Image Advance Arrivals: April 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Moonshine Bigfoot #1 (of 4)
Sometimes, all it takes is a great title.
Moonshine Bigfoot is a Bigfoot who spends his days in 1981 living the dream: Outwitting dumb cops, making fools of his rivals, and always remaining one step ahead of hunters of his kind. He does it all in his tricked-out Mach 1 with his girlfriend, Amethyst, at his side. All that could change, however, when he manages to attract the attention of the secret rulers of this world.
Artist/writer Zach Howard, and co-writer Mike Marlow clearly aren’t afraid to ask the big question with this series. That being, “Would ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ have been better if it had starred a Bigfoot?” This looks completely ridiculous – one cover indicates that it’s rated R for “rambunctious” – in a way that I can really appreciate. Howard has shown that he’s a great artist on things like “Cemetary Beach” and “The Return of Effie Kolb,” and he’s come up with a killer concept to get me check out his next project. “Shirtless Bear-Fighter” may be done and gone, but this could be the next best thing.
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Silent Missions One-Shots: The original “G.I. Joe” #21 published by Marvel back in the 80’s stands as the high point of that title’s entire run. A silent issue that is routinely hailed as one of the greatest comics of all time, it was originally produced as much for writer/artist Larry Hama’s desire to try and do it as it was for deadline pressure. The end result was that whenever a comic book tries to do a silent issue, it inevitably winds up being compared to this one.
So long is that issue’s (Storm) shadow that we’re now getting a new series of one-shots featuring prominent “Joe” members Beach Head, Duke, Jinx, Roadblock, and Spirit from a really solid list of creators. Phil Hester, Wes Craig, Dan Watters, Dani, Andrew Krahnke, and Leonardo Romero are all contributing to these one-shots and they’re to be commended for their ambition even if it seems unlikely that any will equal or even top the original. Which people will have a chance to read again as a facsimile of it is being solicited here as well.
If there’s one issue I have with these, it’s that it’s not clear whether Krahnke, writer and artist of “Bloodrik,” is writing and illustrating, or just writing the “Beach Head” one-shot. Because seeing him go to town on a silent one-shot like this would definitely be my idea of a good time after his crazed, over-the-top barbarian epic.
Golden Rage: Mother Knows Best #1 (of 5): The original “Golden Rage” miniseries was serialized towards the end of 2022, collected in 2023, and promised a combination of “Battle Royale” and “The Golden Girls.” I picked up the collection in the hopes that such a hybrid was crazy enough to work. In short: It wasn’t and I sold that first volume not too long after. Now the follow-up is here and if you’ve been dying to find out what happened after things were left unresolved after the end of vol. 1 then consider your faith rewarded.
I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #1 (of 5): It would appear that “Moonshine Bigfoot” doesn’t have the monopoly on memorable titles for debut miniseries in these solicitations. It also may not surprise anyone to learn that this one comes from writer Doug Hillyard and artist Daniel Hillyard, the creators of other serial-killer-focused tales like “Plastic,” “Vinyl,” and “Plush.” This ones about avant-garde fashion student Rennie Bethary whose designs constantly push the boundaries of good taste – and not just because they’re made of human flesh! They’ve got a solid track record with this kind of stuff, so I’ll definitely pick this up. I do want to give special mention to the variant cover from Jae Lee for the first issue which manages to strike an unexpectedly surprising balance between playful and creepy…
Rook: Exodus vol. 1: This is the latest collection from Geoff Johns’ Ghost Machine imprint, and it’s written by him with art from Jason Fabok. The setting is in the future as Earth is a dying planet and humanity has set out to colonize new ones, with the rich leading the way and everyone else at the mercy of the Better World Corporation. “Mercy” is the right word here as when the terraforming engine on planet Exodus fails, the rich get the hell out and the technology that was used to uplift everyone now becomes tools of oppression in the hands of those that are left. This includes one of the planet’s Wardens, Rook, who was in charge of its scavenger bird population.
It all sounds like a fairly standard future dystopia story that’s also going to be about Our Current Situation as well. That’s perfectly fine as Johns has shown in the past that he’s a solid enough writer to take familiar material like this and, if not make it entertaining, at least perfectly readable. The real selling point here is going to be Fabok’s art as the man consistently did great superhero work, mostly involving “Batman,” over at DC. Seeing him cut loose on a new sci-fi world should definitely be something to see.