Get ready for an overwhelming Previews month! The comics industry decided that the month of May was the true start of 2014 in terms of exciting, offbeat, and/or standout projects. The following recommendations from the March Previews for books shipping mostly in May is probably the largest list to date for a Previews post. Hit the individual pictures and links for info, previews, ordering info, etc. And as always, more thoughts and other tidbits will follow. Pre-order when you can or at the very least, tell your comic shop dealer about the comics you are interested in purchasing! Dig in!
AND THE HITS KEEP COMING…
ACTION LAB
– The Princeless: Pirate Princess oneshot is only $1!
www.actionlabcomics.com/action-lab-pre-orders-for-march-2014
ARCHAIA
– The Interesting Drug HC looks… interesting. Art by Anna Wieszczyk from Archaia’s Lucid.
www.boom-studios.com/interesting-drug-hardcover.html
DARK HORSE
– IDW gave us the Artist Edition. Dynamite followed with the “Art Edition”. And now Dark Horse is giving us the “Gallery Edition” with Frank Miller and Walt Simonson’s Robocop vs Terminator. Reproducing the original art at full size, this hardcover volume will be 15″x17″. This is either a case of A begat B or the snake devouring its own tail. I guess you can’t patent a format.
www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1602/dark-horse-release-new-editions-frank-miller-walte
– This month also gives us the solicitation for the final Dark Horse Presents anthology issue, ending with #36.
– And for you OHOTMU junkies, Chronicles of Conan tpb vol.27 throws in the Marvel Handbook of the Conan Universe issue.
DC COMICS
– Futures End is here (does that mean I have two months or five years to catch up on my DC reading)? Anyway, most likely I’ll snag these week by week at my local comic shop. I have to imagine this will fall more towards the 52 end of the weekly spectrum rather than the Countdown end. And if Trinity is somewhere in the middle, the potential of the creative team on Futures End has to mean this will be a more solid reading experience than even Busiek’s Trinity weekly. Here’s hoping.
www.dccomics.com/comics/the-new-52-%E2%80%93-futures-end-2014/the-new-52-%E2%80%93-futures-end-1
– Missed this last month – Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is doing a back up Madam .44 tale in All-Star Western. Buy!
– Better get a sturdy bookshelf. The Grant Morrison library just got heavier. There’s the Animal Man omnibus, the complete Invisibles omnibus, Absolute Final Crisis – and now this month there’s a new complete Doom Patrol omnibus.
www.vertigocomics.com/graphic-novels/doom-patrol-omnibus
FIRST SECOND
– This One Summer is billed as a teen graphic novel – certainly worth a spotlight.
www.firstsecondbooks.com/books/new-book-this-one-summer
us.macmillan.com/thisonesummer/JillianTamaki
IDW
– Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles celebrates its 30th Anniversary and both Eastman and Laird are back for the cover.
www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2748
– Check out the Beautiful War ongoing with art by Ashley Wood.
www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2744
IMAGE
– Antony Johnson and Christopher Mitten’s Umbral gets its first trade collecting the issues 1 thru 6.
theumbral.tumblr.com
– Mark Millar’s MPH (with art by Duncan Fegredo!) has a handful of variants. What was it that Eric Stephenson said? “You stop ordering variants; we’ll stop making them.” See that retailers – had you refrained from ordering the MPH variants ahead of time, Image wouldn’t have created them for you to order in this month’s Previews. Hmmm… wait. That’s not right. Oh well. Who am I to second guess King Image?
MARVEL
– Marvel’s next side event Original Sin begins. Eight issues and crossovers. Somehow I can’t see this meaning all that much beyond the first and final issue.
– There’s a new Cyclops ongoing by Greg Rucka solicited featuring the young Scott Summers from All-New X-Men. Not even one of the primary X-Men and he gets a title over Storm. For shame.
– Now here’s how you do a filler issue: Amazing X-Men #7 guest stars Spider-Man giving us a ‘Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends’ reunion with Ice-Man and Firestar! I’m in!
– I may just try out Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #1. I’ve been keeping tabs on the Ultimate Universe with Hunger (bleh) and Cataclysm. The new direction for all the relaunched titles has piqued my curiosity. We may finally get the Ultimate Universe that was needed back in 2000.
TONY LORENZ PRODUCTIONS
– Tony Lorenz self publishes the fantastic Pacesetter: the George Perez Magazine and we’re getting a new issue! #14 features a 20th anniversary retrospective on the Peter David/George Perez Hulk story Future Imperfect. These issues come with rare art, new interviews, fan art and so much more. You MUST pre-order this if you want a copy. They are printed in small number and are quick to go out of print. I rarely see these in local comic shops. As a Perez fan, I’m ecstatic that we’re getting a new issue.
perez.comicbookseries.info/news/previewsspotlightspacesetter14
TWOMORROWS
– Back Issue! #73 features Batman’s partners including Nightwing, the Outsiders, Carrie Kelley and more. Back Issue! continues to be my favorite magazine on comics. I think this features a new cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer as well.
twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1128
Nice to see some love thrown Duncan Fegredo’s way. Pity he’s handcuffed to Millar.
Yea – first came across his work in the Jay & Silent Bob mini-series in ’98 or maybe when I picked up back issues of his Kid Eternity. His attention to detail and background work was crazy good. And his body language. I thought he dropped off the radar but I see he’s been doing BPRD/Hellboy comics – which I don’t read.