It's the dog days of summer (or is it? - here in the AZ, the dog days last from May to October, so I'm never sure when they actually are), but Previews #322 offers hope for the future! Let's take a look!



Dark Horse:

All the solicits are here!

Yay, it's another volume of Colder on page 38! As you might recall, I really dig this series, and it's neat that both Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra still have time to work on it, so yay! (30 September)



I've never been a fan of The Goon, but there's a nice $40-hardcover collecting the first four volumes on page 46. If you've never tried it, this isn't a bad way to go. Eric Powell's art is beautiful, but I do not like his writing at all. (11 November)

I don't know the creative team of The Paybacks on page 56, but I do like the idea of repo supermen, as superheroes who get enhancements and can't pay back the loans are visited by the protagonists. There seems to be plenty of humor to mine in that idea. (16 September)

There's a third volume of Resident Alien on page 64. If you haven't picked these up, they're quite good without being anything fancy. Just good, solid entertainment. That's always nice to see. (11 November)

I don't think Archie vs. Predator is worth a hardcover (page 69), especially as it's more expensive than the single issues, but when it shows up in softcover, it's definitely worth a look. So much killing!!! (4 November)

DC:

The full solicits are here!

Bilquis Evely draws the main story in DC Comics Bombshells #2 on page 87. I knew Evely would get noticed by one of the Big Two and start drawing a comic I have no interest in (or which I might have interest in - this seems weird enough to work - but which costs $3.99)! Oh well - maybe she'll do something eventually that I want to read. If you haven't seen her art yet, pick this up! (2 September)

On page 135, DC offers Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus, which collects Detective #27-56 and Batman #1-7 and gives you over 780 pages of comics for $75. You know, I liked when DC was publishing these stories in the "Batman Chronicles" series, so why did that go away just so they could sell these in a different format? It's great that they are making Golden Age comics so accessible to the masses, but sheesh, DC, make up your damned minds! (4 November)

Birds of Prey volume 1 shows up on page 137. These are the stories from the mid-1990s, back when Greg Land actually drew stuff! (7 October)

Next to that, Justice League: A League of One is offered in softcover. I have the original graphic novel, but this collects a two-part story Christopher Moeller did for JLA: Classified, which is nice. The OGN was pretty good, and Moeller's art was beautiful, and this is only 17 bucks, so it might be worth a look. (21 October)

If you've been waiting for the trade of Sandman: Overture ... well, you're more patient than I am, considering it's solicited on page 143 to come out two years after the first issue shipped (well, the hardcover is - you'll have to wait a bit longer for the softcover). Now, issue #6 is offered on page 142, so who knows if that will be out when it's supposed to, so it might push the trade back, but if you've been interested, there it is. It's a stunning work of art, very worthy of the rest of the series, so there's that. (10 November)/strong>



IDW:

Here are all the solicits!

Huh, Atomic Robo is now with IDW, and there's a new series and a collection of the first three series on page 161. This is a great series, and while it was cool to see it with such a small publisher, maybe moving to IDW will mean more people get to read it. Read it, people!

Amelia Cole and the Impossible Fate shows up on page 174. I own the first two volumes, and they're pretty good, but I'm not sure why I didn't get the third volume yet. I got the first two at Rose City last year, so maybe I'll see if the creative team is there again this year, and I can pick up the third volume and this one. Conventions!



There's a Jem annual on page 179, but right next to it is Jem #7, which is drawn by Emma Vieceli. I like Vieceli quite a bit, but I do hope that Sophie Campbell isn't done with the book. She's such a great artist and her designs fit the book so well, that I hope she'll be back for another arc.

In the Top Shelf section of IDW's solicits, we find The Story of My Tits by Jennifer Hayden (page 187), which is about the author's battle with breast cancer. It's one of those prestige books, man!

On page 190, Tet #1 is offered. I heard about this at San Diego last year, and it sounds really neat - it's a love story set against the Tet Offensive. I've been looking forward to it since!



Image:

Oh, you know the full solicits are right here!

Rick Remender has a new book on page 192 called Tokyo Ghost, which takes place 75 years in the future and features a humanity addicted to technology and the gangsters who prey on them. Remender has become a miss for me, because he writes such good first issues and then his series tend to trend seriously downward, but this is drawn by Sean Murphy, who keeps flitting from writer I don't want to read (Millar) to writer I don't want to read (Remender). Damn it!!!! (16 September)

Jeff Lemire's Plutonia shows up on page 196, as five teenagers find the body of the world's greatest superhero in the forest. Dang, that sucks. I'll probably get this (although I might wait for the trade), but I'm amused by Image's description of its artist as "amazing newcomer" Emi Lenox. I mean, I know Lenox hasn't done a ton of work in comics, but she's a known quantity, and I don't even think this is the first thing she's done that's not her own autobiographical comic Emitown. She is a pretty good artist, though, so good for her for drawing this! (2 September)

I'm really trying to figure out what the main character in Head Lopper (page 206) does for a living. It's vexing me. (9 September)

Steve Orlando and JD Faith have a graphic novel, Virgil, offered on page 210. It's about a Jamaican cop on a revenge journey. Those are always fun. I like both creators, so I might have to pick this up - it's 96 pages for 10 bucks, which ain't a bad value. (9 September)

The first trade of Descender is on page 233. This has been pretty decent so far, but it will probably read better in trade. (9 September)

Marvel:

All your solicit are belong to us!

Hey, look, Marvel decided to publish Captain America: White (page 2). That was nice of them. I'm curious about this, as Tim Sale has seemingly abandoned comics. So is this stuff he did years ago and only now is Marvel publishing it, or did Sale actually draw it recently and does that mean he'll do some new comics, preferably without Jeph Loeb writing them? Because I would be down with that second scenario. (16 and 30 September)

These kinds of covers are not as prevalent as they once were, but every so often, they pop up and make me chuckle (page 21):



Okay, so what is X-Men '92 supposed to be, anyway? Because issue #4 (page 27) mentions Cassandra Nova, who didn't exist in 1992. I thought the series was supposed to technically take place in 1992, so nothing after that exists, but I guess that's wrong. (30 September)

Miracleman is back on page 56, as Gaiman and Buckingham's run gets reprinted. I'm very torn about this, because I already own the single issues (I bought Moore's reprinted run because I didn't own the single issues, just beat-up trades), but I'm curious about the "bonus material." DAMN YOU, MARVEL!!!!! These are terrific comics, though - vastly different from Moore's, but really neat, and Buckingham's experiments with different styles works really well. I'm still waiting for Marvel to reprint the Apocrypha! (2 and 16 September)

I still don't get why people pay $3.99 for Marvel comics (I know, I don't get why I even buy single issues, but at least I have a limit!). I mean, the trade of Howard the Duck shows up on page 72, and even Marvel is bringing the price down, as it's 17 dollars for five issues. DC has been pricing their trades to move for a while now, and Marvel does it a bit more haphazardly, but why would I pay 4 bucks an issue (meaning 20 dollars for this) when I can wait and get it for 17? Is immediacy that important? I know I should break my single-issue habit more with regard to DC, but the only reason I still buy single issues from non-Big Two companies is because I really do fear they won't get collected. But Marvel collects everything. So I don't get it. (23 September)

Didn't we already get a Damage Control: The Complete Collection? Maybe not, and there it is on page 87. I only own the first mini-series, so I might have to get this, because that's a fun series. (7 October)

Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection is on page 89. I've never been a big fan of Man-Thing, but I like the talent involved (even though, humorously, it's not all written by Gerber), so I'll probably pick this up. (14 October)

We're going to have to get to the back of the book eventually, so let's do it now!

Amigo continues to cheerfully solicit comics that I'm sure will be very good but might never show up, as they offer Straitjacket on page 263, which is about an institutionalized woman who murdered her brother when they were children but just might be saving the world.

As I dig historical fiction, I might have to get Castro on page 271 from Arsenal Pulp Press. It's about a German journalist who gets "embedded" with Castro during the 1950s and then follows his life from then. Sounds neat.

Over on page 290, Boom! has Wild's End: The Enemy Within, a sequel to last year's mini-series about an alien invasion of a small English village in the 1930s that is populated by talking animals. Luckily, they also have the trade of the first series on page 291, which I was waiting for. It's Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard, so it should be pretty decent. Did anyone read it?

The Third Witch on page 293 sounds interesting - it's a retelling of Macbeth from the witches' point of view. I'll probably trade-wait this one, but we shall see. Maybe I won't.



First Comics, in conjunction with Devil's Due offers up Cadaver Dogs of Winter by Matthew and Shawn Fillbäch (I honestly don't know if the umlaut is necessary, but I dig it), which is a terrific revenge tale. I love the Fillbächs and wish they were bigger stars, and this comic is one reason why.

I heard that Puma Blues was getting a makeover, and on page 346 we find the complete saga from Dover Publications. I've been looking for issues of this for years, but they're really hard to find, so I'm very glad it's getting collected. One of the reasons I didn't feature Michael Zulli in "Year of the Artist" was because I couldn't find this comic!

I don't know if it's brand new, but there's a graphic novel from Batton Lash on page 352: Supernatural Law: The Werewolf of New York from Exhibit A Press. Lash's "Supernatural Law" comics are a lot of fun, so if you've ever been interested in getting into them, this looks like a good place. Of course, many of them are re-solicited here, too, so you could conceivably start anywhere - it doesn't really matter.

Benjamin Marra has Terror Assaulter (O.M.W.O.T.) on page 356 from Fantagraphics. It's a satire of America's obsession with terrorists, and it sounds fun. Marra's a good creator, so I'll probably pick this up.

Oni is reprinting Elk's Run for its tenth anniversary, and if you have never read it, you really should. It's the first thing I read by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon (I think; I'm pretty sure, at least), and it's a terrific comic that made me a fan of both those gentlemen. It's about a town cut off from the world (by design) and what happens when the kids of that town decide they want to see the outside world. It's a gripping thriller, and it's nice that it might get a wider audience now. (11 November)

Peter Kuper shows up on page 393 with Ruins from SelfMadeHero, which is a story about a couple spending a year on sabbatical in Oaxaca while a butterfly migrates toward Mexico from Canada. What do those two things have to with each other? Beats me, but I'm willing to find out!



Brian Selznick has a new massive book on page 455 called The Marvels, which features two different stories, one illustrated, one prose, that, I guess, come together at some point. I should probably read The Invention of Hugo Cabret one of these days - it's on my book shelf, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Oh well.

That's about it for my look through Previews. As always, I'm sure I missed some stuff, so sound off in the comments, as I really do find some gems that you guys mention and I missed! I hope everyone has a nice day!