Image Advance Arrivals: September 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Black Cloak vol. 1
“Heart in a Box” was an excellent graphic novel that took an obvious premise – a young woman gives up her heart to escape a recent heartbreak and comes to regret the decision – and wrung a genuinely engaging story from it. It came to us courtesy of writer Kelly Thompson and artist Meridith McClaren, and this is the first extended series they’ve done together since. Which makes picking it up a no-brainer for me. What’s more interesting is that it’s a departure from the real world but with magical realism setting of their breakout work. “Black Cloak” takes place in the last city of a fantasy/sci-fi world as two Black Cloaks (read: investigators) try to solve the murder of its prince before everything descends into chaos. I’m there for this and if you’re not convinced, go check out “Heart in a Box” and then tell me what you think.
Edenwood #1: “Nocterra” artist Tony Daniel writes and illustrates this fantasy series about a multiversal war between demons and witches that has found its way to our dimension. Rion is a young demon hunter thrust into the role of hero by the Witch War Council, who has also given him a list of targets that need to be eliminated. The catch is that these targets are some of the most famous demon hunters to ever have lived. While Daniel’s artistic capabilities aren’t in doubt, he does have prior experience writing comics, particularly with the run of “Detective Comics” that kicked off the “New 52.” That being said, the solicitation text here is so clunky in its exposition that I’m now officially worried for how this series is going to read. Let alone what this means for the fate of “Nocterra” while this series is ongoing.
Hexagon Bridge #1 (of 5): This is a series about explorers who get trapped in another dimension and have to rely on their clairvoyant daughter and sentient robot in order to rescue them. “Hexagon Bridge” comes from writer/artist Richard Blake, and there’s been some “next big thing” talk regarding this title. Not having any familiarity with the creator, in addition to the fairly generic setup for this title, I’ll have to file that talk under “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Junior Baker: The Righteous Faker #1 (of 5): Who here had, “Joe Casey writing a legacy sequel to a miniseries he did in 2011” on their Image bingo card for this month? “Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker” was an over-the-top satire of the superhero and political aesthetic of the time and it was initially a hit. Then delays set in and the series wrapped after eight issues subsequent to a falling-out between the writer and artist Mike Huddleston. Casey is writing this follow-up with new artist Ryan Quackenbush and it has gonzo journalist Daniel “Dizzy” Baker investigating superheroes in a world that has left them behind, only to stumble upon the story of a lifetime with a connection to his family history. While Casey is by no means a bad writer, a lot of his stuff involves hitting upon a cool high concept and then coasting on its goodwill for the rest of its run. You need look no farther than how his and Piotr Kowalski’s “Sex” never reached a proper climax after six volumes – HEYOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Creepshow vol. 2, #1 (of 5): The horror anthology series returns for another run with a sterling creative team in this first issue. Garth Ennis writes and Becky Cloonan illustrate a shocking tale of the unborn while Phil Hester writes and illustrates a story about a grieving son who goes to disturbing lengths to see his mother one last time. Are the creators involved here indicative of the level of talent we can expect to see from the series for this second volume? Or are they in this first issue to ensure that it sells well enough to support subsequent issues? Tune in next month to find out!
Cosmic Detective: Who handles the investigation when a god is murdered? Enter the Cosmic Detective. What happens when two deeply inconsistent comic book writers team up to write a graphic novel? Enter “Cosmic Detective.” This comes to us from co-writers Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt and the hope is that they deliver something entertainingly weird and surreal. As opposed to a bunch of sci-fi and detective fiction cliches nailed onto an interesting setting with some expectedly spectacular art. I say “expectedly spectacular” because it’s coming from David Rubin who has done great work in the past with Kindt (on “Ether”) and Lemire (on “Black Hammer” and “Sherlock Frankenstein”). So if I do pick this up, it’s going to be to see what Rubin does with what the writers have given him rather than the other way around.
Forged vol. 1: Yes, it’s still weird to see Greg Rucka’s name attached, even as a co-writer with Eric Trautmann, to a series that promises over-the-top sci-fi action in the vein of “Heavy Metal.” Everything he’s done in the past has indicated that he’s far too straight-laced a writer to engage in these kinds of thrills. So he’s either decided to let his hair down for this project, or let his name be attached to it as a favor to his buddy Tratmann. Mike Henderson illustrates and I’ll be picking this up just to see whether or not the final product is as crazy as promised.
Local Man vol. 1: Jack Xavier was once Crossjack, the star of the superhero team known as Third Gen. That was before a firestorm of controversy had him kicked off the team and sent him back to live with his mom and dad. Now he has to figure out how to live in the world he left behind. This series is co-written and illustrated by Tim Seely and Tony Fleecs and offered the high concept of splitting its timeline between scenes that were set in the relatively normal present day, and flashbacks that came straight out of X-TREEEM 90’S IMAGE COMICS!!! It’s a cute idea, to be sure. However, what really sold me on this is the subsequent one-shot which promised a crossover between this series and other Image titles of today. Including Tom King and Elsa Charretier’s romance comic deconstruction “Love Everlasting.” I’m still wondering how such a crossover between these series could work, so I’m going to get this volume to prepare myself. While we’re on the subject of X-TREEEM 90’S IMAGE COMICS!!!…
Vanish vol. 2: The first volume felt like a throwback to that era, but it looked good thanks to its stylish art from Ryan Stegman. Unfortunately it didn’t read as well because Donny Cates’ script veered dangerously close to self-parody as it failed to ground itself in relatable human interactions the way his best work does. However, I knew going in that vol. 1 was only the first half of the opening story arc, so the hope is that the writer will get his groove back in its second. Which looks to involve protagonist Oliver continuing to grow in power as he continues to take down members of the Prestige. They’re the world’s premiere superhero group who are made up of the evil wizards that brought ruin to Oliver’s homeworld. While it’s heavily implied that the story is going to go in a predictable direction, involving the return of the title character, I’m hoping Cates has a surprise or two up his sleeve in that regard.