Image Advance Arrivals: November 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Monstress vol. 8: Inferno
Did I put the previous volume here when it was solicited over a year ago? I sure did. That doesn’t stop me from wanting to read this more than anything else in this round of solicitations (and not for a lack of quality picks, as we’ll see). Vol. 7 was unique in the series in that it ended with a distinct lack of closure. Not quite a cliffhanger, just a sense that the story was getting ready to proceed into its next act. Which is looking to go cosmic as the solicitation text tells us that we’re headed to the prison planet where other Monstra like Zinn have been imprisoned. I’m sure this is going to go well for everyone, leaving Maika and her companions healed and whole in its wake, without having unleashed a scourge that will consume the galaxy.
…well, odds are that at least one of those things will happen and one of them won’t. I’ll leave it to you to guess which is which.
Crave #1: Crave is the name of an app that promises to make your desires come true. As long as those desires revolve around sexual encounters, which has made it a hit at college campuses across the country. However, as the app gains in popularity, chaos ensues and one user makes it his mission to find out who is behind it all. This sexy setup comes from the artist of “Faithless,” Maria Llovet, who is also writing this series as well. That three volume series wasn’t bad, but felt bogged down by an adherence to conventional plotting and morality (by the end, for that last part). If nothing else, I’m curious to see if the writer of that series, Brian Azzarello, was the reason the story worked as well as it did, or if he was just holding Llovet back.
The Deviant #1 (of 9): Another month, another series from James Tynion IV. This time it’s a miniseries with artist Joshua Hixon about a deranged Santa Claus who does some unspeakable things to young men in Milwaukee circa 1972. Dubbed “The Deviant Killer,” this Santa maintained his innocence even as he was locked up. Fifty years later, the killings start again. I think Tynion works best when he’s taking an esoteric premise and making it accessible. When he’s working with a familiar setup, as he’s doing here, the results aren’t usually as good.
The Holy Roller #1: Just your average series about a professional bowler who moves back to his hometown, only to find out that it’s been taken over by Neo Nazis. With only his collection of bowling balls to his name, he assumes the identity of The Holy Roller and looks to bowl a perfect game against crime. Sure, it sounds ridiculous, but what else would you expect from actor/funny guy/fake rapper Andy Samberg and Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman? Oh, and writer Rick Remender and artist Roland Boschi since it’s entirely likely that they’ll be doing the heavy lifting as far as the actual production of this comic is concerned. Which isn’t a bad thing as I can see the writer’s wonderfully overwrought narration being used to great comic effect here. If we’re doubly lucky, it’ll even have a likeable protagonist instead of the awful and predictable trashfire that was the titular “Scumbag.”
Blood Commandment #1 (of 4): Just your average series about a survivalist father and his son living off the grid and fighting the forces of darkness that assault their cabin every night. This comes to us from “Something Epic’s” creator Szymon Kudranski, and that series looks to have been pretty successful. No doubt thanks to the pop-culture aping covers it sported, which the artist reprises here to remind you of “Misery,” “The Last of Us,” “The Lost Boys” and more.
Dutch #1: Writer Joe Casey and artist Nathan Fox team up again for this series about an old superhero soldier who finds himself called back into action against an old enemy. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of style over substance as these creators have delivered before. If I don’t sound too excited about this, it’s because I’d rather see Fox’s name attached to the third volume of “The Weather Man” as I’ve been waiting for the next (concluding?) chapter of that series for a while now.
G.I. Joe #301: The cover to this issue has a dogtag proclaiming it’s the “1st Issue” with the words “Three hundred and” off to the left in smaller text. I like it. In case anyone’s worried, Larry Hama is still writing this series and it looks to pick up where his IDW run left off. So you should know what to expect and whether or not this is going to be for you. Me? I read some of the older volumes of his “G.I. Joe” run and thought they’ve aged into terrifically entertaining cheese. If anything, I’ll be trying to catch up on those before I check this out.
Geiger: Ground Zero #1 (of 2): Tariq Geiger gets a two-issue origin story from his creators, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Two issues isn’t enough to make a trade paperback out of, so you have to wonder what else is going to be collected along with it. The “Geiger 80-page Special” perhaps? If not, I wouldn’t mind seeing more from the creators and the character since the first volume was pretty decent.
Bad Karma: Down on their luck army veterans turned mercenaries Sully and Ethan find themselves on a Christmastime mission of mercy. You see, a man is about to be executed on Death Row for a job they did ten years ago. They don’t want that on their conscience, so this guy is going to get “early release” as a Christmas gift this year. They’ll just have to contend with the people who don’t care about seeing this guy go free, and maybe Sully’s ex-wife as well. Writer Alex De Campi talked this up at her Comic-Con panel and I thought it sounded like a good time. If you’re interested, you may want to pick this up when it arrives as the solicitations note that the first printing is going to be limited to 4,000 copies.
Love Everlasting vol. 2: Tom King and Elsa Charretier’s deconstruction of old-school romance comics gets a second volume. Where vol. 1 had protagonist Joan jumping from romantic setup to romantic setup, this one sees her settling into one story as she’s trapped with the love of her life as they grow older, becoming parents, and then grandparents. Not that she has grown content as we’re promised a bloody quest on her part to discover the true nature of this world. I’m interested, and if we get some follow-up on the worldbuilding established in the first one, all the better!
Manifest Destiny Deluxe Edition vol. 1 HC: I thought I was reading an adventure series with some horror undertones, and it turned out that I was reading a horror series wearing the skin of an adventure title. This is the story of Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the Louisiana Territory and the strange and awful things they find along the way. Along with the strange and awful things they wind up doing to survive. It’s definitely entertaining, though I’m still conflicted about how this series wound up not being what I thought it was. This is a good bargain, though as $60 will get you issues 1-24, the first half of the series.
W0rldtr33 vol. 1: Still a dumb name. Right now my goodwill towards Tynion is diverted towards the eventual return of “The Department of Truth” and following his “The Sandman Universe” series-of-miniseries. I’ve got no time for this silly-sounding title about kids who discover the undernet beneath the internet.