upset.
Image
While I can see the appeal of Guns and Dinos by Frank Cho, I’m going to wait until I see the book before I decide on it. Likewise, Blair Butler and Kevin Mellon’s Heart is something I’ll probably end up picking up, but I don’t want to commit sight unseen (although I’m sure that fans of Mixed Martial Arts will be pretty excited about this).
I like Paul Grist’s work, but I’ve always found it too much work to get caught up on Jack Staff, and so I’ve always skipped it, waiting for some inevitable omnibus collection. The notion of getting in to Mudman on the ground floor is appealing.
So Image is putting out the next printing of Our Love is Real, the one-shot about alternate forms of love (dogs, vegetation, and crystals) that lit up the internet earlier this summer. This is a good comic that transcends the rather low nature of its subject matter. If you’ve been curious, it’s worth getting it.
There’s something in here called the Thought Bubble Anthology. I don’t know what Thought Bubble is, but it’s apparently been around for five years. I don’t really care what it is though, because I see the names Andy Diggle, Antony Johnston, Charlie Adlard, and Duncan Fegredo, with a $3 price tag, and I’m in.
Marvel
Not being able to finish off the Fear Itself story within the seven issues it was supposed to take, we are given three point issues (7.1, 7.2, etc.), each spotlighting a different character. I’ll get the Captain America and Iron Man ones, but since I haven’t liked Matt Fraction’s take on Thor, I’m going to skip it.
Likewise, I’m planning on passing on the Fear Itself follow-up books, The Fearless and Battle Scars. I may change my mind when they come out, but I’m totally unimpressed with Fear Itself and Cullen Bunn’s Marvel work, not to mention that I try to never pick up comics that Mark Bagley draws.
It was nice of them to include the cover to Avengers #19, which I guess answers the question of who is going to join the team. And really? Norman Osborn is back so soon? Was anyone asking for that?
Here’s the list of books that are double-shipping this month that I read (there are more). Marvel – please stop. I’m considering dropping some of these, or something else you publish to pay for them. Avengers Academy,Thunderbolts, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy, and New Mutants. Ridiculous.
Is it possible that there is an Avengers movie coming out soon? I don’t see why else we need five individual Avengers Origins one-shots, by second-rate creative teams unless the product flood is starting early. It’s such an effective technique for them – we know this because books like Captain America: Patriot were such top sellers this year. Also, I’ll put money on it that whatever’s going on with this ‘Tanarus is the new God of Thunder’ in The Mighty Thor thing will be resolved just in time for that movie to come out.
Hey Avenging Spider-Man by Joe Madueira – I want to mock you and remind you that the 90s are long over, but you’re probably going to sell really well, so I’m not saying anything.
Hey look – Fantastic Four is back just in time for its 600th issue! Are you as shocked as I am? I wonder if the Human Torch is going to show up – I personally haven’t missed him, but you know how this stuff goes. Remember, Detective Comics would hit #900 in 19 issues were it not for the DC relaunch – want to place bets on when everything in the DCU goes back to normal too? It’s weird that Marvel is continuing FF though – I’m more interested in that title, but since Jonathan Hickman is going to write both of them, I assume that they will be tightly connected (ie, another double-shipping title, only sneakier).
A year ago, I would have been excited about Six Guns by Andy Diggle and Davide Gianfelice, but since Daredevil Reborn sucked, and was by them, I’m going to pass, or pick this up from a cheap bin.
The most exciting thing in the Marvel catalogue this month is Victor Von Doom by Nick Spencer and Becky Cloonan. BECKY CLOONAN! I don’t know if it’s a one-shot, a mini- or a regular series, but still, this is very good news. Even if I think I’ve read the story the solicits describe before…
I’m happy for the new creative team on Generation Hope. Now I can drop this book, which I was only reading because of Kieron Gillen, who was making it manageable, but I don’t really care all that much for any of the characters, and Hope appears more than enough in the main X-titles anyway.
There’s a new issue of Powers solicited this month, number 11. Issue 8 was supposed to come out in August of 2010. Why are they still soliciting this book? I’ve been with this series since its second issue at Image, and I used to love it. Now when it comes out, I have to try to remember what’s going on, and why I care. I’m officially dropping this book here. Of course, by 2015 when it comes out, I may have changed my mind. It’s too bad, because it used to be really good. Similarly, Scarlet #6 gets resolicited from its original release date of last June. Remember when Bendis and Maleev said that they would be able to put out Moon Knight monthly and this bi-monthly with no disruptions? Good times.
Apostle Arts
So Billy Tucci, who made his name drawing Shi, a sexy samurai girl comic is writing and drawing A Child Is Born, ‘adapted directly from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and painstakingly researched with Nativity scholars’. Well you know that’s going to be good. I wonder if Mary will be all ’90s Image sexy… I swear, sometimes you can’t even make up the shit you find in Previews.
Boom
Boom has a few interesting looking books this month. Seven Warriors is an historical comic set in 6th Century Libya, with art by Francis Manapul. Operation: Iron Cross is a spy story set right before the second world war with art by Trevor Hairsine, who is sometimes very good. Both of these are 3-issue series, and Boom has kind of trained me to expect a $10 trade, so I’ll wait on that.
Meanwhile, I think I’m going to have to start ordering Planet of the Apes. I just read the first five issues, and I like it. This month they are also soliciting a second Apes project – Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, co-written and drawn by Gabriel Hardman. That feels like a must-purchase to me too.
Fantagraphics
More exciting than Becky Cloonan on a teenage Dr. Doom comic is the fact that Michael Kupperman’s Tales Designed to Thrizzle has a new issue coming out! I thought, with Kupperman’s Mark Twain graphic novel being released, it would be a while before we saw a new issue of this anthology series.
Oni Press
Brett Weldele is doing an issue of Wasteland? Not only is that a good idea because his style will work well with this book, it also probably means that it will come out on time, as Weldele’s books are always on schedule. I really miss Wasteland…
Well, that’s everything that I want to say about November, at least until I actually get my hands on the comics. What would you buy Were Money No Object?
