In case you missed the latest edition of Previews, it features a cover with a Jim Lee drawing of a World of Warcraft comic. And, as we find out inside, it's written by Walt Simonson! Sheesh. I hate video games (yes, I admit it).

Anyway, that won't stop me from flipping!

Dark Horse:

In case you missed the fifty-cent preview of the new Grendel series, the actual series, Behold the Devil, kicks off on 21 November (page 20). It's written and drawn by Matt Wagner. What more do you need?!?!?

There's yet another Fear Agent mini-series starting up on page 24 (28 November). This is a darned good comic, but as a warning, it is horribly bloody and depressing.

On page 25, we get a new Conan collection (30 January). I buy Conan in trades, which is the best way to buy them, I'll tell you that much! This one has the issues that have been left out of the previous trades, and it looks keen.

Page 26 gives us a collection of Dark Horse Heroes (16 January), which is 424 pages for 25 dollars, which is pretty good. It's a collection of Comics Greatest World and Will to Power, both of which I missed. Are they any good?

Bart Sears' drawing on page 31 accompanying the solicit text for The Scream (21 November) doesn't look all that good, but the book sounds cool. And it's written by Peter David. And Sears can be a good artist, if he's in the mood.

Is Brian K. Vaughan the new writer on Buffy? He's writing issue #8 (page 38; 7 November). I'm just wondering where Joss Whedon went. Is it too much trouble to write the book anymore?

B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls gets the trade paperback treatment on page 40 (23 January). Isn't that really the best way to read these mini-series?

DC:

You know, the idea that there are no more Elseworlds but that the old Elseworlds worlds are getting folded into the new Multiverse so that other heroes can visit them pisses me off. What am I talking about? Heroes visiting the "world" of Gotham by Gaslight (page 65; 21 November) and Red Rain (page 65; 7 November)? In a long litany of stupid ideas from DC, this ranks way up there. Yuck.

In Supergirl #23, Kelley Puckett and Drew Johnson take over (page 83; 7 November). Didn't that book just get a new creative team? Were they only supposed to be on it for an arc? I'm just wondering because it seems like the artist (whose name escapes me at the moment) seemed to actually get how to draw a normal-looking female. Did DC freak out because she wasn't hawt enough?

Speaking of the Multiverse, on page 94, we get a trade paperback of the three Batman/vampire specials that Doug Moench and Kelley Jones did a decadeor soago (19 December). I have the first one, but somehow missed the next two. Jones' art is very nice, and Moench likes these weird stories.

Then, on page 95, we get a trade of Harley Quinn #1-7 (16 January), which I've heard is pretty decent. Anyone care to chime in with an endorsement?

Hey! Be a good consumer and pick up the Welcome to Tranquility trade paperback on page 116 (12 December). A neat premise, well-written characters, decent art, and an interesting murder mystery. What's not to love?

A couple of Garth Ennis Hellblazer trades are on page 123 (7 November and 19 December). This is part of Ennis' great run on the title, and are well worth it.

Image:

I know I'm a sucker for espionage stuff, but The Circle (page 139; 14 November) looks cool. A rogue CIA assassin bent on revenge? Sign me up! I haven't read a bunch by Brian Reed, but what I have read is pretty good.

You know, the solicitation on page 143 cracked me up. Why? Image is actually claiming that Hawaiian Dick will be an ongoing title (21 November). An ongoing title!!!!! Now, I love both Hawaiian Dick mini-series, but the last one took two years to finish four issues. Why on earth does Image think an ongoing will be, you know, regular?

Jonathan Hickman returns on page 144 with Pax Romana, a time-traveling epic (28 November).His last (and first in comics) series, The Nightly News, was excellent, and I'm sure this will be too.

Killing Girl #4 does NOT have Frank Espinosa on art (14 November).Why not? Is Espinosa too slow? If so, why bother solicit it until he's finished? If it's another reason, that's kind of strange. If it means he's back to work on Rocketo, thenI'm all for it!

There's a huge section on McFarlane Toys.The Toddster just opened an entire store in Glendale, AZ, devoted to his toys. Man, that guy can just print money, can't he?

Page 179 offers Madame Mirage #5. I haven't been buying it, because I have no interest, but I like the banner: "Forget What You Know About Madame Mirage." It's the fifth issue! Do we really know anything about Madame Mirage?

Marvel:

Regarding the new Captain Marvel series on page 21, I'm with Norman Osborn in the latest issue of Thunderbolts: You would think you can count on cancer. That line made me laugh out loud. Well done, Warren Ellis! Oh, and in the solicitation text reads: "Brian Reed and Lee Weeks bring you the mini-series that returns one of Marvel's greatest heroes back where he belongs." Greatest heroes? Really? Talk about hyperbole.

I like the idea of a Marvel Atlas (page 40). Let's settle once and for all where Latveria is? Is it in the Bavarian Alps? In the Balkans? Near Lithuania? The world burns for an answer! If only DC would do something like this, since they have more fictional places than Marvel does.

That is one awful cover on the Moon Knight Annual (page 42). Blech. How do things like that get approved?

I'm sorry, but I'm really jazzed about the X-Men crossover (pages 61-69). I'm not really excited about the story itself, but I think the whole "no more mutants" thing is just stupid, so maybe this will begin the long road back to mutants everywhere!

I have no idea what the hell is going on in X-Men: Die by the Sword #3 (page 72), but it has Longshot and Dazzler, so of course it will be the greatest single issue this year.

I have only one thing to say about that Psylocke statue (page 82): MY EYES! MY EYES!!!!!! If you buy this, we can't be friends anymore. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is.

All right, we need to go into the back of the book. Fear not!

On page 217, AiT/Planet Lar fires up their latest offering, Monster Attack Network. Crazy monsters in the South Pacific! Fine stuff indeed.

Red Eye, Black Eye gets offered again on page 217 from Alternative Comics. If you haven't read it, it's quite good. Would I lie?

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor has the Rex Libris trade for you on page 219. I think Bill Reed has been waiting for this, but I could be wrong. Rex Libris is a wildly fun book to read, and it's good and dense. Buy it! Also, the ninth issue gets solicited right next to it.

Archaia Studios Press seems to be branching out a bit in their output, which is nice to see. I'm not sure if The Engineer (page 225) is going to be any good, but when he uses "a colossal pipe organ that enables pan-dimensional travel," I'm intrigued. It might suck, but that's a great summary.

If you haven't checked out Phantom Jack yet, you can pick up an Absolute Edition on page 239 from Atomic Pop Art Entertainment. It's not a great comic, but it's entertaining, and this is 20 bucks for what looks like a pretty nifty package. It's odd that they don't mention Mitch Breitweiser, the artist, as he's moved on to bigger and better things with Marvel. Why no love for Breitweiser?

Dynamite Entertainment has a The Lone Ranger and Tonto on page 270, a one-shot that claims to be a good "jumping-on point" for new readers. Maybe it is, maybe it's not, but it should be a fine issue nevertheless.

Hey, check out page 274! It's The Atheist #4, offered by Desperado Publishing! It no longer has Phil Hester on art [Editor's note: Of course I meant John McCrea! I'm just an imbecile ... but of course, most of you already knew that.], butit stillought to be a nice issue. That is, if it actually comes out! We'll see.

For 9 dollars, you can pick up the third trade of Action Philosophers! on page 298 from Evil Twin Comics. I would love it if issue #9 came out one day, but if you've missed any issues, here's your chance to get a hilarious and educational comic! Don't we all need those?

In case you haven't picked up American Born Chinese yet, First Second offers it on page 302. I grow weary of extolling its virtues!

IDW hasthe second volumeof Terry and the Pirates on page 314. I don't have a ton of interest in it, but I thought I'd point it out because The Comics Curmudgeon recentlydid a post about, among others, Milton Caniff, and he linked to a page that reprints Male Call, another Caniff strip, but one with a lot more T & A! It's goode olde-tymey fun! On page 315, IDW gives us a Badger trade paperback and a Munden's Bar trade. Cool stuff, direct from the Eighties!

There's an interesting book up in the corner of page 326. It's Pantheon Vol. 1: Welcome to the Machinefrom Lone Star Press, and I wonder if anyone out there has ever read it. Bill Willingham wrote it, and Mike Leeke, who drew some issues of Elementals after Willingham stopped, drew some of it, and he can be a good penciller. I'm just wondering if this is worth 20 dollars. Anyone?

On page 330, Olympian Publishing is offering a giant-sized hardcover of Nocturnals Vol. 1 for 30 thin dollars. This has already been solicited once, but now they really mean it! I've never read Nocturnals, but I'm sure the art is amazing - it's Dan Brereton, after all.

On the same page, Oni Press has a huge collection of issues #1-12 of Queen & Country, which is a fantastic book. It's only 20 bucks for 376 pages of espionage goodness!

The Red Seas Vol. 1, which shows up on page 338 from Rebellion, sounds pretty neat, even though it's 25 dollars. Ian Edginton and Steve Yeowell doing a pirate story could work really well, even if there are zombies.

The Dude decides to re-release Nexus: The Origin on page 340. I've never read a Nexus comic. Perhaps this is where I should start.

The new Dan Dare comic fromVirginis on page 367, if you're interested. Gary Erskine can sometimes be good and sometimes be horrible, so I'm taking a wait and see attitude toward the book. And for all the jokes about anal rape, I bet more Garth Ennis comics DON'T feature anal rape than do. Isn't that something?

With that wonderful image floating around your head, it's time to wrap up our monthly tour through Previews. Always remember: good comics aren't just going to show up at your store! You need to draw them out, like luring a trusting fawn out of its hiding place so you can shoot it in the head!