Here we go for books and stuff that are going to be released in August.
1. Whoever complains about too many superhero comics really just need to look beyond the Big Two. Dark Horse is putting out 10 horror books alone.
2. Victories might be great, but there isn't enough to go on to decide on a four dollar comic.
3. I think it is neat that John Jackson Miller write the comic book tie-ins to his own Star Wars novels.
4. A Christmas Carol has got to be one of the most adapted stories. This brought on by a new one from Dark Horse.
5. I like the idea behind the video game art books. They do have some great art these days.
6. Not only is it the last issue of JLI, they hid it on the order form.
7. I really don't like the Kid Flash costume.
8. It seems like DC is trying to make their annuals special again. Not some huge crossover and not filler or inventory issues.
9. My copy of Previews wasn't cut right.
10. Some of those DC solicitations are pretty sparse on information.
11. This amused me: "GI Combat continues next month." Like they had to reassure us.
12. A Phantom Lady book is a bit out of left field, but kudos to DC for trying.
13. Is Looker really a classic DC character?
14. Nice an Alan Davis Batman collection.
15. The Prince of Cats book (Romeo and Juliet story) is intriguing since it will be written in iambic pentameter.
16. I like the Howard Chaykin Third Degree Q&A in the Image section.
17. The sneak preview killed my desire to get the Think Tank series. I didn't care for the art.
18. Now that Thunderbolts has become The Dark Avengers it gets lumped in with all of the other Avenger books.
19. Neal Adams writing and drawing a new X-Men series for those interested.
20. If the new Gambit series is actually about him pulling off scores I would be interested. I just fear it will quickly turn into a mutant in spandex comic. The preview tells/shows us nothing.
21. I am a bit surprised that Green Hornet has made it to #31.
22. And Knights of the Dinner Table is nearing issue 200.
23. The PS Artbooks collections look good. I just think they should have spaced them out. They have so many out at one time I simply chose none of them. If my LCS gets a copy of any of them I will give them a look see.
24. I am finally onboard one of the new Valiant series: Archer & Armstrong.
25. An action statue? That's a new one.
Replies
Neal Adams writing and drawing an X-Men series... well if it was only drawing.
Christos Gage is co-writing it with him, so maybe he will reel him in a bit. Who knows.
David Warren said:
8. It seems like DC is trying to make their annuals special again. Not some huge crossover and not filler or inventory issues.
That would be damning with faint praise except that it contrasts with Marvel's approach so clearly. I was planning to order the DD Annual until I saw it was part of a continuing story across many other annuals. Does that really sell copies? Why not a stand-alone DD extra-long adventure and a bunch of back-ups to entertain current readers and maybe draw in some new ones? Am I giving away when I started reading comics?
10. Some of those DC solicitations are pretty sparse on information.
That often seems to be the case. An entire page devoted to one title, in which they show the cover large, show the cover again smaller and give one sentence of information,often something like "The Joker's at it again!" Previews helps fanboys order comics, it's not very good at selling a comics reader on buying a specific title.
12. A Phantom Lady book is a bit out of left field, but kudos to DC for trying.
I'm not sure why they deserve kudos for this one specifically. PL's history is as spokeswoman for headlight comics, and the new one is a big-breasted woman dressed in a very low-cut costume hanging around with a guy 12 inches tall. That seems like a natural choice in the nuDCU. I will be curious mostly to see what DC considers to be a "return to the roots" of these characters.
13. Is Looker really a classic DC character?
They used it in the comics sense of "more than 10 years old." Hopefully, they will return her to her roots as, um, a big-breasted woman who wears very low-cut costumes.
18. Now that Thunderbolts has become The Dark Avengers it gets lumped in with all of the other Avenger books.
As opposed to being lumped in with "Miscellaneous." I often miss the DD page since it's just slapped in somewhere amidst that huge Avengers and X-Men sections. I don't know that it will boost sales, but it probably won't hurt. Nobody reading it will drop it, and someone might pick it up with that magic name in the title. So it's a win-win.
22. And Knights of the Dinner Table is nearing issue 200.
KODT is a great value if you're a gamer. I'm always amazed at how many stories they get out of such little drawing effort, although it's expanded since the earlier days when I read it regularly. I picked up a few discount issues at a recent con and didn't find it as interesting, as the stories revolved around gaming minutiae more than usual. But it's a thick package of comics and features, more of a magazine than a comic book.
-- MSA
I'm not sure why they deserve kudos for this one specifically. PL's history is as spokeswoman for headlight comics, and the new one is a big-breasted woman dressed in a very low-cut costume hanging around with a guy 12 inches tall. That seems like a natural choice in the nuDCU. I will be curious mostly to see what DC considers to be a "return to the roots" of these characters.
Her costume doesn't seem out of the ordinary in comics to me at all. Heck she is wearing more there I can think of more recent versions of her has been wearing. I think it deserves kudos because it is a female lead with female creators a double rarity in comics. Giving her a series (a mini even) would be like giving Colleen Wing her own series at Marvel.
As opposed to being lumped in with "Miscellaneous." I often miss the DD page since it's just slapped in somewhere amidst that huge Avengers and X-Men sections. I don't know that it will boost sales, but it probably won't hurt. Nobody reading it will drop it, and someone might pick it up with that magic name in the title. So it's a win-win.
Whatever brings the series more readers in cool with me. I think it has been great, but it's sales have been dismal.
I read KODT for a long time, but once I quit being a regular gamer it value dropped for me, as I was dropping howwever much it was back then to read about half a comic.
NOTE to Travis (#14) and Craig (#8): I’m looking forward to the Alan Davis Batman collection but I’m looking forward even more to the three Alan Davis Marvel annuals which will feature Davis’ Clandestine. Clandestine is one of the best super-teams to come out in the last 20 years, and I will buy any appearance written and drawn by Alan Davis. Don’t think of it as “a continuing story across many other annuals”; think of it as a three-part Clandestine limited series. ‘Nuff said.
I don’t have my order form with me but I’ll bring it tomorrow.
13. Is Looker really a classic DC character?
No.
To elaborate, I loved the original Batman & the Outsiders but the addition of Looker was a "jump the shark" moment for me, long before that phrase had entered common parlance.
I spent some time today running through the solicitations for September (I prefer to get them online instead of in the actual "phonebook") so here are my thoughts, a month further along:
Boom
1. Looking forward to the new Steed and Mrs. Peel series by Mark Waid and Boom Studios. I would have bought the recent Grant Morrison written reprint but the art looked like a sketch book rather than a finished drawing. Also, I'd love to watch the original Avengers series but it's not available for streaming. Curses! (It's so easy to get mad about things that weren't available even 10 years ago).
Dark Horse
2. The new DH series for Buffy and Angel & Faith have been solid but not spectacular. They haven't quite reached the heights of Season Eight and After the Fall but they're still entertaining month after month.
3. Yay for a new Spike mini-series! I hope that vampire specialist Victor Gischler (who wrote the recent X-Men vampire stories for Marvel) does as good a job with Spike as Bryan Lynch had over at IDW.
4. How is the new Brian Wood Conan book? Both the creator (Wood) and the character (Conan) are hit-or-miss for me, but Conan can be a favorite title depending on the right creative team (like Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord).
5. Nexus Omnibus? Hooray! Perfect timing for me too as IDW recently finished collecting the original GI Joe in trades.
6. It's a Sith-heavy month for Star Wars with Darth Vader, Darth Maul and the Lost Tribe of the Sith starring in separate series.
Dynamite
7. I always look through the Dynamite solicitations but other than being impressed by their combination of classic characters and cheesecake, I rarely add anything to my pull list. The last ones I tried- Buck Rogers and Kirby: Genesis- both started well couldn't hold my enthusiasm past a couple of issues.
IDW
8. Nice to see a Next Generation push in the Star Trek titles. Not that I'll buy any. I just like to see the characters from "my" Star Trek get respect.
9. I think that IDW was smart to switch to a Rocketeer mini-series after the two anthologies. The short stories were wearing a little thin. Hopefully Mark Waid can breathe some new life into the character with a longer tale.
10. I wanted to like Trio but John Byrne just doesn't have it anymore. The dialogue is as bad as anything Kirby wrote in the '80s.
11. The "TV shows being continued as comic books" train doesn't look like it's slowing down any time soon. I would not have predicted a Jericho series.
Image
12. I'll be passing on the new Guarding the Globe mini-series. Invincible spin-offs usually leave me disappointed and the preceding mini-series was no exception. However, Invincible has made it back onto my pull list thanks to some interesting storylines while Mark recovered from his recent injuries.
13. I'll be getting It Girl & the Atomics. For some reason, I preferred this spin-off to the original Madman comics.
14. The biggest thing I noticed about the Image solicitations is what wasn't there. Two of my favorite series, Near Death and Saga, are taking skip months (although Near Death's second trade comes out instead).
DC
15. I wouldn't mind a little more information on the Before Watchmen series. The quotes are cool and all but they don't give me a good indication on whether or not I'll be interested in the story. Oh well. At least the covers are awesome.
16. It's Zero Month! Haven't I heard that one before?
17. Is anyone going to pick up a Zero Issue for a title they aren't already following?
18. This is the first time I'll be preordering Batman Beyond Unlimited. I finally picked up the first four issues and was hooked. I'm a sucker for alternate universe/futuristic stories (Age of Apocalypse, DC's One Million) but had held out until now.
19. Will the new Amethyst series be written for me, for my 10-year old daughter, or for both of us?
20. I should be the target audience as I grew up in the '80s and had a bunch of action figures but I can't muster any interest in a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, despite the great creative team.
21. I wish they were publishing more of Wonder Woman's '70s stories instead of taking a second pass at the Silver Age stories they already collected in Showcase.
Marvel
22. Honestly, I've gotten all I need out of Avengers vs. X-Men through the tie-in books I was already buying. I'm glad I decided to sit this one out.
23. Is this the last month for Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron on Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men? Rumors fly that Bendis is taking over the X-books and the X-writers are shifting to Avengers after the crossover.
24. Who is Alpha? Looks like both Marvel and DC have realized that they have to launch new characters out of established titles if they're to have any chance of success (see also Talon).
25. Anybody here reading Scarlet Spider? Is it any good? It seems to be selling about as well as Winter Soldier, a book that I'm enjoying fairly well.
26. The editor in me gets annoyed when I see simple grammar mistakes. Come on, Marvel, it's "what will they do" not "what will they due"!
27. Brubaker is trying to entice me back to Captain America (a book I dropped a couple of months ago) with a Baron Zemo cover. But the copy says they're still dealing with the Madbombs. Blech!
28. Love the copy for Hawkeye #2. This could be the best Marvel launch since Daredevil.
Valiant
29. All right. X-O Manowar is on the pull list. Two great issues so far and now the debut of the new Ninjak in issue 5.
30. Looking forward to the first issues of Bloodshot (in July) and Archer & Armstrong (in August).
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