Image Previews Picks: May 2019
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Die vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker
It’s the first volume of a new Kieron Gillen-written series. How could I not give it this spot? “Die” has the writer teaming up with artist Stephanie Hans to give us what’s been described as “Goth Jumanji.” It’s essentially about a group of kids who were into roleplaying games and wound up getting sucked into one, barely managing to escape with their lives in the process. They did their best to put that traumatic experience behind them and get on with their lives. Now these kids are adults and they’re about to find out that their fantasy adventure wasn’t as done as they thought it was. When Gillen calls this “Goth Jumanji,” it’s safe to assume that he’s referring to the “Regarded as a classic by some” first film and not the “How did this make $400 million domestic?” sequel. Imagine a series that focuses on the horror underlying Robin Williams’ character from the first movie and I think you’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect. If that sounds good to you, then check this out.
Bitter Root vol. 1: Family Business: Once upon a time the members of the Sangerye family in Harlem were the best around when it came to hunting down monsters. These days they’re mostly divided after a tragedy has them split about capturing and helping monsters or just killing them outright. This comes from co-writers David Walker and Chuck Brown, with Sanford Greene providing the art. Walker has previously given us two excellent “Shaft” miniseries, teamed with Greene for the “Power Man & Iron Fist” series at Marvel, written the “Luke Cage” series for Marvel, and “Cyborg” for DC. I haven’t read as much of his work as I should’ve, so I’ll be looking to fix that by picking up this first volume. Though the setup sounds pretty straightforward, I’m guessing that a series set in Harlem in the ‘20’s involving a primarily African-American cast might have more on its mind than just monster hunting.
Cemetary Beach: Warren Ellis and Jason Howard took a break from doing low-key sci-fi about what happens to humanity when aliens stick giant pylons in the Earth with “Trees” to give us this. “Cemetary Beach” is a pure sci-fi action series about a pathfinder who breaks out of a torture cell and has to escape a planet full of lunatics. Normally I’d be upset when a creative team takes time off from one creator-owned project to start another, but “Trees” was the lesser of Ellis’ two titles at Image. That said, the writer has mentioned that work has begun on vol. 3 of “Trees” so we might see it later this year. The only real problem I foresee for it is if “Cemetary Beach” turns out to be so good that I’d rather they keep doing more series like it than “Trees.”
Copra vols. 1-5: Now this was a surprise. Creator Michel Fiffe is one of those people who has a great love for one specific thing. In this case it’s the Ostrander/Yale run of “Suicide Squad.” Instead of trying to find a way to get DC to let him do his take on it, Fiffe went and did his own version of “Suicide Squad” with “Copra” which ran for 31 issues collected in five volumes by Bergen Street Press. I read the first volume after hearing lots of good things about it, and found it to just be okay. I’ve been thinking about giving it another shot, but it hasn’t been the easiest comic to get ahold of. That looks to change with its move to Image who are dropping all five volumes of the series in May. Whether or not this is a prelude to more “Copra” with the publisher or a new series from Fiffe, we’ll likely find out in a few months.
Curse Words #21: This issue kicks off the final arc, titled “Fairy Tale Ending.” My gut tells me that this is one of those ironic titles that was chosen because it represents the opposite of what we’re going to get here. The fact that this issue has Wizord and Ruby Stitch facing off against the one thing they can’t sorcerize away: The Truth. Expect lots of bad things to happen to them over the next four issues before we get a kind-of-but-not-really happy ending to wrap things up.
MCMLXXV: That’s Roman Numeral-speak for 1975 which is when this miniseries from writer Joe Casey and artist Ian MacEwan takes place. It’s about a female African-American cab driver who hunts monsters with a magical tire iron. That’s a setup I can get behind. My only concern is that Casey, who has defined himself as a writer who likes to do things differently for the sake of it, might get in his story’s way by being too clever about the whole setup. I mean, who in their right mind would title a series about a monster-hunting cabbie “MCMLXXV” anyway?!
Outer Darkness vol. 1: Each Other’s Throats: This is writer John Layman’s first ongoing series since concluding “Chew” a couple years ago. So you can definitely count me in for what’s described as a sci-fi horror series featuring art from Afu Chan. Still, it would’ve been nice if the solicitation text offered any hooks to pique my interest. All I’ve got to go on here is that it’s about the crew of the spaceship Charon and the demonic possessions, hauntings, and other cosmic horrors they encounter in the outer darkness of space. Were it not “From the Writer of ‘Chew’” I’d have a harder time mustering any interest in checking it out. Fortunately for Layman, his signature series was good enough that I’m convinced that “Outer Darkness” is going to be something I want to read.
Saga Book Three Deluxe HC: I don’t know how I got it in my head that “Saga” was going to be a sixty-issue series. Its creators never said anything to that effect. Maybe it was because Brian K. Vaughan’s “Y: The Last Man” was a sixty-issue series and that’s a nice round number to end on. The reason I bring this up is because this third Deluxe HC collection collects volumes seven through nine (which is the current volume). If collecting the entire series in this format is part of Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples’ plan, then it doesn’t make much sense for them to do another Deluxe HC edition for just one volume. Given that each of these collections has collected three volumes apice, expect the series to wrap up with issue #72 and vol. 12.