Image Advance Arrivals: February 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
A Star Called the Sun: A Collection of Short Science Fiction Stories
There’s an obvious choice for this spot in these solicitations (you’ll know it when you see it), but I’ve given this to plenty of other titles from its creators. Instead, let’s talk about the latest collection from underrated comics talent Simon Roy. Originally coming on my radar as the artist on Brandon Graham’s “Prophet” reboot, he’s since delivered other memorable sci-fi stories in “Habitat,” “Jan’s Atomic Heart,” and “Grip of the Kombinant.” The last one was particularly good in how it actually made its satire of humanity’s future (along with its current state) something to laugh at. The solicitation also reminded me about his Kickstarter graphic novel “Griz Grobus,” which I’ll have to pick up in the near future as well.
As for “A Star Called the Sun,” it’s advertised as collecting the stories “Hale-Bopp,” The Oxpecker and the Elephant,” “Pride of the Central Republic,” “A Portrait of the Artist as Hive Paradise” “The Ansible,” “The Anchoress,” and “Vanguard.” These are about robotic clergy, posthumous hive-men, immortal cyborgs, and ancient alien races. I’ll admit that without Roy’s name attached to this, there isn’t a lot that stands out about this solicitation. So it’s good that he’s doing this, and all of these stories are said to be set within the same universe as “Habitat” and “Griz Grobus” in case anyone who read those comics and liked them needed any more incentive.
Five Gears in Reverse: A Criminal Book HC: Hot on the heels of the latest “Criminal” one-shot and clearly looking to synergize with the upcoming streaming series is this latest graphic novel from writer Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This time the spotlight is thrust onto Ricky Lawless as we find out how he fell in love with Mallory (remember her from way back in vol. 2?) while embarking on a crime spree to pay back a mobster that keeps going from bad to worse. While “The Knives” convinced me that “Criminal” didn’t need to remain a closed circle after the events of “Cruel Summer,” I’m a little unsure about devoting an entire graphic novel to Ricky’s history. Do you know what every other story featuring this character has in common? They all end badly – either for him or those around him. I’m sure that’s going to remain true here, but the hope is that Brubaker and Phillips will find a surprising way for it to play out. I’ll let you know if that’s the case come February.
Death Fight Forever #1 (of 5): The good news: “Head Lopper’s” Andrew MacLean is back with a new comic! The bad news: It’s not more “Head Lopper.” More good news: It still looks pretty entertaining as MacLean writes this miniseries about Crash and Bash Biggle, brothers who are as good at stealing things as they are beating people up, who join up with Commander Thunderfang to fight interdimensional crime boss Lord Slyther and hs cronies. This is inspired by classic beat-’em-ups of the 8-and-16-bit eras, just so you know. Even though MacLean is only writing this, it still looks like a lot of fun with artist Alexis Zirtt providing some truly wild art for Crash and Bash’s big adventure.
D’orc #1: War in Sunderaine never changes. Light vs. Dark. Elves vs. Orcs. Wizards vs. Common Sense. Dragons vs. Literally Everyone. Only now a half-dwarf, half-orc with an ambitiously violent magical eyeball shield has found himself right in the middle of it all after a prophecy identifies him as the harbinger of the end of the world. Now, everyone either wants him dead or for their own ends. In case the title wasn’t already a clue, this is all being played for laughs courtesy of artist Brett Bean who took over illustrating “I Hate Fairyland” after Skottie Young stopped drawing it and I stopped reading it before that. There’s been an “Orc Stain”-shaped hole in my reading list for a good long while now, and I’m hoping that this could be the fantasy comedy to fill it. Or, as Robert Kirkman is quoted in the solicitation, “Don’t be a dork, buy ‘D’orc!”
Universal Monsters: The Phantom of the Opera #1 (of 4): You know the drill: A talented creator or creative team takes on a classic monster from Universal’s library to be collected in an overpriced hardcover at the end of its run. This time the team is writer Tyler Boss and artist Martin Simmonds, making his second “Monsters” go-round after his work on “Dracula.” We’re told that Christine DuBois’ career is in chaos following a string of violent attacks at the Paris Opera House and that no one is who they seem to be. That last part will undoubtedly be relevant to The Twist No One Will See Coming that’s advertised in the solicitation text. Best of luck to Boss and Simmonds in that regard as what’s here isn’t quite interesting enough to have my attention.
G.I. Joe vol. 3: Dreadnok War: Exactly what it says on the cover. Okay, a little more context: Cobra Commander has finally pushed his arrogant leadership style too far and has found himself on the outs with the terrorist organization he helped found. Which means that the Dreadnoks are now looking to get some payback for the way he treated them when they first met. This is bad news for Duke, who sees this as the perfect chance to bring in the Commander and find out everything he knows. He just has to make sure his rival lives through this and that means they’re going to have to *gulp* work together. Sounds like fun, courtesy of regular writer Joshua Williamson and returning artist Tom Reilly.
The Juniper Lodge HC: A twisted town in the Old West sacrifices one of its own every twelve hours at the demand of a demonic gun. A man finds his mind is trapped in the brain of an insect, and believes the normal world he sees is a delusion. An abandoned roadside motel is home to an entity that has captured the imagination of a passing comic book artist and is drawing him back. These are three of the five stories collected here from the pages of Dustin Weaver’s anthology series “Paklis” which also gave us the intriguing and great-looking, but also slightly underbaked “1949.” Weaver is again illustrating everything here, but additional writers Jeremy Barlow and D.J. Bryant are also credited. There’s no doubt this is going to look great, but I do hope the writing at least manages a greater hit-to-miss ratio among its five stories.