PREVIEWS Roundtable – September 2016 featuring DC’s Rebirth, Doom Patrol, Marvel’s Civil War II, Hellboy & The B.P.R.D. 1954, and much more!

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Phil Allen

DC – The next wave of Rebirth is here. Batman Beyond has been interesting and with the same creative team on board BB: Rebirth should be good. Teen Titans: Rebirth also sounds interesting since I’ve turned around on Ben Percy’s Green Arrow: Rebirth. Trinity #1 should be a treat between DC’s big three and Francis Manapul’s gorgeous art. One of the biggest surprises is Blue Beetle #1 given that his short series during the New 52 didn’t run that long, but I’m glad all the same. The biggest non-Rebirth surprise has to Doom Patrol #1 from Gerard Way! I’ve read very little Doom Patrol so I’m excited for this. On the Vertigo side, Frostbite #1 sounds good, and American Vampire Anthology #2 will be great. It’s been a few years since the last so this is a long time coming.

Marvel – No new series for me this month, but I’ll be sad to see Howard The Duck going out with issue #11.

Image – I’ve been a fan of Kyle Higgins since Batman: Gates of Gotham and enjoyed his creator-owned series C.O.W.L. so I’ll be checking out Hadrian’s Wall #1. Deadly Class #21 ended with a few shockers so issue #22 should be quite the return. Southern Cross #7 marks the start of the second arc and the return from the last issue from December. The Wicked + The Divine 1831 (One-Shot) is a flashback issue which won’t be included in the TPB so make sure you pick this up too! Image picked up CBLDF’s Kickstarter-funded She Changed Comics, a thorough history of women the female innovators of comics.

Dark Horse – The continuing adventures of Hellboy & The B.P.R.D. in 1954 – The Black Sun #1 by Mike Mignola (retired? HAH!). This has been a great bunch of mini-series and I hope they continue for a long time. Also from the B.P.R.D., Rise of The Black Flame #1, which focuses on the Bureau’s oldest enemy.

James Fulton

DC – I think it’s time to commit to some of the Rebirth titles, in terms of adding them to my pull-file list. Wonder Woman is going there for sure. Batman and Detective Comics probably would be, but DC is already doing a crossover event, so this might be the perfect time to drop those titles instead… I guess it will depend on how good Nightwing is when it comes out.

Doom Patrol is definitely of interest to me. I’m not always a huge fan of Gerard Way’s writing, but his approach to this title, incorporating characters from various iterations of the team’s storied past, coupled with some nice preview art, has my guaranteeing it a first arc.

I’m probably going to give Blue Beetle a try, because I like Keith Giffen a lot, and also loved what he did with Jaime his first time around. Working against this book though are Ted Kord and Scott Kolins, neither of whom I’m a big fan of…

Similarly, I don’t care one way or another about Supergirl, but am curious to read more of Steve Orlando’s writing. This will get a solid flip-through at the store.

Marvel – Blah blah Civil War II blah. There are way too many tie-in issues for me to boycott the event, without dropping almost everything I buy. I hate this kind of thing. The result is that nothing stands out here for me.

Image – Seven to Eternity #1 – Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña? I don’t need to read past that – sold!

Deadly Class #22 – Speaking of Remender, I’m pleased to see that Deadly Class is returning in September, because the last issue’s ending was brutal, and I’m actually a little worried about the characters I’ve come to love.

The Wicked + The Divine 1831 #1 – A Times Past kind of story looking at an earlier version of the Pantheon? Looking forward to this…

IDW – Revolution – Although I’m currently reading Micronauts, and have preordered Rom, I have no interest in seeing these two properties interact with each other nor any other Hasbro licenses. I’m glad that this doesn’t look to be impacting the main books, because that would be cause to drop these titles.

Valiant – X-O Manowar #50 – I’ll be sad to see this series disappear, but at the same time, I applaud Valiant for keeping the same writer on a book for fifty issues (plus a further hundred or so one-offs and annuals), and letting the comic run its natural course.

Britannia #1 – I need to know if this is being written by ‘good’ Peter Milligan or ‘X-Men’ Peter Milligan. His last appearance at Valiant, writing Shadowman, was not good.

Matt Graham

DC – Doom Patrol has a solid pitch: “It gets weirder from here.” Gerard Way is a creator I admire for the sheer amount of work he puts into his different passions, and I’ve picked up every comic he’s done to inspire myself. The Umbrella Academy was a tribute to Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol, and the The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys album/comic project showed Way could do more than homage, so to have him reimagining Doom Patrol feels inevitable. Everything about the solicit spoke to me, and I will commit.

Way also finds artists who feed off of his unique writing voice and amplify the story to something beyond panels. Nick Derington’s preview art is up there with Gabriel Ba and Becky Cloonan’s powerful inks and scene staging on past Way projects, and it’s nice to see DC break their house style.

Deathstroke by Christopher Priest has my attention. I’m looking forward to Supergirl now that she has pop culture behind her. I hope the decade of false starts is behind her.

Suicide Squad is one of the DC titles I’m most interested in because it’s a title and concept that rarely lets me down. I’m not that interested in Jim Lee’s return to interiors – I would like him to stay, I did grow up with him – but it’s not the draw.

On that note, Harley Quinn is my other blind Rebirth loyalty. The only regular thing I’ve pulled from DC these past few years have been Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s run on the character as well as the Black Book team-ups. After Power Girl all those years ago, I’ll follow them to any character. Like Doom Patrol, all their DC projects break the “house feeling” that DC as always instilled in me since I was a young reader.

Marvel – Civil War shows up where it will, but the main series hasn’t excited me. Gwenpool promises they aren’t tying in this month! Business as usual, then: Gwenpool, X-Men things, Scarlet Witch, yadda yadda.

Image – Seven to Eternity gets bought, but at this point I just get anything Remender thinks up so I can feel inspired and bad about myself at the same time. Jim Zub’s Glitterbomb looks cool.

Deadly Class is back. Paper Girls still exists, so all is right. Am I giving She-Wolf a try? Cry Havoc is gone so I might.

Valiant – THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE DELUXE EDITION BOOK 1 HC

I lost track of Second Lives on my pull list, so I’ll make it up to Jen Van Meter by buying this collection. Doctor Mirage was my favourite classic Valiant title after Shadowman, and the new stories held up.

Boom – I’m still riding the Power Rangers train.

Frank Cho’s Skybourne pitches itself: “Full of fast-paced action, Skybourne is Indiana Jones meets James Bond with fantasy elements thrown in.” I’ll give it spin.

Aftershock – Animosity is my book of the month for August, and issue 2 drops. Animal Farm finally smashes into the zombie-not-zombie apocalypse scene, and Marguerite Bennett surely did this just for me. It’s one of the only ways I’d care about such an apocalypse at this point.

Insexts and Lifespanners wrap it up for me.

Phil started reading comics in 2008, and it has been his passion since. Enjoying titles ranging from Batman to Sex Criminals, Y: The Last Man to Samurai Jack, and The Wicked + The Divine to 100 Bullets, Phil will read just about anything. Have a recommendation? Looking for one? You can reach him on Twitter @4ColorPhil