Recommendations from the December Previews for comics and collections mostly shipping in February.
Hit the individual pictures for more information!
Other random thoughts:
INSIDE FRONT GATEFOLD COVER: Dynamite’s “Unlock the Universe” tagline – a nod to the Valiant Universe?
PAGE 57: Dark Horse is releasing the title Pariah, previously solicited in Previews as a trade, in an 8 issue maxi-series. Pariah has art by Brett Weldele, an artist that I’ve been following for a number of years. Not sure why the return to the maxi-series format that it originally was released in by Sea Lion books. Not sure if Dark Horse’s trade is still being shipped in January. But check it out – it’s an interesting sci-fi series.
www.darkhorse.com/Comics/24-209/Pariah-1
PAGE 66: Rafael Grampa’s breakout comics project, Mesmo Delivery, is returning in a second edition hardcover. Grampa’s artwork is visceral and alive. It’s worth a look if you’re into unique comic book art.
www.darkhorse.com/Books/25-145/Mesmo-Delivery-2nd-Edition-HC
PAGE 103 and PAGE 112: DC is releasing two one-shots in February featuring female creators on female characters, both by writer Marguerite Bennett. The oneshots are Superman: Lois Lane with art by Emanuella Lupacchino and Batman: Joker’s Daughter with art by Meghan Hetrick. If you’re one of those comic readers that is vocal about wanting more work in the mainstream from female creators, or vocal about wanting a Lois Lane ongoing, then here’s your chance to back up your demands by pre-ordering – PRE-ORDERING – either of these two oneshots. Order numbers speak louder than your blog posts or tweets on this one. DC has given you a chance to prove to them that there’s an audience for these characters and creators. It’s in your hands.
PAGE 116: Price increases or page count decreases frequently get attacked, rightly so at times. So it’s only fair to champion when a publisher does the opposite: the Green Lantern/Red Lanterns flip book is only $2.99. If you’re only reading one of the titles, or even if you’re reading them both, you’re getting one of the issues for free. It’s a fair incentive that I felt should be given a nod.
IMAGE COMICS: I usually find something to cover in this section, but this month felt off. There are new series being solicited – the Fuse, Undertow, the Revenger, Apocalypse Al, the Mercenary Sea, and One Hit Wonder – but they aren’t grabbing me. Something about each of them feels like a throwback to when Image released a ton of series that either were abandoned or felt as if they were just glorified movie option pitches. I’m probably being too harsh on these titles but very little jumped out of me in terms of story, premise, or preview art. If I’m proven wrong I’ll be sure to give them a shout-out later.
MARVEL: Even more All New Marvel Now titles begin this month: Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Ms. Marvel, Punisher, She-Hulk, Winter Soldier, New Warriors, Loki Agent of Asgard, and X-Force. Of them all, I’m most interested in James Robinson on FF, the She-Hulk title and even New Warriors.
PAGE 303: The Andy Helfer/Bill Sienkiewicz DC volume of the Shadow is being collected by Dynamite as the Shadow Masters Series tpb vol.1. It collects the six issues by Sienkiewicz that were so unique to me as a reader back in 1987. At the time, I was unfamiliar with the Shadow and only knew of Sienkiewicz from New Mutants and tons of covers. His Shadow work felt so different. Can’t wait to see it again.
dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C1606904825
PAGE 375: DK Publishing is updating their Marvel Universe Encyclopedia for Marvel’s 75th Anniversary. If you’re a resource nut, pick this up.
us.dk.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781465415936,00.html
Daytripper. Yes. Been waiting for a deluxe hardcover – now is the time! (Hmm. That reminds me. I get comics for my team every Christmas. I haven’t done Daytripper – gotta go shopping now – the TPBs are priced to sell!)
Thanks for the reminder of this great series, Peter.
You bet!