Image Advance Arrivals: June 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Spectators HC
The last time writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon teamed up was nearly two decades ago when they gave us “Pride of Baghdad.” That was a serious, metaphorical war story which had a real gut-punch of an end. Now they’re back with something completely different in “Spectators” which is about ghosts. One is a voyeuristic woman who died recently and the other is a gunfighter from the Old West. They’ve never met before, but now is the right time. Why? Because it’s the end of the world!
Originally serialized through Vaughan’s Substack newsletter, this is the first time this series will be available in print. Which works out for me just fine because it feels like a new work from these creators just appeared out of thin air! Will it be good? Most likely. Will it be good in spite of the fact that this out-there premise will be used to address Our World As We Know It? Probably. Will it look astounding? Coming from Henrichon – absolutely.
Lazarus: Fallen #1 (of ???): Writer Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s series about the most formidable fighter in a future dystopia returns for its final arc. Make your jokes about how real life has been rushing to catch up with it now. Forever Carlyle earned her freedom from the Carlyle family at the end of the last volume. Now she’s looking to bring the whole Family system down and maybe build a better world in the process. I’ve generally enjoyed this series so far, which means that I’ll be sticking around until the end. Which I hope they have enough space for as I get the feeling that the title’s marginal success up to this point is what has led to this being its final arc.
News From the Fallout #1 (of 6): “The Enfield Gang Massacre” writer Chris Condon gives us a retro-apocalypse Western with artist Jeffrey Allen Love. It’s 1962 and a nuclear bomb test has gone spectacularly wrong, releasing a contaminant into the atmosphere that is rotting people from the inside out. Pvt. Otis Fallows managed to survive the explosion and is now looking for a safe haven. Assuming something like that even exists. That previous title from Condon was a perfectly decent read and this sounds interestingly dark – like “Fallout” without its sense of retro-future whimsy. Whether or not that’s a good thing, well… we’ll see.
Copra #50: It all ends here! You know what begins here? The wait for the final volume of the series!
Undiscovered Country #31: The final arc, “Superiority,” begins! Where does it begin? Say it with me now… IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!
Letter 44 Compendium: Writer Charles Soul and artist Alberto Jimenez Albuquerque, and friends’ high-concept sci-fi epic is collected in one softcover volume. After President Stephen Blades is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, he finds a letter on his desk from his predecessor. This letter tells him that alien life has been discovered and a crewed spaceship has been sent to make first contact. Sounds cool, right? Well, in Soule’s hands it’s part thoughtful sci-fi storytelling, part ridiculous political brinksmanship, and part really stupid soap opera. Is it worth reading to see how all of these things come together? Maybe not for some, but I still liked it overall.
Local Man Deluxe HC: Collecting all 13 issues of the main series, the “Gold” and “Bad Girls” one-shots, and the finale issue #25. Former member of the superhero team Third Gen, Jack “Crossjack” Xaver, has reached the lowest point in his life and has returned home to recuperate. Which is where he finds a shovel and starts digging, only to uncover multiple bizarre superhero conspiracies infecting his hometown. I was tempted to stop reading this series after its first volume sought to grind down Jack with all of the bad stuff that happened to him. I didn’t and while I wouldn’t say this series is a real hidden gem, it did end well enough to the point that it still remains on my shelf.
Old Guard: The Immortal Edition HC: Collecting the first (only) two miniseries in time for the sequel film’s premiere on Netflix. I liked these well enough, but you can’t get excited about a series that doesn’t come out. Maybe the new film will prompt the release of a third miniseries. I kind of doubt it, or else they wouldn’t be issuing this collection.
The Seasons vol. 1: Writer Rick Remender and artist Paul Azaceta try surrealist whimsy on for size. Let’s see how it fits with this story of the Seasons sisters Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. They’re the daughters of the world-famous Seasons Detectives who mysteriously disappeared years ago. The bond the sisters formed in their parents’ absence is now tested when an wicked ringmaster and his circus show up in town promising people their hearts’ desires – if only they’ll leave a piece of themselves behind. While the solicitation’s claim that this comes to us “in the tradition of Miyazaki and Lynch” may seem far-fetched, I’ll allow it. As anyone who saw “The Boy and the Heron” can tell you, these two have more in common than you’d think.
Geiger vol. 3: Arriving a lot sooner after vol. 2 than that volume did after vol. 1. Which is a good thing as the second volume was familiar but well-executed and a great looking stroll through a nuclear wasteland’s worth of tropes. This time the title character, accompanied by faithful two-headed dog Barney and the hapless Nate the Nuclear Knight, encounter a hidden pocket of pre-war civilization. Will it still be standing by the time he leaves? The Magic 8-Ball says, “Signs point to no.” Also, find out what happened to Geiger in the days after the Unknown War as he deals with his transformation.