I always like to do a post early in the year that looks forward to some of the books I’m most excited about on the horizon in 2015, helps me get pumped for the year and also try to make a mental note of all the projects I’m looking out for. I was ready with my list the first week of January but opted to wait to hear what news came out of Image Expo as they’ve had some truly exciting stuff in the last couple years, this year was no exception and added some great looking titles to my “must haves” list.
All that said, it was a bit hard to predict what I’m most excited about from Marvel and DC because their events (Secret Wars and Convergence, respectively) are even more potentially “line changing” and mysterious than usual. So keeping in mind that that accounts for a likely decreased number of books from both publishers on the list...let’s get going! I organized this by month and then for stuff that has nebulous release dates more a “going forward in 2015” category.
JANUARY:
THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL (ongoing) by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Maris Wicks, and Rico Renzi (Marvel).
First issue on this is out and I LOVED it. You should all love it too. It’s gone from being one of the intriguing titles I wanted to check out this year to a must buy. Check out the link for my detailed thoughts on the book.
OPERATION: S.I.N. (mini-series) by Kathryn Immonen, Richard Ellis, Michael Komarck (Marvel).
Delighted to have Kathryn Immonen back and writing for Marvel again. The first issue of this debuted already this month and it was pretty great. Not a home run like USG, but a comic that has a lot of depth and layers. Immonen does really well with this time period as evident by her excellent comic Moving Pictures with art by husband Stuart Immonen. I'm in for the long haul on this one...that said it's only a mini-series, so long haul is not a HUGE commitment I suppose.
LADY KILLER (mini-series) by Jamie S. Rich, Joelle Jones, and Laura Allred (Dark Horse).
The first issue of this new creator-owned mini-series already released this month and it’s a seriously impressive start. Rich and Jones, both separately and together have always been interesting and talented creators but something about this title strikes me as real magic for them both. Especially on Jones art, this feels like the PERFECT story for her style and her art looks better than ever. A bit of a Mad Men meets Dexter kind of high-concept vibe gives it some broad audience appeal and then Rich, Jones, and colorist Laura Allred’s strong execution will keep you around for more.
STAR WARS (ongoing) by Jason Aaron, John Cassaday, and Laura Martin (Marvel).
To be honest, the first issue didn’t wow me as it seemed to wow everyone else. Though I loved seeing characters I loved again and in a context that makes my nostalgia go all pitter pat I found the actual story a bit dry and slow for an opening #1, the writing a bit stilted, and Cassaday’s art a bit stiff. All things that could easily get better (and quickly) as the creative team falls into a groove, but I was a bit let down. Still, there’s no way this is coming off my pull list any time soon so the creative team has plenty of time to win me over. Besides, it was hardly a BAD comic, it was fine, it just wasn’t what I had kind of been hoping for.
Go to the next page for February and more!
FEBRUARY:
HINGES (OGN) by Meredith McClaren (Image)*
Meredith McClaren’s excellent and creepy and beautiful and bittersweet Hinges web comic, a successful Kickstarter to create a hardcover volume in 2014, has found a home at Image, publishing the collected trade and giving it the wide distribution it deserves. If you missed out on the Hinges Kickstarter this is a great way to pick up the entire first volume at a reasonable price. *Full disclosure - I am obviously biased toward McClaren as she’s the artist on my forthcoming Dark Horse OGN, but it doesn’t make her work any less impressive in its own right.
SPIDER-GWEN (ongoing) Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and Rico Renzi (Marvel)*
Best costume design…possibly ever??? I admit that the number of Spider-related titles seems excessive these days (but I say this as someone who hasn’t traditionally/regularly read a lot of Spider-Man stories) and I kind of doubt the market can sustain three female led Spider-related titles but it’s hard to imagine Spider-Gwen not soaring to the top of the pack with the excitement over the character generally – the costume alone generates an epic amount of fan art and general sighs of devotion and squees of happiness. Add to that Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and Rico Renzi creative force behind it and it seems like it will be slam dunk. *The cover above by Sara Pichelli is actually for issue #2 but it was too gorgeous not to post here.
SILK (ongoing) by Robbie Thompson and Stacey Lee (Marvel)
I’ve said it before, but the origin of Silk basically makes me roll my eyes. However, I cannot deny another book with a female lead and one with up and coming artist of Stacey Lee on the book. Lee is insanely talented and everything I have seen of hers thus far is devastatingly impressive. I’m not that familiar with Thompson (mostly known for his work on TV’s Supernatural I believe?) but there’s just no way with Lee on board and a female lead (of color no less - so rare in the female led books we're getting so far) that I’m not going to give it a chance. If everything else about the book works, I can easily learn to forgive (or at least forget) the forced origin of the character. I’ve forgiven far more in comics!
Go to the next page for March and beyond!
MARCH:
EGOs (ongoing) by Stuart Moore, Gus Storms, and John Rauch (Image).
This is sort of new and sort of not. This once mini-series has been upgraded to an ongoing, and so this is technically issue #5 – but it’s an all-new storyline and it’s been months since the previous series (issue #4) released, so I think it’s deserving of a mention, if only to bring it to people’s attention. Egos was a very cool little story, a completely solid and wonderful comic book that was all sci-fi and superheroes and subverting expectations and you should read the first trade if you haven’t already and then pick up this new ongoing that begins in March as I’m sure it will be great too!
PRINCESS LEIA (mini-series) by Mark Waid, Terry Dodson, and Rachel Dodson (Marvel)
Take my excitement for Star Wars and times it by 100 that we’re getting an actual Princess Leia series, and not after months of moaning that we need one! Mark Waid and Terry Dodson seem like a great fit for this and the first promo image and preview pages we’re seeing confirms the visual side of that. The Dodsons have really found a nice balance between making Leia recognizable but not being too slavishly devoted to the actress instead of character – it’s always a fine line and few artists manage it so well. I hope this thing is awesome because I’m really excited about it.
DESCENDER (ongoing) by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (Image)
I’ll follow Dustin Nguyen just about anywhere but he’s not making it hard to do with Descender, his new sci-fi ongoing with writer Jeff Lemire. A sci-fi tale about a life-like android boy that may hold the key to planet sized robots that are destroying the universe, the preview pages that went up last week are absolutely to die for, as expected.
CHRONONAUTS (mini-series) by Mark Millar, Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth (Image)
Millar is hit and miss for me (did you read last week’s Jupiter Legacy #5? Incredible comic book, just stunning) but this one looks pretty damn good. Add in Sean Murphy’s absolutely phenomenal art – and he really does excel at creative highly detailed world building – and you have an impossible to ignore comic book. Described by Millar as Apollo 13 meets The Time Machine the book sounds pretty intriguing, but even if it was about watching paint dry I would read it after checking out Murphy’s preview pages. I mean, GOOD GOD that’s beautiful. WHUT. The first four-issue mini-series is due in March, with additional mini-series planned to follow later.
PASTAWAYS (ongoing) by Matt Kindt, Scott Kolins, Bill Crabtree (Dark Horse)
A team of future explores sent to our present as adventurers sounds like a slam dunk. When you add in Matt Kindt writing and that opening cover image, which looks hilarious and totally unlike most books of this kind, I’m sold. Kindt’s indie work appeals to me a great deal, while his superhero work hasn’t quite worked for me, so I hope this is a great blend of both. It’s a must check out for me for sure.
SOUTHERN CROSS by Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger, and Shari Chankhamma (Image)
Announced last year and highly anticipated as Becky Cloonan’s first creator owned work as a writer that will also be published through a larger publisher (unlike her highly regarded comics The Mire, Wolves, and Demeter which she self-published) Southern Cross will finally be hitting the stands in March. A sci-fi horror comic about Southern Cross, an oil tanker searching for oil in space, sounds so weird and cool that I just can’t wait to check it out. Cloonan and artist Andy Belanger have released some incredible sketches and character designs on tumblr and they’re pretty hard not to get excited over. YAY!
ENDGAME #1 – Batgirl, Gotham Academy
BATGIRL: Cameron Stewart, Brendan Fletcher, Bengal, Rafael Albuquerque. (DC) and GOTHAM ACADEMY: Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, Rafael Albuquerque (DC)
Though “tie-in” comics are traditionally pretty awful, Endgame has been really strong so far and I’m really enjoying the perspective these books (Batgirl and Gotham Academy) are bringing to the DC/Batman universe. I (mostly) trust the creative teams and so I’m looking forward to checking these two Endgame tie-ins out, despite my usual hesitance.
It’s also worth noting that March is the month that we get those DC variant "movie poster” covers and this is (along with the fantastic Darwyn Cooke covers) one of the better DC Cover promotion ideas. Some of these covers are absolutely brilliant and perfectly executed. Some others suck, but what are you gonna do? You can’t have EVERYTHING.
SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #8 (single) by James Tynion IV, Heather Nuhfer, Noelle Stevenson, and Ryan Benjamin, cover by Jae Lee (DC)
You had me at Noelle Stevenson. Some of the more interesting and out of the box Sensation Comics Wonder Woman stories (I’m looking at you awesome Gilbert Hernandez story!) have been the most fun and I expect a Stevenson drawn Wonder Woman to be much the same. Can’t wait to check this one out.
JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS (ongoing) by Kelly Thompson (me!) and Ross Campbell (IDW)*
So, obviously I am SUPER biased about this, but I can’t seriously make a list of books I’m excited about and leave this out, because I am not only pumped because I’m writing it, but just because with Ross Campbell drawing it, it’s a can’t miss. I won’t keep going because it’s really weird and surreal to try to talk about my own book, but yeah, it’s exciting. Please consider picking it up. *The cover above is by Ross Campbell for issue #3, not issue #1 which comes out March 18th!
Go to the next page for April and beyond!
APRIL:
CONVERGENCE: THE QUESTION #1 (two shot) by Greg Rucka and Cully Hamner. (DC)
So not only do I sorta despise events at this point, but it’s really tough to make the tiny tie-in event stories that often come with them (various one shots, two shots, minis, and such) feel important or emotionally resonant in any way. There's just not a lot of page time to make a story really sing, only the best of creators can manage it and if those stories don't manage to stand on their own as really impressive stories then they rarely have any lasting or significant impact. As a result I'll probably be skipping out on most of these stories (gods know my wallet at least will thank me) however, there’s simply no way to skip out on Greg Rucka and Cully Hamner returning to Renee Montoya and THE QUESTION. WOOOOOOOO! Instant buy. I will savor every page.
CREEPY #20 (ongoing, various creators) This issue by: Matthew Southworth, Kelly Thompson, Peter Bagge, Dan Braun
Another little bit shameless self promotion! I’ve got a short horror story in Creepy #20 which turned out sort of by accident to be a pet themed issue...which let's face it, makes everything better. Horror stories and pets? Ahhhhh! But forget me, with that Matthew Southworth cover (and a story too) how can you even dream of passing it up?
GAMORA (ongoing) by Nicole Perlman and well…we don’t know???? (Marvel).
The cover/teaser image is by Francesco Mattina but there has been, unfortunately, very little information on this book since it was announced at NYCC 2014. I wasn’t wowed by Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy (in fact, I think she was quite definitely the weak link across the board) and though the cancellation of Elektra means I GUESS we have a vacancy in the “anti-heroine/assassin” category at Marvel I confess I’d love to see them move a bit beyond the anti-heroine/assassin books when they try for these lady-led titles (Angela, Black Widow, Elektra, and now Gamora all hit similar notes as lady assassins that are also sometimes superheroes and so that idea feels a bit over served).
That said, Gamora makes a lot of sense as a character to push given her raised profile in a hugely successful and beloved film, so I get why Gamora is a good choice, and written by the woman who co-wrote the movie, it makes even more sense. Additionally, as someone that bitched up a storm when we saw Hawkeye getting a series post Avengers but Black Widow not getting her own book, it’s great to see Gamora getting some equal attention (even if it’s a bit later) the way her male comrades are (i.e. we’ve got already got a Legendary Star-Lord book and a Rocket Raccoon book). Initial reports said Gamora was expected in Spring 2015 – so I’ve slotted it in April - but since we’ve had no word on the book since November, it’s possible it has been pushed back a bit. Maybe to avoid the forthcoming crossover madness, maybe for a million reasons we can’t imagine, or maybe the thing will just show up out of nowhere fully formed. Regardless of when or how it appears I’ll be checking it out.
MAY:
INJECTION (ongoing) by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire (Image)
A science fiction story about five crazy people that poisoned the 21st century sounds decadently dark. In truth I wouldn’t have to read a word about this or see an image to know this would be a buy as that’s about as great a creative team as you can assemble. That said, the image and solicit for this sound awesome. Oh wait. And there are also preview pages, and they are glorious. TAKE MY MONEY! This has a release date of May 15th.
RUSSIAN OLIVE TO RED KING by Kathryn Immonen and Stuart Immonen (Adhouse)
Kathryn Immonen and Stuart Immonen are one of those insanely talented husband and wife pairs that you just wish you could go to sleep and wake up as (see also: Kelly Sue DeConnick/Matt Fraction and Greg Rucka/Jen Van Meter) so talented, so cool. And after the wonderful Moving Pictures from Top Shelf back in 2010, it's high time for another collaboration and this tiny teaser is more than enough to have me salivating (to be honest I was salivating even before I saw the teaser). Make sure this one is on your list.
JUNE:
REVENGEANCE (ongoing?) by Darwyn Cooke (Image)
There’s no image out for this yet unfortunately, but suffice to say Darwyn Cooke doing his first ever creator owned series speaks for itself. Described as a “psychological thriller with darkly humorous overtones” about a man trying to set things right after a criminal tragedy sounds like its right in Cooke’s favorite wheelhouse (see especially his Parker adaptations).
8 HOUSE and ISLAND (pictured) created by Emma Rios and Brandon Graham and containing stories by Rios, Graham and others (Image).
It’s very cool to see Emma Rios spreading her wings into writing, and like Becky Cloonan’s development in this way, I hope it will help her to become even more successful and well known. Emma Rio is collaborating with Brandon Graham on two very interesting magazines. The first, Island, a bit like a traditional anthology, will collect together stories from a variety of interesting artists in comics but not as short stories, more as a single issue from each artist and each volume collecting a few issues – so coming in around 72 pages of content. Rios herself will have a story called ID in the first issue of Island. 8House the other collaborative venture with Graham is more of a shared universe publication and will bring together several creators interconnected mini-series. This first issue of 8House will also feature a Rios story with art by Hwei Lin called Mirror. Pretty cool stuff. Keep a look out for it – Island is scheduled for June, 8House does not have a release date beyond “2015” at this time.
Go to the next page for the rest of the year!
NOVEMBER:
A.D. AFTER DEATH (OGN) by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire (Image)
As you guys know, I will also follow Scott Snyder just about anywhere. He almost never lets me down and the concept behind (and promo image) for this OGN is right on point. Lemire is not my favorite artist, but I trust Snyder and his vision, so I’m sure whatever they’re cooking up looks and feels just right. Interestingly enough I think this will actually be Snyder’s first graphic novel…do I have that right? That seems weird, but I guess when you’re writing so many monthly books – both indie books and being one of the DC architects it’s hard to take time out for graphic novels. Excited to see him writing in this slightly new format.
I HATE FAIRYLAND (ongoing) by Skottie Young, Jean-Francois Beaulieu (Image)
I will never tire of Young’s adorable cover work, and I’ve immensely enjoyed all the adaptation work of his I’ve read—mostly his Oz stories with Marvel, as well as his Rocket Raccoon, but it’s exciting to see him do something not only for older audiences but also something creator owned. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything creator owned of his (has he done any?) but I admit to sort of trembling with excitement at the idea of it! BUY. (not sure I’ve got this release date in the right month as I found some conflicting information). Here's a couple preview pages too.
NON-SPECIFIC RELEASE DATE 2015:
PRETTY DEADLY VOLUME 2 (mini-series/ongoing-ish) by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios (Image)
DeConnick talked in some depth about the return of Pretty Deadly at Image Expo. A new volume, with artist Emma Rios that will rocket forward in time a bit and change the world quite distinctly. DeConnick also talked about the challenges of the book, what it takes, and how important it was to her to continue doing with Emma Rios, a masterful illustrator and someone key to the book’s success, but also someone who is fully capable of writing her own stories and thus someone that has a lot of projects on her plate. DeConnick urged patience and that doing it right takes time. I think everyone is willing to wait for more Pretty Deadly. I know I am (see the June category for more on Emma Rios).
PLUTONA (mini-series) by Jeff Lemire, Emi Lenox, and Jordie Bellaire (Image).
The pitch for this sounds a little bit like Stand By Me but with a dead superhero at the center - combining genres in an interesting way ticks all my boxes. Add in the insanely adorable and brilliant cover and sketches released so far by Lenox and it’s impossible not to get excited about this book. This went from being something I had never heard of to the top of my list of something that must be purchased. Very pumped! Sidebar: Lenox’s OGN Tadaima also forthcoming this year sounds great too (also Image).
BLACK ROAD (ongoing-ish) by Brian Wood, Gary Brown, and Lauren Affe (Image)
A bit of a return to Brian Wood’s Northlanders series as this revisits Vikings though with a more cohesive and specific mission and with a bit more lightness and humor and a bit less historical accuracy. All of that sounds great and this first cover/promo image from artist Garry Brown (The Massive/DMZ/Catwoman) is pretty exciting. Wood mentions that ideally there will be several Black Road volumes, so I’m not sure this should be listed as an ongoing, but it feels bigger than a mini-series. I suspect it’s something longer than a mini but still self contained with an end point in sight and the potential for future new stories in the same vein or world down the line. Not sure what our release date on this one is, but with Wood and Brown already doing interviews I would THINK it was in the first half of the year? Hard to say.
And since you always gotta end strong…
PAPER GIRLS (ongoing) by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson (Image)
Is this the book Vaughn and Chiang reached into my own mind (and heart) and knew I needed and wanted…the book I’d give anything to have? Feels like it. Those creators, that single image. I’m so sold it’s ridiculous. The only thing this book has working against is its stratospheric expectations. Fall 2015 on this one.
What about you guys? What are you especially looking forward to this year?
Oh, and cause this column is about women in comics, let’s do a lady creators count! Out of 82 creators listed (which does not include editors and letters, and sometimes not colorists if I couldn’t find the colorist attached) we’ve got 25 ladies...not bad!
Kelly Thompson is a freelance writer living in Manhattan. She is the author of the superhero novel THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING recently optioned to become a film, and her new novel STORYKILLER is out now. She is also writing the forthcoming JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS comic from IDW. You can find Kelly all over the place, but twitter may be the easiest: @79semifinalist