Down The Line - Previews review for July 2006 by Randy Lander Down the Line is The Fourth Rail's monthly look at Previews, and what titles are coming out a few months, well, "down the line." Is it really time for July releases already? I guess it must be, as we're deep into the summer blockbuster mode with Civil War, Annihilation, Planet Hulk, 52, One Year Later, etc. all going strong. Quite honestly, my interest mostly lies elsewhere, and if yours does as well, or if you're looking to supplement your diet of superhero blockbuster entertainment with something else, hopefully you'll find something to like in this column. By the way, I mean no slight to those enjoying the superhero blockbusters... I'll be lining up for any number of Hollywood blockbuster films this summer, and I'm as susceptible to the lure of popcorn entertainment as anyone. Hell, I'm even mildly curious about 52, at this point, if only from a logistical standpoint of "can they pull it off?" and "can they make it entertaining?" This installment covers the May Previews for comics due to ship out in July 2006. Remember, especially with the indy books, that pre-ordering is your friend, and the best way to make sure you get the books you want. As always, the Previews rundown is in alphabetical order, rather than the order used in the Previews catalog. To facilitate those seeking more information, each entry will include the page number of the solicitation. I'm going to offer up my "Top Ten Shiny New Things to Watch Out For," which is in a 1-10 order of what I'm most looking forward to (the first item is my "pick of the month," as it were.) Then I'll provide a rundown of "Other Stuff That Caught My Eye." My focus in this column is always going to be on jumping-on points and new stuff, so if you're wondering "Where's Fables?" or something along those lines, I still love it, I just don't want to keep harping on it. I'm also going to do my best to provide links to art and other preview material, or at the very least official websites, so you can track down more information. TOP TEN SHINY NEW THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR: The Escapists #1 (Dark Horse) - Despite a remarkably impressive array of talent (they got Will Eisner, for God's sake!) on the Adventures of the Escapist books from Dark Horse, I was never quite able to plug into Michael Chabon's invented Golden Age-style hero and his escapades. Until the last issue, when Brian Vaughan, Phillip Bond and Eduardo Barreto ran the first installment of The Escapists, a meta story about a young comic book team trying to revive the Escapist character in modern times. This kind of thing has been done before, comics that focus on the comics makers, but the first chapter was just riveting stuff, and Bond and Barreto were bringing their A-game. Then the book was cancelled. The good news (especially for those, like me, who found the Escapist anthology a little pricey for its total entertainment value) is that The Escapists feature has been rescued to run as its own miniseries, with Steve Rolston and Jason Alexander picking up the art chores. The even better news for those who missed it is that the first issue of The Escapists, presumably reprinting that first chapter, is going to be available on its own for the bargain price of a buck. A great artist, the best writer in comics at the moment (for my money) on a story I've already read and can tell you for sure is great? For a dollar? What more do you need? A Frank Miller cover? OK then. Preview of Rolston's pages HERE. (page 22) Jack of Fables #1 (DC/Vertigo) - A Fables spinoff? Yeah, I was nervous too. Spinoff tends to equal dilution of a great concept, even one as open to further stories as Fables. But after seeing Jack in his own Hollywood adventure, which served to set up his new outcast status quo as a permanent thing, I've come to realize that he's the perfect character for a different kind of Fables book. Now I'm just worried about Willingham over-extending himself and draining the quality of the main book (what with also writing and drawing Shadowpact), but certainly the preview pages are very strong, and that cover... James Jean is an art god, and if Jack of Fables offers nothing more than another venue for his monthly masterpieces, it might be worth it for that alone. Official site, including PDF of preview pages, HERE. (page 113) Batman #655/Detective Comics #821 (DC) - If you were to ask me my ideal writers on Batman, I don't think I could do much better than suggesting Grant Morrison on one book and Paul Dini on the other. I might have said Frank Miller, but now that we've seen All-Star Batman and Robin, we all know I would have been wrong. Morrison is the guy who can take seemingly any character and give it a fresh, likable spin, whether it's Superman, the X-Men or less well-known players like the Guardian and Zatanna. Paul Dini is the guy who, alongside Bruce Timm and others, created what was probably the best Batman of the last 20 years with the animated series. The change from Rags Morales to JH Williams III on art chores makes me nervous, as Williams has deadline issues, but just judging from his early Chase work, he's an amazing choice for Batman, and Andy Kubert is always at least solid and, when he's doing his own thing, often considerably better. And Morrison gets bonus points from me for playing off the story of Batman's son by Talia al'Ghul, an intriguing potential plot point that had up until now been of dubious relation to continuity. Official site with PDF sneak peek of Detective HERE. (pages 62-63) Timothy Truman's Scout Vol. 1 TP (D.E.) - Finally! The rumors that someone was going to reprint Tim Truman's tale of an Apache in the post-apocalypse have been circling for some time, but it's true. I haven't read any of this book, but I've seen the art, and it's terrific, and the concept is a winner as well. Can't wait to have this book on my shelf, and hope that there will be enough interest for D.E. to reprint the entire series. Official page HERE. (page 270) Wasteland #1 (Oni Press) - Speaking of post-apocalyptic... this will be only the third ongoing series that Oni has launched in its existence, which speaks well of their confidence in it. It's by the team of Queen & Country: Declassified Volume 3, a story which for me surpassed creator Rucka's Declassified Volume 2, and it's got an interesting if non-specific apocalypse called "the Big Wet" which has left the world a bit of a desert. If you're not sure about this book, the creators have also gone out of their way to provide handy preordering information. Such as a 21-page preview available in PDF, CBR and JPG format, sketches from artist Christopher Mitten, character bios by writer Antony Johnston... they've even got a theme song! Check it all out HERE. (page 335) Dark Horse Twenty Years (25 cent issue) (Dark Horse) - Seems like the bargain issues have caught on, as there have been discount books offered in every month of Previews for quite a while now. Hell, there are at least three in this issue alone. But this might be the most impressive talent line-up I've seen on one of these bargain books. 25 cents gets you work from Dark Horse's stable of talent, current and going back to their earliest days, including Arthur Adams, Sergio Aragones, Paul Chadwick, Frank Miller, Stan Sakai, Eric Powell, Matt Wagner and plenty more.... including the novelty value of the artistic debut of Joss Whedon! 25 cents for some of the best and brightest in comics? This might be even more of a no-brainer than the Escapists offering, and should really be on everbody's preorder list. Official site HERE. (page 28) Polly & The Pirates Vol. 1 TP (Oni Press) - Ted Naifeh is an underrated genius in comics. His art style seems to draw influences equally from guys like Mike Mignola and Dan Brereton, and while he has worked quite well in something of a gothic niche, he has also proven adept at bringing new life to the goth books, such as his excellent Courtney Crumrin series or his work on Death, Jr. Polly and the Pirates, however, is Ted Naifeh at his very best, offering up material that is both completely perfect for his art and writing style and yet completely different, being set in a the swashbuckling world of pirates and the button-up world of Victorian morals that pirates intruded upon. Naifeh does some of the best-realized young girl characters in the business, and provides good plot hooks, great humor and terrific action to boot. Official site, with 8-page PDF preview, HERE. (page 338) Godland Vol. 2: Another Sunny Delight TP (Image) - Basil Cronus gets a new body, Friedrich Nickelhead tries to capture Adam Archer, a secret space program blacks out the world and a bunch of glowy alien imps invade New York... and that's just in the three issues that have come out! Who knows what all is going to happen in the last two, collected in this trade? Godland is hands down the best cosmic superhero epic on the market right now, but it's more than that. It also shows that original characters and creations in the superhero genre can work, that Marvel and DC don't have that genre completely locked down, and that it's OK for superhero comics to be crazy, weird and fun again. If you're a fan of Morrison's Doom Patrol or Seven Soldiers, you definitely need to be reading this. If you're a fan of Jack Kirby's work on Fantastic Four and New Gods, you definitely need to be reading this. If you're a fan of Kirby and Morrison, and you're not reading Godland, you should really be crying yourself to sleep each night over missing the perfect book for you. You can read the entirety of issue one HERE and the entirety of issue eight HERE. (page 150) The Surrogates Vol. 1 TP (Top Shelf Productions) - Speculative science-fiction is not something we see a lot of in comics. It tends to be more on the super action-packed end or on the ultra-cerebral end. Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, however, served up true speculative sci-fi with plenty of action, a compelling mystery and a believable setting in The Surrogates. The basic premise is, most people have stopped leaving their homes, instead opting to go out via telepresence in sleek, ultra-tech robotic surrogates thorugh which they can sense and feel. Then somebody starts murdering surrogates, and one cop who is already a bit skeevy about the whole substitution thing starts tracking the case, including run-ins with a crazy cult that also hates the surrogate technology. Plenty of twists and turns ensue. You can see a five-page preview of issue one HERE. (page 363) The Thing: Idol of Millions TP (Marvel) - No #9 solicited this month, and the solicitation for this trade sure gives off the impression that a collection of Thing #1-8 might be a complete collection of Dan Slott's book. I hope I'm wrong, though, because The Thing is pure, fun Marvel comics like I remember from the '80s. It's funny, but it's not a humor book. Instead, it's a superhero book with a light touch, plenty of action and a real strong sense of the Marvel Universe. Or, as Slott said in an early interview, "What I'd really like this new Thing book to be is comic-book-comfort-food. Readable mac n' cheese, fluffernutter sandwiches, or a grilled cheese and tomato soup combo. Whatever makes you feel good inside—about these larger-than-life heroes—and their two-fisted tales." That's exactly what The Thing is. Slott and his artists are delivering exactly what they want to be delivering, which is something you can't say about any number of good-intentioned but ultimately disappointing superhero comics. You can see a preview of issue one, and read the interview that lays out the book's raison d'etre, HERE. (page M103) OTHER STUFF THAT CAUGHT MY EYE: 24seven GN/Afterworks 2 GN (Image) - Flight has decamped to Ballantine books, but that doesn't stop Image from offering up some high-quality full-color anthologies jam-packed with work from top talent. In fact, they've got two this month. 24seven represents a variety of genres and a ton of comic book talent, including Becky Cloonan, Phil Hester, Jim Mahfood, Tony Moore, Eduardo Risso and a lot more. Afterworks 2 is more directly like Flight, in that it draws from the animation crowd, including Ted Mathot, Scott Morse and plenty of other creators whose work you probably know, even if you don't know their names yet. The Afterworks crew, going by the name E-Ville, has a blog HERE, and you can catch a preview of Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba's story from 24seven HERE. (pages 142-143) The All-New Atom #1 (DC) - The Atom probably suffered worse than anyone else in Identity Crisis from character damage (except for Elongated Man), but DC is side-stepping the issue of his crazy murderous ex-wife by creating a new Atom. And I remember the last time there was a new Atom, it was the terrific (albeit short-lived) Atom in Suicide Squad. This one looks closer to the superhero/scientist roots of the original, with a slight visual revamp of his costume which I find to be an unfortunate change to a perfectly usable classic, akin to what was done to Firestorm. You might be getting that I have a lukewarm, maybe even slightly hostile, take on this new character, but there is one thing that makes me sit up and take notice even while ignoring other new DC launches like Bruce Jones's OMAC. That thing is Gail Simone writing. Birds of Prey remains one of the few DC Universe titles I read and enjoy on a monthly basis, Villains United was the only lead-up to Infinite Crisis I enjoyed, and Secret Six is really the only post-Crisis follow-up project I'm looking forward to. So I'll check this out, even if Byrne on art and the general thrust of the character have me in more of a lukewarm interest place. You can find a one-page preview (along with an extended discussion of the ugliness of the costume) HERE. (page 72) Avengers Assemble Vol. 3 HC (Marvel) - It looks like Marvel is serious about reprinting all of Busiek's run on Avengers in this deluxe hardcover format, and that makes me very happy. Though Busiek's run is not my favorite run on Avengers (that'd be Roger Stern's run, and a hardcover collection of that run would be fantastic), it does hearken back to some of my favorite eras and uses a lot of team members I like. Given that Avengers fans of a more traditional nature have nowhere to turn in the modern Marvel Universe, I have to give credit to the collected editions department for giving us an alternative. (page M96) Beyond #1 (Marvel) - The notion of jumping off from the Secret Wars concept (random heroes and villains kidnapped to an alien world) didn't exactly fill me with thrills, but I'll tell you what did. One is the cast list, which includes recently created characters Gravity and the Hood, as well as interesting third-stringers like Firebird. Two is the art, which is done by Scott Kolins, a guy whose work I always like. And three is the writer, Dwayne McDuffie, best known now for his role in Justice League Unlimited, but someone who I also remember for great work on Milestone, Power Man & Iron Fist and any number of other comics. Good character roster, great creative team... Beyond is likely to go under the radar of most readers, but it shouldn't. (page M19) Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #1 (Marvel) - Understand, I think that Civil War is going to do for Marvel what Identity Crisis did for DC. In other words, give it a huge sales boost at the expense of betraying its characters and any principles they might have stood for, and further distancing me and those with similar tastes from the company. However... the one good thing that might come out of Civil War is a four-issue miniseries teaming some of Marvel's most promising new characters, the Young Avengers and the Runaways, under the pen of up-and-coming writer Zeb Wells. As long as the series isn't all about them raping or killing each other or something. Which, given the hype on Civil War and the general tenor of the industry at the moment, it might be. But I got a little trust in my man Wells to do these characters right. (page M32) Conan and the Songs of the Dead #1 (Dark Horse) - Joe R. Lansdale and Tim Truman wrote what was undeniably the best Jonah Hex comics series ever. And I say that as a fan of the current Palmiotti/Gray/Ross run as well as what I've read of the original books in the black and white Showcase format. But Lansdale's horror sensibilities and Truman's gorgeous painted art were a perfect match, and now they're turning their perfect synergy onto Conan, and it looks like another great fit. (page 24) Death Jr. II #1 (Image) - It's hard to believe that Death Jr. was based on a videogame, because this book was great, and that's not something you usually say about other-media adaptations to comics. Writer Gary Whitta and artist Ted Naifeh took what could easily have been a doofy goth concept and turned it into something charming, exciting and utterly imaginative. Even better, while Death Jr. stood well on its own, it was clear that there was plenty of room for more, and now the same creators are serving up more of the book, in the form of a new miniseries. This time out, Death Jr. goes to work with his dad while his unusual friends go to summer camp. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that hilarity ensues. (page 136) Done To Death #1 (Markosia Press) - This one got my notice based on the writing by Andrew Foley, who wrote the very entertaining graphic novel Parting Ways. I got even more interested when I saw a preview of the first issue, which features art reminiscent of Ben Templesmith (although with, quite honestly, stronger storytelling) and a darkly funny and thoroughly engaging look at different kinds of vampires. Foley mixes vampires and Hollywood to good effect in the first issue, providing characters rather than just monsters, and providing an unsettling and sometimes grisly read that is well worth a look, whether you love the vampires or you react to them like they react to garlic. (page 327) Elephantmen #1 (Image) - I've enjoyed the rare glimpses of the world of Elephantmen that Active Imageas has given us each year. Usually co-written by Joe Casey and Richard Starkings and always featuring the art of Jose Ladronn, the books were a terrific burst of science-fiction head-trip in the European tradition. But the world was so rich, and the stories so big, that the one-shot format just didn't seem to be serving it all that well. With the last issue, I realized I was losing the thread of the story. Thankfully, Starkings has addressed this with Elephantmen, as he teams with artist Moritat for a monthly (or at least more frequent than annual) book set in the same world. The Image solicitations (and by the way, I continue to love the format Image uses for its solicitations) suggest that fans of Blade Runner or The Matrix would like Elephantmen, and I think that's right on track. I'd also say that if you've ever enjoyed Moebius or any number of other projects from Humanoids, you should rush to the Active Images site and buy some of the previous Hip Flask one-shots, and then prepare to enjoy Elephantmen. Beautiful art preview, as well as a feature story on the book, can be found HERE. (page 134) Hack/Slash: Slice Hard (Devil's Due) - Tim Seeley's witty slasher comic gets a jumping-on point in the form of a 25 cent issue. These cheap introductory issues are really catching on lately, and I think it's a great thing, especially for indie books like Hack/Slash. This is a book that has a fairly widespread appeal, being in color and an action/horror blend, and I think a lot of mainly Marvel/DC readers would like it if they'd just try it. At 25 cents a pop, there's almost no reason for them not to take the chance. (page 286) The HALO Graphic Novel (Marvel) - I've never played HALO, and I'm down on Marvel a lot of the time these days, but credit where credit is due: This is a big coup. An original graphic novel (I thought Quesada said those weren't feasible for Marvel?) featuring artwork by any number of big names like Simon Bisley and Moebius on stories and the likes of Geoff Darrow on pin-ups, this is quite possibly the most mass market project Marvel will produce all year. (page M6) Husk GN (Lucky Cobra Publishing) - A quick Google search turned up nothing on Husk, so I'm flying a little bit blind here. However... what you need to know is that it won the Xeric Grant, which is generally a mark of quality, it's a collection of short stories, comics and sketches and the postage stamp sized promo image was enough to catch my eye. (page 324) I Am Going To Be Small GN (Top Shelf Productions) - I purchased a dainty little minicomic by this name from Jeffrey Brown at San Diego in recent years, and when I read it back at the hotel, just laughed my ass off. Brown's work has tended to be focused on the same subjects of late, romantic misadventures, so it was kind of a relief to see him tackling more esoteric and quite funny subjects in I Am Going To Be Small. This, however, is clearly not just that minicomic, or at any rate it's vastly expanded, as it's almost 400 pages for $14. If the mini sampler I got is any indication, it's a big 'ol package of indy comics hilarity. (page 363) Love and Capes #1 (Maerkle Press) - Thom Zahler is a name you might know from his action/spy/military graphic novel series Raider. Love and Capes is Zahler's newest project, which starts from the premise of a girlfriend being told by her new boyfriend that he's a superhero. Given the focus on secret identities, this is actually a new concept, that a boyfriend might trust his girl enough to let her in on it early enough so you still get all the early relationship stories along with the superhero stuff. Potentially interesting, and a new twist on superhero romance. You can preview the comics online HERE. (page 324) Occult Crimes Taskforce #1 (Image) - Everything about this screamed "Hollywood tourist vanity project," with an actress co-creating (usually code for tossing out a concept that someone else ghost-writes) a series in which she is the Mary Sue style lead character. However... the promotional artwork is very attractive, and I'll be honest, Rosario Dawson gets a lot of leeway from me because of her showing on Celebrity Poker Showdown. My expectations are low, but I have some interest in seeing what develops out of Occult Crimes Taskforce. (page 137) The Psycho TP (Image) - One of the few Dan Brereton stories I've never read, this one about a federal agent who is forced to become a metahuman to stop the metahuman threats that the government has classified as WMDs. Certainly I know that previous Brereton written and drawn books like Giantkiller and Nocturnals have been terrific, so I have a lot of hope for this one, a DC series now being reprinted by Image just in time for the movie development deal. (page 151) Recess Pieces (Dark Horse) - Elementary school kids versus zombies! In the wrong hands, a recipe for bad comics. But in the hands of Bob Fingerman, who has tackled zombies from an unusual viewpoint before in his Zombieworld story, I'm willing to guess we're going to get something outrageously violent and darkly funny. (page 27) Rokkin #1 (DC/Wildstorm) - Wildstorm doesn't have a great track record of launching new properties with me lately... it seems like I'm not the target audience. But this fantasy series, written by Danger Girl's Andy Hartnell, drew me in with the gorgeous artwork preview. The detail and color really give the impression of a fantastic other world, and while I don't know what the strength of the story will be, the environment created and the sense of fantasy is definitely on target. Official site, with PDF preview, HERE. (page 107) Scarlet Traces: The Great Game #1 (Dark Horse) - Ian Edginton and D'Israeli provided a beautifully painted and engaging tale of a Britain that used the War of the Worlds technology in their hardcover graphic novel Scarlet Traces. They recently produced an adaptation of War of the Worlds for the Dark Horse site which was equally gorgeous, and that was recently published as a hardcover as well. Truthfully, I'll probably wait for a hardcover on The Great Game too, especially since its resolicitation (twice) leads me to believe there might be some timeliness issues. But if you're more a follower of single issues, or just want to sample before diving whole-hog into the work of these creators, give this book a shot. D'Israeli's artwork gets better and better, and the mixture of alien technology and government conspiracy in Scarlet Traces was fantastic. (page 32) The Snakewoman #1 (Virgin Comics) - Lots of hype around this, as mega-entertainment corporation Virgin delves into comics. Something of note? Even though they're a giant megacorporation, they're taking a smart route into comics, offering up three ongoings rather than, say, a dozen. Truthfully, they don't hold a ton of interest for me, and the creative team of the inexplicable Bulletproof Monk and mediocre Spider-Man: India on one of the books doesn't do a lot to increase my interest either. However... The Snakewoman is written (or adapted by) Zeb Wells, an up-and-comer worth watching, and the tagline reads thusly: "Jessica Peterson. Born 1981. First kiss 1996. Graduated with honors 2002. Moved to Los Angeles 2006. Within three years, she will have killed sixty-eight men." OK, that's a hell of a hook. Tons of Virgin Comics preview images, and a feature story, HERE. (page 368) Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Vol. 1: Super Crush Digest (Marvel) - Conventional wisdom says this book was dead from the word go. And certainly the sales don't seem to justify the faith that Marvel has in it, producing an ongoing (quickly cancelled), a follow-up mini and now another ongoing? Thank goodness that for whatever reason, Sean McKeever, Takeshi Miyazawa and Mary Jane are spared conventional wisdom, because the Mary Jane series, from first issue to its latest incarnation, are perfect high school romance comics in Spider-Man's world. Light, funny, with strong characterization and gorgeous art, and McKeever's character arcs miraculously haven't suffered from the stops and starts of the book. This volume includes Mary Jane developing feelings for Peter and actually going on a date with Spider-Man. Don't worry about where it fits in the continuity, because it doesn't... and yet, it still remains remarkably true to the characters and a tremendous read. Hell, serve me up the Black Panther/Storm backstory with half the romance and strong characterization as McKeever has given Mary Jane, and I might even buy into that little marketing blitz. Six-page preview of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane HERE. (page M97) Toupydoops #3 (Lobrau Productions, Inc.) - File this under "missed the boat." I owe my newest coworker Jillian Gowen for introducing me to Toupydoops, a comic that takes the premise of comics as Hollywood, complete with characters having to audition for parts, to very funny sitcom on paper lengths. The first issue featured an epic battle with a man-sized roach, a casting call to play a Superman villain and a gag about moving a couch, all showing off creator Kevin McShane's considerable comic timing and talent. Trust me on this one... Toupydoops is an indy diamond in the rough. The first issue is already out, the second issue is due in May, and you can check out an online preview HERE. (page 324) Email Randy Lander comments about this column, or visit his MySpace profile/blog.