Tricked GN (Top Shelf) - RANDY: It's not often that I can say I've waited years for a comic, but that's the case with Tricked. See, I was buying Box Office Poison when it was coming out in issues from Antarctic Press, and though I have the collected edition from Top Shelf as well (which gets a new printing this month, by the way), I've been waiting for Alex Robinson's follow-up since the end of the series a few years back. Tricked sounds like a worthy follow-up project, a 320-page monster that involves the lives of six people whose lives spiral into one another after an act of violence. Robinson is fantastic at this kind of large ensemble, sprawling plot story, and I cannot wait to see Tricked. (page 350)
DAVE'S PICK OF THE MONTH:
Coyote Vol. 1 TPB (Image Comics) - DAVE: I can do you one better, Randy. I've been waiting for the earliest Coyote stories to be collected since I first snuck a look at my brother's copies of the second Coyote series back in the early '80s! And I say "snuck" because Coyote was my first experience with a "mature readers" comic. It was part of Marvel's Epic line in the days when that line was risky and smart, a true precursor to DC's Vertigo. Coyote only ran 14 issues, earning it the justifiable label of "cult title", but those 14 issues were hugely original. The "hero" was the hedonistic human personification of the American Indian trickster god, Coyote, and as befits such a character, the book had plenty of sex and violence! Coyote basically bums around Vegas getting into adventures, his opponents ranging from gangsters to government agents to the freakish "Half Dome", a man with a quarter of his head seemingly scooped out (but it actually existed in another dimension). Cool, huh?
Long story short, the good folks at Image are finally reprinting the rare early Coyote stories originally released through Eclipse Comics and I'm dying to put my hands on 'em. The creative team's the two guys behind the legendary Batman story "The Laughing Fish" - Steve Engelhart and Marshall Rogers - the book's been completely recolored, and there's even some new material! This, to me, is the Holy Grail that Grimjack reprints were to you, Randy. Highly recommended to folks looking for some proto-Vertigo adventuring. (page 141)
RANDY: Wow. I had but a mild interest in Coyote before reading this recommendation, but if you equate your appreciation for Coyote with my love for Grimjack, then I'll definitely be giving this a look when it comes around. 'Fess up, though, Dave - all that stuff about your brother's copies and "first experience" with "mature readers" - you're subbing in the word Coyote for the word Playboy, aren't you?
DAVE: Buuuuuusted!
Ah well, at least this isn't a public forum!
Wait. What?
Adam Strange: Planet Heist TPB (DC Comics) - DAVE: I think Andy "The Losers" Diggle might be single-handedly returning kick-ass action scenes to comics, nowhere more apparent than in this universe-spanning space opera. Diggle takes retro jetpack space hero Adam Strange and with the help of Pascal Ferry's ultra-modern visuals (this guy could be working for Lucasarts), he finally brings the character into the 21st century. It's an action-packed mystery revolving around the faked destruction of a planet(!), it's got cameos from plenty of DC's space heroes, and if it drags just a bit towards the end, I'm still inclined to be forgiving because it's just so rare to get a real adventure yarn like this these days. (page 70)
RANDY: The book got a little heavy on the guest stars at the end for me, and leading directly into the Rann/Thanagar War makes it less self-contained than I'd like, but I've still got to agree with pretty much everything you said. Diggle writes action like few others in comics, and Ferry's artwork is drop-dead gorgeous.
Aeon Flux #1 (of 4) (Dark Horse Comics) - RANDY: I remember enjoying the freaky animated shorts of Aeon Flux on MTV, and I have at least a mild interest in seeing how the concept transitions to live action with Charlize Theron. That said, the big draw of this comic, which stands apart from both the animated and film version in terms of being a new story, is the artwork by Timothy Green II. The page previewed here is gorgeous, and reminds me of some of Travis Charest's work. (page 24)
DAVE: I'm feeling kind of dubious. The visuals are fine but entirely too conventional (wow, a spy-babe in a black catsuit!) considering the anarchic anime style of the source material. Eh.
The American TPB (Dark Horse Comics) - RANDY: During my college days, I read a couple issues of The American, which seemed like a grim and gritty "realistic" take on Captain America. I enjoyed what I read, but don't have a great memory of the book. At any rate, though, this collects all of The American stories, and when the price is $15 for 360 pages and the contributors include Frank Miller, Mike Mignola and Jim Lee (presumably pin-ups, but who knows?), I'll certainly at least give it a look. (page 28)
Avengers: Vision and Scarlet Witch TPB (Marvel Comics) -
DAVE: Hey, just 'cause "Avengers Disassembled" was a poop story doesn't mean the classic Scarlet Witch stories got splattered! This somewhat odd collection focuses on the Avengers' strangest couple, reprinting Giant-Size Avengers #4 ('pears to be their wedding) and the entirety of the original Vision and Scarlet Witch miniseries. I'll pick it up. Never read the wedding issue and wouldn't mind a collected edition of the mini, a moody series of stories from Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi. You haven't lives till you've seen the vision laser off his own arm after it's been melted to the ground! (page M95)
RANDY: I've actually got the second limited series by Steve Englehart, but have never read the first go-round or the wedding issue. I'm not really feeling the Avengers vibe at the moment, but I might give this one a look a few months down the line... presuming Marvel keeps it in print that long.
Ballast One-Shot (Active Images) - RANDY: A contract killer who now works for God? Great high concept, and I've loved previous work published by Active Images, including Skidmarks, which featured art by Ballast's Ilya. (page 203)
Batman: Journey into Knight (DC Comics) - RANDY: So that's what happened to Tang Eng Huat! Guy blew me away with his work on Doom Patrol, but I kept waiting for him to show up on a project where the writing clicked with me as well as the art. Turns out he's working with the editor who discovered him, Andy Helfer, on a story "set during the formative years of the Dark Knight." Helfer's writing isn't always my thing, but he had a well-regarded run on The Shadow that at least makes me curious when combined with the tease of Huat on art. Shame they didn't get him to do the covers as well, though. (page 57)
DAVE: Yep, I'm one of those huge fans of Helfer's Shadow run in the late '80s. That and the rightly complimented art of Huat are about all that could get me to try another dime-a-dozen "Year One" story. Here's hoping...
The Black Heart Irregulars #1 (Blue King Studios) - RANDY: Mix The Losers and 100 Bullets and set it in modern-day Iraq and you have some idea what to expect from The Black Heart Irregulars, a gorgeously illustrated and intriguing comic about terrorists and intelligence work. (page 248)
Borderline Volume 1 TPB (D.E.) -
DAVE: Something for the Eduardo Risso fans out there! You've seen his stuff on 100 Bullets, but here's a rare chance to catch some early work from him, a sci-fi project originally published in Italy. It's a post-apocalyptic yarn, and if you're like me, that kind of stuff is all in the execution. Will we get a Road Warrior...or a Freejack? I say do some Googling, then pre-order it if it sounds good, because most shops won't be carrying this. You can at least be sure it's gonna look good. (page 265)
RANDY: Hey, Freejack was... uh... OK, Freejack was crap. But c'mon, where else are you gonna get Mick Jagger as a swaggering mercenary bad guy?
What's that? Oh, the comic? Well, I wasn't crazy about a previous Chris Trillo/Risso collaboration I read when Dark Horse reprinted it, but even in the worst case, the artwork here will look terrific.
DAVE: Check it - here's my imitation of Jagger's catch line from the Freejack trailer: "Awroight - lis' dew it."
Cool, huh?
RANDY: It's the best imitation of Mick Jagger in the Freejack trailer that I personally have heard all year.
B.R.P.D. - The Black Flame #1 (Dark Horse Comics) -
DAVE: These Guy-Davis-drawn B.P.R.D. stories are just ridiculously cool. What is this, his third collaboration with Mignola and co-writer John Arcudi? Maybe fourth? Anyway, they're all good and Davis was just born to draw creepy shit with tentacles and polyps. Factor in Dave Stewart, best colorist in the biz, and you've got the real deal. (page 20)
RANDY: It's the third, and you're right, these guys are doing great stuff every time out. Worth noting that their last collaboration, B.P.R.D.: The Dead, is offered up in a trade collection this month as well. If you're a Hellboy fan, don't miss these just because Mignola isn't doing the art. This stuff is as good as Hellboy, and Davis and Stewart really are fantastic together on art.
Catwoman: Wild Ride TP -
DAVE: I shouldn't gripe at a collection of Ed Brubaker Catwoman stories with art by the brilliant Cameron Stewart, but...
Aw, the hell with it! Where were all these Catwoman trades when the series really needed support, dammit?! They're still highly recommended (especially the Flash/Captain Cold story in this collection - one of my all-time faves from the series)...I'm just sayin' DC could stand to be a little more aggressive with their trade program on books struggling to find an audience. (page 62)
RANDY: What, you mean like waiting over a year to release the second Gotham Central trade, or cutting reader confidence in a series of trades by failing to finish collections of books like Hitman? Which is my way of saying I totally agree with you that DC could serve to step up the production speed on their trades a bit, and that my griping on this issue won't prevent me from buying this collection of Catwoman, the completion of the run before it was decided to change up the art style (which killed my interest in the book.)
Concrete Volume 2: Heights TPB (Dark Horse Comics) -
DAVE: If I hype this book up anymore Chadwick's gonna have to start cutting me royalty checks, so let me just say I couldn't be happier to see Dark Horse collecting this work in such a sharp-looking format. I loved my old Concrete trades, but these reissues have been sized to a better price point (I think they're the same size as the new Sin City volumes) and wisely integrate both the full-issue stories and the short stories. This is very much the book for folks who think they've "seen it all" in comics. (page 31)
Daredevil #76 (Marvel Comics) - RANDY: Honestly, I lost interest in the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run a couple of arcs ago, but you've gotta give the guys credit for the kind of long run we don't see much of in this industry anymore. "The Murdock Papers" begins the last Bendis/Maleev Daredevil story, which promises the return of the original Kingpin to power. (page M32)
DAVE: Interesting. Is Bendis putting all the "pieces" back into place? Restoring the status quo before turning the series over to a new writer? I have to respect that, generally being a fan of the "illusion of change" school of superhero writing. As for whether I'll pick it up... mebbe. I've been off and on with the book for the last year or two, but there's no doubt that the consistency of vision remains a draw.
RANDY: Based on his other work at Marvel, I'd say Bendis isn't really a "status quo" kind of guy. My guess is that Matt's identity woes will at least remain after Bendis and Maleev are gone. Sounds like time to bring back hip-hop "twin" brother Mike Murdock and sort things out! (Those who think I'm kidding should check out Essential Daredevil Vol. 1)
DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories (DC Comics) - RANDY: This collection of "imaginary stories" sounds like old school fun, and features a lot of DC's best-known classic artists and writers. My question, though, is when is DC going to wake up and smell the potential in a nice reproduction of some of the most bizarre and hilarious Silver Age covers, ala the Superman is a Dick website. (page 72)
DAVE: I dunno, I guess it's pretty hard for a corporation to do anything to spoof and potentially undermine their own characters. On the other hand, DC publishes Mad Magazine so...
Anyway, I'm with ya on DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories - definitely looks like fun for those who can lose themselves in Silver Age strangeness.
Dragonlance: Chronicles #1 (Devil's Due) - DAVE: I'm pretty sure the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Dragonlance novels were required reading for all geeks in junior high and high school, at least back in the '80s and '90s. And I did my part! Read the originally trilogy, dug it, moved on without reading the umpteen spin-offs. So I'm not a hardcore fan, but I've got an affection for the material, and I'm rooting for this adaptation of one of the books. Thing that makes me nervous is that Steve Kurth is the artist. He's solid, but based on his G.I. Joe and Ghostbusters work, I'd call his stuff uninspired. Artists can grow quickly, though, so I won't let that keep me from giving this a shot. (page 273)
Dungeon Siege: The Battle of Aranna (Dark Horse Comics) - RANDY: I'm strictly a World of Warcraft guy right now, but I did enjoy Microsoft's Dungeon Siege game, and I'm always up for some good fantasy comics. The last videogame tie-in that Dark Horse did, Diablo, was ultimately disappointing, but hopefully this one will be stronger. (page 32)
Dusty Star #1 (Image Comics) - RANDY: Desperado seems to be resurrecting some cult favorite indy properties, and Dusty Star is the latest to get a revival. Haven't ever read it, but the mixture of western and sci-fi elements (think the recent Daisy Kutter from Viper Comics) is right up my alley, and Robinson's cover art looks really nice. (page 133)
DAVE: Art looks promising. Genre goulash premise could be good or could be forgettable. Will investigate.
The Faceless: A Terry Sharp Story GN (Image Comics) - RANDY: Robert Tinnell has previously worked on The Black Forest (which I loved) and The Wicked West (which I wasn't as crazy about). The Faceless sounds conceptually like another winner, a '60s story about a horror director/ladies' man who fights a Satanic conspiracy by night. Looks like there's a James Bond-ian espionage element as well, at least judging from the design sensibilities on Adrian Salmon's cover. (page 136)
DAVE: Sounds like a Hammer horror flick to me, though the Mike Avon Oeming-esque art doesn't thrill me.
Ferro City #1 (Image Comics) - RANDY: Another new concept from Image, and though there's an element of "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" to their current approach, they generally seem to be aiming at newer, untested concepts more than Marvel or DC right now. That means these books all have to struggle in the market, a shame since most of them look pretty good. Ferro City is no exception, with terrific graytone artwork by Jason Armstrong and a fun concept that sounds like a mixture of pulp sci-fi and pulp detective sensibilities. (page 134)
The Flash #225 (DC Comics) - RANDY: In the same vein as my shoutout to Bendis and Maleev on Daredevil, this is the last issue of Geoff Johns's work on The Flash, and while for me the book never quite recovered from the loss of Scott Kolins and the taint of Identity Crisis that creeped in, the last 25 issues have still been pretty solid superheroes, and a 62-issue run that really brought the book some success and added some interesting new supporting characters and reinvigorated Flash's Rogues Gallery is impressive. (page 73)
DAVE: We're in the same place on this book. I've drifted away from it over the last two years, but when I was onboard, man was I onboard! Johns definitely wrote some of my favorite superhero stories of the last few years as the series approached issue 200. Respect.
Full Moon Fever TPB (AIT/Planet Lar) - RANDY: Joe (Intimates) Casey teams up with Comic World News's Caleb Gerard and new art talent Damien Couceiro for a story about werewolves on the moon. This one has another memorable tagline from Planet Lar on the ad page that goes like this: "Werewolves on the moon. Where they are always werewolves. Because it's always a full moon. On the moon." Genius. And very funny. (page 210)
DAVE: S'funny, the ad in Previews definitely gives off a tongue-in-cheek vibe, the full solicit less so. Sounds fun in any case, and my only pre-read gripe is that so many of the AIT/Planetlar covers fall flat for me... this one no exception. Black-and-white interiors? Rockin'. Black-and-white covers? Not exactly grabbers.
Gun Fu TPB (Image Comics) - RANDY: Howard Shum's kung-fu hip-hop spouting '30s cop comes to Image with a trade collection of the self-published Gun Fu issues. I missed the miniseries, but I dug the one-shot that kicked the whole thing off, and would definitely recommend this to folks currently feeling the Kung Fu Hustle vibe. (page 142)
Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1951-1952 (Fantagraphics) - RANDY: I'm not the classic comics aficionado that Dave is, and certainly didn't ever expect to want a collection of Dennis the Menace, but it seems that, like Peanuts, the strip was a lot edgier in its early days. The preview comics shown in the Fantagraphics ad show Dennis as considerably more mischievous and funny than he would become by the time Macaulay Culkin was tapped to play him in the movie, and though I doubt I'll pick up all the volumes, I'll definitely be adding volume one of the Complete Dennis the Menace to my collection. (page 284)
DAVE: The lesson here: older comic strips kick the crap out of the modern stuff. It's pretty telling that this is being released through Fantagraphics. These guys would never in a million years associate themselves with the cheap humor of, say, Garfield, so when they reprint a gag strip you can be pretty sure it's got some bite.
RANDY: Heh. The Complete Jim Davis Garfield? I think Gary Groth would be up in a clocktower with a rifle.
Identity Crisis HC (DC Comics) -
DAVE: Hey, the book that turned me off of DC is getting a hardcover! It's as wrong-headed an approach to superheroes as I can imagine, but for better or worse, this story's likely to become a touchstone for the modern era. Interested parties will note the commentary from the creators, the sketchbook material from the talented Rags Morales, and a story that's luridly compelling even if you're not into supervillain rape. (page 69)
RANDY: But if you like supervillain rape and a tarring and feathering of the heroes more damaging than anything the "grim 'n gritty" '90s could offer, boy are you in for a treat! Maybe I should buy this one and stick it on my bookshelf as sort of a tombstone for when 90% of the DC Universe was killed for me?
Kidding, of course. I wouldn't buy this if I had a gun to my head. I hate, hate, hate Identity Crisis.
DAVE: I think someone's hiding a crush.
Jack Cross #1 (DC Comics) - RANDY: Jack Cross is a troubleshooter for a shadowy government operative, a one-man clean-up crew for problems that threaten America's freedoms. Sounds like kind of a fun concept, also sounds like a lot of Warren Ellis's other concepts, which means that you likely already know whether or not this is for you. The cover by Gary Erskine has a nice action vibe to it, and who knows, maybe this will wind up being the comics equivalent of 24, with terrific guy soap opera in the modern-day action thriller vein. (page 75)
DAVE: Gonna have to go with "not for me." Warren needs a new schtick.
JSA: Lost TPB (DC Comics) - RANDY: No, it's not the story that finds the JSA deserted with forty-some other people on a weird island with a giant monster of some kind, it's a time travel story where the JSA has to head back to the '50s to prevent a villain from retconning them out of existence. Pretty memorable tale, although the inclusion of the "guest starring Sue Dibny's corpse!" autopsy issue is almost enough to make me pass on the volume. (page 82)
DAVE: See, and I really liked the charred-corpse guest-spot. Hoping it'll get a mini all its own, to be honest.
RANDY: Well, I hear there's a slot open for the new host of the Spectre. Honestly, couldn't be any stupider than the new host for Eclipso. Unless they give it a new book and call it New Spectre. That would be stupider.
Justice #1 (DC Comics) -
DAVE: The last time Alex Ross and Jim Krueger teamed, we got the Earth X/Universe X/Paradise X trilogy, a clever but infinitely fannish series attempting to bring together all the disparate facets of the Marvel Universe in a dystopian setting. Couldn't stand it. Now Ross and Krueger are just putting out a big-ass Justice League miniseries, so definitely a step up! Still nervous about Ross's compulsive realism, but... a step up. Preview art looks good too. Doug Braithwaite pencils, Alex Ross paints over it. Nice. (page 76)
Lola GN (Oni Press) - RANDY: "I met her in a club down in old soho..." Sorry, it's just that I can't help thinking of the Kinks when I see the name Lola. Rather than adventures in transvestitism, though, J. Torres and R'John Bernales are spinning the tale of a young boy who sees dead people, monsters and demons no one else can see, following in the footsteps of his grandmother, who also had these visions and used them to help those in the Philippine countryside. Spooky! (page 309)
DAVE: Diggin' the premise.
Mark Schultz: Various Drawings Volume 1 SC (Flesk Publications) - DAVE: Not quite sure if I'm willing to drop twenty bucks for an art book, even when the artist in question is the genius Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales), but I surely recommend the work to those with a little coin. Hell, I might yet spring for it, figuring to show support for Schultz to give his Xenozoic saga a fitting ending, but would the message get through? (page 286)
Marvel 1602: New World #1 (Marvel Comics) - RANDY: Marvel's newest "go-to guy" Greg Pak gets the tap on the shoulder for one of comics' most dangerous assignments: Following up Neil Gaiman. I wasn't wild about Marvel 1602 in the first place, so the notion of a follow-up, which seems to move the book even more into standard What If?/Elseworlds territory (It's the Hulk and Spider-Man in 1602! With dinosaurs!), doesn't exactly move me. But Greg Tochinni is a talented artist, and Pak a talented writer, so those who dug 1602 might not be wholly disappointed in the Gaiman-free follow-up. Huh, how's that for damning with faint praise? (page M37)
DAVE: Tocchini's not just good - he's one of the most talented artists to emerge from Marvel in the last few years! For his art alone I'd give this a shot, but I also enjoyed the original 1602 a lot more than you. Felt closer to the "real" Marvel than most anything else running at the time, and hey, I'm just a sucker for some well-conceived world-building in the Elseworlds/What If? tradition. The dinosaurs, I think, are strictly limited to America in the setting, the idea being that the "New World" America represented in 1602 would be, for Europeans, the equivalent of Marvel's famed "Savage Land" in the modern Marvel-verse. I figure to check this out.
RANDY: In fairness, Tocchini emerged from Crossgen (remember R.A. Salvatore's Demon Wars?) and was snapped up by Marvel when that company went down in flames.
Marvel Visionaries: Chris Claremont HC (Marvel Comics) -
DAVE: There's a fair argument to be made that Marvel should've limited these "Visionaries" hardcovers to the holy trinity of Lee, Kirby, and Ditko. Ah well, spilt milk, and Claremont at his peak certainly ain't bad! This oversized hardcover includes oddball Claremont stuff - a Daredevil issue, a Marvel Premiere issue, an Iron Fist issue - as well as a big chunk of the mutant material that catapulted the X-Men to superstardom. Oh yeah, and the list of artistic collaborators is jaw-dropping: John Byrne, Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Barry Windsor-Smith, Art Adams, Alan Davis...good god, y'all! The prize entry from my point of view is Avengers Annual #10 with Michael Golden drawing a supremely cool throwdown with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Love that story. (page M77)
Mega Morphs #1 (Marvel Comics) - RANDY: Oh my dear lord. For those who thought Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects was as good as Marvel licensing tie-ins could get, I give you... Marvel superheroes piloting giant robots, based on the toy line! Poor Sean McKeever is so much better than this and honestly, so is even the most devoted and delusional Marvel zombie. Please note that for each of you that buys this instead of any of the dozens of struggling indie and mainstream books, God will kill a kitten. (page M43)
DAVE: Oh, don't be such a hardass. Maybe this will be the prelude to the triumphant return of the Starriors!
New Recruits TPB (Dark Horse Comics) - DAVE: Remember when Marvel flopped spectacularly with their talent search for the second Epic comics line? Well here's Dark Horse showing 'em how it's done. They did their own talent search, and not only are the winners getting printed in this snazzy little anthology trade, but the "New Recruits" program is going to keep going! I like it. Hope for newbies, and for readers, a first look at a burgeoning generation of talent hand-picked by Dark Horse. (page 31)
The Rabbi's Cat (Pantheon Books) - DAVE: First off, it's a French comic, so it's probably gonna look gorgeous. Second, the solicit promises a rabbi's cat who "learns to speak after swallowing a parakeet, and is soon demanding training in the Kabbalah." Whu? Hunh? Hey, I just report this stuff, folks. Sounds fun to me. Catch a glimpse of the creator's art here. (page 312)
RANDY: Pantheon has done some of the big prestige mainstream comics like Jimmy Corrigan, too, so expect this one to show up in classy joints like Time and not just online back alleys like The Fourth Rail. Read it for art snob cred, read it because it sounds like a bizarrely entertaining premise, either way it sounds worth a look.
Revelations #1 (Dark Horse Comics) -
DAVE: A murder mystery at the Vatican sounds like a pretty cool premise for a potboiler. Not giant on the creative team, though. Writer Paul Jenkins has only wowed me a few times (thinking of his done-in-one stories in Spectacular Spider-Man) and cartoony artist Humberto Ramos seems all wrong for such a project. I'll probably give 'er a look, just in case. Might be something for the Da Vinci Code devotees, too. (page 18)
Rex Libris #1 (Amaze Ink/Slave Labor Graphics) - RANDY: You've gotta love a two-fisted librarian comic. James Turner's art looks really cool, and the story, of a librarian who "travels to the farthest reaches of the galaxy in search of overdue books" sounds like a lot of fun. (page 223)
Rocketo #1 (Speakeasy Comics) -
DAVE: The burgeoning Speakeasy line has yet to find a title to lure me in, but I'll give this one a shot. With writing and art by a former Warner Brothers animator, it's the story of a mythical post-disaster future where the most prominent adventurers are the "Mappers" - navigators who know the secret passages to the scattered, broken land masses. Sounds interesting, a bit different, and honestly, it's the art that draws me. Definite shades of the Bruce Timm school (with a hearty dose of Kirby). (page 324)
Runaways #7 (Marvel Comics) - RANDY: Two things of note here. One is that the interiors are by Runaways regular guest artist (I know, weird nomenclature, stick with me) Takeshi Miyazawa, who did a fantastic job on the Cloak & Dagger story. The other is that though Chris Bachalo's cover is perfectly OK, it can't hold a candle to Jo Chen's gorgeous covers for this book since the very beginning, and I hope her absence is a temporary one. (page M45)
DAVE: True and true. I don't think Miyazawa officially made Marvel's "Young Guns" sales pitch for new artists, but he's absolutely a guy folks should be watching. Clean storytelling, great character designs, easy on the exaggeration...if all manga artists working the superhero biz were as talented as Miyazawa at merging the techniques of East and West, superhero fans would have a lot less to complain about.
RANDY: I don't think you're allowed to be a "Young Gun" unless you have a habit of blowing deadlines.
DAVE: Oh no you di'nt!
Runaways Vol. 1 HC (Marvel Comics) - RANDY: Aw hell yeah! Cool that Marvel gave Runaways the affordable digest thing and all, but the art reproduction ranged from OK to kinda crappy (on that third volume), and I've been hoping since the rumors surfaced about an "all in one" hardcover of Runaways that they were true. Turns out... they are. All 18 issues of the original series, in Marvel's cool-as-hell oversized hardcover format, for $35? I'm there. (page M76)
DAVE: Recommended to boys and girls of all ages. Seriously. A twelve-year-old would dig this, and so would a 25-year-old. Girl-friendly too, much like Joss Whedon's shows. Great art.
All you fans checking out the more commercially-oriented Young Avengers (a good book in its own right) will probably take to this as well.
Runners: Bad Goods TPB (Serve Man Press) - RANDY: This book is a terrific slice of sci-fi adventure with a touch of superpowers in the form of alien abilities, and it's definitely worth a look. The space adventure genre doesn't get a lot of play these days outside of Star Wars, and Runners has nice art, memorable characters and plenty of action. (page 316)
DAVE: I need to check this out. At a glance it reminds me of Stan Sakai's Space Usagi, which surprised me for nailing space opera where so many others got it wrong. Plus, while I missed Runners during its initial release, I do recall flipping past it and being really impressed with the art.
The Sandman Presents: Thessaly - Witch for Hire TPB (DC Comics/Vertigo) - RANDY: This was kind of a fun series from Fables' Bill Willingham and artist Shawn McManus. It's also the follow-up to a story by the same creative team about the same creator that is collected in Sandman: Taller Tales. Maybe not as good as Fables, but still very entertaining reads from Willingham. (page 117)
Season of the Witch #0 (Image Comics) - RANDY: It's the visual on this one that makes it stand out to me, with a girl decked out in a cross between athletic gear and fantasy paraphernalia, blowing a bubble. It suggests that Jai Nitz has an impish sense of humor in mind for his teenage heroine, and that could be the key to distinguishing Season of the Witch from the dozens of other "teen girl finds out she's a champion in a mystical dimension" stories. (page 139)
DAVE: For all that the premise sounds pretty by-the-numbers, having a Xeric winner on writing and a CrossGen artist on the pictures certainly ain't a bad thing.
Shocking Gun Tales #1 (Cellar Door Publishing) - RANDY: That striking cover, by an artist I don't know, is what drew my eye, but the concept draws me even farther in. It sounds like each issue will feature a different story in some way related to guns, with different creators, so it's sort of an anthology, except that it seems there will be one story per issue, and at 48 pages, that's plenty of room to tell the tale. Books like this always live or die on their creative teams, but if the artwork on that cover is any indication of the level of talent, this one could be a gem. (page 252)
Solo #6 (DC Comics) - RANDY: This is the first issue of Solo featuring an artist I'm not very familiar with, but Jordi Bernet's cover looks great, and so far this series has been a fantastic artist showcase. (page 86)
DAVE: I could kiss DC for covering artist's artists with this series. I don't know this artist either, but he apparently hails from Spain and can draw hot babes with J-Lo butts. Just based on what little I've seen, I'd bet Eduardo Risso fans would really dig on his art. Also, fans of hot babes with J-Lo butts. This may end up being the best-selling issue of Solo to date!
Spike: Old Times (IDW Publishing) - DAVE: Not quite my thing, but I'm betting a goodly number of Buffy/Angel fans will enjoy this Peter David-penned Spike one-shot. It's in IDW's funky $7.49 price bracket, but you get 48 pages on high quality paper, so it should be a reasonably hefty story. (page 296)
RANDY: I'm one of those grumpy Buffy/Angel fans who didn't like Spike after he "went good" and who actually thought he helped ruin the latter days of Buffy. So this is categorically not for me. That said, though, Peter David is one of the few guys who can nail the Whedonverse vibe, and the more success IDW has, the more projects like Smoke or Grimjack they can put out for grumpy Spike-haters like me.
Spiral Bound (Top Shelf) -
DAVE: This looks pretty cool, and the solicit almost had me just by comparing the artwork to that of kids' book author Richard Scary - that guy's art was hugely formative for me! Beyond very nice looking art with cartoony animals in ink and two colors, hard to tell exactly what the author's up to. The text describes it as a tale of "ambition, morality, and self-discovery", which might come off as pompous but for the praiseworthy quote from Craig "Blankets" Thompson. Color me interested, especially if it's actually printed with spiral binding like the ads suggest. (page 350)
RANDY: Let's not forget that Top Shelf is also the publisher that has brought us, among other notables, the aforementioned Craig Thompson and Owly creator Andy Runton. Spiral Bound looks really cool from the preview images, and the track record of this publisher with new creators is pretty amazing.
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 4 TPB (Dark Horse Comics) -
DAVE: These little volumes based on the Clone Wars cartoons are da bomb. Neat cartooning, fluffy wars stories where stuff blows up real good, and Star Wars heroes acting a hundred times cooler than those Jedi pussies in Lucas's prequels. This one shows a Wookie on the cover, so maybe we'll get the great Wookie action sequence Revenge of the Sith failed to deliver on. (page 37)
Stronghold #1 (Devil's Due) - RANDY: Phil Hester writes. I'm sold. For those who need more convincing, this is a story of a regular, even boring, guy who saves a child's life and then finds himself having strange thoughts that indicate he's maybe not as normal as he thought. In other words, strange, imaginative stuff that is right up Hester's alley. (page 274)
DAVE: Sounds a touch like the '80s flick, Altered States. Hester always delivers on this type of metaphysical mystery.
Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 4 TP (DC Comics) - DAVE: Good to see DC continuing to reprint what's, for me, the best ever extended run on Superman. I'm specifically talking about John Byrne's work on Action Comics and Superman, but the third sister book, Adventures of Superman by Marv Wolfman, is good stuff too. All three titles ran side-by-side and all are collected chronologically in this series. This particular volume has great team-ups with the Demon, Hawkman, and the Green Lantern Corps, plus a damn cool two-parter with a big ol' mummy. This is just incredibly solid superhero work - the stuff that made me see Superman's potential - and a fine companion piece to the work Gail Simone is doing with Byrne in current issues of Action. (page 67)
Teen Titans #27 (DC Comics) - DAVE: What can I say about Liefeld guest-starring as artist that hasn't already been said on the acidic message boards of Newsarama? How 'bout this: for once, the acid is warranted. Gail Simone's the guest-writer and she deserves far, far better than being saddled with the single worst comics artist ever to become popular. "Style" is no excuse for artistic stillbirth, kids. (page 86)
RANDY: Simone deserves better. She's too professional to ever say anything bad about someone she's working with, but I'm not at all shy about saying that it's fucked up that DC gave her this shot at one of DC's big books and then hobbled her with a guy who has never been able to meet a deadline or tell a story with his art.
Theodore Seuss Geisel: Early Works Vol. 1 HC (Checker Book Publishing Group) -
DAVE: Weird but very cool: the early art of the man we came to know and love as Dr. Seuss. Check out his inimitable style in the form of everything from spot illustrations to advertisements to, yes, political cartoons. (page 254)
Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct #1 (DC Comics/Wildstorm) - DAVE: With League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as its only competition, Top Ten was my favorite outing from Alan Moore's ABC line. Just great fun, that book, so much so that I'm willing to give anything a shot to perpetuate the stories...even a non-Moore-penned miniseries. Oh, the expectations are very moderate and I'm prepped to pull an "Aliens 3 and 4? Didn't happen in my universe." But with a sci-fi writer on the writing chores (Paul DiFilippo, an unknown quantity for me) and the talented Jerry Ordway on art, I'm at least not experiencing paralyzing fear.
But they should be if they don't get this right! (page 112)
RANDY: Top 10? That was that 12-issue series by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon, right? Oh, and there was a 49ers graphic novel and a Smax limited series. Follow-up series? What the hell are you talking about? There was no follow-up series! And there weren't no Aliens 3 and 4 either!
V For Vendetta New Edition HC (DC Comics/Vertigo) - RANDY: Movie on the way, which of course means it's time for a new hardcover of V For Vendetta, one of the classic Alan Moore DC series. Of course, since DC pisses off Alan Moore on what seems like a regular basis, there's no new bonus material from him, and so this new project offers up a sparse 8 pages of bonus material from artist David Lloyd, which hardly justifies a $30 price tag. (page 119)
DAVE: Wasn't it originally serialized over the course of ten issues? Makes thirty bucks about exactly what you'd expect to pay in today's adjusted prices, right?
Anyway, I'm a heathen/sinner/reprobate who's never read this, but I do have the original trade in my "to read" stack. I'll surely make a point to take it in before the movie inevitably effs it up.
Watchmen: The Absolute Edition HC (DC Comics) - RANDY: I talked about DC's deluxe format price gouging in the V For Vendetta entry, but this is even crazier. For only $75, you can get an oversized hardcover of this seminal comics story, the other big classic that Moore did for DC. Or, for $20, you can get all but 48 pages of bonus material created several years ago for a Graphitti exclusive version of the book. I love Watchmen, it's a classic, and I'm a format whore, which means that despite owning two copies of the trade, I'd be totally down with an oversized hardcover version, with or without any swanky extras... but $55 for 48 extra pages? If I'm paying that much, the Watchmen Absolute Edition better blow me while I'm reading it. (page 94)
DAVE: Ew.
Just... eww.
Does seem a little pricey, though, even with a delightful slipcase. Thing that fascinates and makes me nervous, though, is mention of restoration and recoloring by WildStorm's FX department. The solicit says original colorist John Higgins gave approval, alongside artist Dave Gibbons, but just the notion of a single visual being different on this book is enough to weird me out. You rich folks out there, tell me how it comes out.
Wildsiderz #1 (DC Comics/Wildstorm) - RANDY: I'm legitimately excited about this book, it sounds like fun, and J Scott Campbell's art is always a treat. But I'm sorry, all I keep coming back to is the "lenticular cover, 1 copy per 20 copies ordered." It's like the worst marketing/gimmick cover crap that the '90s had to offer. Put it on all the covers, and it's a kinda stupid but at least fun gimmick. Make it "rare" and you're basically offering up Ebay bait to the speculeeches, and that is the kind of shit the industry doesn't need. (page 102)
DAVE: I hate '90s gimmickry as much as the next jaded fan, but I can almost let this one slide. Wildsiderz has such a Saturday morning cartoon premise that the notion of an "animated" cover seems fitting. Maybe I'm going easy because I'm just happy to see a seemingly upbeat, wish-fulfilment comic in the midst of the second coming of grim 'n' gritty, but the lenticular cover just doesn't bother me. Hope the book's fun.
RANDY: Maybe I'm just grumpy this month. At any rate, lenticular cover aside, this does look like fun, and props to Campbell for giving us a normal-busted girl and a chubby guy in amongst the usual supermodel types!
Wings of Anansi (Image Comics) - RANDY: Honestly, I'm a much bigger fan of Oeming as an artist than a writer, but this story, based on an African folk tale, sounds different from the usual fare, and that cover image by Greg Titus looks nice. And no, it's not just because it's a hot-looking green chick flaunting her ass and naked back. Although let's face it, that's not going to hurt its chances on the shelf. (page 140)
The Winter Men #1 (DC Comics/Wildstorm) - RANDY: Wow, this project was announced a long time ago, and I think it was from Vertigo then. At any rate, sounds like a fun concept, exploring what happened to Russia's supersoldiers after the U.S.S.R. collapsed. Cover by John Paul Leon looks purty, too! (page 109)
DAVE: Leon's a really talented, really unsung artist. Supersoldiers, however, are so old hat they could be a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker.
Young Avengers #7 (Marvel Comics) - DAVE: As Young Avengers begins its second arc (a brisk two-parter), it's as good a time as any to fess up that the total lack of interest I expressed in the book when first we previewed it... might have been off the mark. Seriously, this is a damn good book - probably my favorite ongoing from Marvel at the moment. I'm almost waiting for it to fumble somehow, but to date every issue's been entertaining, respectful of Marvel history, and marked by excellent Jim Cheung art. To writer Allan Heinberg: keep it up, m'man. To my fellow skeptics: this one might just be the real deal. Check it out. (page M47)
RANDY: Hmm... what did I say about it back then? "What I know is that 'Avengers Disassembled' was a trainwreck, and the notion of a team of 'young Avengers' sounds, on the face of it, kinda stupid."
Er. Oops. However, I also did note that if the execution was good, that it could be a really fun series, and that's exactly what has happened. Dave's right, this is the rare super-hyped project that actually lives up to the hype. Oh, and Jim Cheung might be the only "Young Gun" who doesn't seem to have deadline issues.
"Avengers Disassembled" really was a trainwreck, though. Got that one right. Seriously, that story just blew.
Email Randy Lander and Dave Farabee comments about this review.
While my Snap Judgments reviews cover books as they are released, I'm as avid a follower of "what's next" as anyone else. So I've teamed up with Dave Farabee, fellow comic book store manager and equally avid follower of the industry, to do these monthly Previews reviews, covering the Diamond Previews that allow fans to preorder comics from their local retailer. This installment covers the June Previews for comics due to ship out in August 2005.
Tricked GN (Top Shelf) - RANDY: It's not often that I can say I've waited years for a comic, but that's the case with Tricked. See, I was buying Box Office Poison when it was coming out in issues from Antarctic Press, and though I have the collected edition from Top Shelf as well (which gets a new printing this month, by the way), I've been waiting for Alex Robinson's follow-up since the end of the series a few years back. Tricked sounds like a worthy follow-up project, a 320-page monster that involves the lives of six people whose lives spiral into one another after an act of violence. Robinson is fantastic at this kind of large ensemble, sprawling plot story, and I cannot wait to see Tricked. (page 350)
