Time again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for interesting new adventure comics.

Antarctic

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: There are some stories that I'm just going to have to check out every time they're adapted. Ichabod and the Headless Horseman is one of them. I can't get enough of that galloping, Colonial-era, pumpkin-headed noggin-chopper.

Archaia

The Grave Doug Freshley: I swear I didn't notice the pun when I went through the catalog the first time. I'm observant that way. Honestly, that cools my interest a little. Even though the solicitation compares the book to Sergio Aragones and Looney Tunes, I'm hoping that there's as much soul as schtick to this story about a gunfighter who comes back from the dead to protect a boy in order to fulfill a promise. I tend to trust Archaia's taste though, so it's hope with a foundation. That title though...

Okko: The Cycle of Earth: Now this I have no reservations about. I read the first volume as single issues and decided that I needed the rest on my bookshelf instead of my comic boxes. Absolutely gorgeous and mysterious Japanese-inspired fantasy.



Dark Horse

Beasts of Burden #1: If you've read about Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's adventurous pet investigators of the supernatural in Dark Horse's Books of Horror anthologies, you know how funny and charming this is going to be.

Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai: I've only recently begun indulging my Usagi Yojimbo curiosity by reading his early adventures, but it's only proven what I suspected would be true. I love that noble, little rabbit and his diverse cast of friends and enemies. Looking forward to this full color graphic novel.

Amazon: I'm not a huge fan of the Heart of Darkness plot in general, but I absolutely trust Steven Seagle and I like Tim Sale's covers for this. If the the interior art is at all similar, I expect that I'll enjoy this jungle story even if no one wrestles a rhinoceros in it.

DC

The Web #1: I don't know much about the Red Circle characters and I honestly don't care at all about the Web. What I do care about is that John Rozum's writing supernatural comics again in this issue with the Hood co-feature (with Bill Sienkiewicz helping on art, no less). I'm not expecting Xombi or even Midnight, Mass, but it's Rozum so I know it'll be excellent.

High Moon: I haven't read the online version of this Zuda comic, but werewolves and Westerns go together like chocolate and peanut butter. If this is anywhere as good as Strangeways, I'll be a satisfied reader.



Trick 'r Treat: Throw a scarecrow in your horror story and you've immediately got an audience of at least me. Make it a creepy little kid and I'm wiggling in my seat anticipating the chills. I've wanted to see the movie version of this ever since the poster came out. And since they've made the cover of the comic from the same image, it has the same effect. And the comic could have much worse people involved in it than Marc Andreyko, Mike Huddleston, and Breehn Burns.

Dynamite

The Lone Ranger Comic Strips Collection: It's the Lone Ranger and it's Russ Heath. That's all I need to know.

Hermes

The Phantom: The Complete Dailies, Volume 1 (1936-1938): Because I've enjoyed the Billy Zane movie and a lot of Moonstone's comics so much, I've always been curious to see more of the Phantom in his original environment. Even though this has the most boring cover I've ever seen (the Phantom punching nothing? Really?), I really want to spend some time with the insides.



Marvel

Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu: A very large part of me is bristling at the thought of paying $4 for 48 black-and-white pages, but it's Shang-Chi and it's a one-shot, so they've got me. Plus Jonathan Hickman and Kody Chamberlain are involved. And did they say, "Kung Fu Motorcycle Race?" Why yes, they did.

SLG

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer: I don't need anything other than the title and the visual it conjures to know that I'm going to want this book. It's so high concept that if it was published by someone else I might be worried about the quality of the story, but SLG's never released anything without a heart in it and I don't expect they're starting now.

And that's it for me. What are you looking forward to?