Chris vs. Previews: September 2008, Round One

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It’s that time again!

 

 

Yes, it’s September–and has been for like two weeks, but come on: we can’t all be Mike Sterling–and that means that Fall is roaring right in with another five hundred pages of crap you don’t need with the Previews Catalog! And while the deadline for getting your order in technically passed last Saturday, I’ve finally roused myself from the Odinsleep to help inform your purchases once again.

As usual, we’ll be hitting the back half of the catalog tomorrow, but tonight belongs to the major publishers! Onward!

 

 

Dark Horse Comics

P. 26 – The Umbrella Academy: Dallas: Now that the shock from getting one of last year’s best miniseries out of a full-time rockstar who sketched his own character designs while touring has worn off and we’re basking to bask in the glow of its two shiny new Eisner Awards (including one for artist Gabriel Ba, who we all already knew was awesome), I feel that I can safely say that I am crazy excited about the second Umbrella Academy series.

Under other circumstances, I’d probably be a little more skeptical, but here, the nagging doubt over whether or not the second arc can live up to the fun and surprise of the first doesn’t even come into play. Everything that we’ve seen outside of Apocalypse Suite–the FCBD and the MySpace DHP stories–has been top-notch enjoyable comics that point to the fact that Way and Ba are far from done with these characters, and with the promise that “this is the story that will change absolutely nothing,” it’s all ready looking pretty sharp.

And it has an Abe Lincoln cover. So you know I’m in.

 

P. 37 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20: Ooh boy.

On the one hand, aside from the loathsome centaurs, I actually have been enjoying the Buffy comics quite a bit, and I’ve always been curious about the never-produced Buffy animated series, so this would seem like a natural fit.

But on the other, I’d rather do my own dental work with a corkscrew and a packet of salt than read another comic written by Jeph Loeb.

Decisions, decisions.

 

DC Comics

 

P. 62 – Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion #1: When I first heard at HeroesCon that there was going to be a Sgt. Rock series done by Billy Tucci–probably best known as the creator of Shi–I was pretty skeptical, and I’ll admit that I might’ve been a little unfair. I mean, I’ve never actually read a comic by Tucci, and I base most of my opinion of him on his covers and an interview I read when I was a teenager where he said that Shi wasn’t like the other “Bad Girls” of the early ’90s because her costume wasn’t built around sexiness.

For the record, Shi looks like this:

 

 

So there’s that.

Really, though, I’m actually pretty excited about this one. I can’t speak for his writing as I’ve never read it, but Tucci’s not a bad artist, and apparently he’s very passionate about the project, having done a ton of research to the point where he was at the Diamond Retailer Summit with actual veterans of the Big One, and I like Sgt. Rock more than enough to give it a shot. I’ve gotta say, though, as nice as this is…

 

 

…it doesn’t really look like Frank Rock to me. It might just be that I’m hung up on Joe Kubert’s definitive version, but while the guy above sure fits the bill of the lantern-jawed soldier, he’s a little too handsome to be the grizzled topkick of Easy Company. In my head, Rock should look like… well, like a Rock: Craggy, weatherbeaten and hard as chiseled granite. That’s a guy you can picture beating Nazis to death with an ammo belt.

EDIT: Check out the comments section below for a few words from writer/artist Billy Tucci, who stopped by to let me know that the image above isn’t actually the final cover for #1. You can find more information and images at the book’s Facebook page–yes: Sgt. Rock has a Facebook page–but if you’re a non-booker like me, here they aret:

 

 

 

Thanks again, Billy! (And thanks Ken for grabbing the pics from Facebook)

 

P. 70 – Batman: Cacophony: You know, for as much as I consider myself a former fan of Kevin Smith’s who was burned once too often–because seriously, Spider-Man/Black Cat is one of the worst written comics I’ve read in my life–I’ll cop to having a soft spot for Onomatopoeia, the completely bat-shit insane villain from the tail end of his run on Green Arrow. It’s not just that a he’s a villain who walks around murdering people while saying the sound effect caused by the murders out loud–although the fact that we’re supposed to take this guy as a credible threat to Green Arrow, let alone Batman, makes him ripe with comedic potential right off the bat–but that he’s presented so dead serious in the story that he reads like one of the later-era “dark reimaginings” of a goofy Silver Age villain (see: Geoff Johns’s coke-snortin’ Mirror Master) without ever having actually been one.

So yeah, I’ll admit to being a little curious about how this one’s going to work out, and like everyone else, I’ve noticed that DC went out of their way to subtly assure us that it was going to actually come out by putting photographs of both scripts in the DC Nation column, so–

Hm? Yeah, I said both scripts. Why?

Oh, this thing’s three parts? Well hell. See you in three years then, Onomatopoeia.

 

P. 71 – All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #11: Oh, hey, that reminds me! I never got around to reading and reviewing the issue that came out last week. All right, let’s see here…

Oh.

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

 

P. 76 – Guardian of Metropolis Special #1: You know, as much as I love Jack Kirby, I was really hoping when I read the title that this was going to be the long-awaited return of this guy:

 

 

Sure, Jim Harper’s a great character and getting his origin is all well and good, but Jake Jordan fought the Subway Pirates of the S.S. President Clinton. Come on, DC. Get your head in the game.

 

P. 77 – Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves #3-4: You know, I was going to make fun of this one when the first two issues were solicited last month, but when I finally got around to them, I just couldn’t, and it wasn’t ’til I was talking to Rachelle about them that I figured out why. She said she liked it because it was “just so pure,” and that’s exactly it. You can’t make fun of this thing because it’s already a comic book where Superman and Batman fight vampires and werewolves that is called Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves. There’s no criticism that you can possibly level at this thing that isn’t already addressed right there in the title. They’ve made this fucker bulletproof.

It’s like they hired the guy who writes taglines for DMP or something.

 

P. 89 – Legion of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change TP: Hot damn! I guess the sales on An Eye For An Eye–which seriously has like three of the most badass moments in comics history–were strong enough to get another shot! Admittedly, odds are that we’re never going to get the entire 1984 run in trade–although it’d be great if we did–but at this point, I’m just glad to get more of it.

 

Sandman: The Dream Hunters #1: So: the illustrated prose story that was based on a comic is now being adapted into a comic itself. Yeah, sorry Vertigo, but if you wanted to take advantage of the post-Sandman Gaimania that caused me to buy Neverwhere in three different formats, that ship sailed about three years ago.

Still getting those Absolutes, though.

 

Image Comics

P. 144 – Hector Plasm: Totentanz One-Shot: Here’s something you might not know about Friend of the ISB Benito Cereno. He is very tall.

Seriously, when I finally met him at HeroesCon after a while of being friends online (interpals), I was a little shocked to find out that he’s a tower of a man who delighted small children by performing feats of strength and ate flapjacks the size of truck tires for breakfast. Admittedly, I usually take the pretty myopic route of assuming that the world’s built to the scale of guys who are 5’11” and spend a lot of time on the Internet, but seriously: Guy’s tall.

I tell you this because I assume that you already know the rest of the story about Benito: That he’s the incredibly talented young writer who brought you the unsung classic Tales From the Bully Pulpit with Grame Macdonald, a bonus story in the second Dr. McNinja trade, and the even more unsung but equally classic Hector Plasm: De Mortuis with Nate Bellegarde, featuring some of the sharpest ghost stories in comics. And knowing that, you would’ve already ordered this…

 

 

…the new Hector Plasm one-shot that’ll be hitting shelves just after Halloween. And of course you’ve done that, because you’re cool.

You… you are cool, right?

 

P. 145 – The Amazing Joy Buzzards v.2: Monster Love: When the new Amazing Joy Buzzards trade came out a while back, I initially passed on it–as an OG AJB fan, I’ve got the original trades–but when I actually saw the darn thing, the packaging on it was so nice that I’ve been considering upgrading to the new one ever since, even though I really ought to stop re-buying things that I already own.

With this, however, no debate is necessary as it’s listed as an OGN, which means that there’s all-new fun from the greatest rock band in comics and their mythical luchadore companion coming soon. And that is awesome.

 

Marvel Comics

 

P. 17 – Amazing Spider-Man #578: Oh snap.

 

 

This issue’s going to have Spider-Man… lifting heavy wreckage… by Mark Waid and Marcos Martin. Could there be another comic so well-suited to my particular tastes?!

 

P. 25 – Captain America #44: Huh. I guess there could!

 

 

I’d just like to point out that this is a cover set up with a “mirror image” motif, which means that when Eisner-Nominated artist Steve Epting had to pick something that was exactly as powerful and threatening as a nuclear warhead, he chose Batroc Ze Leapair. Rock on, Steve. Rock on.

 

Ms. Marvel Special: Storyteller: She’s not someone that I spend a lot of my free time loathing–like, say, Wonder Man–but I’ve never been a big fan of Ms. Marvel, and while I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of Machine Man and Sleepwalker in Brian Reed’s run on her book, I’ve found that my interest pretty much evaporates whenever it starts to focus on its title character.

That said, even with the fact that Carol Danvers is on the cover of this thing wearing what appears to be a corset made entirely of belts, I’m almost tempted to pick it up based entirely on the presence of Pirate Punisher. Does he punish pirates? Is he the Punisheer? Frank Castle on the Forecastle? So many possibilities!

 

P. 107 – Thor: Man of War: Yeah. That’s about right.

 

 

And that takes care of the majors. If anything caught your eye this month–or more importantly, if you want to talk about whether Matt Fraction’s just going to give in and do a Thor one-shot based on the music of AxeWülf–feel free to let me know about it in the comments section below. Now if you’ll excuse me, the new episode of SBCG4AP dropped this week, and I still haven’t played it.

47 thoughts on “Chris vs. Previews: September 2008, Round One”

  1. So that guy in white, striding along just behind Hector Plasm, whats his deal? Because if it involves juggling or hurling cats at people, I definitely will need to pick the book up and find out more…

  4. Ohman, that ‘Shi’ cover is the most nineties thing imaginable. It’s like somebody deliberately drew everything that was crap about the 1990s so we could learn from our mistakes.

  5. What about Iiiincognito? There is no chance that that will not be excellent. Also: Robot-Fat-Cobra.!

  6. @ Kate

    It’s missing some ammo pouches and an oversized gun or two. She sort of looks like a feudal shogun of the KISS Army though.

  8. I had the exact same reaction to the Guardian solicitation: “Yes! They’re finally doing more with the Manhattan… wait a second.” Honestly, Morrison hit them with the most interesting revamp that character had ever seen and one that didn’t really break that far from the Kirby roots (tell me that publisher was not an updated Paranex) and DC says “Let’s throw out that revamp and do it again with someone less entertaining than Morrison!”

    I don’t suppose that issue of Spider-Man could be the final chapter of reusing that imagery, could it? I’ll trade one visit to the top of the George Washington bridge to fight a villain holding a love interest in exchange for no more stories featuring Spider-Man being pinned under massive object for several pages until he summons the inner strength and Ditko homage necessary to lift it.

  10. Benito and Nate rocked the fudge out of the Atom Eve two-parter. More Plasm? Bring it on, man, bring-it-on!

  11. A thought experiment:

    The cover to Captain America shows one of comics’ most awesome characters, Batroc the Leaper, with treads on the bottom of his boots. This is new, and consistent with current aesthetics in comic art. Batman, for example, has had boot treads for years.

    Consider that, according to some artists, the Bat-Tread on Batman’s Bat-Boots has Batman’s symbol in it.

    Were Batroc to wear custom-made boot-treads that had showed a foot kicking a guy in the head, what percentage of awesomeness increase would that be? Would it be cooler if the treads had the word “LEAPAIR” instead? What would be the best possible Batroc boot-tread design? Would the treads leave marks on the faces of people he kicked, like the Phantom’s skull ring?

    Food for thought.

  13. Hey Chris, speaking of the Hector Plasm issue: if you’re interested at all in deadpan surrealism with a heaping dollop of absurdity, you should read pictures for sad children. John Campbell, the creator, has a story featured in said Hector Plasm issue. I read about it on his website. picturesforsadchildren.com

  15. Thanks to your punisher joke you have made me smile in what looks to be a shitty day for me. Thank you Sir.

    And now that i think about it, Ill LOOOVE a new Guardian comic.

  19. So does P Craig Russel have a job outside of comics? Because he’s got a comic adaptation of, like, every Neil Gaiman short story and it makes me think that he’s a CPA or something who does deviantart pages of his favorite author’s stories and then just forwards them on to Vertigo. “Here. Here’s a random story I drew up in my spare time. It looks nice even if it didn’t need a comic adaptation…”

  21. My comment has nothing to do with this post, but Chris, dude, I just totally bought a copy of ESSENTIAL GODZILLA from my comic shop for only 4 bucks! And it was in perfect condition. Sweet!

  22. Jeff (the Jeff of post number thirteen), I was a little freaked out when I saw that Chris Sims and John Campbell had been thinking about the same things.

  25. Not particularly. I liked it when it came out, and it does its job as a Batman story in that it came out monthly, stuck to a theme, had a bunch of villains and was awfully pretty, but it’s a very, very muddled mystery that doesn’t make much sense. I do like Superman For All Seasons, but that’s about it.

  26. Also, to Billy Tucci: Thanks for swinging by! I’m not a facebooker, but I had a friend of mine steal the pictures, and I’ll put a note with ’em in the post later on tonight.

  27. Wasn’t Billy Tucci the guy who was all “I’m a power hitter” about socking Barbra Streisand in the face with a shovel a few years ago, in one of those “I am a man’s man” interviews with Beau Smith?

  28. Wow. That Manhatten cover is a trifle bigoted isn’t it?.

    Touches all the racist stereotypes in one go.

  30. Wow. That Manhatten cover is a trifle bigoted isn’t it?. Touches all the racist stereotypes in one go.

    Well, yes and no. It’s an homage to the cover of Batman #272, where Batman is besieged by ethnic stereotypes representing the greatest criminals of other countries. But the story inside takes place in a theme park that’s built around the old “if the world was a village of 100 people” bit, with each nation represented by the animatronics represented on the cover.

    Sort of like “It’s a Small World After All” writ large.

  31. Uncle Tigger:

    Is it really bigoted if it features racial stereotype for all (well, very many) races? Is it possible to bigoted against everyone in the world? Actually, the only character on that cover not to be a stereotype is the African-American hero, so I guess you could stretch it to say it’s a bigoted African-American view of the rest of the world, including African-Africans.

    Also, they’re robots.

    Also, if you read the issue, you’d see how much sense the cover makes. And the issue, like all 4 issues of the mini, was goddamned awesome and a half. You should probably read it. I did, several times…in a row.

    Also, Ze Leapair cover has given me much joy.

  34. It’s really criminal how every idea in SEVEN SOLDIERS has been left to gather dust, apart from the stuff that Morrison himself throws into FINAL CRISIS. Did nobody at DC read the series, or something?

  35. Vertigo: Flogging a Dead Bleeding Stone Horse Since 1995.

    Seriously guys. I love Gaiman as much as or perhaps more than the next man, but there’s a limit.

  36. A.C.
    Is it really bigoted if it features racial stereotype for all (well, very many) races?

    Well, yes, yes it is.

    Is it possible to bigoted against everyone in the world?.

    Yes again.

    Chris supplies us with the ostensible reason for all the characters being racial stereotypes, and if taken in the context of the action, then being attacked by those characters is logical.

    And I am not getting at anyone in particular here, when I point out, every racist organisation and its propaganda has a context it claims justifies its action.
    Looked at baldly, the US representative character is being attacked by evil-everyone-in-the-world. And the opposite is true, a member of my family ( a Pacific Islander ) serving with Her Majesties Armed Forces in Iraq, died this year alongside his US compatriots.
    That cover offends me, for one, it sends a racist image.
    ( by the by, the Guardian just seemed to me to be American. )

  37. yeah i read 7 Soldiers and i liked all the characters but damn Manhattan Guardian was great. it was like Neverwhere gone gonzo
    i think All-Beard was meant to be Alan Moore and No Beard was Morrison himself

  38. Dude…

    I’m sorry to hear about your family member, but calling that cover racist is ridiculous. It’s meant to be a provocative image, sure, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t meant to be more than that.

    Especially since the writer is British and the ideas your placing on the cover just don’t work at all if you’ve read any of his work.

  39. I to am sorry to hear about your family member, first of all.

    As far as I can tell though, the cowboy hat dude is an American stereotype. And the Guardian is being attacked by him. If bigotry is intolerance of qualities not one’s own (and it is), then that bigotry clearly is not American. Because the evil American is attacking him too (when I said “everyone in the world,” of course I didn’t mean “everyone but Americans” – I’m not that ignorant). They’re evil stereotype robots of all races. They are not, on the cover or in the comic, meant to be represent real people.

    Chris explained the story more/better than I bothered to in my post, so if mine gave you the wrong idea, I’m sorry. But my point was, it is in no way a racist comic book, and given the context (and the fact that there seems to be a US stereotype, and…the robots), I think it is disingenuous to call the cover racist. It is in fact a fascinating read and creates a great little picture of how the world works – in terms not at all racist, I assure you.

    I feel like this would be similar to calling the cover to the latest Roots album ( http://tinyurl.com/4orxus )racist, or the DVD cover of Bamboozled ( http://tinyurl.com/4kwytr ). Yes, the images are culled from clearly racist sources, but they are also clearly used with the exact opposite intention in mind. Of course these two covers are MUCH more overtly racist, at purely face value, than the Guardian cover.

    And I hope you trust me when I say I am very – maybe overly – sensitive to racism in media & life. Apologies if my hasty (and defensive of that amazing comic) reply came out the wrong way.

  40. Pirate Punisher == coolest mainsails imaginable.

    Hope it sticks it to Horatio Hornblower. He’s had it coming for years.

  42. Do what? That’s not in my copy of Previews.
    My mistake- It’s scheduled for December. #1 is scheduled for the 10th. I am counting the days.

  43. Bookrats, my friends have been trying to organize an “International Talk Like a Pro Wrestler Day”, but it hasn’t taken off. And really, honestly, even though we say “Pro Wrestler”, we really mean, “International Talk Like Dusty Rhodes Day”. It’s the next hot hit.*

    *I suppose if you really wanted to work some Ric Flair in there, that’d be okay, too.

  44. I love Neil Gaiman, I’m just saying not every story needs to be told in three different mediums. As someone who owns Gaiman’s “Murder Mysteries” in print, comic, and audio-play form, I can appreciate that some stories are worth buying twice, but come on, Vertigo has reused enough Gaiman stories to make him look like Tupac.

  45. That’s the MANHATTAN Guardian not the Guardian of METROPOLIS who i imagine is completely different.

  46. That’s the MANHATTAN Guardian not the Guardian of METROPOLIS who i imagine is completely different.

    Not really. The Manhattan Guardian’s origin is that the newspaper he works for bought the rights to the Guardian from the Cadmus Project, which is where the Guardian of Metropolis comes from. Different cities, yes, but the same in-continuity legacy, like Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes.

  47. My problem with the Dream Hunters thing:

    Yes it is a re-release of a prose story illustrated by Yoshitaki Amano… which is really unnecessary since Amano’s illustrations were perfectly appropriate for the story.

    BUT

    it is a re-release adapted by… P. Craig Russell.

    Decisions.