Image Advance Arrivals: May 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Transformers vol. 1: Robots in Disguise
As with any fictional, corporate-owned universe my interest in the comic titles they’re putting out hinges on the talent involved. Which is why I’ll be picking up this volume when it arrives in May as it’s coming from one of the best artists in the business – Daniel Warren Johnson. If he loves the Robots In Disguise so much that he wants to draw six issues of the start of their latest reboot then I’m going to go read them, no question. Plus, the response to the first few issues has been pretty positive and suggests that this section of the Energon Universe is off to a solid enough start. The real question though is whether this will read better than Johnson’s previous projects, where the writing has always played second fiddle to his spectacular art. I want to be optimistic about that, especially since the creator will only be writing the second arc of this series with art being provided by Jorge Corona, and speaking of the man…
Ain’t No Grave #1 (of 5): …he’s got a new miniseries debuting this month written by his “Middlewest” and “The Me You Love In the Dark” writer Skottie Young. This time the creators are tackling the Western genre and have their sights set on Ryder, a female gunslinger who hung up her guns to become a mother. Now Death Itself is threatening the life she’s built for herself and Ryder is going to have to pick up her guns again to defend it. I know this creative team has its fans, but after reading “The Me You Love In the Dark” and seeing how its supernatural twist didn’t enliven its take on the obsessive boyfriend genre, I can’t really say that I’m excited about this one. Particularly when “East of West” did the whole Death in a Western story well enough.
Bear Pirate Viking Queen #1 (of 3): The title of this miniseries implies that it’s about a bear pirate viking queen. However the solicitation text says it’s about bears, pirates, vikings, and queens. A subtle distinction, I know, though I can’t help but think the former sounds cooler. Anyway, they’re all fighting over what the world will become courtesy of writer Sean Lewis and artist Jonathan Marks Barravecchia over three extra-sized issues (this first one is 72 pages for $5).
Blood Squad Seven #1: They were once America’s premiere celebrity superteam and now a new generation is looking to take up its mantle. This comes to us from writer Joe Casey and artist Paul Fry, and it appears to be spinning out of the writer’s recent “Dutch” miniseries. So if you liked seeing Casey’s take on the Liefeldverse, here’s more of that for you to read.
Grommets #1 (of 7): Rick Remender teams up with another comedian for this series about California skater culture in the 80’s. What sets this apart from “The Holy Roller” is that the comedian he’s working with here actually has a history of writing funny comics. I’m talking about Brian Posehn who worked with Gerry Duggan on over fifty issues of “Deadpool” and whose departure from that title marked a shocking drop-off in its quality. So yeah, I’m very much interested in seeing what he’ll do with Remender on this series, given that the “Deadly Class” writer clearly knows the era and its culture. Brett Parsons illustrates and I wish I was more familiar with his work to say more than that. Still, Remender has a history working with great artists on the books he writes so I don’t think there’s any reason to be worried here.
The Singularity: This original graphic novel is co-written and inspired by the album of the same name from Bear McCreary, best known around these parts for composing the music for the entirety of “The Walking Dead.” It’s about an immortal named Blue Eyes whose many lives are always marked by the loss of everything he loves. The difference in his latest life is that he’s finally caught up to the mysterious figure that he’s seen throughout all of them and now sees the chance to either escape this cycle of loss, or get revenge for it. Mat Groom co-writes, and while I can say that he is someone who has written comics before, the most noteworthy aspect of this OGN are all of the artists who are contributing to it: Ramon Perez, Danilo Beyruth, Matias Bergara, Rod Reis, Eleonora Carlini, and more. Even if that’s just the top-of-the-line list, it’s an impressive selection and one that implies that this OGN will be good-looking if nothing else.
Edenwood vol. 1: Your girlfriend goes missing and when you go to look for her, you find yourself in a strange multidimensional land where demons and witches are waging their final battle. What’s more, you’ve become a legendary demon killer yourself and are now helping to lead the charge here. Isn’t that always the case? The setup for the first volume of this miniseries may read weirdly, but it’s coming to us from writer/artist Tony Daniel. While “Nocterra” showed that he remains a phenomenal artist, I’ve got no experience with the man as a writer. Save to say that the first year he did on “Detective Comics” at the start of the New 52 era did get some buzz after he had the Joker’s skin flensed from his face. I have no idea if that’s going to be a similar plot point here, but I’m at least curious to see if Daniel can write half as well as he can illustrate when he’s working on his own creation.
Hack/Slash: Back to School: “From the acclaimed creator of ‘It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth,’” is what the ad for this miniseries featuring slasher hunters Cassie Hack and her man-mountain partner Vlad tells us. While you can assume Daniel Warren Johnson’s “Transformers” superfandom in the sense that he’s a creator who made his name on creator-owned properties jumping to a corporate-owned one, I don’t think anyone can doubt Thorogood’s love for “Hack/Slash.” I mean, why else would she have done this?
Hexagon Bridge: After her parents go missing in another dimension, clairvoyant Adley and her robot Staden go to look for them. This miniseries generated some “next big thing” talk for its creator, Richard Blake, ahead of its release and then… nothing. Either something went horribly wrong or this miniseries got lost in the shuffle. It’s a self-contained work, so I don’t see anything wrong with picking it up in May to find out which of these is true.
Newburn vol. 2: Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Jacob Phillips’ “CBS Procedural as Comic Book Series” about Easton Newburn, private investigator for the mob, gets its second volume. Its last one, as the solicitation text tells us. Not because of how it mentions that past mistakes are catching up to Newburn, threatening his relationship with his partner Emily and his own life, but how we’re explicitly told that vol. 2 is the “thrilling conclusion” for this series. We shall see.
Sunstone vol. 8: Mercy – Part 3: By the time this volume arrives in May, it’ll have been nearly three years since vol. 7 arrived. In case you’ve forgotten, that volume saw the respective relationships of BDSM-enthusiast couple Allan and Ally, and lesbian couple Anne and Laura, hitting their stride and leading to lots of good times for everyone involved. Things were going so well there that you’d think creator Stjepan Sejic was setting them up for a fall given what we know about how these relationships turned out in previous volumes. Which is what’s going to happen according to the solicitation text here. So brace yourself for a bummer of a read, but hopefully one with enough fun details and surprises to keep things from becoming too miserable.
Universal Monsters: Dracula HC: Writer James Tynion IV and artist Martin Simonds, the team behind “The Department of Truth” tackle one of the most famous versions of Dracula here. While I’ve (mostly) liked their work on that creator-owned series, there’s nothing here to indicate that we’re dealing with a fresh new take on the character that’s high-concept enough to warrant the writer’s skills at making it more accessible. I’d have rather had a new volume of “The Department of Truth,” but if them doing this series is better for that title’s long-term health, then so be it.