Yes, Clay Mann did spell his last name wrong. Perhaps it’s a stylization?

It sort of looks like the 2 Ns could be stacked, but the image in the book isn’t clear enough for me to see.

I think that’s it, as you can see the double upward stroke to begin the letter!

The new female Green Lantern wants to ask the Flash out on a date in Justice League 6. Because she’s a woman and all they care about is finding a man, amirite? And then, even stupider, in Justice League 7, we’re told that the GLs are trained to overcome fear. Really? Didn’t it used to be that they were just, y’know, fearless, and didn’t have to be trained to overcome fear? Have I misunderstood the concept for all these years? (page 103)

I’m not sure if the Green Lanterns were fearless, just that they didn’t let fear rule their lives. So maybe they do need to be trained to do that!

As I said on your Rebirth post, they’re STILL putting the team together by Red Hood and the Outlaws #3! (page 105)

Page 107 — Supergirl 2 — WTF is up with the proportions on her? She has tiny twig arms and legs!

Not a good look

What the flying fuck is going on with Steve Trevor’s smile on that Wonder Woman cover on page 112? Holy crap, it’s scary!!!!

Is that Steve Trevor, or that one dude from Sons of Anarchy?

‘Hey, Diana, wanna see my dead squirrel collection?’

Cool, DC Super Hero Girls v2 has schoolwork about the Odyssey AND also has the Demon? I may need to get this. (page 114)

There’s a weird Deadman horror comic on page 115. I dig it when DC sets non-superhero genres in their superhero universe, so this might be pretty keen.

It sounds interesting, so I’ll probably get the trade. Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love was an actual old DC title, and I believe that Wes Craven had a piece in an early issue.

Um, didn’t they already do this plot that they’re doing in Hawkman and Adam Strange: Out of Time (page 116)? Oh, yeah, they did, in the Rann-Thanagar War book they reoffer on page 140!

Midnighter and Apollo have a 6 issue mini on page 117, and from what I understand, the subway pirates are the dudes from the Manhattan Guardian Seven Soldiers book. Oh hell yeah!

Elena Casagrande is a good artist, but I’ve never read a Gary Phillips book that I’ve liked (to be honest, I haven’t read many of them), so I’m not sure about Vigilante: Southland on page 118. Maybe I’ll get the trade.

Probably one I’ll tradewait if it sounds good. I’ve liked what I’ve read of Phillips, so I’m willing to try it. Apparently this is one of 2 new black superheroes that are professional basketball players. Because of course they would be!

“Oh yeah, this year is the 75th anniversary of the most iconic female superhero. Should we do anything about that before the year is over?” “Maybe.” — What I imagine the conversation was like before they put together the Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary Special on page 119. At least there are other covers offered so I don’t have to get the Jim Lee one …

I wonder if the limbo the Earth 2 Society characters are in is the same one that the JSA was in for all those years (page 121).

He-Man/Thundercats (page 122). Just kill me now.

Dude, my friend at work was very excited for this one (and the Doom as Iron Man one, cuz he likes Doom) when I told him about it, because he’s a big He-Man fan and bigger Thundercats fan. I have enough residual nostalgia for both that I may get the trade. When did DC get the Thundercats license back — or if they’ve had it, why have they been sitting on it?

Cool, more Lobo by Bisley with the final issue of Harley’s Little Black Book, which means there should be a nice trade of this 6 issue series coming that I will be getting. Because it sounded fun, and there were good artists (page 123).

Ooh, Brendan McCarthy is doing the interior art on Doctor Fate 17! (page 124)

But is it ethical to buy this?!?!?

So the Suicide Squad book on page 125 has a story by Chris Sebela, who is an “alumnus of DC’s Writers Workshop program”. Insert your own “those who can’t …” joke here about the people who ran this program. (Sebela wrote Welcome Back, why did he need to go through a workshop to get hired by DC? He was TOO good and they needed to squelch that out of him?)

Page 127’s listing for Flintstones 4 convinces me to get the trade. Sex caves. SEX. CAVES!!!

You mean my review of Flintstones #1 didn’t convince you to get the trade?!?!?

Well, it did convince me, but now I won’t decide to skip it if other stuff looks good that month. It is now an absolute must have. Do not question my methodology for choosing stuff to order!

I say, I say Foghorn J. Leghorn meets Marvin the Martian in Looney Tunes 233! (page 129)

Seriously the best news so far from this book, on the same page — Scooby Doo Team Up is now monthly!!! YAY! Even better, it’s got fishnet Zatanna. To me this is outright proof that there is a god!

Oh sweet, an Adam Strange Silver Age collection, like the ones they’ve done for JLA, Flash, and GL lately. Can I hope for an Elongated Man one? (page 133)

Ooh, very nice, another DC/Dark Horse collection, with Justice League in the title, even though they aren’t really all Justice League members. Oh well, though, cuz this has Superman vs Predator, Superman vs Terminator (both of which I didn’t know about), Batman/Hellboy/Starman (which I didn’t have ever, but wanted!), and Ghost/Batgirl, which was probably fun. I will consider this! (page 134)

Finally I can catch up on Gotham Academy, with the third trade on page 134, after I dropped it mercilessly when it crossed over with the Robin War.

I’ve heard some good things about Renae de Liz’s Legend of Wonder Woman, which gets a nice hardcover on page 136. It’s 30 bucks, but the 9 issues would have cost you $36, so it’s not a bad bargain, either. I’ll probably have to check this out.

I may decide to wait for the trade, but yeah, this sounded good. It seems like DC puts out WW stuff that’s just generally higher priced than Batman or Superman stuff, though! Why?

Wonder Woman will be angry if Travis is right!

Page 137 has the trade of New Suicide Squad with Juan Ferreyra art. Did you end up going for this? How was it? He’s great, obviously, and I do like Tim Seeley, so I might go for this.

The Ferreyra Suicide Squad arc was pretty good. He didn’t finish it, unfortunately – I assume he was pulled off to do Rebirth Green Arrow – but for the final issue, he did layouts. It’s a decent story in which the Squad tries to escape and gets captured by a bunch of guys who want to kill them for points in some game, which simply means that Seeley gives Ferreyra an excuse to draw a lot of mayhem, which he does beautifully.

Hmm. I may consider this more, then.

A second Golden Age Superman trade on page 138. I was at a con where one dealer had the first one for a discount, and I figured I’d get it at the end of the show, but they were already packed up by the time I got back. D’oh!

Sugar & Spike: Metahuman Investigations is collected on page 139. These are the stories from Legends of Tomorrow, which has been surprisingly good, and this is by far the best of the bunch. Grown up Sugar and Spike helping superheroes get their stuff back? Yeah, fun stuff. Plus, Bilquis Evely draws it, and it’s very nice-looking!

Well, duh, she did great with Shaft. This sounded neat, and I’m enough of a Giff fan that I probably would have gotten it anyway. The only thing I’ll wait about is that the 6 issues of Legends of Tomorrow were 8 bucks a pop, and I believe I’ve seen that all 4 of the trades of those stories will be 15 each, so if I can find the singles, I can actually save some cash this time! Unless of course the other ones are so bad I should avoid them?

I like the Legends of Tomorrow stories. The Firestorm one is kind of meh, but it’s not embarrassing or anything. Aaron Lopresti’s Metamorpho is beautiful, and it’s a decent story. Yildiray Cinar is drawing the Metal Men one, and it’s also pretty good. So all the stories do their jobs, two are above average, and the Sugar and Spike one is one of the better “series” from DC right now. If you want to get just that trade, you’re not going to miss too, too much, but it might be worth tracking down the issues. 48 dollars for all six, instead of 60 dollars for 4 trades!

I would read a comic like this every day and twice on Sundays!

Also on 139, a new edition of the Space Ghost trade, which might be neat (I know you hate Olivetti, though!), and a couple resolicits, with the Robin trade of his first solo ongoing stuff, and the updated version of the Brave and the Bold Bronze Age Omni. What didn’t they list then that they did now for B&B? (They also resolicited the Cyborg trade on 137. What’s going on, DC?!)

I don’t know if 2005 Olivetti does the eye-gouging art I loathe these days, because late-90s Olivetti was really good. I’ll still probably skip Space Ghost, but it’s not necessarily because of Olivetti.

I think he’d probably gone that route (the stuff you loathe now) by then, as he did a Legends of the Dark Knight arc that was probably around the same time (August of ’06 was the cover date of 207) and that had the current style. I may pass just because I love Coast to Coast so much, and this is so different!

I thought someone else did Lost Boys comics, but it appears it was Wildstorm. Is there a new movie coming of that? And why do I care enough to ask? (page 141)

I hope there’s no new Lost Boys. Jeebus, stop mining the 1980s for shit!

“It’s the ’80s, do a lot of coke and vote for Ronald Reagan!” — Mike on the Hobgoblins MST3K episode.

Did you ever get any of the Suiciders stuff from Bermejo? It sounded mildly interested, and now there’s a trade of both series on page 146. Sorry for all you suckers who bought the first one in HC and were waiting for a separate trade of the second mini!

I never got Suiciders because I don’t love Bermejo’s art enough to want to get Bermejo’s writing, and the second one didn’t even have Bermejo’s art. Plus, it just didn’t sound THAT interesting.

Yeah, I wasn’t THAT interested either, so I’ll probably pass. Poor suckers who won’t get the second trade separately, though!

I may go for the Northlanders one on this page too, and get the reoffered v1 on page 149.

The Sandman: Overture gets a trade on page 146. This was quite good, of course, and utterly beautiful.

I had the HC out from the library, but didn’t read it, just flipped through it several times in awe. So pretty! We probably ought to mention that the Multiversity is in trade on page 137, and that was mostly good, as well!

I think you said you liked The Unwritten last time, and on page 147, we have a dee-loox HC of the first 12 issues. Worth the 30 bucks?

I bought Unwritten for a while, but dropped it. I never actually loved it, although a few issues here and there were quite good. I loved the idea more than anything, but it never connected with me. That’s why I made the Mike Carey crack last month!

Yeah, it does seem like a great idea, and what previews of the first issue I saw were pretty cool (and those covers were great!), but his run on Lucifer was mostly meh from what I remember. I’ve liked other stuff of his, though! I think! Ooh, the Minx book he co-wrote with his daughter, that was pretty good (why did I like all those books that were aimed at teen girls?!)

IDW:

What? You want solicits? They’re right here!

Fialkov and Churilla’s Godzilla: Oblivion gets collected on page 162. I’m sure that’s a fun book!

I’m interested!

Brian Churilla draws awesome monsters

Last month, IDW offered the latest Dirk Gently series in trade. Now, just one month later, they offer a giant omnibus of the first two. Way to screw people over, IDW! This is $25, which means it’s a good bit cheaper than buying the two trades separately. So, yeah.

I saw that, and wondered if you’d gotten the one last month. Actually, didn’t you miss the other one here too? So you might have gotten screwed over twice! I may consider this one myself, though. If I ever dig out the original novel!

My retailer let me cancel my orders for the Dirk Gently trades so I can get this one. He’s cool that way!

Mars Attacks: Occupation gets a trade on page 170. This is pretty good – it’s not quite as good as the first two Layman Mars Attacks series, but it’s pretty good. Of course, the last issue hasn’t come out yet, so Simon can rant about that for a while!

Yeah. “Oh, it’s such a rip off, offering a book right after it’s available in singles but before the last one ships, because the last issue will ruin everything!” Heh. Luv ya, Simon, but jeez! I was waiting on the trade for this one, though, because I dug the other Layman MA stuff (2 series? I know the one series lasted about 10 issues so it would have been 2 trades, is that what you mean? Are they the volumes 1 and 2 reoffered here? I got that series in singles so I don’t know!)

Yes, I meant there were two trades of Layman’s Mars Attacks series. I think of them as two different ones because he originally was only supposed to do five issues, but they begged him to do more! So I think of the second five as a new series. I suck.

The Electric Sublime (page 175) sounds a bit like Vertigo’s Art Ops, but it still sounds neat. It’s only 4 issues, which means I should probably buy the single issues, because IDW will put it in trade for 20 bucks, knowing them.

Yeah, I too thought of Art Ops. Fortunately, I am an art history nerd (got my BA in it! I’m so poor!), so I’m interested. The writer did Judas: The Last Days, and that was decent, and the artist was on Great Pacific, which I liked the first trade of. And I will be getting singles due to IDW moving towards 20 dollar trades for 4 issues, as well. Just when I’d wanted to move to trades!

Freaky-deaky!

Of course the Darwyn Cooke Parker books were great, and The Outfit is offered in trade with The Man with the Getaway Face, which I don’t have, but I think The Outfit is the book of this series that I did get. Arrgh! (page 178)

You don’t really need The Man With the Getaway Face. It’s a nice little teaser, but you can probably skip it if you already have The Outfit.

Cool, Groom Lake, with Templesmith art, is offered in an 8 dollar book on page 180. I’ll be getting this! I hope they do more of these sorts of collections of older minis in a cheaper format!

Yoe Books has Super Weird Heroes on page 189, a collection of Golden Age heroes that are, well, weird. Who doesn’t love the Ferret and Kangaroo Man?!?!? I am all over this!

I do love this sort of stuff. I’d normally be iffy on the price, but from what I’ve seen of Yoe, the production standards are pretty good, and 500 plus pages is enough to make me want this (I am avoiding the sway word!). Lookit, the credited person on that Fire-Eater page is “Wood Byrns”! And on the cover, Nature Boy is humping a lightning bolt! Woo!

Nature Boy, come on! We talked about this!

Image:

The solicits! They’re alive! ALIVE!!!!

Azzarello and Risso reunite for Moonshine on page 194, which is about bad guys during Prohibition. I’ll be skipping this – Azzarello calling out “pussies” at San Diego did nothing to endear me to him, but it’s more because I’m not a huge fan of his writing, as 100 Bullets fell apart at the end and nothing else he’s done has blown me away. The book will look gorgeous, though.

Didn’t hear about the “pussies” thing. I’m just not a big fan of his stuff either. Too many puns and too gimmicky with the dialogue. Our pal Chad will get this though! Was Will Dennis editing this? I thought I heard that. If so, they missed that it’s not a “whisp” of smoke …

At a panel in San Diego, someone was asking Azzarello about the horrible change in The Killing Joke. I guess Azzarello didn’t hear him or something, and he called the guy a pussy for not repeating himself clearly, I think? Anyway, it seems like Azzarello wasn’t completely at fault, but calling someone a pussy when you’re discussing how you’ve given Barbara Gordon agency in a troubling comic/movie (not that I think they did, but Azzarello and Bruce Timm clearly think they do) doesn’t seem like the best idea.

Wow, I hadn’t thought they could make Killing Joke worse, but they did. Considering Azzarello was involved, it’s actually no surprise. That must be an interesting household with him and Jill Thompson, their comics seem so different! And mumblers are all pussies, he mumbled …

Why won’t Capullo draw books I want to read? He seemed like a cool dude when I met him! The ad for Reborn on the flipside cover claims this is the launch of the “most ambitious sci-fi/fantasy adventure series to date”. Because Millar likes hype. According to the Image Plus mag, it’s apparently about even more than just an afterlife where you have to fight your way through it. OK. (page 196)

Mark Millar always hires artists that I love, and then I don’t get to see their work! Quitely, Fegredo, Immonen, Gibbons, and now Capullo … and that’s just off the top of my head! (Oh, Tony Harris, too, for that aborted war comic he did!)

Sean Murphy on Chrononauts.

Yep – there’s another one!

Cannibal on page 198 sounds like a neat take on a zombie book, where there’s a disease that makes people want to eat flesh, but society doesn’t immediately collapse because of it. Trade wait!

Neat cover, too

Green Valley sounded more interesting when written up in Image Plus then here in Previews. I’ll wait for the trade, though! (page 200)

Because I like Bryan Hill on Postal (as you will find out/will have found out when my next post is up), I will be getting Romulus in trade, despite it being another secret society through the ages/ ass-kicking young girl involved with said society book (like another book in that same post — it all fits together!). Nelson Blake II’s art is pretty good, too. (page 202)

Is Jesse Blaze Snider the son of Dee? I won’t hold that against him, though, and will probably get the Black Light District: 6 Issues one shot (despite the confusing title!). Burnham, Hester, Pearson, Larsen, and more on art? How could you turn it down? (page 204)

I don’t know if Jesse Blaze Snider is the son of Dee. Use the internet, ya jamoke!

If it is true, I don’t care enough to have used the internet to have looked that fact up. Yeah.

2 issues of ODY-C in one month? Sounds like THAT’S the most ambitious sci-fi book out there now! (page 206)

I don’t really like the tone of the Shutter solicit on page 207 when it tells us that the last arc won’t be in trade for quite a while, trying to get us to buy this in singles. Don’t be like that, baby!

A friend of mine proofread issue #1 of The Black Monday Murders last week, as Hickman asked for professional proofreaders on Twitter and he got the job. I thought that was cool. Issue #3 is on page 209!

Wow, I don’t believe that. Not that he asked for proofreaders on Twitter, but that you have a friend! OH SNAP!!!!

Shut up, I do too have a friend.

Yes, not just you.

OK, not even you.

Also, you should get your friend to get in touch with Azzarello!

I have many friends! Some of them exist in real life, too!!!!

Our pal Sonia raved about Alex and Ada, the complete HC of which is offered on page 234. I will probably go for this, then! It sounded good to me!

Is Ancestor on page 235 one that’s in Island? They specify that Habitat on 237 is, but not this one. I should probably start reading Island, huh? I’m so behind, and so OCD about my comics reading!

For once, I share your pain, as I have read only the first issue of Island. I keep getting it, though!

Jamie Rich has a new comic on page 236 called The Double Life of Miranda Turner, which is about a young lady whose sister was a superhero before she was murdered, and now her ghost wants Miranda to find the killer. Sounds nifty!

Oh, won’t put this with the people at your day job, huh, Rich? Vertigo would have taken it! Too good for ‘em, huh?! Actually, this looks quite good, there’s a decent preview in the Image Plus mag, and George Kambadais on art is really good, got a Tommaso look to his stuff. I’ll be getting it, probably!

Rich told me that Vertigo would let him continue to do stuff, but maybe they can’t publish it because of conflict of interest? I’m not sure.

Ah, I was mostly busting him, but when the guys who did one of your imprint’s signature books debut Moonshine this month, and the longtime head of the imprint is editing another book at this rival company, it doesn’t necessarily look good, so it amuses me that Rich didn’t do this at Vertigo. Has he actually written anything for DC before, actually? I suppose it might be a conflict of interest, but it’s still funny to me!

Is she a poltergoost?

She Wolf has only shipped two issues, so I don’t know if the trade on page 239 is worth it, but it’s certainly an unusual comic so far!

I dug Dark Corridor, so I definitely was going for this anyway. Is Shakira in it yet?

Shakira is not in She Wolf yet.

Is the She Wolf in a closet? Are there non-prevaricating hips?

You’re weird, man.

Stjepan Sejic is good, so I may get the trade of Switch on page 240, a re-imagining of Witchblade.

Is that Thought Bubble Anthology a collection of all the comics they’ve done? I have most if not all, but I’m willing to shell out 10 bucks for this regardless, since the money goes to help kids. I’m not a monster. (page 241)

I was wondering about that Thought Bubble thing. I’ll have to check.

Get to it, man! heh.

Marvel:

All the solicits to give you a headache are right here!

Hey, that one shot collecting old Champions issues is making an overt Queen reference. Will Queen be upset with that? (page 5)

So, in The Clone Conspiracy (page 8), it claims that the Jackal “has conquered death.” Yeah, join the fucking club, pal. Why does Marvel think that sounds bold? Who HASN’T conquered death in the Marvel Universe?

Ultimate Reed Richards and/or Miles Morales, according to that post from the Dread Lord a few weeks back! The Jackal’s found that the key to eternal life is to be a main character in a superhero comic! Plus, Doc Ock is the first guy back, and who didn’t know he was coming back?

The Prowler gets an ongoing series (page 12). That’s … something.

Victor von Doom is now Iron Man (page 16). Gosh, Marvel’s never tried something like that before!

Like I said, my friend at work is a Doom nut and will like this.

Revolutionary!

Oh good, books like Black Panther 7 (page 18) are also listed as #1 of whatever new storyline is starting. Yay, because that’s not confusing at all! Also, “T’Challa leans on his day ones”? Wuzzat mean? Does that mean that he only has black friends?

I don’t mind if Marvel lists new story arcs. Image has been doing it for a while, and it’s fine. As long as they don’t renumber the series!

Yeah, but what they did before was to put the big #1 on the cover, bigger than the actual issue number, and that’s where it’s confusing! They restart series so often, who can keep up?

Great Lakes Avengers gets an ongoing series (page 20). Because it’s worked so well in the past!

I don’t think they’ve ever gotten an ongoing before, so who knows if it would work? Besides, it’s the Great Lakes Avengers, you only hate them if you hate fun, dammit! How can you not like that Squirrel Girl cut out gag? But why does the blue and white bad lady on the regular cover wear mismatched boots?

Well, GLA has been in plenty of short things, none of which have turned into anything long-term, so I’m just speculating. If it works, good for them!

That IS a tad askew!

Motherfucking Solo gets an ongoing series (although it is written by two dudes I like, so there’s that) (page 22). What’s in the water at Marvel HQ?

Really, his name is J. Bourne? I wonder when the sales will be So-Low that they cancel this. WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!!!

Page 24 Uncanny Inhumans 15 variant cover — doesn’t Medusa’s hair know it’s committing suicide?!?

Wait, is her hair alive? Ewwww!

Another gratuitous Queen reference on page 29 for the Patsy Walker book!

Geoffrey Thorne (who is co-writing Solo) is also writing Mosaic, which gets an ongoing series (page 30). At least the other weird ones have a pedigree. What the hell is Mosaic? (That being said, I’ll get the first trade of this, because I like Thorne and Khary Randolph.)

Why shouldn’t they try new characters? Mosaic is the other black superhero that’s also a pro basketball player. But Priest apparently got his original black basketball player super powered dude, Xero, back. Yay! Based on the concept for Mosaic, I wonder if he played for a Boston Brand of basketball. (Thank you, I’ll be here all night!)

I think it’s great that they give weird and new characters ongoing series. I just don’t think it will work. But I’m desperate for it to actually work, because both DC and Marvel could use new heroes.

Bendis and Gaydos are reviving Jessica Jones (page 42). Oh, dear, you guys, don’t you know you can never go home again?

Didn’t she settle down and have a kid, as all women should? Don’t go looking for trouble, woman! Get back to making Luke Cage his dinner!

Speaking of Luke, the Dexter’s Laboratory dude does a Cage mini here on page 46. It’s got a Kyle Baker/Mad magazine look to it.

James Stokoe AND Francesco Francavilla are drawing Moon Knight #7. JAMES STOKOE AND FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA ARE DRAWING MOON KNIGHT #7!!!!!! Why this isn’t a triple-sized issue I’ll never know. I’m totally breaking my “I don’t buy Marvel single issues” pledge for this. I’m just like a politician!!!!

Actually, I saw something where it showed, if I understood it right, that most politicians actually do try to keep their promises. Weird, I know! (page 77)

I don’t really give a rat’s ass about this story, Death of X, but damn, the art by Aaron Kuder is going to look amazing! (page 84)

It sounds goofy, but fun, but Deadpool Back in Black is the story of when DP used the Venom symbiote while on earth, after that Parker dick got rid of it. Power Pack! (page 86)

OK, which Cyclops is in a wheelchair in All-New X-Men 14 (page 92)? Better question — why?

Ooh, that Daredevil omnibus is tempting on page 112. The first 41 issues, the annual, an FF issue. Man …

And that Alpha Flight by John Byrne omnibus is tempting as well (page 116).

Hmm, the Spider-Gwen HC book on page 117 is 12 issues worth of what sounds like it could be either quite good or quite dumb. I’m interested enough that I’m going to consider this!

Spider-Gwen isn’t that good. It’s not terrible, but not that good. Just so you know.

Ah. Well, that will probably save me some $$$$!

I’ll probably be getting the new Unbeatable Squirrel Girl trade on page 139, even though I dropped it before the Howard the Duck crossover. I have to get those issues, and also hang my head in shame for dropping a fun book just because of a crossover!

Ah, you were so right about Deadpool 13, that big issue! The new DP trade only has that and the Last Days of Magic one shot in it, for 16 bucks for both. I hang my head in shame yet again!

What was I right about regarding Deadpool #13?

Oh, I said something about it being pricey, and you SLAPPED ME DOWN and pointed out it was about the size of a regular Marvel trade for only 10 bucks, and now the regular trade only has that and the other special for 16 bucks, which is the same or more than what those 2 issues cost cover price. I bow to your math wisdom!

Ah, now I remember. NEVER QUESTION ME!!!!!

Waid and Samnee’s Black Widow gets its first trade on page 145. I’ll be getting this!

Oh, I’m pretty sure I’m in for this one, too!

The collection appears to be an odd one, but the What is it that Disturbs You, Stephen? Doctor Strange trade on page 148 has good creators. The title story was one that P. Craig Russell did in an annual in the 70s, iirc, then redid in ’97. Might be fun!

I almost think Bishop is a more annoying character than Gambit. ALMOST! But there’s a trade of his early appearances on page 150.

Also on 150 is the second Gerber Man-Thing collection, and they even point out how funny the “Giant-Size Man-Thing” name is in the solicit! Sorta.

Page 155 has a collection of Captain Britain stuff that sounds like it’d be good. Is this all the Alan Moore stuff included, plus other stuff? If so, I’m definitely in! (Hmm. Wait. I’m looking through the listings of the Moore/Davis Omni of CB, and this collection offered here skips around like crazy. WTH? OK, probably skipping this, then!)

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with that Captain Britain book. I assume the big hardcovers Marvel released a few years back are out of print, which sucks, but this one does seem to jump around, so maybe it’s a “greatest hits” kind of thing. Definitely find the old hardcovers if you can, because those are tremendous.

Why are they reprinting Runaways? Why is it significant?! (page 150)

Our pal Chad has all this stuff, but I’m sure he’d love it if we pointed to the Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin complete collection on page 155. Wait. No. He wouldn’t care! He’s like that. HE JUST WOULDN’T CARE!

I’m thinking about that Captain Marvel book, although I’m pretty sure I have a good chunk of it already. I don’t have The Death of, though, so I might pick this up.

Was the Death of only ever published as the separate GN? I’d assume it was collected at some point, but I don’t know when. I am tempted!

I am positive it’s been reprinted, but I can’t remember where. I mean, it would be crazy if it hasn’t been yet, right?

Let’s hit the back of the book!

On page 255, AC offers Men of Mystery 102, with the Green Giant, whom I read about in Overstreet a lot. It’s a really rare Golden Age book that I don’t know how much they really know about who did it. So I’m tempted! TEMPTED! The issue of one of these AC reprints I got was decent, but it’s a big B&W comic-sized issue that is a little too thick for the staples, methinks. Certainly more than a bit pricey at 30 bucks.

Same page has Acme Ink with another of their Rock & Roll Biographies, this time with White Zombie. Ah, Sean Yseult! She was the bassist and also in a great horror rock band called Famous Monsters. Pretty lady …

Action Lab had the trade of Zoe Dare vs the Disasteroid on page 258, and that appealed to me, where a professional stuntwoman (not women, like they say in the solicit. Why don’t people know the difference!?!), her punk rock IT sister, and 2 robots have to save humanity. Fun!

Warren Ellis and Phil Hester have a new series from Aftershock, Shipwreck, on page 260. A survivor of a shipwreck doesn’t know where he is, and things are bad. Of course they are! He couldn’t get shipwrecked near a tropical resort, could he? I’ll wait for the trade, because I don’t trust Diamond to get the single issues to my shoppe!

It’s always good when Phil Hester draws comics!

Let me rant about Aftershock trades for a minute! Replica and Superzero were both offered a couple months back as 9.99 trades, so OF COURSE I was in for that. Yet without a Product Change notice that I can find on the Previews site, those 2 books went up to 14.99 for Replica, and 17.99 for Superzero. WTACTUALF, Aftershock? I get that sometimes things come up and you have to change things, but really, 5-8 bucks extra? They better be damn good! I’m not happy.

Otherwise, I’d say I’m tradewaiting and will snap this up in a second when it comes out. But they’ve left a bad taste in my mouth.

Ellis and Hester actually collaborated on a story in the Oni Color Special 2002, the title of the creation escapes me but the story’s title was “Friday I’m in Love”, and it was about cops that work the occult beat, basically. It was pretty good, too bad nothing else came of it.

I didn’t notice that about the Aftershock trades. Simon will mock us, as he’s always bringing up the random price changes!

Yeah, he’ll probably go on about his c-1-x or whatever code, and how they’ll always switch on us, the bastards, and blah blah blah!!! But yeah, I got both because I’d been interested, and because I figured they were both cheap introductory volumes. Like what Image does. It was rather convenient on their part that they solicited 2 trades at a cheap price in one month then jacked the prices up after the fact. TOO convenient … I actually wouldn’t have minded too much if they’d solicited these at the prices they’re coming out as — they’re not awful deals at 3 bucks an issue, but, true, I may not have ordered them. But between the 2, it’s almost a whole other trade’s worth of money that I’m spending, and that means there’s one less book I have to stack around and not read!

Also from Aftershock (page 264), Garth Ennis’s Screaming Eagles gets a hardcover instead of (before, I hope) a trade. It’s 30 bucks, so I’ll skip it, but I guess Ennis gets the fancy treatment!

Yeah, who knows, maybe it’ll be 50 bucks by the time it gets to stores! I’ll wait and see if they do a trade.

Also from Aftershock is Black-Eyed Kids TP 1, which is the perfectly reasonable 15 bucks for 5 issues. But man, they totally burned me, so I’m very very wary!!! (page 265)

Albatross Funnybooks has Spookhouse 1, written and drawn by Eric Powell, and it’s an all ages horror book. Might be fun! (page 268)

Same page has Alterna Comics giving us the Alterna Anniverseries 10 year special GN. I think I’ve gotten some stuff from them, and it was decent, so I may go for this.

Alternative Comics has Reich #1 on page 268. I own the first two (maybe three?) issue of this, and they came out a really long time ago (maybe a decade?), so it’s interesting to see this reoffered. I don’t know if it ever got finished, so that’s probably why they’re starting over. It’s an interesting biography of Wilhelm Reich, who had some unusual ideas about psychiatry.

I never knew you were into minimalist music! Oh, wait, wrong Reich. We’re talking Wilhelm, and I got that right this time, which is good, since two wrong Reichs don’t make … um. Yeah, this is an interesting dude, and I hope it’s either going to be finished by the creator or is already finished if they’re reoffering it. And no, I won’t make a third Reich pun.

D’oh.

Also from Alternative is a book by David Hine and Shaky Kane, Cowboys and Insects. I’m in! There’s a book about Johnny Appleseed, with Noah Van Sciver art, which tells us about how Appleseed was a big smelly hippie. Next page but same company is the re-solicit of Tom Hart’s She’s Not Into Poetry, which means I have to get this back on my list. Also, there’s a weird sci-fi thing called Vortex that has a space vagina monster on the cover!

Of course!

Amigo has Tales from the Suicide Forest (page 274), which has two stories that “complement” El Torres’s Suicide Forest series, which came out from IDW a while back and is going to get a trade from Amigo “soon.” It’s a good series, and I might pick this up, although I wonder if these will be included in the trade, so if you haven’t gotten Suicide Forest, maybe you should wait?

Hmm, it’s only 4 bucks, so I may gamble and get this one shot anyway, and get the trade whenever that comes out. Which may be ages from now, the Rogues! trade that completes the original Ryp stuff and other stories still hasn’t shown up yet!

Archie Meets the Ramones (page 284). Yep, this is a thing that is happening.

I’m in, of course! Just can’t decide on which cover to get! Man, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of Gisele Lagace before this Previews, but it seems like she’s in this book a lot. Of course, I can’t remember what other books she’s on in here now, though! And it’s not that weird a team up — the Ramones wanted to be the Bay City Rollers, dontcha know!

Yep

Same page has the Archie Comics Double Digest 273, which made me do a double take when I saw in the description the words “S-wearing Christmas elf”. Drop that hyphen and I’m in!

Hey, I bet you were worried when you hadn’t seen any Big City Comics for awhile! What’s that? You didn’t even notice they were gone? Oops … (page 296)