Image Previews Picks: February 2020
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
The Weather Man vol. 2
There are the new Image titles that I buy with the expectation that they’ll be good (lookin’ in your direction “Die”) and those that I buy with the expectation that they might be good. The first volume of “The Weather Man” was firmly in the latter category when I picked it up earlier this year. I knew that Nathan Fox was capable of delivering some stylish visuals, but could the co-writer of “Shirtless Bear-Fighter” really deliver a serious sci-fi action story?
It turns out that the answer to that question was a resounding “Yes!” as the story of Martian Weatherman Nathan Bright turned out to be quite a compelling one. Accused of a crime that was committed by the person he used to be, Nathan found himself to be the most wanted man in the solar system as EVERYONE wanted a piece of the man who had a role in killing everyone on Earth. Now that he and his few allies have found themselves some breathing room, they’re going to go find his old memories and track down the person who was calling the shots in this terrorist action. Who knows, maybe they’ll succeed and even stop another massacre in the process.
The After Realm Quarterly #1: Mike Oeming strikes out on his own again to tell a story about one of his favorite subjects: Ragnarok. Or rather, what comes after it as this series is set to follow the exploits of an elven ranger as she tries to figure out what has happened to the old gods. I’ve got nothing but love for Oeming’s art, and while this doesn’t seem to deliver the kind of amazingly crazy visuals we saw in “Cave Carson” I’ve got little doubt that it’ll still be great to look at. Oeming as a writer is a little more hit-or-miss, but I’ve got enough good memories of the hits to want to give this series a shot.
On the Stump #1: When a presidential debate in 1868 turned violent, it revolutionized our electoral process. As a result, elections are now settled via hand-to-hand combat in arenas called stumps. Insert joke here about how this is more civilized and/or preferable to our current system. It can still be exploited, however, and that’s why Senator Jack Hammer and FBI Agent Anna Bell Lister are teaming up to tear it all down. My initial reaction to this series is that comics readers aren’t going to want to read about a series this political, no matter how good it is. That’s their problem as this title sounds just crazy enough for me to see how the first volume goes. “On the Stump” is being brought to you by artist Prenzy, and writer Chuck Brown, who is also bringing back…
Bitter Root #6: The 1920’s-set series about the Harlem-based family of monster hunters finally returns for its second arc. If you’ll recall, I thought the first volume read more like the start of the series’ final arc than an introductory one. So if Brown, co-writer David Walker and artist Sanford Green are looking to wrap things up with issue #10 all the better. If not, then these next five issues are going to have to be really damn good to get me excited about reading more than two volumes of this title.
Tartarus #1: In terms of media-hybrid descriptions, this series takes the crown for this month. It’s being described as “Breaking Bad” set in “Star Wars’” Mos Eisley. The “Breaking Bad” connection comes from Imperial cadet Tilde, who is framed for crimes against the Empire. This is after she finds out that her mother was the ruthless warlord of the planet Tartarus, a place of strategic importance in the current galactic war. Now if Tilde wants a future, she’s going to have to break bad and claim the crown of Tartarus for herself. That sounds all well and good to me, and it’s being brought to you by writer Johnnie Christmas (artist of “Angel Catbird” and “William Gibson’s ‘Alien 3’”) and artist Jack T. Cole.
100%: Paul Pope’s ensemble piece about a diverse group of people trying to survive in near-future vision of New York gets a new edition. This is on the same level as the recently reissued “Heavy Liquid” and also worthy of a spot in the library of any serious fan of graphic novels. Is one of these better than the other? Well, if you put a gun to my head, I might concede that “Heavy Liquid” is the better of the two. While “100%” may have more interesting characters and storylines, it builds up to a big ol’ halt in its final pages rather than a proper ending.
Die vol. 2: Split the Party: I was really hyped for the first volume of this series. It was a new title from Kieron Gillen with art by the amazing Stephanie Hans. While Hans delivered on the art, Gillen’s attempt to create a horror-infused deconstruction of pen-and-paper RPG tropes and settings didn’t quite click with me. Mainly because the mix of disparate styles clashed with each other more than they came together. Still, the first volume showed that even a Gillen-written series that doesn’t quite click still has enough interesting characterization and plotting to recommend it. So I’m still onboard for vol. 2. I’ll just be going into it with expectations properly adjusted.