Dark Horse Previews Picks: April 2012
As always, any collections solicited here are done so two months in advance. So even though vol. 23 of “Gantz” is mentioned here, it won’t be out until June. Also, no new volume of “Eden” is mentioned in here. Vol. 13 didn’t show up until the solicitations in March of last year, so there’s some hope. Slim as it may be.
Angel & Faith vol. 1: Live Through This: I’ve generally liked writer Christos Gage’s superhero work and artist Rebekah Isaacs did some awesome work on the “DV8” series that was collected last year. The only problem is that I’ve only seen the first three seasons of “Buffy” and when I read through the first two volumes of “Season Eight,” I just felt lost. I get the feeling it’d be more of the same if I tried to read this, but it sounds like something I’d like.
Conan vol. 11: Road of Kings: This collects the first half of the Roy Thomas-written maxi-series which I thought was the last we’d see of new “Conan” comics from Dark Horse — until they announced that Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan would be launching a new series this year. Wood seems like an odd choice for the title when you consider that most of his work has been of the non-mainstream creator-owned variety. Though I’m sure that “Northlanders” is what got him the job, I imagine it woudn’t be a simple transition from doing whatever he wanted in the Viking world he created to playing nice with “Conan’s” corporate owners and the established continuity of the series. Still, I’d like to think Wood has a good idea of what he’s getting into, so I’ll be picking up the inevitable collections. As for “Road of Kings” itself, Thomas may be an old-school Marvel and DC veteran, but the man has also written more “Conan” comics than anyone alive (and the earliest ones have actually held up pretty well over the years). I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with the character here.
Gantz vol. 23: This series almost, ALMOST, made my list of the “Best of 2011” but its failure to properly follow up on some its more shocking developments held it back in the end. That said, vol. 20 delivered some brutal surprises and twists so maybe this year will be the one where it finally makes the cut.
Gate 7 vol. 3: For all of the (good) craziness with the New York Times’ manga bestseller list last year, I was actually surprised that the debut volume of this series didn’t make an appearance on it. I’m not a big fan of CLAMP as I can certainly respect their talent as artists and storytellers, but they’ve never made a series that has really grabbed me as a reader. (Probably because I’m not a twelve-year-old girl! *rimshot* Oh, I kid because I love. Moving on…) A new series from them should’ve been a license to print money, but apparently diminishing returns have set in with their style with the online reaction being that it’s just “more of the same” from the creators. It’s not that I want to see them fail, but after their monstrous successes of the past I just never thought we’d reach the point where it looked like their best work was behind them.
The Goon vol. 11: Deformed of Body and Devious of Mind: The last collection of this series was easily the weakest thanks the bleak pointlessness of “The Buzzard” mini-series collected in its pages. This one, however, has no such diversions and should be a welcome return to form. Plus I hear that writer/artist Eric Powell offers his take on the “sparkly vampires” of “Twilight” in a story here. If that isn’t enough “Goon” for you, then issue #39 also comes out this month where Powell looks to give the current “relaunching from a new #1” craze in comics the thrashing it so desereves.
Grendel Omnibus vol. 1: Hunter Rose: Much as I’d like to say, “If you’ve never read Matt Wagner’s legendary series then YOU NEED THIS VOLUME!” something holds me back. That something is the “Behold the Devil” series collected here, which was excellent but not something that you’d want to foist upon readers new to the world of “Grendel.” Mainly because the climax of that series works best only for those who are aware of the other series and characters that have come after Hunter Rose’s time. It’s great stuff to be sure, but readers would be better served tracking down the original stories and reading them in order.
Groo vs. Conan #1: Does one need to know anything else about this series after reading the title? How about this: At the Sergio Aragones/Mark Evarnier panel at Comic-Con last year, they talked a bit about how this series was finally going to see the light of day. One of the sticking points for the plot was that the owners of “Conan” didn’t want to see their character beaten while Sergio and Mark didn’t want to have theirs lose. So the compromise, as they put it, was to have a “Rashomon”-style tale where the truth of the events is left up for the reader to decide. So really, this series is all Akira Kurosawa’s fault.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 11: What’s the only thing worse than the guilt I feel from enjoying this licensed spin-off? The fact that it likely sells a lot better than the other ongoing Dark Horse manga with a Carl Horn adaptation, “The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.”
Star Wars: Knight Errant vol. 2 — Deluge: I enjoyed the first volume a lot more than I was expecting to so I’ll be picking this up when it comes out. As opposed to getting it at half price from Comic-Con.