It’s time to look through Previews and see what will be coming our way in December.
Dark Horse
Hellboy’s back, and apparently still dead, as the new mini-series is called
Hellboy in Hell. I’ve long found Hellboy to be secondary to the superior BPRD series, but with Mike Mignola actually drawing the issue as well as writing, I’m definitely interested.
DC
Wonder Woman‘s going to be fighting Orion? I’m not a huge fan of the Fourth World characters, but I think if they’re going to be handled by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, then I’m in.
I feel like it’s time to seriously cull my New 52 purchases, and to cut loose some titles that are okay, but not impressing me enough. So, that’s it for Talon, Detective Comics (I liked John Layman’s first issue, but not enough to pay $4 a month for it), and I, Vampire. Demon Knights would have been on the chopping line too, but it feels like something is wrapping up in this issue, so I’ll give it another month. Nightwing is on notice.
I’m only pre-ordering five Vertigo comics this month, and two of them are final issues. I’ve never bought so few in a month. This line is in need of some help.
Image
Any opportunity to buy a new Brian Wood series should be seen as a positive thing. He’s been writing some great comics at Dark Horse (Conan, The Massive), and now he’s spreading the goodness over to Image with Mara, a new science fiction series drawn by Ming Doyle. It looks terrific.
I’d actually forgotten that Richard Starkings’s excellent Elephantmen series was originally started as a prequel to Hip Flask, his very occasional series with the incredible artist Ladronn. Elephantmen has been coming out for years, and now we are finally seeing a new Hip Flask book, called Ourborous (a word that should be familiar to anyone reading Batman Incorporated). This looks great, although I’m sure reading it will be a little jarring, as it takes place well after everything we see in Elephantmen.
Age of Bronze #32 was originally solicited to come out in July 2011, and now it’s showing up in Previews again. I really hope that it comes out this December, because I love Eric Shanower’s massive and exhaustive telling of the story of the Trojan War.
Marvel
With the big push coming from Marvel and their Marvel Now! initiative, it’s time to take a good, solid look at what I want to commit to. There are some titles that I can see myself sampling, but there’s also some stuff I’m definitely going to pass on.
I’ve never been too impressed with Daniel Way, and seeing that Thunderbolts is being double-shipped, I think it’s an easy pass, even with art by Steve Dillon.
I would gladly pass on Avengers, since it’s being double-shipped, but Jonathan Hickman is one of the rare writers that I’m willing to spend that much money on. His take on the team looks like it’s going to be very interesting, especially with Jerome Opena drawing the opening issues.
Cable and X-Force sounds interesting, despite my not being too familiar with Dennis Hopeless’s writing. The thing is, this is a $4 comic, and it’s being double-shipped. I’ll check it out, but it will have to be very impressive if it’s going to get me to stick around.
I guess Marvel has a lot of faith in Hopeless, as he’s also being given Avengers Arena, which looks like it’s going to be replacing Avengers Academy, except that instead of building up the new generation of heroes, this title is looking to kill them all off. Again, with Kev Walker drawing it, I’m tempted, but the double-shipping is a turn off (I hope someone at Marvel is reading this and realizing that they are shooting themselves in the corporate foot with their saturation policies). The Chris Bachalo, Lord of the Flies homage cover to issue 2 is gorgeous though…
I do continue to look forward to Iron Man, despite its being double-shipped and drawn by Greg Land. The reason? Next to Jonathan Hickman, Kieron Gillen is the only other writer I can think of that I’d be willing to commit to so wholeheartedly, despite what promises to be awful art.
Javier Pulido is drawing an issue of Hawkeye? I think that may even be more exciting than the issues drawn by David Aja!
I’m sad to see that Dark Avengers is continuing despite Thunderbolts spinning off elsewhere. This book has not been good lately, so I’m done with it. Jeff Parker is a great writer, but I doubt even he can do much with these characters; if he can, he hasn’t shown it yet.
This month I’m pre-ordering 18 Marvel comics (not counting Secret Service). Of those, there are only 13 titles represented. There are plenty of other comics I’d probably buy were it not for the double-shipping. Perhaps you’re tired of hearing me say that, but I’d be curious to know what other people think of the same policy. Please comment below.
Avatar
I see that David Lapham and German Noble are returning to their Caligula series. The first was pretty twisted, but also kind of glorious. The problem is, it didn’t leave a lot of room for a sequel, so I doubt I’m going to be getting this.
Oni Press
I was surprised last month to see Vasilis Lolos drawing an issue of Conan the Barbarian, as it’s been some time since he’s drawn anything. I’m even more surprised to see the solicitation for the second volume of his series Last Call. I don’t remember much about the first volume, as it came out something like five years ago, but I do like Lolos’s art, so I’m on board. I wonder if this means we might see the end to Pirates of Coney Island one day…
So, what would you buy Were Money No Object?
