I wish you could’ve been there for the battle in my head over whether or not to cover March releases in this week’s post. It was a loud and heated discussion. On one side was Previews Came Out Weeks Ago It’s Not Timely Anymore. On the other was Yeah But Promoting Cool New Comics Is What This Column’s All About So What If It’s a Couple Weeks Late? I hid behind a chair and let them duke it out. I’ll save you the gory details, but in the end Previews Came Out Weeks Ago was storming off muttering something about, “This ain’t over yet,” while Cool New Comics stood there with a smug look on its face.

Before we get into the releases though, I should make clear my criteria for what makes it into my list.

1. For 99% of the comics I buy, I’m a wait-for-the-trade kind of guy. It’s cheaper and I’d much rather have something I can easily pull from a bookshelf than something I have to dig through boxes for and pull out of a mylar bag. So my lists will heavily favor graphic novels and collections. I guess that’s not really a criterion as much as an explanation of why I won’t mention every issue of BPRD (for example) as it comes out.

2. Having said that, I’ll still mention new series that look especially exciting. I may not buy them until they come out in a collection, but I’ll certainly point out that they sound cool. So, if BPRD is starting a new arc, it could get mentioned, but probably not with as much enthusiasm as a new BPRD collection.

3. This is mostly subjective. As much as I like to think that my opinions are always informed by rational, objective factors, I’m not kidding myself. I have biases and prejudices just like anyone else and of course there will be perfectly fine comics coming out that I won’t mention for some lousy reason. But that’s why I’m begging you to point those out in the comments. Please let everyone know what I missed. My hope is for this list to be a discussion starter.

And now, on with the cool, new comics.

Arcana

The Gwaii – Arcana’s stuff usually isn’t for me, so I have reservations about this one. An all-ages adventure about a little sasquatch searching for his mother is very different from the usual Arcana though. The art is adorable too, so I’m hoping this will be a step in a new direction for the publisher.

Avatar

Anna Mercury, Vol. 1: The Cutter – Avatar is another company I haven’t typically paid a lot of attention to, but that’s starting to change. Judging by March’s solicitations, they seem to have weeded out all the T&A books and are focusing on the material by respected writers. They’ve always had books with names like Warren Ellis and Alan Moore on them, but I always let the other stuff dilute the brand for me and tended to ignore their entire catalog.

One of their series that’s kept grabbing my attention though is Anna Mercury. Warren Ellis doing pulp scifi is something I’m eager to try. And now that the first collection’s finally coming, I can.

Rawbone #1 – Something else I’m eager to try: Jamie Delano writing a pirate story. I’m a little scared, but helplessly intrigued.

Boom!

Incredibles #1: I may not be able to wait for the trade on this one. I loved Iron Man too, but The Incredibles is still the greatest superhero movie ever made and I’ve been waiting five years for a comic book version.

Dark Horse

BPRD, Vol. 10: The Warning – I’m way behind on BPRD, so I don’t even read the solicits anymore for fear of spoilers, but there’s no way I’m not going to want this once I get caught up again.

DC

Batman: Brave and Bold #3 – Two words: President Batman.

Dynamite

Masquerade #22 – Even though it’s not a first issue, I want to point it out because it’s the first of Dynamite’s Golden Age revivals that I’m really interested in. Partly because I like the character design; mostly because Phil Hester’s writing it and that man’s a genius.

Image

Amber Atoms #2 and Johnny Monster #2 – A couple of more that get mentioned because this column wasn’t around to hoot about them a month ago. Amber Atoms promises to be an awesome space-girl adventure while Johnny Monster features a guy fighting giant monsters that he just so happens to be related to. Can’t wait for either of them.

Marvel

Marvel Adventures Avengers #34 – I’m assuming that no one reading this is going to turn a nose up to a comic just because it’s “for kids” or “not in continuity.” Especially not when it features all of Marvel’s best heroes and WWII-era Nick Fury fighting a pterodactyl in London.

Agents of Atlas #2 – This second issue also sneaks in because there’s no comic that I am more excited about than Jeff Parker’s Agents of Atlas. It’s not like it needs the promotion here, but there’s no way I’m not mentioning it. “Awesome” isn’t a good enough word for this team.

Moonstone

Airboy 1942: Best of Enemies – I’ve got a collection of old Airboy stories around here somewhere that I’ve been meaning to get to. I don’t know that much about the character, but I’m usually up for WWII pulp adventure and even more so if it’s got a femme fatale named Valkyrie in it.

Phantom: Generations #1 – Ben Raab is my favorite Phantom writer. And though I’d also like to read a new Phantom story by him set in the ‘40s or modern times (because he totally nails the pulp flavor that I crave in Phantom comics), I’ll easily take a story by him set in the sixteenth century.

Oni

Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 4: Monstrous Holiday – A new Ted Naifeh book is always welcome, but a new Courtney Crumrin book is doubly so. The only thing I’d like better is another volume of Polly and the Pirates.

Red 5

Neozoic, Vol. 1 – I’ve absolutely loved this dinosaur-fantasy series. It’s action-packed, but there’s a lot going on story-wise too. Lots of characters, constantly moving, continuously shifting tactics and allegiances in the face of a massive dinosaur attack on their walled city. It’s been a blast to read in individual issues, but it’ll be even better in collected form. It might’ve been smarter to wait for the trade on this, but I’m glad I didn’t.

So that’s my list. What fun, awesome comics are you looking forward to in March? Tell us about them in the comments.

The Awesome List

In addition to whatever else we’re talking about here each week, I’m going to also run a list of links about fun adventure comics. Like:

This interview with Johnny Monster creator Joshua Williamson.

The news that Archaia Studios Press is back and that Gunnerkrigg Court sounds very cool.

Zenescope is trying out a pirate comic. Zenescope doesn’t easily get my attention, but I’ve really been enjoying Dan Wickline’s Sinbad book, so I’m willing to give this a try.

A Viking-crime comic sounds interesting. My first thought is that shouldn’t all Viking comics be crime comics? I mean with all the pillaging and plundering and murdering and whatnot. I’m wondering what kind of crime is bad enough that Vikings would actually consider it a crime. And I’m wondering that hard enough that I’ll want to find out by reading the book.