Image Previews Picks: October 2019
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Curse Words vol. 5: Fairy-Tale Ending
Is it a series about a really bad wizard learning to become a good one? Or just one who can downplay his worst impulses to get what he wants? Or is it none of the above? Vol. 4 left off with Wizord at the mercy of those whose lives he ruined either directly or indirectly and a major revelation about how the Hole World came to be. It was the kind of stuff that made me rub my chin and go, “Well played sirs.” This is as opposed to, “HOLY CRAP! I cannot believe I just read that!” which is really what a penultimate volume should be aiming for. Now it’s time to see if writer Charles Soule and artist Ryan Browne have a solid enough game plan to deliver a finish that will elevate the series. Or at the very least keep me from putting it in the “To Sell” pile the next time I reorganize my collection. Speaking of which…
Ascender vol. 1: The Haunted Galaxy: This follow up to “Descender” takes place ten years after its conclusion saw robots exit the galaxy and magic become a dominant force. Now the protagonist is Mila, daughter of Andy and Effie, who spends her days exploring the planet and there’s a vampire witch, and…
Look, after vol. 6 ended with a decidedly anticlimactic and unsatisfying “To Be Continued…” and failed to offer up any real surprises along the way, I decided that I was done with “Descender.” I’m so done that I put all six volumes in my “To Sell” pile. Yeah, I reorganized my comic collection over the weekend and a lot of stuff is getting tossed. Not stuff that’s just outright bad, but just disappointing or mediocre like “Descender.” I would’ve kept those six volumes around if I had the room. But I don’t. So they’re as good as gone now.
Nomen Omen #1 (of 15): From RPG creator Marco Bucci and artist Jacopo Camagni comes this maxiseries about a geeky New York girl who can pass between our world and the otherworld in search of hidden truths. I keep looking at the title of this series and expect it to be a palindrome each time but it just isn’t. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, this sounds fine. I’m more intrigued by the “(of 15)” in the solicitation. It’s nice to see a series with its length planned out like this. That way I don’t have to constantly worry if it’s going to be cancelled. Which is unlike a certain other series featured in these solicitations…
Copra #1: Michael Fiffe’s “Suicide Squad” homage returns as an ongoing series. Guess I’d better see about getting the other volumes in the original run to see if this series is for me. Even though vol. 1 didn’t set my world on fire, I didn’t put it aside in that reorganization. So I guess I’m obligated to give it another shot.
Dead Eyes #1: I don’t know what number rule this is for comics but, “Don’t name your comic after an established New York bar that sells its drink lists as comics,” is still one that has to be followed. Gerry Duggan and John McCrea learned this the hard way when the Dead Rabbit bar learned about their comic called “Dead Rabbit” and threatened to sue them and Image for millions. Image recalled the first issue and now the series is back as “Dead Eyes.” I’m glad to see that the creators have managed to come back from that debacle, more for McCrea than Duggan. I’ve got a lot of fond memories of “Hitman” after all these years.
Kill or be Killed Deluxe Edition HC: Haven’t bought this yet? Here’s the complete series omnibus edition you want. Is it something worth buying? I would have to say yes.
If you can’t get enough Brubaker and Phillips this month, then be advised that My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies gets a softcover edition as well. That title sounds pretty descriptive, until you remember that junkies are notorious liars. Which is why the words “A Criminal Novella” aren’t on the cover. That’s right, this novella is part of the creators’ ongoing crime series and manages the neat trick of being a great stand-alone read as well as one of the most continuity-heavy entries in the series.. How’d they manage that? You should read it and see for yourself.
Street Angel: Deadliest Girl Alive: Collecting eight “Street Angel” one-shots. If you’re wondering who the title character is, the solicitation text offers a handy description of her. She’s “a homeless ninja girl on a skateboard! In between kicking ass and taking sandwiches, she fights bullies, street gangs, ninjas, the man, cocky superheroes, hunger, and the ninja industrial complex.” This series has been around for years and to my eternal shame I have yet to actually get around to reading any of it. That’ll have to change when this volume comes out.
Gideon Falls vol. 3: Stations of the Cross: Vol. 2 ended with a cross-dimensional switcheroo which leaves me eager to see how creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino are going to follow it up. I was also concerned that we’d be left waiting a while for said follow-up after it was announced that Lemire and Sorrentino were going to be doing the “Joker: Killer Smile” miniseries at DC. The good news is that we won’t have to wait long at all since Gideon Falls #17 is also featured in these solicitations. It does make you wonder how long that “Joker” miniseries has been in the pipeline from these creators, but I’m just glad to see that its release isn’t slowing down the title its creators actually own.
Death or Glory #6: I was wondering when we were going to see the next arc of this series. The first volume was pretty fun — surprising even given that this Rick Remender-written series ended with its protagonist scoring a win against her crooked ex-husband and his criminal cronies. I wonder if Remender actually hurt himself writing an ending that upbeat and has spent the intervening months trying to figure out how to do it again without injury this time. More power to him — and artist Bengal — if that’s the case!
Manifest Destiny #37: The long winter is over and the Corps of Discovery are closing in on the Pacific. I’m sure they’ve got a few more arch-spawned horrors to get through before that happens, though. I do wonder if we’re heading into final-arc or penultimate arc territory with this latest issue. While I’ve enjoyed this series, I know that it hasn’t really set the sales charts alight. The lengthy gap between this issue and the last one certainly won’t have helped. I’m all for seeing what writer Chris Dingess and artist Matthew Roberts have in store for us with this arc, even if it would be nice of them to tell us just how much of the series is left in store for us.
Rumble #17: “END OF STORY ARC” — What the hell “Rumble?” Who calls two regular issues of a comic a story arc these days? I’ll admit that the fact that two-thirds of this issue is given over to a crossover with “Head Lopper” sounds pretty neat. Especially since the art for it is being provided by “Head Lopper” creator Andrew MacLean and “Rumble” co-creator James Harren. Still, saying that this “story arc” is wrapping up leaves me concerned again for the future of this series. Will 16 & 17 be the last we see of “Rumble” or will writer John Arcudi and company be back next month with an all-new arc? One that lasts three issues even?