Once again, it’s time to dig into a new Previews, and see what wonders are coming our way in June.
Dark Horse
I’ve been liking 
the previews of Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson’s new story The Massive, and am excited to start reading the on-going comic. I like the idea that it’s about environmentalists still fighting the fight after things have started to seriously fall apart. I fully expect this series to be as good as DMZ.
Mike Mignola is like the new Brian Michael Bendis, cranking up the BPRD/Mignola-verse machine to eleven, and putting out more series at once than at any time before. I’m annoyed, because I don’t want to buy that many comics, but at the same time, they’re all pretty good, and now Cameron Stewart is drawing one of the BPRD series. There’s also a new Baltimore mini, that is only two issues long. Shorter is often better, I find.
DC
Of all the Before Watchmen books on offer this month, the only one that is really tempting me is the Minutemen book, because of Darwyn Cooke’s involvement. I don’t really want to be bothered with these series, expecting that I’ll read them eventually in used trades or something, but this one is calling my name…
Matt Kindt is taking over the writing of Frankenstein Agent of SHADE this month, and I’m pretty excited to see what the master of spy comics can do with this unusual group of characters. I hope he gets the chance to draw part of one issue – I think it would be very cool to see how his style works with a book like this.
I see there’s a new graphic novel coming from Vertigo called Right State, written by Mat Johnson, whose book Incognegro was very good. It’s about extremist militias and the upcoming presidential election. It should be worth reading.
There’s also going to be another American Vampire spin-off mini-series featuring Felicia Book, called Lord of Nightmares. The parent title is terrific, and this is going to be by Scott Snyder and Dustin Nguyen. I’ll definitely be buying it.
IDW
I’m a little tempted to see what John Layman, the writer of Chew, would do with Mars Attacks!. Pairing him with John McCrea seems like a good choice, but I’ll probably end up trade-waiting this. The first issue has 55 variant covers. This cover stuff really needs to stop…
Image
I’m beginning to think that it’s a good idea to pre-order just about every new series coming from Image, they’ve had so many winners of late. This new Planetoid by Ken Garing looks pretty, but I have no idea if it’s a mini-series, an on-going, or a one-shot. I wish they would give us more information in their solicitations.
The new anthology series Creator Owned Heroes could use a better name, but with art by Phil Noto and Kevin Mellon, and writing by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (and Steve Niles, who doesn’t really excite me), I’m intrigued enough to buy the first issue.
The Red Diary/The Re[a]d Diary
is a flip-book graphic novel by Teddy Kristiansen, with some writing by Steven T. Seagle. They’ve done incredible work together in the past (House of Secrets, It’s a Bird), so this is probably going to be amazing.
Chew #27 came out a year ago, out of order. Now they are releasing it again, apparently with enough extras that it’s worth buying it again. I don’t agree (and kind of resent that they are making me choose).
Marvel
So Marvel has decided to turn the Thunderbolts into Dark Avengers, and are having the book star the most recent of Norman Osborne’s teams to use that name, with Luke Cage keeping an eye on them. I like the Thunderbolts the way it is now, and have no interest in reading anything with Norman Osborne’s even casual involvement in it. I’m taking this title off my pull-list, but may give the first issue (#175, because numbers no longer mean anything) a try, because I do like Jeff Parker, Declan Shalvey, and Kev Walker.
I feel like it’s too soon for Peter Parker of the 616 to be meeting Ultimate Miles Morales in Spider-Men. The kid has barely done anything as Spider-Man yet. This project reeks of desperation, as Marvel tries to win back market share from DC with high profile projects that appeal to fanboys. If this didn’t have art by Sara Pichelli, I wouldn’t even look at it on the stands…
Alpha Flight showing up in Hulk makes me rethink having dropped that title. Were there only one issue coming out this month, I probably would have ordered it. Two makes it a pass.
I’m very curious about Brian Wood taking over the adjectiveless X-Men book, but with the price still $4 an issue, and two coming out the same month, I’m going to wait for reviews. Wood is one of my favourite writers working in comics, but I don’t know if he can really do his thing on a third-tier X-title, and I’d rather just read The Massive, where he can be himself.
I’m very excited to see that Casanova will be finishing in June! It’s been a long wait for the third issue, which is coming this week. This series is amazing – Matt Fraction’s best work ever, and stunning art by Gabriel Bá!
For the month of June, I’m pre-ordering sixteen Marvel titles (fifteen if you count Fantastic Four and FF as the same thing, which I think you arguably could), but will be buying twenty-two comics, because of double-shipping. I hate this double-shipping thing. Were so many books not doubling up, I would probably also be buying Dark Avengers, X-Men, Ultimate Comics X-Men, Hulk, Captain America, and Captain America & Iron Man. In other words, I’d still be buying twenty-two comics, but that would be spread across the Marvel line, instead of concentrating that money in smaller pockets. I’m not a business man, but wouldn’t that be better? It would be for the writers and artists whose books I’m not buying, that’s for sure…
Top Shelf
Everyone has an opinion about Alan Moore these days, and even though I didn’t love the last issue of Century, I am excited to see that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III: Century #3: 2009 is coming soon. I also figure, since it’s set in current day, more or less, I have some hope of catching some of the references in this comic.
Valiant
I’m still firmly on the fence about the Valiant relaunch, but Harbinger is going to be written by Joshua Dysart, whose work on Vertigo’s Unknown Soldier I loved. I will probably be picking this up.
So, what would you buy in June, Were Money No Object?
