Image Previews Picks: November 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Deadly Class vol. 12: A Fond Farewell, Part Two
You know what they say about all good things…
Rick Remender and Wes Craig’s series about the kids attending a school for assassins who ultimately decide to burn it all down reaches its conclusion with this volume. While I was a little disappointed that they didn’t package the entire storyline as one volume, vol. 11 actually did a good job of setting things up for the finale after vol. 10 spent its time jumping all over the place. So I’m now properly invested in seeing how Marcus and Maria, who are now married and have embraced domesticity, are going to deal with rat bastard Shabnam when he comes around to settle some old scores. This isn’t what was explicitly set up in the previous volume, but I’d be VERY surprised if that’s not what happens here. Along with Saya showing up at just the right moment to save their asses and complicate the romantic drama between Marcus and Maria. “Deadly Class” always excelled when it found a way to keep laughing as its characters hit rock bottom, and I’m fully expecting to see that in effect as Remender and Craig wrap things up here.
Skullkickers Super Special #1: Remember “Skullkickers?” The fantasy-action series steeped in D&D-esque lore that had a deeply comedic and irreverent bent to it from writer Jim Zub and artist Edwin Huang? I do, and we’re getting another dose of it for its twelfth anniversary. Rolf (the dwarf), Rex (the human), and Kusia (the elf) find themselves in the Academy of Serious Sorcery and all sorts of shenanigans ensue. That’s all the solicitation text has to offer, but the series has banked enough goodwill in my book for that to be enough. Has it banked enough goodwill for me to actually buy this issue instead of waiting for it to be collected? Maaaaaaybe, but I’m not ruling out the possibility that this is the first of a series of one-shots that will eventually be collected in another volume. This was a series that once rebooted itself for each issue of one arc, you know.
I Hate Fairyland #1: This series is also returning after I gave up on it following its third volume. It was about the adventures of Gert, a young girl who came to Fairyland as a kid and wound up staying there much longer than she was supposed to. This led to her being a bitter, cynical adult in a kid’s body who lived for no other reason than to bring chaos to the many fairytale archetypes that occupied the world. What it had was phenomenal art from Skottie Young. What it didn’t have was any creativity to the way Gert hacked and slashed her way through Fairyland. The humor was very much, “Look what I’m doing to all these sickeningly cute characters! Isn’t it so edgy and transgressive?!”
No. No it was not, and that’s why I stopped reading. For all of his skill as an artist, Young didn’t display similar chops as a writer here, or on “The Me You Love in the Dark” for that matter. Is there hope for him with this reboot? Well, apparently Gert escaped from Fairyland back into the real world and this relaunch finds her going through some tough times and trying to get back to that place. That strikes me as a prime example of creative bankruptcy rather than any kind of storytelling promise. Brett Bean takes over as artist and while I’m not familiar with his work, it’s hard to imagine him topping Young in that regard.
Two Graves #1: From the solicitation text: “Death and the Maiden go on a road trip. No one gets out alive.” This comes to us from writer Genevieve Valentine who had a well-liked run on “Catwoman” a while back, contributed one of the best stories to the “Attack on Titan Anthology,” and supplied a decent effort to “Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network.” In a twist, this series is going to feature two artists depicting “competing points of view” with Ming Doyle handling one and Annie Wu handling the other. Sounds interesting, and like a title to keep an eye on.
Hell to Pay #1: Charles Soule strikes again, this time with artist Will Sliney, with a series about a married couple going through hell. Almost literally. You see, they went to the Shrouded College to learn magic, but incurred a debt to the institution along the way. They’ve been working for the College ever since, trying to obtain 666 of the Devil’s Dollars. The end is in sight, but you know there’s going to be some kind of complication. Soule describes this as “Hellboy” meets “Indiana Jones,” which is… alright. I’ll be checking this out at some point because I know I can expect solid work from the writer. Maybe not exceptional work, but definitely solid.
Kroma by Lorenzo De Felici #1 (of 4): The title character is believed to be the most evil person alive… That would be Kroma, not writer/artist Lorenzo De Felici. She’s been locked in a tower as a result, until a mysterious orphan sets her free. In case you’ve forgotten, De Felici was the artist on “Oblivion Song” with writer Robert Kirkman. The artist did solid work on that series, yet I don’t think it was quite strong enough to get me to pick up a series based on his name alone. Your mileage may vary on this point, however.
Plush #1 (of 6): Writer Doug Wagner and artist Daniel Hillyard are at it again. They’re leaving serial killers behind after “Plastic” and “Vinyl,” and moving into uncharted territory for them: Cannibalistic furries! Devin Fulcher has just been cajoled into attending his first furry convention. The question of whether or not he’s found the subculture he can belong to quickly becomes irrelevant when he accidently comes upon some convention-goers eating each other. Hilarity ensues. Or maybe it doesn’t and the creators will try to play things completely straight here. “Vinyl” wasn’t bad, but it didn’t find the darkly comedic sweet spot its predecessor had. Let’s hope that Wagner and Hillyard can either find it again or successfully focus on one tone for this new series.
Soldier Stories (One-Shot): This is interesting in that it features four real-life combat veterans writing about war. Only they’re not writing about their own experiences, they’re delivering real-life accounts of warfare reimagined across a variety of genres including sci-fi and horror. I’m hoping the solicitation text is wrong and these stories only fit within these genres, because combat stories by veterans shouldn’t need to be dressed up with genre trappings in order to work.
I Hate This Place vol. 1: Kyle Starks’ quest for a breakout hit at Image continues with this new series. Gabby and Trudy have just inherited a farmhouse and are looking to turn it into their new home. The only problem is that it’s also a nexus for all sorts of sci-fi and supernatural weirdness. Any takers on whether or not it was built over a Native American graveyard? Gabby and Trudy are now going to have to play by some vaguely defined “house rules” in order to survive, in addition to the IDGAF mentality they’re displaying on the volume’s cover. I’m still disappointed that “Assassin Nation” didn’t survive past its first volume, but here’s hoping this is the series that finally sees Starks, and artist Artyom Toplin, get the success they deserve.
Too Dead to Die: A Simon Cross Thriller: Writer Marc Guggenheim and artist Howard Chaykin team up for this OGN about a spy from the 80’s whose past has forced him to come out of retirement. That’s not a bad premise while Guggenheim and Chaykin are a decent enough creative pairing to get me to consider this. But that title! It’s at once utterly serious and completely ridiculous, and the solicitation text implies that the story is going to be closer to the former than the latter. The fact that it’s being solicited here implies that it’s too late for the creators to change the title to something that doesn’t court self-parody. Unless that’s what they’re really going for; in which case, they should’ve been more clear about it.
Fire Power by Kirkman and Samnee vol. 5: At the end of the previous volume, Owen and his family watched as a giant dragon burst out of the mountain shrine where he trained. Now, they have to fight it. To which I say, “Best of luck!” It probably won’t be that straightforward, but it should be pretty fun, in keeping with the previous volumes.
A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance vol. 2: Rick Remender and Andre Lima Araujo’s action-thriller wraps up with its second volume. I liked how the first volume boiled away a lot of the excesses of the writer’s style, leaving us with a lean, mean thrill machine of a story. It also left me curious to know more about its protagonist’s backstory and motivations, which is something I hope we’ll get into here before he likely winds up dead.