Chris vs. Previews: November 2008, Round One

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What, again?!

 

 

Yes, in an effort to actually beat the order deadline this month, it’s time once again for the ISB to bring you the rootinest, tootinest roundup of the Previews catalog, jam packed with stuff you don’t need! Tonight, I’ll be your guide through what the major publishers are putting on offer this month, so let’s get to it.

 

 

Dark Horse Comics

 

P. 39 – Conan the Cimmerian #7: I don’t mean to fall back into more political matters–as I wouldn’t want to scandalize my more sensitive readers–but if I don’t mention this, I know I’ll get a ton of emails about it: It came out today that among his many other qualities, President-Elect Barack Obama collects Conan the Barbarian comics, and I’m pretty sure that this fact is totally awesome. I mean, not since Teddy Roosevelt have we had a leader that could truly appreciate the sight of a man punching out a panther.

In other news, I have never been quite so conflicted as I was when I read that this issue would crescendo into “a flurry of swords and emotion.”

 

DC Comics

 

P. 71 – Vigilante #2: According to an interview with Marv Wolfman, “we will learn who the new Vigilante is, but not in the first issues. Hints will be given but we also won’t drag it out too long. Although there are connections to previous characters, who he is in the DCU is less important than his life itself. We will be following a character in the midst of personal redemption and hopefully his personal story will be of interest as well as the individual plots themselves.”

Sharp-eyed readers and fans of things that are totally awesome will of course recognize this as the exact premise of DC’s greatest Iowan counterterrorist, Wild Dog, whose mysterious secret identity was a plot point for the first four-issue miniseries. I think it’s safe to assume, then, that the new Vigilante will eventually unmask to reveal another mask, which will in turn reveal Jack Wheeler, in his new role as the Babushka Doll of the gun-toting crimefighter set.

 

P. 73 – Superman #681: Hey, I didn’t know they were doing a grim and gritty revamp of Bazooka Joe!

 

He blew the biggest bubbles, until one day… they consumed him. Now, he’s back… for revenge!

 

P. 83 – Green Lantern #38: Now, I’m not a regular Green Lantern reader, so when I saw this cover, I had to go find a friend to explain if this was indeed what it appeared to be, a cover featuring a woman vomiting copious amounts of blood:

 

 

His answer was that yes it is, because when you become a Red Lantern, you puke out all your blood so that it can be replaced with hate.

Moving on.

 

P. 89 – The Losers by Jack Kirby HC: Fuck yes.

 

 

This one was already discussed in the comments section of last month’s Previews post, but aside from the fact that I’m pretty excited about it (which should be obvious, since it’s Kirby stuff I’ve never read before), there’s something you need to know: This is yet another one that we have Dr. K to thank for, meaning that he’s only a Steve Ditko hardcover and a Sugar & Spike showcase away from a perfect record of convention requests and predictions.

 

P. 117 – Sandman Mystery Theatre v.7: The Mist and Phantom of the Fair: No joke for this one, just a general recommendation: Despite its ostensible tie-in to their gothy flagship, Matt Wagner and Steve Seagle’s Sandman Mystery Theatre–which focuses on the Golden Age Sandman and the many, many times he had sex with his girlfriend Dian–is probably one of Vertigo’s most unappreciated masterpieces. It’s great stuff, and in addition to “The Mist,” a fun, sort-of-tie-in to James Robinson’s Starman, this one has “Phantom of the Fair,” which, given its reputation as the best story of the run, has always been one of the hardest to track down in back issues.

So, if you like well-done period mysteries with the maximum amount of super-hero content that Vertigo will allow, check it out.

 

Image Comics

 

P. 146 – G-Man #1: And speaking of things that I wholeheartedly endorse, this month sees a reoffer of Chris Giarrusso’s G-Man, which everyone should own. Pretty much everybody knows Giarrusso from the Mini-Marvels, but some of you might not know that he brought that same sense of fun to his own universe of kid super-heroes. They originally ran as back-up strips in Savage Dragon–which, when you get right down to it, seems like a pretty odd place for the all-ages adventures of a hero-in-training–but in this one, it branches out into a longer story that’s some of Giarrusso’s best work. Well worth it.

 

Marvel Comics

 

P. 29 – Spider-Man: Fear Itself #1: This January, Marvel will finally be giving in to massive demand and putting out a team-up between Spider-Man and the Macabre Man-Thing! Because who hasn’t wanted that, right?

In any case, this issue will apparently deal with a situation that “connects to both Peter Parker’s youth and his present-day adventures,” and… wait a second. Something from Peter Parker’s youth? And since this is the Man-Thing, whose touch burns those who know fear, it’s gotta be something he’d be afraid of even today. And since the latest Spider-Man issues have been dealing with people from his past showing up… Oh man.

This is gonna be the return of Skip Westcott, isn’t it?

 

P. 50 – Punisher #1: One of the stranger pieces of news from Marvel this week is that Punisher War Journal is getting canceled and replaced with The Punisher (volume eight), while The Punisher (volume seven) is being renamed without being canceled to The Punisher: Frank Castle (volume… one? I guess?) for what appears to be no damn reason at all.

Anyway, now this is happening:

 

 

Yes, everyone’s favorite non-Wild Dog vigilante is going to take on the Sentry, and while I’m not sure what writer Rick Remender has planned for the series, I’m guessing that Frank’s gonna shoot him so hard that he goes back in time to the Silver Age, and the only time we see him from now on will be in the pages of awesome Jeff Parker/Paul Tobin Age of the Sentry stories.

What? S’what I’d do.

 

P. 58 – Thor #600: A Mighty Marvel Milestone from the creator of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn’s Ninja Babies and the writer of Nightcat! Do you DARE miss it?!

 

 

And that’s about it for the major publishers. As always, feel free to mention anything that caught your eye this month, and be back tomorrow for a look at the small press and the merchandise.

Me, I’ll be over here trying to graph out that Punisher thing until it starts to make sense. It, uh.. It might take a while.

75 thoughts on “Chris vs. Previews: November 2008, Round One”

  1. I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s post. I hear IDW’s doing a Star Trek book to tie in to the movie, but I didn’t see any sign of it in Previews. Did you?

  2. The fact that G-Man’s rougue’s gallery contains his jerk older brother and a Christmas tree makes him awesome. That his dad showed he could raise the dead by stealing their halo’s just makes him DOUBLE AWESOME. That is a True Fact…

  3. Of course, when Teddy Roosevelt wanted to appreciate the sight of a man punching out a panther, all he had to do was grab a panther, and then look in the mirror…

  4. Wait, isn’t there a G-Man one-shot out already? I already have that. In related news, I’m stumped as to what sketch to ask Chris Giarusso for when I see him this weekend at “The National.” Here’s what I’ve gotten from him so far. BTW, I noticed a Wild Dog sketch on his site. Did you commission that, Chris?

    Thought of the Red Lanterns seeing an episode of True Blood last night (not the latest one), when a vampire gets staked. Let’s just say it’s the direct opposite of what happens on Buffy.

    One thing that caught my eye that I’m not getting: the latest Brave And The Bold collection. DC throws in a few extra stories, including Impulse #17, where Bart Allen meets Zatanna, and things go downhill from there. With all the bellyaching about the lack of Hitman tpbs, where’s the collected Waid/Ramos-era Impulse books? I got all the issues, but I’m thinking of those denied Bart back when he was so awesome to red.

  6. There’s already been a Spider-Man/Man-Thing team-up.
    I don’t have any more details, just that I remember, in my youth, reading a comic where Spider-Man wondered around in a swamp.

  8. skizelo: It might be from that one time where the Lizard went to the Everglades…I think that was in the 90s though, so maybe not.

    Chris: I’ve got a guess as to why they’re retitling the Max version to be Frank Castle – because Remender is going to make a new Punisher. Otherwise that moniker fits just as well in regular 616

  9. There’s already been a Spider-Man/Man-Thing team-up.

    Yes, I remember seeing that one. It was in Marvel Team-up #68 out in ’72 (?). Also, apparently, Ultimate Spider-man teamed up with Ultimate Man-Thing in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #10. So this is sort of the third time we’ll have seen them together.

    Oooooh, a collected Impulse would be AWESOME.

    Erm, I have a TPB of Impulse (“Impulse: Reckless Youth”) on my bookshelf at home. It collects together Impulse #1-6 plus a couple of Flash issues where Impulse was introduced. And yes, it is awesome.

    Did you mean collections after issue 6?

    Wait, isn’t there a G-Man one-shot out already?

    That’s why Chris said it was a reoffer. Whatever, G-Man is also awesome.

  10. So Obama is actually going to crush his enemies, see them driven before him, and listen to the lamantations of their women? I thought he was for change…

    (Sorry, everyone, but when the set up is that easy you’ve got to take it.)

    “Thought of the Red Lanterns seeing an episode of True Blood last night (not the latest one), when a vampire gets staked. Let’s just say it’s the direct opposite of what happens on Buffy.”

    All the dust in the area gets sucked together and makes a second vampire? I can see why they’d tell everyone that was their weakness, then.

  12. Also, Marvel Team-Up #122, which was one of the first comics I ever got as a kid. Great cover, with Spider-Man’s fists and legs stuck in the Man-Thing’s body like the story of the tar baby.

  13. I have never had any interest in Green Lantern, but have alsways had an interest in vomiting blood.

    Should I start to purchase Green Lantern, or does the Greeen Lantern content outweight the vomiting blood content to such a degree that I’d be wasting my money and just get some stuff about Hal Jordan being dull?

  16. You know, I’d heard good things about Green Lantern lately and was interested in reading it. WAS.

  17. The Losers? In hardcover? Joy!!!

    I wonder if having your blood replaced with hate helps your cholesterol level? And what’s the weakness of the Red Lanterns, chick flicks? Care Bears? Chocolate?

  18. I should never have doubted that *you* would also see the strikingly eerie similarities between that “Vigilante” thing and our local hero Wild Dog.

    But to be fair the Quad Cities are in Iowa *and* Illinois. Recall that Wild Dog spent an entire issue at the Rock Island Arsenal…

  22. > which focuses on the Golden Age Sandman and the many, many times he had sex with his girlfriend Dian

    One of the best compliments I’ve ever given my wife is that she reminds me of Dian Belmont. Yes, I do win the geek award for today. No, I am not making a comment on our sex life.

  23. My favorite thing about that Green Lantern cover is the fact that the blood appears to be moving upward. Apparently, when Red Lanterns vomit blood, they also laugh in the face of gravity.

  24. Looking at the cover with Liana, I think the blood didn’t have to be there. I do find the idea of the “emotional spectrum” to be interesting, though, even as I cling to the concept of Kyle Rayner being the sole Green Lantern. On the other hand, you can have a character such as Dex-Star, the cartoon-looking cat who’s also a Red Lantern. “Aw, who’s a cute widdle kit-…HOLY &$^%!!!”

    Just Some Guy…in Buffy, a staked vampire turns to dust. In True Blood? Well, the words that come to mind are “blood” and “pinata.”

    Nimbus…yes, I meant a collection after Reckless Youth. Books would cover issues #1-26 (I’d stop at 27, but I don’t know if anybody would want Tom Peyer introducing Arrowette, even if the story was good), and would cover everything except for the crappy filler issues. Only other question is if the “Dead Heat” issues would make it, since that storyline got its own TPB. The revamped Blockbuster, the final performance with XS, Max Mercury’s darkest secret, Bart’s dreams, attempts to play baseball…really, it’s a small treasure trove of fun just wanting to be discovered by new readers.

  25. So, GQ and Jason, what you both appear to be saying is that there is also a CAT that vomits blood, and that this all happens in ‘Rage of the Red Lanterns’?

    I see.

    I think I shall purchase that. Carry it around in a brown bag afterwards, yes, but purchase it nonetheless.

  26. Whaaaaat, a character that’s cute and adorable but ALSO super-violent and dangerous?! What other fresh original ideas will spill forth from the pages of Green Lantern?!

  28. Hey, nobody’s ever accused Geoff Johns of being original.

    That said, there aren’t many stories I know of where people vomit out their blood and replace it with liquid hate…

  29. Oy, I think I made things worse. There’s also a Blue Lantern popping up in the ROFRL special, which represents hope in the universe. I reckon Sen. Obama would be the representative of a BL.

    For the record, if anybody cares enough to want to know: Red = Anger/Rage; Orange = Avarice (hasn’t been covered yet); Yellow = Fear; Green = Willpower (I’d think “neutrality” since it’s in the middle, but whatever); Blue = Hope (Ganthet and his Guardian girlfriend run that group); Indigo = Goodwill (your guess is as good as mine); Violet = Love (Zamaroan thing).

    I did read “The Mist” arc in SMT back when it came out. I didn’t think it was so hot at the time, though Guy Davis did draw several pages in the middle of the “Sand & Stars” arc in Starman, with Wes and Ted teaming up to fight Gambler.

  32. I love that that Skip Westcott page you linked to identifies his “identity/class” as “human pedophile.”

    How much of a total pedophile do you have to be to earn the title “Skip Westcott, human pedophile”?

  34. So it’s not all just red blood-vomiters, then?

    But these blood-puking guys get to kill those other rainbow lantern guys, right? By puking blood on them? No?

    Stupid Lantern comics. I never should have looked up more information about ROTRL.

    Though doing that has saved me some money.

  35. “indigo = goodwill” should also probably be amended to “indigo = not often classified by scientists as a separate color in the visible light spectrum anymore”

  37. I hope there are two red lanterns with the same blood type that share one lantern between them and have to keep puking their blood into each others mouths.

    I really hope that.

    Does that make me a blue lantern?

  38. For a galaxy filled with aliens, these Lanterns sure tend to cluster suspiciously in the human-visible part of the spectrum. Is there no Ultraviolet Lantern Corps for the bee-humanoids of Hiveulon 9? No galactic protectors of Tetrahertz Radation, upholding perhaps some lesser-regarded emotion like that shiver you get sometimes when you pee?

    These are the questions that come to me when I’ve drunk myself to sleep the night before.

  41. I’m the guilty party responsible for Kevin’s Nightcat post. I’m very sorry, Humanity.

  43. Vermic Said:

    For a galaxy filled with aliens, these Lanterns sure tend to cluster suspiciously in the human-visible part of the spectrum. Is there no Ultraviolet Lantern Corps for the bee-humanoids of Hiveulon 9? No galactic protectors of Tetrahertz Radation, upholding perhaps some lesser-regarded emotion like that shiver you get sometimes when you pee?

    These are the questions that come to me when I’ve drunk myself to sleep the night before.

    There was an actual Tale of the Green Lantern Corps where a Lantern (I think it was Katma Tui, but don’t quote me on that) got sent to find a recruit on a completely lightless world. The inhabitants were naturally blind and had no conception of green or lantern. So after much head-scratching, they settled on calling the new guy F-Sharp Bell.

  44. Please, please, please make it that Peter Parker is afraid of spiders. That would be fantastic!

    You’d think with the constant moping and self-dread that ManThing would just be like Spider-man’s Jimminy Cricket?

  46. I don’t care how stupid the mechanics are, a power ring fueled by anger is a neat concept.

  47. That said, there aren’t many stories I know of where people vomit out their blood and replace it with liquid hate…

    Oh it’s LIQUID hate. I was wondering whether the hate was liquid or solid.

    Because, let’s face it, replacing your blood with SOLID hate… I mean, that’s just stupid!

    So if the Red Lanterns puke out their blood to be filled up with hate, what do the Violet Lanterns do to be filled up with love?

    See, their bodies get FILLED with… another bodily fluid…

    Too crass? OK, I’ll go away, then.

  48. I don’t care how stupid the mechanics are, a power ring fueled by anger is a neat concept.

    But wouldn’t they still be “fueled” by willpower? Just willpower that came from being really super pissed off all the time?

  49. Good point, Sims. It would seem that all the rings would be powered by your willpower, just willpower that came from whatever emotion. Hmm.

  50. According to an interview with Johns and Shane Davis in Wizard (please don’t judge me), the RLs are incapable to make constructs with their rings. The ring gives them the power to “tear up” the opposition. “These guys don’t have the ability to control themselves,” Johns said. “They’ll make mistakes because they just go hog wild on anybody who’s near. If you’re not wearing a red ring, you’re a target.”

    PS: I also read Comic Foundry.

  52. Should I even point out the silliness of calling “willpower” an emotion kind of makes the “emotional spectrum” idea look like the dopey ill-fitting retcon that it is? Or would that just be piling on?

  53. And, oh man I cant beleive Im buying into this discussion, Sinistro’s fear ring (and the other sinistro corps rings he made) are controlled by the willpower of the wielder, sure, but fueled by the fear of the universe; not his own fear or anything… um I’m not sure if Im for or against on this whole mess, just saying that there’s precedent for these new spectrum rigns to work differenyl than the original green ones. As for the zamorans, well, Star Saphire used to just shoot beams out of her forhead.

  61. Technically, despite the fact that they call it “willpower,” the Green Lantern rings operate more on “courage.” After all, the message they bring when a new Lantern is recruited is “the ability to overcome great fear.”

    Frankly, Sims, I’m surprised you’re not taking to the concept of a whole corps of individuals who replace their blood with hate. “I shall now stab you- *GASP!* You- you have no blood!” “That’s right, puny insect! The only thing running through my veins is HATE! LIQUID HATE!”

    Also, the kitty Red Lantern is adorable. I don’t care what anyone else says.

    Oh, Nightcat, Nightcat, Nightcat. I’m still surprised my Uncle actually had a copy when he gave me his old comics:
    http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2007/09/nightcat-1.html

  62. On the one hand, I firmly believe the Red Lanterns are the Care Bears, run through Geoff Johns’s warping, corrupting, anti-life mind.

    On the other hand, if Evan Dorkin’s ever hurting for cash, all he has to do now is go to DC and pitch ‘Milk & Cheese: the Red Lantern Years’. It’d be like printing money.

  63. Frankly, Sims, I’m surprised you’re not taking to the concept of a whole corps of individuals who replace their blood with hate. “I shall now stab you- *GASP!* You- you have no blood!” “That’s right, puny insect! The only thing running through my veins is HATE! LIQUID HATE!”

    I’ll confess that I’d be a a little more charitable to the idea if it was coming from Cary Bates, Bill Mantlo or Edmond Hamilton, but in my defense, those guys probably wouldn’t ask for a cover where a girl in a red bathing suit was puking out all of her blood.

  64. In a world where gods die but somehow continue to live, where yellow suns cause aliens to fly, where rings create solid objects out of light (both by magic and by “technology”), and where saying magic words changes boys into nearly invincible adult heroes, I just can’t accept anyone replacing their blood with “hate”.

  65. “I’ll confess that I’d be a a little more charitable to the idea if it was coming from Cary Bates, Bill Mantlo or Edmond Hamilton, but in my defense, those guys probably wouldn’t ask for a cover where a girl in a red bathing suit was puking out all of her blood.”

    Well, in fairness, we don’t KNOW that Geoff Johns asked for that cover, do we?

  66. I think the idea is that these emotions are what drive us, and willpower sits in the middle as the ability to overcome emotional urges. (Apparently, the farther away you get from green, the more likely you are to become controlled by the emotion.) I’ll admit that I think the whole thing could be pretty cool if done right. Honestly, my biggest problem with it is that all of the rings are powered by the emotional capacity of their wielder except for yellow…although I guess maybe you have to know fear to instill it and all that.

    Full disclosure: I have a very visible GL tattoo on my arm and feel the need to defend it even when I can ackowledge it’s steering dangerously close to a big block of Green Cheese.

    But seriously, I like the spectrum. Just do it right.

  67. I think the idea is that there’s no need to write seven different stories if you can just do the same story seven times, replacing “yellow” with “red” and so forth as you go.

  69. I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned the blood-puking attack you get in Metal Slug when you get bitten by a zombie. It clears the whole screen!
    And i was worried about Obama’s political nastiness but now i know he knows the price of great power….

  70. “I think it’s safe to assume, then, that the new Vigilante will eventually unmask to reveal another mask, which will in turn reveal Jack Wheeler, in his new role as the Babushka Doll of the gun-toting crimefighter set.”

    I really want to see that reveal now.

  71. So, Punisher War Journal is gone? lovely

    great just great. I finally start to truly love and look forward to PWJ each month and they are killing it.

    And my blood was always anger…how come I didn’t get a ring.

  72. “On the other hand, if Evan Dorkin’s ever hurting for cash, all he has to do now is go to DC and pitch ‘Milk & Cheese: the Red Lantern Years’. It’d be like printing money.”

    Yes, I would certainly buy that. Presumably that “liquid hate” the Red Lanterns are filled with is actually gin. It makes a man mean…

  75. Does this mean Obama will be turning our search for a new energy source not to steel, but to flesh?