Image Advance Arrivals: February 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
What’s the Furthest Place From Here? Vol. 4
After three volumes it’s time to answer the biggest mystery of this series: Why weren’t issues #7-9 collected after vol. 1? If the solicitation for this volume is any indication, it’s because these were side-stories illustrated by people other than regular artist Tyler Boss. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Couldn’t all of vol. 2 and most of vol. 3 be described as side stories? What makes this special?” Well, we’re told that the explanation of how the world ended will be in here, for starters. This is along with man-eating frogs, stolen babies, psychotic bankers, kids who live in movie theaters, and a friendly lighthouse keeper. Yeah, I’m inclined to believe the solicitation text when it tells us that this volume has it all. Along with issue #19 as well.
Bug Wars #1 (of 6): Slade Slaymaker (awesome name, no notes) is your average kid from Alabama who has found himself in the completely unusual situation of becoming embroiled in a war between insect kingdoms in his backyard. Faster than you can say, “Hey, I remember ‘Sectaurs’ too,” he’s going to have to fight for the fate of his family. This comes to us from writer Jason Aaron and artist Mahmud Asrar, who previously worked together on Marvel’s “Conan” comics. This sounds like the kind of setup that can benefit from Aaron’s “extra” sensibilities and Asrar’s gritty yet expressive art. Better still is the fact that this is being solicited as a miniseries, so there’s less worry that it won’t wind up being unfinished like the writer’s other Image titles “The Goddamned” and “Southern Bastards.”
The Hive #1: The cover features bees being ejected like shells from a gun and the solicitation text talks about a guy, a regular worker bee, who crosses paths with some stragglers trying to stay one step ahead of the queen of the hive. It’s like writer A.J. Lieberman saw “The Beekeeper” and thought that he could do tortured bee metaphors better than that movie did. He might pull it off too since, as ridiculous as it was, that movie never quite made it into the so-bad-it’s-good level that its trailer promised.
Monstress #55: The title’s latest arc kicks off and anyone who’s been following the series up to this point that the end of issue #54 (which is the end of vol. 9) left Maika even more screwed than usual. Oh, and it left anyone reading the series with a hell of a cliffhanger to tide them over to the next issue (or volume). I have no doubt that writer Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda will be able to deliver on it for this next arc, it’s just that you know what they say: The waiting is the hardest part.
Radiant Black #31: The Catalyst War is over and [REDACTED] is now Radiant Black for good. Just so you know, “[REDACTED]” wasn’t in the solicitation text. There was actually a proper name there and a face on the cover. So if you weren’t hoping to be spoiled for the end of this title’s biggest arc to date, don’t go reading this month’s solicitations like I did.
Energon Universe FCBD 2025 Special: Advance-solicited for Free Comic Book Day in May. Joshua Williamson, Robert Kirkman, Daniel Warren Johnson, and friends tease upcoming storylines for “G.I. Joe,” “Void Rivals,” and “Transformers.” They might even feature a familiar Joe or Transformer making their Energon Universe debut here. Oh, who am I kidding, they’ll DEFINITELY feature a familiar Joe or Transformer doing just that. Start placing your bets now on who it’ll be.
East of West: End Times Compendium: Collects the entire 45-issue series for $60. Which is an INCREDIBLE deal since most volumes of this ten-volume series usually cost you around $15 each. Yeah, the story is more style than substance overall, but man, WHAT STYLE!
Rifters vol. 1: Brian Posehn co-wrote a lot of issues of “Deadpool” with Gerry Duggan. Joe Trohman co-wrote “The Holy Roller” with Andy Samberg and Rick Remender. Now they’re co-writing a comic together with the expectation that they’ll combine into one great writer… or something like that. Rifters, illustrated by Chris Johnson, is about a couple of slacker timecops whose usual beat involves busting time-traveling influencers for getting their hands on prohibition-era hooch. However, when a potential cross-time serial murder case crosses their path, they may have wound up with their chance to finally prove themselves, or have their murdered corpses decompose in the worst backwater era imaginable. Definitely one of these two.
Feral vol. 2: Cat Lady: Vol. 1 ended with the trio of Elsie, Patches, and Lord Fluffy Britches separated and worse for the wear in their own unique ways. Fortunately it sounds like Elsie has found somewhere to wait out the rabies epidemic plaguing her area with her new companions. Unfortunately this place is described in the solicitation text as a “CREEPY OLD SHACK” and this volume is subtitled “Cat Lady” so maybe she hasn’t found safety at all. Still, it should make for an entertainingly tense chapter in this cat-focused story from writer Tony Fleecs and artists Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez.
Geiger vol. 2: It took writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank long enough, but they’ve finally delivered a second volume of the adventures of Tariq Geiger, a.k.a. The Glowing Man. While vol. 1 established that there were a lot of people in Vegas that were after him, this second volume tells us that… there are now even more people after him. Can’t say that makes for a satisfying hook, but Johns and Frank delivered the goods for the first volume, so I’m willing to see what they’ve got in store for Mr. Geiger here.